The Suspect by Fiona Barton

Author:Fiona Barton [Barton, Fiona]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Thrillers, Psychological, Suspense, Crime
ISBN: 9781101990537
Google: FKNdDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B07DBQT5KR
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2019-01-22T08:00:00+00:00

• • •

Rosie was down to her underwear when Jake came in an hour later.

“Who the hell has puked in the bogs?” he asked in an icy sort of voice that shut everyone up.

“And what is going on here?” He was looking at Rosie. She tried to cover herself with her hands and Alex almost felt sorry for her.

She wanted to tell Jake that she’d tried to stop the game but her friend wouldn’t listen, just kept downing the stuff in the shot glasses and losing the dares, but she kept quiet. She’d had enough of making excuses for Rosie.

And though she wasn’t nearly as wasted as her friend, she was a bit tipsy. She’d started off matching her shot for shot, fed up with always being the sensible one, but after a while, when her head started spinning, she’d begun tipping her drinks into a bin behind her when the Dutch boys weren’t looking. Anyway, the boys were all about Rosie. Alex had watched as they circled her friend, her stomach clenching but secretly relieved it wasn’t her.

Jake was really angry but Lars had jumped up and started dancing round the room. He was a six-foot-four-inch schoolboy in a pair of Superman underpants and suddenly they’d all laughed. Alex couldn’t help it. He’d looked like a stick insect on crack. Rosie had put her T-shirt back on and Jake calmed down. He’d picked up a shot glass and sat on the floor with them.

“I know a game,” he’d said.

He wrote their names down on bits of paper napkin and they each had to pick one out and then pretend to be that person. The others had to guess who it was. If they got it wrong, they had to down a shot of tequila or whatever was in the bottle.

Alex got Jake, so she sat and waited. She didn’t need to scrutinize him for telling details—she’d memorized him already: the way he straightened his glasses when he was being serious, his crooked smile, his way of chewing the thumbnail of his left hand when he was listening. The others carried on, getting rowdier, clowning about and insulting one another. Diederik got Rosie’s name and started ripping off his clothes and flirting with Lars, kissing his cheek and ruffling his hair. They all knew who he was supposed to be, but it was so funny they let him carry on. Rosie laughed the loudest of all and Alex knew she would disappear with Lars as soon as possible.

When it was Jake’s turn, he put his head down and looked at each of them from under his lashes. Not in a sexy way. Secretly. Like a Peeping Tom. Alex realized instantly who he was impersonating and looked across at Jamie to see if he’d recognized himself. He looked like he had no idea. He mouthed, “Who is it?” and Alex pointed at him and mouthed back, “It’s you.” The word “Me?” formed on his lips but didn’t get any further. Jamie looked horrified.

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