Page 101 of Dead to Me

The tall one gave her a slightly panicked look before stepping towards her friend, and Nicola tried to grimace in a way that said she wasn’t believing any of it.All the while wanting the dark-haired girl to keep going, because this soundeda lot.

‘Esther… why would I lie about rowing?’the tall one said, sounding confused.

‘Fuck knows,’ brunette Esther said, unsteadily.‘I guess because it’s part of the act?Whoever you are, you aren’t Aria Lauder.’

‘Why…?’

‘Don’t side-step,’ Esther snapped.‘Mummy decided to engineer a meeting with Aria’s brother, and his sister is in fucking Maine.In rehab.Not here, and not you.’

Jesus,Nicola thought.

It was like watching reality TV.

There was a pause, and then the tall woman said, ‘I’m sorry, you’re right.Have you… worked out why I’m here?’

The smaller one– Esther– laughed, and then faltered.‘I… what are you…?’

‘I’m here because of Holly,’ the girl who wasn’t Aria said, quietly.‘I came to try to work out what happened to her.Why you lost your friend.’

Esther gaped at her, and Nicola knew she was gaping, too.

‘What do you mean?’

‘There are reasons to think she was murdered,’ the tall one said, her face– when Nicola glanced at it– strangely calm in the colourful lights from the dodgems and the music tent.‘If you know anything that could help…’

Esther looked as though someone had pulled all the supports away from her.She swayed and her hands reached out to try to find something to hold on to.Nicola instinctively lifted her hands, but Esther took a few steps to grab the edge of the bar and lean against it.

What is going on?Nicola thought.Fleetingly, she wondered if this was some kind of an immersive experience.But she knew–knew–that it wasn’t.That this was real.

The two of them were now talking in lower voices that were too quiet for her to make out, and Nicola took a small, subtle step towards them, then smiled at the couple behind her in the universally recognised sign of someone giving up their place in a queue.

God, this is pathetic,she thought.

But she couldn’tnothear the rest of this.

The next thing she heard was Esther shouting, ‘What the fuck is wrong with you?You’re just here to hurt all of us.When we– when I– when all we did was try to be your friend.’Her voice was shaking with rage and she shoved herself upright, away from the bar.

‘Esther,’ the taller girl said, trying to calm her.

‘Don’t talk to me,’ Esther spat.‘Don’t fucking talk to me.You’re a blood-sucking ghoul.’

And she rushed away, into the crowds on the bridge.

Nicola thought, fleetingly, about going after her.About offering her comfort.She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to help, or whether she just couldn’t bear not to find out more.

But it would be hard to catch her, and she didn’t look in a mood to trust anyone.Whereas maybe the taller girl would tell her more.

She watched the expression on the blonde one’s face and then felt as thoughshewas the ghoul here.The young woman just looked… lost.Stricken.Awful.

And Nicola felt her curiosity collapse under the weight of simple empathy.Because whatever that had been about, it had clearly left this girl feeling wretched.

She was on the verge of offering to get the girl a drink when a couple appeared and her expression shifted.

She knows them,Nicola thought.

They must have been in their forties or fifties: clearly well moneyed and well preserved.And there was an aura of warmth and comfort about them that made even independent Nicola feel a draw towards them.

The woman stepped past Nicola, leaving a scent of roses behind her, and wrapped the tall girl in a warm hug.