Kinky Boots(19)

‘You won’t need to sleep on a park bench, Jill. We’ll see to that,’ Finn said.

‘Yes, we’ll see to that.’ A voice spoke inside her head. It was the first time she’d been fully aware of Eleanor since the failed exorcism.

Then she remembered the run-in with her boss, and a chill ran down her spine. ‘My BlackBerry. The recording. Where’s my BlackBerry?’

Jill pushed herself off the sofa and fled to the kitchen, where someone had hung her jacket neatly over the back of a chair.

Sure enough, she found her BlackBerry in the pocket. There was a text from Vivie asking what her plans were for the night. She ignored it.

‘What’s going on? What are you doing?’ Finn called from the doorway, where he’d followed. Meinrad and Chelsea crowded in next to him as Jill hit playback and her voice filled the room.

What do you want me to do, Mr Devlin? Jill heard. She fast-forwarded until she heard her boss say:

Unbutton that lovely silk top of yours and give me a good look at those tits you’re always pointing at me. And when I’ve had enough time to –

She stopped the recording, relieved that it was still there, that she hadn’t imagined it, and embarrassed that all of Sole Alliance had heard her humiliation.

Finn moved to her side. ‘That son of a bitch!’ He slid a protective arm around her shoulder. ‘Good thing you had the presence of mind to record him. You’ll have Human Resources eating out of your hand and that fucker will be lucky to work at McDonald’s’

Jill shivered. ‘I didn’t have the presence of mind to record him.’

She’d barely got the words out of her mouth before Eleanor spoke. ‘Oh, but you did. Trust me, darling, you didn’t do anything you didn’t have a deep-seated urge to do already. I just cheered you on a bit.’

Jill was suddenly trembling again. ‘And the things I said? What I did?’

‘You were totally in the driver’s seat, Jill,’ the voice in her head said. ‘I wouldn’t deprive you of that pleasure.’ There was a soft laugh. ‘If I had been in the driver’s seat, we would have kneed the bastard nice and hard in the balls, and with strong, well-muscled legs like yours I reckon he wouldn’t have forgotten us for a very long time. Goodness! For a second there I sounded almost like a vengeance demon, didn’t I?’

Jill became aware of Meinrad and Chelsea staring at her as though she had two heads. Not that far from the truth, she thought.

‘What, Jill? What’s going on?’ Finn asked.

‘We’re discussing who’s in the driver’s seat,’ Jill said.

A look of disbelief passed between Meinrad and Chelsea. ‘She’s talking to you? Eleanor’s talking to you?’ Meinrad said, as though the whole idea were shocking.

Jill nodded. ‘Why?’

Chelsea stepped forward into the room. ‘Because the only one she ever talks to is Finn.’ She looked up at Meinrad. ‘The two of us, we know she’s there, and it’s always obvious what she wants, but she never actually talks to us.’

Jill suddenly felt weak-kneed. Finn pulled out a chair and guided her into it. Inside her, it felt as though Eleanor was settled in comfortable silence, the kind of silence shared between two really good friends. That in itself was disconcerting, especially as the last memories of the failed exorcism came back to her strong and clear. Now that it was over, now that it was all safely behind her, she vividly recalled hanging on for dear life just before she lost consciousness, hanging on as though what was about to happen was something she couldn’t let slip away. She was possessed by a demon, for God’s sake! How could it be that she wanted to hang on? And yet there was no denying that she had. In her head Eleanor placed a finger on her nose like they’d been playing charades, like Jill had just won the game. There was a smile and a laugh that no one heard but her, and, though Jill figured it should be otherwise, Eleanor’s presence felt completely comfortable.





Chapter 8


With his rucksack slung over his shoulder, Finn followed Jill up to her flat on the seventh floor. The tour took thirty seconds. The flat was only slightly more than a studio, with a small bedroom and a bathroom off from the open living area. Jill had stretched herself to be able to afford it, and had lived very frugally in order to have her privacy. The possibility of losing her little island of solitude was one terrifying thought among many in the madness that stretched endlessly before her. She forced a smile as the two stood facing each other in the centre of the makeshift lounge. ‘Home sweet home.’

‘It’s nice,’ he said. ‘It suits you.’