I look at him and then back at Martha. ‘Yes, I’m fine.’
The nurses have placed an oxygen mask over Martha’s mouth and nose. Her breathing is calming down. I don’t know what they’ve done, given her a sedative, perhaps, to lower her heart rate. She seems to be slipping into a sleep.
The nurse looks up at me again. ‘Did something happen?’
I shake my head. ‘No. She was talking to me about the accident and then got upset.’
I’m not sure if the nurse believes me or not.
‘Maybe we should leave now,’ says Tom, taking my elbow.
‘I think that’s a good idea,’ says the nurse, clearly unimpressed with me.
Tom guides me from the room. ‘I thought for a minute we were going to lose Alice.’ He takes my arm again and he walks me down the corridor. ‘Come on, you need a coffee.’
We make our way to the rooftop café. It’s a blustery day out there and the sky is full of battleship-grey clouds. We sit inside by the window. I’m already fed up being trapped indoors and have a craving for natural light, albeit it stormy.
‘The weather doesn’t look too good,’ says Tom as he puts an Americano down for him and a cappuccino for me. ‘I think there’s a storm forecast for tonight.’
We lapse into silence while we assess the weather outside and sip our coffees. It’s me who speaks first. ‘Tom …’
‘Mmm,’ He looks up at me.
‘Do you trust my judgement?’
‘Your judgement? Yeah, of course.’
‘You consider me to be of sound mind and all that. You know, not known for rash decisions or jumping to conclusions?’
‘Reliable. Dependable. Yep.’
‘Thanks for not saying “boring”.’
He gives a wry smile. ‘I don’t think we have to worry about boring. Now, do you want to tell me what’s going on?’
I pause while I choose my words. ‘You know when someone commits identity theft, they find out the other person’s bank details, home address and all that sort of thing?
‘Yeah and usually fleece them for every penny.’
‘Kind of. But what about identity theft being taken to the extreme? Where it goes further than just remotely taking on someone’s financial identity. Where they actually pretend they are that person, in real life, to other people. They go about calling themselves by that assumed name, they take on their history, they even kid themselves that they are that person.’
‘As you say, extreme.’
‘But possible.’
‘Yeah, I suppose it is. That’s, of course, if the identity thief didn’t come across anyone who knew the victim.’
‘No, they’d have to be meeting people for the first time. People who didn’t know the victim beforehand.’
Tom drums his fingers on the table and purses his lips. ‘What are you trying to say?’
‘That’s not Alice in there. It’s her friend, Martha Munroe. Tom shifts his weight in his seat. His eyes dart around the coffee shop. Anywhere but meeting my gaze. He doesn’t believe me and, once again, I’ve made myself look a fool. ‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything. Ignore me.’
‘No, wait,’ He looks serious and this time he doesn’t avoid eye contact. ‘I’m glad you did. You see, Alice told me something and I’ve been in a dilemma ever since about whether to say anything or not.’
‘What did she say? Tell me, Tom. You know that’s not Alice, don’t you?’
‘She came to my house the other night. I know she’s not Alice.’
‘And you didn’t tell me?’ I’m indignant that he kept this information to himself.
‘She made me promise. She was frightened. She didn’t know what to do. Said she’d got herself involved in something that had spiralled out of control and was way out of her depth.’
‘Involved in what, exactly?’
‘I don’t know how to say this.’
‘Just say it. Whatever it is, say it.’ I brace myself. I’m sure he’s going to tell me that Luke knows as well and that she and Luke have been having an affair, that Luke isn’t really going to bring the girls back. ‘Tell me!’
‘A while ago, at work, I was doing an audit on some of the accounts. Routine stuff that we all do from time to time. In fact, I can tell you exactly when it was – it was just before Leonard went to America for that business meeting.’
‘The meeting that never amounted to anything,’ I say, thinking back.
‘Yeah. Well, I don’t know what he was doing over there, but I’m pretty sure there was no legitimate business meeting. I think he went to America for another reason.’