Page 20 of The Plot Twist

‘It’s clever,’ Martin eventually said. ‘Nobody likes bankers, which gets you around the thorny subject of killing off popular characters. The only problem is you then have a sympathetic killer and publishers sometimes baulk at condoning murder.’

Allie shrugged. ‘What aboutKilling Eve? No one felt sorry for all the bastards Villanelle killed.’

Martin looked thoughtful. ‘Point taken.’

‘So, what do you think my chances are of persuading Jake “Iceman” Matthews that I should change genres now?’

Martin grimaced, visibly pained at the idea of having to engage with Jake Matthews on any level.

‘Tell you what,’ she grinned suddenly, ‘if I can’t persuade him that I should be allowed to switch genres, you can take my banking serial killer and run with it. But you’ll need to swap it for some romantic plot lines that I can work with instead.’

Martin looked horrified. ‘I really don’t think…’ he stammered.

‘Oh, come on,’ she teased, ‘you’re happily married. Two kids. That’s the goal in all these rom coms, isn’t it? You must have secrets you can share on how to reach a happy-ever-after.’ She ignored the look on Martin’s face, which was screaming that he would rather be talking about anything other than his secrets for a happy marriage. But Allie was suddenly inspired, energised by Martin’s praise for her plot and keen to get some nuggets in return. ‘Come on, tell me about your wife,’ she asked, intrigued by who Martin Clark might be married to. She had the feeling that being the wife of a hard-boiled thriller writer might be quite hard work, what with the writer’s block, plot twists and heavy drinking to contend with.

‘Angie?’ Martin said, his face visibly softening as he said her name. ‘She’s amazing. She’s the reason I ever had any success with my writing.’ And there it was, Allie thought, the supportive wife dutifully standing behind the creative maestro.

‘She’s the smartest woman I know.’ He looked down at the table and then out of the window. ‘Brilliant mind. Funny as hell, warm, kind. She forged her own career, solid, dependable, well-paid roles so that I could sit at home and work out how to murder people.’ He laughed suddenly at the shocked look on Allie’s face. ‘Come on,’ he teased, ‘I can normally only get away with telling that joke to people who don’t know what I do for a living!’

Allie smiled tentatively, still thrown by the curveball revelation about Martin’s wife, who sounded anything but the stay-at-home stalwart Allie had been expecting. ‘But yes, Angie,’ Martin continued, ‘she’s brilliant, hugely successful in her field, an expert, esteemed professor of epidemiology. But really she has the heart and voice of a jazz singer. And that’s what she should have been, if I had been the one to go out and get a sensible job.’ He looked down at his hands and Allie was momentarily terrified he might start crying. And if he did then this was not the pick-me-up cup of tea she had been hoping for when she had crashed into the cafe reeling over Jake Matthews’ betrayal.

Allie wasn’t sure what to say. ‘She sounds great.’

‘Not what you were expecting?’ Martin looked up at her with a wry expression on his face.

‘No, not really,’ she confessed. ‘Do you think she minds? That she gave up her dream so that you could pursue yours?’

‘I don’t think so, no. I think it was actually my dream, I don’t think she had any real interest in becoming a jazz singer, although she loves to sing any chance she gets.’ Martin got a wistful faraway look in his eyes. ‘She’s the pragmatist and I’m the one who always has my head in the clouds. And she blames me for our daughter being the same way. Actually, that’s not fair, she doesn’t blame me for that. She blames me for mollycoddling our daughter and pandering to her, and I can completely accept the blame for that.’

‘Oh.’ Allie was wondering if she was too far into this conversation to pretend she had a prior important engagement but also rather intrigued to know what revelations Martin was going to make next. This was far more interesting than a literary punch-up from decades back, although she still worried that Martin might start crying.

‘So, what’s up with your daughter then?’ she asked, deciding that it was worth the threat of tears to hear exactly what went down in the marriage and home life of the great Martin Clark.

Martin pulled a face. ‘Don’t get me wrong, Angie adores both our kids but she’s always thought I was soft on our daughter and it’s true, as I did most of the childcare when the kids were little, I probably spoiled her more than I should. Gave into her demands when I should have stood up to her. Which was manageable when she was a little girl, but now she’s a grown woman and doesn’t seem to know how to stand on her own two feet.’ Martin looked out the cafe window. ‘Despite being incredibly smart, just like her mother, she’s never held down a job for any length of time and is completely reliant on handouts from us.’ He stopped and sighed. ‘OK, full disclosure, she’s reliant on handouts from me, which Angie doesn’t know about.’

Allie’s eyebrows shot up into her hairline.

‘Yes. So, you can see why it’s important I get this book written. I can’t pay back the advance because my daughter has already spent it and Angie has absolutely no idea.’ He looked up and caught Allie’s eye, flushing at his confession.

Allie cringed for him. She could just imagine how dreadful that conversation would be. It was all terribly car crash, and Allie found herself inextricably drawn to the drama.

‘So, what are you going to do?’ she asked, starting to feel that Martin was actually in far more of a bind than she was. At least she hadn’t given her advance away and didn’t have to confess to doing so. She guiltily took some solace from this fact.

‘Well, I know what Ishoulddo. Come clean to Angie and stop bailing out our daughter.’

‘And will you?’

Martin stared back out the window looking morosely at the rain that had started to fall. He sighed deeply. ‘Yes, I think I will this time. It’s gone on too long and Angie deserves to know, before everyone else does.’

‘How do you think she’ll take it?’ Allie asked.

‘Badly,’ he deadpanned and looked at Allie. ‘Wouldn’t you?’

‘I guess so. Do you think you’ll be able to fix it?’

Martin’s shoulders slumped. ‘God I really hope so. I can’t imagine life without Angie. She’s been my everything since the first moment I saw her. She’s the only person I ever really want to talk to and I still find her endlessly fascinating even after all these years. And god she’s beautiful, so beautiful. She has such presence and grace, the world is just a better place when she’s around.’

Allie could feel her eyes well up with tears as Martin spoke. The way he spoke about his wife was so moving, maybe she needed to try and bottle these feelings, get them down on paper later on. See if they could actually inspire her to write.

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