Page 54 of Cuckoo

Am I on trial for eating my lunch now?I clench my teeth.

‘How long did this go on for?’ Dodgson asks.

‘A few days. And then she started coming by at the end of the day as well, when all the bankers would clock off,’ Maggie goes on.

‘Did you think she knew someone there?’

‘At first I did, yes. I thought she must be dating one of them. They get around, those boys, you know.’

‘Was she ever bothering anybody, speaking to anyone?’

‘Well, no. That’s why I left her to it. It was strange, yes, but she didn’t seem to be doing any harm. Some people just like to have lunch in the same spot every day. I thought maybe she was one of those routine-obsessed types, you know? But then eventually one day she came into the foyer. And she had brought a plastic bag with her, a branded one from the taco place around the corner. She came right up to the desk and smiled at me and said she was dropping off lunch for Noah Coors. I thought it was strange, the wording was a bit weird, you know? Like she was a delivery driver, when she wasn’t? It wasn’t that she was having lunch with him, she was just dropping it off, like a mother would for their child who’d forgotten their lunch.’

This time I do roll my eyes. Just because this woman doesn’t deign to bring her partner lunch doesn’t meanthere’s anything odd about someone who does. So what if I want to drop my hard-working fiancé off a little treat on his lunch break? What’s weird about that?

‘I call up Noah and tell him he has a visitor. He comes downstairs and she’s sitting there. She waves when he comes down as though she knows him, holding up the bag and pointing at it. She tells him she’s got him some lunch. And what’s strange was how he reacted, because he asked her why she would do such a thing. Now, I had someone else waiting to be dealt with at the desk, but I’m a nosy old bird and just had to keep one ear on their conversation. It felt like an episode ofEastEndershappening in front of me.’

This draws a few chuckles from the courtroom and I find myself becoming annoyed. Why are they giving this crazy lady any airtime at all?

‘So what happened after Mr Coors asked why she had brought him lunch?’ Dodgson tries to bring the atmosphere in the room down a notch.

‘Well, he looked awfully confused but thanked her, and she leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek, which he looked a little surprised about, and then left. He took his lunch up with him, so I assumed maybe he did know her after all, that perhaps she was a client.’

‘I see. And do you believe that he was in a relationship with her or that it was some other sort of connection?’

‘Well, to be honest, it’s never been clear to me whether he did know her or not. All I know is that she came again a couple of days later, the exact same scenario: a lunch bag with her and asking to leave it for Noah. But this time whenI called him, he told me to get rid of her, that he didn’t want lunch and to make up an excuse. In fact, he told me specifically not to let her into the building to see him again. He sounded quite annoyed, as though it was my fault! I told Claire I was very sorry, Noah was in a meeting and could not come down, and that it was best that, unless she had prearranged it with him, she did not come again.’

‘And how did Miss Arundale take this news?’

‘Well, not very well at all. She got quite enraged with me, called me an old cow and said that she could see her fiancé any time she damn well pleased. She slammed her hands down on the desk and caused quite a scene.’

I remember this interaction differently. I admit I did call her an old cow, and I don’t regret that. But I didn’t slam my hands down on the desk. I believe I called her an interfering old cow and told her I would be speaking to Noah about it when I got home, but I was still wary of causing a scene and embarrassing him at work so kept it relatively low-key. Of course, when he got home that night we argued about it, I even raised my voice slightly, but he darted around the topic of me dropping off lunch and somehow convinced me to agree not to visit him at the office without checking with him first. He said it distracted him from his work. In hindsight, perhaps that should have been a red flag that he was hiding something from me.

‘Were you afraid of Miss Arundale at any point? What was her behaviour like?’ Dodgson asks Maggie.

‘Well, I was intimidated, yes. She was very upset, her voice was raised and she made a scene. Pulitzer Haas is notthe type of place where that sort of behaviour is often seen, and people waiting in the reception area were all looking over. So I pressed the security button and waited for them to escort her out. She was getting really up close and personal, kept trying to grab the phone out of my hand, demanding to speak to Mr Coors, and then she was saying that he would be getting me fired. Threats being thrown about left, right and centre! It was very upsetting. I’d been in that job for years and never had any sort of confrontation like that before. So then security came and hauled her off!’

She’s exaggerating!!!I write on a piece of notepaper, sliding it across to Grosvenor. She glances down momentarily but does not react otherwise.

‘Hauled physically?’ Dodgson is saying.

‘Yes. They picked her up under her arms and marched her out of there.’

‘Why did they pick her up?’

‘Because she was resisting… She was screaming and kicking and demanding to see her fiancé.’

I tap the note on the table, but Grosvenor still refuses to engage with me.

‘And after all of this had occurred and she was out of the building, then what happened?’

‘Well, I had to file an incident report. I told security to keep an eye out for her, not to let her in if they saw her again. And then I spoke to Noah and he confirmed that he did not want her coming in to see him without an appointment. He said he thought she was someone trying to get a job. I couldn’t get my head around it, to be honest, the idea that this womanwas so adamant he was her fiancé and he was so adamant he didn’t know her. It was bizarre.’

‘It’s fair to say that Miss Arundale came across as quite unstable, then?’

‘Oh, yes,’ Maggie replies. I stop myself from narrowing my eyes at her.

‘Objection! Leading question,’ Grosvenor counters, standing. The judge nods at her.

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