Page 9 of Shout Out To My Ex

‘Just having a laugh. I mean, it’s definitely a top-tier agency, and one of the things that makes us special in cases like this is our investigator. She’s a gun.’

‘Excellent.’ Cassie is visibly relieved and sits back against her chair.

‘But just to let you know,’ Nas continues, ‘I’m currently chest-deep in another case, so I’ve asked Poppy here to consider taking yours.’

‘Oh,’ says Cassie.

‘I’d be her second, her lieutenant, so to speak, but it’s Poppy’s decision as to whether we’ll take you on.’

‘Right. Sorry, I thought this meeting was to get started.’

‘On that,’ I say, leaping in before Cassie deflates any further – she’s gone from cheery to gloomy in mere moments. ‘Could you tell us about your sister and her previous partner?’

The question seems to appease her, at least for now, and she directs her response to me. ‘Well…’ She sighs, then chuckles softly. ‘Actually, now I’m stuck on where to start.’

‘How about telling us why you want to find’ – I check the case notes on my tablet – ‘Leo.’

‘That’s an easy one. Because Elle is not just my sister, she’s my closest friend and she’s never been happier than when she was with Leo. They were together for four years when he left suddenly to move back to Texas. And Elle was devastated. Understandably, as they were… You know when you meet a couple and they are completely besotted and complement each other perfectly?’

Nasrin’s head swings in my direction and when I look over, her mouth is quirking. ‘Oh, yeah, I know that type of couple.’ At least she doesn’t go so far as to name me and Tristan outright, but we’re getting off track.

‘It sounds like theirs was a great love,’ I say to Cassie.

‘That’s exactly how I’d put it,’ she says with a slight smile.

‘And I’m guessing she hasn’t been with anyone who’s measured up since?’

‘No. And not for want of trying. Elle’s dating history could be made into a Netflix series. Only the episodes would be about three minutes long. She’s been on more first dates than I’ve had hot dinners.’

Nas and I chuckle at that.

‘But honestly,’ says Cassie, her demeanour becoming earnest, ‘you should have seen them together. It was the real deal, their love. Even though they were young, it felt like they’d be together forever. And Iknowthere must have been a good reason – one we can’t yet fathom – for him leaving out of the blue like that and breaking off all contact. But we can’t find him to ask. And believe me, I’ve helped Elle search for him foryears. I’d all but given up, but then I was chatting with Tova about it recently and she mentioned your agency.’ She turns to Nasrin. ‘She said you matched her with Arty.’

‘Yep, unofficially, but I got it right on the first go,’ says Nasrin without a skerrick of modesty.

‘Getting back to your sister…’ I say, redirecting the conversation.

‘Right. Look, Elle is one of the best people I know – bright, talented, caring – but she’s never been quite herself since Leo left and I…’ Cassie’s voices hitches and she clears her throat. ‘Sorry…’

I intuit that Cassie doesn’t typically display her emotions, particularly to strangers. If I were her psychologist – my profession before I joined the agency – I might delve into that further. But Cassie isn’t my patient.

I pour a glass of water from the jug on the table and pass it to her.

‘Thank you.’ She sips, composing herself, then looks me in the eye. ‘Please help my sister.’

How could I possibly turn her down after that? I’ve taken on cases with far less romantic objectives. These two sound like Westley and Buttercup – destined to be together but torn apart by some mystery circumstance. If I do my job, we’ll have them reunited – and possibly even ‘maweed’ – before they can say ‘Humperdinck’.

That is, if Leo isn’t already loved up. We are not in the business of breaking up relationships to form new ones.

‘We’ll take your case,’ I say, eliciting a grateful sigh coupled with a dimpled grin.

‘Excellent. But just so you know, we may have to hold off a bit.’

‘Oh?’ Nas and I say together. We exchange a glance.

‘Well, it’s just that our fashion label – Bliss Designs – we’ve got a spot at Paris Fashion Week, which was very last-minute and means the previous deadline for our next collection has been bumped up.’

‘Right,’ says Nas, and I can tell she’s peeved. To be fair, this is the first time a client has begged us to take a case and then told us to hold off.

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