Page 94 of The First Mistake

‘No. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to see either of you after a ten-hour flight. I thought you’d both go straight home.’

‘Has he called in?’ asks Alice.

‘Hold on,’ Lottie says, poking her head around the door. ‘Has anyone spoken to Nathan this afternoon?’ she calls out across the open-plan office. It’s an innocent enough question, and one which just a week ago would have been quite normal. But now it feels accusatory, as if she’s tracking him. Lottie’s question is met with shaking heads and nonplussed expressions.

Alice tries to call Nathan one more time, but it goes straight to his answerphone. Her fingers tap thoughtfully on her phone case.Where are you, Nathan?she says to herself. She looks out the window, to the car park below, and can just about make out Sophia’s fast-moving digits operating the phone in her lap as she sits in Alice’s car, waiting.

‘I’ll be back in one minute,’ she says to no one in particular. She runs down the stairs, back to her car, and knocks on Sophia’s window, making her daughter jump.

‘Roll the window down,’ mouths Alice impatiently, as she watches her daughter roll her eyes.

‘What?’ says Sophia gruffly.

Alice doesn’t have time to deal with her daughter’s bad mood, caused, no doubt, by something she’s seen on social media.

‘Can you get that Chatsnap thing of yours up?’ she asks her.

‘Yeah, why?’ asks Sophia, her tone loaded with suspicion.

‘Because I could really do with finding Nathan,’ says Alice, stopping herself short from saying anything more. Sometimes the more words you use, the more mistrust you create.

Sophia looks at her through narrowed eyes. ‘What for?’

‘Can you do it or not?’ asks Alice impatiently.

‘Jeez, chill your beans,’ says Sophia as she swipes her thumb and moves her fingers at lightning speed.

‘Watch who you’re talking to,’ warns Alice. ‘I’m not one of your mates.’

‘It looks like he’s somewhere on Park Lane in London,’ she says hesitantly. ‘The Hilton.’

Alice wants to ask if he’s in bed with someone. After all, this app seems to be able to show a myriad of other activities. ‘Thank you,’ is all she says. ‘I’ll see if I can reach him there.’

‘Mum, is everything okay?’ Sophia asks, with more than a hint of worry in her tone.

Alice forces a smile. ‘Of course, why wouldn’t it be?’

‘Do you promise?’ asks Sophia, her sassy attitude suddenly replaced by the vulnerability of someone half her age.

It takes all of Alice’s resolve not to pull her daughter to her and hold her tight. Instead she crosses her fingers behind her back and hopes her smile reaches her eyes.

‘Yes darling, I promise.’

38

‘Just tell me the truth,’ Alice demands loudly after dinner has been cleared away, her patience spent.

‘I promise, Mummy, I haven’t done anything,’ cries Olivia.

‘So why are another little girl and her parents saying that you did? You cannot go around hurting people Olivia, with wordsoractions. I will not stand for it.’

‘But I’m not, Mummy! Phoebe is mean tome.’

‘We’re not talking about Phoebe,’ says Alice. ‘We’re talking about another girl who thinks you’re being mean toher. Honestly, Olivia, I will not be called in by the school to be told that you’re a bully.’

‘I’m not a bully,’ she screams, before running up the stairs and slamming her bedroom door.

‘Right, that’s it young lady. You stay in there until the morning and by then you’d better be ready to tell me the truth.’

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