Page 80 of Best Served Hot
Forty-Six
Alex was pacing the floor as much as her twelve-square-foot flat would allow. She’d bump into a wall, then turn and go the other way until she hit the opposite wall. Once she’d tired her legs out, she sat down. But it was no good. She had to stand.
She went to the sink and started washing dishes, just to calm herself. All she could do was wait, and it was killing her.
The buzzer rang, and Alex was electrified. She dropped a cup, smashing it into the sink. She considered cleaning it up for about half a second before realising she didn’t care. Nicole was here.
Alex ran to her door and hit the release button for the building entrance. She threw it open, but she couldn’t wait for her visitor to get up the stairs, so she ran to meet her.
She got halfway down the stairwell, spotting Nicole at the bottom, running too. They stopped as their eyes met.
‘He’s done?’ Alex asked nervously.
Nicole smiled and nodded. ‘It’s over.’
Alex bounded down the steps and grabbed hold of Nicole. ‘You maniac. You should have called me. We’d have worked it out.’
‘I couldn’t risk you,’ Nicole said tearfully into her shoulder.
They held each other for a long time on the stairs.
Until one of Alex’s neighbours, a middle-aged trucker called Frank, coughed. ‘Err, do you mind if I just slip by ya?’
‘Oh, sorry, Frank!’ Alex apologised. She turned to Nicole. ‘Come on,’ she grinned.
Nicole returned the smile, taking her hand, and they flew up the stairs together, slamming the door behind them.
***
In bed, sometime later, they finally got to talking. ‘How did you know?’ Nicole asked, holding Alex in her arms. She was as tall as Nicole was petite, but somehow, she fit just right.
Alex adjusted herself to be able to look into Nicole’s dark eyes. ‘I got lucky. I was racking my brain for something I might have seen when I worked for him, and I really couldn’t think of anything. He’d have handled his fake expenses solo. I never saw anything dodgy. It was our little staged accident on the set that tipped me off. Lena reminded me when she came to see me.’
‘The fake fall?’ Nicole asked.
Alex nodded. ‘I saw his face when Lena mentioned ringing the insurance company. He was sweating. An accident on set is a big deal. As well I know. But his face… He looked terrified. And I know it wasn’t because he gave a shit about my neck being broken. It had to be more.’
‘And you knew from just that?’ Nicole asked, stunned.
‘I didn’t know anything. It was blind luck. But there had to be something. And I had to find it,’ Alex explained.
‘You certainly did,’ Nicole agreed, looking briefly unsettled. ‘He might have had that over you for the rest of your life.’ Nicole reached for Alex’s hand, squeezing it tight as though worried Alex might somehow disappear.
Alex looked rueful. ‘I know this is gonna sound… It was just as important to me that…’ She sighed. ‘I wanted to get back to you. If there was a way.’
Nicole blinked away tears and kissed Alex’s hair. She laughed. ‘Thank God for Lena.’
Alex chuckled. ‘Yeah. Thank God for her.’
‘You like her now?’
‘Love her. Top of my Christmas card list. BFFs for life,’ Alex said with a half-smile.
Nicole looked nervous. ‘Then I hope you won’t mind that I said you’d hire her on your movie.’
Alex gaped. ‘What?!’
‘I thought you loved her now?!’ Nicole exclaimed. ‘I said if she helped us, you’d be grateful.’
