Page 23 of The Day After Christmas
‘He’s coming to take me out for dinner.’
‘Brilliant. Proud of you.’
‘Thank you for being here,’ said Felicity, her voice raspy in her throat. And then, ‘Buggeration.’
‘What? What happened?’ said James.
A wave of panic washed down Felicity’s spine. ‘Shouldn’t I have asked him twenty questions or something? You know, to prove he really is who he says he is? What if this is all some kind of scam.’
She cast her eyes around wildly as if looking for a hidden camera. Tissue confetti fluttered to the floor.
‘But I thought you said you recognised him,’ said James calmly.
‘I thought I did, but I was only six, right? I mean, I have these vague memories all jumbled up in my head but I don’t really know, do I? He could be any old bloke. He could be an axe murderer, come to prey on me in my vulnerable state.’
‘It’s just dinner,’ said James. ‘Relax. If you like I can come?’
‘Thanks, but I think I have to do this alone.’
CHAPTER 14
Charlie was transfixed by the new rabbits that had been dropped off by the RSPCA. He couldn’t take his eyes off them in fact. Felicity could hardly blame him for that. They were mega-cute. Six miniature lops, huge fluffy feet and long droopy ears, and the softest grey fur. And a raggedy old pigeon with a twisted beak that Charlie instantly and very proudly named Half Pint.
Felicity smiled when she walked past their room and found Charlie staring down at the rabbits, long after his shift had ended.
‘Don’t you have a home to go to?’ she whispered gently, walking up behind him.
‘I don’t know how either of you ever go home,’ he whispered back and she could hear the smile in his voice. They stood side by side for a moment, staring down at the tiny balls of fluff who were lolloping their way slowly around the enclosure, nibbling up tiny morsels of dropped food and looking thoroughly at home already.
‘When are you going to ask me?’ said Charlie suddenly, not taking his eyes from the rabbits.
‘Ask you what?’ said Felicity, wondering what he was about to insinuate or whether he could read her thoughts.
‘What I did, of course,’ he said flatly.
‘I always thought that was terribly bad form.’
Charlie laughed lightly. ‘You watch too many movies.’
Felicity shrugged. ‘That’s certainly true, yes.’
They walked reluctantly away from the rabbits. When they reached the staff room, Charlie turned to her, an earnest look in his eyes.
‘It’s fine to ask me. I’d rather you did. I can feel you wanting to.’
‘I do want to…’ said Felicity.Tread carefully.‘But I really don’t feel like I have a right to know, Charlie. It’s totally up to you what you tell people.’
Charlie blew out a breath. ‘I hacked into a retail site and ordered a lot of stuff on other people’s credit cards. Expensive shit. Laptops, tablets, smartwatches. My parents’ faces when it all turned up on a lorry. Priceless, basically.’
‘Okay…’
As he spoke, Charlie’s eyes were flashing with something she couldn’t quite determine. Something like pride, perhaps. Or was it shame?
‘The thing is, I don’t even know why I did it. It’s not like I needed the money. And I couldn’t sell the stuff after that, so it all sat there in our garage, can you imagine? Until it got seized anyways.’
‘You really don’t know why?’
‘I was just bored, I guess.’
