Page 82 of Carbon

Black rolled his eyes. “So essentially, you went to meet a stranger for sex?”

His attitude got my back right up. “Haven’t you ever done anything impulsive when you’ve had a few drinks?”

“Like getting married in Vegas?”

“Yeah, exactly like that.”

He held up his left hand to reveal a ring I hadn’t noticed before. “Thirteen years and counting.”

Oh. What kind of woman managed to put up with him for thirteen years? I’d struggle for thirteen minutes.

“I guess that counts.”

“Can we get back onto the subject now? Beau? Your sister?”

“We found her, and he recognised his knife, then when he checked for a pulse, his keys fell out of her hand. He said he’d lost them a couple of months back and Dorothy lent him her spare set so he wouldn’t get into trouble.”

“Check that with Dorothy,” Black instructed Nye. “Then what?”

“Beau said that if the man had his keys, he must have been lurking for two months but he hadn’t noticed. Beau was devastated. I told him not to blame himself, but he did.”

“Anything else? A clue as to why the man went to all this trouble to frame him?”

“Beau said he put the man in prison, and he swore that he’d get revenge by doing the same, except he wasn’t due to be released for...for... I don't know how long, but it wasn’t soon.”

“Did he say what the man went to prison for?”

I racked my brains, but nothing came to me except the horrible sight of Angie lying on Father’s leather sofa. “I don’t think so. Everything from that night’s really hazy.”

“What about your previous encounters? What did he say during those?”

“Not a lot. I mean, we didn’t talk a lot, just...just...”

“Fucked?”

My cheeks burned as colour rose up them. “You don’t need to be so crude.”

“Maybe if you hadn’t held up this search for weeks, I’d show a little more understanding.”

The tears came. I couldn’t help it. I didn’t want to tell them about Ben’s past in case it hindered him, and Black behaving like such an asshole only made me more determined to hold on to the secrets I still had left. Instead, I shoved my chair back and stumbled towards the door.

“Now look what you’ve done.” Emmy glared at him and followed, wrapping an arm around my shoulders as she helped me to the nearest ladies’ room.

She fetched me a wedge of toilet paper as I leaned on the edge of the vanity unit, staring at my blurry self in the mirror. How had everything fallen apart like this?

“I won’t ask if you’re okay, because that’s a stupid question, but is there anything I can do to help?”

“I just want to go home. Well, not home, but back to your apartment. Can I?”

“Of course. I’ll drive you.”

“What about Black? Will he be angry?”

“Don’t worry about him.”

Once I’d dried my eyes as best I could, Emmy led me out through the open-plan office, where curious men and women pretended not to look at me from behind their computer monitors. Emmy shielded me from the worst of the stares, then we were in the lift whizzing down to the basement.

“How will we get back home if you don’t have your car?”

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