Читать книгу Idle Lies - Lian Knight - Страница 15

Tuesday, 3 October

AS THE SHIFT FINISHED, Kate felt decidedly better but the reality of the bare home she would return to was a cold and stark reminder. A catch-up with the girls would at least give her time away and she felt a little more assured as she sat with her friend Angela at their regular table at the Hummingbird Cafe. Gradually, however, she felt the despair return and stared despondently into her coffee.

‘I can’t believe he did this, Angela,’ she said, her usually cheerful face drawn. ‘I can’t believe I didn’t recognise the signs.’

Kate drew her coffee closer and wrapped her hands around the cup, feeling its warmth soak into her skin. She peered into the froth, as if it were tea leaves that might tell her how she had come to face this predicament and what the future might be. But the cappuccino wasn’t giving up any of its secrets.

Angela gazed at her friend for a moment in thoughtful silence. Kate’s eyes had dark circles beneath them and her hair, normally tied neatly into a ponytail, had loosened from the band’s grasp and was settling somewhat untidily around her ears. Her lips were downturned and she looked as if she was about to cry.

Angela reached over and touched her. ‘Sometimes you just can’t see these things coming,’ she said.

Kate lifted her hand and clasped it over her friend’s. ‘I was so blind. Everything was normal, just your usual everyday things. He never said he was unhappy!’

Angela nodded, listening quietly. Kate was her closest companion, aside from Jason, and she was glad she could help. What had begun, years ago, as an introduction over a bike group and partners get-together and a chat about shared interests had since transcended into a long and mutually rewarding friendship. Kate admired Angela’s logical and pragmatic approach to life and Angela appreciated Kate’s welcoming and accepting demeanour and her instinctive understanding of those that she cared for. She looked now at the sadness in her friend’s eyes.

Kate hesitated, gathering her words. ‘Everything was fine on our holiday. You know how long I’d been planning it, and he never suggested we shouldn’t go. We laughed, we toured around town, we snorkelled around the reef, we even hired a jet ski and visited an island. I thought we both had a wonderful time. When we got to the second last day he told me we would plan another as soon as we got back. But he’d already emptied the garage!’ A gasp escaped and she covered her mouth.

Angela gave Kate a reassuring look.

‘He never said anything to make me suspect there was no future between us. That’s what makes it so hard. He kept it all a secret. He lied.’ Kate shook her head in disbelief.

The noise in the café grew louder as a group of women near the door suddenly cheered. Angela leaned forward so that she could be heard over the commotion. Her pearl necklace threatened to dip into her cup so she pulled the beads away and tucked them into her satin blouse. Her cheeks glowed against pale, unblemished skin.

‘Prison is full of bad liars,’ she said wisely.

Kate looked at her friend in bewilderment. ‘I don’t understand … he’s not in prison.’

Angela gave her friend a gentle squeeze. ‘It’s a saying. There are different types of liars. Bad liars feel guilty. They feel uncomfortable about lying, and they want the act to be over quickly. So they often give themselves away by their expressions or their awkwardness, or by clumsily changing the topic, which makes it more obvious. That’s where the expression comes from.’

‘Oh,’ said Kate. ‘I see.’

Angela pushed her empty cup away and continued.

‘There are also pathological liars. These liars can’t stop themselves from lying; they tell little lies all the time. They don’t get their facts straight, or they tell different things to different people, and at some point someone compares notes. Eventually their stories don’t add up and they get caught.’ She paused, checking that her friend understood.

Kate nodded.

‘And there are good liars. Good liars don’t lie until they need to, when it’s going to get them something that they really want. They do their homework. They plan ahead, they work out what they’re after and how they’re going to get it, and they only lie when they must.’

Angela let go of Kate’s hand and adjusted her chair as a waitress edged past with fresh coffees destined for a table nearby. When she returned her gaze, her friend was deep in thought.

‘Oh,’ said Kate again. ‘So what type of liar is Matt? I can’t remember him planning anything, and that’s floored me.’ She gently massaged her forehead with the tips of her fingers. ‘I don’t think he is a pathological liar. And he couldn’t be a bad liar or it would have come out. If he had been one of these I would have seen it. But he can’t be a good liar either – he can’t even get himself organised on time for work. He just does things on the spur of the moment.’

‘Does he?’ asked Angela, tilting her head. ‘That TV he got recently. What was it?’

‘The latest Ultra High Definition with OLED,’ said Kate, hearing herself repeating Matt’s sales pitch. ‘It’s the best in the market.’

‘Exactly. So how did he manage to get the best? He planned it. He researched it. He did the homework.’

‘So?’ said Kate perplexed. ‘That doesn’t make him a liar.’

‘What did he tell you about it before he bought it?’

‘Not much. Just that he’d get a budget one with good picture quality.’

‘Were those his precise words?’ Angela quizzed.

Kate thought for a moment. ‘I thought he said … budget. I didn’t take a lot of notice, I was too concerned that we couldn’t afford it, on top of the house repayments. I remember him saying it was okay, it had reasonable quality. Turns out it was the best one on the market – the most expensive.’

‘Budget one, or best for the budget?’ quizzed Angela. ‘Sometimes the hardest lies to catch are those that are misleading. They are sort of telling the truth, but they are told in a way that leaves a false impression. Or they just leave some important facts out. This makes these liars very skilled in their deceptions. They tell you what you want to hear.’

Kate sighed, and rested her head in her palms. ‘I didn’t see it coming. I should have studied psychology more closely like you did.’

‘I didn’t study much more than you, I just make observations about people. The best liars are masterminds at this game, and they can deceive all of us. Their lies are not just clever – they can be considered well in advance and remain hidden or dormant until they need them.’ She lowered Kate’s hands back onto the table, grasping them again tightly. ‘But if it’s any consolation, I didn’t pick it either.’

Kate’s shoulders slumped.

‘You’re a good person,’ said Angela. ‘You’re smart. You’re caring. You’re strong. You’re a wonderful and passionate nurse. You didn’t do anything wrong. It will take a little while, but you will get over this.’

Kate felt a single tear trickle down her cheek. She opened her mouth to speak but something was lassoing her throat.

‘It’s okay.’ Angela gave her another consoling squeeze. ‘It just takes time. If you are feeling really low, I can prescribe you something to make you sleep. If you rest, you will feel more on top of things.’

‘Thank you,’ Kate said at last, drying her eyes. ‘I don’t need any medication, just a little support.’

‘You don’t have to explain. That’s what friends are for.’

‘Hello!’ a voice said suddenly. Two young women appeared at their table, their faces a mixture of wellbeing and concern. The taller girl, dressed neatly in office attire, stretched over and kissed Kate on the cheek, holding her decorative cotton scarf close to her chest so that it didn’t knock the items on the table. She slipped a single wisp of brown hair behind her ear to join the rest of her long plait and stood up. ‘I’m so sorry to hear your news. It’s awful, I can’t believe it.’

‘It’s alright, Lauren.’ She reached over and helped pull out a chair for her.

Lauren Kerr stepped back to allow the shorter girl to come forward.

‘I’m sorry too. Oops!’ cried the other as her security pass catapulted itself from her top pocket into Kate’s cup, spraying coffee onto the tablecloth. ‘Now look what I’ve done. These badges are such a damn nuisance.’

Kate and Angela both reached forward to mop up the mess.

‘Don’t worry Lucy, it’s no big deal,’ said Kate. ‘There’s a spare chair over at the next table. Just grab that and I will order fresh drinks.’

Lucy collected the chair and plonked herself down, not bothering to straighten her uniform. ‘I am so clumsy, I always botch things up,’ she said sheepishly.

Angela wiped the security pass with a napkin and gave it back to her. ‘Here you are, Miss Snyder,’ she said. ‘I hope it will still work.’

‘Thanks. The place is so lax they wouldn’t know which cleaners were coming or going,’ said Lucy derisively. ‘I can borrow one if I need to.’

‘These passes are as tough as cockroaches,’ said Lauren, sitting down. ‘You can’t destroy them, and they have an art of disappearing when you most need them so that you are continuously locked out.’ She pulled her own badge from her bag and displayed it proudly. ‘I planned to superglue mine to my forehead but it might affect my future career prospects, so I think I’ll wait for the chip implant.’

‘Really?’ said Lucy. Her eyes widened, making her long eyelashes look even longer. ‘They’ll do that?’

The other girls chuckled.

‘Don’t laugh!’ mused Angela. ‘You never know, it might become my next line of business, badges surgically inserted or removed!’

‘Guys, I’m so glad you’re here,’ said Kate, and for a few moments her face was a picture of relief. ‘I didn’t want to face this on my own.’

‘How did it happen?’ Lauren asked. ‘You two seemed rock solid.’

Kate relayed the events as they had unfolded. Her friends listened attentively as she explained her feelings of sheer disbelief when she had returned to the house to find it almost completely empty and her bag still lying unpacked from the trip.

‘What a jerk,’ Lucy said, after Kate had finished. ‘He’s the front runner for “Arsehole of the Year”, I reckon. How could you come back from a holiday and do that?’ She screwed up her face and her hazel eyes flashed.

Kate shook her head. ‘That’s the thing, he planned it. I don’t know if he got someone to clean out the garage while we were away, or if he did it before we left and trusted I wouldn’t go in there and discover it. The rest of the house was already organised to start first thing yesterday. Less than six hours after he announced he was leaving, he and the furniture were gone.’

Lucy scowled. ‘Okay, I am going to call it ahead of the vote count. He just won the award hands down – that’s pathetic. It was nice of him to leave you the bed.’

‘I don’t know why he did that,’ said Kate, her eyes misting. ‘He must have something better.’

Angela watched as a dark cloud returned over her friend. ‘I’ve got some spare furniture in storage,’ she offered. ‘A divan and a kitchen setting. I took them out of the house while the renovations were happening, and I haven’t put them back. Why don’t you use them for the meantime? My brother can help bring them over.’

Kate’s spirits lifted slightly. ‘Thank you, I might take you up on that. I just don’t know what to do next.’

Lauren sat quietly studying the table, deep in thought. ‘You said her name was Bridie,’ she said at last. ‘I think I might have met her.’

Kate’s eyebrows rose involuntarily. ‘You did?’

‘A girl named Bridie came into our office to order business cards. She works at the electrical wholesaler, right?’

‘I don’t know …’ Kate still knew nothing about the woman Matt had deserted her for.

Lauren pushed on. ‘I offered her some new designs, but she was adamant it had to be the company layout and colour, that bright pink they have. She placed a big order and then she left. I didn’t know who she was until I saw her with Matt a few weeks ago.’

‘You saw her with him?’ Kate said, swallowing hard. She did a mental calculation. ‘A few weeks ago, before we went on holiday?’ Her face paled.

Lauren nodded slowly. ‘I wasn’t aware that anything was going on. Lucy and I were getting lunch at The Republican – you know, that new restaurant that has opened, when Matt and this girl walked in. They sat near the window so they didn’t see us. She was wearing the company uniform, and Matt, being an electrician, I assumed he was working, ordering stock or something.’ She turned to Lucy. ‘What did you think?’ she asked.

‘Well, they weren’t holding hands or anything like that,’ Lucy volunteered.

Kate was not convinced. ‘Why would he meet an office girl in a restaurant?’ she asked, frowning.

‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘Come to think of it, she did look a bit young to be a business manager.’

Kate’s brow furrowed. ‘How old do you think she is?’

‘I would say about twenty,’ Lucy blurted.

Kate’s eyes lit with shock. When they had met, at twenty-four, she was a year older than Matt and Paul had often jested that Kate was a cougar. Now, eight years on, this girl was eleven years Matt’s junior.

‘She’s nineteen,’ Lauren said quietly. ‘When she got the company card out to pay, her driver’s licence fell out.’

Kate gulped. It was worse.

‘We could be wrong,’ said Lucy quickly. ‘We couldn’t see that well. After all, they were by the window and there were several tables of people between us.’

‘You didn’t go over?’

‘No, we were talking,’ said Lauren. ‘But I am sure it was her.’ She put her hand gently on Kate’s elbow. ‘I thought it was business. Maybe it was.’ She hesitated as she thought this through. ‘Business that turned personal and intimate just before you went away? Maybe not. We just didn’t recognise the signs.’

‘Neither did I,’ said Kate woefully. ‘Angela and I were just discussing liars and their secrets before you arrived. Good liars are very good at deceiving,’ she said, nodding to her friend. She paused and then nibbled on her lower lip. ‘That’s funny, I just remembered what I found this morning,’ she said frowning. ‘When I dressed, I rescued a shoe that was jammed under the bed. As I collected it, I saw a shiny thing wedged in the carpet behind the bedhead. It must have slipped off my bedside table – when I had one,’ she added dejectedly. Reaching into her purse, she pulled it out and held it up.

The girls gasped.

‘Can I see that?’ asked Angela. Kate handed it to her and she examined it carefully. ‘That looks like a real diamond ring.’

‘It couldn’t be real,’ said Kate. We couldn’t afford it, and although we’ve been together a long time, Matt wouldn’t think to buy me a –’ She stopped, and an awful thought came to her.

‘You should get it valued,’ said Lauren, stepping in. ‘Just in case.’

Angela passed the ring back to Kate. ‘I have an old family friend who is a jeweller. Why don’t you show it to him? I can arrange a time.’

Kate sighed. ‘I guess it can’t hurt.’

Angela rose from her chair and, leaning down, rested her head against Kate’s and gave her a big hug. ‘Anything we can do to help.’

Kate closed her eyes. ‘Thanks,’ she said.

‘Hey, sweetheart,’ Angela said, ‘I’ve got a couple of house calls to do tonight, I need to get going. I’ve got clinic in the morning, but I could swing by after that, if you like. And I’ll give Tony a call, maybe we can see him next week.’

‘That would be good,’ said Kate, reaching up and squeezing Angela’s hands. ‘I have the same shifts for the next fortnight, so I’ll be finished at three.’

‘Perfect.’ Angela slipped on her jacket and waved goodbye.

‘Let’s talk about something else and give you a break,’ said Lauren, as they watched Angela make her way out. ‘Guess what, Kate!’ She stole a sideways glance at Lucy. ‘Can I blurt?’ she asked excitedly, and then continued without waiting for an acknowledgement. ‘Lucy has a new job! At The Republican!’