Page 63 of The Soulmate

‘Gabe!’

This snaps him out of it. He looks at me blankly, as if he’d forgotten I was here. ‘What?’

‘What happened?’

‘Sorry,’ he says. ‘Max didn’t believe me when I told him Amanda jumped. He said if I didn’t tell him the truth, he was going to the police.’ He turns back to the view. ‘But then he started asking questions about the USB, and he seemed to forget about the police.’

I squeeze the edges of the cushion. ‘And?’

‘And it occurred to me that I could use it as insurance. To stop him going to the cops.’

‘But you don’t have it.’

‘No. But he doesn’t know that. The important thing is that hethinksI have it.’

He moves away from the back door and sinks onto the couch beside me. He still looks troubled.

‘But he must have been upset when you said you wouldn’t give it to him,’ I say. ‘Surely he’s not just going to accept that?’

‘He wasn’t happy. But he’s a pragmatist. He’ll understand that we have to protect ourselves.’

I’m not so sure. Would Max just let it go? I think of what Gabe said to me the other day.Max isn’t the nice guy everyone thinks he is. I think of what Mei said.Max Cameron is not the kind of enemy you want. He knows some dangerous people.

‘He’s worried the USB will fall into the wrong hands, Pip. But it won’t. It’s gone. Which means Max is safe from whatever is on it . . . and we’re safe from Max.’

‘But are we really safe? If Max is the guy you said he is, surely he’s going to try to get it back?’

Gabe tucks a strand of hair behind my ear and smiles at me. It is supposed to be reassuring, but it misses somehow. I get the feeling that he’s as concerned as I am.

The next question that slips out of me takes me by surprise. Yet I must realise the weight of it, because it comes out so softly evenIcan barely hear it.

‘There’s nothing else is there, Gabe? Nothing you’re not telling me?’

‘No,’ he says. I can see the sense of betrayal in his eyes. ‘There’s nothing.’

He puts his arms around me, and we drift into silence – Gabe in his world, me in mine. I try not to focus on the fact that I’m not sure I believe him.

59

AMANDA

BEFORE

Max and I both reared back as we heard the gunshot.

‘Baz, Jesus. No!’ Max cried. ‘I didn’t give instructions to shoot. I said not to harm him! What are you doing?’

I put a hand on Max’s arm. ‘What is it? What happened?’

But he didn’t meet my eye, and he shook his head to silence me.

‘Baz,’ he repeated. ‘Are you there? What just happened?’

Max listened. His eyes closed. ‘Shit.Shit.’ He walked over to the wall and rested his forehead against it. Then, again: ‘Shit!’

Baz must have continued talking because Max was silent for a while, just nodding. Finally he said: ‘All right. Yes. Call me when it’s done.’

He ended the call, walked around his desk and collapsed into his chair. It took me several minutes of pleading to get him to say anything at all.