Chapter 8 - The Little Liar

Alice needed to swim. She’d see more clearly afterward. She felt a sort of rage or fear rise inside her, perhaps both at once. But she couldn’t abandon her client like that, leaving her in the lurch. Lisa sat shaking with her elbows on the desk and her head buried in her hands.

“Let’s take some time to think. You and I. Do you live nearby?”

Lisa gave an address on a boulevard that Alice knew because she used it every time she headed toward the ocean.

“I’ll take you home. I’ll go get my car, I won’t be long, and I’ll let my assistant know you’re staying here.”

When Alice returned, Lisa was sitting on the sofa and her hair was plastered to her face by tears. She was taking little sips of the tea that Naima had brought her. A nod from Naima told Alice that her client had calmed down.

They traveled to her apartment block in silence. Lisa grabbed her bag, stepped out, and leaned against the car door.

“What are you going to do, right now?”

“Walk for a while. And swim.”

Lisa opened her eyes in amazement.

“In this weather? You’re crazy!”

“That’s what my daughter says.”

“How old is she?”

“Three years older than you.”

“So, would it bother you if I came along? I don’t want to be alone.”

“Get back in.”

Alice headed back to the main road.

“If you go swimming, I’ll keep an eye on you. This wouldn’t be a good time for anything to happen to you …”

This was the only reference to their conversation. They went along the coastline until they came to a fishing village. Alice showed her a path along a rocky escarpment. She knew a small inlet nearby.

“Are you happy to walk there?”

“Of course.”

After a few breaststrokes, Alice turned around. Lisa was sitting in the hollow of an overhanging rock. Alice couldn’t take her eyes off this figure huddled against the wind. But why Lange? Her thoughts jostled and barged against each other, Ryan, the video, Seb and the others, Marion, the teachers, Lisa’s parents. She was struggling to get into a rhythm in the water. None of it made any sense.

Don’t get carried away, she reasoned. You never know, it might not mean anything. She’d just had a sudden panic.

Up on the rock, Lisa had lit a cigarette. She was shivering when Alice returned.

“Do you do this a lot?”

“Whenever I can.”

Alice was feeling better already. Her anger had gone. The GPS screen said it would be twenty minutes, the radio was playing a Chet Baker song, Lisa closed her eyes and fell asleep. Her face lolled against the headrest, unselfconscious, her lips slightly parted. She looked like a child. She didn’t wake till they were outside her apartment. Alice parked at the side of the road and cut the engine.

“Lisa, what was said in my office didn’t happen. Unless you decide otherwise.”

The next morning, Lisa called to arrange a meeting.