The Other Side of the Door by Nicci French (best novels to read for students .txt) 📕

‘What do you mean?’ Sonia sounded very calm, genuinely interested in what he had to say.

‘Have you heard from him, Bonnie? Did he ever answer your message?’

‘No.’ That at least was true.

‘It’s not good enough.’

‘You know what he’s like,’ I said. ‘He’s probably gone off with his band.’

‘He’s not with his band.’ We turned to Joakim. ‘I went to one of their gigs a couple of days ago. He wasn’t there. They had a crap evening, I can tell you,’ he added with relish. ‘Without Hayden, they’re nothing.’

‘I don’t know why you’re not more worried.’ This was Sonia again. I stared at her with incredulity. ‘I mean, how long’s it been?’

‘Only a week,’ I said. Then, through the fog of my thoughts, I grasped what she was doing: my normal, natural reaction should be anxiety. ‘Actually, maybe that’s quite a long time,’ I added.

‘It certainly is, for people who take their responsibilities seriously!’ Amos’s voice rose. Sonia laid a hand on his shoulder, and I could see how she soothed him. The tension left him and he smiled gratefully at her, and she smiled back, and I thought: They’re having a love affair, or if they aren’t they will be soon. More than that, they’d be good for each other—or, at least, Sonia would be good for Amos, calming his intemperate nature, not minding his irritability. She’d look after him, because that was what she was good at and what she took pleasure in doing. I hadn’t been like that with Amos, and with Hayden there had been nothing rational or patient about us. We’d been heading for a wall together. But still: my ex-partner, the man I had thought I would maybe live with for ever—or, at least, as near to for ever as someone like me could imagine—and my closest friend. Closer than ever now. My accomplice, bound to me by guilt and secrecy. The thought shot through me: Has she told him? As if she sensed my concern, Sonia turned her head and gave me a quick, private smile.

‘Wherever Hayden’s got to, we should carry on as if he isn’t coming back,’ I said. ‘We can do it without him. Joakim can play guitar. The rest of us can fill in the gaps.’

‘No,’ said Joakim. He was almost frantic, his thin face flushed with excitement. ‘We can’t just go on without him as if it’s no big deal.’

‘Jo . . .’ began Guy, as if he were a small child, and Joakim swung round.

‘You’re pleased, aren’t you? He showed you up and he made me question my life in a way you didn’t like. You don’t want him to come back, do you?’

‘Don’t be childish.’ But Guy was clearly aghast, and a horribly awkward silence filled the room.

‘Let’s take the second song,’ I said brightly.

‘Joakim’s right, we should probably do something,’ Guy said, making an obvious effort to stay calm.

‘What do you think?’ Sonia turned to Neal, who was hunched on a chair with a hand over his face as if he were nursing toothache.

‘Like Bonnie said, we should assume he’s not coming back and get on without him.’

‘Crap,’ said Joakim. ‘Fucking crap.’

‘Joakim!’

‘He’ll just have gone off somewhere,’ continued Neal. His voice was low and dull and we had to strain to hear what he was saying. ‘That’s who he is. He picks people up and drops them, uses them and uses them up. Let’s get this over with so we can put it all behind us. Hayden’s gone, scarpered. Right?’

‘You’re not in a very jolly mood,’ said Amos, pugnaciously. ‘What’s up?’

‘Second song, you say, Bonnie?’ asked Sonia.

‘We should check his flat,’ said Joakim.

‘He’s right,’ said Sonia.

‘I agree,’ I made myself say, against all my instincts. ‘Something might have happened.’

‘Where is it, though? I thought he was just staying on friends’ floors at the moment.’

‘Bonnie knows,’ said Amos, helpfully. ‘It’s Liza’s flat and Bonnie arranged it. Hayden was staying there while Liza’s travelling—right, Bonnie?’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I tried ringing him there as well. There was no answer.’

‘We’ll just go and have a look, then,’ said Joakim. He wasn’t going to give up. ‘What’s the address?’

‘Now?’

‘When else?’

‘We don’t have a key,’ Sonia objected. ‘We can’t just break in.’

‘No, certainly not,’ I agreed. I had the key on my key-ring, which was in my bag, a few feet from me. I almost thought it would start flashing some message into the room.

‘Why can’t we?’ said Joakim. ‘He might be ill.’

‘Tell you what.’ Guy was talking to his son, trying to make amends for something. ‘Let’s do this sensibly.’ He turned to me. ‘Liza gave you a key, right?’

‘Which I gave to Hayden.’

‘Did she say anything about leaving a spare with a neighbour or anything?’

‘Um, I’m not sure.’

‘I’ll bet she did,’ said Joakim.

‘Why don’t we contact this Liza and ask her if anyone has a spare key? Just tell her Hayden’s away and we need to water the plants.’

‘Contact her?’ I said stupidly.

‘Text her,’ said Joakim.

‘She’s on the other side of the world. I don’t want her to be worried about her flat and lost keys.’

‘What are we going to do, then?’

I took a deep breath and said what I would have said if I hadn’t been the woman who had dragged Hayden’s body out of the flat in a rug. ‘We should go round there and check things are OK.’

‘Right!’ Joakim was on his feet and almost heading for the door.

‘After the rehearsal, Joakim,’ I said, and he subsided.

‘Now let’s practise. Second song.’

SONIA HAD A lovely voice. It had never been trained and it wasn’t perfect by any means but it was strong, slightly husky, and had a plangent tone that suited the music. Also, she had a kind of charisma, the same quality that kept thirty fifteen-year-olds bent over chemistry formulae. Now she sang about her sweetheart, while Neal barely held the tune, Joakim played tempestuously, and Guy lost the beat. She managed to hold the group together as if all she was thinking about was