Chapter Eighteen
B ea was awoken at six twenty-three by someone banging on her door. She shook her head, trying to clear away sleep. “What?” she shouted.
“Can I open the door?” It was Josh.
She looked down and found herself fairly presentable. “Yes.”
He came in, closing the door behind him, taking a quick look around. “Daria not here?”
“You know I don’t have a class until nine, right?” Bea asked, sitting up in bed. “Also, why would Daria be here?”
“Sleepover?” he guessed. “Or maybe the two of you had a thing going on, I’m not one to judge.”
“Oh, you’re not, are you?”
He looked stung. “Do you mean you haven’t guessed I’m gay? I’m insulted. I thought it was obvious. I’m not hiding it or anything.”
“Nor are you walking around in rainbow t-shirt with a him-bo on your arm,” said Bea. “And can we get back to the matter in hand? I thought Daria had a thing with Luke.”
“She does. Did. I don’t know. He’s going spare.” Josh parked himself on the end of her bed. “And Daria’s just gone.”
“What?” Bea yawned.
“She’s gone. She was supposed to do a pre-breakfast meditation session with a couple of the programmers and she never showed up. ”
Bea felt a shiver of something inside her. A disappeared woman was never a good thing. Josh saw the look on her face.
“Don’t worry, I don’t think anything terrible’s happened. I checked her room first thing and she’s cleared it out. Most likely she’s just done a runner. The question is where to. And what are we supposed to do now, I suppose.”
“Just… left?” Bea asked. Maybe it was shocking to her because she’d never considered it. Or maybe just because she needed the job so badly.
“Looks like it,” said Josh. “Keep an eye out for Luke. He’s not a happy camper right now.”
“His girlfriend’s walked out on him.”
“Yeah, fair enough. Don’t suppose you’ve got any idea where she might have gone?”
Bea shook her head. “Honestly, I’ve swapped maybe five words with her since I got here. She wasn’t exactly welcoming.”
“Hmm. Kept herself to herself, didn’t she?” Josh said. “I always reckoned it was because she was sleeping with the boss, thought she was above us and all that. But maybe she had her own thing going on.”
“Maybe indeed,” said Bea. “Listen, I’ll get up and come down for breakfast. What time’s the whole group meditation thing supposed to start?”
“Not until after lunch.”
“You need me to do it?”
“Maybe,” he allowed. “I might be able to take it on myself. You’ve got your group therapy to handle.”
“Right.” Bea reached out and took his hand, squeezing it. “We’ll figure it out. I need this job. We’ll have to.”
“You’re not the only one,” Josh said. “But thanks, I appreciate your help. Phone working alright?”
She frowned and then remembered just in time. “Yes, just fine.” Which made her think of something else.
Alli had her phone. Was it a coincidence that she was planning on leaving at the same time as Daria disappeared? God, she hoped Alli hadn’t done anything stupid. Maybe she’d taken Daria hostage or something.
“You alright there?” Josh asked.
“Yeah, fine, totally fine,” said Bea. “But if you don’t get out of here, you’re going to get a free show.”
He held his hands up. “I’m going, I’m going.”
“So flattering,” Bea grinned.
“Nothing personal, love,” he said, getting up. “Wouldn’t know what to do with it if I saw it.”
“Again, not incredibly flattering.”
He was laughing as he left.
She waited for the door to close and then sprang out of bed. She needed to check on Alli, see if she was really gone. And if she was… Well, Bea thought she might have some explaining to do. She couldn’t think of a single earthly reason why Alli would have taken Daria with her, but she couldn’t stay silent on the matter, not if something bad might have happened.
???
“I. Will. Fucking. Kill. Her.” Alli threw open another door to another empty room. Not here either.
In her heart of hearts, she knew that the search was futile. Daria was gone. Gone to god knows where and taking Alli’s money with her. It had been a scam and Alli had fallen for it. She hated herself for that. Hated herself for being so desperate that she hadn’t even considered that Daria might be lying to her.
She slammed the door and went to the next one on the corridor. The entire third floor of the building was very clearly empty, but she wasn’t going to fall for any other cunning plans. She was going to search each and every room on the off chance that Daria was hiding out in one of them.
Maybe slamming all these doors would make her less likely to put her hands around the neck of the next person she saw. That was a big maybe though. Anger was seething inside her, roiling and rolling around her stomach, making her grit her teeth and breathe through her nose.
She didn’t know what she was going to do. She wanted to hunt the woman down, make her pay for all of this. But first she had to find her.
???
Bea pasted a smile on her face and walked into the dining room. The normal buffet was laid out and her stomach grumbled. She didn’t have time for food though. Izzy was eating a hard-boiled egg at the table, and Charles was reading a newspaper.
“Good morning,” Bea said brightly.
“Morning,” Izzy said.
“Morning,” said Charles.
“Um, any sign of Alli?” asked Bea.
“Why?” Izzy said, scooping up a spoonful of egg.
“Um… no real reason. Just… something about group therapy.” Jesus, if she was going to start lying she was going to have to forward plan a bit better.
“We were supposed to have breakfast,” Izzy said, seeming to accept Bea’s excuse. “But she didn’t show up.”
Bea’s stomach sank. “Oh well, I’ll, um, I’ll check upstairs for her.”
“You can,” said Izzy. “But I don’t think she’s there. I knocked and she didn’t answer.”
“Maybe she overslept,” Charles said.
But Bea had a horrible feeling that she hadn’t.
She made her excuses and went as fast as she could without running up the stairs to the wing where the programmers were accommodated. The first few doors had names on them, the fifth didn’t. Alli had been a late addition, she remembered.
She threw open the door without knocking and then drew a full breath to calm herself. Clothes were strewn over the desk. The bed hadn’t been made. If Alli had left, she’d taken nothing with her. And that didn’t seem like Alli at all.
If she was still here, where was she?
Bea sat down on the edge of the bed to think, unconsciously sniffing, drinking in Alli’s guava scent. The smell calmed her and excited her at the same time. She found herself smiling and promptly wiped it off her face.
Which was when she heard noises from above. Doors slamming. She grinned. She knew where to find Alli.
???
Alli turned at the end of the corridor. She was all out of doors. Which was when she saw the figure coming toward her. She growled. “What do you want?”
“What are you doing?” Bea asked.
“Looking for Daria, what are you doing?”
“Same,” Bea said, but she was obviously lying.
“Right. Looking for me, more like it. What are you up to?” asked Alli suspiciously.
“Why aren’t you gone?” Bea came a little closer.
“What business is it of yours?”
“I was just wondering,” Bea said. “Since Daria seems to be gone, I thought you might have gone together, or maybe…” She trailed off.
Alli laughed. “You thought I’d kidnapped her? I might if I ever see the bitch again. She stole my money.”
“What?” Bea stopped about a meter away.
Alli hadn’t meant to confess this, hadn’t wanted to tell anyone. She was ashamed now, and the shame made her angry. “The bitch made me pay her to get out of here and then ran off with my money. Happy now?”
“No,” Bea said slowly.
“Going to cry about it, then?” asked Alli. “You do a lot of crying.”
“I do not. ”
Alli stepped closer. “I’ve seen you cry twice and I’ve only been here three days.”
“I don’t cry a lot,” Bea said. Her cheeks were starting to flush, she was getting angry too. The thought pushed Alli forward.
“Do you not? You look like a crybaby to me. And now you’re interfering with my life. Why don’t you get out of here and leave me alone?”
“Why don’t you ask nicely?” Bea said.
Alli took another step forward and Bea blinked but didn’t move. “I don’t get you. You seem all meek and mild and yet you don’t seem to have a problem snapping at me, do you? Why is that, do you think?” Alli kept her voice cool, calm. She was going to snap soon, she was sure, she could feel the anger in her belly, the heat of it.
“You bring out the worst in me,” said Bea, taking one step back now and finding the wall behind her.
Alli stepped in so that she was centimeters from Bea’s nose. “Oh, I do, do I?” she purred.
And Bea was just standing there, her eyes dark and flashing, her cheeks pink, her hair tickling at Alli’s nose and suddenly Alli felt a shift inside her. Suddenly she felt a heat building that had nothing to do with anger and everything to do with… something else.
“Piss off and leave me alone,” Bea said, her voice tight with anger.
But Alli didn’t.
It was like she was being controlled by something or somebody else. It was like she couldn’t help herself, like she was pulled forward by some kind of super-magnet. Because in a millisecond she was crushing her lips against Bea’s and then, unthinkingly, Bea was responding and the heat was building and Alli’s hands were grasping Bea’s waist and pulling her in and Bea was scrabbling hot fingers under the hem of Alli’s shirt and for just a moment, Alli understood the world.