Chapter Sixty-Nine
With tears streaming down her face, Emme ran down the steps from Chalet Stern to the centre of town, breathless, shocked, panicking, as she clutched her cheek and wondered what the hell had just happened.
She ran straight to the Steinherrhof hotel near the station, where Tiago was helping guests check in at the start of his night shift.
‘Breakfast is served from seven am over there in the restaurant,’ he said with a genial smile as he gave the guests their key cards and called for the bellhop to take the couple and their cases to their room.
As he spoke he saw Emme come through the doors crying, eyes red and face flushed.
She slumped into an armchair in the corner of reception.
‘Are you OK?’ Tiago asked, rushing over as soon as he was free.
Emme covered her face and sobbed.
‘I have nowhere else to go!’ She knew she could have gone to Cat but she wasn’t ready for Cat to be right.
Tiago perched on the arm of the chair and put an arm around Emme.
‘Hey hey, you’re OK here. What’s the matter? What’s happened?’
He moved to the chair opposite and sat down, squeezing her knee as he rubbed it.
‘She hit me!’ Emme sobbed.
‘Who? Who hit you?’
‘My boss, Lexy, she slapped me!’ Emme shook her head.
‘Are you kidding?’ Tiago looked around. ‘Are you OK?’
Emme looked shell-shocked, and shook her head.
Tiago whistled to the restaurant manager, and asked that she watch the front desk for a second.
‘Sure,’ she nodded.
Emme sobbed. She wasn’t OK. Tristan had got the former nanny pregnant and her boss had just slapped her.
‘Not really.’
Tiago leaned his elbows on his thighs.
‘Why did she hit you?’ He could see the redness from Lexy’s slap on her cheek.
‘Because she’s a psycho. She turned all weird on me because … because of …’ Emme looked like she might be sick. ‘Because of Tristan.’
Tiago frowned. He didn’t approve of the guy, but he wouldn’t slap anyone over it.
‘I don’t know what to do. I can’t go back there. Not until Bill’s home. I don’t want to be on my own with her.’
Then she realised she’d probably lost her job after what she’d said.
Could she go to Vitreum and wait there until Monday?
No chance. She thought of Vivian Steinherr running out of the Kivvi party in tears. She had already known Tristan Du Kok wasn’t a safe bet. She shook her head and cried. How could she be so stupid?
‘Hey, I can see if we have a room here?’
Emme knew that rooms at the Steinherrhof cost at least 400 francs a night.
‘I can’t …’
‘You can. If there’s one available I’ll put you on the manifest, you don’t have to pay for it, and my manager, he won’t know.
But I gotta check we have a room first, I’ve only just come on shift …
’ Tiago walked over to the desk, thanking the restaurant manager for covering, who went back to the bustling restaurant.
He scrolled the screen with his syrupy gaze while he concentrated. Then he beckoned Emme over.
‘Room 319, easy.’
‘Tiago, I can’t.’
‘We don’t lose money if the room’s empty. It’s fine. No hotel ever gets walk-ins in this town. It’s available. It’s a safe space. Don’t be weird about it.’
Emme smiled. She’d heard Tiago say ‘Don’t be weird about it’ before and liked his friendly bluntness.
He put a swipe card into a machine for room 319 and handed it over to Emme, along with three tissues he pulled expeditiously from the box on the desk.
‘Thank you …’ she said reluctantly.
‘Take your time, no hurry. I can go get some of your things for you if you want, on my break …’
‘No it’s fine, really.’
‘I could call Cat?’
‘No – really – I’ll work out what to do …’ Except she had no clue. She felt a terrible wrench about walking out on the children, but there was no way she could go back.
Emme looked at her phone. A missed called from Tristan. He was expecting her to call him back. Lexy hadn’t messaged. Why was she so furious with Emme when it was Tristan who had done that to Jenny?
*
Up in her cosy and plush room, Emme sat on the bed and thought about calling her mum.
She thought about calling Tom. Their last conversation had been cut short, and for the first time in weeks she pined to speak to him, to seek his counsel, but she couldn’t.
She was so embarrassed. She thought about Tristan, and how he had lied to her about Jenny.
As seamlessly as he had lied to Vivian about sleeping with Anastasia.
‘Motherfucker,’ she muttered to herself as she turned on the TV, not excited by anything she scrolled through.
Emme couldn’t get Jenny Jones out of her head.
What had she looked like? Lexy had left no trace of her, no photos or keepsakes for the children from a nanny they must have spent a lot of time with.
When had it started with Tristan? How had he made her come?
What was she feeling, back in England and pregnant? Emme felt sick just thinking about it.
Emme looked at her phone at a loss. Then she remembered the BUZZ doorbell footage and felt compelled to know more. Except Lexy said the app only saved video for thirty days, Jenny’s history would be exactly that. History.
As Emme washed her face at the limestone sink, she examined her reflection in the mirror.
She took a plump fresh flannel and soaked it under the hot water, before pressing it to her cheek.
The warmth felt like a soothing salve. As she removed the flannel she could still see a red mark from where Lexy had slapped her. Maybe she had asked for it.
No, I hadn’t.
As she tried to soothe the red mark away, Emme thought about Lexy’s increasing volatility; how her tacit disdain had escalated into vocal admonishments.
She examined her eyes and had an epiphany.
Bella had accidentally bought the ninety-day BUZZ upgrade on the iPad.
Lexy had berated her for it. She counted back.
Emme had been in town for forty-two days, but ninety days would take her back to mid-September.
Surely she would see what Tristan’s lover looked like on some of the earlier BUZZ footage.