Red Notice

24

It was nine miles to Delphine’s place and Tom made it in seven minutes. The place was in darkness but he rang the bell and banged on the door. After a moment a light went on and he heard footsteps on the stairs. Moira opened the door, her hair mussed and her eyes gluey with sleep. She looked Tom over, taking in his cut and bruised face, his hair plastered to his scalp with sweat.

She made no move to stand aside and let him in. ‘You do know what time it is, don’t you?’ she said. ‘I’m on early shift tomorrow.’

‘Yeah, I know, I know, sorry,’ he said. ‘So… where’s Delphine?’

‘She’s gone.’ Moira couldn’t keep the satisfaction from her voice.

‘What do you mean? Gone where?’

‘Gone home.’

‘Home to France?’

‘No, home to the Outer fucking Hebrides. Of course home to France. That’s where she comes from, isn’t it?’ Moira was enjoying every moment. ‘And if you’d ever turned up on time or spent more than ten seconds talking to her before you started shagging her, you might have known what was going on.’

‘Why… what is going on? You mean she’s seeing someone else?’

‘Don’t be even dumber than you look, Tom. Of course she’s not.’

‘So what the fuck is going on, then?’

‘You’ll have to ask her that, won’t you?’ Moira said. ‘It’s for her to tell you, not me. My guess is she’s had enough of hanging around waiting for you to turn up.’

‘When’s she coming back?’

‘Don’t you get it? Have all those punches to the head scrambled the few brain cells you’ve got left? Not ever. She’s bought a one-way ticket on the Eurostar, Tom. That’s it. It’s over.’

‘Fuck me,’ Tom said.

Moira leaned against the doorframe and looked him over again. ‘I could do, I suppose…’