The Mak Collection (51 page)

“Next time.”

“Don’t tell me you’re dieting? You’re looking a little thin.”

“No, no, nothing like that. My appetite just isn’t up to snuff.”

Jaqui eyed her suspiciously but said nothing.

They slowly moved up the line, and when they reached the counter Mak ordered the vegetarian focaccia with goat’s cheese, and Jaqui ordered the spicy stir-fry with Chinese vegetables and cashew nuts. They filled a couple of paper cups with purified water and found seats.

“I love this place. I haven’t been here since…since we were last here.”

“You haven’t taken a class for like, five months. I was so offended,” Jaqui said, pouting.

“Oh, forgive me. I know I’ve been all emails lately. Bad friend. Sorry.”

“You were in fairly decent form today, so I forgive you. Have you been practising somewhere?”

Makedde laughed. “Oh, no, only on my pillow,” she said. “I haven’t done a class with anyone else since the time you set me up with Hanna in Australia.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be practising other things on your pillow?” she asked, implying the obvious.

Their meals arrived and they both dug in. When she came up for air, Jaqui picked up the conversation right where she had left off.

“So. Come on. I’m waiting. Tell me about this new guy.”

Mak gasped. “Oh God, have I mentioned him to you already?”

“Yeeeeeeeeees. He sounds quite gorgeous.”

She vaguely remembered the email she had sent the day she accepted Roy’s date.
What did I write, exactly?

“Well, he is that. He’s nice, too. Pretty down-to-earth. A security guard. He is very tall—”

“Of course he’s tall, you Amazon,” Jaqui cut in. “Now tell me he’s a total sex god and he sends you to the moon every time.”

“Jaqui—”

“Does he give good—”

“Jaqui!” Mak reached over and covered her friend’s mouth with her hand. A couple of patrons had looked up. Reluctantly, she took her hand away again and brought her index finger to her lips. “Shhhh,” she said. “We’ve only seen each other once. Well, twice
if you include the lunch at the conference. I don’t really know that much about him yet.”

“So you’re not—”

“No. We’re not.”

“And the detective’s back in the picture, eh? Is that what’s holding you back?”

“No. I told you I barely know this other guy. I just like him, that’s all.” She paused and shook her head. “I can’t believe that Andy’s here.” She swallowed hard. “It feels…weird. He wants to talk with me about something. I don’t know what it’s about.”

“Oh, I know what it’s about,” Jaqui said. One-track mind, every time. “Mak, I’m worried about you.”

“You’re worried about me?”

“Well, for starters I can see you’ve lost weight, which you didn’t need to do. You don’t exactly look well-rested either. And by the sounds of it you haven’t had sex for like, a year. You’re either going to completely forget what it is, or you’ll leap on someone and tear them to shreds.”

Makedde laughed at the thought. It wasn’t an altogether unpleasant idea, with Roy at least.

“I’m just hibernating, that’s all. You’ve never slept with a guy, so what would you know?” she challenged.

“That’s because I’m a lesbian, Mak.”

“That’s beside the point.”

“No, it’s not. Did you get that thing I sent you?”

“That thing…?” Makedde was momentarily perplexed. “Oh! Oh
that
.”

Jaqui lowered her chin and looked at her. She had the Cheshire cat beat for mischievous looks, hands down.

“You are such a complete hazard, you do know that, don’t you?”

Jaqui just grinned. “Have you tried it?”

“You enjoy embarrassing me, don’t you?”

“It makes you stronger. Is that why you haven’t called me lately? Because I embarrassed you? I bet you didn’t even open it. I’m so disappointed…”

“Oh, I opened it alright. I get this plain brown parcel from you, and inside I find a little rainbow-coloured container with the word ‘LifeSaver’ written on it, and you bet I opened it.”

Jaqui was laughing so hard she knocked her water and it splashed across the table.

“There is something very sick about buying a friend a vibrator, Jaqui.”

She was cacking herself and couldn’t stop.

“Such a hazard you are…”

She stood up and walked to the silverware counter and grabbed a bundle of napkins.

“I’ll get it, I’ll get it,” Jaqui said and started mopping up. When she finished soaking up the liquid she looked directly at Makedde and said, “I just don’t want you to forget where your clitoris is.”

“Oh piss off, Jaqui. Honestly, could we please stop discussing my clitoris in the middle of Caper’s? Would that be possible? Thank you.”

One of the waiters walked by and Mak flashed him a tight-lipped smile.

“Enough about me. How’s Inelle?”

Jaqui shook her head. “Oh…Inelle, Inelle. I think she’s seriously going to go back to Sweden.” Mak gritted her teeth. “Bad subject. Sorry. I didn’t know.”

“How could you have known? Nah, she’s such a sweetheart, but ughhhh…”

“So you—”

“I kicked her out of the apartment last week.”

“No!”

“I had to. She was getting so whingie. It was awful. She wanted to go and I think she just couldn’t bring herself to do it.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“Ya know, another heartbreak, eh? Tough as nails,” she said, pounding her chest. Despite her humour, Mak detected the emotion in her friend’s voice. “I’ll be fine. It’s for the best.” She sighed and shook her head. “Ah…women are heartbreakers.” She looked at her watch. “Hey, I’ve gotta go soon.”

“Okay. Look, I’m sorry for bringing up Inelle. I hope I didn’t upset you.”

“Not at all.”

But Mak felt that she had. She shook her head and looked out the window, and that’s when something caught her eye. “Oh my God…”

“What is it?”

“Look across the street. See that guy there?” She pointed.

“The tall one?”

“That’s Roy.” He was looking in the window of a bookshop across the street. He looked good in Levi’s and a black leather jacket. Brando came to mind again.

“Roy? Your Roy? Excellent! Quick, go over and snag him. Mmmm, he looks just your type,” Jaqui said, gazing out the window. “I’ll quietly disappear and ask you all about it later.”

“Oh, don’t run away.”

“I have to go anyway…” and then Jaqui was up and walking away from the table before Mak could protest. “Go get ’im,” she said. “I’ll call you later.”

“Hi,” Makedde said.

Roy spun around and looked at her. “Well, this is a pleasant surprise. Good to see you.”

She smiled.

“I called you yesterday…you didn’t get back to me.”

“Yes, I got your message,” Mak said. “I was pretty busy.”
Making an ass of myself with Andy.
“Sorry about that. It would be nice to go out again.”

“Great,” he said.

She thought about the roses he had left her.

“Roy, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you about. I hate to do this, but you know the roses
you sent me? They were a nice surprise, so thank you for that, but how did you know where to send them? I didn’t give you my address, and I’m not listed in the phone book.” That had been bothering her, even though she knew the answer to the conundrum.

He opened his mouth, then hesitated. He looked caught out.

“You didn’t by chance follow me home from the Chilli Bar, did you?” she asked. Mak was sensitive about being followed, especially after finding out that Catherine’s killer back in Sydney had stalked her for weeks before abducting her. Mak watched Roy’s face to see how he would handle her question.

He let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry. I was worried about you. It was late…and I know you said you were fine to walk home alone but I just had to see that you were alright. I didn’t mean to frighten you or anything.”

Mak shook her head. She supposed it was a thoughtful thing to do, still, she didn’t like it. The thought of being followed without her knowledge was alarming, whatever the intention.

“Listen to me now.” She caught his eye and held it. “Please don’t ever follow me for any reason. I…I have a thing about it. It’s just not something I like.”

“Sure. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry, Makedde. Like I said, I didn’t mean to frighten you or anything, or invade your privacy. I only wanted to make sure you got to your door okay.”

Okay.

“Next time just insist on walking me to the door if you’re going to do that. Don’t follow me.”

“But I did insist,” he said.

He had a point there.

“I know you did.” She looked at her feet. “Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about that.”

“It won’t happen again. Understood.” He saluted her and smiled, and she laughed. He wasn’t offended.

“What are you doing tonight?” he asked.

“Studying.”

“Oh.” He looked disappointed.

She thought of Andy. She had to keep her mind off him. She couldn’t push this man away. “But maybe we could catch up when I’m done? Something casual. Why don’t I call you?”

“Sounds great.” He moved forward and gave her a kiss, his hands brushing her shoulders. “I really enjoyed your company.”

Debbie Melmeth woke up and smelled the delectable aromas of venison and garlic roasting in a hot oven somewhere nearby. She sat upright from the snoozing half-slouch permitted by her binds and searched the room with puffy eyes.

The appetising smells were so potent that she imagined she could actually see the scent itself, like wispy white ghosts creeping under the door and drifting seductively toward her nostrils.

Debbie imagined herself eating—what the food would look like on her fork, what it would taste like on her tongue—what it would feel like in her belly.

Oh, please feed me…

The door to her little room opened. She heard footsteps, saw the doorhandle turn, and there he was, standing in the doorway again. But this time Debbie thought he looked different. Perhaps it was because he was dressed differently—in a crisp white shirt and slacks. His hair was combed. Somehow, he looked a
little less crazed than she remembered. Actually, at that moment, he looked almost handsome.

To her surprise, he carried a small table through the door. She watched as he walked up to her and set the table down in front of her, then smiled briefly, turned his back and was gone again. Debbie didn’t move.

He came back with a tablecloth and some cutlery. She noticed there were two sets. He laid them out neatly on opposite sides of the table and set up a single, long white candle between them. He fished a box of matches out of his pants’ pocket and struck one. Debbie’s eyes followed the flame, and the candle made a tiny crackle as it was lit.

The sight of it was almost…almost romantic.

And hypnotic.

Before she knew it he had left the room and returned again with two bottles, one dark and one clear, and as he approached Debbie realised that the dark one was a bottle of red wine. She could see the label—a shiraz. He had glasses as well—two for water and two for wine. He filled her water glass first and placed it in front of her. She was desperate to sip it but her hands were still locked behind her back. She looked to the glass, then up at him. Her stomach let out a long growl.

“Hello, young lady. My name is John,” the man said.

He even sounded sane.

“Hello, John,” Debbie replied automatically, confused by the sudden turn of events. “I would really like some food and water,” she said.

“Oh, I totally understand,” said John. “I’ll take care of that right away. I am cooking something for us right now. My brother has been very naughty to leave you this way. Has he fed you at all?”

Brother? But he looked exactly like you.

“Well, no. Not really. You, I mean he, he gave me some potato chips,” Debbie corrected herself. “Your brother gave me potato chips, that’s all.”

Play along. Play along.

“Potato chips!” He looked shocked. “That is it? Nothing else?”

She shook her head. “Nothing else.”

“I am so sorry, Miss. That is just awful. What’s your name?”

“Debbie. Debbie Melmeth.”

“Now, Debbie, I want to help you. I want to try to undo some of the wrongs my bad twin brother has done to you. I would like to take off your handcuffs for a start, but to tell you the truth, I’m afraid that you might hurt me if I do.”

“No, no! I won’t hurt you. I wouldn’t do that,” she insisted.

He cocked his head to one side and looked at her. “Oh, I’m not sure.” He shook his head. “Perhaps I should feed you by hand until we have talked some, and got to know each other a little more?”

“No! No. I mean, please feed me, please, but I can do it myself. You can free me. I promise I won’t do anything.”

He cocked his head to the other side, thinking it over.

“I promise! I promise I’ll be good.”

He nodded. “Okay, Debbie. I will trust you. I am going to uncuff you now, but you have to be nice, okay?”

“Okay.”

John walked around behind her and she felt the cuffs come off. Her wrists ached where the cuffs had been, but finally her hands were free. Immediately she reached across and grabbed the water off the table, gulping it down eagerly and not stopping until the glass was empty.

He smiled and refilled it for her. “That’s better, hey?” he said and she nodded and grabbed for the glass again.

When Debbie had finished her third glass of water, she crossed her arms in front of her and hugged herself, and she began to cry.

“I am really sorry about all that other stuff with my brother, Debbie. I really am.”

She said nothing, just looked at him. He looked sincere, but she didn’t know what to think. Where was this man before? Did he really have a twin brother? What if it was the same person? He looked exactly the same. He could have just combed his hair and got changed.

“Hold tight for a moment longer while I get our dinner, okay, Debbie?”

She nodded eagerly. “Thank you so much. Thank you…”

Debbie watched him walk away, and feared for a moment that he would not come back. What if this man, her only hope, decided not to help her after all?