The Tangled Web (31 page)

‘Maybe he was flirting with someone other than her,’ Lumi
reasoned.

‘He wouldn’t do that.’ Vicky shook her head sharply.

‘Oh, please.  They all would,’ Lumi sneered.

They moved forward one more place in the check-in queue;
Lumi clutching her passport and phone in her hand, Vicky pulling along her
little weekend case and Flic pushing her huge suitcase, which was almost as
tall as Vicky, with all her strength.

‘That’s going to be too heavy,’ Vicky worried, nodding
towards Flic’s case.

‘It won’t be.  It’s not as heavy as it looks.  I’m just
struggling to manoeuvre it in these heels,’ Flic grunted, pulling the case into
position.  ‘Can’t wait to get it checked in though and go for a daiquiri.’

‘What if they have stairs at the hotel?  You won’t be able
to carry it up them,’ Lumi pointed out. 

‘I told you, it’s not as heavy as it looks.  I’ll just slip
my shoes off and drag it behind me,’ Flic insisted.

‘They’ve got ramps.  And porters to help you.  I’ve been to
this place before a few years ago.  It’s all good,’ Vicky informed them.

‘Oooh, do they have a decent bar?’ Flic asked.

‘They do.  You get a free drink on arrival, free drink at
the welcome meetings, free liquors after dinner if you’re eating in the
restaurant and there’s even champagne at the breakfast buffet in case you have
something to celebrate.  You’re sorted,’ Vicky chortled.

‘Excellent!’ Flic grinned.

‘Flic, do you think you might be an alcoholic?’ Lumi mused.

Vicky stifled a snigger, knowing what was to come.

‘No!’ Flic bluntly cut her off.

Eager to change the subject, Vicky pulled Lumi’s passport
out of her hands.  ‘Come on, lets see the passport photo that put Magnus off
you for life,’ she whooped.

Lumi reached for her passport but Vicky held it away from
her.  Lumi shouted something in Romanian, attracting the attention of a group
of lost Arabs who were pacing up and down the check-in queues looking for the
Dubai flight.  When it was clear she had been louder than she had planned, she
gave up her fight to get her passport back.

Vicky examined the document.  She opened up the red booklet
and searched for stamps.  There were none.  She flicked back to the photograph
page. 

‘Luminitia Titulescu.  That’s your name?  Titulescu?  Oh my
God!’ Vicky giggled.

‘Shut up!’ Lumi snapped.

‘You could be a porn star with that name!’

‘You’re a fucking imbecile,’ Lumi grumbled.

‘Imagine it!  “Confessions of a Big Issue seller!” 
Brilliant!’ Vicky sniggered, and passed the passport back to Lumi, who was now
fuming.

‘Not as bad as my married name, that was Goodbody!  And my
mother’s maiden name was Topliss,’ Flic chuckled.

‘Oh, I feel quite dull in comparison.  Robertson’s not a
very exciting name, is it?’ Vicky sighed.

‘I happen to like it,’ boomed a voice from behind them.

‘Adam!’ Vicky panted.  ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ 

Under normal circumstances, she would have given him a
hug.  She needed one - really needed one!  She had been too proud to ask for
one from Flic and Lumi wasn’t even an option.  She felt her eyes well up when
Adam pulled her into a cuddle of his own accord.

Once they had pulled away, he nodded a greeting to Flic who
had suddenly become stiff and awkward.  He turned his attention to Lumi.

‘Hello Diana...Or should I say Luminita?’  His eyes
narrowed to slits.

‘Lumi is fine, thank you,’ she squirmed.

‘Adam, what are you doing here?’ Vicky asked again.  For
the first time she noticed that he was wearing shorts, had a holdall slung over
one shoulder and was clutching his passport.

‘I’m going on holiday,’ he grinned.

‘Holiday?  To where?’ Vicky blinked.

‘Cyprus.  Aren’t you at the wrong check-in desk for Ibiza?’
he asked, pretending to examine the various queues. 

Vicky’s face flushed and she bowed her head.  She had no
idea how to get around this.  There was simply no way that they could even
board the fight without Adam noticing. 

‘Relax!  I know you’re going to Cyprus.  And I think I know
why too.  I’m going to keep an eye on you two and make sure you don’t get
involved in any more mischief.  Or should I say, you three?’ he nodded towards
Lumi.

‘Yes, I’m going to Cyprus,’ Lumi quavered, her face devoid
of any emotion or anxiety, but her voice giving her away.  Vicky surmised that
Lumi was doing a much better job at facially masking any feelings than she
could ever manage.

‘Magnus told me all about your fight.  Said he’d found your
passport and you told him everything,’ Adam advised Lumi.

‘That’s more than she’s told us.  We had to find out on
Tête-a-net,’ Vicky humphed.

Adam shot her a stern look and Vicky realised the irony in
her statement.  A lot of information had been given away in just one comment
thread.

‘I didn’t know how to admit that he knew everything.  I
didn’t just hurt myself with my confession, I affected all your lives too,’
Lumi whimpered.

Vicky tutted to convey her annoyance and lack of sympathy. 
‘You told him everything?’ she asked.

‘Everything,’ Lumi nodded.

‘Well, now that Magnus knows who Lumi is and how she came
to be Diana, that’s one less thing for you two to lie about and one less person
to lie to,’ Adam announced to Vicky and Flic.  ‘One less thing on your
conscience.  If you have one.  Now let’s get the rest of this nonsense sorted
and forget HunE-trap Investigations ever happened?  Right?’

Vicky nodded but Flic remained quiet and observed the
conversation.  She wondered what Adam must be thinking, knowing that she was
going to such lengths to assist in the breakup of her ex husband’s current
marriage.  She had asked herself umpteen times in the last few days what she
was playing at.  The answer was, she didn’t know and she had never been the
type to do too much soul-searching.  She just had another glass of whatever was
handy and got on with it.

‘Good,’ Adam nodded.  ‘I really wish I could wipe out
everything that’s happened this year and start it all over again.’

Vicky stroked his arm and patted it, knowing that he had
meant the accident and HunE-trap Investigations.  Flic however, had to fight
back a little tear.  She assumed that he meant their relationship too.

*****

After they had checked in, gone through the security
rigmarole, had breakfast at the Drum and Monkey pub and bought a few treats for
themselves at the duty free shops, they made themselves comfortable in the
departure lounge and began watching Sky News.  While Vicky and Flic debated
whether brown sauce or ketchup went better with square sausage, Adam turned
towards Lumi, who had begun to check her phone for the umpteenth time that
morning.  He had noticed when he had been standing behind them at the check-in
queue listening to them talk that Lumi had one eye on her phone and the other
on the girls. 

‘I’d switch that off and try to enjoy the journey if I were
you.  Magnus isn’t going to phone.  He’s already selecting his next victim,’ he
cautioned her in hushed tones.

Lumi snapped her eyes towards Adam.  ‘I’m not waiting for
Magnus to phone.  He’s not even on my radar now.’

Adam smiled and nodded then watched her check her phone
again.  He didn’t know her very well.  Until yesterday, he had thought she was
Diana, his friend’s girlfriend.  He had thought she was the down-on-her-luck
Polish ex-chambermaid who had been rescued from a life of poverty by his best
mate and swept into a world of glamorous apartments, designer clothes and
cocktail cupcakes.  Now, all he knew was that she was a homeless alcoholic who
had seen a rich sucker she could latch onto and taken her chance.  He would be
watching her even closer than he would be watching his depressed sister and his
obsessed with her ex-husband ex-girlfriend.  This would be no holiday for him.

The monitors showing the status of departures changed and
they were instructed to go to their gate.  The conversation halted between the
Vicky and Flic as the four of them collected their bags and began walking down
a long corridor towards their gate.  Flic saw a chance to have a shot at
explaining herself to Adam.

She pulled on Adam’s arm to gesture that he should hang
back from Vicky and Lumi and talk.  He slowed his pace accordingly and furrowed
his brow, waiting for her to speak.  Adam appeared irritated and Flic guessed
that he wasn’t interested in listening to what she had to say but she was going
to try anyway.

‘I just wanted to say…this isn’t what you think it is.  I’m
not doing this for the reasons that you think I am,’ she stammered.

Adam sighed.  ‘So why ARE you doing it?’

‘Vicky was so intent on getting away for a few days.  And
seeing Christos.  She’s not been thinking straight.  I tried to talk her out of
this – maybe not very hard – but I did try.  Before I knew what had happened,
Lumi was coming too, and I was actually talking her into coming because Vicky
had gotten cold feet when we went to see Lumi.  We would have looked nuts, just
showing up for no reason, so I had to go ahead with it and persuade her.  I
never thought for a minute she would agree to come with us.’

Adam stopped walking and stared straight into her eyes. 
She was aware that she wasn’t putting across a convincing argument.  Tempted to
give up, she groaned and rubbed her forehead.

‘Let me guess – it seemed like a good idea at the time? 
Then before you knew what you were doing, you were in too deep and couldn’t
find a way out?  Is that what you’re telling me?’ he quizzed.

Flic nodded her response.  She realised it sounded weak and
pathetic.  She couldn’t make it sound otherwise.

‘Been feeling that way myself about the whole HunE-trap
thing recently,’ Adam conceded.  ‘A lot of things seem like a good idea at the
time.  If you don’t stop and think them through, you end up…’ he trailed off.

‘You end up on a flight to Cyprus with a load of regrets
about the trip before you’ve even left the airport?’ she ventured.

Adam’s expression softened and he gave a hint of a laugh. 
Flic looked at his eyes with hope and surprise.  She hadn’t stopped to think
for even a minute that he might actually understand how she felt.  She thought
she would have to fight harder.

‘Just because we’re all on the same page, that doesn’t make
any of this right,’ he reminded her.

‘I know,’ she nodded forcefully.

‘I’m not here to be your knight in shining armour and save
the day.  I’m here to put an end to this nonsense and make sure you two don’t
get any deeper in,’ he scolded. 

‘Yep,’ she nodded again.

They resumed walking, very slowly, towards the seating area
for their gate.

‘I think we have to watch that one,’ he advised, nodding in
Lumi’s direction without looking at her directly.

‘You think so?’

‘You don’t?’ he blinked.  He couldn’t comprehend how either
Flic or Vicky could think Lumi was worthy of any tiny shred of trust now.

‘What damage could she do now?  We know who she is.  All
she has to do is look like she’s going to get it on with George – which won’t
be too hard, believe me – and then she’s free to do as she pleases,’ Flic said.

‘Trust me.  She’s to be watched twenty-four hours a day
until we get back to Scotland.’

Adam walked towards Vicky and Lumi again, leaving Flic
standing a few feet away from them, wondering if Adam knew something she
didn’t, or was just more on the ball than her.  He had never struck her as the
type to be naturally suspicious but she knew she was going to take his advice. 
If he said she should trust him, that’s what she would do.

She watched Adam swing an arm around his little older
sister and command her attention, while at the same time glance at Lumi typing
into her phone without either Lumi or Vicky even noticing what he was doing. 

She walked towards the group again and took a seat.  Lumi
pulled back from Flic as she arrived to keep her phone out of view.  She
marvelled inwardly that Adam had managed to stand next to Lumi and see what she
was doing without arousing Lumi’s suspicions.  All Flic had to do was walk
towards her and she was guarded.

Adam himself then pulled out his phone from his pocket and
typed in a message with record speed.  Flic felt her phone vibrate in her bag
and retrieved it to read the message. 

“
She’s sent some1 a msg sayin she’ll txt when she
arrives & there’s a man wth the group now. Wot did I tell u? Up to
something!”

Flic smiled.  She had underestimated Adam’s spying skills
all along.  He was good.  In fact, he was a lot better and sneakier than either
she or Vicky had ever been.

28

15
^th
July