Pinstripes (48 page)

PART SIX

THE AFTERMATH

Chapter Fifty

Ella’s hands shook as she dialled the number. As soon as she heard his voice she burst into tears.

“
Eloise, is that you?” Sam said.

“
Yes,” she squeaked.

“
Fucking hell! Where? What? How?”

Ella took a deep breath and began to explain.

After she had finished, Sam was silent for a few moments. Then he said, “Ella, he lived. I wanted to tell you but I couldn’t. I even tried to get your bank to pass on a message but they thought I was a stalker or something. Anyway, he lived and he believed it was a robbery. He came round once to find out where you were but I made it plain that he’d never see you again. He’s married now and probably battering his wife.”

“
What about Mum and Dad?”

“
They haven’t changed. They still miss you. I’m so angry.”

“
Sam, you said you’d understand.”

“
I do, but I missed you. I do love you so much.”

“
I love you too.”

“
I’m getting married.”

“
No way! Who to?”

“
She’s called Natalie and she’s put me on the straight and narrow. I love her and we’re getting married later this year. I prayed that you’d be there.”

“
Well, I will.”

“
You mean it? You’ll come home?”

“
To visit, yes. This is my home now.”

“
There’s so much I want to say to you, I don’t know where to start.”

“
Me too.” Ella burst into tears again.

The call lasted for four hours. It was filled with tears and eventually laughter. Ella came off the telephone emotionally drained, but stronger than she had been in a long time.

She called Virginia, Clara and Jackie to tell them, and said she would be out of action that week; she needed to get everything else sorted out. Then she called an estate agent, and nearly fainted when he told her how much her flat was worth. As she’d been sensible and had paid off most of the mortgage, she was going to be rich. Well, rich to her. She put an advert in
Loot
for her car – she was really getting somewhere, she thought. She felt guilty fleetingly about Virginia and Clara, but she called them frequently and now the plans were finished there was no need for her to be with them so much.

Before she knew it, it was time for dinner with Liam. Ella smiled as she thought about how far she
’d come. When the estate agent had measured her flat, Ella felt nothing. She was ready to say goodbye to “City Ella,” just as she’d said goodbye to Eloise.

Liam had booked a table at the Ivy and even came round in a taxi to pick her up.

“You look gorgeous,” he said, as soon as he saw her. Ella had put on a blue dress, which fell to just below her knees, and a cashmere shawl was wrapped around her shoulders.

“
I see you haven’t lost your charm,” she replied, as she kissed his cheek. She looked at Liam, all smart in his suit with his hair neatly cut short, and saw for the first time that he was quite cute. They went into the restaurant and sat down.

“
Your friend Clara’s a bit mad, isn’t she?” Liam said.

“
I know. Thank you for your help with Johnny.”

“
I still can’t believe you all came up with such a mad plan.”

“
Believe me, it was all Clara’s idea. I went away while she implemented it.”

“
Why?”

“
I had things to sort out. Anyway, I was convinced it wouldn’t work. I still can’t believe it did.”

“
It was fantastic. Although I think Jeff’s losing his hair.”

“
Liam, I really miss the office.”

“
We miss you. I know you faked your degree. Are you going to tell me why?”

“
Maybe one day.”

“
I see. It isn’t a first-date sort of story?”

“So
this is a date, is it?” Ella smiled.

“
I hope so.”

They ordered dinner and talked the whole way through. Ella was enjoying herself and Liam was becoming increasingly attractive to her. After he had paid the bill, they got up to leave.
“Are you going to invite me back for coffee?” he asked cheekily.

“
I’m going to invite you back for more than coffee,” Ella said, and they got a taxi home.

The next day, Ella smiled all day and sold her car. A number of people came to look round her flat. It was all happening so fast. Liam called and they arranged to meet again the following night. He was cooking her dinner at his place. Ella held out little hope for good food, but she knew she
’d get good company and good sex. She called Clara and Virginia and told them what was happening, and they asked her to go round that evening, but Ella needed to phone her parents. She was still working through her list.

The rest of the week passed in a blur for her. By Friday morning she was basking in the afterglow of another fantastic evening with Liam and thinking they might have a future. The estate agent called: he
’d received three offers on her flat. She celebrated with a cup of coffee as she read the prospectus she’d been sent by the London college. She felt as though she was finally putting her life back on track.

Chapter Fifty-one

Virginia told Clara she was going to register with some temp agencies. Clara said it was a waste of her talents to go back into secretarial work, but she didn’t have any ideas for alternatives. She still didn’t know what she would do. They both missed Ella.

The revenge was finished and they felt empty. Clara went to see Oliver and came back with more cocaine, which she devoured. Virginia sneaked out to see James a couple of times. He was increasingly insistent that they tell Clara, but Virginia still didn
’t feel ready. She wished she could do what Ella had done: Ella had seemed to put everything behind her so easily, and in a way Virginia wished they still had more plans to make so that she wouldn’t have to face the future. Her working future. She had been using the Internet increasingly often, and had begun to think she wanted to do something with it. She just didn’t know what.

One night Clara went out with an old boyfriend and slept with him, which left her angry with herself and unsatisfied. She buried her nose in more cocaine. She was also upset that Ella had seemed to put her and Virginia behind her so easily. Although she had called, she hadn
’t been round all week.

On Friday morning, while Virginia was out job-hunting, Clara had a visitor. It was James.

“Jamie, how are you?” Clara hugged him.

“
I’m fine, darling, but I need to talk to you.”

“
What about?” Clara sat down on the sofa.

“
Virginia.”

“
Virginia? What on earth for?”

“
I like her, Clara.”

“So
do I. I asked her to move in and everything. She’s lovely.”

“
I agree, but I like her a bit more than that. We’ve ... well, we’ve had a couple of dates.”

“
When?”

“
That doesn’t matter. What matters is that she thinks you’ll disapprove and she doesn’t want you to know. She thinks that you’ll throw her out, stop being her friend. I told her you weren’t like that and you’d be happy for us.”

“
Right.” Clara felt cold.

“
You don’t mind, do you?” James asked.

Clara thought for a minute, then smiled.
“Of course not, Jamie.”

After James left, Clara went to get more cocaine. She was so angry. How dare Virginia get James? How dare he get Virginia? She knew it would only be a matter of time before they forgot her, as everyone else forgot her. As Ella had forgotten her. And Virginia had lied to her; James had lied to her. Everyone she loved and trusted lied to her and left her. She took more cocaine, more than she
’d ever taken in her life. She walked into the lounge and started throwing things around. She broke everything she could find, she ripped the cushions off the sofa, she hit the walls with her fists, she drank half a bottle of vodka. When the anger and the tears had subsided, she called Ella and begged her to come round.

***

That Friday afternoon, when Ella hung up, she wondered why Clara had summoned her. She had sounded on edge but she wouldn’t say anything on the telephone. Ella felt guilty about keeping away, but she tried to brush that aside. She had called them every day and things had seemed fine, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, and she couldn’t shake her guilt.

When she rang Clara
’s doorbell, as she had so many times, she was hoping against all hope that everything was OK.

“
Come in,” Clara said.

“
Hi,” Ella said, then stopped and gasped at the sight before her. Clara looked awful. Her pupils were so dilated that Ella wondered if she had gone mad. Her hair was wild and so was the flat: it looked as if she’d been burgled.

“
What the hell’s going on?” she asked.

“
You’ll see,” was the reply from the mad girl who seemed to be Clara, but a Clara she’d never seen before. Ella sat down and lit a cigarette, for want of something to do. She vowed again that she’d give up, but this was obviously not the right time. Why did she feel so nervous? They’d had all the bad times, hadn’t they? After a while she heard a key in the lock and Virginia walked in.

“
Oh, God,” Virginia said, as she stared into the same mad, staring eyes that had greeted Ella. “I’ve been job-hunting. What’s going on?” she asked.

“
What’s wrong? Has something gone wrong?” Ella asked as she looked from Virginia to Clara.

“
She knows,” Clara hissed, waving a hand at Virginia. She lunged toward her, stumbled and tried to regain her balance.

“
Clara, you’re on drugs,” Virginia said, stating the obvious but seeming calm. She had the upper hand for once. She knew what had caused this. She knew and she was scared for Clara, but at least she understood.

“
You bitch,” spat Clara, once again losing her footing and grabbing the back of a chair to steady herself.

Ella realised that this was the final phase. It was time to help Clara.

“Tell me,” she commanded.

“
Our little virginal friend has been sleeping with my brother,” Clara snarled.

Ella wondered why this should reduce her to such a state. Clara moved forward and grabbed a vodka bottle. White powder was scattered over the coffee table; Ella realised that she had been on a major bender.

“Yes, my fucking brother. The stupid slut’s got my brother or he’s got her,” Clara burst into tears.

“
God, Clara! I didn’t think you’d mind this much. I’ve only been on a couple of dates with him,” Virginia was afraid.

“
Why? Why did you have to have
him
? Why did he get you? He’s got
everything
, always has had, and now you! You were
my
friend, not his, and now you’re with him, and I’m alone and I’ve got no one and you’ve got James or he’s got you and I’ve got no one and that’s the way it’s always been,” Clara fell over.

Ella went to her.
“How much have you had?” she asked, worried that this time Clara had gone too far.

“
Fuck off, bitch, bitches, bitch. How could you? I did this for you. I got you out of your messes and your sad lives, and you take my brother, and you’re my friend and now you’re his, like everything else in my pitiful life.” She grabbed the vodka bottle and threw it across the room. It hit the wall. Then she went mad, hitting the walls and screaming, “Bitch,” repeatedly.

Virginia stopped looking scared.
“You’re right about one thing,” she said. “Your life is pitiful. Christ, you stupid cow. James loves you, he’s the first man who’s been nice to me, and we could all be friends, but you have to try to kill yourself because I’m dating your brother. Well, I’m seeing him again and I hoped you’d be happy.”

“
Calm down,” Ella screamed at them. “Virginia, go and get black coffee for all of us.”

Virginia scurried off and Ella crossed to where Clara was sitting on the floor.

Despite her resolve, she knew none of this was finished. Would it ever be finished? Because as she had learnt the hard way, through her work, through getting even and with her quest to sort her own life out, none of this was over until it really was over.

She hugged Clara, who had clearly had too much – she couldn
’t even vent her rage properly. “Clara, why can’t Virginia see James?”

“
I hated you both at first, you cold, her boring, but now I don’t because you’re all I have and with you I felt I was going to be OK. Virginia my new housemate, your my friend, we were invincible. But now you’ve gone, we haven’t seen you all week, and Virginia will be with James so I lose all three of you. You, Virginia and James.”

She was childlike as she wept, and Ella encased her in her arms as a mother would, stroking her hair, wiping her tears, holding her as close as she could. She blamed herself for walking away. Clara and Virginia had helped her when she needed them and she had known that Clara would fall at some stage. She shouldn
’t have left them. Clara and Virginia, the unlikely girls who had worked with her to take their revenge on their bosses, who had helped her confront her demons and stop fearing Tony. And although she had thought she could walk away, she now realised she couldn’t, because they still needed each other, and that was the way it was. “It’s not over yet, it’s just not over,” Ella said to herself.

Virginia returned, tear-stained, with the coffee. She sat down too, and hugged Clara.
“I really like James, but only because he’s so like you. You’re my friend first, and if you want me to stop seeing him, I will,” Virginia whispered.

“
No, no, I don’t want that. I just want – I just want help.” It was the first time that Clara had asked for help. It was not the first time she had fallen apart, but it was only now that Virginia and Ella were being given a chance to put her back together again.

An hour later Clara got the shakes. She looked at them both with her big blue eyes.
“I need more,” she said.

Ella shook her head.
“Listen to me. If you can get through tonight with us both here, then you can get through tomorrow and the next day. We’re going to help you, and, God, we’ll help you.” Clara lay shaking in Ella’s arms as Virginia went to get a blanket.

“
When I was little and couldn’t sleep, my brother used to make up stories for me about princesses and princes and they always made me feel safe.” Clara glanced at her, still a little unfocused. ‘tell me a story now,” she asked.

“
There once was a beautiful princess and she was called Clara ...”