‘Thanks,’ Gabby replies. When Margie shuffles away, she groans. ‘I’ve just mentioned Alexa’s diary in front of the biggest gossip in the village, haven’t I?’
‘One of them, yes.’
Gabby groans again. ‘Otis is going to kill me.’
‘Why, does he not know you’ve brought the diary with you?’
‘No. He doesn’t even know I’ve got it.’
Moving my attention from the diary to Gabby, my eyebrows rise. ‘You’re lying to him?’
‘I don’t have much choice. If you knew, you’d understand.’ Gabby takes a gulp of coffee. Her hands are shaking so much she nearly spills it as she places the mug back on the table. ‘Otis doesn’t know I’m meeting you. His mum’s driven up from London to see him, so I snuck out under the pretence I was going to check on my apartment.’
My eyebrows lift even higher at this revelation.
‘Don’t look at me like that, Janine. I know I’m betraying his trust. I don’t need your judgement on top of that.’
‘I’m not judging you. I’m just surprised to hear you’ve not told Otis where you are. You’ve been nothing but firmly on his side in all of this.’
‘Iamon his side, that’s why I’m here,’ Gabby snaps. When I withdraw, stung at her tone, Gabby shakes her head. ‘I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t be irate with you. This is all just so hard. I mean, what a situation Alexa has left us in! She’s always pulling stunts like this, but this time she’s really taken the biscuit. I’ve never seen Otis this way before.’
For a moment, I study Gabby. ‘You like him, don’t you?’
Gabby’s head flicks upright at my question. ‘Otis? He’s my best friend.’
‘That’s not what I meant.’
An indignant pink tinge sweeps over Gabby’s cheeks. She opens her mouth to protest, but then she deflates and offers me a small, sad nod.
‘Does he know?’ I ask.
Gabby’s horror is palpable. ‘God, no. I couldn’t cope with the rejection, or the humiliation of him asking why I hadn’t told him sooner.’
‘Maybe that’s not how he’d respond.’
‘Maybe not, but that’s the question I ask myself whenever I wonder how we ended up this way.’
As I observe Gabby’s sorrow, I think of Sonya’s assured confidence that something is going on between her and Otis.She’s wrong, I realise. Gabby’s sadness makes it more than obvious that nothing has ever happened between them, no matter how much she wishes it had.
My fingers itch to open Alexa’s diary and scour it for clues, but I can tell Gabby needs to talk. So, I let her.
‘Otis is my best friend,’ Gabby says. ‘He knows me better than anyone, and I know him just as well.’
‘That’s why you believe he didn’t hurt Alexa.’
‘That’s why Iknowhe didn’t hurt her. Otis has a reputation for being hard, but he’s the most generous man I know. You only have to look at the lives of those around him to see that. When Otis started making serious money, he bought his mum and his siblings a property each. His brother Nathaniel only has a writing career because Otis funded his lifestyle while he wrote his first book. He even supported me while I was at university, did you know that?’
I shake my head.
‘I got the grades to go when I was younger, but I couldn’t afford to study and care for my dad. He was sick. I gave up on my dreams of becoming a lawyer, but Otis never did. He made it happen for me and paid for a carer for Dad so I could do it guilt free.’
‘Wow,’ I say, because I can’t think of how else to honour such selflessness.
‘We’re both from the same shithole South London estate, but when Otis got out, he didn’t abandon the people he left behind. He put his hand out and helped us leave, too. He’s a good man, no matter what people like Sonya West say.’
I try not to react to the mention of Sonya’s name or betray the fact that we met.
‘I can see why you’re loyal to him,’ I say, thumbing the corner of Alexa’s diary. ‘And why you love him.’