Page 24 of Scars of Silk

“Good idea,” I say, but I dismiss it instantly. I think the last thing I should do is wear Faith’s clothes. It would be like setting off a bomb. A Dan bomb.

“I’m just saying this up front. I don’t want to see him. I don’t know what you are still doing here, or even why, but I’m angry with him right now.”

To placate her and stop her from running away, I nod and let her walk in behind me and choose a seat. It’s almost compulsive to offer her a coffee, but I stop myself. I don’t have any milk—rather Dan doesn’t have any milk.

“He seems in a mess.” I fall onto the sofa.

“Why are you here? Seriously? Aren’t you one of Elijah’s friends? We met at Faith’s, didn’t we?”

“Yeah.” I take in a breath, no idea what I’m about to say. “I drove down last night. I’ve got some work to do for Elijah; well, for Faith’s lawyer. So I thought I’d start with Dan as he seems to know so much about what happened here with Faith and Aiden.”

Abi’s face scrunches into a deep frown. “Tell me about it. I always knew they were keeping secrets from me, but now I’m beginning to see the extent of them.”

Aha! This is what I do. I extract information that people don’t even know they are giving me. “Dan said you three were The Three Musketeers.”

She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, that was one of Faith’s books, but Dan hooked into the idea.”

I nod, not saying anything.

“I hate the fact they’ve been keeping stuff from me. Like, I don’t know what’s gone on now. It’s kind of hard not to assume that Dan has found out that Faith really has moved on and has had a massive fanny wobble over it.”

“Do you think he tried to kill himself though?”

She shrugs. “I hope not. But he’s been by himself since his dad died and I know he’s taken it hard. Of course he has; he idolised his dad. But I guess maybe watching him fade like that… I’ve tried to be here, but maybe Faith moving on at the same time is too much.”

“It was cancer, right?”

“Yeah.” Her eyes meet mine.

“He’s not a user, is he? I mean, a big guy like that, it’s hard not to wonder.”

“No! God, no! Before Al got sick, he was a health freak. Always at the gym, always working. But since Al… he’s just…” She swipes at her eyes.

“Looks like he’s hurt you too.” I shrug and throw myself back onto the leather sofa.

“Not on purpose. It’s all Aiden’s fault. If Faith’s dad hadn’t hooked up with his mum, none of this would have happened.”

“Faith’s mum’s never been around, has she?” I state my authority on this. I know it anyway, but it helps people talk more when they think they aren’t giving away secrets.

“No.” Another tear falls and my heart hurts for the woman in front of me. Her life couldn’t be more different to mine. She’s happily married with kids, things I just can’t even contemplate; yet here she is devastated by events that have gone on around her. It’s like they have swept her own life up in the tailspin. “You know, for a long time, I thought Faith was just pissed off that her dad had met someone new. What friend am I to think that?”

Another tear. Another squeeze of my heart.

“She was out of control. Dan kept saying there must be something wrong. He couldn’t believe she’d just change, but for a while there I just thought she’d given it up for the party. Drugs, drink, boys. Hell, she went wild.”

Crap. None of this would really help me.

“But then other times she’d still be the same Faith. When I saw her with Al in the shop, she was the girl I’d known all my life.”

“It must have hurt when you found out.”

Gentle sobs fill the air. “Yeah, but Dan, he went nuts. I thought for a while there he would end up in prison. He couldn’t control his rage. When she said she wouldn’t tell anyone. Well, shit.”

“You believed her?”

“The moment she told us; I knew. I just knew. It killed me. I’d let her down. I’d let her down so much.”

A wild impulse to hug Abi makes my arms hurt. “I don’t think you did. And look at her now.”