An Unwanted Guest(45)

She wonders what David would think of her, if he knew the truth about her. She’s not going to tell him. Not yet. There’s only one person who knows the truth about her, about what she did – and she’s sitting right beside her. But Riley isn’t going to say anything.





Chapter Twenty-two


RILEY’S BEEN SLIPPING Kahlua into her coffee at a faster rate than the rest of them. They already think she’s got a problem with alcohol. Maybe she does. But that pales in comparison to the problems they’ve all got tonight. She just wants to take the edge off.

She notices the way Gwen and David are looking at each other, and decides she’s not having it. She can be a bit mean when she’s had a couple of drinks.

‘So,’ she says, venturing into a conversational lull, ‘maybe we should get to know each other a little better.’ She’s looking right at David. She’s pretty sure, from the way he was last night at the dinner table, that he knows she’s on to him. She knows who he is.

She can feel Gwen tightening up beside her. Bristling.

But then Lauren says, ‘Sure, why not?’ She stares at Riley across the coffee table, challenge in her eyes. ‘Why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself, Riley? Like, what exactly is bothering you so much?’

Riley looks back at her, surprised and thrown off course. She doesn’t like Lauren. She’s seen her rolling her eyes. And now she’s giving her a hard time. How dare she?

Riley hesitates, angry at Lauren. Then she says, ‘You don’t want to know.’ There’s a warning in her voice.

‘Sure I do,’ Lauren says.

Pushy bitch, Riley thinks. She pauses and then says, her voice icy, ‘I’ve seen things that would make your guts turn inside out. So don’t you dare judge me.’

‘I’m not judging you,’ Lauren says. ‘I just want to understand you. I remember when we first got here thinking that maybe you were … disturbed in some way. Because you seemed freaked out before any of this started happening.’ Lauren leans forward in the dark. ‘So do you know something about what’s going on? Because I don’t trust you.’

Riley freezes in her seat, speechless. She can’t believe what she’s being accused of.

‘What are you saying?’ Gwen protests from beside her, clearly indignant. ‘She doesn’t have anything to do with this!’

‘Really? She may not be the one killing people, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she knows something! Look at her!’

Now everyone is staring at Riley. She can feel herself becoming agitated. She tries to stay in control.

‘She has a point,’ Matthew says, glaring at her. ‘You’ve been really nervous since we all got here. Everybody can see it. I thought there was something wrong with you. So did – so did Dana.’

‘Maybe we should all take a step back,’ Ian says calmly.

‘I don’t know anything about what’s happening here!’ Riley protests.

‘Tell them,’ Gwen says beside her, her voice bold and furious. ‘Tell them what you’ve been through. Tell them, or I will!’

Riley flashes Gwen a grateful look. She sighs heavily and says, enunciating carefully, ‘I’m a journalist.’ She hesitates a bit too long. Takes another gulp of her drink – more straight Kahlua than coffee by this point.

‘Yeah? So what?’ Henry says provocatively.

Riley, feeling cornered, turns her eyes on him. She hasn’t really given Henry any thought, but suddenly she despises him. She looks around the room. She despises all of them, except for Gwen. Gwen is the only friend she has here.

‘I was stationed in Afghanistan – mostly in Kabul. I spent almost three years there. I saw terrible things.’ Her voice begins to shake. ‘I saw so many civilians killed – children, babies. Limbs torn off by bombs, just lying in the street. So much brutality—’ She stops. She can’t say any more. Her voice has fallen to a whisper now, and she feels Gwen put her arm around her shoulder. She focuses on the pressure of Gwen’s arm around her, grounding her. ‘Then I was taken hostage.’

‘What?’ Gwen says beside her, obviously shocked. ‘You never told me that.’

Riley stares down into her lap. ‘It was kept quiet. I was held prisoner for six days, until they negotiated my release. Every day they would hold a gun to my head and pretend they were going to fire. They would pick someone at random and shoot them on the spot.’ Her entire body is shaking now, and it makes her feel ashamed, even though she knows she shouldn’t be ashamed. ‘I thought I could do it. These were important stories, they had to be told. So I stuck with it for as long as I could. You try to cope. Until you crack.’ She waits a beat. ‘But after that,’ she falters, her voice a whisper, ‘I couldn’t do it any more.’

Gwen is rubbing her back now, in large, slow circles, comforting her. The others are deadly quiet.

Riley focuses on the feeling of Gwen rubbing her back in firm circles. It feels good, actually, to get this out. She’s tired of pretending she’s fine, when everybody’s looking at her like they obviously think she’s got a screw loose. At least now they’ll know why. She reminds herself it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Her illness is a sign of her humanity. When she speaks again, she tries to make her voice sound more matter of fact.