The Guilty Couple(40)

Now, the minibus that’s ferrying us between offices brakes sharply as a car cuts in front of us and the driver shouts an apology as we all jerk forward in our seats. No one’s spoken a word since we got on. Everyone’s tired and sweaty and the atmosphere is muted. The windows are misted with condensation and all I can see are the blurred lights of the shops and buildings outside, patches of colour in the London gloom. I rub a hole in the mist and peer out, into the night. As we drive over London Bridge I turn to the man sitting next to me. He’s slight with hollowed cheeks, a side parting and circular metal glasses – we haven’t spoken, but we nodded and smiled as we took our seats. His name badge says his name’s Jakub.

‘Are you cleaning The Radcliffe Building next?’ I ask him.

He grunts a yes.

‘Could I do your shift for you?’

A frown creases his brow. ‘Sorry?’

‘Can I do your shift for you at The Radcliffe Building? I could pay you.’

‘Pay?’ He looks confused.

‘I’ll pay you, if let me have your shift.’ I reach into my bag for my purse. ‘We could pretend you’re sick and I’ll offer to take your place?’

He leans, ever so slightly, away. He’s not looking confused anymore. He’s looking at me as though I’m crazy. ‘I’m sorry,’ he says, ‘I’m sorry, I cannot. No.’

My heart gives a little lurch as the towering, haunting shape of The Radcliffe Building comes into view. If I could just get inside I could find out what Dom’s hiding.

‘How much?’ Jakub says, making me jump. The light from outside is glinting off his glasses, making it impossible for me to see his eyes. He reaches into his pocket and holds out his pass. It says ‘C&C Cleaning Services’ along the top and ‘Commercial Contractor’ written underneath.

‘How much to take my shift?’ he asks again.

I rummage around in my purse. I’ve still got the two hundred pounds I took out at the station after I visited Sonia.

‘One hundred?’ I suggest. I could still get Grace another phone for a hundred pounds. It would probably be a pretty old iPhone or smartphone but at least she’d be able to install WhatsApp.

‘No.’ His eyes flit back to my purse. I should never have opened it. He can tell I’m desperate and he knows I’ve got more.

The minibus is slowing down. Any second now it’s going to stop and Noreen is going to shout out the names of the people who need to get off.

‘A hundred and ten,’ I say. If he’s getting the same wage as me he’ll be on around nine pounds an hour. A hundred and ten pounds is nearly four times what he’d earn if he did the shift.

He shakes his head, his lips pressed tightly together. ‘I have a good reputation here. If I pretend to be sick Noreen will think I am unreliable.’

‘I can’t give you any more. I need the rest for my daughter.’

‘So go home.’ He sits back in his chair and puts his pass back in his pocket. ‘Give it to your daughter.’

I close my purse and put it back in my bag but I can’t stop thinking about the pass he flashed at me. It’s so close I could almost reach out and grab it but the thought makes me feel sick with nerves. We’re sitting so close together that if he caught me digging around in his pocket … a shudder passes through me … it doesn’t bear thinking about. I could wait until the minibus stops and follow him into the aisle. A little knock as I ‘stumble’, a hand on the shoulder to distract him and a ‘I’m sorry, excuse me’ should give me enough time to slip my hand into his pocket and slide out the pass. Smithy would do it in a heartbeat but my own pulse is rocketing. It’s not me, it’s not what I do. If I couldn’t grab Rosa’s key when it was sticking out of her back pocket how can I possibly do this?

You have to, says a little voice in the back of my head, if you don’t want people to think you’re a criminal for the rest of your life.

The irony doesn’t escape me – that to prove my innocence I need to commit another crime. But this isn’t just about me. This is about regaining custody of Grace and getting our lives back on track.

‘Cleaning team for The Radcliffe Building.’ Noreen is standing at the front of the bus, her hands on her hips. Several people get up from their seats and move forward.

My Polish ‘friend’ glances at me. ‘Hundred and fifty.’

I meet his gaze. ‘The offer was a hundred.’

‘You said a hundred and ten?’

‘Do you know what?’ I say. ‘I’ve changed my mind. I’m going to ask Noreen if they need someone else.’

‘Good luck with that.’ A smile pricks at the corner of Jakub’s mouth.

As he gets up from his seat I get up too but I stumble as I rise and knock into him, grabbing hold of his shoulder for support. My free hand reaches for his pocket but before it can even make contact Jakub pushes me roughly away.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Sorry, sorry.’ My face burns with horror. ‘My foot went to sleep.’

He snorts irritably and turns away.

‘A hundred and twenty,’ I hiss and he slowly turns back.

‘Why do you want the pass?’

‘To … to …’ I frantically search for a plausible explanation. ‘To prove to Noreen that I’m reliable. I got told off during my first shift because I had to take a call. She said she’d give me a written warning if I did anything else wrong. I really need to keep this job.’