The House Guest by Mark Edwards(22)

‘But she did drink a lot on Friday night?’ Krugman said. ‘About a third of a bottle of tequila? Maybe half? From your description, her body weight is about half mine and I’d struggle to get out of bed after that.’

‘I know, but . . .’

I trailed off. This was intensely frustrating. I didn’t think Ruth would be a high priority for the police. I didn’t, however, expect them to do nothing.

‘So, what you’re saying is that we need to keep our fingers crossed and hope she comes back?’ I said.

He didn’t like that. For the first time, I saw a hint that Krugman, while looking and sounding like a friendly bear, was not someone to be fucked with. The atmosphere in the room cooled rapidly and he pointed a huge index finger at me.

Mona interceded before he could give me a piece of his mind. She spoke gently. ‘What about this girl, Eden? She came into our home, pretending that she knew us. Isn’t that . . . trespassing or something? Shouldn’t you be looking for her?’

Krugman shook his head. ‘It’s not a crime, as far as I can make out. She didn’t take anything, did she?’

‘Except for Ruth,’ I said.

He turned his attention back to me. ‘Do you think Eden would be physically capable of dragging Ms Armstrong out of here?’

I pictured Eden, with her slight frame and slender limbs. Ruth wasn’t exactly Lara Croft, but I thought she could beat Eden in a fight. She certainly wouldn’t be overpowered by her.

‘No,’ I replied. ‘But Eden could have had a weapon. Or she could have lured Ruth outside, got her in a cab . . . I don’t know. Anything could have happened!’

‘Exactly,’ he said. ‘And I’m sorry, but right now we have no evidence that a crime has been committed.’ He turned to Mona and Jack. ‘That’s the way I see it, anyway. And all my experience tells me that your friend will turn up soon.’

‘Hopefully not dead,’ I said.

They all looked at me. I was having to bite my tongue to prevent myself from telling Krugman that he needed to do more. I thought about threatening to get the press involved. But I knew that would be a bad move. Even if they were doing nothing at the moment, I didn’t want to antagonise the NYPD. I was worried, too, about the immigration aspect. Because what if Ruth had done all this freely and voluntarily? If she was simply holed up somewhere with Eden, pissed off with me for some reason I couldn’t remember. She’d be even more pissed off if I got her kicked out of the country.

‘Why don’t you give it another forty-eight hours?’ Krugman said to me. ‘If she still doesn’t get in touch with you or anyone else, give me a call and I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, if I were you I’d call her friends, anyone who she might get in touch with. What about her agent? I’m sure she’d need to speak to her if she’s just been fired.’

‘I’ll do that,’ I said. Calling Jayne had been next on my list anyway.

I went upstairs to my room. I thumped the mattress with frustration then lay on my back, staring at the cracks in the ceiling.

As I lay there, I became aware of voices outside. I peeked out of the window and saw that Jack, Mona and Krugman had gone into the garden. The men were in the lawn chairs, holding glasses of what looked like lemonade. Mona was on the swing. I could make out the faint sound of their conversation.

I turned off the A/C, which instantly made the room fall quiet, and opened the window as quietly as I could. Their voices drifted up to me through the still summer air.

‘. . . a reliable character?’ said Krugman.

Jack replied first. ‘We thought he was.’

‘I guess we don’t know him that well. We don’t know either of them well.’ That was Mona.

‘Maybe it was a mistake inviting them to house-sit for us,’ said Jack. ‘You know, there’s part of me – and I feel awful admitting this – that wonders if he’s making the whole thing up. About this Eden woman, I mean.’

I was in a crouching position on the floor and, hearing this, I almost lost my balance. Making it up?

‘You think Eden might not actually exist?’ Mona said.

‘Go on,’ said Krugman in his low rumble.

‘Well, it’s such a bizarre story, isn’t it? And there are no photos of her. No one else to corroborate what Adam says. There are no signs that she was actually here. The sheets on the bed Eden supposedly slept in are clean, just as we left them, aren’t they, Mona?’

Was that right? I was sure Eden’s bed had been unmade when I’d looked in her room.

Jack continued. ‘I find it so hard to believe someone would turn up here pretending to know us, especially as there’s nothing missing.’

‘Except Ruth,’ said Mona.

‘Who was clearly suffering from the hangover to end all hangovers. Maybe she’s still on a bender. Getting wasted in some bar somewhere, drowning her sorrows.’

I could hardly believe what I was hearing. I wanted to run down the stairs and into the garden, shout at them, make them believe me. But I needed to stay here. I needed to hear what they said.

‘Tell me about Adam and Ruth. What was the state of their relationship?’ Krugman asked.

‘Difficult to say,’ said Mona. ‘I mean, they seemed happy enough when we met them on the cruise, but I think they were having some issues.’