‘I don’t know,’ he says.
We fall silent and he starts to roll a joint with shaking hands. ‘It was weird. I knew she had a crush on him, no doubt about that. The thing is she didn’t try to hide it, not even from me. I suspected Davian knew it too. I mean the guy is no fool but secretly, he liked her too, at least that’s what I think.’
‘You think so?’
‘I know what I saw in that room. It had nothing to do with two people not getting along. Maybe there was something going on, and all of that was an act so no one would suspect.’
‘Do you remember when you saw them in the copy room?’ I ask.
He lights the joint and takes a puff, tilting his head back. ‘Not the date exactly, but a few weeks before the party.’
A few weeks before the party, now that I recall, she stopped complaining. I’d thought Davian might have apologised to her after all. I need a calendar to follow the timeline. Abdel offers me the joint and I take a few puffs. I can’t get high. I have to go back to my place and figure out what was going on between her and Davian.
Chapter Twelve
The event happened in March of last year. I go through the calendar on my phone. I scroll to the date. Davian claimed he had no relationship with Lottie outside the office, just a colleague, but it seems to be more than that. How could he stand there and lie to my face! Abdel had brought a new perspective I hadn’t considered before.
The party was on Friday, I had an exhibition the Saturday after, and the party was the previous week. Abdel said he saw Davian and Lottie a few weeks before in the copy room. Davian might have planned to break them up. Why? It makes sense why he said those things to Abdel, but he had Melissa to consider? He wouldn’t tell Abdel those things about Lottie and me in an innocent way - it was intentional. Davian admitted he couldn’t see the error of his ways. The question is, what happened in the period when Abdel broke up Lottie? Is Davian the other man?
***
Lottie’s Recordings. Clip eight
When I returned to work on Monday, I saw Davian. He glared my way. He was in one of his moods again, so I armoured myself for what was to come. I went to hide in my cubical. My desk was piled with documents for filing and I went on with my work right away. Afterwards, I returned to my cubical and scowled at my desk; there was a photo that I’m sure wasn’t there before. It had a black background with colourful images in the shape of a large heart.
***
I pause the video and take out the photo from my coat pocket and examine it. She is referring to the same photo. Black background and colourful images that come in the shape of a heart. It has to be it. Tell me, Lottie, did Davian give it to you?
***
There was no message. I kept the photo on my desk and didn’t think about it for the rest of the day.
During lunch, I went to get a sandwich with Lilia and asked her if she’d put a photograph on my desk.
‘Me? Why would I do that?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know, you tell me.’
I opened my chicken sandwich and a packet of crisps.
‘Was it there before you cleared your desk?’ she asked, tucking into her salad.
‘Nope.’
‘Maybe Giselle put it there.’
‘Without saying anything? It’s unlike her.’
Lilia shook her head. ‘Yeah, it’s not like her.’
We ate in silence.
‘Where is it?’ she asked me, pouring water into her glass.
I chewed on my sandwich. ‘On my desk.’
‘Show it to me when we get back.’
‘Okay.’
Lilia inspected the photo carefully when I showed it to her. She handed it back to me, her face blank.
‘So?’ I asked.
‘Maybe Abdel placed it there.’
‘Without saying anything? Why would he come here anyway?’
‘I don’t know. Ask him.’
In the evening, I met Abdel. We stopped to get pizza on the way to my place.
‘Did you come to the office today?’ I asked, taking a slice of pizza from the box.
‘No, I didn’t, why?’ he asked.
‘No reason.’
In the gallery were lines of photographs. I surveyed each photo, not knowing what I was looking for. The photos were of people mostly: an old man, children playing in the park, and a landscape. I moved to a beautiful collaged image of Japan, judging by the oriental building. There was nothing abstract.
‘What are you doing down here?’
Davian was by the door dressed in a checked shirt and black trousers.
‘I’m... er... nothing.’
‘Nothing?’ he asked.
I cleared my throat and tried again. ‘I’m looking for something.’
‘What are you looking for?’
‘A meaning.’
‘Of what?’
His footsteps echoed on the marble floor. ‘What? I don’t have all day, Lottie,’ he snapped.
I took a deep breath. Funky house music played in the background. The office had the same music playing, as if someone would stop what they were doing and start to dance.
He snatched the photo from my hand and studied it.
I took my time to study him. Melissa could hold him and glance into those eyes. I never saw much of her nor spoke to her, and I had nothing to say to her. Still, I envied her. Davian handed me the photo.
‘So?’ I asked.
‘It’s mine.’
‘You put it on my desk?’
‘I did.’
‘Why?’ I cried.
‘Do I need a reason to give you something?’ he said, flashing me a smile so dazzling, I felt was being sucked into him.
***
I grabbed the photo and looked at it. Davian gave her this photo? What was it doing in her old bedroom?
***
‘Let’s start over, okay?’ he said.
‘What am I going to do with this?’ I asked foolishly.
‘I don’t know, frame it. Is that why you’re down here? Hoping you’ll find something similar?’
‘Er... yes.’
‘You won’t find it, not here, not anywhere.’
‘No?’
His eyes searched my face. I think for the first time, he actually saw me. He smiled again. This change in his attitude took me by surprise. For how long will it last?
‘Because it’s one of a kind.’
Was this his way of saying I’m one of a kind? Something inside me twitched. A picture is worth a thousand words. Isn’t that what they say?
‘One of a kind,’ I repeated.
‘Yeah, everyone is,’ he said and walked past me.
Leaving me there cold and empty. For that moment, for that instant, I thought... I don’t know what I thought.
Chapter Thirteen
A computer, a piece of machinery, has invaded my life, but I can’t let it go. The need to find out what happened is my focus. This is what I have left, a laptop where Lottie resurrects to tell me what she had been through. Why had she given me this laptop, knowing what it contained? It haunts me. Did she know she was going to die? Is that why she gave it to me? Hoping I’d see those video clips in time? If she was in danger, why didn’t she say anything? Why not go to the police?