“Hey.”
“Hey,” he croaks back, widening the door for me to enter. The place looks like a tornado ripped through it. Takeout boxes litter the side, and empty bottles lay discarded on the floor.
“Sorry about the mess. It’s been a shitty few weeks.”
“What happened to your cleaner?”
“She quit.”
“Fin,” I say, in disbelief that he’s been living like this. It’s out of character and rotten. “You know how to pick up after yourself. This place…”
“I don’t need a lecture, Antonia.”
He throws himself into a chair and covers his eyes with his hand. “Why is it so fucking bright in here?”
“Because you live in a fishbowl,” I point out, gesturing to the entire back wall being glass.
“I hate this place.”
“I love it. When it’s clean.”
“Well, you can have it.”
He needs coffee, and I need to keep my hands busy to stop myself from going on a cleaning frenzy in here.
“What are you doing?”
“Making coffee.”
“What time is it?”
Checking my watch before pouring in hot water, I stir the liquid with the coffee granules and take it over to him. “It’s after eleven.”
Sitting forward, he takes the cup from me. “Thank you. I lost track of time.”
“Doing what?”
He looks up at me through the steam from his cup and tilts it to his lips. “Forgetting.”
“I need to pop into school, but when I get back, how about we try forgetting together?”
“That would be nice. I need to shower. Here.” He gives me back the mug and disappears to shower.
Being on campus again gives me hope. Art is where I see my future, and being surrounded by other students almost makes me feel normal. He hasn’t entirely broken me if I can imagine myself in the future doing what I love, right?
“Antonia. Happy to have you back in class.”
“Thank you, Professor.”
“You have some catching up to do for your gallery entry.” He nods at me, and my heart rate picks up.
They hold a competition every year, and one student’s work gets elected for a showing at a professional gallery. It has the possibility to be a huge career starter if you win, and has proven to launch some artists over the years.
“As you weren’t here when the subjects were chosen, you get the leftover, I’m afraid.” He grins and hands me a piece of folded up paper. Taking it from him, I open it up to see Nature emblazoned across it. “You need to submit a series of three pieces.”
This is exactly what I need to focus on to take my mind off everything else.
“Something smells good,” Finlay calls from the couch.
I picked up some groceries on the way home to cook for us and try and find some semblance of normalcy. It’s not keeping my mind from wandering though, and James plagues my thoughts. Fin offers small talk, but it falls on deaf ears.
My cell ringing draws our attention and my stomach somersaults when I see it’s Dan’s number. What if he’s heard from James and told him I was asking questions about a brother he may have?
“Are you going to answer that?” Finlay asks. He’s come over, and the tone of his voice is hard.
“Yeah.” I hand him the ladle to stir the sauce in the pan, which he takes without losing eye contact with me. His gaze stalks me as I answer and move towards my bedroom.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Toni.”
“Hey.”
“I need to talk to you and would prefer to do it in person. Do you think you could pop down to the studio?”
“Now?”
“It’s important.”
I flick my eyes back to the kitchen where Finlay has stopped stirring and has his arms folded as he leans against the counter, his legs crossed at the feet, watching me.
“Okay. I’ll be there in half an hour.”
Ending the call, I slip my cell into my pocket. “Don’t be mad, but I need to pop out for an hour or so.”
“Where?”
“To see a friend.”
He unfolds himself and comes around the counter. “I’ll drive you.”
“You’ve been drinking. I’ll just grab a cab.”
“I’ve only had a couple of beers.”
“Exactly, Fin. A couple. I’ll just get a cab. I won’t be long, and then we can have dinner.”
“You have dinner. I’m going to the club.” He huffs and slams the door on his exit.
I need to tell him what’s going on but I hate that I’ve brought all my drama into his life.
Bunging the cab driver a twenty, I get out of the car and make my way inside the studio. It’s quiet, and there’s no one at the reception desk. I debate looking around but don’t want to get into trouble if she’s just popped to the toilet or on an errand, so I stay at the reception desk and call Dan. It rings a couple of times before he picks up.
“Hey.”
“I’m at reception.”
“Just come back. We’re the only ones here.”
Dan meets me half way and embraces me. “What did you do?”
He points to my foot, and I shrug. “Fell on some stairs.”
“You’ve always been a klutz.”
“So, you’re recording?”
He shakes his head and runs his hand through his dark locks. “We’ve been recording what we can, but it’s becoming a real issue not having James here and…” He stops mid-sentence and looks down the hall and then back to me.
“Come in here.”
He opens the door to our right and switches a light on. The room is small with a couch and a table. There’s a counter with food and drinks laid out.
He gestures for me to sit.
“Drink?” he offers, but I shake my head.
“What’s going on, Dan. Why did you want to see me?”
He sits on the coffee table directly in front of me, resting his forearms on his knees and meeting my eye level.
“No one can reach James.”
“I know.”
“No, Antonia. I called his mum. She hasn’t seen him either.”
“What are you saying?”
“We’ve reached out to everyone he knows, and no one knows where he is.”
“So you think he has taken off…”
“His mum has reported him missing today.”
“What?”
“That’s not all.”
“Okay.”
“I asked her if James had a brother and she went crazy, demanding how I knew and asked if James had been seeing his brother. She said he was dangerous and I should tell her right now if I know anything.”
Tears prick my eyes and I want to scream, ‘He’s more than dangerous! He’s an animal, a murderer!’
“Antonia.”
I focus back on him.
“What the fuck’s going on?”
“I don’t know.”
He exhales and stands. “I don’t believe that. You must know something, otherwise you wouldn’t have asked me about this brother. I’ve known James a long time, and he has never mentioned a brother. In fact, he used to joke that being an only child was the reason for his mum being strict with him.”