"If you"re cool with it, we don"t mind. Sash says you can get English channels on your TV; you can"t in our apartment."
"You didn"t come to Rome to watch TV?"
"Course not! Just while we"re, like, waiting for you to get back." Ruby ma.s.saged her shin vigorously, pretending she had cramp. "We"ve been walking around all morning."
Gina began to waver. "Well..." She stood back, a.s.sessing them both, as if weighing up the benefits of hot water against the occupation of her flat by strangers. Except they weren"t strangers exactly wouldn"t that make a difference? "He did text to say he"s on his way," she admitted. "He must have sent it while I was on the phone. I don"t necessarily believe him, but I really do have to get to my appointment. This could be a good commission."
Sasha cast a quick glance at Ruby, who winked back.
"I"ll only be an hour or so," Gina went on. "An hour and a half, tops. So if he turns up before I get back, do feel free to leave. I"ve used him a lot, he"s perfectly honest. On the other hand..."
"We can stay till you"re done, can"t we, Sash?"
"I wouldn"t want to disrupt your plans."
"We haven"t made any yet."
Gina"s mobile trilled in her bag. "That will be Mario," she said, without bothering to check, clearly too distracted by her important meeting to consider why Sasha had suddenly materialised on her front step. "I have to go. These are my spare keys. Make sure you double lock the mortise and then drop them into my mailbox on your way out. Oh, and shut the portone. I appreciate the favour. Thanks, girls."
""Thanks girls!"" mimicked Ruby, watching from the landing as Gina descended the staircase. When the portone slammed, she punched the air. "Success!"
"What I don"t see," said Sasha, "is how hanging around for the plumber is going to do us any good."
"I don"t believe you!" said Ruby. "The way you wimped out. You are a total wimpette, babe. You were shouting all the way here like you were mental and then when you get close up and personal it"s all yes miss, no miss, three bags full miss."
"I was going to get around to it," insisted Sasha. "But I didn"t have a chance."
"You could have so scuppered it for her. Imagine what state she"d"ve been in if you"d had a go, laid into her? You could"ve lost her that precious commission if you"d gone at things right."
"Maybe it"s more important to me that she tells me about Joe."
"Whatever." Ruby"s dimples twitched. "Anyhow, I stopped her from sending us away, didn"t I? And she really owes us, so she"ll have to do what you say. D"you need a bit of practice? We could have a rehearsal if you want. I"ll be Gina." She lifted her chin and gurgled in a throaty drawl: "Darling! What"s with this growing-up business? Is it hard? How do you do it exactly?"
"Lay off," said Sasha. "Let me look around a bit first."
"Feeling sentimental?"
"Something like that."
She stood in the centre of the living room, inhaling traces of Gina"s perfume, a tang of citrus from recently juiced oranges, sunlight baking wood. The same pictures were on the walls, the furniture was in the same position though a new throw was draped on the couch where she had slept, a deep emerald green mohair. There were fashion magazines on the coffee table, along with some scribbled post-it notes, reminders, phone numbers, what might have been a shopping list. In Gina"s bedroom, she saw the bed was unmade, shoes had been kicked into a pile, the side lamp had been left on. She closed the door; there was a limit to snooping and anyway it was the other, larger bedroom that held attraction for her: Felix"s room.
The sight of it was, in the end, confusing. It didn"t resemble anything she recollected. The bed, which had dominated the s.p.a.ce, had been folded back into a sofa, and a large North African style rug was squared in front of it. The computer was a blank screen in the corner; Gina"s overflow clothes were presumably still stored in the wardrobe, but there were rows of photographs framed around the walls, which she didn"t remember. Surely she"d have been aware of all these faces watching her?
"So this is it," said Ruby. "Your crime scene. Wicked."
"It"s not a crime scene."
"You were underage, so technically that means..."
"So were you!"
"No I wasn"t. Anyway, my first time was like, totally s.h.i.t. I"ve wiped it out actually. I"m not even thinking about it. Or the grotty broom cupboard we did it in. But for you, wow, teen queen of romance, this could be a ma.s.sive moment."
"f.u.c.k off." Nearby noises, a thump and a shuffle, unnerved her and she spun around. "Hey, what was that?" She was jumpy, horribly jumpy. The place taunted her somehow perhaps because the spare room looked so completely different from its incarnation on the gallery wall. She could almost hear Gina saying, What bed? There"s no bed here. What girl? Can you see anyone who remotely resembles her?
For a moment she wondered and the thought was pleasurable whether the sounds she"d heard indicated a visitor and whether that visitor might be Joe although Gina didn"t encourage him to call, she knew. He"d only been there on that first meeting for a photo shoot and it was Super Mario who had delivered them on the second occasion. "I can hear somebody coming up the stairs."
"It"ll be the plumber, you idiot," said Ruby as the bell rang.
They opened the door to a hara.s.sed man in overalls who seemed surprised to see them.
"Siamo amice di Gina," explained Sasha. "Lei aveva bisogno d"uscire per un"ora."
"Hey, well done," applauded Ruby.
"Inglese?" said the plumber with a smile.
They nodded. Ruby added her contribution. "Non c"e acqua calda."
"Lo so." He heaved his bag into the bathroom where the wall-mounted boiler awaited his attention.
"I guess we could go," said Sasha.
"Go! What are you on about? We said we"d wait for her to come back."
"I don"t think I can face it. Anyway, I"m hungry. I"m ready for my lunch."
"You"ve dragged us both all the way over here and now you"re bottling it!"
"I"ll text her or something. After all, she knows I"m back and, like you said, she owes us. She"ll have to do what I want. Only, I"d rather, like, not have a full-on showdown." Gina"s reaction had been unexpected. She"d been hoping for a p.r.i.c.kle of annoyance or antagonism: so much easier to have a satisfying argument if the other person was angry too.
Ruby was inspecting cupboards in the kitchen area. She opened the fridge and scrutinised its contents thoughtfully. "There"s food in here. Looks a bit rank though. D"you think the plumber wants a cup of tea? Should we ask him?"
"Italians don"t drink tea!"
"Don"t they?"
"Well," allowed Sasha, "some of them go in for the fancy herbal sort, but generally they have coffee."
Ruby had moved on to a row of canisters, picking them up and shaking them. "Oh, this one rattles."
There came a clanking in the pipes; the plumber called out something they didn"t understand. Sasha turned on the cold tap but no water escaped. "We can"t even make coffee."
"Look at this." Ruby held up a small key. "What d"you think it"s for? It"s not big enough for a door. A jewellery box perhaps?"
"How should I know? Anyway I"m not after her jewellery."
"It must open something important if she keeps it hidden away."
"People get robbed all the time in Rome," said Sasha. "It"s famous for it, like Barcelona. That"s why you have to be careful of pickpockets. It"s probably for some money box she keeps under the bed. She told me how people like to pay in cash or in kind "cos then the taxman doesn"t find out."
"A money box under the bed?" said Ruby. "I don"t think so. I think it"s dirty pictures she"s hiding. There might even be some more of you. D"you reckon she could be a blackmailer?"
Sasha glanced towards the bathroom. She could hear the heavy breathing of a man exerting himself, a few curses, the c.h.i.n.k of tools being jostled. "Then it"ll be for the chest."
"What chest?"
"Over there, that pair either side of the window. The one on the left, which I"ve seen open, has clothes in it, men"s clothes mostly. The other one"s locked."
Ruby grinned and tiptoed towards it with an exaggerated sense of drama. She fitted the key in the lock and lifted the lid. Sasha who had been holding her breath, as if a whole host of demons were going to leap out, came closer. She was disappointed to see more clothes, though these were female: sequinned vests and silky tops, pashminas and palazzo pants, interleaved with black tissue paper, all bearing the labels of French and Italian designers. They lay delicate and fragile like sleeping beauties, unworn for some time.
"I reckon these must be valuable," she said. "If they"re haute couture or whatever." Nevertheless the discovery was an anticlimax.
"Just a minute!" said Ruby, slipping her hands between the layers and down the side of the chest. "I can feel something stiff." She tugged at a corner and pulled out a heavyweight folder. "There must be, like, some major secret in here, else why would she have hidden it?"
In the bathroom the plumber was whistling, his confidence restored. Sasha was increasingly agitated. If the folder held more compromising photographs, close-ups of body parts or indecent acts, she didn"t want to see them. "Whatever it is, hurry up. Let"s get it over. I think he"s nearly finished."
"Cool it, what"s it got to do with him?" Ruby closed the lid of the chest and then sat on top of it to open the folder. "Who"s Eugenie Raven?"
"Who?"
"Eugenie Raven."
Sasha was flummoxed. "Haven"t a clue. Why?"
Ruby waved a printed doc.u.ment. "That"s what"s written here."
"Where. On what?"
"Dunno. Tenancy agreement maybe? Affitasi. That"s the sign you see hanging on buildings, innit? To let."
"Eugenie... oh my G.o.d! It must be her, Gina."
Ruby snorted. "For real? Sounds like a character from a Disney film, doesn"t she?"
"Is the agreement with a man called Boletti? They"re the family I was staying with, they"re how I met her."
Ruby turned the pages. "It"s got the name of some company but yeah, Boletti signed it."
"She was worried he was going to try and evict her. Maybe that"s why she"s keeping it safe."
"It"s not the only thing in here," said Ruby, her eyes widening. "There"s like a marriage certificate to the Raven guy and then another when she"s still Eugenie Stanhope, madre... Stone me doesn"t this look like a birth certificate?" They regarded it together. "You never said she had a kid."
"She never told me. Anyway, he"d be what, eighteen now? Old enough to leave home."
"There"s nothing in this flat," said Ruby, "that would belong to a teenage lad. No sports stuff, no music, no computer games, no clothes..."
"And no dad named," said Sasha. "So she must have been a single parent. Bet she had him adopted and that"s why he never lived here. What"s his name?"
"Thomas. English, huh?"
"Put it all back, it"s nothing to do with us."
Ruby drummed her heels against the side of the trunk. "Hey, babe, I"m not done yet. Look, there"s this too."
It was a child"s drawing, protected in a transparent envelope. Some squiggles in one corner, some objects that might have been mushrooms or, more likely, flying saucers and some oddly pretty patches of coloured crayoning.
"How old d"you reckon he was when he did this? Three at least? Four? So she can"t have had him adopted right away. Maybe this was the last thing he drew for her and that"s why she"s kept it. Look, he"s even put a little signature on the back. Doesn"t that say Tommy?"
"Dunno. Can three-year-olds write?"
"Come on, Sash. Get in the frame. There"s more to your mate Gina than meets the eye."
There was a powerful hiss and the gushing of water. Quickly Ruby sat on the folder, and Sasha stashed the picture out of sight in her messenger bag. The plumber emerged beaming, rubbing his hands together. "Tutt"aposto," he said. "Scaldacqua funziona." The girls nodded and smiled.
"Close one," breathed Ruby, after he"d seen himself out.
"I need the loo," said Sasha. "I"ve been bursting all the time he was in there."
"Then what?"
"Then we..." Her phone started to ring and she fished for it anxiously. She was relieved to see it was her father calling. "Oh, Dad, hi. Have you landed?"
"I"m on the fast train to Termini," he said. "Where are you?"
"Um..." Too much information wouldn"t be a good idea. "We"re in Trastevere."
"Have you had lunch?"
"Not yet."
"Everything okay with the apartment?"
"Yes. Fine and dandy."
"Okay, I"ll pick up a cab when I get to the station and buy you something to eat. Dump my bag later. Can you see anywhere you like the look of?"
"Let me talk to Ruby," said Sasha. "When we"ve found somewhere nice I"ll text you."
"See you later, sweetheart."
"Well, that"s it," she said, snapping her phone shut, only partially regretful. "If Dad needs us to meet him in, like, half an hour or so, we can"t wait around any longer for Gina."
"We"re not letting her off, though."
"No way."
Ruby restored the folder to the trunk and the key to its hiding place. Sasha used the bathroom. She wasn"t planning to keep hold of the drawing for long she wasn"t a thief but since Gina had stolen something of hers and violated a precious memory, she could do with a bargaining tool.