Page 58 of Teacakes & Tangos
Determined to talk to Xander, I marched into the station to buy my ticket to Guildford. The next train was due to leave in ten minutes, which was perfect, but as I was standing in the short queue, I heard a familiar voice say, ‘Anika? Where are you off to?’
I spun round and there he was.
Xander.
‘Hi!’ Shocked, I tried to smile at him but it didn’t feel natural. And then it was my turn in the queue and the woman behind the counter was asking me where I wanted to go, which was when it dawned on me that I didn’t need to buy a ticket because I could talk to Xander right there.
I apologised and stepped out of the queue to join Xander.
‘Hey, you.’ He was smiling broadly at me and my heart sank because it was clear he had no idea about the storm that was surely going to land on him later in the day.
‘Hi.’ I swallowed. ‘Off to work?’
He nodded. ‘I’m a bit later going in today. I was making some phone calls at home first.’
‘Right.’
He frowned. ‘Are you okay? Is something wrong?’
‘No, no.’ I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. But I knew I couldn’t put it off any longer. In less than ten minutes he’d be boarding a train to Guildford. But I needed toknowbefore he left. So I pulled out the newspaper, looked him silently in the eye and showed him the front page.
‘What’s this? The local paper?’ He gave me a puzzled look. ‘Thanks, but I don’t usually bother with it. I usually watch the news on the TV.’
‘But Xander,look.’ In despair, I thrust the paper back in front of his eyes and I watched the smile drop from his face.
Taking it from me, he stared at the photo, as all the colour drained from his face.
‘Is that you?’ I whispered, feeling sick.
He didn’t reply at first. He just carried on looking at the photo.
‘Xander?’
He blinked a few times. Then he looked at me as if he was working out what to tell me.
‘Is it you?’
He swallowed. ‘No. Of course it’s not me,’ he said softly.
I nodded, wanting to believe him so much. ‘Sorry, it’s just... well, you must admit it does look a lot like you,’ I began carefully. ‘And Lyndsay thought so, too, because she phoned me as soon as she saw it.’
He turned to me with a frown. ‘You’ve been gossiping about me? You and Lyndsay?’
I swallowed. ‘No! I mean, we’dnever... But it was the tattoo that made us wonder.’ I pointed at the iris. ‘It’s your tattoo, isn’t it?’
He pressed his lips together and looked away. ‘It might look like it,’ he said in a tone that was ultra-soft and strangely disturbing. ‘But how can it be me when I was nowhere near that jeweller’s shop that day?’
‘Okay.’ I nodded, wanting to pacify him, although more wild thoughts were rushing through my head now.
Could the photo be fake? Created with AI technology? Because that could be done so easily these days, couldn’t it?
Xander sounded calm but I could sense the anger simmering below the surface, and there was a desperate vulnerability in hiseyes as they flicked over me that I hadn’t seen before. He was avoiding my eye, which was odd, because normally he was so open and transparent.
I shivered. Maybe Lyndsay was right and a week wasn’t long to get to know Xander properly... to know the different sides of his character...
But I still couldn’t believe he was guilty of what the police seemed to think he was.
‘You don’t really think I could do something like this, do you, Anika?’ he asked me, staring at a point over my right shoulder.
