Page 50 of Bad Influence
‘What are you doing in here?’ he breathed.
‘What areyoudoing here?’ I spoke, no louder than a whisper.
Both of us were equally stunned, yet united in our determination not to wake up Mandy.
‘Are you having an affair?’ I whispered, accusatorily, aghast at the words coming out of my mouth.
‘Of course not!’ he said, as if I had asked the most ridiculous question in the world. He glanced over his shoulder, as we both heard Mandy sigh. ‘Let’s talk about this outside!’
In a kind of haphazard bear crawl race, we both made it back to the door and into the hallway in seconds. Ivery quietly closed the bedroom door behind us. Hearts beating fast, all we could do was pray she hadn’t heard anything.
‘Amber, what the actual fuck?’ Jimi was looking at me as ifIhad done something wrong, whenhewas the one in his underpants in Mandy’s bathroom.
How is he going to explain himself? I felt incredulous that he could be looking so accusingly at me.
‘I was getting something!’ I said, trying to get my breath back. ‘Some earrings as it happens. Expensive diamond ones which need returning. And which I didn’t manage to get – thanks to you. Anyway, I’m not the one who was practically naked in her bathroom!’
Jimi paused for a moment. He looked around to check we weren’t being overheard. We both knew by now that Philippa had a way of covertly appearing whenever an important conversation was taking place.
‘Come with me.’
We went into his bedroom, which was at the end of the same corridor as Mandy’s. It was a lot smaller though, just a double bed, with a wardrobe and a chest of drawers. A rack of dumbbells stood in a corner and an exercise mat was laid out on the floor. It smelt vaguely of ripe exercise clothes and his zesty aftershave.
‘I know how this looks,’ Jimi continued. ‘But I was just going to bed when I had a horrible realisation. I didn’t even have a chance to get dressed – I guessed I’d be in and out of there quickly, so I took my chance.’ He stopped.
‘Took your chance to do what?’ I asked.
‘Drugs,’ he said. My eyes widened. ‘Magic mushrooms, to be precise. Not a huge amount, but enough.’
‘What do you mean enough?’ I asked fearfully.
‘I gave Mandy some mushroom powder to make into a tea, to keep her anxiety at bay; help with focus. She needed that ahead of the shoot. I’ve been using it for years – you simply drink it – sometimes I pimp it up with a load of nutrients, it’s legal and really helpful. But—’
‘But?’
‘But I gave her the wrong kind – a friend had sent me some of the illegal stuff from California, pure powder. You can get it on the black market and it’s legal in some states of America. I use it occasionally for a bit of fun when I’m going out. Anyway, I accidentally gave Mandy the wrong stuff this morning and I needed to get it out of her bathroom before she took anymore.’
My jaw fell open as Jimi was telling me this. ‘So Mandy was basically microdosing magic mushrooms on the shoot today?’ I asked.
Jimi nodded remorsefully.
I shook my head. ‘Shit, that’s bad.’
‘I know it’s fucking bad! Why do you think I was trying to remove all the evidence? Anyway, it’s fine, she’s breathing, she was already back to her old snappy self at dinner, and she will have slept if off by now anyway, she’s been out since seven o’clock. I got the rest from the bathroom, and judging by what’s left, she didn’t take too much.’
‘What effect will it have had on her?’ I asked gravely, having never taken magic mushrooms before.
‘Nothing major, just the giggling earlier, the sensory reaction to her environment, like colours becoming much more vibrant, surfaces pleasing to touch, a greater appreciation of words and music. Psilocybin can help rewire the mind – opening it up to allow new thoughts and creativity. The trip only lasts a matter of hours.’
‘Oh great, so you’re telling me she was tripping when she decided to go along with my suggestions for the photoshoot?’ I said bashfully. ‘I thought she actually seemed to be listening.’
‘Hopefully it made her more willing to try something new,’ he offered. ‘It gave me a heart attack when I realised though. I didn’t want to risk her enjoying that feeling so much she’d reach for the rest. So now you can understand why I leapt out of bed and went to get it back. You’d have done the same.’
I believed Jimi. He looked panicked, and it seemed far too elaborate a story to have made up on the spot if he was covering up for having an affair with Mandy. Although the fact they had been out together early in the morning now occurred to me as slightly suspicious too.
‘You spend a lot of time together though – she confides in you, doesn’t she?’ I asked.
‘Listen, Mandy and Jose have got all sorts going on at the moment, as you may have realised.’
