Page 124 of Someone Else's Shoes
‘The night I wore the shoes. This man just handed it to me in the pub. I had a quick look with Andrea and we just … well, we just thought,Eurgh …like it was some kind of prank. Sorry, no offence.’
‘Totally fair,’ says Jasmine.
‘And I just stuffed it into a drawer and forgot about it. And then I realized when we walked in. That’s your husband, isn’t it? Him! In the video.’
Nisha looks at Sam. ‘My insurance,’ she murmurs. ‘I’d forgotten.’
‘I already texted it to you. Figured you’d need copies.’
Nisha looks at her phone. Sees the notification that says the video is there, waiting.
‘Okay,’ she says, breathing hard. ‘Okay.’
‘Now you can roast that pitiful excuse for a man,’ says Jasmine. ‘Yesss!’
Sam smiles then, a huge abrupt smile of happiness and pride. ‘You can. There’s your bargaining chip. There’s your new settlement.’ She cannot resist a further comment. ‘See? I told you I knew about deals.’
Carl looks briefly perplexed when the two women sit down on the sofa. He regards, with barely disguised disgust, Sam’s dishevelled appearance, her slightly jiggly air of anticipation. And then he becomes almost theatrically bored. He sighs, checks his watch, and drawls, ‘Are you done?’
Nisha leans forward and studies the document. ‘So, according to this document we separated six months ago. Even though you and I know that’s not true.’
‘That’s right.’ He takes a sip of his water and leans back in the chair.
‘And you will transfer that settlement … when? Now?’
‘Nish – hang on!’ Sam begins, but Nisha holds up a hand.
Carl nods. ‘Alistair will do it. But I want to see the shoes first.’
Nisha reaches down. She pulls the bag onto her lap and removes one of the crocodile-skin high heels. She had glued the heels back on carefully with Grace’s craft gun the previous evening. She turns it left and right, then pulls out the other, so that he can see both, then puts them back into the bag.
‘So … making me run around trying to find my own shoes was just a joke. A way of keeping me at bay while you fixed this up.’
Carl’s expression doesn’t flicker. ‘Maybe. Does it matter?’
‘You know her feet are too big for them? She does have very large feet.’ She nods towards Charlotte, who opens her mouth, and then smiles sweetly at Carl. ‘Are youreallysure you want these shoes?’
They hold each other’s gaze, and suddenly there it is. They despise each other. Nisha cannot believe she ever shared her life with this man.
‘Give me the shoes,’ he says, his voice low and dangerous.
‘Sam – give me your bank details,’ Nisha says.
‘What?’
‘I don’t have access to a bank account here. As he well knows. Give me your bank details.’
Sam slowly taps her phone, then hands it over. Nisha hands the phone to Alistair.
‘Nisha –’ Sam protests. But Nisha stays her with a raised palm.
‘I want to see the money arrive in that account. Oh, for God’s sake, Carl,’ she says, when he hesitates. ‘I’m hardly about to run away now. I know Ari will have people at every entrance. I’m not stupid.’
‘This is a bad idea,’ Sam whispers urgently. ‘Nisha. Don’t do this.’
‘Do it,’ says Carl. They wait as the transaction is completed online. Sam reluctantly shows Nisha the figure in her bank account. Nisha motions to Jasmine, who is hovering nearby.
‘Can you collect my things from the penthouse, please? And bring them to the front entrance?’
