Page 107 of Such a Good Couple
‘I’m leaving.’
‘So you said.’ Rachel took her cup to the table and Annie swept into the hall, dragging her coat from the hall stand and heading out into the black morning.
At work, everyone was careful around her. Maddeningly so. Shemessed around in her inbox until she felt it was a reasonable time to escape to the park for a bit. In Merrion Square, she walked as though she was actually trying to get somewhere. The fallen leaves underfoot were ice-stiffened and she flashed back to the chill of Maggie’s cheek as Annie kissed her goodbye in her satin coffin bed. She took out her phone and opened the picture she hadn’t shown anyone. She’d taken it in the funeral home for reasons she wasn’t inclined to interrogate. Maggie looked serene, at peace, all the fucking clichés.
She also looked like someone else. Annie’s anger spiked. Annie didn’t recognise Maggie because she’d only ever seen her in motion, smiling, laughing, crying,living. You weren’t supposed to see your friends dead.
Annie remembered the bruises she’d seen on Maggie’s knees. Maggie had been doing it so much that, over time, the pressure of kneeling on hard, uncaring tiles had left a mark. ButAnniehadn’t seen a thing.
Or she had and she hadn’tdonea fucking thing. She’d been so caught up in Conor and trying for a baby. And then she’d been so caught up in Rachel. Fucking Rachel.
In her hand, the phone rang. It was Conor. Fucking Conor. She flicked the display to answer. She was running out of people she didn’t hate right now. She could tolerate Clara. Just. Though her swings from hysteria to sadness were also starting to scratch at her patience.
‘Hey,’ Annie said.
‘Hey,’ he replied. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Is that a serious question?’ Annie snarked.
‘I guess not.’ He sighed, then continued. ‘Where are you?’
‘In Merrion Square. Back at work but, you know, escaping. Everyone’s annoying the fuck out of me. If one more person makes me a cup of tea, I’m going to set them on fire.’
‘It’s very icy to be out – be careful on the paths.’
‘Yup,’ Annie snapped. ‘Listen, are you calling for a reason? Because if this is just a check-in, I will happily update you: Maggie’s still dead; I let her suffer alone and die. And everyone’s a fucking asshole.’
‘Fionn’s missing,’ Conor interjected.
‘See? Another fucking asshole.’ Annie glared at the path in front of her. ‘He’s probably drunk somewhere. He’ll stumble in when it suits him, not giving a shit that you were worried. He’s got two kids –he can’t pull this crap.’
Conor carried on, completely ignoring her little speech. ‘No, he’smissingmissing. We were not telling you because, well, because of the baby and, also, we did keep thinking he would walk in the door. But now it’s been two days, the police are involved and Brody’s releasing a statement. It’s going to be all over social media in the next few hours.’
‘This is so fucking … self-obsessed,’ Annie snapped, even as a veil of fear came down around her.He’s been missing for two days?
‘Annie, c’mon. His wife is gone.’
‘If he had spent a singlesecondwith her when she was alive maybe he’d have known what was happening to her?’ she spat, though she knew the person she was really angry at was herself.
‘Annie, we need to find him. I’m scared he’s going to do something bad. Rachel is on her way to collect you. I called her. There’s no way you’re going back to work.’
‘Great. Rachel, my amazingfriend.’
‘Yeah, she mentioned you were doing the “push people who love you away” thing.’
‘I’m not,’ Annie railed. The baby kicked as if to say,You are.‘Anyway, she doesn’t love me.’ Annie felt herself sag and slumped onto a bench, her fury finally dying away.
‘She definitely does. Not sure if it’s the way you want her to but …’He trailed away.
Annie’s phone buzzed against her ear, announcing Rachel’s incoming call.
‘She’s calling, I better go. Are we meeting at Miavita?’
‘Yeah, see you soon. And Annie?’ He hesitated for a moment. ‘I love you too.’
‘Yeah, yeah.’
The journey to the house was subdued. Annie didn’t apologise for that morning but she sensed it wasn’t necessary. Instead she sat in the passenger seat reading Brody’s statement. It was sparse in detail.
