Page 73 of Deep Blue Lies
“I’m here now, in Greece. I left med school, I was… I don’t know if you even know I was there…”
“In Sunderland. Yes, I knew.”
“Oh. OK. Well, I…actually I didn’t leave, they kicked me out. Because my grades were shocking, and…I don’t think I was cut out to be a doctor.”Shit, I’m rambling.I catch Sophia’s eye and understand her look. I need to get to the point.
“What I mean is. I came to Alythos. I’m here now.”
I stop, but there’s just more silence.
“Imogen? Are you still there?”
“Yes. I’m listening. Do you mean Alythos in Greece?”
I didn’t know there was another one.
“Yeah.”
“Oh.” A pause, then: “Why are you there?”
“That’s what I wanted to speak with you about. I came to…I don’t know exactly why I came. But I wanted to find out more about how I came to be born here. Mum’s never spoken to me about it.” I stop. “I thought maybe I’d be able to find out who my dad was.” I shake my head at how ridiculous this sounds.
“You’re really on Alythos?”
“Yeah.”
“And you’re there now?”
“Yes,” I tell her again.
“Oh.” I have the phone close enough to Sophia that she can hear what’s being said, and she mouths to me now.
Tell her about the diary.
I nod when I understand her, and then there’s still silence on the line, so I do what she says.
“I found my mum’s diary. From when she was working here. It says she was sharing a room with you. And there’s this really weird thing, it shows that she wasn’t pregnant, with me, when she was supposed to be. So I don’t understand it, and I wondered if youknew something, like maybe she was pregnant later, after the murders and the resort closed down?”
“The murders?” Imogen cuts in suddenly.
“Yeah, the manager of the Aegean Dream Resort. He killed his girlfriend?” I’m confused. She must know this.
She’s silent again, and I give her space. Or maybe, I just don’t know what more to say. After a very long time she speaks again.
“And you’re on Alythos? In Greece?”
“Yes.”
Another pause. A little shorter this time, but her voice is strange now, I hear an edge to it.
“Is Karen with you?”
“No.”
“Does she know you’re there?”
“Yes. Of course, she’s my…” I don’t finish the sentence.
“Are you going to be there for long?”
