Page 138 of Fe
“Mr Belmont? It’s Alistair Winn. I wonder if you could do me a favour? Fen doesn’t have a key to my place but his mother’s sure he still has a key to her old one. Fen knows the landlord was keeping it empty until after Christmas. If I text you the address, could you go and see if he’s there?”
Fen could be anywhere. A hotel. Friends. Why would he go to an empty flat? But… “Yes, of course. Catch your flight. I’ll text as soon as I’ve found him.”
“Ask him if they quarrelled,” he heard Fen’s mum say.
“We haven’t quarrelled. I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about. Iwillfind him.”
“We don’t know you,” she spoke into the phone.
“You don’t. Alistair does. I care a great deal for Fen and I promise I’ll sort this out. Please try not to worry. I’ll go over there right now.”
“Thank you.”
No sooner had that call ended, than another one came through, but this time Ripley knew who it was.
“Mateo,” he said quietly.
“Hello, Ripley. I wanted to tell you I met a friend of yours this morning. A young man called Fen. He’d put flowers on Alejandro’s grave.”
“Is he still there?”
“No.”
“Within sight?”
“No. He’s long gone. He told me about the letter Alejandro left for you.”
“Ah.”
“He put me right about a few things, too. I think words were said two years ago that probably shouldn’t have been said, or at least they should have been put right before now. Fen said you blame yourself for what happened, but you’re no more to blame than we are or than Alejandro is. His death crippled us all, and maybe we could have stopped him, but maybe we couldn’t. We can’t punish ourselves overmaybes. Fen said he wants to make you happy, but you have to want it too.”
Ripley’s heart cramped.Oh Fen.
“You made Alejandro happy until he reached a place where he couldn’t help himself and he wouldn’t let anyone else help him. Alejandro let life beat him and we all have to live with that. But he’s gone. We’re still here. Be happy, Ripley. It’s time. You have a young man who needs to be happy too.”
Mateo ended the call and Ripley exhaled. What had he been thinking when he’d put self-indulgence for the past over hope for the future? He slipped his feet into his shoes, grabbed his coat and keys and went to get his car.
Calls to Fen went unanswered. Once he’d put the address into his satnav, he set off. Fen had lied to him. The phone call with his mother that he’d let Ripley overhear… But then he’d lied to Fen too so…Please let him be there.Because despite his promises, if Fen wasn’t at his mother’s old place, Ripley had no idea where to look.
He parked at the foot of the eight-storey block of flats and hoped his car still had wheels when he came back to it. Ripley looked at the lift and hesitated, but when a woman with three small kids got in, he joined them. The children kept jumping up and down, making the lift shake and he really wished they wouldn’t, but he kept quiet. They got off on the fourth floor and Ripley continued to the sixth.Please be here.
When he reached the door, he banged hard on it. There was no answer.Shit.So should he wait? Maybe Fen wasn’t there yet. Ripley banged again and shouted, “Fen! Open up!”
He was shocked when the door opened. Fen stood there looking up at him, his eyes wide, and Ripley stepped into the flat and pulled Fen into his arms. It took a little longer than he’d hoped, but Fen hugged him back.
“What are you doing here?” Fen asked.
“Your mother tried to call you. She was about to board a flight to Italy. Colour me astonished. You didn’t answer and she’s worried.”
Fen winced. “Shit.”
“Italy? That’s not what you led me to believe.”
“Let me call her.”
“Text her. She’ll get it when she lands.”
“I didn’t think she’d want to speak to me until Christmas Day. I’m sorry for you having to come all this way.” He tapped into his phone.
