Untitled Take Two

She blamed Facebook.

The twisted body was prone on the library floor; a woman in a red gown, beautiful until you saw the raw angry welt at her throat, a delicate scarf made brutal by the tight knot it made around her neck.

“Thirtieth birthday celebrations really are getting out of hand,” muttered Cath, thinking of her own celebrations over an intimate dinner as she watched people crowd around the body. Friends and strangers alike, she felt cut off from them all. It was all because of that site; people you thought you’d left far behind catching you up. She’d tried to ignore the invitation to this murder mystery weekend from her old classmate, but Louise had been persistent. They’d all studied at university together and it was a small class of six. Her absence would have felt like an admission, proof that she was never really one of them and had acquiesced to the place they’d given her.

Cath had been on the outside at university, the girl from the comprehensive in a class of private school educated privilege. She had felt that familiar cold ache as she watched them ascend the sweeping steps to the country house on her arrival, their red-soled heels flashing, sleek hair swept back with expensive sunglasses. Taking a deep breath, she’d walked inside to the grand hall, full of fresh spring flowers and other people’s laughter. She stood at the back and was one of the first to drift from the initial briefing. She’d read the notes the organisers had provided and already knew who the murderer would be. As her colleagues at the library joked, she’d read enough murder mysteries to set up a detective agency and the game didn’t pose a challenge to her.

Cath changed quickly for dinner, having planned to take a walk round the grounds before the meal. Just as she was heading out of the grand reception, she heard the voices of her former classmates. Louise was at the centre, flanked by Sarah, Lorna and Andy. They were all facing Stu, who had been as unpopular in the class as her in those earlier days. Socially he was their equal, but he showed a brilliance and passion for his studies that pushed him onto the fringes of the group. Cath had thought that she and Stu would have made natural allies and she would lie on the thin mattress of her narrow bed in the student halls thinking about him. In her mind she played it over many times, how he would kiss her - gentle at first and then with more passion as his dark brown eyes sparked amber and they explored each other, found each other in the midst of an isolation that came from being surrounded by so many people.

“Stuart, oh, I mean, I’m sorry Dr Morris,” she heard Louise say as she ostentatiously looked at her programme. Cath stopped and turned. Stuart was saying something quietly that she couldn’t hear, but his expressive face gave him away. In a louder voice she heard him say,

“So Miss Louise, if you have any questions, I will be happy to help you. It is a terrible business and I am desperately heartbroken at the death of my fiancé this afternoon. I long to see the killer brought to justice, so I will help any way I can. If you will excuse me, the shock is still…” He walked away quickly, not allowing her the chance to reply.

Cath walked out to the garden, Louise’s voice echoing across reception as she told them all how she’d found this weekend through an advertisement on Facebook; the promotion had included a photo of Stuart in character. She revelled in telling them how she thought it would be just perfect for them all to be there to show Mr High-and-Mighty just who was the real success from the class. Louise had been the queen bee and at the heart of the social scene at university, but Stuart drew the attention of tutors and students alike without trying and remained indifferent to her. If she’d found out that his acting ambitions had brought him to weekend murder mystery theatre, Cath knew that she would want to show him up, and she’d need the right audience. She was meant to be there with them for a drink before dinner and was relieved not to have been made an accomplice. That was what this reconnection was all about - Louise didn’t want to let go of the past because, Cath guessed, her games didn’t play out as well for her in the adult world they’d all graduated into.

Cath took her place at dinner and found she’d been seated with her old classmates. Not Louise, she was in the centre with her blank-faced fiancé amidst a new circle of acolytes, but all the others were there. Even a wretched Stu sat amongst them, shredding his napkin and ignoring their references to their shared past. He only ventured a comment if anyone asked about the mystery and replied defiantly in character as Dr Morris.

Sarah worked for a large recruitment firm in the City but said she was thinking of giving it all up for a life in the country.

“I want to be closer to nature, and to raise a family. All of this,” she said, waving a perfectly manicured hand in what appeared to be a deliberate gesture towards Louise, “seems so superficial, don’t you think?”

Lorna was a surprise; she’d followed the career into law as she’d planned, but was currently working for environmental causes. She’d lost the lacquered veneer she’d maintained at university and seemed to have opened up to the world around her. Cath discovered she’d changed a lot after she’d lost her boyfriend to Louise; they’d been together all through university and made a home together in London. When Louise moved to the city for her career, Lorna had invited her out, wanting her to feel included. She soon found herself excluded after returning home to find Louise in bed with Phil. After that childhood bubble burst, she’d immersed herself in work and it seemed to be soothing some of her anger.

Andy had been the golden boy of the group - with Stu so distant, he got the attention of all the other girls in the class - and took everything in his stride. He’d been on the rugby team and smiled through those years with a revolving door of girlfriends and constant flirting with Louise, crown prince to her queen bee. He’d moved with ease to his father’s business and a well-matched marriage. His muscular bulk remained along with his confidence, but the blond hair was fast retreating across his pale forehead and he’d lost his golden promise.

She answered the questions about her own life simply; she worked in a library, lived by the sea, kept herself busy. She knew what it sounded like and was surprised to realise how little it mattered now. The wine flowed and conversation turned more to gossip – Andy and Sarah laughing over Louise’s famous black moods and epic hangovers, Lorna scarcely hiding her resentment as she typed furiously on a blackberry under the table. Only Stu remained silent; occasionally they’d return to the mystery and ask some questions that he would answer, but he didn’t offer anything of himself. Eventually, Cath excused herself. She’d had enough of these people.

She lay awake in bed, listening to the chatter from downstairs. She heard people fumble and giggle drunkenly at the door of the room next door and made out the voices - Sarah and Andy. For all of the pretence at opulence, the walls of the house were thin and she could hear everything as they entered the room. From what she heard, Sarah and Andy were as aroused by tearing strips off Louise for long held grudges and half-remembered slights as they were at tearing off each others’ clothes. For Sarah it was a chance to be noticed after years in Louise’s shadow and for Andy, Cath guessed it was just the chance. She thought of all their self satisfied talk of their marriages at dinner and tried to block out their noise. As the activity next door hit a lull, she heard Lorna talking on her mobile in the corridor.

“No, I’m fine, I mean I know it’s stupid that I even came when I hate her so much, but it’s doing me good to get some perspective. Louise has never grown up, those cheques from Daddy mean she’s never had to…No, I know it doesn’t prove anything, it’s just that what she did broke my heart, and it broke Phil completely. I don’t want her to think she broke me. I think she realises that she’s not got the same influence she used to have, and she’s trying to pull us all back into her toxic world. I’d almost feel sorry for her, but the sight of her smug fucking face makes me want to…”

Her voice faded as she passed beyond Cath’s door.

Cath rose early for breakfast the next day and had already decided not to stay on much longer; she’d done what she came to do and it had always been part of her plan to slip away early. Returning to her room she saw Andy and Sarah walking fast along the corridor, both in dark glasses and speaking in low urgent voices before retreating to their own separate rooms. She heard Sarah crying as she saw Lorna walking through the gardens talking on her mobile and laughing in the weak early morning spring sunshine. At breakfast, Cath noticed Stu displayed none of last night’s hostility as he chatted to another table of people who were feverishly writing notes and laughing.

A scream sliced through the gentle buzz around the room, followed at once by laughter. People moved towards the noise and found Sarah and another girl in the library, standing over the twisted body of Louise prone on the library floor, her designer gown fanned about her body, beautiful before you saw the angry red welt at her neck, a delicate scarf made brutal by the tight knot it made around her neck.

“Typical Lou, has to be the centre of the action,” said Sarah as Lorna met her in the doorway.

“I didn’t think we were supposed to be part of the action, just solving it. Obviously Daddy’s money can help bend the rules here too.”

Everyone drifted away from the scene, checking their event notes and seeking out the actors for answers. They’d been told at the beginning of the weekend not to linger at the body, but to let the actor leave discreetly and return to the scene of the crime later to look for clues. Cath overheard someone say,

“She’s probably only done it so she can skip today, go to the spa and look better than the rest of us this evening. Clever Louise.”

Cath noticed the actors were all standing apart, not mingling with the guests as they were supposed to, and then the manager came running.

“Oh my God, call the police. What do we…Ah…Erm… Everyone stay where you are and don’t touch anything. There’s been a murder!”

The group laughed as his voice cracked and it was only after they saw the police cars pull up in front of the hotel that anyone took it seriously.

All the guests were herded into the breakfast room and taken one by one to speak to a grim-faced Inspector who did nothing to hide his disdain for the whole event. When interviewed, Cath told them what she could, but knew nothing that could help – Louise was nothing more than a snapshot in her past. She mentioned seeing all her classmates out so early in the morning, but explained to the policeman that it seemed unlikely to have any significance; the whole thing didn’t seem quite real.

“That’s the problem with things like this, Miss Everett. It’s like the telly, people think it’s all a game, but that young girl is not getting up from this game any time soon.” He’d taken her contact details and she was dismissed.

She was bumping her suitcase down the broad staircase to reception when she saw two policemen escorting Stuart away in handcuffs. The sight of him so vulnerable pierced her heart and she cried out,

“Wait! No! I mean, I went to university with him. What’s going on?”

A crowd had gathered by the time Cath had reached the bottom of the stairs and the policeman said,

“I’m sorry Miss, er, Miss. But we can’t comment on an ongoing investigation. We have evidence that this man was involved in the murder of Louise Clarkson, and we’re taking him to the station for further questioning.”

“Of course you have evidence. He’s the murderer.”

“Well, we can’t comment –“

“No, I mean, he’s the murderer in this mystery weekend. Dr Morris strangles his fiancé in a jealous rage because she’s going to run off with Captain Fallon. There will be evidence all over the room; props which point to Dr Morris, not to St-“ she hesitated, her heart stuttered at his name, “Not to this man.”

As people looked once more through their notes and murmured their surprise at this new twist, the manager confirmed that this was true and offered to go through the evidence. The policemen moved Stuart into a small office as the manager walked towards the library with the Inspector.

“How did you know?” asked Sarah.

Once again, her former classmates were all there and seemed surprised she’d taken centre stage. She didn’t want their limelight and left them gossiping and jostling for interviews with the media as she checked out and walked away. She was quickly dismissed again as they fell into their old roles. So much had changed but still they were following in the wake of Louise and looking across at Stuart in the distance.

It was a long drive home and she had already booked a Travelodge to break up the journey. She always had been good at forward planning, it was why Louise used to manipulate her to research and complete the shared projects she would then take the credit for. All Louise had ever planned were the continual attempts to gain Stuart’s attention, and then to get her revenge when he ignored her. Cath still felt the chill of the plagiarism accusation that had nearly tainted her, and disgust at how close Louise had come to wrecking Stuart’s dissertation with the theft of his research. There was an investigation, but the eventual reduced mark had cost him a place to gain a PhD. Louise had claimed it was just a joke, but the smile never reached her eyes, glittering with triumph and malice.

The miles and the years fell away as she tried to settle on the thin mattress of the narrow bed. She didn’t wake when he came into the room, but opened her eyes on feeling that now familiar sensation when he kissed her - gentle at first and then with more passion as his dark brown eyes sparked amber and they explored each other as if for the first time. In the midst of isolation that comes from the emptiness of amassed online connections, they’d found each other.

“If the police are looking for another suspect, I blame Facebook,” he murmured and Cath knew that whatever else had changed, she, too, remained trapped in the place she’d been given at university and felt glad of it as she arched her back to meet his embrace. She was the girl no one ever noticed.