‘What, you came here for a reason, did you?’
‘I might have done. Or as a reason to get away with something. Yes, that sounds a bit more like it.’
‘Like what?’
Nina heard herself cackle again. ‘That would be telling.’
Lindsay attempted to keep up. ‘You see, when you have ulterior motives, you have to be careful, Nina. Not everything is as it seems.’
‘Precisely!’ Nina agreed. The cackle was having a whale of a time. ‘Oh, no. No, no, no. Nothing is as it seems in this world, not even somewhere here like Lovely Bay.’ She turned up the dial on being over-friendly and over-cheesy but added a bit of a sinister tone to her voice. Two could play at Lindsay’s game. ‘We all have dirty little secrets, don’t we? Some of them nobody knows…’
Lindsay cleared her throat and took a step backwards. ‘Err. What do you mean?’
‘I don’t mean anything at all. Just, you know.’ Nina wrinkled her nose up, pursed her lips, and wiggled her head a little bit. ‘What is it they say? Don’t trust anyone or anything and certainly not what you see on social media. Know what I mean?’
Lindsay was rendered speechless. Nina beamed and blinked her eyelashes furiously. She then again swiftly changed the whole course of the conversation as quick as a flash. ‘Anyway, what have you been up to? Did you manage to start running at all? All those texts you sent me must mean you’re keen.’
It appeared as if Lindsay’s brain was whirring, trying to decipher how quickly Nina was playing the game and changing the direction of the interaction. She’d been left for dead by Nina. The air crackled with tension. Nina held Lindsay’s gaze as inside her heart felt as if it was banging against the side of her ribs and she moved another piece on the chessboard. She wasn’t giving anything away, and the fabricated story about her motive in Lovely Bay hung in the air. Lindsay, thrown off balance for a moment, recovered quickly. ‘Nothing much, really.’
‘I’ve been swamped. Sorry, I couldn’t fit you in with the decluttering either. Did you have a go yourself in the end?’ Ninaraised her eyebrows as if she was interested. They both knew she wasn’t.
Lindsay fiddled with her cheap choker necklace. ‘I, err, no, not yet.’
‘Shame. Sometimes, it only takes a bit of effort, too. Yours didn’t look too bad.’ Nina’s voice dripped with mock sweetness. ‘Anyway, I must get on. Perhaps we’ll bump into each other again soon. Funny, really, we seem to keep being in the same place. Strange how the world works like that. Coincidences, eh?’
‘Ha, yes.’
Nina was quite enjoying herself. She turned back to the hotel. ‘So are you looking at buying the hotel? I thought you said you were going to see the cottage or did I mix you up with someone else?’
Lindsay scrambled for words. ‘I, umm, I didn’t get it.’
‘Shame.’
Lindsay’s smile faltered for a second, and she looked at her watch. ‘Actually, sorry, I have to go.’
‘Oh, okay, well, nice chatting. See you around.’
Lindsay nodded as she turned. ‘Maybe, yes.’
Nina watched her go. Her heart pounded in her chest, but something told her that the way she had just played the game had thrown Lindsay no end. As Lindsay reached the end of the street, she stopped and turned back briefly and then disappeared around the corner hurrying away.
Nina stood motionless for a bit. She replayed the encounter in her mind. Lindsay’s presence was unsettling, and the cryptic remark about ulterior motives sent chills down her spine. She felt, though, as if she’d just been in a major chess tournament, one that had been going on for a long time. She’d just performed the move of her career. Check and mate.
44
Nina drove along behind a grey Mitsubishi as she steered Robby’s car up and over a speed bump and inched along in traffic. As she came to a stop at a set of lights, her mind went over the situation that had occurred with Lindsay. Since the day in The Summer Hotel, she'd seen hide nor hair of Lindsay. It was as if Lindsay had vanished. One minute it had seemed as if she was around every corner, the next minute she was gone. Perhaps it was the way people like Lindsay went about their business.
She pursed her lips together and went over what had happened as she waited for the light to change. Nina shook her head as she recalled her words from The Summer Hotel’s side garden. She had surprised herself with what had come out of her mouth. She hadn’t known she had it in her. She sniggered as the words she’d heard herself say went through her head. She’d insinuated that Lindsay wasn’t the only person whose motives weren’t always nice and somehow injected a sinister tone into, not just her voice but, her body language, too.
Nina had no idea where any of it had come from, but by the looks of Lindsay’s vanishing act from Lovely Bay, whatever it was that she’d said had worked. As far as Nina was concerned, she was glad that her actions had done the trick.
After the lights finally changed and as she was indicating to turn left to a client's house to finish off a job, Robby’s dashboard lit up showing her that Nancy was calling. She pressed the phone button on the steering wheel and answered. ‘Hey, Nancy, how are you?’
‘Good, thanks. All okay with you?’
‘Getting there.’
‘What are you up to?’
