Soul Fire

her across the crowded room.
    She smiles at me, and scowls at Cara. Perhaps she’s sensed the threat. It must be awful to live like that, to fear being dumped because your boyfriend’s better looking than you
are.
    Ade’s different tonight. He doesn’t have a glass in his hand, but he seems drunk on the company. Perhaps he’s relieved to be out. Having a murder suspect for a flatmate
can’t do much for your social life.
    ‘So great you could both come! It’s going to be a great night!’
    He kisses Cara on both cheeks, to be friendly, nothing more, but she gives me the thumbs up behind him. I wish she wouldn’t.
    When he goes, I turn to her. ‘You’re not going to try it on now, are you? With Sahara here?’
    ‘No way,’ she says. ‘Half the fun is in the chase. I’ll wait for the mini-break.’
    ‘Mini-break?’
    Before she can explain, Ade’s coming towards us again, flanked by two guys in rugby shirts. The one on the left can’t take his eyes off Cara’s cleavage, but the other one is
smiling at me. For a moment I wonder if I can face this pretence, when the only boy I want to be with is Danny. But then I remind myself yet again that I’m here for Meggie’s sake: the
more time I spend around Ade or Sahara, the more likely I am to hear something that might help me work out what really happened.
    ‘Cara and Alice, let me introduce Matt and Craig. They might look like rugger buggers, but these two have got a few brain cells left.’
    I wait for him to explain how he knows me, and for the looks of sympathy when they realise why my face is familiar. But instead Ade winks and turns away, and then Craig is asking me why I
don’t have a drink in my hand.
    Normal can be quite good fun. I’d forgotten.
    The boys are sweet and funny and I might have wanted to see Craig again, if I didn’t already have a dead boyfriend.
    Cara’s getting wasted. She refused to touch the tapas because they were too fatty, and now the food’s been cleared away and the table pushed into the corner to make a dance floor.
Playing at normal will have to end soon, before Craig asks me to slow dance. I almost wish I could have kept up the pretence a little longer.
    ‘I’m so pleased you came. I didn’t think you would.’
    Sahara is standing next to me. It’s the first time she’s moved out of her corner.
    ‘Ade’s been good to me. You both have.’
    She beams and I feel like crap for all the times I’ve been cool towards her.
    ‘I wish you’d left your friend behind, though.’
    Even for Sahara, that seems blunt. ‘How come?’
    ‘She’s a bit tarty .’
    I stare at her. Has she guessed what Cara’s up to? Or is she just being a bitch? ‘Please don’t say that, Sahara. She’s my oldest friend.’
    Sahara wrinkles her nose, like she’s just smelled something awful. ‘Sorry. I can’t help speaking my mind sometimes. Still, once you get to uni, you’ll make real friends. Like Meggie and me.’
    ‘Right.’
    ‘Anyway, I’m so pleased you came tonight,’ she repeats. ‘Hopefully you’ll be joining us in Spain, too.’
    ‘Spain?’
    ‘We’re going away for a weekend, to Barcelona. Cheap as chips. Or should that be cheap as patatas bravas ? That’s why Ade decided to have his party here. Get us in the
mood for flamenco.’
    ‘Barcelona, right.’ Where Javier comes from . . .
    ‘There’s some big festival that weekend, for midsummer. Fireworks. All night parties. And it’s after the anniversary of Meggie’s death, of course. We made sure of
that.’
    I nod. ‘That’s something, I suppose.’
    ‘Plus, while we’re there, we can make sure Zoe’s all right. Poor thing.’
    ‘Zoe?’
    ‘Mmm. She’s teaching English over there. Still devastated by what happened, you know. When I had to tell her Tim had died, well, I was so upset for her. I still can’t quite
believe she came tonight. She’s been avoiding people ever since.’
    ‘Tonight?’
    ‘Sure. Oh. I forgot. You never met her, did you?’
    ‘No.’
    But I saw her in the papers. I remember one headline in particular – Haunted: The Girl Who Found The Songbird . And below it there was a shot of a red-haired student with such dark
shadows under her eyes that it looked like she hadn’t slept for years.
    ‘Let’s put that right, then. Zoe? ZOE!’ Sahara calls out and waves, before I have the chance to stop her. ‘I’m sure you have plenty to talk about.’

21
    I see her before she sees me. She’s sitting on her own,