The Fake Date Page 15

  Michelle walked around the reception desk. ‘Looks nasty. How long is it since you did it?’ Without waiting for a reply, she picked up a clipboard. ‘Follow me.’ She walked him over to the male changing rooms. ‘If you get changed, then we’ll take all your details, including how you managed to do that.’ She pointed to his wrist, but her eyes were staring across the room to where Rick Greaves stood chatting to one of the other staff members. They looked close, but were constantly looking over their shoulders at what was happening in the gym. The woman was shorter than Rick and had long dark hair. Will went through the list of employees in his mind and came to the conclusion that the woman would be Nina.

  He went into the changing rooms, threw his bag on the counter and pulled his shorts, trainers and T-shirt from the bag. It had been a while since he’d been to a gym, but it was the only way he could think of to get close to Rick Greaves. He wanted to see first-hand who this man was, how capable he looked of hurting someone and, if Josh’s suspicions were right, he needed to find out who Rick’s ex-business partner and brother-in-law was too.

  Will threw his bag in a locker and then entered the gym. He stood waiting by the door as he noticed that Michelle had stomped over to where Rick and Nina stood, still chatting. She towered over Nina and it was more than obvious that Michelle was listening in to the conversation. Nina obviously had a bee in her bonnet about something and Will watched as Rick rubbed his head with both hands. He stared at Nina with apologetic eyes and gently shook his head.

  ‘Not here. It’s not the place.’ Rick looked uncomfortable. ‘Go do some work, we’ll talk later.’ He gently touched her on the shoulder, but Michelle was standing right behind her.

  ‘Don’t be stupid, Nina. You know that didn’t happen.’ She looked from Nina to Rick. ‘Rick, tell her.’

  ‘Sod off and mind your own business, Michelle. This is between me and Rick.’

  Michelle stood her ground. ‘Rick, tell her what you told me. Tell her you don’t remember.’

  Rick pursed his lips. ‘Look, Nina. Things are … complicated. It’s true, I really don’t really remember that night.’ He seemed to withdraw into his own body. ‘A lot has happened. I mean, I do remember you being there. I just thought you’d given me a lift home or something.’ He chewed his bottom lip. ‘What can I say?’ He looked from one woman to the other but stopped on Nina. ‘Sorry,’ he whispered, before turning his back and walking over to the cross trainer.

  Then, in a burst of temper, Michelle threw the clipboard she’d been carrying at Nina. ‘Now, as Rick said, go and do something useful. Try doing some bloody work for once.’ The words were spat from her mouth before she turned and practically ran to Rick’s side. Will then saw the resigned look on Nina’s face as she turned and walked in his direction with eyes full of tears.

  ‘Okay, William. Are you ready?’ She came to a stop before him. ‘I’m Nina and I’m going to take you through a few of the machines and test your general fitness.’ She picked up a bag and walked ahead. Will followed. ‘You completed the medical form online before booking your induction and it looks like you’re normally quite fit and healthy. Always a good sign, we don’t like our clients popping off in the middle of a session.’

  ‘Wow. Does that happen often?’ he asked seriously. He realised that Nina had been forced into taking over his care and he wanted to make an effort to put her at ease.

  ‘Does what happen often?’ She pulled a tissue from her pocket, wiped her eyes and glanced back to where Rick now stood chatting to Michelle.

  ‘People popping off, of course.’

  Nina shook her head. ‘Don’t be silly. Of course not. I’m going to attach these sticky things to your chest, is that okay? It measures your heart rate while you train.’

  Will took a deep breath, sat down and took his T-shirt off. ‘So, what was all that about?’ he asked as Nina attached the sticky pads to his chest.

  She looked up and caught his eye. ‘Nothing, it’s personal.’ She once again glared in Michelle’s direction and sighed. ‘We were, you know, together. But Rick’s conveniently forgotten.’ She moved to sit on the bench. ‘But I don’t understand how he can forget. You don’t forget things like that, do you?’ she questioned as she leaned across him and patted the pads down. ‘Okay, this belt goes around your waist and holds the monitor in place,’ Nina said as she stood back up and put her arms around Will’s waist to pass the belt from one hand to the other. She stopped mid-pass and looked up into his eyes, lingering for a moment before coyly looking away. ‘That should do it. You can pop your T-shirt back on now. And, look … I’m sorry, you shouldn’t have to listen to my personal problems.’ She smiled, walked to the treadmill and began pressing buttons. ‘Now, if you want to start on here at a fast walk for five minutes, then we’ll check your heart rate as you finish.’

  Will stepped onto the machine and began to walk, slowly at first, but then sped up just a little. He wanted to take the first piece of equipment steady; he didn’t want to embarrass himself and end up in a heap on the floor, nor did he want to lose concentration on the real reason he was there. He used the time to look around the gym. Rick Greaves was at the other side of the room. He leaned against a cross trainer, chatting to Michelle who had now jumped onto the machine and was working her legs. They were both laughing. Rick was pouting his lips and every so often he’d say something and then pull up the arm of his T-shirt to flash a bicep, or lift his shirt to show off his abs. Michelle was tall and extremely thin, with short blonde hair. She seemed to laugh in all the right places, and Will noticed her look directly into Rick’s eyes on a number of occasions, while he appeared to go into full-on poser mode and began picking up weights the size of small cars in a futile attempt to impress. In fact, his whole chat up routine would be laughable and amusing except for the fact that Will could see how upset Nina looked. She stood and watched the whole performance he seemed to be laying on for Michelle’s benefit, all the time with a look of thunder on her face and tears in her eyes. Yet, on the other hand, he admired Michelle’s stamina; not only was she having to climb the piles of bullshit that Rick was piling up, but also, to Will’s knowledge, she’d been on the cross trainer since he’d begun running, yet still didn’t look as though she’d break a sweat any time soon.

  Will took note of the time. It’d been ten minutes since Nina had set the machine going and he pressed the treadmill’s red button, making it grind to a stop. He looked over his shoulder, but Nina hadn’t noticed. She stood leaning against the reception unit, Styrofoam cup between her teeth as she chewed down on the plastic. Her eyes were fixed on where Rick stood, still chatting and still periodically flashing his muscles at Michelle, who had finally stopped the cross trainer and climbed down. Michelle had picked up her towel and was smiling at Rick. Her hand went up to his cheek in a soft, loving gesture, but Rick quickly turned away as he realised that Nina was watching.

  ‘Hey, you’re not even out of breath,’ Nina commented as she lifted Will’s shirt to take a reading from the tiny monitor.

  Will winked. ‘Of course not, it’s hardly hard work, is it?’

  Nina lifted her hand to the pads that were stuck to his chest as though checking them and pressed them firmly against his skin. Her hand lingered on his shoulder, and then moved to his bicep, before allowing her fingers to stroke his forearm, making Will tense up. Her touch was more than just professional. When she looked over her shoulder in Rick’s direction, he realised that she was just trying to make Rick jealous.

  ‘I like a man with stamina,’ she suddenly said. ‘I like a bloke who can give me a run for my money; has to be a good thing, right?’ Her eyes lifted to his and Will purposely looked away. The last thing he wanted was to create an atmosphere at the gym, or for Nina to try chatting him up. He was here to do a job. He thought through his options as quickly as he could.

  He needed to keep Nina on side and find out more about the gym, and about the people who worked there. Ultimately, he needed to find any clues
that might lead to what had really happened to Ella. But there were also the deaths of both of Rick’s former wives. Surely a man would have to be really unlucky to lose two wives so tragically and then to have a third female friend almost killed – or would he?

  ‘Your fella over there looks like he’d have a bit of stamina. Don’t want him getting the wrong idea, do we?’

  Nina began to laugh. She pouted and gave him a small wave. ‘Darling, you’re right, he has amazing stamina, but you can’t call him my fella, not when he conveniently forgets we were together. Isn’t that right, Rick?’ She said the words just loud enough for Rick to hear and look in their direction. Another attempt to gain his attention.

  ‘Isn’t what right?’ There was amusement in his eyes as he walked over in their direction.

  ‘William here thought you were my fella.’ Her hand went up to touch his arm. ‘Fancy that when you pretend to forget the nights we spent together?’

  Rick jumped back as though Nina had scalded him. ‘Nina, I’ve said …’ He paused and took in a deep breath. ‘We need to talk about this in private.’ He smiled and Will saw the sparkle return to Nina’s eyes. Rick moved away.

  ‘Oh my God … I’m so sorry,’ Will said as he tried to smooth over the situation. ‘I hope I haven’t caused a problem?’ he lied and followed Nina to the cross trainer.

  ‘We’ve always had a bit of a relationship. I hoped it’d be more. But, it’s been on and off for years. But …’ She pointed to the machine. ‘We were together the night before he was arrested.’ She began pressing buttons on the cross trainer, then indicated to Will that he should climb onto the foot pedals and clicked the start button. ‘Go on, begin to stride.’

  Will was glad she’d given him something to do. He began to press one foot down and then the other, soon getting into the constant rhythm of the machine. The machine had picked up speed and he worked as hard as he could to keep up the pace. ‘The night before he was arrested? Wasn’t that the night that woman got attacked?’

  Nina sidled up to the side of the machine, pressed her body against it and fluttered her eyelashes in Will’s direction. ‘That’s right.’ She looked down as she said the words and Will actually began to feel sorry for her. It was more than obvious that she still liked him. ‘We seem to just get together and then he meets someone else.’ She shrugged her shoulders. ‘He’s been married twice, you know.’

  Will smiled. ‘Twice, wow. He doesn’t look old enough.’ He paused. ‘He sure as hell gets divorced quickly, doesn’t he?’

  ‘Oh, he didn’t divorce them. They both died.’ Nina’s voice was barely a whisper; it was obvious she didn’t want Rick to hear what she was saying. Her hand waved in the air as she indicated to Will that he should step down from the cross trainer and move over to the rowing machine. ‘Here, have a go on this next. Set it up like this.’ She set the tension on the wheel and passed him the handles. ‘You only need to do a few minutes on each piece of apparatus today and then I’ll check your statistics, see how fit you are.’

  Will began to pull on the machine. ‘Am I doing this right?’ He knew he wasn’t, but he needed to keep her attention. He smiled as Nina stood behind him, pulled the handles over his shoulders and lifted his elbows to position them higher.

  Will leaned forward and moved the tension up. ‘I’m intrigued. Are you going to tell me what happened to his wives?’

  Nina sighed and perched on the rowing machine beside him. She looked over her shoulder and began to whisper. ‘Julia, the first one, she worked here, did the accounts. She was obsessed with personal fitness, went out running all the time. But they lived in the sticks and the houses nearby all had septic tanks, you know … for the waste. One of the neighbours had left the lid off his and she fell into it in the dark.’ She pulled a face. ‘Straight in and couldn’t climb out. It was the next morning before they found her. She’d probably drowned.’

  To say they’d been work colleagues, Nina didn’t look particularly sad about the woman’s death and Will noticed that her eyes were constantly watching where Rick worked out. He now lay on a bench press and lifted huge, black weights as easily as though they were big pillows on a stick.

  ‘So what happened to the other one?’ Will needed to know more and stopped rowing to listen. He leaned forward, grabbed his towel and wiped his face.

  ‘Patsy, she was an estate agent. They’d only been married a couple of weeks when she fell down a flight of stairs.’ She shook her head. ‘One of the empty houses she was trying to sell. No one knew she was there and, again, it was hours before they found her. She went into a coma and died two days later.’

  ‘Didn’t anyone think it a bit suspicious?’ Will watched as Nina stood up, picked up the medical bag and looked over her shoulder to where Rick still lay.

  ‘No, of course it wasn’t suspicious. What the hell are you trying to suggest?’

  ‘Sorry… I was just … you know … thinking out loud?’

  ‘Look, it happened. It’s over. Rick is back here where he belongs. If you want to know any more, you’ll have to ask him.’ As she stepped back, Will could practically feel her build a wall between them.

  ‘I just mow lawns for a living; I’m a landscape gardener,’ he lied. ‘And I know I shouldn’t have asked those questions, but I don’t normally get to talk to many people; just plants, bushes, trees, you know …’

  Nina glared at his hands. They didn’t look like they’d been used for manual labour and for a moment he thought his cover was blown. But then she physically softened. Her whole body calmed and her face lost the tight, calculated look that she’d had just a few moments before.

  ‘AAARRRGGGHHHH …!’ The scream came from the far side of the gym where Rick was working out. Nina didn’t waste a moment. She immediately dropped the medical bag and ran over to where he lay pinned beneath the weight bar. He’d been on the bench press. The strength in his arms had obviously failed and the bar was now tipped to one side, pressing heavily against his ribs. But Michelle had got there first.

  ‘I’ve got it, it’s fine,’ Nina shouted at Michelle, as in one swift movement she pushed Michelle out of the way and grabbed at the bar. 50k hung on each end and she lifted it in one swift movement, without flinching. She dropped it on the floor beside where Rick lay, allowing him to sit up as his hand grabbed at his bicep.

  ‘What the hell?’ Michelle growled from where she’d landed in a heap on the floor.

  Nina hovered over Rick. ‘Are you okay? Do you want some ice?’ Her hands immediately went to his shoulders; her eyes looked up and fixed with his and Michelle jumped up to stand by his other side.

  ‘I’m fine.’ Rick looked embarrassed and Will tried not to stare. The bar must have been heavy and he doubted that many women would be capable of lifting it, yet Nina had tossed both it and Michelle aside as though they weighed nothing at all, leaving Michelle with a look of thunder in her eyes.

  ‘Nina, go and look after your client,’ Michelle ordered. ‘Get back to work and leave Rick alone. I’ve told you before, he doesn’t want you slobbering all over him.’ She stood up tall, her whole frame towering over Nina’s, but Nina didn’t move.

  ‘Who are you to tell me what to do? I take my orders from Rick, not you.’ She crossed her arms, but then her hand went to Rick’s shoulder. ‘Are you okay?’

  ‘Nina, I’m fine. Now, please, as Michelle has asked, go and get on with your job.’ He sounded stern, but not angry and he sat for a moment, nursing his pride.

  With the need to do something, Will walked back to the cross trainer that faced towards where Rick sat. Once again, he climbed aboard and began using his stride to gain some speed. He carefully watched Nina; she’d reluctantly moved back in his direction, but had stopped short. She pulled a mobile from her pocket; it hadn’t rung and Will presumed she’d had it on vibrate.

  ‘No, not yet,’ she said with a sigh. ‘I’ll ask him later. He seems to be in a really bad mood right now.’ She paused and listened while all the tim
e watching where Michelle and Rick sat, side by side. ‘Yes, I’ve promised that I’ll ask, haven’t I?’ Her words were just a little more than a whisper, but loud enough that both Will and Rick could hear.

  ‘Ask me what?’ Rick shouted and Nina placed a hand over the phone. She sighed as she padded across the floor and back to where Rick sat.

  ‘My stepdad. He needs me to pay more rent, and I was wondering if I could work more hours?’ She shuffled her feet. ‘And, well … I think you kind of owe me.’ She smiled, a practised smile that lit up her face. ‘Another ten hours a week should do it.’

  But Rick shook his head. ‘No can do, Nina. This place is on its arse. Ask me again in a few weeks, but only if things pick up.’ He looked towards the office, where Tim would be sitting, watching. ‘And, Nina: first, I don’t like bribery and second, you’ve been told before about the phone. Either put it away or go and tell Tim that I just fired you.’ He held her gaze. ‘Do you understand?’

  Nina nodded, turned and as loudly as she could, she spoke into the handset. ‘He said no, you heard him, right? Well, now I’m probably out of a job too.’ She paused and listened to the call. ‘Yes, yes, I know what you’re capable of, but he won’t like you threatening him.’ Again she paused. ‘Yes, all right. Look, I have to go.’ She hit the off button and with tears in her eyes she pushed the phone back into her pocket.

  Will shook his head. Nina was obviously a lost soul and he felt for her. But he’d seen enough internal politics for one day and climbed down from the cross trainer. He headed for the showers, but glanced back momentarily to see Nina hiding behind reception, where she sat sobbing and dabbing at her eyes, watching as Michelle prowled around Rick. She smirked in Nina’s direction and Will began to wonder what it was about Rick Greaves that got women so interested. And if there were a magic answer, would he really want to know what it was?

  I hate being watched. I hate everyone looking at me as though they know me, as though I’m nothing. I would much rather be the one who watches, the one who finds those vulnerable moments when I can make those who have hurt me suffer. It’s then that I have the control, it’s then that I feel empowered and it’s then that I’m happy, knowing that for once it’s someone else who’s suffering, rather than it just being me.