Chapter 10

A loud gasp rips through me and the kitchen falls silent, all eyes on me. My skin is tingling. I don't think I can feel my legs. What is happening? Why is Frank here? I scrunch my eyes shut. Am I hallucinating? I must be. Maybe I'm having a post-traumatic episode. Can that cause hallucinations? Frank really did frighten me earlier with his threats and verbal abuse.

‘Hey, small world,' Frank says to me and my eyes bolt open. No hallucination. This is really happening. Polly, clearly sensing the tension, meows and leaps out of Theo's arms and legs it out of the room.

‘Do you two know each other?' Zelda screeches, eyes racing from me to Frank, and then her expression changes. ‘Bella? Are you okay?' Terror rockets through me, rendering me speechless. ‘She doesn't look right, Tom.' Zelda's fingers are cold against my skin, giving me goosebumps.

‘She was fine in the car on the way here.' Tom lifts his arm and looks at his wristwatch. ‘Maybe it's her blood sugar levels,' he says, looking at me anxiously. ‘We never eat this late. Darling?' I look at him in a stupor, almost as if I don't know who he is. And then they all weigh in with their diagnosis, as if I'm no longer present in the room. Their voices pound in my ears.

‘She's dehydrated,' Frank insists.

‘Overworked, more like,' Linda chips in.

‘And not eating properly,' Zelda adds, worryingly.

‘It's exhaustion,' Tom confirms. ‘I told her to hire a temp ages ago, but would she listen?'

Shut up, I scream silently, shut up, shut up, shut up!

‘Shall I get you some water, babe?' I look at Linda's unsmiling face. She's twirling an onyx pendant of an owl between her fingers that's hanging from a silver chain around her neck. ‘Bella?'

I can't speak. Invisible hands snake around my neck, squeezing, squeezing, squeezing. I look at my sister, horrified. Frank a blur next to her in a blue polo top, beige chinos, white hair. White, for fuck's sake. WHITE. Tom's hand on the small of my back makes me flinch. ‘Honey?'

I hold on to Tom's arm as if it were a cane. Dread winding around me like ivy. Frank can't be Keiko. He can't be. It's impossible. He must be a doppelg?nger, with the same voice and intense glare.

‘I'm sorry,' I mutter, voice rugged. ‘I'm fine. Just felt a bit woozy.' I shake my almost empty wine glass at everyone. ‘Probably this on an empty stomach,' I add, and their expressions immediately relax, like deflating balloons. ‘I will have that glass of water, please, Linda,' I say, and then the tension in the air loosens. Voices fill the humid kitchen again, pots and crockery rattle, water splashes into the sink; Linda asks Theo where Polly is and hopes he hasn't let her out again.

‘Sure you're okay?' Tom asks quietly. ‘We could go home if you're not feeling a hundred per cent.' I shake my head, tell him I had a moment but I'm fine now.

‘Lightweight,' Zelda mocks, brushing past me to fill her glass with wine from the bottle on the table.

‘Hey, we're not all hardened drinkers, you know,' Frank teases, and Tom agrees, tells him to watch her – she'll drink him under the table. I look at Frank in a daze. ‘I'm pacing myself,' he says to us, and Zelda snorts, throwing him a backward glance as she fills her glass to the brim and takes a large gulp. ‘I can't cope with hangovers these days.'

‘There you go, Bells.' I take the tumbler of water from Linda's hand. The ice-cold glass against my skin grounds me.

‘So, you know my wife, Keiko,' Tom says, snatching my attention.

‘Yeah.' Frank thrusts a hand through his fake white hair, swinging a glance at me. Tom watches him over his bottle of beer.

‘Bella meets so many people through work,' Theo points out, gesturing his beer bottle at me. ‘I guess that's what makes her such a people person.'

‘I'll second that. She's our top photographer,' Linda yells from across the kitchen, sawing into a crusty baguette. ‘Five-star feedback all the way.'

‘You met through work?' Zelda quizzes. ‘That's weird because you're renting, babe.'

‘Um…,' I murmur. ‘I…' I take a sip of water, hand tremulous. The cool liquid glides down my oesophagus. I can't lie to them. They're my family. My friends. Okay, I've got to play this safe. Tom knows I quit the gym; thank God I told him that at least. I spun him a line about it taking up too much of my time. But he still doesn't know I hired Frank. I will definitely have to tell him now, of course, but not here. My priority right now is my sister. I've got to protect her from this… this lunatic. ‘We…um...' I clear my throat.

‘We know each other from the gym,' Frank explains, getting in there before me.

Acid rockets into my stomach. Linda shoots me a look over her shoulder, confusion washing over her face.

‘But not that well,' Frank adds, throwing me a lifeline. He looks at me as if we're in alliance, a ghost of a smile on his lips. But I don't need his help. I need him to get as far away as possible from my sister. How did this happen right under my nose? Zelda told me she met him online. What are the chances of them being a match on that dating app she's on?

‘Seriously?' Zelda says, voice high. ‘I didn't know you trained at Serval, Keiko.' I narrow my eyes at him – he hasn't even told her he works there. He's lying to her about everything - his job, his name, and God knows what else. ‘You didn't say.'

Frank scratches his cheek, avoiding my eye. ‘I did,' he insists. ‘On our first date. I told you I'm at Nuffield, David Lloyd and Serval.'

‘Nope.' Zelda shakes her head. ‘I'd have remembered if you'd told me because our Bella trains there.'

‘Not any more,' Tom interrupts, and Zelda swivels her head towards him. ‘You cancelled your membership, didn't you? It was too much for her, what with Maggie on maternity leave,' he says, and Zelda agrees, complains that she hardly sees me these days.

‘It was taking up too much of my time,' I confirm. I watch Frank carefully. Linda and Theo, a blur behind him, prepping the food on the counter. ‘But, hey, what a surprise, Keiko.' I set my tumbler of water down on the table, eyes skimming the kitchen for my wineglass. I'm sure there was another mouthful left in there. I think I'm going to need an entire bottle to get through this evening. Linda catches my eye and I mouth wine at her and she nods, grabbing a bottle by the neck.

‘Look, sorry to have to ask this, Keiko.' I curl a strand of long fringe behind my ear. ‘But I thought you said your name was Frank.' I look at him expectantly, daring him to expose his real identity. At this, Linda freezes midway through pouring and shoots me a look. ‘Have I got it wrong?'

Before he can answer, Linda is at my side like a greyhound, handing me a glass of red. Tom looks at it disapprovingly, one hand in trouser pocket, beer bottle in the other. I take a large gulp immediately. ‘Gym buddies, eh,' Linda says to me, her look depicting I've worked out who he is but you're going to have to suck it up for now. He's seen you with Liam and now he's wormed his way into your family. There's too much at stake. He's a psychopath.

‘Sort of,' Frank laughs. ‘Working out is my job. I'm a fitness coach.'

Linda's right. I should just suck it up. Go home. Sleep on it. Discuss it with her tomorrow with a clear head. I take a swig of wine, impatience crawling through my bloodstream. I can't let it drop. I need answers.

I open my mouth to repeat my question when Theo yells. ‘What do you want me to do with this?' Our heads pivot towards him. He's holding a huge bowl of salad in his big hands in front of his protruding belly. And, with a roll of her eyes, Linda shuffles off, muttering that she has to do everything in this house.

‘His name is Frank,' Zelda announces, reaching for a baton of pepper from the salad bowl that Linda is now holding in her hands as if it were the Holy Grail, eyes fixed on me, mouth slightly open. ‘I'm the only one who calls him Keiko. Apart from his family,' Zelda gives his bicep a gentle squeeze. ‘It's a childhood nickname. I think it's cute. Suits him.' With a wink, Zelda feeds him the stick of pepper, and all I want to do is grab Frank from his fake white hair and bury his face into the salad bowl.

‘My name's Francisco,' Frank clarifies, swallowing. A little detail he omitted to tell me during our training sessions. ‘Frank to everyone, apart from my family, who still call me Keiko. And now this one.' He pinches Zelda's dimpled cheek playfully and she laps it all up, leaning into him.

‘That's Spanish, right?' Tom asks, taking another beer from Theo.

‘Portuguese,' Frank corrects then looks at Theo, declining another beer. ‘Ta, mate, but I'm going to have a glass of red with dinner.'

‘So, what do we call you?' Theo asks, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Frank flicks a glance at me. ‘Frank is fine. It's what I'm used to.'

‘You've changed your hair as well as your name,' I press on, glancing at Linda who is flitting from the dining room to the kitchen as if she were on speed.

Frank shakes his head theatrically. ‘You noticed.' A cacophony of laughter blasts against my eardrums. I want to scream. This is not funny. This man is dangerous. ‘I dyed it yesterday. It's for a charity thing.' Everyone Oooohs when he says this.

‘I can't take all the credit for it,' Frank admits, holding up his hands. ‘It wasn't my idea.' I knew it. He's just a hanger-on. Riding on someone else's coattails. Zelda looks up at him adoringly as he rambles on about the process of hair dying. I don't think I've ever seen her so smitten. My stomach squeezes into a tight ball of fury. I can't have him in my family. He's got to go. How could he date my sister behind my back? Unless... His words from this afternoon ring in my ears: We need to sort this. Wait…. Fuelled with anger, I didn't let him finish. Was he about to tell me he was dating Zelda?Is that why he came to see me today? Why he wanted to smooth things over.

‘Me and a few mates from the club are doing it for Children in Need,' Frank continues. ‘We started early so we can make as much as we can.' A poster of Pudsey surrounded by several Serval staff in green tops flashes in my mind. It's pinned on the noticeboard by the entrance. ‘We've raised three grand so far, so if any of you lovely people can donate.'

‘Need any help with that, Theo?' Tom says, grabbing a plate of bread rolls out of Theo's hands and heading for the dining room.