Chapter 30

Adam stayed at the flat that night instead of Chloë’s. The courier arrived before nine the next morning. Adam signed for the small package and then took it back to his room where Cassie and Eddie were waiting. He threw the package, unopened, onto his desk next to his DVD/TV combi.

“Aren’t we going to watch it?” asked Eddie.

Adam shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“But we’ve got to,” said Eddie. “If only to find out if it really is Chloë.”

“Maybe,” said Adam. “But I don’t know if I want to see it or not. Half of me wants to because then I’ll know for sure that it’s not Chloë. But there’s a little voice at the back of my head saying what if it is her? I don’t want to see her with another man. Least of all that greasy tosser Walker.” He looked at his friends, hoping they would make up his mind for him.

“I could, you know, watch it by myself and tell you if I think it’s her or not,” said Eddie.

“No, you couldn’t,” said Cassie. “You’ll lock yourself away and we won’t see you until Monday. If anyone should watch it for Adam, it should be me. I know her better than you and I’ll be able to tell if it’s her.”

While listening to his flatmates, Adam had made his choice. “We’ll watch it together. Now. Eddie, do the honours, mate.”

“Sure.” Eddie raced across the room, tore open the package and fumbled the DVD into the player. By the time he sat down again, the disc had started.

The screen remained blank, but a man’s voice spoke clearly. “It’s not working, Lo. The screen’s blank. I think it’s busted.”

“Well, that’s Tom’s voice,” said Cassie. “I’d recognise it anywhere.”

Adam waved a hand at her. A muffled female voice said something indistinct then Tom was heard again.

“What? Oh, yeah, it is. God, I’m thick.” He removed the lens cap and a small square in the centre of the screen showed an out of focus face. Before the image had time to resolve itself, the camera was whipped around and put down roughly on a dresser. The screen was now showing a large empty bed, but the image still filled less than half the screen.

“Why is it so small?” said Cassie.

“It’s a low-res video,” said Eddie. “He must have been worried about disc space when he transferred it from his camcorder. I’ll bet it’s heavily compressed too.” He waited while the man on the screen walked towards the bed. The picture was blocky but watchable.

“Can’t you make it any bigger?” said Cassie.

Adam picked up the remote control and zoomed in until the image filled most of the screen. It was now quite clear how low the quality of the movie was. “If it’s like this all the way through,” said Eddie, “it’ll be difficult to tell if that really is Chloë.”

Adam looked across at him. “Convenient, don’t you think?”

“You think this means it’s a fake.”

“I think it’s been done deliberately so you can prove one way or the other.”

Eddie was right. When the young woman appeared on the screen, her facial features were too indistinct to confirm her identity.

“Hair’s the right colour,” said Eddie. “And she looks about the right height and build too. It could be her. Doesn’t she have a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt like that?”

Cassie shook her head. “Everyone’s got a pair of skinny blues and a white tee. That proves nothing.”

Adam studied the screen intently, searching for anything that would confirm or deny if his girlfriend was performing in a private movie—just like she had with him. The couple on the screen felt each other up and kissed.

“It’s not very good, is it?” said Eddie. “When do we get to see some tit?”

“That might be my best friend you’re talking about,” said Cassie. “And Adam’s girlfriend. Show some respect.”

“Yeah, but it might not be.” Eddie grinned.

Eddie soon got his wish as the white tee-shirt the woman was wearing was lifted off to reveal she wasn’t wearing a bra. Her breasts were only glimpsed briefly, however, as Tom quickly covered one with his hand and the other with his mouth.

“What d’you reckon, Ads? They look familiar?”

“Shut up,” said Cassie in a disgusted tone. She looked at Adam out of the corner of her eye and added, “Well? Do they?”

Adam shook his head. “Hard to say.”

After some more kissing and the removal of Tom’s shirt, the woman on screen shimmied out of her skinny jeans and pulled off her panties. She turned her back on the camera as she threw them to the side of the room. Adam paused the movie.

“Hey!” said Eddie. “Why’d you do that for?”