‘She’s nice … ’ said Brooke obtusely.
‘You’re not jealous?’ he said, laughing softly.
‘I don’t trust her,’ she blurted out.
‘Trust her? What do you mean?’
‘Call me crazy,’ said Brooke, ‘but I’ve just got this feeling.’
‘A feeling about what?’ asked David. His words were measured, clipped. She could tell he was annoyed at the ‘trust’ jibe. Brooke supposed he had a point, considering how understanding he’d been about the Jeff Daniels accusations.
‘I just wondered if it was Alicia who leaked the Oracle gossip story,’ said Brooke.
‘What?’
‘Look, I spoke to Tess Garrett today and she said the story came from one of your ex–girlfriends.’
‘It sounds to me as if Tess Garrett is trying to justify her existence.’
‘She sounded pretty sure.’
‘On what basis?’
‘A source at the Oracle.’
He pursed his lips together.
Brooke paused before saying anything more. She never liked bringing up the subject of past girlfriends. In her experience it only made you look jealous or needy or both.
‘Aren’t you going to say anything?’ she asked.
‘How am I supposed to react?’ he said, anger in his voice.
‘Well, don’t you think it was Alicia? It had to come from somewhere.’
‘On what grounds?’
‘Well, she did go to Brown … ’
‘Brooke, you’re being ridiculous.’
‘Am I?’ she said, challenging him.
David was a serial monogamist: through his twenties there had been at least five girlfriends who had all lasted between six months and two years, and the Jeff Daniels leak could have come from any of them. They all had the same potential motivations: sour grapes, mean–spiritedness; some sense of thwarted entitlement, perhaps.
But it had been Alicia’s bright–eyed friendliness and a feeling of gleeful pleasure when she mentioned the Oracle story: it all made her suspicious of Alicia. Call it female intuition, but she was sure she was behind it.
‘Yes you are being ridiculous! After all, it was your friend, that Matt Palmer, who was quoted.’
She frowned. ‘It wasn’t him. I told you what he said. A journalist tracked him down and misquoted him.’
‘And you believe that?’ he asked.
‘Yes I do. He’s got less motivation for doing it than Alicia.’
He turned on the seat to face her.
‘Alicia’s parents and my parents have known each other forever,’ said David tightly. ‘She is a lot of things, but she is not deliberately evil.’