CHAPTER 10
MIRANDA
Please tell me what's going on, Gary, or Mum will probably have a hat commissioned before tea time.
GARY
Alright, I'll tell you. But you have to promise me it won't go any further.
MIRANDA LOOKS AT GARY, SURPRISED.
GARY
Promise me, Miranda.
MIRANDA
Alright, I promise.
GARY
Sit down. I'll put the closed sign on the door.
GARY PUTS THE CLOSED SIGN ON THE DOOR, LOCKS IT, THEN CLOSES ALL THE BLINDS, BEFORE SITTING DOWN AT A TABLE WITH MIRANDA.
MIRANDA IS AMAZED.
MIRANDA
Should we check under the table for bugs?
GARY
Good idea.
MIRANDA
I was joking.
GARY
Oh, yeah. Sorry.
MIRANDA
Come on then.
GARY
Ok, it was in our final year at Uni.
MIRANDA
Yes, I remember that David suddenly started spending much less time with us, but I thought that was because he was taking different classes.
GARY
Because I insisted; not because he wanted to.
MIRANDA
What happened? You two used to be such good friends.
GARY
Ok, I'm going to tell you something that will shock you, Miranda. I never wanted to tell you, but as he's back, sniffing around you, well, you have to know what he's really like.
MIRANDA
Tell me, Gary.
GARY
David and I had gone out one evening to the Student Bar. He had a few too many and he started telling me all sorts of random things. Intimate things. About our friends. He knew things; and things he certainly shouldn't have known. I was appalled but I wanted to know how he'd found all this out, so I let him talk.
MIRANDA
What sort of things?
GARY
Personal things. I don't want to tell you in detail, Miranda. But some of things were about you.
MIRANDA
Me? But I'd never confided anything in him that I hadn't told you.
GARY
I know; we were so close that I realised he must either be lying, or...
MIRANDA
What?
GARY
I asked him how he knew the things he was telling me. He admitted he was spying on you. Not just on you, on Sally, Jo and Claire too. His Dad's business is surveillance equipment; he was using it to watch you.
MIRANDA
Oh my goodness! That's horrible!
GARY
I know. He was too drunk to argue with that night, so I waited until the morning and then I went to his room and I told him to get rid of it all or I'd go to the police. I also told him to stop hanging around with us. He was furious with me, and swore he'd get revenge one day. He said he'd bide his time, and when I least expected it, he'd take away the most important thing in my life. I guess that time has come.