a modern music system, there must be small speakers around the room that he hadn't noticed yet. The array of discs was a bit surprising, mostly modern stuff. Except there. To one side was a collection that suited this place better. He thought about putting something on but changed his mind, he wanted to hear when she came out.
In fact, maybe he could go in there and get fresh too. No. She seemed fairly definite about wanting some woman time, best not to fool with that.
He went to the bedroom and looked in. Another piece of perfection, exactly as he'd have it if this was his apartment. The bed was large, but not out of place in a room of this size. Again he frowned. It was perfect and yet there was something wrong. How could that be?
He heard the shower go off. It wouldn't be long now. Where should he be? Should he get undressed or would she see that as too presumptuous? Back in the lounge with her drink ready seemed like the best bet. Casual and confident had worked for him so far, and he didn't want to screw it up at this stage of the game. Sophie flashed through his mind again, but he pushed the thought away.
As he was walking back he heard something. He looked across to the bathroom expecting to see the door opening, he wondered if she might appear naked. Then the noise came again, a rattle of keys. The apartment door!
Gavin stood there stunned. Why would someone be coming in here? She would have said something – wouldn't she? Should he tell her? Should he confront this intruder and turf him out? What if it was a husband or something?
The door opened and a man came in, his back was turned as he locked the door behind him. He was big. Turfing him out got relegated to the back stalls.
“Who are you?” Gavin asked.
The man turned in surprise. Gavin guessed the man was in his forties somewhere. He was tall, and the muscles showed clearly on arms exposed by the short sleeve shirt. The close cut hair was dark. The man looked Gavin up and down and visibly relaxed. Gavin tried not to take offence at the casual disregard this represented.
“I take it Vera brought you home,” the man said.
Gavin did a double take. Vera? It only just dawned on him that he hadn't asked the woman her name.
“And let me guess: she hasn't told you yet.”
“Told me what?”
“She's not real.”
Gavin decided that wasn't worth responding to. He walked across to the bathroom door and knocked on it. “There's someone out here,” he hesitated before adding, “Vera.”
“She's not there.”
Gavin knocked on the door. “Vera?”
The man had followed Gavin. He reached past, turned the handle, and pushed the door open.
Gavin watched as the door swung in. The brightly lit bathroom confronted him. Some steam still drifted in the air, but that was the only sign that anyone had been in there. The mirror was clean and clear, the shower stall was mostly dry.
“She's very tidy,” the man said from beside Gavin. “I keep telling her not to bother, that I'll get around to it eventually, but still she goes ahead and tidies up everything anyway.”
“Where is she?” Gavin asked.
“Gone. My fault, sorry about that.”
Gavin looked behind them. There was no one else there. He walked into the bathroom and looked around for a second door.
“She's gone,” the man repeated.
Gavin finally looked back at the man. “Who the hell are you?”
“Cooper, but most people just call me Coop – as in flown the—”
“What are you doing here?”
“Well this is – was – my place. It's yours now. Vera has given it to you – for safe keeping until you move on.”
“What?”
“This is your place now. Gorgeous, isn't it?”
“Yes,” Gavin admitted.
“It comes as you see it. Fully furnished, the works. The ideal bachelor's penthouse, set up and ready to go for any man.”
Gavin nodded with slow understanding. Not that Cooper was making any sense, but Gavin now understood what was wrong with the apartment. It was set up for a man. There was no sign that a woman lived here – except that it was very tidy.
“Just move in and enjoy it,” Cooper was saying.
Gavin pushed past Cooper and made his way to his drink. He knocked it back and then poured himself another. Cooper joined him there and picked up the martini.
Gavin objected, “Hey, that's for …”
“Vera?”
“Right.”
“I'll make her another one when she comes back.”
Gavin stared as the man took a sip of the martini.
“Not bad,” Cooper said, “for a fifties martini. In some ways Vera was ahead of her time. Next time shoot for the sixties and you'll get the mix about right.”
A joke was a joke, but this was getting creepy. “I'm out of here,” Gavin said.
Cooper grasped him by the arm. It was a strong grip. “Wait.”
“What?”
“Part of the deal is that I have to tell you everything. It doesn't work if I don't.”
“What doesn't work?”
Cooper pointed to the sofa. “Sit down. Relax. You're not going to get laid tonight, I apologise for that, but you only get the apartment if you agree to the rules.”
“I'm not looking for an apartment.”
For the first time Cooper looked genuinely surprised. “You're not?”
“No. I have a place, well, my girlfriend does. And not even Sophie could afford a place like this, I wouldn't stand a chance.”
“Twat,” Cooper said softly.
“What?”
“Exactly. What?” Cooper recovered himself. “There's nothing to afford. Everything is covered.”
“I don't understand.”
“You will. Here, I'll pour you another and tell you all about it.”
Gavin sat on the sofa and tried to compose himself. The man was right, whatever had happened to the woman, Gavin wasn't getting his leg over tonight. There wasn't anything better on offer; Sophie wasn't keeping his bed warm tonight, and the whiskey was good. This Cooper might be a bit crazy, but he was friendly enough and didn't seem dangerous. Besides, Gavin was curious now – about the woman and the apartment.
Gavin accepted the large glass of whiskey from Cooper and watched as the man settled himself at the other end of the long sofa and raised his glass.
“To Vera,” said Cooper.
Gavin raised his glass in return and sipped at the whiskey – it was very good.
“So how much did she tell you?”
“Nothing about herself,” Gavin said, “she didn't even tell me her name.”
“Vera! You always leave it to me,” Cooper complained loudly.
“Who is she?” Gavin took another, larger, sip of his drink.
“She owns this apartment. Well, technically, it belongs to some big name solicitors, but they just handle the money, it's Vera that selects the tenants.”
“But who is she? Where did she go?”
“She's still here somewhere, we just can't see her. She's a ghost.”
Gavin snorted into his glass. “Yeah, right. Pull the other one, it plays Jingle Bells.”
“I'm serious. She haunts this apartment,” Cooper insisted.
Gavin wondered if he should have walked out after all. He wasn't interested in ghost stories, no matter how elaborately it had all been set up. He thought about it, but his legs didn't feel up to moving, so he took another sip of his drink instead. “Spin the yarn,” he told Cooper.
Cooper gave him a calculating look, apparently decided it was safe to continue, and started the story. “Back in fifty-two or fifty-three, I was never clear on the exact date, Vera got engaged. The problem is that she has disastrous taste in men – no offence.”
Gavin inclined his head. He knew he used women for whatever he could get, he didn't pretend otherwise, except to women.
Cooper continued, “But this guy was a genuine psychopath. We're talking the real deal. They got kicked out
of a hotel because this prick started a fight. Vera was upset, they had nowhere to sleep that night. When she complained, the prick of a boyfriend slapped her – which is guaranteed to help the situation, right?”
Gavin blinked. This drink was good stuff, strong.
“Anyway, a nice old guy saw Vera was in distress and offered to let them use an apartment in his building.”
“This place?” Gavin asked. He wasn't totally out of it yet.
“You guessed it.” Cooper took a small sip before going on, “The psycho even tried being rough with the old man as they were shown up here, but Vera managed to smooth it over. Almost as soon as the door closed the prick started ranting. Vera tried to soothe him. She told him how great it was to have such a nice place, that they should imagine it was their first night together, that first nights are special.”
Gavin nodded, he agreed totally. That was why he sought out as many as he could get.
Cooper went on in an angry voice, “But this prize prick of a fiancé chose their first night here to go totally ape-shit.” Cooper paused to calm himself, and then continued, “Vera doesn't remember what flipped the last switch. One moment it seemed to be working, he seemed to be listening to her, the next he was attacking her. He killed Vera and also a man that came to the door in answer to her screams. Only then does the prick himself jump off the balcony and finish the job. Why he couldn't have done that first and saved everyone else a lot of grief is beyond me.”
“And so Vera became a ghost.”
“Yes, but the story doesn't finish there. After the grisly murders they had trouble letting this place out, as you can imagine, so the old man moves in – it's his building after all. Vera had been wandering around the empty apartment as a ghost, getting more and more uncomfortable and not knowing why. But when