Free The Road Between Us by Nigel Farndale

know whether your solicitor has been through the details yet but when you …’ he curves the air with his fingers, ‘ “died” your half of the mortgage was written off and Frejya’s half …’ Pause. He has realized what he is about to say. ‘The building society have now said that they are satisfied that Frejya’s death wasn’t, you know, that she didn’t … Anyway, you don’t have a mortgage now.’
    A black cat pokes its head around the door, like a nervous publicist checking on a client.
    ‘Didn’t know you’d got a cat,’ Niall says.
    ‘Not ours. Belongs to a neighbour. Hannah has been feeding it scraps … Whose decision was it to declare me dead?’
    Niall crosses his arms. Pretends to be weighing up his next chess move. ‘It was a departmental decision, really. Standard procedure.’
    ‘How did Frejya take it when you told her?’
    ‘She was upset, obviously.’
    ‘She had her accident soon afterwards, didn’t she?’
    Niall moves his head in agreement. ‘Anyway, in addition to the death-in-service payment we made to Frejya, which I will make sure doesn’t have to be paid back, I gather that you both had private life insurance. Frejya got half a million when you “died” and Hannah got a further half-million when Frejya died. So financially … I don’t know what becomes of that, but I’ll make sure we cover you for it if the insurance company want your half back.’
    ‘Thanks. Again.’ Edward moves a bishop from one side of theboard to the other but ends up on the wrong diagonal. A frown. ‘Have I moved that properly?’ he asks.
    ‘Perhaps we shouldn’t rush things.’
    ‘In the cave I used to try and replay games in my head,’ Edward says, placing the piece on the correct square.
    Niall leans forward.
    ‘There was one I’d memorized when I was at school, Bobby Fischer versus Donald Byrne, the one where Fischer made a queen sacrifice on move 17, getting a rook, two bishops and a pawn in return. He then went on to force a checkmate while Byrne’s queen sat helpless at the other end of the board. I kept trying to picture the notation but I couldn’t do it. It’s hard to …’ He trails off.
    ‘Concentrate when you’re light-headed from lack of food?’ Niall nods encouragingly. Keep it light, he thinks. Keep him talking. A conversation between friends rather than a debrief. ‘What did you miss most?’
    Edward closes his eyes, his usual signal to change the subject.
    ‘Do you want to see your obituary?’ Niall pats his pockets and then shakes his head, making the flesh under his chin double up and crease. ‘I must have left it in my case. They rang me for a quote when they were writing it. I told them you were lazy and feckless.’ He grins to show he is joking.
    ‘My guards showed it to me in the cave. It was in the edition of the Telegraph they filmed me holding up.’
    ‘Yes, of course it was. I’d forgotten that.’
    ‘Is that why you had me declared dead? To make them show some proof of life?’
    Niall looks away. ‘There were a number of options we were considering.’
    Colour is rising to Edward’s face. ‘Did anyone think to tell Frejya that was why you were doing it?’ He says this loudly, almost shouting.
    Niall puffs out his cheeks. ‘We thought it would be kinder not to. We thought declaring you dead would give her some closure.’
    ‘It gave her closure all right.’ There is heat in Edward’s words now.
    Niall castles, moving his king first with an emphatic click of wood against wood. The silence flows back into the space between them heavily, like oil.
    But Edward hasn’t finished yet. ‘Why did they let me go?’
    ‘We don’t know … Did they talk to you at all?’
    Without taking his eyes off Niall, Edward bites his lip and moves his head from left to right, right to left.
    ‘There were no other hostages?’
    ‘None. Why did they release me?’
    Niall shrugs clownishly. ‘Perhaps they found you too annoying.’
    No smile from Edward.