House of Beauty: The Colombian crime sensation and bestseller

He’d pulled out a green folder from his leather briefcase then opened it slowly and pulled out some papers.

‘Piccolina, the matter is already settled. All you need to do is sign here, and we’ll have made the best investment of our life.’

Eduardo leafed through the papers and started reading out loud and telling me about the property. ‘You have to see the vertical garden on the rocks out the back. There are 350 car spaces, a security room, 48 security cameras.’

He kept reading. ‘You’ll love the function room, my love, it has its own kitchen. And amazing furniture – all designer, very tasteful. But the best part is the clubhouse. You like swimming, you’ll love it. There’s a climatised semi-Olympic pool, with a swimming instructor, sauna, steam room, Pilates room …’

The phrase ‘you like swimming’ had echoed in my ears. The truth was, I did. I had liked swimming as an adolescent, and I had at university, too. Why had I stopped swimming? ‘You like swimming’ echoed in my head again and again until I felt like I was drowning.

I also liked Joan Baez and Simon and Garfunkel, I liked heading to the mountains on weekends, I liked preparing ajiaco soup – but Eduardo didn’t eat ajiaco, didn’t like my music, and if he left Bogotá it had to be by plane. So, I’d adapted my preferences to suit his, and I’d adapted so much I’d become blurry. He finished talking and, not noticing my red eyes or my silence, he put the papers back into his briefcase, changed his jacket and dabbed on some cologne.

‘Goodbye, my love,’ I said with a smile from the bed.

‘Don’t eat too much,’ he said.

I got into bed with a bag of potato chips and a box of chocolates. By midnight I’d watched an episode of CSI and two of Mad Men, and I was tired. The women in those series are heroines, I thought, but, in the end, it never does them any good. Eduardo still hadn’t come home. My eyes were swollen from crying.

When I turned off the TV I imagined sleeping in another bed. A smaller one, but my own. I fell asleep thinking about a window overlooking the street, hopefully alongside a park, an open-plan kitchen, a few plants, a round dining table and a little lamp hanging above it. Eduardo came back when dawn was breaking. I was up and sitting in front of the computer, looking for apartments in La Soledad.

‘Up working so early?’ he’d said.

‘What do you think?’ I’d said, determined to find the perfect place for myself, the room of my own where there would be no space for him.

And now I was in that place of my own, collecting his cigarette butts. When I finished cleaning, I decided to ask Claire if we could make a habit of catching up once a week. I decided not to let him smoke at my place again. I raised the calendar and marked the date: 23 July. From this day forward, no one smokes in here, I said to myself, circling the date with the same red pen that I used to correct drafts of his books.

5. (#u30d2a1be-de2c-5126-bbb6-a19a3e71a691)

Sabrina was in her uniform. That’s why they didn’t let her into the hotel bar where she was meant to be going on her date with Luis Armando. She would have liked to go for a drink, or for him to take her to a restaurant, or at least to go for a walk. But he insisted on seeing her in his room.

‘I can’t wait to cover you in kisses,’ he said.

And that phrase was enough for Sabrina to feel her heartbeat quicken.

‘Do you love me?’ he asked in the voice that often murmured over the telephone how much he wanted her.

‘A lot,’ Sabrina said, turning red. It was the first time a man other than her father had asked.

When she went up to his room, she saw that Luis Armando was drunk. She was drunk, too, from the brandies she tossed back earlier so that she could bear the pain of the waxing. If she’d been sober, perhaps she would have reacted faster. But she wasn’t. She realised that coming here hadn’t been a good idea. Nevertheless, instead of leaving, she stared into his eyes, searching for the spark of love she thought she’d detected in them once. She was ready to become a woman.

6. (#u30d2a1be-de2c-5126-bbb6-a19a3e71a691)

When she left her boss’s office, Karen felt the women’s eyes on her. The three in the eyelashes section looked up from the faces before them and scrutinised her. Even the woman distributing coffees turned to stare. Karen imagined that if they didn’t have clients right then, they would interrogate her. What was it? Did all of them know that Sabrina Guzmán had died, and that she’d been Karen’s client?

She went downstairs to give Susana her jacket before she went back to her cubicle. Susana was immersed in whatever she was typing into her phone, which she hid as soon as she saw Karen.

‘Thank you,’ Karen said, handing her the jacket.

‘No problem, gorgeous,’ Susana said with a smile.

Karen noticed the handbag at her feet and wondered if it was original.

‘Yes, it’s real,’ said Susana, who apparently had the power to read minds.

‘It’s lovely.’

‘Thank you, gorgeous!’ said Susana. ‘You seem nice. Save my number, you never know when you might need a friend. There are some green-eyed, catty little minxes round here – they’ve been known to get their claws out,’ she added in an almost whisper.

Susana got out her phone to call Karen and, while she typed in her number, Karen noticed she had the latest iPhone. A tablet was peeking from her handbag.

‘Why do you bring that handbag to work, to make them jealous?’ asked Karen.

‘Yes, that too.’

Annie interrupted to tell Karen her next client had arrived.

‘Don’t you worry about the minxes,’ said Karen. It was the first time she’d used that word to refer to their House of Beauty colleagues. ‘They’d never have the money for a tablet like that.’

‘Oh, gorgeous,’ said Susana, ‘It’s so obvious you’re new. If they had to stop eating they would, if it meant they didn’t have to miss out. Anyway, if you ever need a lend of the handbag, or some clothes, just let me know.’

Karen went up to the second floor thinking that Susana seemed like a good person. Once in the cubicle, she lit the wax warmer. There were two knocks at the door. Before opening up, she called Annie at reception and asked who to expect.

‘You really don’t know?’ she answered on the other end before hanging up.

Fortunately, Karen remembered her name when the door opened. Even if she hadn’t seen her before, she would have recognised her from the celebrity news, which she presented in the evenings.

Karen admired the TV presenter. She had put out of her mind that she’d treated her badly on two or three previous occasions. She was even more beautiful in real life than she was on TV. Karen loved her straight hair.

‘Doña Karen, how is life treating you?’ Karen asked cheerfully.

Doña Karen didn’t hear her, or didn’t want to answer.

‘You can pop your clothes on this chair, I’ll leave you a moment so you can change. Are you here today for a bikini wax? Do you need the disposable briefs?’

‘No, only legs and underarms.’

‘All right, Doña Karen, in that case you can leave your underwear on. I’ll be with you in just a moment. Would you like a coffee? Or a herbal tea?’

‘A herbal tea would be nice.’

She requested a herbal tea to cubicle 3, then searched the cupboard for an electric blanket. There it was. If anything from the central closet went missing, everyone’s pay was docked. She returned to the cubicle where Doña Karen was lying on the treatment table. Doña Karen was thirty years old and had been coming to House of Beauty for years. Another worker had always looked after her, until one day Doña Karen’s phone went missing and the worker was dismissed, even though there was no proof or inquiry. That’s how twenty years at House of Beauty had ended for Karen’s predecessor, and how the crown jewel had been placed in Karen’s hands.

‘Karen’s your name, isn’t it?’

‘Yes, Señora.’

‘It’s a bit uncomfortable for me, the two of us having the same name, you know?’

‘How so, Señora?’