Love at First Fight

by Mary Jayne Baker

  ‘You were ages,’ he said. ‘Did Bridie have any news? Has she spoken to Hattie?’

  Ben strode forward with a look of grim determination on his face and in seconds had his brother pinned against the wall by his shoulders.

  ‘Did you do it?’ he demanded.

  Cal blinked. ‘What?’

  ‘Just answer me honestly, Cal. This is no time for playing games. Did you do it or not?’

  ‘Ben, please, don’t you start. You’re the only person I’ve got who still believes I don’t know what this is all about.’ Cal looked down at the hands gripping his shoulders. ‘Or do you?’

  ‘Just tell me if you did it,’ Ben said, regarding him with a steely expression. ‘Did you cheat, little brother? The truth.’

  Cal shook his head, completely bewildered. ‘I already told you I didn’t. I wouldn’t. Why are you asking me?’

  ‘Swear it.’

  ‘Eh?’

  ‘I want you to swear on Mum’s life that you didn’t sleep with Joanna while you were with Hattie. On Mum’s life, Cal, so I know you mean it.’

  ‘What the hell did Bridie say to you?’

  ‘Just swear, if you’re really telling me the truth. And if you can’t… well, then I’ll know, won’t I?’

  ‘All right, if it’ll make you happier then I swear,’ Cal said, feeling more confused by the second.

  ‘On Mum’s life.’

  ‘On Mum’s life, on yours, on Hattie’s, on the baby’s; on the lives of everyone I hold dear,’ Cal said, putting one hand on his heart. ‘I haven’t slept with Joanna, or with anyone else since I’ve been with Hat. Now are you going to tell me what the hell this is all about?’

  Ben let out a sigh of relief. He pulled his brother into a hug.

  ‘You don’t know how happy I am to hear you say that, kid,’ he murmured, patting him on the back. ‘For a bit there, I really thought you and your cock might’ve been stupid enough to throw away the best thing that ever happened to you.’

  ‘Why would you think that? I told you I hadn’t done anything worse than being a bit slow to stop a kiss. Don’t you trust me?’

  Ben released him from the hug. ‘In general, yes, but Bridie’s seen some pretty compelling evidence against you. Hattie sent her screenshots of private Messenger chats with Joanna that look like they’ve come from your Facebook.’

  ‘Well yeah, there were a few messages asking if we could meet up a second time – I told you about those in Blackpool. I mean, I can see why Hat would be pissed off I hid it from her after we promised to be honest with each other, but not to the extent of refusing to see me and calling off the wedding. I didn’t want to put her under extra stress while she was pregnant, that’s all. You said you thought I’d done the right thing.’

  ‘Oh no, what Hattie’s seen are some very different sorts of chats,’ Ben said with a dry smile. ‘You’d probably describe them as… intimate.’

  Cal frowned. ‘Intimate? Did you see them?’

  ‘Thankfully not. I’m told they’re pretty X-rated.’

  ‘Eh? And they came from my account?’

  ‘Or some sort of app that can fake it, I guess.’ Ben nodded to the sofa and they both sat down. ‘So, come on then. Explain to me how Joanna might have got hold of a nice little collection of snapshots featuring Little Calvin.’

  Cal raised his eyebrows. ‘What, dick pics? That’s what she showed Hattie?’

  ‘So I’m told.’

  He shook his head. ‘Well, then… they must be fake. You said you thought she was capable of going to any lengths. She must’ve got someone else to model for them.’

  ‘Well whoever it was, they’ve got your birthmark.’

  ‘Shit, really?’

  ‘Hattie was positive they were of you. I guess she knows that part of you pretty well by sight.’ Ben squinted at him. ‘They couldn’t be you, could they? Maybe from when you and Joanna were together?’

  ‘No, I can’t see how they could be – oh. Hang on.’ Cal stared into the distance for a moment, frowning.

  ‘Well?’ Ben said.

  ‘There were some photos,’ Cal said slowly. ‘God, I’d forgotten about those. Right back in the early days, Jo sent me some nude pics while I was away at a trade show.’

  Ben nodded. ‘Right, now we’re getting somewhere. And you responded in kind, did you?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Cal said quietly, looking embarrassed. ‘It was just a bit of fun, same as the notes. Joanna liked stuff like that. She deleted them though, the day we broke up. I watched her do it on her phone, and I deleted the ones I had of her.’

  ‘Could she have made a backup copy?’

  ‘I guess she must’ve, if she’s shown them to Hattie. It never occurred to me she’d want to hang on to them.’ Cal looked a little brighter. ‘Do you think Hat’ll forgive me when I explain that’s what must’ve happened?’

  ‘Hmm. I don’t know, Cal. There are other messages too. Messages with information only you could’ve known.’

  ‘Like what?’

  ‘Like the date Hattie went for her dress fitting. There’s a message from you to Joanna that morning, inviting her over for sex while Hattie’s out.’

  Cal frowned. ‘What? But… how?’

  ‘I don’t know, but it doesn’t look great for you, does it? Then there’s the very date-like evening with Joanna that you hid from Hattie—’

  ‘I explained that to her already. We’d moved on.’

  ‘And then you had Joanna over for a second time last night without saying anything.’

  ‘I told you, I was going to tell Hat about that. I just wanted to get the rehearsal out of the way first.’

  ‘What about the presents? The flowers and things whenever you spent a night away from Hattie for work stuff? That looks a lot like a guilty conscience.’

  ‘It was a guilty conscience,’ Cal said. ‘But guilty because I felt bad about leaving her on her own, not because I’d been having it away with someone else. I’ve got a very low threshold for guilty consciences. That doesn’t look suspicious, does it?’

  ‘It does to women. They see too much of that kind of thing from cheating bastards. It was certainly one of Dad’s favourite tricks.’

  ‘I’m not like him though!’ Cal protested. ‘Honestly I’m not.’

  ‘Plus there’s the notes,’ Ben went on, ignoring him. ‘Hattie showed a few to Bridie – sent photos of them, I mean. Joanna’s forged some pretty convincing new ones to go with the old, but even if you can persuade Hattie they’re fakes, the mucky ones from when you were together don’t look particularly good. Hattie’s obviously worried you’re into some stuff you felt comfortable sharing with Joanna and not her. It’s bound to make her extra paranoid if she thinks you’re not the man she thought she knew on top of the rest of it. When you consider everything together, it doesn’t look good for you, does it?’

  ‘But it’s all circumstantial!’ Cal said, his voice taking on a desperate edge. ‘I didn’t cheat. I didn’t do anything wrong other than being a randy, impressionable prat when I was much younger. It’s a big fuss over nothing.’

  ‘Yeah. I know.’ Ben patted his leg. ‘I’m just trying to see it from Hattie’s point of view, that’s all. I mean, imagine if it was the other way round. How would you feel if some wealthy, handsome, successful ex of hers turned up with a load of dirty notes she’d written him plus photos of her fanny? It’s not an easy thing to talk your way out of. That was a lot of “buts” you just gave me there that sounded a whole lot like the voice of guilt.’

  ‘Except I’m not guilty, am I? If I can just get her to listen, convince her… I’m supposed to be getting married in six days, for Christ’s sake.’

  ‘The problem is, Cal, even if you can convince Hattie you’re innocent, no one else is ever going to believe you, are they? Not with Joanna being who she is and looking the way she does,’ Ben said. ‘You claiming you didn’t sleep with her, that she set you up to come between you and Hattie, is up there with “I must’ve go
t the chlamydia from the bike saddle at the gym, darling” or “honestly, Doctor, I tripped and fell on that cucumber”. No one’s going to believe in a million years that a nobody like you would say no to someone with the great Jojo Fitzroy’s charms – no offence. Especially in the face of all the evidence to the contrary.’

  ‘No,’ Cal murmured. ‘Everyone round here knows what happened with Dad. They’ll just think I’m a chip off the old block and Hattie’s a gullible moron to take me back.’

  ‘One person still has the power to clear you completely though,’ Ben said, looking determined. ‘Joanna bloody Fitzroy.’

  Thirty-Four

  ‘I wish you’d let me get rid of these stupid notes,’ Bridie said to Hattie. ‘I understand that it’s important for you to wallow in misery right now, but I really don’t think staring at them is helping.’

  She made a move to sweep them away, but Hattie stopped her hand.

  ‘No. Leave them.’ She picked a couple up and squinted at them. ‘You know, I’m not sure the As in these old notes are that different from the new ones after all. See, the first A in “masturbate” from this newer one does look a bit like a four.’

  ‘Hattie, please, just let me put them away or burn them or something. You’re only torturing yourself.’

  ‘And the handwriting from Joanna’s notes doesn’t look anything like the writing on the ones she’s supposedly forged from Cal,’ Hattie went on, as if she hadn’t heard. ‘I think I let Ben talk me into seeing what I wanted to see instead of what was actually there.’

  ‘Right. I’m putting them away.’ Ignoring Hattie’s protestations, Bridie swept all the notes into the envelope they’d been delivered in and tucked it into her pocket.

  Bridie felt her phone buzz and yanked it out of her jeans.

  ‘It’s Ben,’ she said.

  ‘You don’t think he’s told Cal where I am, do you?’

  ‘He wouldn’t. He promised me.’ Bridie swiped to answer. ‘What’s up, love? Did you talk to your brother?’

  ‘Yes, and I’m convinced Joanna set him up,’ Ben said. ‘He swore on our mum’s life he hadn’t cheated. That’s good enough for me.’

  Bridie mouthed an ‘excuse me’ to Hattie and left the room so she could talk to Ben in private.

  ‘What about the dick pics?’ she said in a low voice. ‘Did he deny they were of him?’

  ‘No, he admitted they probably were, but they’re not recent. Apparently he sent some pics to Joanna years ago, but he believed she’d deleted them when they split. Obviously she had a backup somewhere.’

  ‘What about that message about the dress fitting?’

  ‘Yeah, he couldn’t explain that,’ Ben admitted. ‘Still, I’m sure there are ways she could’ve got that information. If Cal says he was set up then I believe him.’

  ‘I’m not sure Hattie will. She’s already talked herself out of believing some of the notes were forged. She’s completely paranoid after staring at them for the past three hours, and with everything that’s happened, I can’t say I blame her.’

  ‘OK, it looks bad,’ Ben said. ‘If I was her, I’d feel just the same. But I know he didn’t do it.’

  ‘You’re really positive he’s telling the truth?’

  ‘Well, yes. He’s Cal. I mean, would you have thought he’d do something like that to her?’

  ‘If you’d asked me this morning, then “no, absolutely not” would’ve been the answer,’ Bridie said. ‘But now I’ve seen his notes, I’m thinking there’s another side to Cal Kemp that I never suspected.’

  ‘Me too, but I’m certain that side is “randy, stupid kid”, not “cheating, selfish bastard”.’

  ‘You would think that, wouldn’t you? He’s your brother.’

  ‘And you’re my girlfriend,’ he said quietly. ‘Bridie, I believe him – not just because he’s my brother; because I know what the truth looks like when I see it. Will you trust me on this? For the sake of our future niece or nephew?’

  ‘I…’ She hesitated. ‘Yes. All right. If you really think he’s telling the truth, I trust you, Ben.’

  ‘I knew you would,’ he said, and she could hear him smiling down the phone. ‘Look, are you able to leave Hattie by herself for a bit?’

  ‘I don’t like leaving her when she’s upset.’

  ‘She won’t be upset for too long if this works.’

  ‘If what works?’

  ‘Bridie, Cal and Hattie managed to get us together when we were too blind to realise how we felt about each other and this is our chance to return that favour. Meet me at Scooper Dooper in fifteen minutes, OK? It’s down to us to play Cupid this time.’

  ‘All right, so what’s your plan?’ Bridie said when she was sitting opposite Ben inside the little ice cream parlour where they’d often hung out as teens.

  ‘Well, getting you here was the first part of it,’ he said. ‘Then, er, after that I admit I’m kind of stumped.’

  Bridie shook her head. ‘Seriously, that’s all you’ve got?’

  ‘I did have an idea involving tracking Joanna down and getting her to confess. I’m just not sure how that would actually work. I was hoping you might have some suggestions.’

  ‘Ben, are you really positive she set Cal up?’ Bridie said. ‘I mean, I want to believe that, but to go to all this effort just to get her own back on the man who spurned her… it feels so out of proportion. Surely she can just go home to her big fancy house, wipe away her tears with a few £50 notes and move on.’

  ‘Trust me, if you knew her the way I do you’d know she was more than capable of it,’ Ben muttered.

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘Bride, you remember that night at the party when you thought I was Bruce? You called me the man who never said no.’

  She flinched. ‘Oh, don’t remind me what I said then. I was jealous, that’s all, because I thought you were getting off with Meg. I didn’t mean it.’

  ‘It’s OK. I was just going to say, there was one significant occasion when I gave a woman who wanted me a very firm no,’ Ben said. ‘The night Joanna Fitzroy tried to get me to have an affair with her behind my brother’s back.’

  Bridie’s eyes widened. ‘No!’

  ‘Yep. For Cal’s sake I’ve always kept quiet about it, but I know first-hand that she’s a nasty piece of work and always has been. I bet she wrecks homes for a hobby the way other people take up knitting.’

  ‘Oh my God! I had no idea she was as bad as all that.’

  ‘That was why her and Cal ended. I blackmailed her into splitting up with him.’

  ‘Bloody hell. No wonder you always hated her.’

  ‘Suppose we’d better order something,’ Ben said as the waitress approached their table. ‘Er, two scoops of strawberry for me and a double chocolate fudge for the lady. Cheers, love.’

  Bridie smiled. ‘How did you remember chocolate fudge was my favourite flavour?’

  ‘Dunno. Must’ve stuck in my brain somewhere down the years.’

  She reached out to squeeze his hand. ‘Thanks for doing this, Ben. You’re a good lad to want to help.’

  ‘Well then? Any bright ideas, fellow sleuth? I spent half an hour on Google and discovered Joanna’s going to be attending some awards bash in Manchester tomorrow, but I’m pretty sure we’re not going to be able to gatecrash a swanky do like that.’

  ‘Even if we did, if she’s gone to this level of effort just to set Cal up, she’s hardly going to just shrug and confess it all because me and you turn up demanding the truth.’

  ‘I know.’ Ben nodded to the waitress as she put two bowls of ice cream down in front of them. ‘Thanks.’

  They were silent for a while, chins propped glumly on fists while their ice cream steadily liquified.

  ‘OK, how about this?’ Ben said at last. ‘We kidnap her going into the awards, lock her in a room, then I’ll shine a lamp in her face while you question her. You know, like in the cop shows.’

  ‘Right. So you pack the lamp, I’ll
fetch some duct tape, and hopefully Cal and Hattie will be allowed to send us some photos of the wedding while we’re serving a ten-to-fifteen stretch each.’

  ‘I wasn’t suggesting we waterboard her or anything. We’d probably get eight years, tops.’

  ‘What if we tell the actual cops?’ Bridie suggested. ‘Isn’t it slander or something, lying about shagging someone to break up their relationship?’

  ‘Hmm. I think that only counts if she sells her story to the papers. Plus we’d have to prove it, and all we’ve got at the moment is Cal’s word against hers,’ Ben said. ‘What if we bribe her to come clean?’

  ‘Ben, she’s a multi-millionaire and we haven’t got a pot to piss in.’

  ‘See, you’ve hit on the one flaw in my whole plan.’ He looked thoughtful. ‘What we really need to do is trick her into confessing, ideally on tape. But how do we do that? She knows who we are. We’re the last people she’ll tell the truth to, if we can even get to her.’

  ‘What about a disguise?’

  He snorted. ‘Yeah, OK. I’ll dig my Batman suit back out, shall I?’

  Silence descended again. Bridie sucked pensively on a spoonful of ice cream.

  ‘Ben…’

  ‘Mmm?’

  ‘I might have an idea. A serious one.’

  He looked up. ‘Yeah?’

  ‘We need to play to our strengths, that’s what I think. Make use of our special skills. You know, like how in the detective shows the sleuth has always got some unusual characteristic or talent to help them solve the crime?’

  ‘Right. So Jonathan Creek’s a magician, Miss Marple’s an innocent-looking old dear, Columbo’s a scruffbag with an imaginary wife…’

  ‘Exactly,’ Bridie said, nodding. ‘So, what are you best at?’

  He blinked. ‘Er… you think I ought to take Joanna canoeing?’

  Bridie rolled her eyes. ‘Not that special skill. The other one.’

  ‘Bridie, I have no idea what the hell you’re getting at.’

  ‘What does every girl in this town know about Ben Kemp? Come on, you used to love bragging about this.’

  He shook his head. ‘Oh, no. You have got to be joking.’