‘Oh, I called her and told her to take the day off,’ he placed the paper on top of his breakfast bowl and pushed away from the marble counter-top. ‘You don’t mind do you? Since you’re going to be here anyway. You can spend some quality time with the children.’
I sighed, why did he always do this? I looked at my bruised wrist. It was still sore from arguing with him yesterday. Choosing to protect the children from yet another set to, I decided to call Heather later and explain there was a misunderstanding. I smiled at him, one of the loving smiles he expected. He kissed me on the top of my head before he sauntered out of the room. He ambled upstairs and I heard cupboards open and close. The children came racing down the stairs. James was the first into the room and I heard Darcy sliding down on her bottom. I rushed into the hallway and caught her before she tumbled.
‘James, you do need to make sure she’s safe on the stairs,’ I told him. ‘That’s why the stair gate is there. To stop Darcy getting on to the stairs on her own.’
‘I was with her,’ he told me. Fixing me with his blue eyes, just like his father’s. ‘Silly Mummy. She was safe with me.’ He looked at me, wide-eyed innocence, and I couldn’t help but remember how he’d imitated his father yesterday. Don’t be silly Lily, I told myself, he’s only a child and I ruffled his blond hair. He shook my hand away, moving away from me and smoothed his hair down.
‘I know, sweetheart,’ I told him. ‘But she needs watching every second.’ I bounced Darcy on my hip. Unlike James, she is exactly the image of me. Elfin and pale with mousy brown straight hair.
‘Okay, Mummy,’ he said, but he was already making his way to the snack cupboard and clambered on a chair. He pulled a packet of crisps from the cupboard and struggled to open them. He stared at me and I popped Darcy in the highchair so I could collect some scissors. Once I’d snipped off the top, I passed the packet back to him.
‘What do you say?’
‘Fank oo Mummy,’ he said, batting his eyelashes at me.
‘You’re welcome,’ I replied, ignoring the baby talk. I turned my attention to Darcy and almost missed Topher’s shouted goodbyes as he raced to the front door and East Finchley underground. I drove there if I needed to use it, easier with the children, but Topher always walked. His long legs would stride out and eat up the short distance in twenty minutes. Or so he told me. I needed to trot to keep up with him should I ever walk with him.
Barely had he left the house when I heard keys in the door. I froze. What’s he forgotten? I swiftly looked around the kitchen. His briefcase was gone, so had his keys and wallet. Darcy’s lip wobbled, her eyes wide in fear. Then I heard a shout.
‘Only me.’
‘Heather? What are you doing here?’ I asked as my home help bustled into the kitchen. I headed to the kettle as she swept Darcy into her arms and made my baby squeal with delight.
‘Oh, what am I going to do with a day off?’ she said. But she kept her eyes on Darcy as she spoke. And I wondered.
It’s not the first time she’s turned up after Topher has cancelled her time with us. ‘Heather?’ I said hesitantly.
‘Look,’ she said. ‘I knew you’d got the party yesterday and I knew there’d be a lot to do. You can’t clear it all up and look after the kids too. That’s why you hired me in the first place.’
‘Thank you,’ I whispered, blinking tears from my eyes.
Heather looked away. I thought she might be embarrassed by my emotion and we began returning the house to a level of tidiness I find uncomfortable, but that Topher insisted upon.
At eleven am Heather brought me a cup of tea in the garden. I was weeding the flowerbeds again, picking out the persistent ones, which had grown since I spruced up the garden before the party.
‘Don’t you need to be off for your appointment?’ she said.
I rocked back on my heels and smiled my thanks at her. ‘I cancelled it. When I couldn’t find my keys.’
‘I think you should go,’ she said. ‘Call them back and you can take my car.’
I hunted around for my mobile phone but, still unable to find it I used the landline. My appointment hadn’t been filled, I changed my clothes, grabbed my journal from under the mattress, and jumped into Heather’s car. My heart pounded as I waited while the electric gates swung open, signposting freedom.
Chapter Six
Topher
Topher Gundersen strode down the street towards the dishevelled café where he was meeting his client: Mark Brown, a small-time petty thief whose light fingers could never resist an opportunity. Stupid really, Topher mused, especially when the man could make much more money with his other skills and receive less attention from the police. Still he knew that, as the man’s advocate, it wasn’t his place to tell him how to live his life.
Topher nodded at the waitress before making his way through to the back of the café where his client waited. Topher shook hands with the tall, skinny young man. Almost the same height as his barrister, Mark was frail-looking, lacking Topher’s broad chest and shoulders. His skin was pockmarked and pale in stark contrast to Topher’s golden tan. Even in the dull light from the overhead bulb, he was blinking like a mole unused to sunlight.
‘Did you bring it?’ he said.
‘Of course,’ replied Topher. He took his laptop from the bag, typed in his password, and slid it across the table.
‘And you did everything else as I told you?’ said Mark tapping away at the keyboard.
‘Naturally.’ Topher leaned back in the plastic chair resisting the temptation to place his feet on the chair next to him.
‘Good,’ came the reply. Low conversation hummed in the café only interrupted by the loud clacks of the keyboard.
‘There you go,’ said Mark after a few minutes. He slid the laptop back to Topher who stared at the new screen layout. ‘You can change camera angles like this,’ he muttered pulling the computer closer and moving his finger side to side on the mouse pad.
Topher watched. He could see his home, his wife, and children, the mess that she still hadn’t cleaned up. Movement in one of the bedroom cameras caught his eye. Heather! Why had she disobeyed him? He jumped as Heather moved closer to the camera. What the hell was she doing there today? Had she seen the camera? But no she was just dusting the toys on the shelf. He would need to make sure it was facing the right direction again when he returned home.
‘You’ve done well,’ he said biting back his anger at the housekeeper’s insolence. He took a brown envelope out of his breast pocket. ‘Is your mother going to be in court? I’ll give this to her, shall I?’
‘Yeah that’ll be great thanks,’ he said. ‘Mum always comes and supports me.’
Topher nodded and replaced the thick envelope in his jacket pocket. He wasn’t sure how he could pass the money to his client’s mother, but what he had discovered with so many of his clients, was how adept they were at subterfuge. Although not sufficiently adept they didn’t regularly need his services as a defence barrister.
‘What about the other thing and the phone,’ Topher asked. He tutted. He’d almost forgotten the most important things.
Brown nodded. ‘Sure,’ he said, and slid a padded envelope across the table.
Topher slipped it into his laptop case
‘Have you got the phone with you?’
‘Of course, she won’t miss it. She’s always losing it in any case,’ Topher took his wife’s mobile from his laptop case.
‘Not ’ere! I got a mate you can send it to. Address is in the envelope. He’ll clone it for you. The tracker not good enough any longer?’ Brown said.
‘It’s been fine,’ replied Topher, ‘but I just want to keep an eye on her messages and phone calls. She’s been getting some nasty texts and I want to protect her. If I have a copy of her phone I can delete them before she sees them.’
‘Yeah, of course you can,’ replied Brown.
Topher saw curiosity flash across the man’s face, but Brown was being well paid. And Topher was not about
to share the true reason for wanting his wife’s phone cloned. The tracker had worked well. Well enough for him to see his wife had spent two hours in central London when she should have been at work. When he tracked the address down he was disappointed to discover it was a firm of solicitors. He was suspicious; if she’d wanted legal advice, why not ask him or Stephanie? The mystery was solved however, when he found the letter hidden in the lining of her handbag. She was after a divorce. Topher was outraged. Of all the ungrateful women in the world, he’d never encountered one as ungrateful as his wife. How dare she? He gave her everything she needed. The house was refurbished exactly as she wanted it. And she was after a divorce. Again. As if their last conversation on the matter hadn’t been enough to dissuade her. He was never going to allow her to leave him and take the children. Never. He would protect his family from breaking up if it were the last thing he did.
Topher rose, slipping the phone and laptop into his case. ‘I’ll see you in the courtroom,’ he said.
Brown nodded, passing Topher a scrap of paper. ‘The names you wanted,’ he said. ‘They should be able to help you.’
Topher took the note, ran his gaze down the list and placed it in his pocket along with his iPhone. ‘Thanks,’ he said.
‘No problem. Just you make sure you get me off again.’
With a curt nod at his client, Topher left the café, taking the list of names and a battered looking Nokia out of his pocket. He rang a number on the list, smiled grimly as the call ended and with a spring in his step, made his way to Court.
Topher couriered Lily’s phone to the contact Brown had given him and arranged for the original mobile and the new cloned phone to be sent to his chambers once the work had been completed. He could only hope that Lily didn’t miss her mobile before he got home in the evening.
Pleading Brown’s case took all his skill that afternoon. Watching the jury he was sure they wanted to convict and go home. Was the foreman asleep? Topher couldn’t be sure and not for the first time wished he could stroll around the courtroom as his American counterparts did. That would shock the dozing juror into wakefulness. He smiled grimly and continued to present Brown’s case from his lectern in the centre of the courtroom.
Chapter Seven
Lily
When I returned from my appointment, Heather had completed all the housework and I was able to relax before Topher came home. He’s never early. I had a whole hour of peace before I began cooking his evening meal. Even though there were enough leftovers from the party to feed us all for the rest of the week, Topher always wanted a hot meal when he came in. I’d learnt to make dishes that could stand waiting for a while, even for hours until he arrived home.
I made my way back into the garden, continuing the search for more recalcitrant weeds which had made a reappearance over the weekend.
‘Oh I forgot to say…’ Heather called out to me. ‘I’ve left your keys in the wooden bowl in the kitchen.
‘Thank you. I was searching everywhere for them.’
‘Did you look in the freezer?’ Heather asked.
I frowned, was she joking, but she wasn’t laughing. ‘The freezer?’
‘That’s where I found them,’ she replied. ‘I was making space for some of the leftovers. Perhaps you dropped them when you were getting the meat out?’ She shrugged and I returned the gesture.
‘In the morning, then,’ and she waddled down the hallway and out the house. I heard her car engine start and then a clang and thrum as the electric gates swung open. I rested on the grass waiting to hear the gates shut, staring at three stories of our house which towered over me.
As soon as I knew she’d gone I rushed over to the wheelie bin patio. The cartons Topher said I’d left in the fridge were in the recycling bin. But the ones I’d marked up yesterday where outside in the wheelie bin.
I pushed at the large bin, knocking it on its side and pulled every last carton out on to the paving slabs. I sobbed with relief as the cartons each had a firm black blob scribbled on to the base. But was I going mad? Had I forgotten to mark the cartons yesterday? Or had I left them in the fridge? Think, Lily, think. I collapsed onto the slabs and hugged my knees, rocking myself backwards and forwards as I wracked my brains.
‘Okay Mummy?’ I opened my eyes. Darcy had come to find me, I hugged her close breathing in the smell of her fine hair, scented with baby shampoo, and used it to push away another smell. Another unbidden memory. The stench of my own hair, rank and greasy. Unwashed. It surrounded me as I lay on a padded floor in a cell where Topher had sent me for my own protection after my accident. My hands, heavily bandaged were strapped to my sides. I shivered and loosened my grip on Darcy to find a tissue. Wiping away my tears, I stood and lifted her from the ground.
James hadn’t appeared and I strolled back into the house to see what he was up to. Silence was never a good sound where my son was concerned. But I needn’t have worried. He was sat at the small rattan children’s table in the garden room, totally engrossed in colouring pictures of spaceships.
‘Are you okay, James?’ I asked and he nodded his head without taking his eyes off the page. Orange and red flames shot out of the rear of the spaceship. I wasn’t sure the crew would survive that particular flight. Darcy wriggled to be put down. I placed her on the floor and she toddled to back the garden and her sand pit. She sat batting the base of a small seaside bucket and, when the sand came out without forming a castle she squealed with anguish. I brought her some water to moisten the sand and we played quietly together. I could still see James from where I was sitting and I relished these few moments of perfection.
All too soon it was six o’clock and I needed to begin preparing food for Topher. James stayed at the table eating his supper and drawing. Darcy in her highchair chatting to me in baby talk as I prepared his meal.
My mind raced as I chopped vegetables. Where was my mobile phone? At least I’d got my keys back and wouldn’t have to admit to Topher I’d been unable to find them. But I’d searched everywhere for the phone. Even Heather hadn’t been able to find it. What if he’d been calling me or texting me and I’d missed the calls.
He'll be furious, and as if my thoughts invoked his appearance, his key slid into the Yale lock. The metals scraped against each other. The door clicked shut and his precise footsteps echoed in the tiled hallway. I shook so much I cut my finger. Turning the tap on before he entered, so he couldn’t see blood on the food I’d prepared. I wiped my hands on the tea towel as he walked in the kitchen. James leapt up to greet him, but Darcy slunk low in her highchair. All baby talk silenced.
‘Good day?’ he asked.
‘Yes, fine,’ I said. ‘Do you want to eat first or shall I get these two ready for bed?’
‘I’ll do that, while you cook,’ he said. James yelled in delight but Darcy whimpered. Topher yanked her out of her highchair. ‘Come on scaredy cat. Daddy’s turn to do bath and story.’ He strode out of the room. Darcy’s thumb was in her mouth, her eyes filling with tears as he carried her away.
I gripped the tea towel in my hand tighter. I put a plaster on the cut and began to cook his dinner. I was on high alert for Darcy’s cries.
‘She’s getting better with me,’ he said, strolling back into the kitchen. ‘Red or white?’
‘Red. Pork schnitzel. Two minutes.’
The plop of the cork coming out the bottle made me jump but he pretended not to notice. I brought the food over to the table, nearly dropping it when I saw my mobile peeking out the top of my handbag. How did it get there?
‘Problem?’ said Topher, pouring me a glass of wine.
‘No,’ I said. ‘I don’t remember leaving my mobile there. I was looking for it earlier.’
‘Perhaps it slipped into the hole in the lining, darling.’
I froze. How did he know about the gap in my handbag’s lining?
I placed his dinner in front of him and sat opposite. Surely he must be able to hear my heart beating. My hand shook as I returned his toa
st over the meal. If he knows about the handbag, what else does he know?
‘There’s a pattern,’ my therapist had said. ‘Watch for the patterns. After the explosion he can go back to the honeymoon phase. To remind you why you’re with him. Hearts and flowers, I call it. Log it in your journal and don’t get taken in.’
Raising my glass to sip some, the wine slopped over the rim. Topher tutted at me and I ran to the kitchen to fetch a damp cloth. I mopped the wine, hoping I’d be able to get the mark out of the tablecloth, while he continued eating. From the outside it would seem like a perfectly normal marriage. After, I’d returned the dishcloth to the kitchen and put it in cold water, I sat at the dining room table and tried to eat. The breadcrumbs on the pork were like ashes in my mouth but I didn’t trust myself to raise the glass to my lips again.
‘You didn’t finish telling me about your day,’ he said. ‘I see there are a few things you’ve missed. Shall I write a list for Heather?’
‘No, it’s fine,’ I said. ‘I can do it.’
‘Just make sure you do,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to come home to a mess again.’
Chapter Eight
Lily
The following day, there were no dramas and Heather had arrived and taken over by eight o’clock. Topher seemed to be in a good mood that morning, but I had been careful to get everything ready the night before so I had no last minute problems finding keys or ID cards or anything like that.
For a change he asked for a lift to the underground station. Although I was conflicted I complied happily as there was no telling how quickly his mood might change. He kissed me warmly before he jumped out the car and strode away into the crowd. I stayed watching for a moment. He was a head taller than everyone else and his gold hair shone like a beacon. I sighed remembering more loving times.
The Love Trap: an unputdownable psychological thriller Page 3
