‘Say Scott Goulding isn’t involved. Do you think this still might be Sally?’ Lizzy asked. ‘Maybe working with someone else?’
Emma still held on to the letter. ‘She has the motive. But again, the police said she’s very remorseful over what she did.’
‘Maybe she just said that, so the police didn’t press charges.’
‘You think?’
Lizzy shrugged. ‘Well, she must have been in a terrible place to plan to do what she did. She was prepared to murder Will, for heaven’s sake!’ Lizzy shook her head. ‘And she was a split-second decision away from carrying it out. Plus, it’s been only a matter of weeks since what happened. Do you really think that she could be so much better in such a short space of time? Do you think all those feelings will have just gone away? Maybe they have, maybe they haven’t.’
Emma thought about it. ‘She’s the prime suspect, isn’t she?’
‘I think so,’ Lizzy said. ‘What’s the alternative? That there’s yet another person who has taken against us? How many of these people are there?’
‘Don’t . . .’ Emma said.
‘Exactly,’ Lizzy replied. ‘It’s just too horrid to consider. But it’s also unrealistic, surely, to think that this is not connected to what’s gone before. And then there was the fact that the person in the cap was so fast – much faster than me. We know that Sally is a sports teacher, so she’s fit, sporty.’
‘You’ve been thinking about this a lot,’ Emma said.
Lizzy nodded. ‘To be honest, this past couple of weeks, I haven’t thought about much else. I’ve racked my brain about who could be doing this, and why.’
‘Oh, Lizzy, I’m so sorry.’
‘Why are you sorry? You’ve got no need to be sorry about anything.’
‘I am sorry. While we were away, having such a fantastic time, you were here, dealing with all of this. And, ultimately, it’s all about me, isn’t it? If it wasn’t for me, none of this would be happening.’
‘Don’t you dare start blaming yourself for anything,’ Lizzy retorted. ‘You’ve got nothing to feel guilty about. Nothing.’
‘Thanks. But I am sorry you were having to deal with this on your own. Doesn’t Will know?’
‘I didn’t tell him.’
‘Because you thought he might tell me?’
‘Yes.’
Emma shook her head, numbly. ‘Lizzy, you shouldn’t have tried to deal with this all by yourself. I know you’re strong, but—’
‘I agree,’ Lizzy interrupted. ‘I probably should have told Will. But I just didn’t want to risk you finding out, because I really didn’t want this person to ruin your honeymoon.’
Lizzy watched as Emma continued to shake her head in disbelief at what was happening. ‘Are you okay, Em?’
‘I’m okay. But I should call Dan.’ She pulled out her mobile.
Lizzy interjected. ‘Not just yet,’ she said. ‘There’s something else I need to show you.’ She steeled herself. ‘I don’t know what it means, but it’s been really bothering me. Maybe you can explain it.’
She pulled out the photograph that had provoked so much anxiety in her.
Emma took it, gripping it harder when she realised what it showed. She looked up. ‘Where did you get this?’ Her voice was frayed.
‘It came with the last note.’
Emma looked again at the image. It was a photograph of Dan. She could tell it came from the time just before they met, because of his hairstyle and what he was wearing. He was standing, beaming at the camera, a busy bar as a backdrop, a pint of lager in one hand. His other arm was wrapped around another man, who was also smiling broadly and holding a drink.
It was Emma’s ex-fiancé, Stuart Harris.
Chapter 8
Carl Jones came from behind, landing the first ferocious blow into the side of Peter Myers’ abdomen. Myers folded and crumpled against the washbasin, pain rippling through him. Jones yanked his hair and slammed his head into the basin. Now on the cold, wet tiled floor of the washroom, another blow came – this time a stamp down hard onto the top of his right leg. Myers gazed up at his attacker, their eyes meeting for a brief moment. Jones was enjoying this. Myers nodded and the assault continued. Two other prisoners had created a diversion downstairs, feigning an escalating argument in the common room, so there were no guards to witness this.
As another kick connected with the side of his body and his vision starred, Peter Myers realised he couldn’t feel a thing.
He just knew one truth – his plan was working.
Chapter 9
‘I don’t understand this,’ Emma said, still staring intently at the photograph. ‘I can’t understand what I’m seeing here.’ She looked up at Lizzy. ‘Dan knew Stuart before he met me—?’ She looked stunned. ‘Why wouldn’t he have told me that?’
‘Is the photo definitely from before you met? Could it be more recent?’
‘No,’ said Emma. ‘It’s definitely before we met.’ She pointed at the image. ‘His longer hairstyle. He had it cut shorter the week before we met, and the style hasn’t changed much since. I can’t believe this.’
Emma had met Dan at their local pub in Islington, just around the corner from where Lizzy and Emma were then sharing a flat. Dan had been there with a group of workmates, and one of them had approached Emma when she was at the bar, asking whether Lizzy and she wanted to join them for a drink. Following this, Emma had got chatting with Dan, and the two of them had hit it off: they’d been an item from that night onwards. It was only later that Dan had admitted his friend had done it as a favour for him, after he’d remarked how attractive Emma was. He hadn’t had the courage to approach her himself, so his more confident friend, a marketing manager called Mike, had helped out.
‘I don’t know what to say,’ Lizzy said now. ‘I didn’t know how I was going to tell you. I’ve been worried sick about what to do.’
Emma looked again at the image. ‘What am I going to do?’
‘I really don’t know.’
Emma thought some more. ‘You said the photograph came with a note. What did the note say?’
Lizzy got it out of her pocket and passed it across to her.
Emma read it out loud. ‘“Now who can you trust?”’ Again, she turned to her best friend. ‘Is this like the other messages?’
Lizzy had the others in her bag. She got them out and placed them on the table.
Emma inspected each one in turn. ‘Always this thing about trust.’ Then something seemed to strike a chord. She picked up the photograph again. ‘You didn’t want Dan here when you showed me this, did you? That’s why you waited until now, until you knew Dan was at work.’
Lizzy flushed red. ‘I decided it was best to tell you on your own first.’
‘Why? Because you think this is about Dan?’ It was hard not to make the sentence sound anything other than an accusation.
‘I don’t know, Emma, I just thought it was for the best. It would give you time to think things through, before talking to Dan about it.’
That made sense. ‘I’m sorry, Lizzy, I didn’t mean to get angry.’ In fact, Emma realised, she had been directing the accusation at herself as much as her friend. She was challenging her own reaction; that this photo had terrible implications for her relationship with the man whom she loved and trusted. ‘What does this mean, Lizzy?’
‘Well, it means that Dan knew Stuart, and that he kept that fact secret from you.’
‘But why would he do that?’
‘Maybe he thought that if he told you he knew your ex-boyfriend, it would jeopardise your relationship.’
‘Maybe.’ It was a good hypothesis. In truth, during the early stages of their relationship, such a revelation would have certainly made Emma think twice. Her break-up with Stuart had been painful, even after several years, so the thought that there was this link could have made things feel very uncomfortable. And then, later, maybe Dan had decided that to say anything after years of silence would have just seemed
too weird, and would have opened up old wounds and threatened their happiness. Then she had another thought. ‘Or maybe there’s another explanation.’
‘Go on.’
‘Maybe this photograph isn’t real.’
Lizzy looked interested. ‘Someone faked the photo, to make it look like Dan knew Stuart?’
Emma scrutinised the image. It certainly looked real, but she wasn’t an expert. She just knew photographs could be manipulated in any way anyone could imagine these days. ‘Surely it wouldn’t be that difficult to add in Stuart, or Dan, to an existing image and create the impression that they were there together?’
‘Sounds plausible,’ Lizzy said.
‘I mean, look at all these notes.’ Emma fanned them out on the table in front of her. ‘They all mention the word trust, but actually they’re all about mistrust. Each note is designed to sow doubts in our minds about who we can trust. And this photograph is doing the same thing. Whoever sent this, whether it’s a fake, or whether it’s real, wants us, or me, to doubt Dan.’
‘They want to try and wreck your relationship with Dan.’
‘Exactly. Which feeds into the idea that Sally is doing this,’ Emma continued. ‘I destroyed her happiness with Stuart, as she sees it, so now she wants to do the same to me.’
Lizzy looked at her friend. ‘So what do we do?’
‘We let the police know what’s been happening. And hopefully they can have a chat with Sally.’
‘And what if it isn’t Sally who’s been doing all this?’ Lizzy picked up a note. ‘Do you think it could be Adrian Spencer?’
‘Why would you think that?’
‘Because he might have a motive. I met up with him the other day, and he told me he’d been sacked by Firework Films.’
‘Because of our complaint?’
‘I think so, yes.’
Emma sat back in her chair. ‘But do you really think he’d do this?’
‘I don’t know, but it’s just something he said to me. He said something very similar to what’s in the notes, about trusting people. I asked him if he was the person sending the letters, but he denied it.’
Emma nodded, then asked, ‘Why did you go to see him?’
Lizzy hesitated. ‘I wanted to ask them not to go ahead with the docudrama.’
‘But they wouldn’t—’
‘I know, they won’t take any notice of us. I knew that really, before I even met him, but I just wanted to try.’
‘And now he doesn’t work for them any more.’
‘Yes.’
‘Did he seem hostile?’ Emma spoke matter-of-factly.
‘No, not really. He warned me about Peter Myers.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Just like the police, he thinks Peter Myers is obsessed with you, and he said that when he’s finally released from prison, unless he’s admitted to how he feels and seeks help, that he’ll . . . come after you.’ She pulled an apologetic face at Emma.
‘So he’s trying to scare us?’
‘He said no, but it seems like that.’
‘So then it might be him doing this.’
‘I don’t think we can rule him out, but I think it’s much more likely to be Sally.’
Emma glanced at her watch. ‘I’ve arranged to meet Dan for lunch.’ They had agreed a lunchtime meet-up at Perfetto, a lovely Italian café around the corner from Dan’s office, to help sugar the pill of his first day back at work.
‘Are you going to speak to him about this?’
‘Yes.’
‘Will you be okay about that?’
Emma nodded. ‘I trust Dan. I’m not going to let this person ruin what we’ve got. Things are going to be okay. If the photo is real, I’m sure Dan will be able to explain it.’
‘Well, I’ll be on the other end of the phone, if you need me.’
‘Thanks.’
‘You haven’t opened the letter,’ Lizzy said.
Emma had forgotten about it. She opened it with a sense of trepidation. Inside was a single line, once again in the same Gothic font.
Ask Lizzy about her little secret.
She turned it around to face Lizzy.
‘I don’t know what that means, Em,’ Lizzy protested. ‘Honestly, I’ve got no idea what that’s supposed to mean.’
‘It’s okay.’
‘What secret?’
‘Maybe it’s referring to you not telling me about the photograph.’
‘Maybe.’
‘The person might just be wanting to make sure that you showed it to me. If I’d opened it earlier, then it would have prompted me to get in touch with you.’
‘You’re probably right,’ Lizzy said, but she looked unnerved.
‘Lizzy, don’t worry. See, this person is trying to do it again – sow mistrust. But it’s not going to work – I trust you, totally.’
Lizzy nodded. ‘Thanks, Em, it means a lot.’
Emma’s mobile rang. ‘Hello? . . . Yes . . . Oh, hi . . . Okay, right . . . We’ll buzz you in. Come right up.’
‘Who’s that?’
Emma looked perplexed. ‘David Sherborn. The photographer. He’s downstairs, and he wants to speak to me right now.’
Will was sitting at his desk at work, daydreaming about Sally. It had been three days since their meeting, and he hadn’t been able to stop himself from thinking about her. He’d resisted the temptation to call, even though he still had her number on speed dial. It would probably be best to leave things for a few days more, to let things settle, give her time to think. He wondered whether, in time, they really would have a chance of making a go of things.
My God, am I delusional?
He could imagine Emma’s reaction. And she would most likely be right. But, still, even though he knew pursuing a relationship with Sally – even a platonic one – was madness, there was an irresistible force driving him on.
He went back to tapping away on his keyboard, clearing out a few more emails as colleagues chatted in the background.
He remembered just a few weeks ago, when Sally – or Amy, as he knew her then – had called to ask about the parachute jump. It had filled him with a mixture of fear and elation.
But the plan had been to kill, not thrill.
And I want to be with this woman? I’m crazy.
Will played with a bitten-ended pencil, turning it over and over on the desktop, only checking himself when one of the senior managers ghosted past, afraid that he would pick up on his shocking lack of productivity.
‘Will, you’ve got a visitor downstairs.’ Will almost jumped as Collette, one of the PAs, appeared at his shoulder. ‘I’ve told them you’ll be right down.’
Will nodded, wondering whether he’d forgotten about an appointment. It wouldn’t be surprising, given his wandering state of mind. ‘Did they say who they were?’
‘Sorry, I didn’t catch it. You know what that intercom is like. I could only just make out that it was you they were here to see.’
‘It’s okay,’ Will said, flicking to the right day in his diary. There was no appointment there.
He made his way downstairs, hoping that whoever this person was wouldn’t spot his lack of preparedness. Turning the corner at the bottom of the stairs, he saw who it was.
His father, Edward, was waiting outside.
‘Dad,’ he said, opening the outer door. ‘What are you doing here?’
Edward looked terrible, as if he’d been up all night. His slightly-too-young for him messy haircut drooped without its usual gel, and his trendy jeans were crumpled. ‘I wanted to speak to you in person,’ he said, ‘without Miranda knowing. Now was the best opportunity.’
Will didn’t like the sound of this. ‘What’s up? You don’t look very good.’
Edward shook his head and whispered, ‘I might need to find a lot of money, very quickly.’
Will looked at his father, startled. ‘What? I thought things were okay again with your work.’ He knew most of his father’s clients had remained
loyal, despite the police investigation into his possession and use of a firearm against Peter Myers. The dropping of the charges, on a technicality, had stemmed the small but still worrying outflow of clients.
‘It’s nothing to do with that, William. I’m being blackmailed.’
Chapter 10
‘Thanks for inviting me in.’
‘That’s okay,’ Emma said, as David Sherborn entered the flat. She directed him into the living room.
He was holding a brown envelope, and it seemed eerily reminiscent of the day he had presented the photographic evidence that showed Scott Goulding was following her.
Lizzy rose from the sofa to greet him, holding out her hand. ‘Nice to see you again.’
He smiled. ‘I just wish for once we could meet in happier circumstances.’
‘Please, take a seat,’ Emma said, her nerves growing taut. She waited for David to speak, but he seemed reluctant. It just made her all the more nervous. ‘So, what’s this about?’ she asked, finally.
In the short time that it had taken David Sherborn to climb the stairs, Emma and Lizzy had had little chance to speculate on the nature of his unexpected visit. But they’d both agreed that it was probably only bad news that would bring him there.
‘Okay,’ he said, seeming nervous. ‘Listen, I might be wrong about this; I might be being over-cautious, but I thought that it was worth running this past you. At the weekend, I was doing some tidying out of my image files on the computer, and I got to looking at the photographs I took for you, when you asked me to try and identify the stalker. It was then that I noticed something.’ He took a breath. ‘As I said, it might be nothing.’ Emma and Lizzy watched in silence as he pulled out a set of images from the envelope. He handed one to each of them. ‘I think that there might have been someone else following you.’
‘What?’ Emma looked at the photograph of Dan and herself, outside Windsor Castle. ‘Who?’
‘In that photograph the person is on the far right. Wearing a dark-coloured peaked cap.’
Emma and Lizzy looked at each other.
Lizzy looked at her photo. ‘I can see them in this one!’
The One You Trust: Emma Holden Trilogy: Book Three Page 5
