The Stranger in Our Bed

by Samantha Lee Howe

  ‘Oh yes. Of course,’ I said.

  Tara left to go and fetch me coffee. I browsed Tom’s computer, doing a search on ‘E Daniels’, but the folder I’d seen on the network previously was no longer there. I searched wider, looking just for ‘EWAN’. I typed in ‘DAN’ to see what came up and was rewarded with a Word file called ‘Daniel Evans’. The name was similar, but it could have no bearing on Ewan Daniels. Even so, I had an odd premonition that it was connected.

  I stared at the screen.

  I didn’t want to open the folder up on Tom’s computer as it would show on Word’s history.

  I waited for Tara to bring me in the coffee. Once she’d gone, I copied the file over to a pen stick I’d brought just in case. Then I searched for any other files of the same name, but there weren’t any. I took the pen stick out of the computer and put it in my jacket pocket.

  I penned a note for Tom on the piece of paper and made it very gushing and a little provocative. Then I stood up and glanced through the glass panel of the door to see Tara engrossed in her computer. With Tara occupied, I tried the filing cabinet. The drawers were locked and the key wasn’t anywhere obvious. I wondered how I could ask Tara for it without raising questions and decided I couldn’t think of a reasonable excuse. I returned to Tom’s desk and was about to shut the computer back down when it occurred to me to check his emails.

  I opened up the business mail server and searched for Daniels, Daniel, Ewan and Evans. Nothing came up. I cleared the search history and then shut the computer down.

  Tara came in again then.

  ‘I decided to just write the note in the end,’ I said. ‘I shut the computer down. If I were you, I wouldn’t mention you shared the password. Although I’m his wife he might not like it. I’d hate to see you get into trouble.’

  Tara blushed, ‘I didn’t think he’d mind because it’s you!’

  ‘I know. And probably he wouldn’t. But just in case.’

  I placed the note on Tom’s desk, adding a flurry of kisses. Then I picked up my handbag and left.

  ‘Thank you so much for the coffee and all your help,’ I said to Tara.

  Standing waiting for the lift, my mind was racing over what might be on the computer file. There was a ting and the lift doors opened.

  I was face to face with Tom.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ he asked.

  ‘I came to surprise you,’ I said, relieved that I had thought my story through. ‘I thought we’d have lunch together, but Tara told me you were in a meeting.’

  ‘Well, darling, you’re in luck. My meeting cancelled when I was halfway there.’

  Tom called Stefan on his mobile and the driver returned.

  He took me to a seafood restaurant in Canary Wharf.

  ‘I’ve been meaning to bring you here,’ Tom said. ‘But I don’t suppose we will have much opportunity in the future. Although there are some lovely restaurants in Surrey and I’m sure we’ll work our way through them all.’

  Tom ordered Chablis Premier Cru and oysters. The bottle came perfectly chilled at 10.5 degrees, and the oysters were fragrant and fresh.

  ‘You haven’t read my note,’ I said. ‘These oysters might be quite apt.’

  ‘Yes?’ he leaned into the table, glass in one hand and smiled at me in a flirty way.

  ‘You’ll have to wait and see when you get back to the office,’ I said.

  Tom laughed. ‘I was planning on playing truant after this.’

  Tom was an incredibly handsome man and it was impossible not to respond with a similar expression when he smiled at me this way. I was torn between wanting to know what was in the file and wanting to just forget all about it. Perhaps I should have taken the pen stick and thrown it into the nearest bin. I knew I probably should have just walked away and stopped worrying – but I couldn’t. Despite the fact that this was constantly ruining my peace of mind, I had to know who Ewan Daniels really was and what Tom knew about him.

  The thought occurred to me that it probably didn’t matter why Tom had suspected me. In the end he had been right. I had betrayed him. Reflecting on my guilt made it easier for me to kiss and canoodle with him. I even made myself forget about the pen stick still in my pocket. Not thinking was the only solution sometimes. It made a lot of things more palatable. After all I didn’t want to jump in without knowing what was really going on. Once I knew what was in that file, I could talk to Tom about it. Part of me hoped, for the sake of peace, that Tom would have a perfectly reasonable explanation.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  We spent a lovely day and evening together because I was able to stall my mind and stop overanalysing everything. I had felt calm, but the next day I woke with the pen stick, and its contents, on my mind.

  I was agitated as I fed Melody while he took his time getting ready. He wasn’t in a hurry that day – which was typical – and so I had to hide my eagerness when he finally put his suit jacket on, kissed Melody and then me, and said goodbye.

  As soon as he left, I brought Melody into the office and switched on the computer.

  I had left the pen stick in my jacket pocket and so, while the computer warmed up, I collected it. Part of me expected it to be gone from my pocket, and I felt a rush of fear as I searched for it. But it was there: Tom didn’t have any reason to suspect I had been in his work computer after all.

  I plugged the pen stick in and opened the Daniel Evans document. I hesitated for a moment before double-clicking the curser with a trembling hand. It was a Word document, but embedded in it were several pictures of Ewan. They looked like professional headshots. The filename on each of them held the name Daniel Evans. I looked at the pictures for a long time, recognizing the expressions he wore. It was Ewan, though now I knew his real name.

  There was nothing else on the Word document and all I could conclude was that Tom had found out who Ewan really was, but had chosen not to tell me.

  I closed the file down and deleted the Word history, but stared at the screen for a long time. Then I opened up Tom’s personal email handler.

  There was a password on it. I tried a few obvious ones and then remembered MELDORA. I typed it in, and Tom’s email dashboard opened on the screen. I found myself mentally thanking Tara for her trusting nature. She had no idea that she had given me access to more than Tom’s work computer.

  Tom’s personal email was full of spam. I kept glancing out of the window, checking that I was alone, as I waded through a few emails then marked them back unread before searching under the name ‘Daniel’.

  I found one email in the deleted box. It was from Daniel Evans to Tom.

  My heart was in my mouth as I opened the file.

  Mr Carlisle,

  Your wife is sweet. She went to dinner with me in Reykjavik, but she was naturally cautious. I ordered champagne as you suggested. She did not flirt with me and it was all very proper.

  I think you have nothing to worry about.

  Take my advice and don’t pursue this further.

  Daniel Evans

  Nausea rose in my throat: Tom had pictures of my first meeting with Ewan because he’d set it up. I thought I was going to vomit with revulsion.

  ‘Oh God!’ I said.

  Melody started to cry as though she were sensing my distress. I took a deep breath, calming myself for Melody’s sake and I cooed and soothed her until she was happy again.

  I didn’t have to be a genius to recognize that the email was evidence that Tom had somehow engaged Daniel Evans to try to seduce me.

  I’d been set up and played all right – not just by Daniel Evans but by my husband as well.

  I didn’t know what to do. My instinct was to take Melody and leave Tom immediately, but I had to plan such a move carefully for my daughter’s sake. I didn’t have anywhere to go for one thing. And then I remembered Isadora’s flat. I could go there. I shook my head. No. If I left, that would be the obvious place for Tom to look for us. I’d have to think of somewhere else.

&nbs
p; I read the email over and over again.

  What did this prove? That Tom knew Daniel and that he persuaded him to try his luck with me. But what happened afterwards?

  No matter what happens, I love you Charlotte … I have loads to tell you.

  I forwarded the email to myself, then deleted the trail.

  I logged off Tom’s email and opened my own. Mine was permanently logged in but I changed my password and settings. It wasn’t likely that Tom would check on my emails, but just in case, I wanted to make sure he didn’t find this one.

  I copied the email address into a new email and stared at it. What could I say to the man who had been hired to set me up?

  I put ‘Why?’ in the subject line and then I quickly typed in the email body: ‘How much did he pay you to do what you did to me?’

  I signed it ‘Charlotte’ and pressed send before I could change my mind.

  I picked up Melody and hugged her to me. She protested sleepily and so I returned her to her cot and let her sleep. I was sure that was the best thing because I knew she could sense my continuing distress. Then I went into the kitchen to make a drink, but I kept worrying about the email. Would he reply? And if so, what would he say? Then it occurred to me that Daniel Evans might just forward the email onto Tom. I began to regret my impulsive actions. How would Tom react if he learnt I knew the truth?

  Well, there would be one hell of an argument wouldn’t there? But this time it would be me yelling at him.

  I was growing angrier as the day went on. I think I was bolstering myself from a possible onslaught of accusations. If Daniel Evans did contact him, he’d know I’d somehow discovered his secret and he’d probably be preparing to turn it all back on me. But I wasn’t going to let him.

  I was ready for the fight when Tom came home, but as he walked into the kitchen, I knew Daniel hadn’t contacted him because Tom was in a very good mood.

  ‘What a lovely note you left me!’ he said. ‘It made me smile all day. And darling I love and desire you too. You know that.’

  My shoulders were stiff from holding myself still as I forced myself to appear calm and normal – something I was becoming very good at. Fortunately, he was tired and not too demanding of my company that night. He also didn’t make any moves to have sex with me, which I was very glad of. I didn’t want any intimacy with him. Not until I got to the bottom of what he’d done or how he’d lied to me. I was determined to find a way. It just meant biding my time.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  The next morning there was an unread message in my inbox. It was from Daniel Evans’s email address and it asked who I was.

  ‘Is that Daniel Evans? AKA Ewan Daniels?’ I replied. ‘Because if it is, you know exactly who I am, and I demand you tell me why you did this to me?’

  A few moments later I received an email with a phone number. I stared at it, reading it over and over. It wasn’t Ewan’s number – I’d committed that one to memory and couldn’t forget it no matter how hard I tried. I’d even deleted it from my phone as an effort to erase it from my mind.

  I keyed in 141 to block my own number, just in case this wasn’t who I thought it was, then I dialled the number. My heart was in my mouth as it started to ring.

  ‘Hello?’ I said.

  ‘Hi, I’m Daniel’s sister, Becki. What does your email mean?’

  ‘Is he too scared to talk to me?’ I said.

  ‘He doesn’t know I’m talking to you.’

  ‘I don’t understand. You’re his sister? You haven’t told him I emailed?’

  ‘Ewan Daniels was a professional name Daniel used sometimes. Look, I’m reaching out to you because … my brother is missing.’

  I paused before asking, ‘How long has he been missing?’

  ‘Eighteen months,’ she said.

  ‘When did you last see him?’ I said.

  It turned out Daniel had been with Becki the night before we were supposed to start our lives together.

  ‘When did you last see him?’ she asked me.

  ‘I spoke to him that night. Then nothing since.’

  ‘I think I know who you are,’ she said. ‘Daniel told me about you.’

  ‘Will you meet me?’ I asked. ‘I don’t want to talk on the phone. I’ve taken a risk already by calling you.’

  Becki went quiet for a moment, then she said, ‘All right.’

  I arranged to meet her the next day because she wasn’t working. I hadn’t told her anything about my relationship with her brother, but I hadn’t denied her suspicions that I was someone Daniel had spoken to her about.

  The rest of that day I was nervous and uneasy. So many questions ran through my head. Not least the one major concern I still had – what if Tom was still having me monitored? He might already know I’d spoken to Daniel’s sister. I worried that I may still be being watched or followed.

  The landline rang and I jumped. I was in the kitchen and so I picked up the wireless phone that stood in the corner of one of my worktops nearest the range cooker.

  ‘Mrs Carlisle? It’s Kitchen Supremacy here. We have had a delay on your units. I’m afraid the first batch that arrived was damaged so had to be returned.’

  ‘Oh. Right. That’s okay,’ I said not really listening.

  ‘Obviously, the work won’t be finished in time for your nanny to move into her suite.’

  ‘When will it be done?’ I asked.

  There was a pen and Post-it pad near the phone. Instead of writing with the biro I started to tap it on the worksurface. When would this call end?

  ‘It’ll be a week before we’ll get the replacements. Fitting time should take no more than two days. We’ll have all of the electrics rewired in advance. The tiles of course can’t be done until the kitchen is in. That’ll take another day. Look to be in and complete by the end of the month.’

  ‘So ten to fourteen days? I’ll talk to my nanny and my husband. Just do what you can to speed it up.’

  I hung up and sent Tom a text about the units and the delay. ‘What should we do?’ he replied. ‘Tina has to be out of her place by the end of the week, doesn’t she?’

  ‘I’ll move her into your mother’s flat until it’s finished,’ I said.

  I decided that the delay played into my hands. It was an unexpected reprieve. I didn’t want to find myself in the Manor alone and away from everyone This gave me time also to find out what had happened to Daniel Evans. I had to know the answer to this question now that I knew he had disappeared. When I had all of this information I could decide what to do about my relationship with Tom.

  I rang Tina to explain the delay. Then I arranged for her to watch Melody while I went out to meet Becki.

  ‘I’ll give you a set of keys for the other flat, and we’ll rearrange your removals to go there initially and then onto Surrey when everything is ready.’

  ‘That’s fine. These things never go to plan,’ she said, ever practical and matter of fact. ‘Where are you off to tomorrow then?’

  ‘Oh, just seeing a girlfriend for lunch as this may be the last time.’

  As always Tina approved of me having some free time.

  ‘Well you enjoy yourself and don’t rush back,’ she said.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  I experienced a range of emotions as I walked into the coffee shop. The last time I was there, I’d been waiting for Ewan. Being there again brought me a great deal of anxiety that made me want to leave and never return. Even so, I forced myself forward and into the busy café.

  There was a young woman sitting at the table I’d suggested to Becki, by the window. I didn’t tell her that it had been the one I always shared with her brother.

  ‘Becki?’ I said but I knew already it was her. ‘I’m Charlotte.’

  We shook hands and I sat down and studied her face. It was difficult to not see Daniel in her. Becki was a brunette, but otherwise they were very alike.

  I had printed off one of the pictures of Daniel Evans and I placed it on the table
in front of her.

  ‘Is this your brother?’

  ‘Yes,’ Becki said.

  ‘Tell me about him,’ I said.

  She studied me for a moment, and I suspected all that she wanted to do was insist on knowing who I was and how I’d known Daniel. Then she blinked, as though she’d made some internal decision to play nice.

  ‘He is an actor and model,’ she said. ‘That’s one of his professional shots … How do you know him?’

  ‘Daniel came into my life almost two years ago. He told me his name was Ewan Daniels.’

  Becki frowned. ‘He was using that name. For a job he said.’

  ‘A job?’

  ‘An acting role. He told me it was going to be his most challenging role ever.’

  ‘Who hired him?’

  ‘I’ve no idea.’

  I sat back, deflated. Somehow her words confirmed that Daniel was paid to seduce me. As if I didn’t already know that anyway. It was awful. The feeling of betrayal I’d felt when he had abandoned me resurged and I experienced a crushing depression.

  ‘Tell me more,’ I said.

  ‘I don’t know much, but I’ve deduced quite a few things during my search for him.’

  ‘Such as?’

  ‘That week, Daniel rang me early on Saturday morning to ask a favour. He said the keys to the new flat were available, but he wouldn’t be home until the Sunday evening because the shoot he was on had run over. He asked me to let his removals guys in on Sunday morning.

  ‘I said I couldn’t wait to see his new place and he told me then this wasn’t a permanent move. “I have the lease for six months and then I’ll be buying somewhere again.”

  ‘I asked him how he could afford it. He said he’d been busy the last five months and that the insurance company had finally paid out on his wife’s death.’

  ‘So it was true? He was widowed,’ I said.

  Becki nodded. ‘Daniel wasn’t very security conscious and he had all of his passwords saved on his laptop. The payout from the insurance was a million pounds. I saw it in his bank account.’