The Stranger in Our Bed

by Samantha Lee Howe

  ‘It’s disgusting,’ I said.

  ‘That man was paid to be with you, Charlotte. It was all a lie. He never loved you.’

  I didn’t want to reveal that I knew his real name, and now Daniel’s sister.

  ‘I don’t believe you. I think you are behind this whole thing. Why else would you have this with you?’

  ‘After your affair came out and I took you back in, Mother kept what the detectives had found. Perhaps it was her idea of a sick joke. She left this for me to find after she died. It was in an envelope in her office at the London flat. I found it the week after the funeral when I went there alone.’

  I hadn’t been to the flat, afterwards. Tom had sorted it all out himself. Everything he said was plausible, but my heart didn’t stop racing.

  ‘I … opened it and saw … all of this. I sat and cried Charlotte. I saw you. With that man. In those sheets. I’ve tried to put it behind me. You know I have. I’ve tried to forgive you. And then, there were the same sheets in Mother’s room. And your face … you were remembering being with him and I knew it! All those horrible memories came back and I lost it.

  ‘You don’t know this, but Isadora tried to split us up before the wedding too. She came to my room … she called you a gold digger. I threw her out and told her I loved you. She went cold, Charlotte. She said one day I’d regret not listening to her. But we got married and she started to accept you. I thought. Really she was lulling me into a false sense of security. Waiting to deliver a hurtful blow. That.’

  He pointed at the pictures.

  Melody made a gurgling sound in her pram. I looked at her and my mouth felt dry. If Tom was to be believed, Isadora was a cold and spiteful woman as well as an abuser. She’d hid this side from me very well. She had always seemed such a good mother, caring only for what Tom needed. I’d found her overbearing and controlling but not psychotic.

  ‘If this is true, why did you keep these?’ I murmured.

  ‘I wanted to remind myself what you were capable of. That’s why I pulled those detectives back in and had them check on you. I suppose the jealousy sent me insane. I was going to shred them all last night, but the evening got away with me, and with Melody having a bad night I thought it could wait.’

  I stared at him and then my strength left me and I sank down onto the chair opposite him.

  ‘Let me take them, Char,’ he said. ‘Let me destroy it all and let’s never look back.’

  I had heard these fresh start speeches once too often.

  ‘No. I have questions. And you’re going to answer them, or I’m taking Melody now and I’m leaving.’

  I don’t think I had ever spoken to him so firmly before. At that point though I was strong. I had the evidence I needed against him and my doubts and fears were all justified. He had been involved with this. I knew it.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Tom sank back into the sofa like a drowning man. He looked haggard and distraught. I took in his every action, his every expression. Even the best actor couldn’t pull a performance off like that. I had him where I wanted him. I was shocked at how good it was to have the upper hand for once. It was infuriating to always be the weak one who was in the wrong no matter what. But the tide had turned and now I’d be calling the shots.

  ‘If Ewan was all a set-up, I want to know how Isadora arranged it.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘He more than likely told them every time you made plans.’

  ‘You’re telling me that all that time you knew nothing?’

  ‘I swear,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t have been normal with you. You know how upset I was when you told me you were leaving.’

  ‘What’s Ewan’s real name?’

  ‘Daniel Evans,’ he admitted. ‘I learnt that when I had him investigated afterwards.’

  ‘Where is he now?’

  Tom’s face dropped. ‘What does it matter?’

  ‘I want to know.’

  ‘I think Mother paid him money to … disappear,’ he said. ‘A lot of money because I’ve seen it gone from what should have been there in her estate.’

  ‘And you’re assuming it went to him.’

  Tom wiped his hand over his mouth and looked at me with sad eyes. ‘She told me she had paid him. That night in the hospital. She admitted it all. That was what the row was about really, and I know you heard some of it. I saw it in your face.’

  I blinked. I didn’t deny or admit that I had heard anything. I was cold to Tom. It was the only emotion I was capable of right then.

  ‘If she paid him off, she had to know where he’d gone. The payment must be traceable.’

  ‘Swiss account,’ Tom said. ‘I’ve already had my people on it. We can’t find out who owns it. You don’t understand, Char. I wanted to find that bastard too! I can’t bear what he did to you. How he broke your heart like that. How he made you break mine. All I could think about afterwards was how I wanted to beat the shit out of him.’

  My head started spinning and I couldn’t take anymore. Melody began to cry and so I picked her up. She needed changing again. I left Tom and took her into the nursery.

  When I returned Tom wasn’t in the living room. Then I heard the shredder in the office, and I knew it was too late. All the evidence was gone before I reached him. How could I be so stupid to leave him alone in the room with it?

  ‘There,’ he said. ‘It’s over.’

  An overwhelming sense of loss consumed me. I didn’t know what it was. Maybe it was because those pictures were all I’d had of Daniel and now they too had ‘vanished’. Or perhaps it was because the fleeting power I’d had was now gone.

  I burst into tears and locked myself and Melody in the nursery. I couldn’t explain how I felt. I had seen freedom for a few moments and now it was pulled away from me again.

  ‘Come out, Char,’ Tom said. ‘This is silly. Today you’re shocked by finding this, but we’ve been through worse. We’ll be okay. Everything I’ve done has been because—’

  The doorbell rang.

  I pressed my ear against the door and then I heard Tina’s voice.

  ‘Are we all set for the move?’

  ‘The kitchen isn’t done yet. But nearly,’ Tom said. I couldn’t believe how normal and unruffled he sounded.

  ‘Where’s Charlotte?’ Tina asked.

  ‘She’s not feeling that well; Melody had one of her screaming sessions last night.’

  I heard Tina approach the nursery.

  ‘Charlotte? Let me take over. You go back to bed and get some sleep.’

  I opened the door because I didn’t want to make a scene and then I fell into Tina’s arms and cried.

  ‘There, there. It’s not easy being a new mother. Come on, this is nothing that some sleep won’t cure.’

  I let Tina bundle me back to our bedroom and she put me to bed as though I were her charge not Melody.

  She closed the bedroom curtains and then left me with the instruction to sleep.

  I heard her reassuring Tom and a short time later he left and went to work.

  I was drained and shaken, and so I closed my eyes and gave in to the much-needed sleep.

  When I woke I was groggy and confused, but I made my way into the living room where Tina was playing with Melody.

  ‘Sit down, you poor thing,’ she said. ‘I’ll get you a drink of tea.’

  Tina got me a drink and a sandwich, and she fussed over me until she saw me eating.

  ‘Right, tomorrow you’re getting time out,’ she said. ‘Go to the gym, get your hair done, whatever you need. Take all day. Melody will be fine.’

  I toyed with the idea of telling her everything, but I didn’t have the strength. I couldn’t bring myself to share it. The shame I felt as I recalled the contents of the file was enough to make my cheeks burn. I hid it from Tina as best as I could.

  I had never been more alone.

  ***

  Tina left at five after bathing Melody. Then my mobile rang, and it was Tom.

&nb
sp; ‘I spoke to my therapist and told her what happened. I think it best I don’t come home tonight. She said you might be scared and, although I would never hurt you, Charlotte, I don’t want you to be afraid of me.’

  ‘Fine,’ I said.

  ‘I don’t want to lose you—’

  I hung up before he could say anymore. I sighed with relief. I was grateful that his therapist told him to stay away though. The thought that he had been looking at those photographs made me want to vomit. I didn’t think I could ever get past his excuses.

  I went to the front door and double bolted it. Tom couldn’t get back in now, even if he changed his mind.

  I picked up my phone and dialled Becki. It rang out for a while and just as I was about to hang up she answered.

  ‘Charlotte?’

  ‘Hi. It’s been a pretty fraught day. I found a folder in Tom’s case. Full of photographs of Daniel and me. Even … in bed.’

  ‘Oh God!’

  I told her about Tom destroying them.

  ‘So my evidence is gone,’ I said.

  ‘Are you safe?’ she asked.

  ‘For tonight. I’ve locked him out.’

  ‘Maybe you should come over here.’

  ‘I’m okay,’ I said. ‘I think I ought to engage a solicitor though and start proceedings for a divorce. I’m sure I have enough now to show unreasonable behaviour.’

  ‘Sounds wise,’ Becki said. ‘My friend is a divorce lawyer. I’ll ring him for you.’

  ‘I’d appreciate that. Thank you. Did you learn anything about the flat Daniel used to take me to?’

  ‘Interesting you mention that. I went there today and from a distance I saw the woman you talked about and I know who she is. She told you no one else had lived in her place, right?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘Well, she was in the local press recently. She’s going off to Africa to help teach underprivileged children. The article says she’s been before. Two years ago: she went away for six months. The dates fall in completely with the time that you and Daniel were using the place. It’s possible her boyfriend sublet to Daniel during the day for your meetings, but she didn’t know about it.’

  ‘How do we find out?’ I asked.

  ‘Bull in a china shop perhaps?’

  ‘Huh?’ I said.

  ‘We can just confront the boyfriend and ask him outright. I got some pictures of him today with her on my phone.’

  ‘Can you send me those?’

  ‘Sure.’

  I hung up and went into the kitchen. I put a jug of milk in the microwave. I was too upset to eat but I made a hot chocolate to help settle me for the night.

  My phone beeped as I stirred the chocolate into the milk.

  The photos had arrived from Becki. The first picture was of the girl I’d seen eighteen months ago. The second was a photograph of the article Becki had told me about. The third was the girl with a man. The picture was blurred but he looked familiar. A fourth picture came into view. A long shot of the guy. He was wearing jeans and brogues.

  I expelled a breath. This man, I’d now seen him three times. Once in The Savoy. It was the same man who’d been outside the Italian restaurant the night Tom had taken me to dinner, and I’d also seen him leaving Tom’s building earlier that same day. It didn’t take a genius to work out why he was connected to Tom.

  I rang Becki again.

  ‘You’re sure this is her boyfriend?’ I said.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘It’s not the same man she showed me on her phone when I spoke to her: I think this guy works for the detective agency.’

  ‘So. He used her flat with Daniel for your trysts.’

  ‘Yes. And … Daniel probably knew we were being watched and photographed.’

  ‘I can’t believe he’d do that!’ Becki said.

  I sighed. ‘I don’t want to believe it. But what else can it mean?’

  Becki had to agree that if the woman was telling the truth and she hadn’t known someone was using her flat, then the boyfriend was behind it. Even so, it was suspicious that she had shown another man’s photo to me, and not this one. Either way, it still looked as though Daniel had willingly set me up.

  ‘It doesn’t mean that he didn’t fall in love with you and regret it though,’ Becki said.

  I didn’t answer.

  ‘Tell me more about Tom’s pictures.’

  ‘It was everything we did. Our first meeting. The restaurant in Reykjavik. The time we bumped into each other again. Then Hammersmith … There’s pictures of me going in and out of the apartment block and of us … together.’

  ‘What about Milan?’ Becki asked.

  ‘Milan? No. There weren’t any.’

  ‘Then, even if Dan had been in on this to begin with, he didn’t tell them you were going away with him. Maybe he didn’t tell them about most of your meetings. Charlotte, he did love you. He told me, remember?’

  I thought back to the pictures. It was difficult to remember them all. But I was certain I was right: there had been none in Milan. Maybe it had been a scam at the beginning and Daniel had gone along with it. Maybe he had fallen for me. I wasn’t certain we’d ever find out. Daniel was missing, and I was convinced we’d never find him.

  ‘I want to believe that,’ I said.

  I went to bed and lay there unsleeping. It was a relief that Tom wasn’t home. Even so, every little noise in the apartment jerked me from my shallow sleep with the fear he had returned and somehow got inside.

  In the middle of the night I remembered something. A phone call Tom had answered. I hadn’t heard who had called but I know it was someone enquiring about my trip to Milan. Tom wouldn’t tell me what the call was about, but he had been shocked and angry. It was one of those times when I had sensed violence bubbling inside him. Had he been angry because Daniel had taken me away and hadn’t passed the information on, not because he suspected me for the first time of having an affair?

  I turned over in bed and squeezed my eyes shut, but sleep wouldn’t come. I just kept going over that night again and again.

  At six in the morning, I repacked my suitcase with Melody’s crucial things. Tom had unpacked it, presuming I supposed that his story about Isadora being behind everything would sway me back to his side. It hadn’t. There were too many unanswered questions. I didn’t believe or trust him. I wanted out. No matter what, I was leaving.

  I rang Tina on the way to Isadora’s flat and told her I was bringing Melody.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.

  ‘Tom and I. Things aren’t going well with us and I need to get away for a while. If I bring Melody to you and he calls, please don’t tell him she’s with you.’

  ‘Of course I won’t.’

  ‘So the tears weren’t just tiredness yesterday?’ she said when she let me in the apartment.

  ‘It’s a long story. I don’t want to involve you in it. Listen this doesn’t change anything regarding your employment. Isadora left me a lot of money and this flat, so I can stand on my own two feet without Tom. I’m going to try and find us a big enough place to all stay in, probably outside of London, but it will take time.’

  ‘Take all the time you need.’

  ‘I’m sorry. This changes the move to Surrey.’

  ‘Don’t worry. I’m on your side.’

  I reassured her that her salary would continue and because I owned the flat, she could remain. Even so, I couldn’t stay myself, because I thought it might bring Tina more trouble and, although Becki had offered, I wasn’t sure I could impose on her either.

  ‘I’ll pick Melody up at five,’ I said.

  ‘Where are you going to go?’ she asked.

  ‘A hotel probably. It’ll be safer I think. More public.’

  ‘Charlotte? Are you afraid of Tom?’

  ‘I …’

  ‘That bruise on your cheek?’

  My eyes watered. ‘It was just the once.’

  ‘Oh my god. That bastard! You’re doing the r
ight thing. Any guy that hits you, whatever the excuse, isn’t worth it.’

  Tina hugged me and promised to keep Melody safe then I left.

  ‘Let me know if he contacts you. If he calls me, I’ll say Melody is with you so it should be all okay.’

  I sent Tom a text telling him I’d taken Melody and left. I said we were staying with a friend and I’d be in touch. I finished the message with:

  Please leave me alone. I have to think long and hard about what you’ve done.

  A response came back almost immediately:

  I love you Char. I don’t want to lose you. Please let me explain.

  He tried to call me, but I put the phone on silent and stowed it in my handbag.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  I took the tube to Hammersmith to meet Becki and her friend the divorce lawyer. The man was already at her apartment when I arrived.

  ‘Colin Craig.’ He held out his hand.

  ‘It’s kind of you to meet me,’ I said. ‘Especially out of your office.’

  ‘We’ll do the formalities another time. Becki said this was urgent,’ Colin said.

  I sat down in Becki’s living room with Colin and I gave a huge sigh.

  ‘I just don’t know what to do,’ I said.

  ‘Well, let’s first deal with facts. Your marriage has broken down. It’s not really relevant at the moment why. But the law is that there is a fifty-fifty split of all assets and debts. Becki tells me you have a daughter?’

  ‘Melody. She’s just nine weeks old.’

  ‘He may go after custody. Or joint custody. It’s easier if you both agree on this beforehand, so it might be good if you can keep some line of communication going. The best divorces happen for those who try to be reasonable.’

  ‘I don’t know if I can. I’m not sure Tom will agree to anything. He wants me to stay. I’ve told him I need time to think.’

  ‘Is divorce what you want? Or are you exploring options?’ Colin asked.

  ‘I can’t go on the way things are.’

  Colin gave me all of the facts based on the information. I wasn’t really interested in Tom’s money, but he pointed out that it was important for me to get everything I could straight, because even if I agreed to settle for less than I was entitled to all divorces had to be made in ‘full and final settlement’, which meant I couldn’t ask for more from Tom afterwards. My head was reeling by the time he left.