The Stranger in Our Bed

by Samantha Lee Howe

  The idea that he wanted to see what you did with your day presented itself when one of his executives made a comment about wives, and their easy life. Days of lunching, beauty appointments and gym visits. Tom listened to the chat and decided to have you followed – just to gain insight into what he believed you were really like.

  The detective agency soon told him that you were a very good wife. There was nothing out of the ordinary.

  ‘I thought Charlotte would be more interesting than that,’ he said to me. ‘I wonder what she would do if presented with an interesting new friend.’

  Remember Harrods, Charlotte?

  At Harrods, Tom mentioned he liked them. I knew those sheets had a different connotation to Tom and reminded him of an unhappy time in his teenage life. Later you bought them. He then got angry with you. This upset you but like the good girl you are, you took them back to please him. Tom knew you’d do that.

  He was there. Waiting, watching.

  The thing he didn’t plan on was your accidental meeting again with Daniel. Daniel hadn’t been paid to be there, you see. He believed you were no longer being followed. When he invited you to coffee, it was because he wanted to. It all played perfectly into the little scenario that Tom wanted to create.

  I don’t know this for sure but I’ve pieced together the events of that afternoon and I now believe it was Tom who pushed you when you fell into the bus lane.

  There. I’ve said it. It pains me but God help me I think this to be true.

  I paused taking this in. I thought about everything that Isadora’s letter told me but it was hard to read and for a time I couldn’t take anymore. I remembered the accident, of course, even that feeling of a hand in the small of my back. Oh God! Could it be true?

  I heard laughter outside the office. I placed the letter in the top drawer of my desk and then I went out into the corridor and saw my lovely baby girl racing along in her baby walker, legs strong enough already to support her, while Tina chased after her. It reminded me that the terror had ended. It grounded me. I could do this because I needed to know it all, no matter how painful it was.

  I went back into the office and sat once more at the desk. I took a breath and then I removed the letter again. I was ready.

  Charlotte, dear, you must be thinking now about how I failed you. In my defence I can only say that I didn’t always know what Tom was doing. It was much later that pieces of this puzzle came together. You see, when I questioned him, Tom always had a reasonable answer. And he was so good at switching the blame elsewhere.

  When you miscarried with the first baby, I came to the flat to let in the mattress company while Tom was at the hospital with you. The bed was ruined, and I pulled strings to get the mattress removed and replaced as quickly as possible. While I was there, I found packaging stuffed under the bed. There were two boxes, both empty, in a paper pharmacy bag.

  I thought you’d done this yourself at first because Tom had put the idea in my mind that you might have deliberately walked in front of the bus. That you didn’t want to have a baby because you’d been so resistant to motherhood.

  You see, I googled what the drug was and discovered it was the morning after pill. Only supposed to be effective three to five days after unprotected sex, but I thought you’d taken two and brought about the miscarriage yourself.

  Tom was so distraught about the miscarriage that it never occurred to me the bag was hidden under his side of the bed.

  I took it and kept it though. I did it to stop Tom learning what I thought you’d done. But I found the bag recently when I was going through my things – trying to make my departure easier for my son – and I looked inside and discovered that there was also a till receipt. The last four digits on the paper were from Tom’s card number, not yours. I knew then that he had somehow fed them to you.

  I hate to believe this but the pain you suffered may have pleased Tom. He said something to me later, about you being ‘cleansed’ by suffering.

  I noticed Tom’s change after the ball. He became very happy and relaxed all of a sudden. He was behaving like everything was going wonderfully well with you both.

  I don’t need to rehash anything else here, except for Daniel Evans. You see, I didn’t know you had been seeing him. Or that you had begun an affair, but I later learnt that Tom did. You, and Daniel, had fallen completely into his trap. Without knowing it, you were giving Tom everything he wanted.

  I got involved when I learnt what Tom was doing. I had a tremendous feeling of guilt. Tom was a voyeur and I was sure this had something to do with what he’d witnessed growing up because of me.

  Looking back, I should have seen the signs, but I didn’t, and for that I’m sorry.

  You are probably wondering why I’m sending you this letter, after my death. If you and Tom are happy it is not my aim to spoil that.

  But other things have happened that lead me to say – I’m worried, Charlotte – and as my end approaches, I know there is nothing I can do to help him anymore.

  Isadora

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  I turned the paper over, hoping for some continuation, wanting more, but knowing there wasn’t any. I was left feeling frustrated by Isadora’s letter. While confirming that Tom had set me up with Daniel, it was also hinting at something else. And that was the only door I needed to close. I still had no idea what had happened to him. The abrupt ending of the letter made me nervous. There was something she wasn’t telling me.

  I stuffed the letter away into the top drawer and paced the office. It was heartbreaking that I couldn’t finish this chapter in my life. I was sure that Isadora knew for certain what had happened and where Daniel’s body was. But as always, even in death and compelled to send me – this – she still covered up for Tom.

  I left the office and returned to the kitchen where I filled the kettle and switched it on. I always made tea when I had to think. It was as though the kettle was a timer and the solution would present itself as the hot steam poured from it at boiling point.

  My mobile phone rang in my pocket.

  I answered the call even though the number was not one I recognized.

  ‘Charlotte?’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘It’s Audrey Tanner here.’

  ‘Mrs Tanner. I’ve been waiting a long time for your explanation,’ I said.

  ‘You read Isadora’s letter?’ she said.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Do you have a paper and a pen?’

  ‘I have questions,’ I said.

  ‘I have a lot to tell you. But I need you to write down this address first.’

  I headed back to the office and wrote down the address she gave me. It was not far from the Manor.

  ‘Meet me there in an hour,’ she said.

  The sat nav in the Range Rover took me to a large country estate. The house, once owned by wealthy landowners, had been turned into a private hospital. I parked in the car park at the front and then went into the building through the main entrance.

  I could tell as I entered the building that this had once been a home as grand as the Manor. Now it pandered to the needs of the wealthy.

  There were signs up around the clinic offering plastic surgery deals of all kinds. I was sure that this was the type of place that some of the other executives’ wives would attend to hold onto their looks.

  The reception was empty though, and Mrs Tanner was nowhere to be seen. I walked to the desk and without looking up the receptionist asked my name.

  ‘Charlotte Carlisle,’ I said.

  ‘Ah yes. You’re here to see a patient,’ she replied.

  I didn’t ask any questions but followed as she led me into a small, glass-panelled room that overlooked a therapy pool and exercise area, the likes of which any exclusive gym would be proud to own. This room could be used as an observation area for doctors, visitors and patients. It was a small area with a few tables and chairs, and a vending machine for hot drinks in the corner.

  It was in th
ere that I realized this hospital offered more than cosmetic services. Several patients beyond the class were participating in recovery therapy for other surgeries. I saw one man helped from a wheelchair and placed on his feet between two wooden frames, and there was a woman lifted into the pool, with a nurse in the water to assistance her with her therapy.

  ‘Wait here,’ said the receptionist.

  I looked around the space then chose a table overlooking the pool. There was no one else in the small room. The door behind me opened. I looked over my shoulder. Mrs Tanner walked in, she closed and locked the door and came towards me with the confidence of someone who knew the place well.

  ‘Hello, Charlotte,’ she said.

  ‘What the hell is going on?’ I asked.

  ‘I brought you here, because this is the best place to tell you what you need to know,’ she said. ‘At the end, Isadora told me a lot of things.’

  ‘She gave you the letter for me?’

  She nodded.

  ‘Why did you use Colin Craig and not the family lawyer to deliver it?’

  ‘I wanted someone who didn’t know Isadora and therefore had no vested interest in anything she might have said. I needed anonymity. Also after her funeral, knowing what I knew, I thought I’d better wait to give it to you.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Isadora didn’t seal the envelope. I read the contents and I knew she was still trying to protect Tom. You see I think she knew what he was all along, but she was in denial.’

  ‘But how did you choose Colin Craig? You see I’d met him before,’ I said.

  ‘I found his card at the manor. It was torn in half, cast into the bin in the office. I noticed he was a divorce lawyer and realised you must have spoken to him. I wanted someone you trusted to bring you the letter.’

  I processed this information. I hadn’t thought about the business card Craig had given me all those months ago. Tom must have found it and destroyed it. It was sheer luck that Audrey Tanner had found it.

  ‘You know what happened with Daniel, don’t you?’

  ‘Isadora told me the story. I doubt she even knew she was doing it. At the end she was so full of drugs and her guilt came to the surface. I suppose I was her confessional.’

  ‘Tom told me she was a terrible mother.’

  Mrs Tanner laughed, ‘Tom, my dear, was a sociopath. I doubt he ever said a true word to you. He couldn’t help himself, even as a child. He lied all the time.’

  ‘But why? What happened to make him like that?’

  ‘Nothing traumatic.’

  ‘He saw Isadora with her lover,’ I pointed out, knowing she’d read the letter.

  ‘He was always … watching her. Following her around. Sometimes he hid and jumped out to surprise her. She thought it was funny – and I suspect he’d hidden in the wardrobe that day for this very reason. He was possessive of her. I think his possessiveness was something he was born with but she indulged him, encouraged it almost.’

  ‘You’d better tell me what happened. I’m rapidly losing my patience,’ I said.

  ‘I like this change in you. You’re stronger now. You’ve become everything you should have been,’ she paused before saying, ‘I heard the board tried to replace you as CEO and failed.’

  ‘Melody’s future had to be protected. They wanted to sell off the company because of the scandal. Good job I got that first in corporate law.’

  ‘I’m so proud of you. And I suppose that’s why I knew I could trust you with this final secret. I can trust you, can’t I, Charlotte?’

  I wanted answers and so I nodded. Then she told me Isadora’s final secret.

  ‘I found out about your affair for the first time when Tom rang Isadora to tell her you were leaving him. She later told me he admitted that he had known all along. Tom loved knowing another man was sleeping with you, Charlotte, but he didn’t want to lose you, that was never his plan. He thought the affair would fizzle out and he’d have the photos and video footage to enjoy when he wanted. He didn’t disclose this to Isadora, but she’d suspected that this was his fetish. The game he played with you, where he nagged about having a baby, was just that. He wasn’t really bothered about fatherhood. He was having too much fun watching his wife’s secret life. His own personal reality TV.

  ‘Isadora rang Daniel when she learnt what had happened and she invited him to the Manor. I was around but I was discrete and they sat and talked in the kitchen. He told her he loved you and wanted to take care of you. Apparently, following his wife’s terminal illness the insurance company had paid out. He had money, not what you were used to with Tom, but he believed he could look after you: Daniel was the real deal and he loved you. I had never really thought Tom was worthy of you and after what he’d done, setting you up like that, I think Isadora found it hard to ignore that Tom had problems too.

  ‘They were still talking and drinking in the kitchen when Tom arrived. Before that though, Isadora had tried to buy Daniel off. He wasn’t interested.

  ‘When Tom saw Daniel there, he flipped. He picked up a breakfast bar stool and smashed Daniel over the head with it before he could react. Daniel fell to the floor. His skull was cracked open and there was blood all over the tiles.’

  ‘Oh my god,’ I said.

  ‘Isadora screamed at Tom. “You’ve killed him!”

  ‘Tom went white. His game had gone too far and he knew it. “You’ve got to help me, Mother,” he said. “This is all your fault. You made me what I am. I love Charlotte, I can’t lose her.”

  ‘I was afraid to be seen and stayed hidden. The rage returned to Tom’s expression and I knew Isadora was in danger if she didn’t help him. But by helping him she was implicating herself in a murder. So, she did what she always did when Tom scared her, she took charge. Forcing him to revert to a child. She told him she knew people that could make Daniel Evans’s body disappear, that she’d take care of everything. The rage went out of him. He was like a child, crying one minute, blaming her the next..

  ‘She sent him away. Warned him to stay away from you that night because I think she was afraid he’d hurt you too. She told him she would be his alibi if anything led back to them. He listened to her eventually and, after calming down, he went off to find a hotel for the night.

  ‘After Tom left, I revealed my presence to Isadora. I checked on Daniel and then I discovered that he was still alive—’

  ‘He was alive?’ I said.

  Mrs Tanner paused.

  ‘Alive, yes. But badly hurt. I told her she had to call an ambulance. But she couldn’t do that; there would be too many questions and the police would definitely be called.

  ‘She felt guilty but very scared. I’ve always been loyal to Isadora. I should have called the police and an ambulance myself, but I couldn’t do that to her. It would have destroyed her to see Tom arrested. So, I knew what I had to do. I phoned the manager of the clinic. He is a friend of mine, and with Isadora’s agreement, he arranged to send an unmarked ambulance. They took Daniel away. Each of the medics involved in bringing him in was paid a large sum of money for their discretion. Isadora had to protect Tom, Charlotte. But I couldn’t keep a murder secret, no matter what, and so she agreed to pay for any treatment he’d need. I suppose she thought this cleansed Tom for his actions.’

  ‘Daniel … is he …?’

  ‘Isadora had the best brain surgeon shipped in and they operated. Daniel wouldn’t wake though, Charlotte. He was in a coma.’

  I felt sick, scared. I wanted her to continue but was afraid to listen.

  ‘Then Tom rang Isadora and told her he’d brought you home. That you were broken and believed that Daniel had abandoned you. Tom loved that he was now the knight in shining armour who had come to rescue you. He knew he could bring you back and keep you. That was what he wanted above all else. He asked Isadora again for her help. They had a row. She told him it was all his fault and she didn’t want to lie to you about it. But his tone changed and he said, “If you don’t help, t
hen you’re in my way, Mother. I can’t have anyone in my way.”

  ‘It was the first time he’d voiced the threat that I knew was there. I saw then that Isadora was genuinely afraid of Tom. She had to play along or she’d be in danger too. We all did. I’d seen what Tom was capable of and the last thing I needed was him finding out about how we’d helped Daniel Evans. Eventually, to keep the peace, Isadora agreed to meet up with you at the restaurant and lie about her “many” affairs. There’d been only Peter, you see.

  ‘Because you were now back in Tom’s clutches, I felt responsible for you. But I didn’t know how I was going to help you. I thought of telling you what I knew – but that would only bring trouble to Isadora and those medical professionals we’d enlisted and paid off. It would impact everyone and so I was trapped with my knowledge. Then, when you came to the Manor with Tom, you both seemed to be getting along and happy. I thought maybe Tom did deserve a second chance after all. You didn’t seem in any danger and so I thought I’d better let sleeping dogs lie.

  ‘Soon after that, Isadora learnt she had cancer. The life had gone out of her after Tom had attacked Daniel. To ensure my silence she changed her will leaving me a large sum on her death. But I told her I’d still talk unless she left you the bulk of her estate. I wanted to make sure that, when the time came, you too had the money to be free of Tom.’

  ‘I overheard you talking to Old Freddie,’ I said. ‘I knew neither of you liked him, just not the reason.’

  ‘I had wanted to tell you – but I was afraid. I knew the cover-up could get me in serious trouble and others too as I’ve said. But I was … scared of Tom too. He was a powerful man. He had the means to pay someone to seduce his wife, so why not to make someone disappear? At the time, I feared if I revealed what I knew, then I’d be in serious danger and so would Isadora.’

  She fell silent again and glanced through the glass to the therapy room beyond.

  ‘When you fell pregnant, Tom was indisputably happy. He swore he’d be a good husband and father. He was so genuine that, despite all she knew about him, Isadora hoped this was the turnaround he needed. No Mother wants to believe her son is irredeemable, and she was no different. But you were both settled then and happy, so I kept the end of my bargain until Isadora was gone.’