The Affair

by Amanda Brooke

  ‘It was nice having your support,’ Vikki said.

  Taking her hand, Sarah said, ‘You still have it, Vikki. I know I have to leave you to make your own decisions, but I’d still like to help where I can. At the very least, I want to make sure you make an informed decision.’

  ‘So you haven’t only come here to say sorry?’ Vikki said, pulling her hand from Sarah’s clutches.

  ‘I wish that was all, but yes, there is something else.’ She stopped to take a deep breath. ‘I thought you should know that Charlotte is with the police as we speak. She’s going to amend her original statement.’

  Vikki’s heart missed a beat. This was the moment she had been dreading, to be told that Charlotte had been more intimately involved with Rob than she had first suggested. Vikki hadn’t been Rob’s one true love, his soulmate, she had simply been the first in a series of affairs.

  ‘When it came to that kiss,’ Sarah continued. ‘Charlotte wants to make it clear in her statement that she was the one who initiated it and he didn’t kiss her back.’

  ‘But that’s what Rob’s been saying all along.’

  ‘Yes, I know.’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Vikki said. ‘Does this mean she doesn’t think he tried to groom her now?’

  Sarah winced. ‘She’s going to keep to the facts, and leave it to the police to interpret what Rob’s motives may or may not have been.’

  ‘But she has changed her story, which means she was lying when she said he kissed her. Did you know?’

  Sarah pulled back her shoulders. ‘She and Scarlett had a bit of a talk yesterday. I was hoping Charlotte might convince her that they both needed to speak up against Rob so that no other girls got hurt,’ she said. ‘But it was Scarlett who did the convincing. Charlotte’s worried that she might have got it wrong, especially as she’s on her own in coming forward, and she doesn’t want to take the chance that her testimony could be destroying an innocent man’s life.’

  ‘Are you saying this was all a mistake?’ Vikki cried. ‘That I’ve been doubting Rob for no better reason than he’d attracted the attention of these girls and they’d got the wrong message?’

  In her mind, Vikki was working out how long it would take to get across town to Victoria Park. She needed to see Rob. This was her chance to get back the husband she had thought she had lost forever. He wasn’t a predator; if anything, he was a victim. Rob loved her, and only her.

  ‘No, Vikki, I’m not saying that at all,’ Sarah said, rubbing her forehead as she gathered her thoughts. ‘None of this changes the fact that Rob had an inappropriate interest in Charlotte. She might have stretched the truth in her statement, but, if you want my opinion, he was grooming her, I’m sure of it.’

  ‘So you did know she was lying?’

  Sarah wouldn’t be admonished. ‘He mocked her, Vikki. He teased her and called her a little girl, and he was daring her to prove him wrong. That was why she kissed him.’

  Vikki’s hand flew to her mouth, but it was her ears she wanted to cover.

  Sarah pushed on. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s how things started with Scarlett, and who knows how many others. But one thing’s clear: not one of them sees him for what he really is, and I don’t expect you do either.’

  ‘No,’ Vikki whispered, shaking her head, and then again, louder, ‘No.’

  She didn’t want to end up on her own, divorced with two kids. She was only twenty-four. It wasn’t fair. ‘Why can’t it be Bryn?’ she asked. ‘You were sure it was him not that long ago. You said he’d been interfering with his daughter too.’

  ‘I was wrong,’ Sarah said gently. ‘I’m going with Nina tomorrow to meet Bryn’s daughter, but there’s no doubt in my mind that Bryn has been an innocent bystander. I’m sorry, Vikki.’

  ‘Sorry?’ Vikki repeated. ‘You’ve ruined Nina’s marriage, and now you want to ruin mine?’

  Sarah’s jaw had clenched, but her words were surprisingly soft when she asked, ‘If I’m so wrong, why aren’t you with him?’

  ‘Because I needed to be sure,’ she said.

  ‘And now you know what happened with Charlotte, are you?’

  Vikki wished so much that she could say yes, but there was an image in her mind that wouldn’t let her speak. She could see a young, inexperienced schoolgirl sitting next to Rob. He was leaning forward, telling her she was a little girl, and daring him to prove her wrong. Unable to supress the memory, Vikki burst into tears, and offered no resistance when Sarah wrapped her in her arms.

  ‘The case against Rob is about to fall apart and we may never get to the truth,’ Sarah told her in gentle tones. ‘That means Nina will never find peace and, from the look of it, neither will you. I accept that I’ve been wrong before, and there’s a part of me that wishes for your sake that I’m wrong again. The only sure way of bringing this man – whoever he is – to justice is for one of his victims to have the courage to speak out. You must see that.’

  ‘This isn’t fair,’ complained Scarlett. She was sitting behind Nina in Sarah’s car while the two friends ignored her. Releasing a dramatic sigh, she added, ‘And you said I could go back to school.’

  ‘As I recall,’ Nina said through gritted teeth, ‘I only promised to speak to Mrs Anwar about it, and that’s what I’ve done.’

  Nina hated herself for snapping at her daughter but her frustrations had been getting the better of her ever since Charlotte had announced she was changing her statement. In contrast, Scarlett had been in an annoyingly good mood.

  ‘But I don’t see why you had to drag me along. Since I’m not at school, I should be home studying like mad. I’m already stressed out like crazy, and this is only making it worse.’

  ‘Speaking of which,’ Sarah said as she tried to divert the argument. ‘How are the sessions with the counsellor going?’

  ‘She’s got another one on Thursday.’

  ‘And I’ll definitely need counselling after today,’ Scarlett muttered.

  Sarah checked her rear-view mirror so she was looking at Scarlett when she said, ‘But don’t you see how important this trip is?’ she asked. ‘Don’t you want Bryn home again?’

  ‘Except we’re not going to see Bryn, are we? I seriously do not see the point of this.’

  Refusing to explain herself to her daughter, Nina left Scarlett’s comment hanging as the road began to rise towards the Welsh hills.

  ‘How’s Liam doing?’ Sarah asked, to fill the silence that followed.

  ‘He’s working hard and ignoring all the gossip, as far as I can tell. I’m praying he’ll do enough to get the grades he needs for uni.’

  ‘I don’t see why not,’ Scarlett said. ‘He passed the fertility test with flying colours.’

  Before Nina could let loose the ever-present fury building inside her chest, her mobile began to ring.

  ‘Lucky escape,’ Sarah said to Scarlett under her breath.

  The call was from DS Cunliffe. She wanted to arrange another interview with Scarlett and Nina.

  ‘Is there something new?’ Nina asked. She was choosing her words carefully in front of her daughter.

  ‘No, not exactly,’ Alice said, and from her tone of voice, she didn’t sound like someone in hot pursuit. She sounded more like someone watching their prey disappear over the horizon. ‘We’ve had to review the case in light of Charlotte Tavistock’s revised statement, and I’d like one more go at getting something from your daughter.’

  ‘And if you don’t?’

  Rather than answer, Alice could be heard shuffling papers. ‘We’re still gathering whatever information we can.’

  ‘Mrs Anwar mentioned they were still working with you, but she wouldn’t give any details. Have you found anything?’ After the debacle at the school, Mrs Anwar was being a stickler for procedures. It had been Alice who had told Nina about the school’s historic concerns about Rob and Vikki’s relationship, and Nina was hoping there was more to tell.

  ‘One thing came to light when they were
re-marking some of your daughter’s papers,’ Alice said. ‘It turns out Scarlett wasn’t doing as badly as you were led to believe. It looks like Mr Swift was overly harsh with her English papers, which suggests he was deliberately downgrading them to engineer the extra lessons.’

  ‘Bastard.’

  ‘I couldn’t agree more, but another view could be that he was nothing worse than a poor teacher. CPS are breathing down my neck to find proof positive that he and your daughter had a physical relationship. Thanks to your son’s technical prowess, we have nothing other than the photo on Scarlett’s phone, which doesn’t come close to making a case. Rob’s phone was clean as a whistle and we couldn’t prove he ever had the app your son created. I’m sorry, but while the school might have a good case for dismissing him, it’s nowhere near enough for us to charge him.’

  Not ready to give in, Nina said, ‘How soon do you want us to come in?’

  ‘Today?’

  ‘We’re in Wales at the moment, could it wait until tomorrow?’

  ‘I’m wrapped up in a court case tomorrow. Thursday?’ Alice asked.

  ‘Scarlett has a counselling session in the morning,’ Nina said. She rubbed the back of her neck as she felt her daughter’s eyes boring into her.

  ‘In the afternoon is fine. I’m not exactly in a hurry if it means we have to close the investigation. I’m sorry to sound so pessimistic, but as I’ve said from the start, what we really need is Scarlett’s testimony. Perhaps you can use the next couple of days to talk her round.’

  Like I haven’t been trying already, Nina thought, but she said, ‘I’ll do my best.’

  ‘Who was that?’ Scarlett asked the moment Nina ended the call.

  ‘The police want to interview us again. I’ve said we’ll go in on Thursday afternoon.’

  ‘Why?’

  Nina and Sarah exchanged a look. ‘It’s standard practice,’ Nina said, adding, ‘They wait a while and then bring you back in so they can crosscheck your previous answers against whatever stories you might want to come up with this time.’

  She had wanted to unsettle her daughter, but Scarlett sounded smug when she said, ‘You mean like they did with Charlotte? They know they were wrong now, don’t they? Does that mean it’ll all be over soon?’

  ‘No, Scarlett, it does not,’ Nina said. ‘Even if the police do decide to drop the investigation, don’t think for one minute I’ll let it rest, not ever.’

  For once, Scarlett didn’t have a smart response and the journey continued in silence. Nina stared out of the window and tried to concentrate on the matter in hand. She had made all the arrangements with Caryn’s mum, who had given no hint as to how her daughter felt about meeting her, and so it was left to Nina to imagine what kind of reception she might receive.

  Sarah must have seen the anxious look on Nina’s face as the satnav prompted her to make the last turn. ‘Are you ready?’

  Nina was about to respond but her words caught in her throat as she spotted Bryn’s car parked outside the house. ‘Drive past!’ she cried.

  ‘How the hell did he know—’ Sarah began, but then glanced over her shoulder. ‘Did you tell him?’

  ‘Don’t look at me!’ cried Scarlett.

  Still reeling from the first shock, Nina received another. ‘Oh my God, you still think it might be him,’ she said to Sarah. ‘Is that why you got me down here? To check out his past and accuse him all over again?’

  Sarah’s jaw dropped. ‘No, absolutely not! I swear, I’m here to help you and Bryn get back together. I didn’t mean to suggest … OK, maybe for one second I thought … I simply didn’t expect him to be here.’

  Not listening, Nina spied a coffee shop. ‘Pull over, now!’

  For once, Sarah did as she was told. The moment she pulled to the kerb, Nina got out of the car. Her mind raced and she fought through a red mist of thoughts, none of them pleasant. When Sarah reached her side, Nina was ready for her.

  ‘You never could stand being in the wrong, could you? You wrecked my marriage and there’s still a part of you hoping you’ll be vindicated. Why do you have to be so bloody manipulative? Why can’t you just be a friend, Sarah? Why does your happiness have to be relative to everyone else’s? Why do you have to push me down so you can feel tall?’

  ‘That’s not true. You’re my best friend, Nina. I only want what’s best for you.’

  ‘Would I still be your best friend if I was happier than you, more successful than you? Or would you go off and find someone else you could pity?’

  Sarah held up both her hands. ‘Please, Nina, I know you’re angry, I get that, and I probably deserve everything you’re throwing at me, but right now you have better things to do. Setting aside my first reaction, I’m guessing Bryn’s ex-wife told him you were on your way, which means there’s a chance he’s come down here because he’s looking for a reconciliation too, but you won’t know that unless you’re part of the conversation he and Caryn are having right now.’

  Nina was ready to explode. She had attacked her friend and Sarah had simply rolled with the punches. She was unbelievably infuriating, not least because on this occasion she was right. ‘Fine, but I’m going alone. You can wait in the coffee shop.’

  She was turning to walk away when another voice piped up, ‘Erm, what about me, Mum?’

  ‘You stay with Sarah,’ Nina said, without looking back. She didn’t want Scarlett with her when she faced Bryn, and she didn’t dare try to explain why that might be. She wasn’t ready to admit that her reaction on seeing her husband’s car hadn’t been so different from Sarah’s.

  Nina didn’t know what to expect when she got to Caryn’s. She was prepared for anything, except perhaps the anticlimax she felt when Bryn sped past in his car as she reached the end of Caryn’s street. She watched her husband recede into the distance before continuing her journey, and when she knocked on Caryn’s door, it was with a sinking heart.

  The young woman who answered was waiflike and pale, but it was her eyes that Nina noticed first. They were slate-grey like her father’s and they were brimming with tears.

  ‘I tried … I tried to get Dad to stay, but he wouldn’t,’ Caryn sobbed. ‘Why does he always end up leaving me?’

  After meeting Sarah, Vikki was more confused than ever. She had wanted some time away from Rob to collect her thoughts and reach conclusions of her own, but it would seem she wasn’t capable. Had she been one of Rob’s victims? Was the man she had fallen for someone who abused his authority and took advantage of impressionable young girls, or was his only crime that he had been adored by his pupils? Vikki knew which of the two versions of her husband she preferred, and she wished she could silence the doubt and take that leap of faith which would bring her family back together again.

  Parking her car close to the gated entrance of the Ellison House, Vikki was relieved to see she was the first to arrive. As she slipped through the gap in the fence, the rust from the metal barriers left an ochre smudge on her hands that brought on a sudden wave of nostalgia. This had been their secret meeting place back when Rob had been sharing a house with a group of teachers and Vikki had yet to tell her parents about her new boyfriend. She had lost count of the number of times Rob had gently wiped her hands with the corner of the blanket he had always thought to bring with him whenever they had met.

  Walking around to the side of the house, Vikki dipped below the trailing wisteria which had given them shelter in all but the bitterest months. She let the shadows cast by its twisted stems play across her upturned palm until she heard the sound of an approaching car, followed by footsteps searching her out in the undergrowth.

  ‘I wish we could go back in time,’ Rob said when he reached her side. ‘Back to when you still believed in me, before I let you down.’

  He had left a safe gap between them and Vikki was relieved that he hadn’t reached out to touch her. She couldn’t be sure if her instinct would be to recoil from a monster, or fall into the arms of the man she loved.

  �
��How are things?’ she asked politely.

  ‘Awful, if I’m honest,’ he said. ‘All I can do is sit and wait for this ridiculous investigation to be dropped. I hate what it must be doing to you. Are you all right? The baby?’

  ‘We’re fine,’ she said.

  ‘You have no idea how much I miss you and Freya. It was heartbreaking, seeing her the other day and then having to say goodbye. I think Elaine felt it too.’

  Her mum had been upset when she had returned home the day before with a sobbing Freya, and it was obvious she hoped Vikki’s meeting with Rob today would bring an end to their separation. Vikki wondered if her mum would think differently if she knew why Vikki had chosen to meet Rob at the Ellison House, but Elaine had become adept at not asking questions she didn’t want to know the answer to. ‘Mum hates seeing Freya so confused. She’s desperate for us all to get back to some sort of normal,’ she said.

  ‘And you?’ he asked. When he didn’t receive an answer, he added, ‘It doesn’t matter what anyone else wants you to do, Vikki, it’s what you want that counts. I dread to think what rubbish people have been filling your head with, but you’re a smart girl, I know you’ll reach the right conclusions. I have to believe that, because the alternative is unthinkable.’

  Vikki couldn’t draw her eyes away from the patch of earth where Rob had laid her down so many times. He was looking at the same spot too when he said, ‘I know I’ve been stupid, Vikki, but I’ve done nothing wrong, you have to believe that. I might be passionate about my students, but not like the police are suggesting. I’ll admit I was flattered whenever one of them had a crush on me, I’m only human, but if anything I used it to their advantage, not mine. I got them to try that bit harder, and if it went too far, like it did with Charlotte Tavistock, I’d set new boundaries and we’d move on. You do know she’s changed her statement, don’t you?’

  Vikki nodded and turned her back on their abandoned love nest. ‘But what about Scarlett? What boundaries did you set with her?’ she asked.