Eyeing the caller ID that flashed up, he took a deep breath. ‘Look, I need to take this. It’s important. Can you keep an eye on Ella for a few minutes?’
‘Sure,’ Lisa said, tightly, still stunned by Jamie’s overreaction and the venom in his tone when he spoke about Rebecca. Taken aback, she’d never seen or heard him like this before. A few minutes space was exactly what they needed right now. Though in all honesty, it made no difference to her if Jamie was in the room or not; she’d been taking care of Ella all morning while her brother was too busy with his head buried in his laptop and skulking upstairs every five minutes to make his secret phone calls. His whole demeanour was off.
He’d told her earlier that he was busy with ‘work stuff’ today, but now Lisa wasn’t so convinced, though he was defiantly preoccupied by something.
Or someone.
Waiting until she could hear Jamie retreating into the upstairs bathroom, shutting the door behind him so that she couldn’t eavesdrop, she carefully made her way over to the sofa.
Jamie was hiding something. Two could play at that game.
Eyeing the laptop that he’d left open on the chair; she quickly pressed her finger on the mouse in an attempt to stop the screensaver locking her out.
It worked.
She listened out for any noise from upstairs, but there was none. Not a movement.
She probably had a few minutes before Jamie would be back down and she was determined to find out what the hell was going on.
Pulling the laptop around to face her, she narrowed her eyes as she scanned the open window on the screen.
Instantly she recognised the image of her brother’s lounge. The grainy black and white imagery of the long curtains that lined the window. The sofa just over by the main back wall. It was an aerial view of Jamie and Rebecca’s entire lounge? Although there were no signs of anyone. No signs of Rebecca. The sofa was empty and the television screen blank, switched off.
Lisa held her breath.
What was her brother up to? Was he watching the house? Watching Rebecca?
Clicking on a second window, Lisa was now looking at Jamie’s office, where Rebecca was. Lisa winced at the sight of her sister-in-law, she looked distraught, frantically ransacking the place as she rooted around inside the desk’s drawers and filing cabinets. Discarding a mountain of paperwork, sweeping the pile from the desk with the back of her hand in frustration.
Lisa felt guilty for her part in her friend’s angst. They shouldn’t be doing this to her. They shouldn’t be keeping Ella from her.
Rebecca would be lost without her.
She wouldn’t know what to do with herself. And she’d be beyond mad at Jamie.
She must be searching for clues on where they might be.
About to move the laptop back, Lisa hears a ping as a new notification pops up on the screen. An email from Jamie’s PA, Jenna, the message header reads XXX
And the email address isn’t Jamie’s usual one?
He’s got a secret email account? What was he hiding?
Unable to help her curiosity, Lisa opens the email, her hand shaking. Reading through the entire thread of the flirtatious messages, it was clear that Rebecca’s suspicions were warranted.
Jamie was having an affair. And judging by the conversation they were having, that was where he’d spent last night.
He hadn’t been at a hotel on a business trip like he claimed, he’d been at Jenna’s place.
Or at least, he’d spent the first part of it there.
Jenna’s messages today were saying how it was such a shame that he’d been called away when they’d just started to have fun. She was being flirty and trying to make light of it. But she’d mentioned that Rebecca had called Jamie away. And that she hoped Ella was feeling better?
Lisa frowned.
Jamie had told the police and Rebecca that his business meeting was cancelled. That he’d come home early and found Rebecca screaming in the garden.
It had been a major coincidence that he’d turned up when he had, and Lisa had been grateful that he’d arrived when Rebecca seemed to need him the most.
But this email implied otherwise.
Jamie had left Jenna’s house in the middle of the night.
He’d made his excuses to leave, just as Rebecca was claiming to have seen someone inside the house. Someone watching her from the garden.
What the hell was going on here?
Had Jamie been watching her then too?
About to close the window down, and confront Jamie, Lisa bit her lip as she eyed another email, the weird encrypted email address instantly grabbing her attention because of the strange lettering. She clicked it, listening out for the bathroom door upstairs, but there was still no sign of Jamie.
At first glance, it looked like a list. Just a load of jumbled dates and places that went back for weeks. There were a few key words in there for detail, but Lisa had no idea what she was looking at.
Tuesday 12 April – Park. 14.50 p.m.
Wednesday 13 April – Supermarket. 10.37 a.m.
Thursday 14 April – Coffee shop on Kensington High Street. 12 p.m. Lisa Dawson.
Seeing her own name on the list, Lisa almost did a double take.
What was this?
It was an activity log, she realised. A timeline of somebody’s movements.
Rebecca’s movements?
Tuesday had been the day they’d met for coffee.
Jamie was having Rebecca followed?
Was that who he was on the phone to right now?
Closing her eyes tightly so she could shut all other thoughts out, she wracked her brain to try to make sense of what was going on here. All Lisa could think about was how Jamie had been so adamant about Rebecca going to the hospital under the Mental Health Act. In fact, it had been him who had encouraged it, under the guise of being worried about her safety.
About Ella’s safety. Jamie was convinced that Rebecca wasn’t of sound mind. He’d told his sister as much. That Rebecca was constantly acting paranoid and feeling like she was being watched and followed.
That’s what Jamie had said. Rebecca had told her too.
Only now Lisa realised that Rebecca had every right to feel that way, because it was true. She was being watched and followed.
By Jamie. By her husband.
He’d put her under a microscope and used it against her when she’d reached out for help.
But why?
Lisa thinks back to what Rebecca had said earlier. That she thought this was all Jamie’s way of punishing her.
Punishing her for what?
She checked the travel cot to make sure Ella was sleeping peacefully. Lisa didn’t know what the hell was going on, but she was going to put an end to this madness right now.
It was time to confront Jamie.
Making her way upstairs, Lisa knocked loudly on the bathroom door, no longer caring if she was interrupting his so-called important phone call. She wanted answers and she wanted them now.
‘Jamie?’ Lisa called out, rapping louder on the door with her knuckles, only to be met with silence. She grabbed at the handle impatiently and pushed the door open.
‘Jamie?’ she called out, again, her eyes darting around the empty bathroom. Puzzled, she made her way along the hallway and checked the two bedrooms in case he’d gone there to take his call instead.
Only he wasn’t anywhere to be found upstairs, and when she went back downstairs, there was no sign of him.