The Breakdown(26)

just go ahead and reserve it.

I hang the calendar back on the wall, turning the page

over to August, ready for when we come back from the

hotel – and so that Matthew won’t see he was right when

he said he’d told me he was going to the rig.

*

It’s only once I’m at the hotel, waiting to check in, that I begin to feel better. The suite is fabulous with the biggest bed I’ve ever seen and, once I’ve unpacked, I text Matthew, change into a swimsuit and make my way

down to the pool. I’m just pushing my belongings into

a locker when a text arrives from Rachel.





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‘Hi, just to let you know I’ve arranged to leave early tonight so will be with you around 6. Are you cooking or shall we go out?’

My heart plummets so fast I feel as if I’ve stepped

off a cliff. How could I have forgotten that Rachel was

coming to stay tonight when we’d only arranged it on

Monday? I think of Mum and a hot sick fear claws my

stomach. I can’t believe I forgot. Jane’s murder and the

guilt I feel have distracted me, yes, but to forget about Rachel coming to stay? I fumble with my phone and press the call button, desperate to confide in someone.

Despite Rachel only just sending the message, she

doesn’t pick up. The changing room is empty so I sit

down on a damp wooden bench. Now that I’ve made

the decision to tell Rachel I’m worried about my

short-term memory, I’m desperate to act on it in case I

dissuade myself later. I call Rachel again and this time

she answers.

‘I don’t suppose you’d like to spend the night in a

luxury hotel instead of at the house,’ I say.

There’s a pause. ‘Depends where it is.’

‘Westbrook Park.’

‘The one with the fantastic spa?’ She’s whispering so

I guess she’s in the middle of a meeting or something.

‘That’s the one. Actually, I’m already there. I felt like having a bit of a break.’

‘It’s all right for some,’ she sighs.

‘So will you join me?’

The Breakdown





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‘It’s a bit far to come for one night – I have to work


tomorrow, remember. How about I join you on Friday?’

‘You could,’ I say. ‘Matthew is coming straight here

from the rig, so it’ll be the three of us.’

She gives a quiet laugh. ‘Awkward.’

‘Sorry for standing you up tonight.’

‘Don’t worry about it. See you next week?’

‘Hang on, Rachel, there’s something else…’

But she’s already gone.

FRIDAY JULY 31st

By the time the afternoon comes, I’m desperate to see

Matthew. The weather isn’t brilliant so I hang around

in our room, waiting for his call to tell me what time

he’ll be arriving. I watch a bit of television, relieved

that there’s nothing on the news about Jane’s murder,

yet strangely annoyed that two weeks after the day she

was murdered, she’s already been forgotten.

The phone rings and I snatch it up.

‘I’m at the house,’ Matthew says.

‘Good,’ I say happily. ‘You’ll be here in time for

dinner.’

‘The thing is, when I arrived, there was a man here

from that alarm company practically sitting on the door—

step.’ He pauses. ‘I didn’t realise you’d actually gone

ahead with it.’

‘Gone ahead with what?’

‘Well, the alarm.’

Title: The Breakdown ARC, Format: 126x198, v1, Output date:08/11/16





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‘I don’t understand.’

‘The guy said he agreed with you that someone would

fit the alarm yesterday but when the technician turned

up there was nobody in. They’ve been phoning every

half an hour, apparently.’

‘I didn’t agree to anything at all,’ I say annoyed. ‘All

I said was that we’d get back to him.’

‘But you signed a contract,’ Matthew says, sounding

puzzled.

‘I did no such thing! Be careful, Matthew, he’s trying

it on, pretending I agreed to something when I didn’t.

It’s a scam, that’s all.’

‘That’s what I thought. But when I said that as far

as I was concerned we hadn’t decided anything yet, he

showed me a copy of the contract with your signature

on it.’

‘Then he must have forged it.’ There’s a silence. ‘You

think I went ahead and ordered it, don’t you?’ I say,

realising.

‘No, of course not! It’s just that the signature looked

a lot like yours.’ I sense him hesitate. ‘After I got rid of him I had a look at the brochure you left in the kitchen and inside, there’s a client copy of the contract. Shall I bring it to the hotel so that you can see it? Then if it’s not above board, we can do something about it.’