The Guilty Couple(24)

He pauses in the entrance to the car park and scans the cars for Dani’s black BMW. This was never supposed to happen. When she stormed out of the house the other day he thought that was it, he’d never see her again. They were at stalemate; they both had too much to lose to ever make good on their threats. It was part of the reason he hadn’t given her the thirty grand – he didn’t need to. He didn’t have to buy her silence when he had enough on her to put her in jail. So when she’d texted him last night to say she needed to talk he’d ignored her. Of course she wanted to talk. She wanted thirty grand. But her second text made him sit up.

Something happened today that you need to know about.

His curiosity was piqued but he didn’t trust her. She knew which buttons to press to get him to respond. Another text arrived a couple of seconds later:

Someone’s digging around and you’re going to need my help.

A muscle twitched in his cheek.

Meet me in the car park at your work at 6pm tomorrow.

Still he didn’t reply. Was it some kind of trap? Was Dani making good on her promise to make sure he spends the rest of his life in prison? Or was it a pitiful attempt to extort money from him? There was no way he was going to meet her.

Fifteen minutes ago he changed his mind when a new text appeared:

I’m downstairs. If you don’t want to lose Grace you know what to do.

Rage spiked through him. How dare she use his daughter as leverage? Was that a threat? He’d forward the text to her boss and sit back and watch her whole life explode.

Fuck you, he texted back. Don’t ever mention my daughter’s name again.

As his thumb moved towards the ‘Send’ button a thought hit him that made him pause. He read through the series of texts that Dani had sent, his brow creasing as he picked over the information. Maybe she wasn’t threatening him after all. If she’d seen or heard something worrying it had to have something to do with Liv. Why else would she insinuate that he might lose Grace?

Now, he squints into the distance as a car’s headlights flash repeatedly, cutting through the gloom. Dani’s waiting for him.

Dominic opens the passenger side door of Dani’s BMW saloon and climbs in. There are empty Costa cups in the footwell and the air in the car is a repugnant blend of coffee and synthetic air freshener.

‘Well?’ he turns to face her. ‘What’s this about?’

Her eyes sweep over him. ‘Show me your phone.’

‘What?’

‘Show me your phone and close all the apps. I need to know you’re not recording this.’

‘Oh for god’s sake.’ Dom twists in his seat and pulls on the switch to open the door. ‘I haven’t got time for this shit.’

‘Fine. Then we’ll both go to prison and Grace will go and live with her mum.’

Dom turns back to look at her.

‘Close the door, Dom.’

‘What’s this about?’

‘Close the door, show me your phone and I’ll tell you.’

Teeth clenched, Dom does as she says. ‘There, see,’ he closes the apps on his phone as she watches, ‘not recording.’

‘Okay, turn it off.’

Bit late to shut the gate on the horse when it’s already bolted, he thinks irritably as he turns his phone off. He’s already got more than enough evidence to put her away.

‘Pockets,’ she says and he sighs as she pats him down.

‘What’s this?’ She plucks the burner phone from inside his jacket but he snatches it away from her before she can look at the screen. ‘Anything I should know about?’

‘No.’ He tucks it back inside. It’s the phone he uses to text her but he’s not going to tell her that. She’s getting on his tits.

‘Are you sure about that? Because if you get arrested—’

‘It’s nothing dodgy. Okay? Who I sleep with is my business.’

Dani’s lips tighten. ‘That’s classy, Dom.’

Inwardly he grins. His words landed just as he hoped they would. So much for Dani’s claim that she could have sex without emotions getting involved.

‘Just tell me what this is about.’

‘Fine.’ She shows him the screen of her own phone. It’s a photo of two hooded characters, teenagers probably, crouching by a wall.

Dominic sighs irritably. ‘Are you going to tell me what this is or am I supposed to guess?’

‘It’s your ex-wife,’ Dani touches the screen, zooming in on one of the hooded figures, ‘and her cellmate, Kelly Smith. That’s the wall at the front of your house and that …’ she touches the screen again ‘… I’m guessing, is the key.’

‘Let me see that.’ Dom reaches for the phone but Dani snatches it back.

‘No, no, no. You can look but don’t touch.’ She shows the photo to him again and this time he keeps his hands in his lap.

She’s right, it is Liv. Even in a shapeless black hoodie that hides her hair he can clearly make out the profile of her face.

‘What the hell was she doing?’

Dani tucks her phone inside her jacket. ‘Olivia and Smith were in your house at approximately two o’clock yesterday afternoon.’

Dom stares at her, his eyes wide, a cold chill coursing through his body. ‘In? Doing what?’