The Guilty Couple(32)

‘Why would I want to do that? He’d end up in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.’

‘Are you sure about that?’

‘What?’ My wine slops in my glass.

‘Well. You said Dominic was on the phone to someone last night. It can’t have been Dani because she already knew you broke into the house. What if it was Jack? What if he had something to do with you getting framed?’

I laugh at the absurdity of the suggestion but it’s a thin sound that fades quickly. ‘Why would he do that? The police had an arrest warrant for him too. He wouldn’t have framed himself.’

Ayesha swirls her wine around her glass, looking thoughtful. ‘Okay. But something about this doesn’t ring true. I can understand Jack going on the run to avoid being arrested. What I don’t understand is why he’s got back in touch.’

‘Maybe he … maybe he heard I was out and he wants to find out if the coast is clear? Maybe he wants to … I don’t know … start things up with me again?’

‘Hell no!’ Ayesha fixes me with a stern look. ‘You wouldn’t say yes, would you? Please tell me you’ve got more self-respect.’

‘Of course I wouldn’t. But what if Jack knows something that can help clear us both? We’re assuming he’s hiding from the police but what if he’s hiding from Dom?’

Ayesha sighs loudly and gives me a despairing look. ‘I’m not going to talk you out of this, am I? You’re going to try and meet up with him?’

‘I can’t do that if he won’t tell me where he is.’

‘So ask someone.’

I laugh, confused. ‘Like who?’

‘I dunno. Has he got family? Parents? Siblings? Someone has to know where he is.’

I take a sip of my wine and mull over what she just said. Jack didn’t open up much about his family but he did mention a sister called Sonia who lives in Essex; Audley End, I think. He never introduced us but one night, a week after he’d ghosted me, I looked Sonia up on Facebook and asked her if she could please tell Jack to contact me. Her response, the next morning, was brief: It’s been a long time since Jack did anything I asked him to do. I’m sorry but I can’t help you. I was too embarrassed to contact her again.

‘He’s got a sister,’ I tell Ayesha. ‘I found her on Facebook once. She wouldn’t talk to me then but she might now.’

‘Go on then. Get it out of your system. I know you’re not going to let this drop.’

‘You know I love you.’ I shoot her a smile before I tap the Facebook icon on my phone.

‘Yeah, yeah. Read me what you write before you hit send.’

She gets up and potters around the kitchen, unstacking the dishwasher and putting things away as I write, and rewrite, my message to Sonia.

‘Okay.’ I twist round to share it with her. ‘This is what I’ve got …’

Hello, Sonia, it’s Olivia Sutherland, Jack’s ex-girlfriend. I was released from prison a little over two weeks ago and I’ve been trying to pick up the remnants of my life.

As you know, Jack and I were falsely accused of a crime we didn’t commit and I want to clear both of our names. I’ve recently received some information about him that you might be interested in hearing. If you are, we need to talk face to face. Sooner rather than later ideally.

I hope you’re well.

All the best, Liv.

‘Well?’ I ask.

Ayesha shrugs. ‘It sounds mysterious enough to make her curious. If someone sent me a message like that about my brother I’d answer.’

‘That’s good enough for me.’ I hit send.





Chapter 22


DOMINIC


A tendon pulses in Dom’s jaw as he taps out a message on his daughter’s pink iPhone:

Grace isn’t allowed to use this phone anymore because she’s been bullying another child on social media. She has been lying a lot recently – to me, to her teachers and to her friends – and I’d be very wary of accepting anything she says as the truth. If you try and contact her again I will call the police. Dominic.

He presses send on the message to his ex-wife then hurls the phone away, sending it scuttling across his desk before it drops onto the carpeted office floor. He had no idea that Olivia and Grace were in touch until earlier that morning when the ping, ping, ping of Grace’s phone at the breakfast table nearly drove him insane. He snatched it out of her hands, sure that he’d find messages from her, bullying another child. Instead he found a string of texts from her mother.

How the hell had Olivia got hold of Grace’s number? They’d only had one supervised visit so it must have happened at the zoo. He’s going to have to ask his mother to up her game the next time the two meet.

He found only one phone call between Grace and Olivia – at 10.45 p.m. two days earlier. That was the day he’d met Dani in the car park after he’d discussed the bullying issue with Grace’s head of year. Had Grace called her mother as a result of that conversation? According to Mrs Hargreaves the physical bullying had stopped but the harassment had gone online instead. Grace had claimed that she was the one being bullied but the evidence was damning: cruel message after cruel message, all in her name.

When he took his daughter home after the meeting she refused to talk or even look at him. She threw down her school bag and ran up the stairs. He was about to go after her but then his burner phone rang. As he took the call in the hall he could hear his daughter upstairs, banging around on the landing, screaming at next door’s cat and repeatedly slamming her bedroom door. He blew a gasket then. He stormed up the stairs, threw open her door and threatened to confiscate her phone unless she stopped bullying other children. She jumped off her bed and attacked him as he made a grab for her mobile. She scratched at his arms and called him every name under the sun. He relented and let her keep the phone and, as he made his way back downstairs, he heard the sound of wretched sobbing from behind her closed bedroom door.