The Guilty Couple(34)

Her expression changes – from curiosity to a cold detachment – as though a shutter has come down behind her eyes. ‘Of course, yes, I completely understand.’

If she closes down I won’t be able to get anything out of her. I need her to be as warm and open as she was when I came in.

‘I loved Jack very much,’ I say. ‘We’d planned to start a new life together.’

‘Right, yes. Jack’s very good at making promises that he can’t keep.’

I say nothing, willing her to say more.

‘The children,’ she says. ‘My children. I’ve lost track of the times he’s promised them something, a trip or a present or day out. They’re always disappointed and I’m the one left to pick up the pieces, to mop up the tears. It’s not fair on them, especially since their dad died.’ She catches herself and her cheeks flush, as though she’s said too much.

‘Anyway,’ she sits forward, her body language primed for bad news. ‘Let’s get to the reason you’re here. What’s this important information about Jack? What has he done now?’

‘He hasn’t done anything. Not that I know about anyway.’

Sonia slumps back on the sofa, takes off her glasses and rubs her hands over her face. ‘Thank god for that. I thought he’d …’ she tails off. ‘He’s alive then? You know that much?’

‘Yes. He’s alive. He sent me an email, saying sorry and telling me that he missed me. He said he was hiding but he couldn’t tell me where. I don’t know if he’s still on the run from the police or if something else is going on. I was hoping you might be able to tell me.’

‘Me?’ Laughing, she puts her glasses back on. ‘Whatever gave you that idea? I haven’t seen Jack for years. I don’t know what he told you about me but we’re not exactly close.’

I didn’t know that, and I’m starting to wonder how much I knew him at all.

‘Can I see the emails?’ Sonia asks.

‘Of course.’ I dig out my phone and show it to her. She clicks through the emails, her brow furrowing as she scrolls down the screen.

‘What is it?’ I ask.

‘Are you quite sure it’s him?’

‘Yes of course. He always signed off his texts like that – a J and a kiss.’

Sonia hands the phone back to me. ‘Strange that he didn’t give you a phone number.’

‘I assume he hasn’t got a signal wherever he is, or he doesn’t want the police to trace the calls.’ Even a burner phone can be triangulated. I had enough conversations in prison to know that that’s true.

Sonia raises an eyebrow. ‘You know the police can trace emails too?’

This conversation is strangely similar to the one I had with Ayesha last night. They’re both suspicious about the messages. Ayesha questioned Jack’s motive for sending them and it sounds like Sonia doesn’t even believe that they’re from him.

‘Can’t you ask him something?’ Sonia says. ‘To check it’s him? Ask him what his nickname was for Dylan? If it really is Jack he’ll know.’

I tap reply on Jack’s message then look back at Sonia, suddenly unsure. ‘He’ll know I’ve been to see you if I do that. If he really is hiding he might panic about me telling too many people. I don’t want him to stop contacting me. I need to find out what he knows.’

Sonia looks at me questioningly. ‘What about?’

‘The people who framed us.’

Her gaze becomes flinty. She thinks we did it. She thinks her own brother would try and have someone killed.

‘Sonia, do you—’

She cuts me off. ‘Ask him something only the two of you know. Did he have a pet name for you? Or was there somewhere you went that only the two of you would know about?’

I feel like an idiot that she’s had to suggest this. The first thing I should have done was verify that the email was actually from Jack. For all I know this could be something to do with Dominic, or the police.

‘Okay.’ I tap a short email into my phone: I need to check that this is really you. We used to daydream about going on holiday together. Where did we say that we’d go?

I glance at Sonia, who nods her approval.

‘Now we wait,’ she says. ‘Would you like that cup of tea?’

There’s still no reply from Jack and, three cups of tea later, conversation with Sonia is starting to dry up. We’ve covered my relationship with Jack and how it ended and I’ve explained how I think Dominic and Dani framed us (Sonia was shocked to discover a police detective could be so corrupt). I also glossed over the five years I spent in jail after Sonia asked me what it was like. On the train down from London I had hoped that seeing his sister would give me more information about Jack, and fill in the gaps in his life that I know nothing about, but whenever I probe a bit deeper Sonia changes the subject and tells me something inane about her kids or switches the topic back to me.

There’s ten minutes left until she has to leave to collect her son from football and it doesn’t look as though Jack’s going to reply any time soon.

‘Could I use your loo?’ I slip my mobile into my bag and move to stand up.

‘Of course.’ She points towards a wooden door, painted white, at the back of the room. ‘If you go up the stairs the bathroom’s the first door on your left.’