The Guilty Couple(73)

But what if it belonged to Jack?

The phone call threw me. It was his voice, I was certain of that. I also knew, from overhearing lengthy conversations between inmates who’d been convicted of romance fraud, how easy it is to steal someone’s identity and use their voice notes and videos to catfish someone else. If I’d answered that phone call, instead of letting it go to voicemail, there wouldn’t have been a conversation, it would have cut off the moment Jack said hello.

That thought didn’t occur to me then because I was still in shock about Smithy’s assault and running into Dani. I wasn’t thinking clearly. Since I got out of prison I haven’t been thinking clearly at all – emotion, not logic, has fuelled every decision that I’ve made. When I went to Sonia’s house I was so caught up in everything she told me that I didn’t take the time to think about the best way to verify that it was really Jack behind the emails. I chose the holiday location question off the top of my head. But Jack wasn’t the only person who knew the answer to that question – Ayesha and Nancy knew it too. I’d told them both that the first thing Jack and I were going to do when my divorce was finalised was book a holiday to Iceland to see the Northern Lights.

Whoever sent me the emails, pretending to be Jack, had also stolen his phone.

Nancy or Ayesha? Ayesha or Nancy? One of them had followed Smithy back to her flat, stolen the evidence and pushed her down the stairs. I didn’t want to believe it was either of them but I had to know for sure. When I tried to ring ‘Jack’ from Ayesha’s apartment this morning I listened at her bedroom door for the sound of a mobile ringing. I didn’t hear anything. Either she’d turned the phone to silent or she had nothing to do with it. I had to check.

Only one person knew the answer to the question I’d texted to ‘Jack’ about my most embarrassing drunken incident. I really did throw up on my first boyfriend’s mother in a cab, an experience so humiliating I’ve always kept it to myself. Dominic didn’t know about it. Nor did Lee, Ayesha or Jack. But I told Nancy, because I told her everything. She was the only person I knew who wouldn’t judge me or bring it up in conversation to get a laugh at my expense.

‘Give me the keys, Liv.’ She takes another step closer. In the half-light of the garage her face is all dips and shadows and her hair is stripped of its red. It looks dark, the same colour it was before I was arrested, the same colour as the strand I found twirled around the pillow on my side of the marital bed.

‘How long have you been sleeping with Dominic?’ It’s a guess, the only reason for her actions that makes sense, but, from the expression on her face, I know I’m right.

A slow smirk twists her lips. ‘Long enough.’

It hurts more than I thought it would, the stab of betrayal, aimed straight for my heart.

‘Is that why you’re doing this, for him?’

‘No. It’s for both of us.’

I can’t believe we’re having this conversation, that the person standing in front of me, smirking and gloating and looking at me like I’m shit, is the same person I’d have trusted with my life.

‘Did you know?’ I ask her. ‘That he was going to frame me?’

She laughs softly. ‘Of course I did.’

If her first confession was a stab to my heart, this one is a blow to my guts.

I stare at her, still reeling. ‘But I thought. I thought Dani—’

‘She played her part.’ Nancy’s demeanour changes, as though a cold wind has swept through her. It’s Dani, the mention of her name.

‘You didn’t know, did you? That he was sleeping with you both? You only found out the other night when I mentioned it. That’s why you gasped. And you’re still doing this? When Dominic lied to you! When he was shagging someone else?’

Anger spikes through me and I head for the door. Screw the evidence and proving my innocence. Screw what happens to her, and to Dom, all that matters is getting my daughter back.

‘Give me the key.’ Nancy sidesteps me, blocking my path.

‘Fuck you.’ I shove both palms against her chest and she stumbles backwards but she doesn’t fall. She regains her balance and charges at me, throwing me against one of the garage’s cold brick walls. My hands take the brunt of the impact but before I can take a breath she’s on me again, yanking at the lanyard strap that’s poking out of my pocket. I grab her wrist but her other hand is free and her fist connects with my jaw. It stings but she’s too close for the punch to wield any power and when she swings for me again I raise my arm to block her and bring up my knee. She jumps backwards before it makes contact and swipes at the lanyard strap. I knock her hand away and spring away from the wall. We face off again, both breathing heavily: Nancy with her back to the door and me shoving the lanyard strap deep into my pocket.

‘You don’t have to do this, Nancy.’

Her dry laughter echoes off the walls. ‘Don’t I?’

‘Why didn’t you just tell me you were sleeping with Dom? Why do all of this?’

‘There’s a lot you don’t know.’

‘So tell me! We can still put this right. You can have Dom but he’s not having Grace.’

‘She’ll be fine. Kids are resilient.’

‘She’s my daughter, Nancy!’