The Guilty Couple(85)
I will never know whether he turned up at my gallery that day by chance or because he was trying to extort money out of my husband. I’ll never know if he loved me as much as he claimed or if he’d have abandoned me the moment Dominic handed him fifty grand. I’ve convinced myself that the truth lies somewhere in between: that Jack began the affair with me with nefarious motives but, somewhere along the line, he fell in love with me too. If Dominic had paid up there’s a possibility Jack and I would have started a new life together but I’d have discovered the truth about Jack’s past at some point and it would all have fallen apart. Or would it? If Dominic could keep me in the dark for so long there’s every chance Jack could have too.
Was I gullible or was I just trusting? While I’d lived my life playing by the rules, I’d inadvertently surrounded myself with liars, manipulators and criminals: a fraudulent husband whose real name I didn’t know, a lover who’d been in and out of jail, a best friend who would have left me for dead and a personal trainer who stole five years of my life. Some people will claim that I wasn’t an innocent in what happened, that I deserved to be punished for falling in love with a man I wasn’t married to. But did the punishment fit the crime? I lost my freedom, my career, my reputation and the most precious thing in my life, my child.
I don’t think it did.
When Dominic and Nancy were arrested I was confronted with the biggest decision I’d ever faced: should I reveal that I’d been framed, attempt to prove my innocence and step back into my old life – one I barely remembered, safe, predictable and quiet? Or should I try on a new life for size? Maybe it would be interesting to be the perpetrator instead of the victim? To be in control instead of controlled? To mix up the pencils and walk away without a second thought?
‘Mum!’ Grace strolls in from the balcony, her long limbs glistening with sunscreen and a light film of sweat, her blonde hair swept up in a bun. ‘Can we go down to the pool? It’s boiling in here.’
‘You’re the one who chose Bermuda!’
‘Yeah.’ She pads across the tiled floor to the villa’s kitchen area and takes a Diet Coke from the fridge. ‘I didn’t say I regret it. I said I’m hot.’
We’ve been here for less than forty-eight hours and she’s spent at least ten of them in the pool or the sea.
‘Let’s see what Smithy wants to do. She’s just getting changed.’
‘Oi oi! Do I hear my name being taken in vain?’ On cue, Smithy appears in the doorway in a blue bikini with a white sarong slung around her hips. The raised ridge of her surgery scar that runs from just above her bikini bottoms to her waist looks red and angry against the pale hue of her skin. She sees me looking and grins.
‘I’m gonna tell the girls a shark did it, next time I’m inside.’
I raise an eyebrow. ‘What do you mean, “next time”?’
‘I know, I know.’ Her grin widens. ‘I’m starting my course when we get back. Jeez, you’re worse than a screw. Anyway,’ she rubs her hands together excitedly. ‘When are we going shopping? I’ve got a hundred grand to spend.’
Grace, sitting cross-legged on the kitchen counter, lowers the can from her mouth and gawps. ‘That’s a fifth, Mum.’
‘Good to see you’ve been paying attention in maths lessons. Yes, I gave Smithy that much because she earned it and I gave some to Lee and Ayesha as well. And no,’ I add before she can respond, ‘I’m not going to tell you how much.’
Difficult decisions can be made quite quickly, as it turns out.
After Dani arrested Dominic I spent a couple of hours at Ayesha’s house then, after a brief visit to Lee’s apartment and a charity shop, I took Grace to Smithy’s place to lie low. The police came knocking soon after. They were investigating a case of mortgage fraud, they told me, and they’d been informed that I was in possession of a suitcase that contained a significant amount of money. I handed it over, telling them my daughter had mistakenly grabbed it as we’d left the airport after my ex-husband was arrested. They took away Nancy’s case, filled with charity shop clothes. Several days later, I returned to Lee’s flat – ensuring I wasn’t followed – to retrieve the cash I’d stashed.
Ayesha steadfastly refused to take the money. She took one look inside the parcel I handed her and gave it straight back, telling me it was the proceeds of crime and there was no way she could take it. I told her to think of it as my compensation money for being wrongly convicted. She could donate it to a charity if she didn’t want to keep it. She still said no. At some point she’ll discover the package under one of her sofa cushions. I slipped it there before I hugged her goodbye. What she does when she finds it is up to her, but I’m guessing she won’t hand it in to the police. Lee cried when I gave him his parcel. No more dead-end jobs, I told him. You can start up your own gallery or your community art project. When a dream dies sometimes you get the opportunity to resuscitate it.
‘All right then,’ I say decisively. ‘We’re going shopping. Put something on over your bikini, Grace. You can’t go round the shops like that.’
She rolls her eyes at me but she slides off the counter, slips past Smithy in the doorway, and her feet slap against the tiles as she makes her way to her room. My phone vibrates on the glass coffee table where it’s lying next to The Right Way to Do Wrong by Harry Houdini. I slide the phone nearer to look at the screen.