The Hike(54)

But she was hardly one to talk. It wasn’t like she hadn’t planned all this. Shut up, Cat. Stay focused.

‘Clear!’ Paul’s voice seemed to come from very far away, and she realised that he’d made it down the steep, chained descent and was standing on a flatter area, a hundred metres or so down. He waved up at her. ‘Come on. It’s fine. If I can do it . . .’

She turned to face into the mountainside, stepped across and took hold of the chain. Then she made the mistake of looking down at Paul. From that angle, it looked very, very steep. A wave of dizziness passed over her, and she blinked it away. Took another breath in fast, then out long and slow.

She took small steps, keeping her toes pressed hard into the mud. She ignored Paul’s encouraging calls. Tried to zone him out. She was sick of hearing his voice. She wasn’t sure she wanted him to reveal the truth now – about what had happened with the woman at work. As far as everyone was concerned, there was no case, and therefore no evidence. He said, she said. And he said he didn’t touch her. That she was the one making it all up, because her job was on the line and she needed to distract the company into keeping her on. They’d hardly sack a woman who’d accused a male employee of groping her in a lift after the work Christmas party. Not in these times. As everyone was always pointing out – a court case for something like this would drag the woman’s reputation through the mud. Why on earth would anyone lie and put themselves through that?

The verdict from the employer’s investigation had implied that she did lie – or, at least, she had misremembered. Paul was a model employee. They were both drunk. It was all just a bit of fun. So he said. Just bantz. A bit of flirting, from both sides. It was nothing.

He absolutely did not touch her. He said.

Cat remembered exactly what she’d been doing when the photograph had popped up on the screen of her MacBook. She’d been looking into luxury breaks in the Maldives. She’d thought the two of them needed a bit of time away, after the pandemic had scuppered their travel plans for so long. Her finger had been on the ‘Buy Now’ button on the ridiculously overpriced flights. Then the image had appeared, stopping her in her tracks.

‘That’s it, you’re nearly there.’

Paul’s voice broke through her thoughts, and she blinked the image away. But it was timely that she’d been thinking about it now. Because it was going to help explain things when they made it to the police station.

She slowed down, keeping her toes pushed into the mud. She slipped a couple of times. It was so damp and wet under the trees. No sun made its way in there. But she kept her hands tight on the chain.

The photograph had been perfectly clear. A selfie. Two people in a lift. The man in a white shirt, partially unbuttoned. His hair mussed, his eyes a little unfocused. He was holding the phone up high in his left hand. In his right, he was holding the woman. Her face was pressed up against the mirrored wall of the lift, slightly to the side. Her hands were pressed on the mirror. Her blouse was loose, her skirt pushed up at the back. She was wearing a thong. But only the top string was visible, as the one that went underneath her was obscured by the man’s right hand.

It was the faces that Cat remembered most clearly. His, grinning: the cat that got the cream. The woman, wide-eyed. Shocked. Pained.

Scared.

Another photograph appeared straight after. The woman sitting in the corner of the lift, hands over her face. Knees pulled up to her chest. The man in close-up, his tongue poking out of his mouth in a suggestive manner.

Cat been stunned. But she’d acted quickly, screenshotting both of the images – before a few seconds later, they had both disappeared from their shared Cloud.

Rookie mistake, Paul, she thought, as she recalled it. Make sure you know where your phone is sending things.

‘Well done. That’s the hard bit over.’

She’d made it to the bottom.

She flinched as his hands touched her shoulders, steering her on to the flatter part of the path. The fresh memories had brought her revulsion back to the surface.

‘Look, Cat . . .’ He turned her to face him. ‘I know you want me to talk about all that stuff that happened at work, and I promise you, I will. But can we just get down, first? I think we’ve survived the tricky part, but it looks like there’s still a bit to go to make it to the bottom.’

She peered down at the winding, rocky path. She didn’t want to listen to his version of the truth, anyway. He’d had plenty of opportunity for that, and he’d lied. So then she had lied back, saying that the truth would set them free. Well, it wasn’t going to. She was stuck with him now, and they were going to have to stick to the same story to avoid both of them being arrested for murder – but that was where their relationship now lay. The thought of staying married to him made her feel sick.

The new plan that she had been formulating as she made the descent was starting to take shape in her head.

‘Sure,’ she said. ‘We can talk about it all later.’ She set off ahead of him, taking careful steps. There were lots of loose rocks on the path, which itself was slippery and uneven. The gradient was still fairly steep, too. She wished she could walk faster, but it was going to be an arduous journey back to base.

‘I mean, like I said before . . . it’s all in the past now, right? I left the job to make things easier. I didn’t want her feeling . . . I don’t know . . . embarrassed about it all. About her mistake.’