For Your Own Protection(44)

‘When I visited the office.’

She looked embarrassed. ‘Well, that’s not—’

‘It’s okay,’ he said.

She was thinking out loud. ‘Maybe UGT will grant you some extra leave to come over to visit for a few weeks – particularly as it’s because of them that you’ll be away from Charlie?’

‘I don’t work for them anymore,’ Matt said. ‘I quit – yesterday, during dinner with Gabriel. I’m not going back there.’

Beth seemed thrown. ‘So what are you going to do?’

‘Teach. I’ve decided I’m going to retrain. Probably start a course this coming September. In the meantime, I’ll continue working at the college, on the financial management course.’

There was a pause as Beth reflected on the news. ‘Well, that’s great, if that’s what you want to do. I’m proud of you, Matt, I really am.’

Beth was still smiling as she went back to making the tea.

‘Look,’ Matt said, ‘there’s something else. Something I should have told you when it first happened. Something happened at the swimming pool on Sunday. I lost Charlie.’

The smile was gone. ‘You lost Charlie . . . ?’

‘Just for a few minutes. He was using the slide, and I let him go back around there on his own. But he needed the toilet and just went off to find it without telling me. I alerted the staff, and someone found him in the ladies’ loos and took him to one of the lifeguards.’

Beth looked sick. ‘You should’ve told me at the time.’ She shook her head. ‘Anything could have happened.’

‘But it didn’t. That’s the most important thing.’

She nodded at that, holding her tongue, but she still looked angry.

‘I thought Charlie might have mentioned something to you already.’

‘No. Nothing.’ She thought for a second. ‘Why tell me now?’

He was about to tell her about Catherine. About the man who had claimed she wasn’t who she said she was. About the fact that she had moved out of her flat in haste after being challenged. About the fact that she had been the one to find Charlie, and how her presence at the leisure centre was troubling.

And then the cryptic response as she walked away.

Everything I’ve done, it’s for your own protection.

But he didn’t say any of it. Because he still couldn’t make sense of it himself. And if he couldn’t, then how could he possibly explain it to Beth?

‘I told you now because you deserve to know.’

Surprisingly that brought back a smile, albeit one tinged with a lingering sense of anxiety. She reached for his arm and held him for a few seconds. ‘Thanks, Matt. I really appreciate your honesty.’



Matt sat at the kitchen table, his hands curled around a cup of tea. He’d returned from another successful teaching session – the best part of which was Harvey’s presence. Both Harvey and he had kept their word and returned to the course.

Amy had been delighted. And it had felt good to be in the classroom. Good to know that this was his future – not a stopgap, but something he wanted to pursue.

But could there be a bright future, if the two people he cared about the most weren’t going to be a part of it?

Matt pondered on Harvey’s words of the previous day, about not giving up on his family.

And yet he had given Beth the green light for Australia.

He pulled out his mobile phone, but just as his fingers hovered over Beth’s number, he looked at the wall clock. It was half past midnight. Calling at that time wouldn’t go down well. It would make him look deranged, for a start. And it would only serve to push his family further away.

Instead, he checked his email. There was a message from Gabriel. It was brief but to the point:

Dear Matt. Call me if you change your mind. It’s a lot to throw away. Think carefully. Best. Gabriel.

Matt was so deep in thought about Gabriel’s message that he almost missed the most important email.

It was from Catherine.





CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO


Matt approached the Serpentine, the lake in Hyde Park where Catherine had said she’d meet him. He couldn’t see her and thought of reaching for his phone. But she’d warned him not to contact her. So instead he found a spare bench and sat down, watching the crowds stroll and roll past.

‘Hi, Matt.’

She’d approached without him realising.

‘Hi,’ he said, shielding his eyes against the strengthening sun.

She joined him on the bench, but didn’t look too comfortable. ‘How are you?’

‘Not bad. And you?’

‘I really don’t know.’ She looked washed out, devoid of her usual energy, and the bright smile was missing.

‘You said you were going to tell me everything.’

She nodded. ‘My real name is Natalie – Natalie Austin.’

So Eddie was right in that respect.

‘I’ve got a quite unusual job,’ she continued. ‘I’m . . . well . . .’

‘You entrap men.’ It sounded like an accusation, and Natalie took it as such, reddening ever so slightly.

‘I find out the truth for my clients,’ she corrected. ‘I expose liars and cheats.’