The Things You Didn't See(86)

Here she tails off, gazing into the middle distance and suddenly I understand the unloved house. She doesn’t want to be here – she had a better life that was taken from her.

‘Did the cancer come back?’ I ask, hardly daring to hear the answer.

‘Of course it fucking did!’ She pulls down her vest top, revealing a padded post-surgery bra. I can see an ugly red scar on each side of her chest. ‘What could have been treated had been left to fester and grow. A double mastectomy was the only option by the time I finally woke up to how I’d been conned and went back to the hospital.’

Her voice cracks, and I see how broken she is by this.

‘I’m so sorry.’

‘Oh yeah,’ she snaps, ‘sorry does a fat lot of good. Two years ago, it all blew up. I told Daniel I was gonna sue him for every penny he’s got, called him, turned up at his work, did everything I could to make him pay attention! Alfie wanted to put the story out on the front page, but I was too proud. Didn’t want the world to know what a fool I’d been.’

The dreaded name makes me flinch. ‘Alfie Avon hates Daniel.’

‘And with good reason. We’d been married thirteen years – ironic, isn’t it? But the stress of my cancer, then this . . . it broke us apart. I was sick: I didn’t have the energy to fight for my marriage. I’d finally agreed to Alfie exposing Daniel, and it was lined up for the front page, when Daniel made me an offer: private education for my girl and private treatment for my breast reconstruction.’

‘And this was two years ago?’ I knew nothing about any of it. Daniel had kept it from me. The calls, the missing money: there was no affair. ‘I didn’t know anything about it.’

‘Yeah, well, Alfie always said Daniel was protecting you and that you were his Achilles heel – the reason he feared exposure so damn much. Frankly, as long as he paid Dawn’s fees and for my reconstruction, I didn’t give a fuck if you knew or not.’

‘But how can Daniel afford it?’

‘Well, clearly,’ she says, snapping the envelope in my face, ‘he can’t. I’ve had it with his empty promises. This really is his last chance.’

‘Last chance?’

‘He’s told me about the Spa, what a gold mine it’ll be. So I’ve given him six months and he’s promised me – promised me! – that he’ll see me right. And if he doesn’t, Alfie will get his scoop and I’ll sue him to high heaven.’

When the door slams closed behind me, I take in a lungful of cold air, then another. Monica’s unhappiness filled the whole house, but out here in the cold air it’s gone. I feel released, and so grateful. I was wrong, Daniel’s not having an affair. Oh God, I’m almost delirious with it. He doesn’t love Monica – it really is just a business arrangement. She said it herself, he was protecting me – that was why it was kept secret. I’m dizzy with relief, I feel a stone lighter.

He’s still mine, and he loves me.





DAY 14

FRIDAY 14 NOVEMBER





41

Holly

It was a cold afternoon, and colder in her car where the air seemed to have set at a low temperature. She’d managed to get a few hours’ sleep that afternoon, in preparation for her night shift at the Bartlet. Tonight, with Jon’s approval, she’d be shadowing Clive at the hospital, watching as the sleep test on Hector was conducted.

Holly’s breath travelled around her as she turned the key in the ignition and willed the heating to kick in. The windscreen hadn’t yet cleared when her phone rang. It was Leif, and as soon as she heard his hushed voice, she knew he was about to tell her something he shouldn’t.

‘Are you sitting down, Holly?’

‘Not comfortably, but yes,’ she said.

‘Okay, this is confidential, ja? There is much excitement at work, and I think you should know.’

‘What’s happened?’

She could hear his rapid breathing. ‘I shouldn’t tell you, you know this . . .’

‘But you want to. You know how much it means to me.’ She hated how coaxing she sounded, using his feelings for her to win him over, but he had called her. Whatever had happened, he wanted to tell her as much as she needed to hear.

‘Okay, S?tnos.’ His voice lowered, although she knew he was calling from his flat – the number was on her screen. ‘The forensics team used a Crime-lite on Daniel Salmon’s car, and the boot lit up. Blue as Portman Road when Ipswich are actually winning, the man said. He is very humorous, despite the science.’

Holly tried to process this. ‘A blue light? What does that mean?’

‘It means Maya’s blood is in his car. In the boot, just like you said.’

Holly didn’t want to get excited, but she couldn’t help her heart breaking into a trot. Her synaesthesia had been spot-on. ‘I don’t understand though – Maya was found inside the farmhouse.’

Leif patiently explained, ‘Ja, but whoever shot Maya would have been splattered in blood. If it was Daniel, he’d have had to take off these bloody clothes before he drove away.’

Holly closed her eyes and the image returned of Daniel balling up his outer clothes, shoving them in the car boot. And he’d disappeared for hours that Saturday, presumably getting rid of the evidence.