Carla took a moment to study her. She was a pretty redhead, with curling locks, freckles, and the most gorgeous green eyes. Nothing like Carla, or Yale’s fiancée. It appeared the man didn’t have a type, unlessgulliblecould be called a type.
‘Anita?’ Carla asked hesitantly.
‘You must be Carla.’ Anita gave Ashton a doubtful look, as though she hadn’t expected Carla to have brought anyone with her.
‘This is Ashton. He drove me here.’
Anita indicated they should sit, and once they were settled she pushed the document wallet across the table. ‘This is why I wanted to speak to you in person,’ she said.
‘What is it?’ Carla opened the envelope flap and slid out a sheaf of papers.
‘Messages between me and Yale.’ Anita spat out his name. ‘He denied he sent them, and he even deleted his side of the conversation so there would be no record. But I’d taken screenshots.’
Carla was perplexed. ‘Why did you do that?’
‘I had a stalker a few years ago, and now I always screenshot anything that can disappear, just in case.’ Her tone was matter-of-fact.
Carla flicked through them, scanning them quickly. Oh, my…
Anita said, ‘I could have emailed them to you, but I wanted to meet you in person. I can’t believe he did it again. I heard he took it further and reported you to HR. What a snake.’
Carla told her the full story, and Anita nodded along. When she’d finished speaking, Anita asked, ‘What does his fiancée look like?’
‘Tall, thin, dressed to the nines, with bouncy blonde hair. Expensive looking.’
‘That’s the woman he cheated on when he was with me, but she was his girlfriend then, not his fiancée. Her father is really well off. I mean,really.He’s just started a new venture in Birmingham, something to do with luxury cars.’
‘Is that why Yale transferred to the Birmingham office from Leeds?’
‘I expect so.’
‘He’s a fool to be playing around,’ Carla said.
‘He’s an arrogant so-and-so. I think he honestly believes he isn’t going to get caught.’
‘And even when he does, he comes out of it smelling of roses.’ Carla was incensed.
Anita tapped the folder. ‘I left the company of my own accord without a fuss, because I couldn’t face the fallout.’ Her eyes filled with tears. ‘I loved him so much, and he broke my heart.’ Sheblinked furiously. ‘I wish I hadn’t let him walk all over me. I wish I’d stayed and fought, but I didn’t have it in me. Not then. I’m not sure I do now, to be honest. But I think you do.’
Carla nodded slowly. ‘You’re right, I do.’ However, she wasn’t sure whether the contents of this folder or what Anita had told her would be enough.
Anita said sombrely, ‘Look at the last couple of printouts.’
Carla did. They weren’t screenshots of messages and neither were they emails or photographs. They were transcripts of phone conversations. And what they said made Carla’s blood boil. Yale really was a nasty piece of work.
‘Are these verbatim?’ she asked.
‘They are.’
‘You could have made all this up. I know you didn’t,’ she added hastily, ‘but that’s what they will say.’
‘I expect they will, if that was all there is.’ There was steel in Anita’s eyes. ‘I recorded both conversations. I know what he did to me isn’t exactly the same as what he did to you, but it’s close enough. He won’t have a leg to stand on!’
Carla felt exhausted as she and Ashton returned to his car later that afternoon.
Anita had left shortly after her revelation, promising to keep in touch, so Carla and Ashton had decided to grab something to eat before tackling the long drive back to Picklewick. It had takennearly five hours to get to Leeds, due to traffic and roadworks along several lengths of the motorways, and there was no reason to think the return journey would be any less fraught.
Carla was shattered, and she wasn’t the one who would be doing the driving! Poor Ashton must be seriously regretting accompanying her today. It was a pity they couldn’t break the journey—
