He’d been ten years old when he understood that his mother wasn’t coming back. He’d adored her and, so he thought, she him. Yet she’d walked out of their lives without a backward glance, leaving him alone with a man who should never have been a father.
It was no wonder that he found it hard to form relationships with women. He’d had a few girlfriends over the years. Nothing serious, just a string of flings with beautiful women who wanted to change him. To save him. Yet he had nothing in common with any of them and this had made him feel even more alone.
That all went through his mind now, like a galloping horse, as he stood there with his half-empty champagne glass. He should leave. He was never going to be the kindof protégé that Stanley was after. He was a good surgeon, but he was no networker. He lacked the charm.
And then he saw her.
She was standing by the door, alone, in an emerald gown, low-cut at the front, which showed off her long white throat and the diamond necklace that shimmered in her full cleavage. Her auburn hair was swept up in a Grace Kelly do and she looked as lost as he felt. In that moment it was as though all the air had been sucked from the room, everyone else fading into the background. Even the music seemed to stop. He’d never experienced that feeling before. It was more than her beauty that attracted him. Yes, she was stunning, but he recognized something in her. Something that was mirrored in him.
She must have been aware of his gaze because she turned her head towards him, her eyes meeting his, and he inhaled sharply, his stomach dipping with a sudden hungry desire that was almost painful.
Their eyes locked, only for a few moments, but it was enough time for him to feel it. The certainty that she was his other half. The woman he had been missing for all of his thirty-one years.
He’d never believed in love at first sight.
Until now.
7
LENA
‘A man’s voice.’
‘What did he say?’ asks Jo. I’d called her straight after listening to the tape. My whole body is still trembling at the thought someone was in my garden last night.
‘He said, “I forgot about the fucking dog.”’
Jo gasps. ‘Oh, my God! Did you recognize the voice?’
I glance towards the patio, where the tub is still on its side. There is a crack in the rim. ‘I don’t know. It was hard to tell. Obviously it was someone who knows I have a dog.’ I feel sick and push away the toast I was nibbling. I stand up and begin pacing. ‘I’m scared, Jo. All night I’ve been thinking about it, going over and over it. I overhear the Morgans talking about something potentially dodgy and then this happens. It can’t be a coincidence, can it? My back gate was wide open. I swear it was locked. I’m worried Henry might have seen me with the boom mic.’
‘I don’t know,’ Jo’s voice sounds small. ‘But even if they had, why would they come into your garden?’
‘To break into the house and steal the tape?’
‘But breaking in? It’s not like you recorded them saying anything particularly incriminating.’
‘Yes. True. The part where they said they were worried about getting caught was at the end of their conversation and I wasn’t even recording at that stage. But they wouldn’t know that, would they? If Henry spotted me he might have assumed I’d recorded more of their conversation. Who knows how incriminating it was? I didn’t catch all of it. God, Jo … this is a nightmare. For all we know they could be secret psychopaths. A Fred and Rose West hidden underneath a veneer of respectability.’
‘Don’t panic. I’ve got to get to work, but I’ll speak to Paul about installing a camera in your back garden.’ Paul has his own security firm and kindly gave me a Ring doorbell when Charlie moved out. ‘Will you tell Rufus?’
I shake my head, even though she can’t see me. ‘I don’t want to worry him. He’s been through enough. I just …’ I swallow and blink back the tears that have come out of nowhere. ‘I just want him to feel safe.’ If I told him, I know he’d worry. Despite his gangly limbs, which he hasn’t quite grown into yet, I still think of him as the little boy who always wanted me to check his wardrobe for monsters before he went to sleep.
‘Understandable. You don’t think it was one of his mates messing about or that kid who bullied him last year?’
It did enter my mind that it might have been Jackson. But Rufus has had no problems with him since he left school a year ago. Why would he suddenly strike now? ‘No. I don’t think so.’
‘Look, let’s put this into perspective. I know we were saying all sorts last night and letting our imaginations run away with us. But it’s doubtful you’re in any danger fromHenry Morgan. I mean, in the cold light of day the idea is ludicrous. How old did you say he was? Like, seventy?’
‘Not quite. Late sixties.’
‘Well, there you are, then. Perfectly harmless.’
I know Jo is trying to make me feel better. It’s what she’s always done. She’s like the big sister I never had, a confidence booster and a brilliant sounding board. She always makes me feel better and talks me down when I start to spin out (which seems to be more often since Charlie left).
‘I don’t know, Jo. I keep thinking about what happened all those years ago when I was doing my midwife training. Remember I told you about Simone? If only I’d spoken up then about what was going on, what Simone and that doctor were up to, instead of burying my head in the sand. If only …’
‘Look, that wasn’t your fault, and neither is this.’
