A chill enters my bloodstream. ‘This isn’t to do with Eva and Katie, is it? Sadie isn’t going to—’
‘No, no. Nothing like that,’ Gary jumps in. ‘Sorry, I should have put your mind at rest before talking about all this stuff. This is nothing to do with the girls. We couldn’t find anything specifically aboutthem. But…’
‘But what?’
‘…it is to do withyou… and with Robert.’
‘What is? Sorry, I don’t quite understand what you’re telling me. And what has Sadie got to do with the dark web?’
‘She’s got a website on there,’ Gary says. ‘Don’t ask us how we found out.’
It hadn’t occurred to me that I would be asking my employees to engage in potentially illegal activities. I like to think of myself as a good, law-abiding citizen. But I’ve been pushed into this situation. When it comes to protecting my family, I’ve discovered I’m willing to cross lines.
‘What’s the website for?’ I ask.
‘Come and have a look,’ Gary says.
I get up and walk around the desk as Gary flips open his laptop. Leaning forwards, I stare at the screen while he opens a browser and clicks onto a site called ‘Relationship Assassin’.
‘This is her site?’ I ask.
‘Mmhm.’
‘What is it?’
‘It’s exactly what it says it is. She’s paid to assassinate relationships – break them up from the inside.’
‘So she’s not a nanny?’
‘Doesn’t look like it. But maybe she used a nanny persona to get close to your family.’
‘Fuck.’
‘Indeed,’ Gary replies.
I cover my mouth with my hand. My heart is banging in my chest and my vision blurs as the seriousness of what they’re telling me sinks in.
‘On here, she goes by the name Kelly Parker,’ Gary continues. ‘But that’s probably just another alias. I highly doubt she’d use her real identity for any of this stuff.’
My brain judders, trying to make sense of what Gary and Dave are telling me. That Sadie, or Kelly, or whatever her name is, is not a nanny. She was never qualified to take care of our children. She was in our house. Paid by someone to do a job. Paid by someone to ruin my marriage. The idea makes me feel physically sick.
But who would want to break me and Robert up?
Whoever it is, they’ve succeeded. Whoever it is, I’m going to find them. I’ll find out the truth and then I’ll make them sorry they ever messed with me and my family.
Fifty-Five
I sit in the café trying not to catch anyone’s eye. My back is to the door so she doesn’t see my face and then bolt. I’m wearing jeans, a white sweatshirt and a dark brown wig braided in a single plait down my back. In my message, I told her to look out for the braid and the white sweatshirt. It makes me stand out from everyone else. Ensures she’ll come and sit at my table. I told her my name was Linda, and I wanted to divorce my husband. That I needed her to set a honey trap for him so that I can cite infidelity as my reason for divorce. She wanted five hundred quid up front just for this meeting.
Dave is sitting at a table diagonal to me. He starts tapping his fingers on the side of his coffee cup to alert me to the fact that Sadie has just walked in. I swallow and put a hand on my knee to stop it bouncing up and down. I shouldn’t be anxious. I should be furious. I take a breath and will myself to stay calm.
I sense someone coming up behind me and I take a sip of my tea as she walks up to the table and smiles questioningly.
‘Linda?’ Sadie asks. Her hair hangs down like a curtain of dark silk. Her make-up is flawless and she’s wearing a beautifully tailored trouser suit that shows off her cleavage. I put my cup back down on the table and stare up at her, watching with satisfaction as her expression clouds with puzzlement. She’s trying to work out where she knows me from. But the wig has confused her.
‘Hello, Sadie,’ I say. ‘Or should that beKelly?’
It only takes a split second for recognition to set in. There’s a fleeting expression of shock but she quickly composes her features and remains standing. ‘Go home, Gemma. You’re out of your depth.’
