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‘So there is a Sandra?’ Mary said.

He frowned. ‘Yes, but there’s nothing to it. I’m not having—’

‘That’s not what I was getting at,’ Mary said. ‘I was just saying that there is a Sandra. Whoever wrote this didn’t simply make it up. They know there’s a Sandra, and they know details about our relationship they shouldn’t know.’

She puffed out her cheeks.

‘The question is how,’ she said. ‘And who the fuck is writing these things?’

She Had Her Doubts

Mary shook her head. ‘It’s impossible,’ she said. ‘I have no idea what the hell is going on.’

‘I’m not sure.’ Ryan looked at her thoughtfully. ‘There’s quite a lot we know. We know someone put the note on the pole and watched you read it. Then they were at the library event and at the soccer game.’ He ticked off the facts on his fingers. ‘So they knew you would be at those places. And they knew that I know a Sandra and you had doubts about me.’

Mary felt a coldness spread out from the pit of her stomach. She felt hollow, and, for a moment, her vision wavered. She forced herself to focus. ‘That means it’s someone I know,’ she said. ‘Someone I’ve trusted in the past. Someone I shared my feelings with. Someone I told about us, when we were dating.’

‘Exactly. It’s not random. The note on the pole was not a fishing trip. It was about you – and that narrows it down. Who did you talk to back then?’

‘Joanie. Rona. My mom.’

‘You talked to Rona?’ He shook his head. ‘The less she knows about me, the better.’

‘I did. She’s a friend, Ryan. And we were closer in those days. The kids hung out together. Plus she’s a good listener – and as it happens she told me I should go for it and stick with you, so you shouldn’t be too pissed that I told her.’

‘That’s not what I’m saying,’ Ryan said. ‘You can talk to whoever you want. It’s more that if you told Rona, then you might as well have taken out a billboard downtown. She loves being in the know. She could have told anyone. And once it’s out there’ – he paused – ‘you know how it goes. People talk.’ He put on a high, mean-sounding voice. ‘Oh, you know Mary and her younger husband Ryan? They seem a great couple now, but they nearly didn’t get together. She had her doubts.’ He switched back to his own voice, serious. ‘So I think we have to assume that anyone could have found this out, if they wanted to, which widens the pool considerably.’

‘I’m not sure she would have told people,’ Mary said. She paused. There was something – someone – else on her mind. ‘What about Trent? He could have been following me this morning. And he lied about his dog.’

‘Did he? Maybe he told the truth. Maybe the dog did find its own way home.’

‘Still. It’s suspicious. And Joanie said he was really specific about wanting this house.’

‘Why?’ Ryan said. ‘Why would he target you?’

She had no idea, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t doing it. ‘I don’t know. But maybe there’s a reason.’

‘And he would certainly not know anything about our past.’

‘Maybe he would.’ She shrugged. ‘If Rona had told people it would be common knowledge and he could have found out.’

‘OK. Put him down as a possibility. Who else?’

Mary stared into the distance. If you really thought about it, there were so many possibilities. ‘Someone who was at the library, and at the game today. Or near the game. That’s half the town.’

‘What about Carl?’ Ryan said. ‘You and he have some history, and he knows enough people that he could find out about us.’

‘He’s not that kind of guy,’ Mary said. ‘He just isn’t.’ She pictured him shuffling towards her in the car park, a bashful smile on his lips, nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon other than visit his old high school.

He was at the game, though. And at the library. She sucked in her top lip and bit it, fighting to stop the panic rising in her chest.

‘I saw him today,’ she said, in a quiet voice.

Ryan frowned. ‘Really? Where?’

‘When I was in the car – reading the note – he showed up.’

The frown became a scowl. ‘What was he doing there?’