Page 43 of Read Between The Lines

Finally, they reached the Head of the River and started to make their turn to come back towards the boat house. The safety boat spun round more quickly and backed off to give them space. Judging by the laughter on board, Leo was in his element, relaxed and happy. Even at this distance, I could see his smile and appreciate the way it lit up his face. I felt an unwanted pang of envy that I wasn’t the one sitting beside him, able to join in with his jokes with casual ease without worrying how he might or might not feel about me and whether I might or might not be worthy of his attention. Because wasn’t that what was really at the root of my doubts and insecurity? That feeling of not being worthy, of not actually deserving to be loved? It seemed to come so easily to most people, yet for me it felt like the hardest thing in the world. Previous relationships had fizzled out, guys declaring that they wanted to keep things casual, then, within months of them breaking up with me, I’d see posts on social media announcing their engagement or similar. They weren’t keen on commitment when it came to me, but would go all in with someone else. Why wasn’t I ever enough? And then Brian had come along, everything I’d ever dreamed of and more, seemingly with none of the game-play that I’d endured before. No wonder I’d been such an easy mark.

I gave myself a mental shake. There was no point in sitting here and wallowing. It wasn’t going to change anything. I needed to focus on the positive. While other people might have crumbled after experiencing what I had been through with the fraudster, after an initial wobble, I had got back up again and come out fighting, refusing to let it define me. That proved I was a strong person, surely? It was hard to ignore, but I didn’t have to listen to the horrid voice in my head telling me I was unlovable. How other people viewed me was up to them, but I should probably try to be kinder to myself in the future. As for the crush on Leo: well, yes, I had developed one, I could admit that to myself. But, for now, it was sensible to put that to one side so I could concentrate on bringing down Scammer Brian. I would need all the headspace I could find to make that happen.

I got up from my bench and walked back through the park and headed home, pretending to myself that I couldn’t care less whether Leo had spotted me or not.

* * *

Inevitably the first thing I did when I got back was to check the messages on my phone. There were two missed calls from Gavin and the briefest of texts from Leo giving directions to his gym. He made no mention of his rowing coaching, and I resisted the temptation to ask him about it, ringing Gavin straight back instead.

‘Hello, this is Gavin speaking,’ he answered the phone in a very proper fashion.

‘Hi, it’s Kat, I’m just returning your calls. I’m really sorry I missed them.’

‘Oh, thank goodness. I’ve been worried something bad had happened at that event last night.’

‘Oh Gav, I’m so sorry. I’m absolutely fine, I promise. I just left my phone at home when I went for a walk.’

‘That’s a relief.’

‘Thank you so much for standing guard yesterday evening. How did you and Robin get on?’

‘Pretty well, if I do say so myself. We hung around for half an hour, as you suggested, and I took careful notes about every man who walked in that building. They mostly seemed fairly ordinary, but there were one or two who seemed a bit off.’

‘Go on,’ I said.

‘It’s hard to explain. It was more of an instinct rather than anything hugely concrete.’ He was backtracking now, but I knew that Gavin’s intuition was not to be unheeded. After all, he hadn’t survived this long on the streets by ignoring it.

‘I’m listening.’ In fact, I’d sat down at my desk and pulled out a pad of paper ready to take notes.

‘There was one guy who loitered outside for ages putting on a college tie before he walked in the bar.’

‘Ah yes, I think I know who you’re talking about. But there could be a simple explanation, like he might have been coming straight from somewhere else and not had time to change beforehand.’ I decided to play devil’s advocate to encourage Gavin to elaborate on his concerns.

‘It was a new purchase. He took it out of a shopping bag and dropped the receipt on the ground. Robin went and fetched it for me.’

‘She’s a clever girl, Robin. What was it about the new tie that got you worried?’

‘He could just have been trying to impress people, but I wondered if he was pretending to be somebody he wasn’t. He seemed a bit shifty to me. There was something off about him.’

‘Did he have floppy hair?’

‘Yes, he did.’

‘He definitely sounds like a guy I met who said his name was Marcus. He claimed to be a Physics professor, but he didn’t act like any of the other university lecturers I’ve come across. Actually, it’s fair to say he put the “letch” into lecturer.’ I smiled at my own bad joke. At least it was a healthy reaction to what happened last night. ‘Let me start my laptop and I’ll look him up. I should have done that earlier. You can tell me about the other suspicious person you spotted while I’m googling.’

‘Sure. The other guy had an iPad and he kept coming in and out of the building while the event was on. He was tapping away on that thing like nobody’s business.’

‘That sounds like the organiser, Dom. He founded the app. He struck me as being the kind of person who spends half his life on the internet. What was it about him that set the alarm bells ringing?’

‘In truth, it’s because Robin had a little growl at him that my suspicions were raised. Her judgment is usually spot on,’ said Gavin. ‘But then again, there was a tin can blowing around the street at the same time, and she always gets upset by the noise they make.’

I was only half listening to what Gavin was saying because I was so taken aback by what I could see on screen.

‘You’ll never guess what I’ve just found out about Marc.’ I skim-read the article again, to make sure it was definitely about the guy I’d met last night. ‘There’s a piece in theOxford Mailabout him. According to this, he’s been suspended from the university due to numerous “inappropriate behaviour” allegations from students. That certainly ties in with how he acted towards me. The article has a quote from him denying that he’s done anything wrong and complaining that he’s not receiving his full pay while he’s on suspension.’

The cogs were turning quickly now. Marc’s voice had sounded different to Brian’s but it had been noisy in the bar.

Gavin tutted. ‘He sounds like a wrong ’un. I hope my information helps.’

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