Page 95 of The Snag List
His parting words rattled around Lindy’s head as the taxi shuddered and stalled through the Thursday-morning traffic. Fun. When was the last time she had fun? The early days of The Snag List were fun. At a certain point it had felt like she really was on to something. Maybe she could write a book about the whole experience. People love a trainwreck – she’d probably make some money.How to Win Friends and Then Ruin Their Lives. And Yours While You’re At It!would probably be a bestseller. She had decided she was still going to do the life-coaching course, it started in a week. Even if she never became a practitioner, she wanted to do it for herself. And thank God for Finn and Skin Love. The second this legal nightmare was over she could get on with making some kind of ordinary life for herself and Max. Beside her, Elise was suddenly alert and rapidly tapping out something on her phone.
‘Lindy, my assistant says something’s going down with the other side,’ Elise muttered at her. ‘She’s saying Adrian and Adam and the team were all sitting outside in the hall, and some woman showed up and Adam freaked out. They’ve all gone into one of the side rooms, and she says even through the door it sounds heated.’
Lindy automatically pulled out her phone to check her messages in case she had any updates. The Snag List group was bopping, with Ailbhe and Roe sending encouraging memes and chatting about the opening night ofVoices of Glory, just ten hours away. Next she opened her emails but there was nothing new.
‘Oh shit!’ Elise exclaimed gleefully. ‘They’ve just this SECOND emailed with a settlement proposal! They’re running scared!’
‘Seriously?’ Lindy couldn’t believe it.
‘We have to figure out what’s going on. We’ll be there in five so I’ll tell them to their faces that there’s no way in hell we are going to pay them! You never did anything wrong.’
Unlikely we’ll ever prove that, Lindy thought sadly. In theory, anyone could’ve shared that clip. The internet was a slippery place: no matter how careful you were, nothing was unhackable.
Minutes later, they pulled up in front of the commercial court building to see Adam and his team spilling onto the street. Adam looked furious and his solicitor was obviously trying to calm him down. She heard him say, ‘It’s over, Adam.’
‘Do you want to stay here and I’ll suss everything?’ Elise asked.
‘No way, I want a front-row seat.’ Lindy scootched along the back seat to follow her out.
‘Please wait for us,’ Elise called back to the driver. ‘I have a feeling this won’t take long.’
‘Ms Enyi-Amadi! Mrs Zelner! You got our email?’
‘Yeah and you’re obviously high or senile if you think we’ll be settling with you when your whole case hasclearlysuddenly been derailed. Who or what is messing with your heads?’ Elise was openly revelling in this new turn of events.
At that moment, Rachel Fitzsimon walked out of the building.
‘Rachel!’ Lindy was stunned. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Lindy! I am so sorry.’ Rachel rushed towards her but Lindy held her arms up to stop her.
‘Rachel, please leave me alone. Look, I don’t care, all right, but I don’t want to see you. Why are you here?’
‘Rachel says she leaked the tape, Lindy,’ Adam spat, glaring at the ground.
‘Meaning your whole charge of corporate sabotage against my client is in the toilet.’ Elise was jubilant.
‘Why would you do that?’ Lindy was baffled. ‘No one knew it was you in the tape. Now this will get out, Rachel. Fitzy will find out. And Fielding.’
‘I couldn’t live with it.’ Rachel reached for Lindy again and this time Lindy tolerated her hand on her arm. ‘I was so guilty about being with Adam. And then you told me how he was pushing you to keep Maxxed Out going, and I thought if the video got out he’d have to drop it and you’d be free.’
‘Right.’ Lindy frowned. ‘I wouldn’t say it’s the most helpful thing anyone’s ever done for me, to be honest. I get what you were trying to do but—’
‘Then,’ Rachel burst into tears, ‘when I realised he was even going to use that against you, I was sick. I am so sorry, Lindy. You’ve really helped me these last couple of months and I just couldn’t let him do this.’ She wheeled around to Adam. ‘You are a sick prick,’ she screamed. ‘What kind of person does this …?’
Lindy backed away wearily and slid into the car, closing the door behind her. Through the glass, Rachel’s ranting at Adam was mercifully muted. A guy passing on his bike stopped to film the altercation.And the circle of internet life is complete, she thought wryly.
Elise jumped in beside her. ‘Well, that was unexpected. I had blocked off my whole day so I’m afraid I’ll still have to charge you my day rate. But when you counter sue, you’ll be raking it in!’
Lindy laughed. ‘I won’t be doing anything except putting this behind me. Adam doesn’t have any money, Elise.’ She stared at her husband getting a dressing down from his mistress as they pulled away from the kerb. ‘He has less than nothing.’
She sat back and texted the Snag List group.
Adam screwed Rachel and then Rachel screwed him. Heading to Finn’s to celebrate. I’ll see you both at the show and fill you in on everything.
32
‘STAGE MANAGER SAYS FIFTY MINUTES TOshowtime!’ called Danny, traipsing through the backstage area of the Liberty Theatre, where the inaugural run ofVoices of Glorywas being staged. Everywhere stage hands and choir members were running to and fro, pulling last-minute bits together for opening night. It was pretty dark backstage except for the bulbs of each dressing table, which glowed like constellations in the gloom. Roe was getting started on her own make-up as earlier, before she’d left the house, Ailbhe had been freaking out about even coming to the show. Tom and Seb were about to be in the same building. Tom had been ‘processing’ with Soren the scream therapy advisor for the last couple of weeks and this would be the first time Ailbhe was seeing him since the afternoon in the Monteray Marriage Pause. Roe hadn’t seen Eddie either. She’d texted him the details of the opening night but he’d been non-committal.
