Page 87 of One Step Behind
I’ve been stupid. I’ve known for days that someone was helping you, but I did nothing, I told no one. And now this has happened.
My hands are shaking as I unlock the front door. I look up to the CCTV camera but it’s gone.
‘Stuart?’ I shout out.
‘Yeah,’ his voice travels from the kitchen.
‘Where’s the CCTV camera?’
‘Huh?’ he asks, appearing in the hall still wearing his suit from his breakfast meeting. The anger of the affair rears up so suddenly it brings a wave of nausea with it, but I can’t think about it right now.
The front door is wide open and bits of flowers are blowing across the wooden floors.
‘The CCTV camera is gone. Someone’s taken it.’
‘I took it down last weekend,’ he frowns, his eyes widening as he draws nearer and takes in the mess.
‘What? Why?’
‘I had to unscrew it from the wall in order to get all of the sticker off and I haven’t got round to putting it back yet. I didn’t think it mattered any more. What the hell is all this stuff?’ he asks, peering through the door.
I swear under my breath. ‘Another gift.’ I grind my teeth together. The fear I felt outside is morphing into a slow rage.
‘But—’
I hold up my hand and he stops talking. ‘What are you doing here?’ I stare at Stuart and for the first time I see the nerves twitching on his face.
‘I told you, I had a meeting. I thought I’d pop back and get changed out of my suit before going to the site. It’s like a dust pit at the moment. Is everything OK?’
The question feels loaded. The truth dawns on me slowly, a wave of knowledge washing over my thoughts. His question isn’t about you, or this mess on our doorstep, it’s about Rachel. She must have told Stuart about her drunken slip and he’s come back to see if I’ve heard. For a crazy moment I wonder if Christie, Rachel and Stuart are in on it together, but I squash it down. I’m being paranoid.
‘Did you do this?’ I throw a hand at the petals on the floor.
‘What? Of course I didn’t. Jenna, I—’
‘You had an affair with Rachel.’ It’s not a question, but still I search his face for an answer. The colour drains from his face, his shoulders slump, and just like that I have my answer.
Chapter 52
Jenna
Anger – pure, undiluted rage – is bubbling inside me. I step into the living room and pace across the floor.
‘All that stuff you said at the weekend about how you’re doing all you can to make our marriage work, making me feel like I’m crazy. And all this time you’ve been shagging someone else.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Stuart says, following me into the living room and collapsing on to one of the sofas. ‘I was trying to protect you. It’s over now and I didn’t want you to get hurt. I meant what I said. I am doing everything I can to make us work.’
‘You didn’t want me to find out, you mean. How much did you tell her?’ I ask.
‘About what?’
‘About what was happening to me?’
Stuart is silent for a beat and then he shrugs. ‘I don’t know. A bit, I guess. It was hard to stand by and watch everything that was happening to you. I had to talk to someone.’
I think back to Rachel standing outside the gym thattime and how nervous she seemed. Was it all about her affair with Stuart? No. There is something more, a missing puzzle piece. Rachel is friends with your sister and there are photos of her glued to your bedroom wall. Bernie said you were seeing someone for a while. An older blonde woman. What’s to say she wasn’t sleeping with you as well as Stuart?
‘Did you tell her about the burnt grass in the garden?’
