Me. Her. Him - Chapter 58

Background: Angela is shocked when William, an old friend from her past, who she hoped never to see again, comes back into her life, after he applies for a role at her work and successfully secures the job. William’s sudden reappearance puts Angela on edge. She’s terrified he’s discovered her secret, which she needs to protect her family from. William’s convinced Angela knows what happened to his former girlfriend, Caz, who hasn't been seen for twenty years, and that something terrible happened to her. The only person, who can help Angela, is her once best friend, Michelle, but Angela hasn’t seen Michelle for more than a decade. Faced with the threat of William’s return, they know they’ll need to work together to save their future, even if this does mean reopening old wounds, and revisiting a past they'd rather keep buried.

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Now I know how close William is, the sense of imminent threat is more palpable in my mind. It feels as though he’s living next door. It makes me wonder how long he’s been in this area. Have we been living on top of each other all this time? It’s crazy, I never expected him to be this close.

In my head I picture him driving slowly down my road, looking up at my house, making notes of my movements, and then following me to work. I should’ve been more careful, I should’ve expected something like this was going to one day happen. Instead I’d allowed myself to relax, thinking my past was well and truly over and done with.

I steer Paul’s car onto the driveway, my hands tight on the steering wheel as I park up. Paul took my car into the local garage today. I’ve no idea how long it’ll take to get it repaired after what happened on Saturday. The damage, to me, didn’t look too bad, but then I don’t know a lot about cars.

I realise Paul isn’t home the moment I step in the hallway. His shoes aren’t in their normal position by the front door. I swallow as I remember the text I’d read on his phone. He’ll have to get public transport if he can’t drive my car back today, or an Uber. It’ll take him about half an hour if the bus ends up stopping at every stop.

‘Rebecca,’ I call up the stairs. My voice seems to bounce off the walls.

Her cars on the drive but she doesn’t call back. God knows how many times I’ve told her not to put her headphones in if she’s ever at home on her own. She wouldn’t be able to hear the fire alarm if it went off, or if someone was trying to call her in an emergency.

I hurry up the stairs, but stop as I reach the top. The house is too still. Even if Rebecca’s got headphones in, I can normally hear the tinny sound of whatever it is she’s playing, coming out of the speakers. Sometimes she’ll have fallen asleep and the headphone will have fallen out of her ear.

Her bedroom door is open slightly. I edge over to it, already knowing what I’m going to see before I push the door open. She’ll be sprawled out on the bed, Air Pods plugged in; Netflix playing on her I-Pad. I freeze; every nerve inside me is on edge. She’s not here. Her bed covers are still neatly pulled over the bed, everything is still in the same position as it was this morning.

I pull out my phone and dial her number, my breath coming out in short gasps. It goes to voicemail.

‘Rebecca, call me the moment you get this, okay,’ I say, trying to keep my voice as calm as I can.

I shove my phone back into my pocket and slip into my room. Nothing looks out of place. I try to think if there’s anyone who Rebecca could’ve gone to meet. There are a couple of people her age in the village, who she sometimes hangs out with, but she would’ve messaged me to let me know if she was going out for the evening.

I head back to the living room. I don’t know why, but I’ve got the overriding desire to check every room. As I dive into the kitchen, living room and utility room, I can see there’s nothing there to tell me something untoward has taken place. There’s no sign that anyone’s broken in. Pictures build in my head of William turning up here, knocking on the front door, and Rebecca answering. No, no. no. He can’t have got her. She wouldn’t have gone willingly with him.

I reach into my pocket to pull out my phone, intent on trying Rebecca again, when the front door clicks open.

‘Oh, hi, Mum,’ Rebecca says as she steps through into the hallway. ‘Bloody hell, are you alright?’

I run over to her and throw my arms around her, anxiety pulsing in my chest like I’ve had an electric shock.

‘God, can’t you leave a note to say you’ve popped out? I tried ringing you just now and you didn’t answer. I was worried.’

‘Sorry, I was only up the road when you rang. I thought I’d speak to you when I got in. I was expecting to be back by the time you got home.’

‘Where did you go?’ I ask.

‘Just up to the shop to get a packet of chewing gum, I fancied a walk. Dad not home yet?’

I shake my head. ‘No. He was taking my car to the garage today, so he might be a bit late.’

‘Well, think I’m going to jump into the shower. I hope Dad’s going to rustle up something good tonight. We seem to have been living off of takeaways recently, standards are really slipping.’

I watch Rebecca as she heads up the stairs. My heart still feels as though it’s racing at a hundred miles an hour.

I pull my phone out of my pocket and stare at the photo I took of William’s address on Kirsty’s computer. I forward the photo to Michelle. I know she’ll want it. Within five minutes her number starts flashing on the screen. I look over my shoulder to make sure Rebecca’s out of the way before answering.

‘Hello,’ I say.

‘I take it this is from his CV?’ Michelle asks. Straight to the point.

I squeeze the fabric on my jeans. ‘Yes. Have you . . . do you know what . . .’

‘I’m going to talk to him tonight,’ she says. ‘Now that you’ve given me this, it’ll be a lot easier tracking him down than I first thought it was going to be.’

‘But you can’t,’ I say, stepping further into the kitchen, keeping my voice as low as I can to make sure Rebecca can’t hear me, even though she’ll probably be in the shower by now.

‘Angela, you came to me for help, didn’t you? I said I would help you, and now you need to leave this to me. When I next speak to you, this will all be over, okay.’

I hold my hand up to my forehead. I wish I hadn’t sent the text now. I didn’t think Michelle would take the initiative and decide to drive there tonight. This is mad.

‘Let me come with you,’ I say, my words tumbling out of my mouth.

I try to picture how the scene will unfold between them, Michelle pulling up outside William’s house, the shock on William’s face when he sees her. Will he be shocked? Unlike me, Michelle’s appearance has barely changed in the last twenty years. I’m sure he’ll recognise her in an instant.

‘No,’ Michelle says, her voice coming out sharp. ‘I want you to stay where you are. You trust me, don’t you? I got us through this mess once before.’

I bite down hard on my lip so that within a few seconds, a salty taste fills my mouth. Blood.

‘Call me the moment you . . .’

‘I’ll call you Angela, I promise.’

The line goes dead. I tap my phone against my leg. I can’t let Michelle do this by herself. I grab Paul’s car keys off the hallway table. I’ve got William’s address, I can drive there, make sure she’s alright. But before I have the chance to even get my shoes on, the door clicks open and Paul steps through.

‘They managed to fix it today,’ he announces brightly, before taking off his jacket.

‘Oh,’ I say my eyes on the door behind him. ‘It wasn’t too badly damaged, then?’

‘Thankfully, all they needed to do was push some of the metal back in place, didn’t take long. You off out somewhere?’

‘I . . .’ I’m still holding Paul’s keys in my hand.  

‘No, I . . . I was just about to stick the kettle on, fancy a cuppa?’ I say, making my way back into the kitchen, the back of my neck burning.

I squeeze Paul’s car keys in my fist before dumping them on the kitchen table.

Paul follows me in. ‘I won’t say no, Rebecca home?’

‘I want to know who you’re sending money to,’ I say.

The words had popped into my head so suddenly, I didn’t really have a chance to think before they escaped from my mouth.

He’s standing very still. His eyes seem to flick across the room.

‘Angela, I . . .’

‘No, I don’t want any excuses. I’ve seen your text messages to that woman. I can only assume she’s a woman as she’s signing off with a kiss at the end of her texts. Who is she and how much money are you sending her?’

I watch his Adam’s apple bob up and down in his throat. His eyes have turned a misty colour. God, there’s nothing I can do now. I might as well get some answers out of him.

‘Angela, we need to sit down and talk about this.’

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Character List:

Angela Watkins - Protagonist 

Paul Watkins - Angela's husband

Rebecca Watkins - Angela's daughter 

Michelle Blake - Angela's former best friend 

Kirsty - Receptionist (Angela's friend) 

Olivia - Angela's boss

William Harris - Angela's former friend 

Caroline (Caz) - Angela's friend 

Hayley - Angela's former friend

Lauren - Angela's former friend