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It takes Harper and me more than an hour just to drive out of London. We don’t reach the sleepy West Sussex village Harper entered into the sat-nav until mid-morning. We follow the directions until we turn onto a quiet road and find ourselves outside a small bungalow opposite the weathered lychgate of a beautiful medieval church.
‘Number 59,’ Harper says, pointing as I pull into the kerb a few houses down from the church. ‘It’s that one, there, with the blue door.’
‘A car’s in the drive,’ I say. ‘Fingers crossed that means she’s in.’
We get out of the car: I’d rather Harper stayed behind but I know better than to ask. The door of Number 59 is surrounded by a trellis of ivy reddening in the weak autumn sunshine, and the small handkerchief of lawn is lush and just the right side of overgrown. Dense bushes of heather spill from the flowerbed and over the low brick wall fronting the road. Snatches of Radio Three and the smell of bacon waft through the open kitchen window as we walk up the short drive.
Susan Temple was Stacey’s foster mother for four years after her parents died in a car crash when she was fifteen. The accident is a matter of public record, but Stacey’s never mentioned the woman who took her inafterwards: her version of events has her brother as her legal guardian until his own death from an overdose four years later. Susan Temple’s been struck from the record.
I want to know why.
chapter 55
tom
The footage my wife leaked online this morning has gone viral. The nation’s morning sofa sweetheart caught on video slapping and punching and kicking her husband, hermissinghusband: it’s a tabloid wet dream.
Less than three hours afterMailOnlinepicked up the story, INN rushed out a craven ass-covering statement:Stacey Porter has been suspended from theMorning Express Showpending further evaluation of information that has recently come to light. We take all allegations of domestic violence extremely seriously regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation, and are deeply saddened by recent events. We can say unequivocally, that, prior to Friday morning, current INN management was never made aware of any complaints about Stacey Porter’s conduct, but these allegations represent an egregious violation of our company’s standards and we have no choice but to take them extremely seriously.
‘I’m not sure that was the wisest move,’ I tell Millie when she returns from wherever she’s been with Harper mid-afternoon. ‘You’ve just poked the bear – Stacey’s going to be out for blood. More importantly, you’ve just put Felix’s disappearance back on the front page.’
‘I realise this is going to come as a shock to you,’ Millie says, ‘butIdidn’t kill Felix Porter, Tom.’
‘You don’t have to—’
‘Tom,’ Millie says, enunciating each word clearly and concisely. ‘I. Did. Not. Kill. Felix. Porter.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘I think I would’ve noticed.’
My wife isn’t a cold-blooded murderer: that’s agoodthing. That doesn’t mean she isn’t capable of killing if the need arises. She took care of her father, after all. She just isn’t responsiblethistime.
‘So if you didn’t kill him, where is he?’ I ask.
‘I have no idea,’ Millie says, exasperated. ‘Assuming he isn’t sunning himself by the pool in Argentina or Panama, I’d say Stacey killed him. And she’salreadyout for my blood, Tom. This won’t make any difference. She set me up to take the fall for Felix. I’ve been two steps behind her all along. I need to get out ahead of her if I’m to have a hope in hell of coming through this. Frankly, I’m surprised the police aren’t already here to arrest me.’
‘About that,’ I say.
‘What? Have you spoken to them?’
‘No need,’ I say. ‘There’s not much point being married to a computer geek if he can’t hack a simple CCTV system. Stacey downloaded the footage of you breaking into her house onto Felix’s computer instead of her own laptop. Rookie mistake. I used the trapdoor from your original virus to wipe the downloadandthe original CCTV file. She didn’t send it to the police – I checked her digital history. She’s got nothing on you now.’
‘Have I told you how much I love you?’ Millie says.
‘All in a day’s work. Though next time you want to hack into someone’s computer,’ I add, ‘talk to me first. It took me hours to make sure that virus you uploaded couldn’t be traced back to you.’
‘I didn’t want to involve you,’ Millie says.
‘Iaminvolved,’ I say. ‘If something involves you, it involves me. You should have told me when Stacey asked you to break into Felix’s office in the first place. You know the rules.’
‘It wasn’t aboutus.And sometimes I think you enjoy that sort of thing a little too much, Tom.’
‘Well, you’re safe now,’ I say, choosing to ignore the implications of that last remark. ‘Stacey’s on the back foot. She’ll be too busy saving her own skin to take any more pot shots at you.’
‘She’s cornered,’ Millie corrects. ‘That makes her more dangerous than ever.’
‘But now the police have that video of her—’
