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‘No, I-I didn’t think.’
‘You didn’t think?’
‘You think it’s connected?’
‘Georgia’s back and you’ve received a photo of Tristan cheating and Jenna’s missing.’
I try but I can’t think of a reason why she’d make all this up.
‘Georgia did this, didn’t she?’ I almost tell her about my matching photo, but I just can’t figure out whether to trust her or not. And then I realise it’s still in the bin in the office; I could’ve taken it to the police. I bring her photo up to my face, and then I see something. ‘I don’t think this is real,’ I say.
‘What?’ She sits up and holds her hand out for the photo.
‘He’s not wearing his watch.’ Our grandfather’s antique Omega. ‘And it looks… It doesn’t look right.’
She peers closer. ‘I don’t know,’ she says.
‘I think someone cut his head out and put it on someone else.’
‘Maybe.’
I take it back and this time I’m convinced. ‘His head is too big for that arm.’ Which could mean mine is also a fake, couldn’t it? What would be the odds of both of our husbands cheating at the same time? I want to go and get it, but I don’t want her to know about it.
Mina sighs. ‘It would be easier though, wouldn’t it? If Tristan were cheating? Then the kids… They wouldn’t blame me for leaving.’
‘Mina, do you want to leave, or not?’
‘I just don’t know.’ She narrows her eyes at me. ‘Can you just tell me, Fran? What was on the tape?’
My heart goes cold. ‘I don’t know,’ I say, making sure not to admit I didn’t destroy it. ‘But I can imagine.’
She nods, tearing up again.
‘But you always knew, didn’t you?’ I say.
She shakes her head, shrugs, looks down at her hands and takes off her ring. ‘Why did you drag me into all of this? Why did you let me marry him?’
‘I dragged you in?’
‘That day. You asked me to lie for him – for you. I was never going to say no.’
Tears prick and I wipe them away. ‘My mother, and Tristan, they thought it would be more convincing if someone other than me had seen something.’
‘But why did you go along with it?’
‘He’s my brother.’
‘After what he’d done to Miss Smith?’
‘I didn’t know.’
She laughs.
‘I didn’t, not till tonight, not really.’ I shake my head. ‘Although I did. I just didn’t admit it to myself.’
‘We’re pathetic,’ she says. She’s right.
‘Mina, does Tristan know where Jenna is?’
