A Betrayal by Jane Retzig

Author:Jane Retzig [Retzig, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2017-09-15T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

MONDAY

Jaiden deliberately tried to give herself a break from the Beverley James case on Monday. She had long-deferred housework and shopping to do, invoices to send and a couple of email enquiries to follow up. She doubted that any work would come from the enquiries. They looked like the general scatter-gun emails that potential clients sent out to every agency in town. The first person to respond usually netted the business and she’d been slow off the mark this time. Still, she didn’t want to be the agency that ‘didn’t even bother to reply’ so she dutifully reiterated the information that the enquirers could have found for themselves if they’d read her website and confirmed that, yes, she’d be more than happy to discuss these sensitive matters further (in strictest confidence of course, and with absolutely no obligation) if they would like to do so.

By 6pm she was in Waterloo Station with Dionne’s brother-in-law, Nathaniel Briers.

Mr Briers was a stocky man, somewhere in his late thirties, with a Harrow accent and a rugby player’s nose. It snaked down his face in a question mark that gave him a permanently apologetic look. His electric-blue eyes, under very dark brows, were worried. Jaiden had arrived early, but he’d arrived earlier, and now he picked anxiously with his fingernails at the rim of the plastic lid on the Pret A Manger take-out coffee he’d bought while he was waiting.

Jaiden had recognised him instantly from his wedding photos on-line. She remembered thinking that he was a much less handsome man than Rebecca’s first husband. He looked nicer though. Quite sweet actually, and shy, as he stood to greet her, saying ‘Hi, you must be Jaiden. Please call me Nate,’ and offered her his hand to shake.

He’d already found seats for them in front of the WH Smith entrance, moving the jacket reserving hers so that she could sit down. All around them, the rush hour of commuters swirled. The air boomed and echoed with platform announcements and chattering voices. High heels and wheelie cases clattered on the tiled floor. The iconic station clock hung quietly overhead.

‘I don’t normally go through my wife’s phone,’ he said, by way of preamble.

‘I’m sure you don’t… But it’s only natural, if she seemed upset.’ Jaiden liked to give people a worthy excuse for their unethical behaviour. It brought them on side. Made them feel like heroic co-conspirators for the common good.

‘She didn’t just seem upset. She burnt dinner. And then she locked herself in the bathroom for ages. When she came out, her eyes were all puffy and red. I think she’d been crying.’

‘I’m so sorry.’

‘Don’t be. It’s not your fault.’ He picked some more at the lid, before putting the cup down on the floor beside his seat. ‘Why did you ring?’ he asked. ‘It was about Dionne, wasn’t it?’

‘Yes, I’m looking for her.’

‘Oh…’ He seemed to become hesitant at this, slumping a little. ‘You’re not working for her then?’

‘No.’

‘I see…’ He hesitated. ‘I thought you might be.

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