Every Little Secret by Sarah Clarke

Author:Sarah Clarke [Clarke, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2022-01-14T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter 30

GRACE

2019

Grace slips her key in the door and enjoys the silence that follows. Faith will be dropping Kaia off soon, and then Marcus will be back from work, but for now she has the house to herself.

After leaving Coco’s parents’ house she stopped at the garden centre just outside the village and ordered a pot of tea in their café. There were so many thoughts swirling around her head that she didn’t feel safe to drive any distance without having some time to process them all. Who was Coco referring to in her letter, and was he Kaia’s biological father? Was it the guy she met in Saint-Tropez? Or someone else? Could that person be Marcus? Coco did flirt with him that summer they all met, but Coco flirts with everyone. Did Marcus reciprocate? There were moments maybe, when he seemed drawn to her, but nothing tangible that Grace can remember. And why would he have asked her on a date if he was interested in Coco?

And she’d have known. If her best friend and boyfriend had a thing all that time. She’d have known.

After a second pot of tea and a chicken salad, Grace had left Great Rollright feeling better. During those five years when she and Marcus lived apart, he was focused on his rugby career, on winning matches when he was in Europe, not sneaking away to feed some illicit passion. And if he wasn’t Coco’s secret lover, then her letter implies he isn’t Kaia’s biological father either. With that new certainty, she’d suddenly felt impatient to check the camera memory cards that David let her take with her. Because they might hold some clues about who is. If Grace could somehow track Kaia’s real father down, then he might know where Coco is now. Perhaps they’re even still together. Grace knows it’s a long shot, but at least it gives her something to focus on, another avenue to find her friend.

With the house empty, Grace heads straight upstairs to her small office overlooking the street. When they bought the house, the estate agent had described the space as a single bedroom, which was stretching the truth. But Grace doesn’t mind its bijou size. A desk, ergonomic chair and enough shelves for her books. That’s all she needs.

The room feels stuffy after the one-day heat wave and Grace turns on the fan to create a breeze. Then she picks one of the memory cards out of her bag at random – there are no dates written on any of them – sinks into her chair, and slips it into the card reader on the side of her laptop.

As she waits for the pictures to load, her phone rings from inside her bag. She assumes it will be Marcus or her mum, but there’s a phone number rather than a name on the display, and it’s one she doesn’t recognise. ‘Hello?’

‘Ah, I’m so glad I’ve finally caught you, Ms Windsor. I thought I would try after working hours, see if I had more success.

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