couldn’t get to sleep until the early hours.
‘Then go away for a couple of days,’ Matthew says
when he phones at lunchtime and I tell him I’ve hardly
slept for the last two nights.
‘I could, I suppose,’ I say. ‘Maybe the hotel I went to
a couple of years ago, after Mum died. It has a pool and
spa. I’m not sure they’ll have any room though.’
‘Why don’t you phone them and find out? If they do,
you could go today and I’ll join you on Friday.’
My spirits lift immediately. ‘That’s a great idea! You
really are the best husband in the world,’ I say gratefully.
The Breakdown
91
I phone the hotel and, while I wait for them to pick
up, I take the calendar from the wall just to make sure
of the dates I need to book. I’m just calculating that
I’ll need to book it for four nights if we’re to stay until Sunday when the words ‘Matthew to rig’ jump accusingly out at me from Monday’s square. I close my eyes, hoping they won’t be there when I open them again. But they are, as are the words ‘Matthew back’, written on the square for the 31st – Friday – followed by a smiley face.
My heart drops and worry begins its familiar gnawing
in my stomach, so that when the hotel finally answers
and the receptionist tells me they’re fully booked apart
from a suite, I don’t even ask him how much it costs, I
just go ahead and reserve it.
I hang the calendar back on the wall, turning the page
over to August, ready for when we come back from the
hotel – and so that Matthew won’t see he was right when
he said he’d told me he was going to the rig.
*
It’s only once I’m at the hotel, waiting to check in, that I begin to feel better. The suite is fabulous with the biggest bed I’ve ever seen and, once I’ve unpacked, I text Matthew, change into a swimsuit and make my way
down to the pool. I’m just pushing my belongings into
a locker when a text arrives from Rachel.
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‘Hi, just to let you know I’ve arranged to leave early tonight so will be with you around 6. Are you cooking or shall we go out?’
My heart plummets so fast I feel as if I’ve stepped
off a cliff. How could I have forgotten that Rachel was
coming to stay tonight when we’d only arranged it on
Monday? I think of Mum and a hot sick fear claws my
stomach. I can’t believe I forgot. Jane’s murder and the
guilt I feel have distracted me, yes, but to forget about Rachel coming to stay? I fumble with my phone and press the call button, desperate to confide in someone.
Despite Rachel only just sending the message, she
doesn’t pick up. The changing room is empty so I sit
down on a damp wooden bench. Now that I’ve made
the decision to tell Rachel I’m worried about my
short-term memory, I’m desperate to act on it in case I
dissuade myself later. I call Rachel again and this time
she answers.
‘I don’t suppose you’d like to spend the night in a
luxury hotel instead of at the house,’ I say.
There’s a pause. ‘Depends where it is.’
‘Westbrook Park.’
‘The one with the fantastic spa?’ She’s whispering so
I guess she’s in the middle of a meeting or something.
‘That’s the one. Actually, I’m already there. I felt like having a bit of a break.’
‘It’s all right for some,’ she sighs.
‘So will you join me?’
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93
‘It’s a bit far to come for one night – I have to work
tomorrow, remember. How about I join you on Friday?’
‘You could,’ I say. ‘Matthew is coming straight here
from the rig, so it’ll be the three of us.’
She gives a quiet laugh. ‘Awkward.’
‘Sorry for standing you up tonight.’
‘Don’t worry about it. See you next week?’
‘Hang on, Rachel, there’s something else…’
But she’s already gone.
FRIDAY JULY 31st
By the time the afternoon comes, I’m desperate to see
Matthew. The weather isn’t brilliant so I hang around
in our room, waiting for his call to tell me what time
he’ll be arriving. I watch a bit of television, relieved
that there’s nothing on the news about Jane’s murder,
yet strangely annoyed that two weeks after the day she
was murdered, she’s already been forgotten.
The phone rings and I snatch it up.
‘I’m at the house,’ Matthew says.
‘Good,’ I say happily. ‘You’ll be here in time for
dinner.’
‘The thing is, when I arrived, there was a man here
from that alarm company practically sitting on the door—
step.’ He pauses. ‘I didn’t realise you’d actually gone
ahead with it.’
‘Gone ahead with what?’
‘Well, the alarm.’
Title: The Breakdown ARC, Format: 126x198, v1, Output date:08/11/16
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‘I don’t understand.’
‘The guy said he agreed with you that someone would
fit the alarm yesterday but when the technician turned
up there was nobody in. They’ve been phoning every
half an hour, apparently.’
‘I didn’t agree to anything at all,’ I say annoyed. ‘All