Don’t worry about it. I’ll call you at the weekend.
Paige has been so distant, and acting out of character. She hasn’t shown any interest in visiting Lakeview House yet, but … Does she want me to know about the photos as a concerned friend or is there a darker reason behind it?
I set the phone down and close my eyes. I’m being ridiculous, suspecting everybody.Paranoid. I try to tell myself I’ll remember something that will make sense of it all soon.
Yet, deep down, I know I’m lying.
And that thought chills me most of all.
37
The clouds collect above the lake in a way that I’m learning is often the sign of an imminent downpour. I usually leave the big glass doors open but I close them now. It feels better like that.
When Dev comes into the room, he walks over to the windows and frowns when he sees they’re shut. He lays his palm on the handle. ‘Shall I open these?’
But I don’t want to talk about that. ‘I have something to tell you,’ I say. ‘And I’ll warn you now. It’s bad.’
‘OK, I’m listening.’ He walks over and sits down, pressing the back of his head into the soft cushion of the chair.
‘We’ve got a big problem.’ I open my laptop where I’ve loaded the new Facebook page ready to show him. I turn the screen so he can see it, my stomach churning, but his warm hand brushes against mine steadying me.
Dev studies the photos, and I watch his face carefully. His eyes narrow as he swipes methodically through them.
‘Someone took these pictures,’ I say, my voice quiet but firm. ‘From inside our house.’
Dev’s calm expression shifts to something that’s a little harder to read. ‘We just had the locks changed. Are you saying someone still managed to get in here and take the photos? Then somehow hacked your account –’
‘I’m just saying it’s more likely this is someone known to us, Dev. There’s no sign of forced entry and we just had thelocks changed. I can’t be sure yet, but the chances are, it’s someone we’ve invited in here.’
He frowns as he grasps what I’m saying. ‘One of our new friends, you mean?’
I nod. ‘It’s the only explanation.’
‘Unless one of the DreamKey team came in here and took them.’
I stare at him. ‘These photos are no more than a week old. The flowers I bought in town are on the kitchen counter, so that dates it accurately.’
‘You just came across the pictures?’
‘No. Paige saw them and assumed I’d created the new Facebook page and posted them. Obviously I haven’t, so I’m trying to work out who has.’
‘You haven’t posted any pictures of the house online at all?’
‘No. I haven’t even been on Facebook since we moved here and I’m having to use Paige’s link because I can’t log into my account. It’s been hacked.’ Dev frowns, not understanding. ‘To create a new page you have to log into your primary account.’ I point to the top of the new page. ‘See? I’m down as the admin of the page, so I know it’s been created from my original account.’
I attempt to log into my Facebook account to show him the message:
Your email or password is incorrect.
‘Could you press the forgotten password link and get in that way?’
‘No, I’ve tried. Someone has taken over my log-in and changed my email and password. I don’t know how that’s possible because there are supposed to be safety checks, but that’s the only way this could’ve been done. I’m trying to seeif there was any kind of security alert I missed but I haven’t found anything yet.’
On the photographs, I point out the freesias on the kitchen counter, the strewn clothing in the bedroom. ‘I’d never post anything this intimate publicly.’
‘But why would someone go through the bother of doing this?’
‘Because someone hates us enough,’ I say quietly. ‘Someone really wants us gone, Dev. They have done right from the very beginning.’
