‘If it’s Merri’s secret, it’s not yours to tell,’ Dev says, pushing away the stool and heading for the door.
‘She’s not going to tell you, though!’ Tilda spits, reaching her hand out to him. ‘She’s been playing you for a fool, Dev. You deserve better.’
Jeez, this woman! It might have beenherwho posted the photographs online. She’s fooled Merri into thinking she’s her friend. He should have acted on his hunch that Tilda was trying to flirt with him. Told Merri, so she was forewarned.
He walks away, towards the door, but Tilda comes after him.
‘There’s something else. Merri and Simon … I think they’ve been having an affair!’ she blurts out. ‘He came to the house when you were out and –’
‘She told me about that, Tilda. He came to get something I’d borrowed, that’s all,’ he says calmly. ‘I’m leaving now. There’s nothing more to say.’
As Dev walks out of the door and along the path with its pretty spills of lavender and other cottage plants, he can still hear Tilda shouting after him.
He walks quickly up the hill and when he gets back, he snatches up his phone. There are numerous missed calls, texts and even voice messages from Merri.
Call me when you can. I need to tell you something urgent about Tilda.
‘It must’ve been her, Dev…The photos…She’s been pretending to be someone else to Paige and…’
Dev frowns. Merri sounds panicked and breathless.
He calls her but there’s no answer. He tries Paige’s number but it rings out.
He takes a beer on to the terrace to turn everything over in his mind. The sun is hot, the breeze light and he feels his eyes growing heavy. He’s so tired from the late night and the exhausting turning-over of thoughts in his head.
Within a few minutes, Dev is asleep. He doesn’t see the figure slipping out of the house behind him.
59
The Watcher
When he gets back to the B-and-B, he takes off his boots, intending to head straight up to his bedroom. He’s looking forward to cataloguing his observations. He places his boots on the newspaper his very organized landlady puts out for that purpose and straightens with a grimace. He’s surprised to find Monica standing in the hallway watching him.
‘I didn’t see you there,’ he says carefully.
Monica says, ‘I can be quite unobtrusive when I want to be.’ She gestures to the living room with a nod. ‘Could I have a quick word before you go up?’
He unzips his jacket, a little irritated he can’t get on with what he needs to do right away, but then he discovers he’s thirsty and has worked up quite an appetite. Perhaps Monica has prepared a pot of fresh tea and made something nice to eat. The room will be pleasantly lit with lamps and the light of the electric fire, on just for the glow, despite the heat of the day outside. He could get used to this: home cooking, and an efficient, no-nonsense landlady for the odd bit of company.
He pads into the living room in his socks. His face drops when he sees that the small coffee-table – where Monica had set out tea and cake before – is bare.
‘Sit down,’ Monica says, and he does so in the armchair opposite her. She clears her throat. ‘Let’s get something crystal clear. I know what you’ve been up to, so it’s no use denying it, and I’d like you to leave the house tonight.’
‘What?’ He wipes his hands on his trousers, his palms instantly sweating. ‘What are you talking about?’
She watches him, her chin raised as if daring him to defend himself. ‘I said, it’s no use denying it.’
‘Denyingwhat?’
His palms start to sweat.She can’t possibly know.She can’t know because he’s always careful. Very careful. And he’d explicitly told her not to go into his room again.
But Monica hasn’t finished. ‘I like to stretch my legs in the early evening. Usually, just a little potter down to the lake and back. I saw you out there yesterday. Raised my arm to wave, but you seemed focused on something else. You were striding purposefully towards the trees.’
Bile rises in his throat.She’s seen me. He’d been mesmerized by the activity on the terrace at Lakeview House. The way Janey had flitted around like she was untouchable. The way she’d laughed as she poured the drinks and welcomed her guests. It had infuriated him. Made him careless. He hadn’t done his usual checks of the vicinity from his vantage point.
He swallows hard and waits.
‘I was in no rush and I thought it might be nice to say hello. Maybe even suggest we take a stroll together back to the house.’ She hesitates, her forehead wrinkling. ‘When I got closer, I could see you very clearly through a small gap in the trees. I watched you take out your binoculars and …’ she falters ‘… and then you started spying on those people up at the new house.’
