This Secret We're Keeping Read Free Page B

wouldn’t have been surprised to see her head begin to vibrate. ‘Maybe it wasn’t an accident.’
    ‘No, it definitely was. I saw the car, and I –’
    Anna shook her head and leaned forward. ‘No, I mean, him being there in the first place. You said yourself you’ve been seeing him everywhere. Maybe you were right. Maybe he’s been following you.’
    Choosing not to challenge Anna over this rather interesting departure from her previous assertions that Jess simply needed to swap alcohol for tap water and insomnia for a good night’s sleep, she just shrugged, all out of ideas. ‘Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t
know
.’
    Anna frowned. ‘Okay. Okay.’ Unlike Jess, Anna had been an excellent mathematician at school, and she generally dealt with problems by trying to out-logic them. ‘Let’s look at the facts. Even if he has been stalking you, I doubt he’ll carry on now. Not if the police are involved.’
    Jess swallowed. ‘But I need to talk to him, Anna.’
    Anna leaned forward so that Jess couldn’t ignore what she was about to say, her voice gently insistent. ‘There’s nothing either of you need to talk about. Seriously – there’s no words for what went on. It’s best for both of you if you never have contact again.’
    Jess didn’t voice agreement but she didn’t protest either.
    ‘You know I’m right, Jess,’ Anna pressed softly.
    Even as their eyes met, Jess couldn’t respond.
    ‘So what’s his wife like?’ Anna asked, after a brief silence.
    Jess was surprised to find she could recall details she didn’t remember registering at the time, and struggled for a moment to articulate what they all represented in her mind. Silver statement jewellery. Glossy chestnut hair, spirit-level straight, and an excellent fringe. Gym-honed, with enviable muscle tone. The kind of implied authority that commanded careful handling.
    ‘Not his type,’ she informed Anna eventually.
    ‘You don’t know what his type is.’
    ‘I know she’s not it,’ Jess replied, a little too briskly.
    ‘Do you think she realized who you were?’
    Jess shook her head. ‘I don’t see how she could have done. She just stood next to the car bellowing at him. I think she was a bit worried about the paintwork.’
    ‘This is Fucked Up,’ Anna declared, like it needed saying.
    As Anna finished her glass and Jess the rest of the bottle, their conversation eventually moved on to braking distances, the intricacies of Anna’s online ovulation calendar, and the merits – or otherwise – of veganism (polishing off the Camembert, Jess was not altogether surprised to find herself coming down firmly on the side of foodstuffs-deemed-more-likely-to-give-one-a-heart-attack).
    The Merlot was gone by the time Philippe arrived at her shoulder a short while later, bearing two toasting flutes and a bottle of Laurent-Perrier champagne in a bucket. ‘From the gentleman near the bar,’ he declared with a soft smile, raising an eyebrow. He unfolded a stand from beneath his arm and set the bucket in it.
    Jess whipped round and straight away through the crowd locked eyes with Dr Zak Foster. She’d had no idea he was even in Norfolk.
    He simply looked back at her, motionless, waiting.
    Tonight was the one-year anniversary of their first meeting beneath the portico of the temple in Holkham park woods, where they’d been strangers at the wedding of a mutual friend. Zak had been enthralling a small audience with a medical story when she’d first encountered him, but of course it was the sort of anecdote she couldn’t hope to start following halfway through after two glasses of wine. So instead of guffawing along with the others Jess found herself scuffing around behind a pillar like some sort oftragic walk-on part in an outdoor production of
Othello
, listening to him talk and wondering if he was perhaps famous, or at least related to someone who was. He had that air about him, somehow – or maybe it was just because he was devastatingly