The Big Five O. Jane Wenham-Jones

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       Chapter 8

      Charlotte threw down the newspaper in disgust. ‘Have you read this stupid woman interviewed here? She’s saying she actually felt grateful to God when her husband went on blood pressure pills and they made him impotent!’

      Charlotte glared at Fay. ‘She says she’s spent thirty years in a constant state of anxiety waiting for him to stray and now she finally feels confident she has him all to herself.’

      ‘While presumably needing to stray herself,’ said Fay drily.

      ‘No, she says she’s not bothered about sex and if she is at any time, frustration is a small price to pay for peace of mind.’

      Fay pulled a disparaging face. ‘Hasn’t she heard of vibrators? Silly cow.’

      ‘But how horrible to be always uneasy about what your husband is up to.’ Charlotte gave a sudden wail ‘I do not want to be like that!’

      Fay sipped at the coffee Charlotte had made her and looked at her watch. ‘I need to be at the office as soon as I’ve had this, Hun. Tell me what’s happened.’

      ‘That first Wednesday – Roger came home at the usual time and said he’d had meetings all afternoon. ‘All very dull,’ he said. But there was just something. He sort of didn’t meet my eye …’

      Fay waited.

      ‘But what could I do? He was here so if he’d seen that Marion then presumably it was in working hours and he couldn’t have been with her long because he phoned me at two and he was in the car driving and then I phoned him at half four and he was driving again – said he was popping back to Ashford to go into the office for an hour and then he’d be right back. And he was here by seven so he must have come straight home. In fact, sometimes he’s later than that if he leaves at half five and the traffic’s heavy–’

      Fay sighed inwardly. This wasn’t going to be quick.

      ‘So basically, he’d been at work.’

      ‘I think so, yes, but yesterday–’ Charlotte paused and Fay waited again.

      ‘Yes?’ Fay knew she sounded sharp, but she’d told Len she’d be there by ten latest and surely Charlotte had stuff to get on with as well.

      ‘I phoned him around 3 p.m. and his phone was switched off. Went straight to answer phone. So I called him at work, and Libby said he was out of the office.’

      ‘Right.’ Fay drank a bit more coffee and resisted the urge to tell Charlotte to get to the crux.

      ‘And she wasn’t sure where.’ Charlotte’s tone suggested this was loaded with significance.

      Fay sighed audibly now. ‘Well, perhaps he hadn’t told her. Doesn’t mean he was up to no good.’

      ‘Lib organises his diary. She’s the most efficient woman on the planet. There is no way Roger would be in a meeting she didn’t know about. She was covering for him!’

      Fay shook her head. ‘If she was, why not just lie and say he had a meeting with the ABC company and have done with it?’

      ‘In case I checked I suppose.’ Charlotte looked irritated. ‘When I persisted, she was all vague about how he could be here and he’d mentioned he might pop in there. I didn’t believe a bloody word of it.’

      ‘Anyway,’ said Charlotte impatiently as Fay looked sceptical. ‘I was talking to a client the other day who said she’s got some sort of tracking on her two kids’ phones – so she can see where they are if they’re late home from school or the daughter goes out in the evening. Says it stops her worrying so much. And I was thinking – that maybe you’d know about it. So I can do it to Roger.’

      ‘What?’ Fay heard herself almost squawk. ‘You want to put a tracker on your husband’s phone?’

      ‘Yes.’ Charlotte looked defiant. ‘I do.’ She got up and reached for the coffee pot. ‘She said it’s a feature on an iPhone – you do family sharing or something. I pretended I wanted to keep an eye on Joe. But I’ve Googled it and I don’t know how to do it without getting into Roger’s phone – and as I told you, he’s changed the pass code. I wondered if you’d have any ideas.’

      Fay СКАЧАТЬ