Knowing James would be at work, I went home. If James had accepted bribes, there must be some record of the money somewhere and the office was a good place to start. I scoured his computer, the filing cabinets, and all of the desk drawers but there was nothing. I’d already checked our joint account and there were no suspicious payments of any sort and I was beginning to think we’d put two and two together and got five when I had an idea.
The walk-in wardrobe was a state, but an even worse sight was the bra (not mine) on the floor I’d had to step over to it in the first place. My clothes still hung there, untouched. It was odd seeing them in their home because the place no longer felt like my home. It was cold and uninviting, ostentatious and almost repulsive after staying in Megan’s modest, cosy house. The designer clothes I’d once cherished seemed pointless and shallow. It was ridiculous to think some of them cost thousands of pounds and I’d bought them whilst being convinced that spending weeks raising five hundred quid for charity was a good deed.
It became so clear to me that buying nice things was a way to feel a connection with something. If I paid a lot for a handbag or shoes, they felt special and that gave me the warm, fuzzy feeling that I was supposed to get from a human bond. That I’d come to experience with my baby, with Megan, Sam and Kate and with Andrew.
I knelt down to level myself with his secret in-closet drawer, the one that matched mine. It was unlocked so I slid it open. The last time I’d rummaged through there, looking for a novelty corkscrew for Megan, I’d noticed documents but at the time I’d been too distracted by the receipt I’d found for my bracelet to look at them. The Breitling box was in there, taunting me, so I pushed it aside and rummaged through the assortment of crap to the paperwork underneath. There was a brown paper folder, just like the one from the office. I slid it out and sat comfortably on the floor before opening it.
The first page was details of a new bank account but it wasn’t set up in James’s name. It was in mine. I gasped and read it again. It was an account in my name and the deposits made seemed to match the money that had left the offshore account. I swallowed hard and read it again. With trembling fingers, I tapped out a message to the WhatsApp group.
Cancel everything. Meet me now at Megan’s house. NOW.
I ignored the instant beeps of response and stuffed the phone into my back pocket, collected the papers, and left. When I arrived at Megan’s house, everyone was already sat around the dining table.
‘Don’t you lot have anything better to do during the day?’ I joked but my heart wasn’t in it.
‘What is it, Charlotte?
‘This.’ I threw the file on the table and Kate took it and started leafing through.
‘It’s details of a bank account in Charlotte’s name,’ Kate said, lifting her head from the papers. ‘James has put the bribery money in your name hasn’t he?’
I nodded. ‘It looks that way. The amounts and dates tie up.’
Megan gasped. ‘Wow. Just when you think a man can’t sink any lower?’
‘On the bright side, it’s a nice lump sum – you could use it for your house,’ Sam said.
‘Yes!’ Kate agreed. ‘One hundred grand would wallop a chunk off your mortgage.’
‘Not a chance. And besides, I won’t have a mortgage.’
‘Why not?’ Kate said.
‘Because I don’t have a job so no bank in their right mind would give me a mortgage. Fortunately, I have enough money to buy it without.’
‘I meant, why won’t you take the money?’
‘Er, I don’t know,’ I said sarcastically. ‘Perhaps because it was acquired illegally!’
‘Well nobody has found it yet.’
‘Kate, I don’t need the money and I certainly don’t want it.’
‘Well, it scuppers our plan!’ she replied. ‘It’s enough to tide James over until he finds a new job. We’ll basically be giving him a paid sabbatical.’
She was right of course – I hadn’t thought of it like that. ‘What about if we make him give the money away and resign?’
‘You mean blackmail him?’ Sam asked.
‘I suppose so. I have a list of charities as long as my arm the money could go to and if we threaten to go public with our findings unless he turns over the evidence and resigns – he’ll have no choice.’
Everyone sat deep in thought for a moment before Megan nodded. ‘I like it. It seems more . . . moral.’
Sam slowly nodded in agreement. ‘Yes.’
‘Sam, Samantha could be involved in this too,’ I said gently.
‘I know, she’s a lot of things but I don’t think she’s a criminal. We’ll see.’
‘It’s a bit snowflakey, and you’ll waive your right to anonymity,’ Kate said.
‘It doesn’t matter. What exactly do I have to hide from James? He’s the one in the wrong and I said all along I didn’t want revenge. I just want to teach him a lesson and what better lesson is there than “Don’t break the law?”’
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. ‘Okay – it’s your gig.’
***
A few days later, I came into the kitchen to a note on the table from Megan. It basically said that we were all going out for dinner because we had spent enough time moping around her house and that, quite frankly, she was starting to see us as part of the furniture (and not in a good way).
I showered and changed into my skinny jeans, which I could only just fasten. The button was locked in battle with my stomach, but I was confident it would hold – for the evening at least. But I would need to acquire some maternity jeans in the near future, as just shoving the waistband down was not going to cut it for much longer. I put on a loose cargo shirt over a long tank vest and left it unbuttoned. On the plus side, my hair looked thick and glossy.
When I arrived at the restaurant, Kate, Megan, and Sam were already sipping wine and eating bread.
‘You made it then?’ Megan looked at her watch for effect.
‘Getting ready isn’t easy when nothing fits you know.’
‘Well you look gorgeous as always. Now sit. Kate has something to show us.’
‘I certainly do.’ Kate beamed, pulling a file out of her bag. ‘Inspired by the rediscovery of my amazing desktop-publishing skills, I put a little something together.’
She pushed a piece of paper into the middle of the table. It was a page made to look like the front page of a newspaper called ‘The Cheshire Times’ with a full-page spread entitled: Scandal at the law firm. There was an article exposing ‘Equity partner James Emsworth’ for accepting bribes from Phil Brady, ‘a director in one of the UK’s largest companies’ who is in the middle of a ‘huge embezzlement scandal spanning the last twenty years.’ There were pictures taken of the invoices and bank statements with evidential areas identified with bright red circles.
For the first time ever, Kate seemed unsure as she looked between us, trying to read our faces. ‘I just thought you could have a little fun with him before you make him come clean.’
‘I love it, Kate. It’s perfect and once again your talents shine.’
Sam spoke up. ‘I’ve been digging into Samantha’s finances and I don’t think she’s a part of this. But perhaps I’ll let her know how she wasn’t James’s only bit on the side as a little bit of revenge of my own.’
‘Maybe James was using her to bolster his shoddy case,’ I said. ‘But yes, go ahead.’
On the way home, I popped Kate’s article in the letterbox of my old house and hoped James would find it soon.
***
The shrill of my phone the next day startled me and the name on the screen caused hot panic to surge through my chest. James. I tried to sound natural when I answered. ‘Hello?’
‘Charlotte, I need to speak to you. It’s urgent. Can you call in at the house later?’ His voice was clipped, and he sounded agitated. ‘What is it?’ I asked. ‘Have you run out of clean socks?’
‘What? No. Something has happened. Someone has—’ he lowered his voice ‘—done something to me, to us. This will affect us.’ His voice started to tremble towards the end.
‘To us?’ I was surprised, almost amused that he thought I’d care about his reputation. I supposed in the past I would have. Obviously, he was unaware how far I’d come. ‘What on earth has someone done to us?’ I tried to maintain a surprised tone.
‘I don’t want to tell you over the phone. What time can you make it?’ There was a touch of desperation in his tone; his usual calm demeanour wavered and it amused me mildly.
‘I’m busy, James, just pop it in an email. Perhaps Frances can help you out.’ I put the phone down. Proud that I stood my ground.
***
‘Charlotte, open the door.’ The hammering was incessant. I peeked out of the window and saw James’s Porsche sat outlandishly by the kerb just half an hour after he’d called. Here goes. I checked myself over in the mirror; it was important to look my best, so James saw I was coping and getting on with my life. Hopefully, he’d also realise what he was missing.
I paused at the door to take a breath before opening it.
‘Charlotte,’ he said, letting out his breath in relief. ‘We need to talk.’ He looked like he hadn’t slept. His suit was crumpled and his hair wasn’t styled – strands pointed aimlessly in different directions.
‘I can’t see why, but go on.’ I folded my arms defensively.
He looked nervously from side to side. ‘Can I come in?’
‘If you must.’ I pushed the door open and stood to the side to let him in just enough to cross the threshold.
He spoke as he walked down the hallway towards the kitchen. ‘I know you’re still cross with me, but can we put all that aside? I have a problem, and you’re the only person I know who can help in a crisis.’
I gestured for him to sit down but I didn’t offer him a drink. ‘I can imagine it’s quite easy for you to “push all that aside”.’
His body sagged wearily in response. ‘I’ve made a mistake, Charlotte, a big one and if word gets out I’ll be in big trouble.’
I put my hands on my hips and stood tall. ‘You mean like, you had an affair and if your wife finds out, she’ll leave you?’
‘It’s even bigger than that.’ His eyes had dark silhouettes.
‘Even bigger than that hey?’
‘I’ve been trying to prove the innocence of the Bracken Peel director and I took a few shortcuts. The kind of shortcuts that could get me kicked out of the firm or into bother with the police.’ He was trembling. The strong, powerful handsome man was broken and all I felt was the urge to laugh. ‘I’m ruined, Charlotte, and I don’t know what to do.’
‘I can’t see how this involves me, but anyway, you’ve got a great reputation so you’ll find something else and as for the police, you’ve always been a charmer.’ I shrugged.
He shook his head. ‘Had a great reputation.’
‘What makes you think this news will get out?’
‘I’m a highly respected man, Charlotte. Men like me naturally accrue enemies, jealous beings out to get us. One of them knows what I did and it’s only a matter of time before it gets out, I just know it. I need your help – you’re always so good in a crisis.’
‘Yes, I help people I care about.’
‘Charlotte, if I lose everything, you will too. No more Jimmy Choo shoes and Chanel bags. After this, I don’t think anyone local will hire me. I’ll probably have to sell the house, and I’ll have nothing left. We’ll have nothing left.’
‘You’ll have something.’ I prompted him to realise he had a child on the way but he shook his head.
‘The cars too. It will all have to go.’
‘So just to be clear, everything that matters to you will be gone?’ It was his last chance to see what mattered, and his red-rimmed eyes looked up at me, accentuated by dark, heavy bags. I paused. Would he realise?
He nodded, looking relieved in believing I finally understood the extent of his woes. ‘Everything,’ he repeated and it was at that moment that I fully committed to see the plan through.
Fury burned every nerve end in my body and tears pricked my eyes. Fighting to hold them back, I spoke the only words I wanted him to hear. ‘It was me, you fucking idiot. Do you think one of your jealous office sluts could have come up with all this evidence?’ His eyes widened and I continued before he had chance to speak. ‘I’ll take this to the papers if you don’t own up and tell the Haiden brothers what you’ve done and donate your dirty bribe money to charity.’ I was shaking. ‘Oh, and you’d better grant me an easy divorce.’
He rubbed the stubble on his chin vigorously. ‘Charlotte, what are you talking about? Divorce?’ The fact he picked up on that first was almost redeeming enough to give me a pang of guilt. Almost.
I just stared back defiantly and he changed tack. ‘Why would you do this to me, to us? The money is in your name. You can have it all if you want – all you have to do is just keep your mouth shut. Nobody knows about this other than Phil Brady and it’s not in his interest to go public.’
‘Because I don’t want bribe money. I mean it: do what I said, or I go to the papers.’
His lip curled in a way I’d never seen before and he brought his face up close to mine. ‘You bitch,’ he spat. I met his angry face with a raised eyebrow. I hoped he couldn’t see me trembling or hear the deafening sound of my heart.
After a moment I found my voice and yelled, ‘Get out.’
I practically shoved him out the door, unsure of how long my composure would last. As soon as he was out, I slammed the door and slumped against it, thoughts whirling around in my head. I had to get out of the house. I felt claustrophobic. I needed air and time and thinking space.