‘Unwell?’ The line was breaking up. ‘Huh? Sarah? She’s fine. She’s with the kids at Disney.’
‘Okay, that’s good. She’s recovered?’
‘She’s fine. Nothing to recover from. Anyway, I must go.’
Celeste said goodbye and disconnected, pulling her feet off the coffee table as Ruby came down the stairs with a duster. She watched Kealana for a couple of minutes tapping away on her computer then she pulled up the phone application to locate Alex. It was stuck in Scotland. She had meant to speak to Alex about the app not working before he left, but it had slipped her mind. Perhaps if she uninstalled it and re-installed it would work. But that sounded like an effort. Instead, she slipped her phone in her pocket and tried to deconstruct what Graham had said. Alex was not in Shanghai. He had not been doing much for Renshaw recently. Sarah was completely fine. Her heart sank. She knew what she had to do. Kealana started talking to Ruby, telling her how to dust the oppressive red chandelier that hung above the dining table. Celeste saw her chance. She got up from the sofa and slowly made her way down to Alex’s study.
49
4th August 2012
Mid-Levels, Central and Western District, Hong Kong
Celeste closed the door to Alex’s study and looked around the room she so rarely entered. It was a small room but everything had its place. There were two leather chairs, a computer, a desk and a filing cabinet in white lacquer. A clear-framed flat screen television was in the far left corner. She opened the first drawer of the filing cabinet and peered inside, then she looked in the second drawer. A couple of files were inside each drawer. She glanced at the file names but nothing stood out. She took a seat at Alex’s desk and she switched on his computer, noticing how her hands trembled as she did so. She had only stepped into Alex’s office a handful of times since they had moved in, even though there was no lock on the door, nothing to tell her to keep out.
‘I’ve important stuff in there,’ Alex had said to her once when she was looking for an envelope, stapler or something like that. ‘You can’t just go rummaging. If I lose any papers or if files get corrupted it could cost Renshaw millions. We deal with sensitive data. If you need anything just ask me.’ She hadn’t said anything at the time, but she supposed he was right. She knew part of it was his need to keep everything in order. After that, staying out of his office had become an unspoken rule.
Now she felt guilty for just sitting in his chair. If Alex knew she was in his office he wouldn’t like it, she was sure of that. ‘What would he do?’ She asked herself. She didn’t really want to find out. Celeste hoped Kealana wouldn’t come looking for her. With any luck she would hear her footsteps as she descended the stairs. The conversation with Graham had startled her, left her with a gnawing feeling that Alex was perhaps keeping something from her.
‘I’ll laugh about this later,’ she whispered to the large silver Buddha on Alex’s desk. There were no pictures of her anywhere, but at least he had kept the lucky Buddha she had given him when they first arrived in Hong Kong. She pressed the space bar on the keyboard.
The computer whirred into life, asking for a password. She hadn’t thought of that. She tried variations of her name and then tried a couple of names that she thought were special to Alex like Krabi and Renshaw. She even tried Kealana. Nothing worked. She tried substituting i’s for number one, and e’s for the number three. After seven attempts she was losing patience and was worried that the computer would lock her out, exposing her to Alex.
‘You must eat something.’
Celeste spun round to see Kealana at the door. Shit. She hadn’t heard her approaching or even opening the door for that matter.
Quickly, she hit control, alt, delete to lock the computer screen. Kealana smiled that knowing smile, making Celeste clench her teeth to stop herself from screaming at the woman. Instead she calmly stood up. ‘You can never find something when you’re looking for it, can you? I think I will have something to eat.’
‘Good.’
‘You rest. I’ll get Ruby to make it for you.’
‘I’ll make it myself,’ she said, slipping past Kealana and walking upstairs towards the kitchen.
50
4-5th August 2012
Mid-Levels, Central and Western District, Hong Kong
The conversation she had had with Graham played over and over in her mind as she ate a sandwich of ham and pickle. She picked up her phone and dialled Alex’s number.
No answer.
She left a message and every ten minutes or so glanced at her phone, willing it to ring. Eventually, at two in the morning she went to bed, but she couldn’t sleep. Her eyes stung, but her lids wouldn’t close.
At dawn her phone rang. It was Alex.
‘You called?’ he said, as soon as she answered, his tone nonchalant.
‘Did Graham get hold of you?’
‘Yes.’
‘Where are you Alex?’
Silence.
‘I know you’re not in Shanghai.’
Alex laughed. ‘Where else would I be?’
‘I spoke to Graham. He needed you there and you weren’t.’
‘Graham should’ve spoken to me first.’
‘He couldn’t get hold of you.’
‘He’s playing games, as usual. You know how it is between Graham and me.’
She rubbed her eyes. Alex was right. Graham had done this before, not long after they had returned from travelling. He had implied that Alex wasn’t where he said he was when he was late for a family lunch. Alex had told her then that Graham was jealous because Warwick had more confidence in him. And Alex had been right. Their move to Hong Kong had proved just that. She felt her shoulders relax and the tightness in her chest begin to ease.
‘I hate not being there, especially now that you are…’
‘Pregnant.’ She smiled, remembering her priorities.
‘I’ll see if I can get home soon, hon. Just promise me one thing?’
‘What?’
‘Ignore any calls from Graham.’
‘He’s your brother, Alex. I don’t have any siblings but I know you can’t just cut them out like that. Graham probably has his reasons.’
‘Graham’s spiteful and he’s trying to poison your mind. God knows why! It’s not good for your health to worry like this, so ignore him. You get what you see with me. You always have done. I told you about Bill and Alicia didn’t I? I don’t keep stuff from you.’
‘Point taken,’ she said, pacified by his concern. ‘I miss you.’
‘I have to get to a meeting.’
‘Don’t worry about me.’ Celeste disconnected. Seconds later a picture message came through to her phone. It was of Alex standing outside a skyscraper. She tilted her phone and looked at the steel and concrete structure from several angles.
Celeste bit her lip. Could she believe him? The photo could have been taken in Shanghai. But it also could be Hong Kong or even London. It could have been taken months ago. Nevertheless, she hadn’t asked for a photo but Alex had sent her one. Was he trying to hide something or was she worrying unnecessarily? Pregnancy certainly was making her paranoid. First she had thought Kealana was trying to poison her and now this, she had to get a grip.
What would Alex say when Kealana blabbed about her being in his office? She hoped he wouldn’t mind. After all, Alex said he had nothing to hide.
*
Celeste took a long bath listening to her iPod to blank out the noise from Ruby unloading the dishwasher. For the first time in days she felt alive. The dull ache in her abdomen had subsided and the sick feeling had completely disappeared. There were times over the last few months when she felt like she didn’t want the baby because she felt so ill, but today she felt good, excited for the new arrival. She dressed and walked down to the sitting room. Without work to worry about, she needed something to busy her mind. She decided to sketch. Yesterday, when she had been in Alex’s office, she had noticed a blank book and some pencils. She had been in ther
e once, she could go in there again. Alex wouldn’t mind her taking items he had probably bought for her. She asked Ruby to make her some porridge and went down to fetch her drawing supplies. But as she stepped into Alex’s office, she noticed something was different.
Hearing a noise, she turned. It was Ruby, ‘You wan jam or honey in you porridge?’
‘Has Kealana been in here this morning? Did she come into this room when I was taking a bath?’
Ruby shrugged. ‘Maybe. Bought flowers in lounge. You want me call her?’
The fresh lilies in the hall, of course. Celeste nodded, suddenly realizing what was different about the office. There was a bright orange post-it note on the bland white desk.
‘Jam or honey?’
‘Jam please.’ She walked towards the note. Scribbled on the paper were four letters and two numbers. There was no mistaking the handwriting, the scratchy scrawl she had seen countless times on airline printouts and other paperwork. There was no doubt in her mind that the writing was Kealana’s.
She waited for Ruby to leave, pressed the space bar on the computer and then sat motionless as it came into life. Eventually, with shaking hands she punched in the letters into the password box. When she had finished her finger hovered over the enter button. Was Kealana trying to trick her?
She could leave his office now with the pencils and the paper she was after, but she knew this was her chance. If there was any truth in what Graham had said this was the time to look. It wasn’t just herself she had to think of now, she had a baby on the way and with Alex’s erratic mood swings of late, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity. She looked towards the door and saw Ruby hovering with her bowl of porridge.
‘Shall I put it down for you, madam? It’s hot.’
She nodded.
‘You tired. Baby keeping you up?’
Instinctively, she touched the tender skin under her eyes. It felt bruised. Tired. Ruby’s question reminded her of Sarah being unwell. And she remembered that Alex had lied about Graham’s wife. Why?
She ran her fingers over the orange note. Celeste wouldn’t have put it past Kealana to look over Alex’s shoulder whilst he was at his computer, just so that she could steal a glance at his password. But, if Kealana hated her why would she help her in this way? Her fingers trembled. Was this a trick?
A feeling of guilt crept up on her, but she had the right to access her husband’s computer, didn’t she? If files get corrupted it could cost Renshaw millions.
Celeste buried her thoughts and hit ‘Enter’.
51
5th August 2012
Mid-Levels, Central and Western District, Hong Kong
Upstairs, the sound of the vacuum cleaner drowned out Ruby’s singing. Celeste looked at the picture of Alex’s beloved Maserati on his desktop. Immediately, a message icon appeared in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Call me when you get back, the message said.
Her heart began to race. Did she really want to know what was going on with her husband? Once she knew, there would be no going back.
Taking a deep breath she told herself it was nothing.
She clicked on the message.
It was from 0000sporty. She touched her fingers to her mouth and suppressed the nauseated feeling in the pit of her stomach.
She hit reply. Who are you? she typed in the message box, then immediately deleted it before she could press enter. That would sound desperate, plus Alex would find out immediately. She had to restrain herself. She had to be careful.
Minutes passed whilst she considered what to do next. Technology had never been her strong point. Then she noticed a bar to the right of the message. She realized she could scroll up and read the previous messages.
She hesitated.
Would Alex know if she checked his messages? Another minute passed. She made a decision and began to scroll.
‘A V8 Maserati is a fine specimen. Nero leather? My next car is gonna be a red Enzo. Imagine 12 cylinders…’ 0000sporty wrote.
She laughed nervously. Alex was just showing off. It wasn’t another woman. Of course he didn’t have time for women in between work and deciding which car he was going to buy next. She had been worrying over nothing and now she felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She silently thanked Kealana for leaving her the password. It was the one positive thing the woman had done for her since they had met. Perhaps she wasn’t so bad after all. A smile formed on her lips. She was about to log out when she noticed three folders on Alex’s minimalist desktop. One labelled Photos, another Finances and a third called Miscellaneous.
The one labelled Photos instantly had her attention. Alex wasn’t the sentimental type and it had been years since she had looked through any old pictures. She and Alex had taken reams of photos when they were travelling but since then they hadn’t bothered. Alex occasionally took pictures on his phone. Would he have any of their premises in Shanghai? She moved the mouse to the relevant folder and clicked on it. Inside were at least fifty different folders neatly labelled and dated. Typical of Alex. None labelled Shanghai though. That was curious. He spent so much time there. Had he not taken a single photo of their new offices?
She put the thought to the back of her mind and located their travelling photos, marvelling at how Alex had managed to save them all on to his computer. She had thought they had misplaced most of their memory cards. She imagined some poor work experience kid thinking he was going to learn how to place a trade being lumbered with this task at the Renshaw offices.
She flicked through the first couple of shots of Thailand. There was a picture of her in a pink sarong, standing in front of a cliff face on Railay beach, the picture made her feel warm inside. She opened the next folder along. It contained pictures of the Renshaws on family occasions. She was amazed by Alex’s mother’s bone structure. She had seen countless pictures of her before, but each time she was stuck by this woman’s beauty. She could tell that Alex got his good looks from her. Alex and his mother had been close. There were pictures of the two of them skiing, drinking champagne and sitting by the Renshaw’s Christmas tree amidst a mountain of presents. Celeste knew that this particular picture had been the last time Alex had seen his mother alive. Where was Graham then?
She felt foolish now for having looked at his computer, and seeing pictures of his frail mother towards the end of her life made her realize how stupid she was being. Alex would never do to her what Warwick had done to his mother. The photos had been a nice reminder that Alex was human too. Just because recently he had grown distant didn’t mean he didn’t love her anymore. He was just buried under the pile of work Warwick thrust upon him at every possible opportunity.
She selected another folder at random which contained pictures of a gorgeous country house. An estate she had only been to once. She had been charmed by its majestic architecture sitting in acres on land and hoped that when they returned to England they could use it as a family home. It would be a perfect place to bring up a family. The house had been his mother’s haven, and after she died, none of them had really used it, just maintained it as a Renshaw property. She moved onto another folder containing pictures of construction projects at various stages. She briefly looked at these before moving on. As far as she was aware, Renshaw was not in the business of developing property, but what did she know. Didn’t all big firms build up their asset base that way?
It was then that the task bar at the bottom of the computer caught her eye. She noticed that Alex’s email account was open and had just been minimized at the bottom of the screen. This is almost too easy, she thought. Alex had always kept his email account closely guarded, like his mobile phone. He never said as much but she could tell, by the way he minimized the window when she tried to catch a glance at what he was doing.
‘Work stuff,’ was all he offered when she had asked him what the secrecy was all about. ‘You don’t see me looking at your work emails.’
‘Feel free,’ she had responded, after which she had q
uickly deleted some of her private emails to Alicia – the emails where she had detailed how Toby Cain had made a pass at her, and those discussing a dreamy sales assistant who had started working at Cross. It was girlfriend banter but she wasn’t sure if Alex would see it as harmless fun, and she couldn’t erase the memory of how Alex had hit that man on the beach in Thailand in a jealous rage.
A shiver ran down her spine.
She heard a noise upstairs and her eyes immediately flicked to the door. She should quit while she was ahead. She had found nothing incriminating so far and she could easily stumble across something innocent and overreact. She wasn’t infallible, but she was paranoid, as she had recently found out. Celeste clicked on the inbox. It asked for a password. Again she typed in the same letters and numbers that had been hastily scribbled by Kealana on the orange post-it note.
It worked like magic. She was in her husband’s account. It surprised her. For someone like Alex, she expected him to have different passwords for everything he accessed. Maybe she didn’t know her husband as well as she thought she did. All the emails had been read but she expected that. Alex was glued to his phone. He checked it every minute. The last email from his father was sent just moments ago. Would he be able to tell if someone else was logged onto his account at the same time?
She looked at the subject bar and sender of the first twenty or so emails, ignoring the spam. There were a couple of folders Alex had created, each labelled with various initials. She had heard some of the initials being bandied about between Bill and Alex. It had to have something to do with trading. She stuck out her bottom lip. Nothing looked suspicious so she clicked on the email from Warwick. ‘Call me now. We need to talk about Shanghai’ was all it said, reminding her of the urgency in Graham’s voice yesterday and the hole in their marriage. She had conveniently forgotten about it just by getting nostalgic over a couple of pictures from Thailand.
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