by John Marrs
Kevin had left no will and owned very few possessions, but on his parents’ suggestion, she would return her rental car and take Kevin’s old four-by-four on the journey she’d planned down the east coast of Australia. ‘It’ll be like he’s with you,’ Dan had told her. She planned to stay in backpacking hostels rather than hotels, so she could meet other people her age and experience the kind of travelling she had missed out on when her uni friends had gone to America.
Jade estimated five weeks would be long enough to see what she wanted to see, then she’d drive back towards Victoria, drop Kevin’s truck off and bid one last farewell to his family before returning to England. Only once she was home, she wouldn’t simply go back to her former life – she could never do that now – she would begin a brand new one. If Kevin’s death had taught her anything, it was that life should be lived, not viewed from afar.
Mark’s refusal to acknowledge her since the funeral wounded her. She’d offered his parents support and a shoulder to cry on whenever they needed it, but she and Mark had not shared a moment since those first few minutes after Kevin’s death.
Being in his proximity was a Herculean task. Every time she saw him, or even sensed his immediacy, she had to hold back the urge to confront him – or throw herself at him. The fireworks were still there when she looked at him. At certain times, like when he was lifting bales of hay for the cows or finishing the day with an early dip in the pool, and when she thought he wasn’t looking, she’d snatch a glimpse of his firm frame and strong muscles.
Jade too had grown accustomed to going for a cooling swim before heading to bed – a treat she knew she’d miss when she left the farm to begin her travels. And, she had to admit to herself, she’d taken to her nightly swims in the hope that she’d bump into Mark, although this hadn’t happened yet. On this particular night, as she turned underwater to begin her fifth length, his figure at the other side of the pool caught her attention.
Mark stood under an open parasol, watching her every stroke. She stopped and wiped the chlorine from her eyes in case she was imagining his gaze. She stood on her tiptoes in the middle of the pool, and the two stared at each other in silence until Jade could no longer control herself.
‘What?’ she shouted. ‘What do you want from me?’
‘Nothing,’ Mark replied, a surprised look on his face.
‘Then why are you staring at me?’
‘I’m not.’
‘You barely talk to me for days, you walk past me and ignore me, you leave the room as soon as I enter. Clearly I’ve offended you and now you’re standing there watching me swim. You’re doing my head in, man. So I’ll ask you again, what do you want from me?’
Mark paused and stared at her intently, then opened his mouth as if to speak but stopped himself. He turned to walk away but again stopped himself. She watched as he pulled his T-shirt off over his head and threw it to the ground. He dived in and swam towards her, stopping inches from her waist. He cocked his head to one side and kissed her, tentatively at first, but then more fervently.
Jade felt dizzy as Mark’s lips touched hers, and try as she might, she couldn’t close her eyes because she wanted to see his longing. She kissed him back with an equal measure of passion, her arms gripping him tightly and her fingertips fizzling like sparklers as they ran up and down his back.
When they finally separated, Jade took a small step backwards and looked him in the eye. ‘Why now?’ she asked. ‘Why after all these weeks?’
‘Because my parents said you’re leaving.’ Mark ran his hands through his wet hair. ‘And I couldn’t let you go without knowing what I was going to spend the rest of my life missing.’
Before Jade could answer, Mark turned and swam back to the edge of the pool, lifted himself out and returned to the house, leaving her alone.
With no idea what just happened, Jade closed her eyes and slowly let herself sink to the bottom.
Chapter 74
NICK
‘How long have you known you’re pregnant?’ Nick asked, trying to keep the tone of his voice measured.
He paced the length of his former apartment with his arms folded while Sally remained on the sofa, wearing an oversized woollen jumper and covering her stomach with her hands.
‘I found out a couple of weeks ago,’ she replied quietly.
‘Why didn’t you say anything before now? You’ve had plenty of opportunity to.’
‘What was I supposed to say? “Oh, Nick, by the way, I know you have a boyfriend now but I’m pregnant with your baby”?’
‘But why wait to tell me until just before I go to New Zealand? It’s almost as if you want to keep me here.’
Sally glared at her ex-fiancé. ‘Fuck off, Nick! The world doesn’t revolve around you or your sodding love life. This isn’t about you; it’s about this thing growing inside me. I knew I shouldn’t have said anything.’
‘Then why did you?!’
‘Because I don’t know if I can do this on my own. Because I wish I was a stronger person but I’m not. Because before I make my decision I thought you had a right to know.’
‘Made what decision?’
‘Oh, come on Nick, you’re not stupid. You know what I mean. I don’t know if I either want or can deal with having and raising a child alone.’
‘You can’t get rid of it.’
‘Can’t I?’
‘No.’
‘Watch me.’
He was surprised by the venom in her voice. Clearly being alone was very difficult for her. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘It means you don’t get to tell me what to do. You made your choice when you left me for someone else.’
‘You agreed I had no choice! You told me to go!’
‘That was before I realised I was pregnant. Before you’d made me pregnant.’
‘Made you pregnant? It takes two, remember?’
‘I didn’t see you throwing me off you when we were in Bruges.’
‘Is that when it happened? Jeez, Sally, that was ages ago. Why didn’t you figure it out sooner?’
‘I’ve been counting back and it must have been,’ she huffed. ‘I knew I should have gone with my gut instinct and kept my mouth shut.’
There was a selfish side to Nick that also wished she had kept quiet. That way he could fly to the other side of the world in blissful ignorance.
‘What do you want me to do, Sal?’ he asked.
‘I don’t want you to do anything. I just wanted you to know.’ She looked at him. ‘I thought you’d want to do the right thing, but clearly I was mistaken. I can deal with this by myself.’
But Nick knew that doing nothing wasn’t an option he could, with a clear conscience, take.
‘I don’t want you to have an abortion.’
‘Neither do I, but you can’t have it both ways, Nick. Either you stick around and we try to find a way to make this mess work, or you go away and do your thing while I do what I have to do. The choice is yours.’
Chapter 75
ELLIE
Ellie and Tim went about their day-to-day routines like everything in their world was perfectly normal. For all intents and purposes, they were a typical, contented couple – but for one difference: Ellie knew that her relationship with her Match was a sham.
At 5.30am each day, Andrei picked Ellie up from Tim’s house and drove her to work in London, and each evening, Tim cooked them dinner. Then they’d either settle down to watch a drama Tim had recorded on his Digibox, or retreat into their own online worlds on their tablets.
Ellie hated that she had fallen in love with a man with a hidden agenda. Before she had found footage of him mouthing the words ‘Hello, Ellie’ into the security camera, a tiny part of her had clung on to the hope there might be an innocent explanation for all his lies about his mother, like he’d only discovered that she’d worked for Ellie after they’d began dating or that he didn’t even know himself. But, the footage confirmed what her gut told her. There was nothing
innocent about Tim or his motives. Everything he had done was deliberate and well-rehearsed. And the burning question that dominated Ellie’s every thought was, why? She knew Tim had only just registered with Match Your DNA, otherwise she would have been notified of the Match earlier. Yet he’d been interviewed for a job more than a year ago. Was he an undercover journalist? Or employed by a rival company trying to infiltrate her ranks? Had he just got lucky being Matched to her? It was too far-fetched a theory to make sense, but she was struggling to find an alternative.
What she did know was that at some point long before they met, Tim had anticipated that she’d find the footage of him for an as-yet-unknown endgame. And until she knew exactly what he was hiding, their uncomfortable charade would continue.
The suite in London’s Soho Hotel was ready for Ellie as she entered through the glass doors and was escorted up to the third floor.
She’d hurried inside before the paparazzi could recognise her. Andrei walked ahead and Ellie was flanked by two of his team, all briefed on her predicament with Tim. She had declined Andrei’s offer to elicit Tim’s information by force and she refused all his demands to sever ties with him. Getting to the bottom of the situation without violence was her priority, and she pursued her quest with a dogged determination. However, she did agree to carry a panic alarm when she was with Tim.
Once inside the plush modern suite, Ula greeted her and took her jacket. A woman and three men she didn’t recognise sat at a table in the middle of the room. Ellie took off her sunglasses and joined them.
‘Ellie, this is Tracy Fenton and her team: Jason, Ben and Jack,’ Ula said. ‘They’ve been looking into Tim’s background for you.’
Ellie had never met the team of private investigators her company used. Their services bent many privacy and information security laws, but this had never worried her and this particular investigation was paramount.
‘Shall we get started?’ Tracy said matter-of-factly, and opened the coloured folders that lay on the table. Ellie was surprised by her appearance – considering how borderline-legal her techniques were, she had a very unassuming, mumsy look about her. But she spoke with directness and efficiency. ‘Firstly, on behalf of my team I’d like to offer my sincerest apologies for us dropping the ball the first time round. The timescale we were given to complete our work didn’t allow us to do a thorough enough job, but that’s no excuse. I can assure you personally it will not happen again.’
Ellie nodded but didn’t offer any outward signs that she forgave their error.
‘Details about your fiancé are scant and it’s our opinion that he has buried himself very deeply,’ Tracy continued. Already, Ellie felt her stomach knot. She dug her heels into the rug to maintain her composure. ‘But let’s tell you what we know about him so far. Timothy Hunt, real name Matthew Ward, was born in St Neots, Cambridge, to parents Samantha and Michael Ward.’
‘He told me he didn’t know his father. His parents were married?’
‘They were,’ Tracy said, and passed copies of marriage and birth certificates to Ellie across the table. ‘The couple had no further children. Matthew was educated in Cambridge until at least sixteen: an average student with mediocre GCSE results. But we cannot ascertain if he continued into further education or university. Meanwhile, his parents divorced, after twenty-six years of marriage, eight years ago. Both went on to re-marry, and his mother died three years ago in a house fire in Oundle, Northants. The coroner’s cause of death was smoke inhalation. The CV he provided you with for his job application includes a selection of fictional businesses, none of which check out. And we cannot find any current record of employment.’
‘So for almost twenty years, Tim … I mean Matthew, hasn’t existed?’ Ellie asked.
‘It appears that way. He has erased all traces of himself.’ Tracy opened a second folder and passed Ellie more printouts and photocopies. ‘Timothy appears to have made his first appearance in your life at his job interview – we can find no record of him before that date. Everything we learned upon our first investigation was created, faked or manipulated. We have spoken to his football teammates who informed us he joined them just over a year ago, but rarely attends social functions. None of them know much about him.’
‘But if he got the job with us, he must’ve known we’d discover his CV and references were faked?’
‘I’m sure he did.’
‘Which leads me to believe his sole purpose for applying was to gain access to the building, look into a camera and mouth my name in the hope that one day I’d see it.’
‘He’s playing a long game, but for what purpose, I cannot say.’
Ellie shook her head. ‘And if you can’t find a current employer, then what’s he doing when he says he’s going to work each day?’
‘I can put together a team to follow him if that’s what you decide.’
‘Can we go back to his father? Is he still alive?’
‘He is alive, but he’s now living in a home for stroke patients in Galbraith, Scotland. He’s recently been widowed. According to the manager, he can no longer converse.’
‘And you haven’t been able to discover anything else about Tim, not even from his DNA?’
‘Nothing, not even when we ran his picture though facial image recognition software. His DNA information is no longer on the company database but we ran a trace on the fingerprints we obtained from your property. They revealed nothing of interest. It’s as if he’s left behind a trail of crumbs only leading in the direction he wants you to follow.’
‘Damn it,’ she whispered, and sat back in the chair. Her back and underarms were wet with perspiration and she pressed her wrists into the leather arms of the chair to try to cool herself down. Everything she feared about her fiancé was coming true, only it was worse than she’d imagined. Tim wasn’t just her Match; he was also her enemy.
She suddenly became aware of the silence in the room and that everyone present was avoiding eye contact. She felt foolish and humiliated, and wondered if they’d all had a laugh at the gullible rich girl behind her back. She rose to her feet, slipped her sunglasses and jacket back on, and thanked Tracy and her team. She left swiftly, followed by Ula and Andrei.
As she was driven back to her office, attempting to dodge the mid-morning London traffic, Ellie’s sadness gave way to anger. She felt like someone who had been bereaved and cheated out of a future and she was furious because of it. She had lost her loving Tim to a stranger with an agenda.
By the time the car had snaked its way through traffic across London Bridge and pulled up outside her office in The Shard, Ellie had already begun to bark orders at Ula, who furiously typed them into her iPad: changing all the locks and security codes to Ellie’s home, organising a new mobile phone number and private email address, deleting all of Tim’s text messages and photographs they’d taken together, and erasing any contact there had ever been between them.
By the time the lift reached the lofty heights of the seventy-first floor, Ellie was mulling over how and when she would confront Tim. She eventually settled on that night; she would return to his home and, with Andrei and his team’s assistance, she would learn the truth, no matter what means were used to get it out of him.
Only, the element of surprise had been taken away from her. As she closed the door to her office, Tim sat behind her desk, his feet resting on the top.
‘Hello, Ells, I think it’s time we talked, isn’t it?’ he said, smiling broadly.
Chapter 76
MANDY
Mandy faced an anxious thirty-minute wait while Richard was examined in private.
She couldn’t stop her imagination from working overtime, convincing herself that it was hers and the baby’s presence that had brought him back to consciousness. After an unbearable delay, his doctor finally called Mandy into Richard’s room.
‘I’m sorry,’ he began sympathetically. ‘But I can’t see any substantial signs of brain activity.’
‘I’ve hea
rd that sometimes people come out of a coma when they hear a song they like or a familiar voice. Maybe that’s what happened to him?’
‘That can certainly be the case for some coma patients, but your friend isn’t in a coma,’ the doctor said. ‘Please, take a seat.’
As Mandy lowered herself into an armchair, Dr Jenkins perched on the edge of Richard’s bed.
‘Let me explain. Coma patients are totally unresponsive; they don’t move or react to sounds and can’t feel pain. Their brains have simply shut down to deal with the trauma they have been put through, but research shows that they are still aware of their surroundings. The severe brain injuries Mr Taylor sustained in his accident pushed him from a coma into a prolonged vegetative state, which is quite different. He’s unconscious and has no awareness of anything around him. However, parts of his body can still move like you witnessed: his arms and his eyes; he can yawn and may even utter the odd word, but it’s not him in control of it. It’s a natural reflex. If it continues much longer – which we suspect it will – the chances of him recovering are virtually nil. I’m sorry Ms Griffiths …’
Mandy dabbed at her eyes with the sleeve of her top. ‘There was more to it than that,’ she said. ‘You said he’s not aware of anyone around him, but I’m sure he was – is – aware of me. It was only when I held his hand to my face that this happened.’
Dr Jenkins paused and frowned. ‘I understand you are Mr Taylor’s partner. You are both Matched, I believe?’
‘Yes, but I’d never met him before today.’ Mandy felt almost embarrassed. But she was eager to impress on Dr Jenkins the uniqueness of the situation. ‘I’m also carrying his baby.’
Dr Jenkins looked at Mandy with a confused expression, likely thinking she was mad.
‘It’s a long story,’ she added quickly.
‘Well, I have read about cases where patients respond to their Matches, and it can certainly become even more intense when a child is involved. Researchers believe it is because a pregnant woman’s hormones contain certain properties that can stir senses in the unconscious. However, it’s probably an exaggeration to call them restorative or healing. It’s not impossible, but it’s more of an involuntary chemical reaction than a cerebral one.’