I went and detangled my hair, took a shower, did a face pack and put some cooling eye gel on and headed downstairs for coffee. I couldn’t face eating anything, the sight of food made me feel slightly sick and I knew cooking would just make me think of him with his enormous appetite. I tried to take my mind off him by stripping the bed, I couldn’t spend another night in it with his scent all over the sheets. I took one final inhalation of them, with my eyes closed and quickly shoved them in the machine as I felt my eyes start to fill up again. As they washed, I went and cleaned my face and moisturised, applying more eye cooling gel, before taking out my suitcase and starting to pack up some of my clothes, carefully putting Dan’s letter between some of my jumpers. I shoved the bedding in the tumble dryer and went to sit at the desk to send Brooke an email, but I didn’t know what to say. I let out a startled scream as the telephone rang behind me. The only times it had ever rung it had been Dan. My heart started pounding wildly, maybe he was back, he’d had a change of heart and wanted to talk. I spun around in the chair to grab it and cursed as I caught my knee on the desk filing cabinet drawer. Rubbing my leg I snatched up the phone.
‘Hello?’
‘O, hello. I’m sorry I must’ve dialled the wrong number.’ I sighed to hear the man’s thick Scottish voice at the other end of the line. I’d been so sure it was Dan.
‘Who were you looking for?’
‘Daniel,’ he advised. I frowned. If he meant Dan I’d never heard anyone call him Daniel, and why was he ringing him here and not at the boathouse?
‘I know a Dan, if that’s who you mean?’
‘Sorry yes, habit I guess. Is he in?’
‘No I’m sorry he’s not, but you’ve rung the wrong number for him anyway, this is the main house on the island, rather than the boathouse.’
‘The boathouse?’
‘Yes. He’s not there either, I don’t think he’ll be back until late Monday night. Can I take a message?’
‘O, right,’ he sounded really confused, pretty much how I was feeling. ‘Well yes, if you can tell him Theo, his father-in-law called, we’re a little worried we haven’t seen him for a few days, which is most unusual when the weather’s clear.’
‘I’m sorry, did you just say his … father-in-law?’ I felt my mouth drain of saliva as my hands started to shake. Dan was married?
‘Yes, he knows the number. If you could please pass on the message I’d be so grateful.’
‘I … of course I will,’ I agreed in a state of shock, really having to concentrate on every word this man was telling me.
‘Thank you dear, sorry to have troubled you.’ I nodded as the line went dead and just sat with the hand set in my palm. Dan was married?! That was his big secret? I couldn’t believe it, what sort of marriage was it that he only saw his wife for a few hours every day? More importantly, how could I have got unwittingly involved with a married man, again? After Matt, I swore I’d never do that, I’d never be duped again. Was I that stupid? I let Matt fool me and now Dan? Not to mention what Zac had been up to behind my back. I slowly put the phone back on its cradle and leaned forward and put my head in my hands. No wonder Dan didn’t want to get involved, why he felt this burden of guilt after we’d had time together. I couldn’t believe he’d do that to me, then I laughed. It wasn’t like he was cheating on me, we were nothing, he was cheating on his damn wife. Dan couldn’t possibly know how much more he’d hurt me by sucking me into his infidelity. I’d never disclosed to him that my relationship with Matt had been founded on those very lies. How the hell could I ever trust another man again? Three shits in a row. Was that some kind of world record? I’d be immortalised in the Guinness Book of Records, Ellie Baxter, winner of the world record for naivety. I suddenly felt overwhelmingly home sick, I just wanted to be back in London right this second, away from all reminders of Dan. I needed my best friend.
I spun around to grab my iPhone for her number and swore again as I caught my leg on the desk for a second time. I bent down to rub it and was surprised to see the drawer was hanging slightly open. I know it had been locked when I first arrived here, I’d checked them all hoping for some insight into the owner. I went to push it shut and frowned as I caught a glimpse of a photo of a woman with long blonde hair, she looked just like me. Feeling a little guilty for prying, I rolled my chair back and pulled the drawer wide open. I gasped with surprise to see it was a picture of me, an old picture of me from a few years ago and it was pinned to the front of a manila file with my name on it. I picked it up and placed it on the desk in front of me. What the bloody hell was going on? I slammed the drawer shut, not wanting to bruise my legs for the third time. My hands were trembling as I opened the file and saw a typed report with my name at the top of it.
Précis Report on Ellie Baxter
Dated 7th December 2013
I frowned, the 7th of December was the morning after I’d applied for the rental on the boathouse, the day that I’d been told I could have it. I read on.
Dear Mr. Davenport,
As requested, a summary of the information obtained today on your potential tenant Ellie Baxter. Given the immediate turnaround required I haven’t been able to pull together a full report as usual, but if instructed will provide the normal, more detailed one.
Regards
Ian Smith
I shook my head as I read all of my particulars, date of birth, place of birth, height, last known weight, national insurance number and credit rating. It listed my addresses since birth, schools I’d attended, qualifications I’d obtained and my work history. There were footnotes at the bottom referring to appendices on my parents and significant relationships. How the hell had someone obtained all of this, and more to the point, why? I flipped over to a second page and felt tears sting my eyes as I saw the official police report on my parents accident, even I hadn’t seen a copy of this. I couldn’t bring myself to read it. I’d tried to come to terms with their death, to imagine how it happened and that they didn’t suffer, I didn’t need to read anything that shattered that illusion. I quickly turned the page. The next was on the lorry driver who killed them and stated that I was paying a monthly allowance to his son, including the amount, I was dumbstruck. This should all be confidential information. There was a page on Matt, stating that from what Ian could glean, I hadn’t known he was married when I started seeing him and that was the reason for our break up. The next page was on Zac, detailing his predilections as well as having an additional copy of an STI report carried out long before we’d even stopped having sex. So it seemed Zac had lied to me again, he’d been cheating on me for longer than I thought, why else get a test? My hands were shaking at this point, this was all personal. What right did Dan’s friend have to know all of this about me? The final page was on Brooke, confirming her bisexuality and that the investigator hadn’t had time to ascertain whether our relationship was sexual.
I slammed the file down. I was seething, I don’t think I’d ever been so mad in all my life. Who did this arsehole think he was? Employing someone to check up on me, and how the hell had they got so much information on me in such a short period of time? Did he do this for all tenants? Had Dan seen this? Did he know this was what his friend did? ‘Of course he does, Ellie, he was the one still on the island when I made the booking. He probably instructed it on behalf of his employer and had to read it and report back the findings before confirming I could stay,’ I said out loud, needing to hear for sure what was milling through my mind. I covered my eyes and sighed. My brain couldn’t handle all of this information. Dan knew from the start pretty much everything about me, I tried to remember him asking me questions about facts he already knew the answers to. What was he hoping to achieve, to test me? See if I’d give different answers? Or was it his way of forging a bond with me so he could make me fall for him and sleep with him? If he was that conniving though, why hadn’t he slept with me the first two times we’d kissed, or when he’d looked after me sexually. I pinched myself really hard, not
convinced I was actually awake, but when I let out a squeal, the pain in my chest to know this was actually happening hurt even more.
Something sparked in my memory as I looked back at the addressee on the report, Mr. Davenport. O my God, that was the name of the guy who was renting me the mews house in London. Oliver Davenport. He was the owner of the house and island as well? I was renting my new London house off Dan’s best friend? Dan had refused to tell me the island owners name as he said if I knew I’d probably work out who he was and he liked his privacy. I snorted as the irony of a man who valued his privacy, paying for detailed reports on his holiday guests, struck me. I opened up the internet on my laptop and keyed in “Oliver Davenport” and “Millionaire” and waited for the results to come up. The whole of the first page focussed on Oliver Davenport, CEO of Davenport Technologies and when I opened their home page my jaw dropped. Dan’s friend only owned one of the largest software companies in the world, with market capital of over 5 billion dollars. Dan must’ve worked for him, when he did IT in London, where one of their head offices were based. The main one was in San Francisco, where Oliver Davenport’s registered address was listed on my tenancy agreement. I wanted answers, I was confused, hurt and angry. I picked up the phone and rang Dan’s mobile number, but it went straight to answer machine.
‘Hello, Dan. This is Ellie, remember the girl you had your most recent fling with? Unless you’ve fitted in a few more since the other night? Well, guess what arsehole, I know you’re married. Your father-in-law called looking for you, so given how you also have a very large file on me detailing my history with married guys, along with other private, confidential information, you’ll understand why I’m rather pissed off. I just wanted to congratulate you, you really had me fooled. I thought you were genuinely interested in me, that you cared for me. All along you knew my entire life story and were just stringing me along. What’s worse is I can’t even work out why, I just don’t know what you got out of it. Given the way you look, you know pretty much any woman with a pulse would drop her knickers if you asked her to. Is playing games what really gets you off? Seeing how you’ve lied about so much, I guess I need to go and get that STD test again. I rang to tell you how much I hated you, to demand answers, but you know what, while I’m ranting down the phone like some bloody crazy woman, I’ve just realised I don’t need any more lies in my life and I’m sure that’s what will spew from your mouth if you even bothered to call me back. I hope you’re happy in your sad little fucked up life and I sincerely hope that your wife finds out what type of man she’s really married to, because no one deserves to be treated the way you treat women. Don’t bother calling me back because I won’t answer. And don’t even think about trying to contact me. I never want to hear from you or see you ever again. You know I actually cried when I read your letter, because it sounded so sincere, you made me feel like you’d fallen for me, nearly as hard as I had for you. Well let me tell you that unlike you, I do have regrets, I won’t look back on this fondly and I hope that in time I never remember you.’ I cut the call and chastised myself as more tears streamed down my face. I didn’t want to spend another night on this island, seeing memories of Dan everywhere I looked. I was going home right now, I didn’t care how, I’d pay for a bloody taxi all the way to London if I had to. I wasn’t spending a minute longer here than I had to. I dialled Pete’s number and tried to choke back the tears.
‘The Stag.’
‘Pete?’
‘Yes.’
‘It’s Ellie, from the island.’
‘Miss Ellie, what can I do for you?’
‘I’m so sorry to ask you on such short notice, but could you get me to the airport as a matter of urgency?’
‘Today?’ he exclaimed.
‘Yes.’
‘But your flight’s not until Monday,’ he replied, the confusion apparent in his voice.
‘Actually no, it’s tomorrow night, I hadn’t got around to telling Dan I’d brought it forward, but I’m hoping I might be able to get a cancellation seat tonight.’
‘Does Dan know you’re leaving early?’
‘No, but as you probably know he had to go away anyway so we’ve already said our goodbyes, there’s nothing more I have to say to him. If you can’t help me, can someone get me to the shore and have a taxi waiting?’
‘I’ll come and get you, lassie. If you can’t get a flight, I’ll get you back to the house.’
‘It’s ok, I’ll check into a hotel at the airport.’
‘There are no airport hotels, it’s a small rural airport with parking, I’d need to bring you back.’
‘O,’ I let out a sigh. I’d worry about what to do if I couldn’t get out later, but I wasn’t coming back here, that was for sure. ‘How soon can you get here?’
‘Can you give me an hour? Is that soon enough?’
‘That’s perfect, it gives me time to finish packing, thank you.’ I put my iPhone on charge as I quickly started packing up my laptop and ran to the bathroom to shove all of my toiletries into my wash bag. ‘Take a deep breath and calm down,’ I told myself as I tried to take my time and check each drawer for my items. I finished packing in under twenty minutes and spent the rest of my time tidying up, making the bed with the freshly dried linen and reorganising my handbag with my tickets for tomorrow, passport and iPhone, shoving my charger in my carrier. I didn’t bother emailing Brooke, I couldn’t face dealing with all of this again today. If I managed to get back to London, I’d just check into a hotel and ring Brooke tomorrow.
I took one last sad look around, it was like a fast movie of the last month of my life flashed before me, so many images of Dan and I, which stung. I wheeled my case out, locked the door behind me and made my way down towards the boathouse, holding the key to the house in my hand. I checked Dan’s boat wasn’t tied up, just in case he’d returned, I didn’t want a confrontation while I was still feeling so emotional and vulnerable. I went to put the key through his letterbox and realised he didn’t have one. What the hell was I going to do with the key? I noticed a small gap under the front door and bent down and shoved it through, hoping he’d see it when he returned. As I stood up, I heard a vehicle hooting. I turned around and looked over at the clearing on the shoreline and my heart sank. It was a green Land Rover. ‘No, no, no!’ I groaned, it was too much, I couldn’t deal with this now. I frowned and squinted as I looked at the guy who jumped out, he wasn’t tall enough to be Dan, which made me heave a sigh of relief, it must be Pete. It seemed Land Rovers were the vehicle of choice up here. I noticed there was a trailer on the back with some kind of rubberised dinghy. Great, could this day get any worse? Now I had to cross the bloody loch in some kind of tiny death trap. I sat on my suitcase and watched as it was launched and make its way over. I smiled to see it was Pete. He waved as he pulled up to the jetty and turned off the engine, jumped out and secured it.
‘Miss Ellie. Do you need a hand with your case?’
‘No thank you, the case is fine, I’m just a bit nervous about the water after …’ I gulped and he smiled.
‘I understand. Let me take your case first then I’ll help you. I promise you’ll be fine. I’ll take good care of you and Dan had already warned me to have a life jacket for you for Monday night, to make the crossing a bit easier.’
‘You must think I’m so stupid,’ I smiled, feeling confused that Dan had even considered my safety. I was really beginning to wonder if he had a split personality for real, as well as a dual life. Married man for four hours a day, woodcutting lothario for the remaining twenty?
‘I don’t think that at all, Dan said you were under for a while, enough to scare anyone,’ Pete advised. He returned with the bright orange life jacket, secured it around me and offered me his arm as he led me along the jetty, keeping me in the middle to ease my nerves, then helped me down into the dinghy. I grasped the sides as it rocked and he gave me another reassuring smile as he started the motor and pushed away. I kept my head down, I couldn’t bear t
o see the house or boathouse for the last time and kept running through all the reasons I hated Dan to stop myself from crying. and to keep from worrying about the water below me. I breathed a sigh of relief when we made it safely to the other side. Pete helped me out gave me a hand up into the Land Rover. I looked at him surprised when I saw a padded cushion on the seat. ‘Dan made me laugh telling me how you bruised your arse on the seat of his, so I thought I’d bring something to soften the blows.’
‘That’s so sweet, thank you,’ I nodded and bit my lip as he passed me the seatbelt and shut me in. I watched in the mirror as he unhooked the trailer and hopped in. ‘You’re leaving your boat?’
‘I’ll pick it up on the way back. Right, hold tight.’
I nodded and was grateful that we travelled in silence. I assumed that he’d sensed I wasn’t in the mood to talk, my puffy eyes probably gave away my state of mind. It was nearly six by the time we got to the airport and Pete helped me out and handed me my case.
‘I’ll go and see if I can get a seat and come and let you know,’ I advised.
‘Ok. See you in a while, lassie,’ he nodded. I smiled, wondering if he knew he was effectively calling me a dog by using that endearment. I mean, Lassie was a really sweet and wonderful dog, but a dog all the same.
31 Days of Winter (31 Days #1) Page 44