he takes his mug of tea and wanders back into the office, where Sameera will no doubt be briefed on the latest headline regarding Hannah’s ‘weird’ boyfriend.
‘Joking aside, I’ll make sure the others keep an eye out – we all will, mate,’ Jas says as we leave the kitchen together. ‘We work with hormonal teens, so the psycho ex-wife is a day in the park, isn’t she guys?’ she calls to Harry and Sameera, who, as I suspected, has already been briefed.
‘I’ll hold her down and you can kick her,’ Sameera offers. ‘Seriously though, Hannah, it sounds dreadful – you should call the police.’
‘We just need to see what happens,’ I say. ‘She hasn’t actually done anything yet, probably just trying to get Alex’s attention.’
‘Do you know she hasn’t done anything?’ Jas asks.
‘Yeah… I’d know if she’d tried to grab me in the street…’ I start.
‘When she says she’ll hurt you though – she might not mean physically.’
‘Oh God!’ The flowers and the vile card.
‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’ Jas says.
I nod.
‘What’s everyone thinking? Can I join in?’ Harry jokes.
‘Oh, Harry, do keep up – it’s probably the psycho ex-wife who sent the flowers and the note calling Hannah a whore,’ Sameera explains.
I don’t respond. I hadn’t thought of that, but it isn’t impossible. If Helen had been aware Alex was seeing someone before she met him for lunch, she may well have sent the roses – perhaps the note was a warning.
Jas looks concerned. ‘Mmm, well, I don’t want to scare you, but you need to be on your guard. I don’t want to be reading about you in the Sun this time next week,’ she says, before we head into her office to discuss Helen and the ways she might hurt me.
I don’t know why I’m buying into Jas’s drama. I think I just have this need to explore the possibilities so I can be prepared. Over the next twenty minutes we assess Helen’s current state of mind, theorise about her childhood and come to the conclusion she’s straight out of the narcissist’s playbook – none of which is based on fact or any knowledge of the woman.
‘What does she look like, is she good-looking?’ Jas asks.
‘Not that you’re superficial or anything. It’s useful to know just how attractive your best friend’s stalker is.’ I roll my eyes. ‘But yeah, she’s attractive.’ I sigh and try to describe her. But then I realise she’s a lawyer who works – or worked in the area – and given that they aren’t yet divorced, I google ‘Helen Higham’.
I soon find her on Whitney and Partners Solicitors – a small company out on the road to Malvern.
‘She’s still using Alex’s surname then?’ Jas says as I hold up her picture on my phone.
‘Yes, they’re only separated at the moment, but even when they’re divorced she could keep his name – Higham – as her surname,’ I point out.
Jas screws up her eyes and brings her face closer, then she moves back with eyebrows raised and a strange expression on her face. ‘She’s very familiar,’ she says, this weird half smile on her face.
‘What? Oh shit – do you know her?’ I ask, dismayed.
She looks right at me, still smiling. ‘You can’t see it, can you?’
‘No, what?’
‘She’s the spitting image of you.’
I take my phone off her and look at the photo again. It’s difficult to see yourself in someone else, but I know what she means, there’s definitely a likeness.
‘Well, Alex certainly has a type,’ she says. ‘And don’t take this the wrong way – but it isn’t necessarily a good thing that you look like her.’
‘Why?’
‘Oh, love, I hate to say it – but that might be why he chose you.’
‘You think I’m a substitute for her?’
‘Who knows? Presumably he saw your photo on the app, saw you looked like his ex-wife and—’
‘Or he just has a type.’ I repeat her original theory, trying to dampen her drama.
Jas raises her eyebrows. ‘He might. But at the moment, that’s not even the real issue. Does Psycho Queen know where you live?’
‘No. Alex said he’d told her about me, but that’s all.’
‘Because he knew she’d react like a mad bitch?’
‘I don’t know, I hope not. He says she’s just upset, and she’ll be fine once she gets used to the idea.’ I say this with all the conviction I can muster, but in the back of my mind I wonder if he’s just playing it down so I’ll stay calm.
‘Either way,