best be safe than sorry. If I were you I wouldn’t stay at Alex’s right now – stay at yours a couple of nights, until you know the score.’
‘Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.’
‘I mean, you could be in his place, snogging on the sofa, you look up and she’s standing over you both with a kitchen knife.’
‘Thanks for that, Jas,’ I say sarcastically. She’s just joking, but I feel sick. ‘It’s an empty threat. She’s a solicitor. She isn’t going to ruin her career to break into another solicitor’s house,’ I say, ‘even if it is her ex’s. I’m sure it’ll all be fine,’ I add, though I’m not sure at all.
‘Do you want me to come and stay at yours with you?’ Jas asks. ‘I’m working late, but I could come over about nine – we could order takeaway. I’ll bring the gin. It’ll be like old times.’ She smiles.
‘Thanks, love,’ I reply, ‘but I’ll get Alex to stay at mine, he would have a better chance at fighting her off,’ I joke.
She looks disappointed, so to soften the rejection, I smile and say, ‘Once everything’s calm, you and I must go out.’
‘Whatever, but just be careful. Yeah?’
With that, I leave her office, imagining that vision of Helen and the glint of a blade.
Chapter Twenty-One
I spend the next two hours setting up a safeguarding plan for Chloe Thomson, and after lunch, Alex calls me.
‘Hey,’ I say, glad to hear his voice.
‘I’m missing you more than usual today.’ He sighs. ‘Did you pop out somewhere for lunch?’
‘Yeah, I just bought a sandwich, ate it at my desk.’
‘Ahh, I wondered what you were doing on Foregate Street, I saw you on my phone.’
Thank God for technology. I don’t care what cynical slant Jas wants to put on it, he can see where his ex-wife is, and where I am at the same time. And that’s fine by me if it means he can prevent something horrible happening.
‘Is everything okay, do you know where she is?’ I ask, feeling on edge just thinking about her at large in the same city as me.
‘She’s in the town centre.’
‘At work? Whitney’s Solicitors?’
‘How do you know where she’s working?’ He seems a bit put out.
‘I googled her.’
‘Hannah, just leave this to me and I’ll make sure you’re safe, don’t go seeking her out, you must be careful,’ he says.
‘That’s the second time today someone’s told me to be careful. What do you think I’m going to do, run round to her office and ask her if she wants a fight?’
‘Who else said be careful?’ he asks.
‘Jas. She thinks I’m not taking the threat seriously enough.’
‘What? I can’t believe you’ve discussed this with Jas. Bloody hell, Hannah, do you have to tell her everything?’
‘No – but if your ex-wife is on the rampage and says she wants to hurt me, I need my friends to know, so they can be on the lookout. She might find out where I work and turn up here brandishing a bloody knife.’
‘She won’t, but promise me, if – if she ever makes contact, don’t talk to her. Don’t engage with her, don’t… don’t tell her anything. She doesn’t know your name, and I certainly don’t want her knowing where you live, or anything about you. Be careful what you put on social media too.’
‘Okay, okay.’ The panic in his voice is making me even more jittery.
‘And don’t bother with the police. Call me if you’re worried; the police won’t do a damn thing. Remember I know, I work with them.’
‘So do I, sometimes, and I’m sure they’d do something if I called and said a woman who’d said she intended to do me harm was following me.’
‘Hannah, will you please trust me on this? And don’t get the police involved,’ he snaps. ‘Look, I’ve got to go, I’m due in court.’
I put down the phone, feeling very uneasy. Why doesn’t he want me to call the police? Surely my safety would come before her career – or his for that matter. I know it wouldn’t be good for a solicitor to be embroiled in such a drama, but I’m not messing about. If I feel threatened in any way I’m straight onto the police. And I also feel perfectly justified in telling Jas and the others about the situation. What if Psycho Helen befriended one of them, or turned up at the office?
‘He’s scared to death of you making any kind of contact with her,’ Jas says a little