‘Your friends? You said you didn’t have any close friends.’
Quickly, I composed myself. ‘I don’t. I meant my old school buddies. I lost touch with them years ago.’ I dabbed my eyes with a tissue from a box in the car. ‘Sorry. I’m being weird. Just give me a minute.’
But George was stony-faced. Had he been testing me? I took a calming breath. His loyalties lay with Sheridan and there was a lot at stake. I must not let down my guard again.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
SHERIDAN
Sheridan slipped into the library. Daniel rarely came in here; it was her own private space. She felt guilty keeping a secret from him, but she knew he would not approve. She sat on the leather sofa, listening to the latest voice recording on her phone. George had been reluctant to go along with things, but she had persuaded him that it was for the best.
‘What if things don’t work out with the baby?’ she’d said. ‘How are we going to feel six months down the line if everything goes wrong?’
Besides, it wasn’t as if he was wearing a wire. All he had to do was turn on the voice recorder app on his phone, pop it in his breast pocket and leave it running in the background. So far, she had listened to three recordings. Now Roz was on her way over and this was the last one.
The brief had been simple. Be friendly; take her under your wing. Make her feel like she can trust you. She had even given him carte blanche to provide some gossip, although the comment about Roz making her feel threatened was pushing it a bit. And as for telling her she could change her mind and walk away . . . Sheridan’s expression darkened. Was George trying to get a message to her? Trying to warn her that she might not be safe? She paused the recording, then replayed his words. No, she was being silly. George was her trusted friend. Besides: he owed her. After everything she’d done for his family . . . His mother would not be alive had Sheridan not funded her medical care. That’s the way it was with her staff. They were all indebted to her. George was simply doing his job.
Roz had opened up a little about her family while getting her hair done. Estranged from her mother, with no father to speak of, it seemed she really was alone in the world. Best of all, when Daniel was mentioned, Roz had spun the conversation around to Sheridan. A lifelong fan of her work. Her words injected Sheridan with a warm glow. Perhaps she should have felt bad, spying like this, but it was the only way to know for sure. So far, Roz was passing each test laid before her and after some reassurance from George, had signed the agreement without complaint.
If only she had taken such care before. Sheridan tried to dismiss the thought, but it clung – a rotten, festering memory that would not go away. This was meant to be a new start, a chance to begin again. She had made a pact with Daniel to accept their mistakes and move on. But memories of Kelly came just the same. Leo might look like Daniel, but she could still see Kelly in his eyes. Sheridan ground her back teeth. Why must her life be marred by the past?
It had taken time to persuade Daniel to go down this route, but this time she would get it right. If there were any other traitors lurking in the corridors of their home, they would have known by now. She opened her laptop. It couldn’t hurt to put some safeguards in place. Roz was ridiculously trusting and hadn’t complained when George had asked her to give up her phone; Sheridan could not afford for anyone to track it to their New York address through GPS. She tapped her keyboard, bringing up the Miracle-Moms site.
Her conversations with Roz had been enlightening, and they had discussed everything from Roz’s first pet to her mother’s maiden name. It had not taken Sheridan long to work out her password for the site. From her username of Julie, Sheridan sent a message to Roz, pulling out of their deal.
‘I’m sorry to lay this on you at such short notice,’ she typed as Julie. ‘But I can’t progress. I’m pregnant. It’s been a wonderful shock for us both.’