brings the contract in, he closes the door behind him.
‘Can I have a word?’
‘Sure,’ says Alice, knowing it’s unlike him to ask. ‘What’s up?’
‘The company credit card has taken some pretty hefty hits recently.’
The news is no surprise to Alice.
‘That’s okay,’ she says. ‘I’ve been hitting it hard with fabrics and furniture for Belmont House. There was some stuff we needed to pay for up front.’
‘Well, that’s the thing,’ he says. ‘I know where we are with Belmont, but it already feels as if the Japan project is running away from me.’
Alice looks at him, her brows knitted. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Large sums are already being spent, mostly with one company, and I understand that we need to be a little organic on this, but I could do with a bit of a heads-up so that I can prepare for whatever’s coming at us over the hill.’
‘There must be some mistake,’ says Alice. ‘I’ve not spent money on anything over there yet. Perhaps a couple of hotel bills and the odd lawyer’s bill, but that’s it.’
Matt scratches at his head. ‘That’s not going to have busted through our twenty-grand limit.’
‘Twenty grand?’ exclaims Alice. ‘We couldn’t possibly have spent that kind of money.’
‘We have, and most of it has gone to a company called Visions. Do you know who they are?’
Alice shakes her head. ‘Have you spoken to Nathan?’
Matt nods. ‘I mentioned it when the balance reached ten thousand and a couple of times since, but he said everything was fine and that the payments were all accounted for. But now we’re at our limit, there’s nowhere for us to go.’
‘Might our credit card have been cloned or something like that? It definitely sounds as if there’s been a breach somewhere. Can you check it out?’
‘Sure. I’ll find out what’s going on and report back.’ He offers a tight smile and turns to leave Alice’s office.
She flicks through the contract that he leaves with her, but without speaking lawyer language, it’s double-Dutch. She can’t see any anomalies, but scans a copy straight over to Liz for her to check.
I’m popping to the bank reads a text from Nathan and Alice instinctively walks over to the window.
So why do you need your car? she wonders, as she watches him hurry towards it, peering around furtively before sliding behind the steering wheel.
42
Alice watches through the windscreen as Nathan types something into his phone. There’s an uncomfortable sensation rising up from her toes, and as much as she tries to shrug it off, she just can’t shake it.
As he reverses out of the parking space, Alice grabs her keys and bolts down the stairs. She wants to know, once and for all, what the hell he’s up to.
She keeps her distance as his car manoeuvres its way through the mid-morning traffic, heading out of town.
He’s only gone a couple of miles when he slows down and indicates left, into the Holiday Inn car park. Despite herself, Alice still wants there to be a perfectly reasonable explanation for why he’s taken time out of his working day to go to a hotel. But the evidence against him is mounting.
Alice pulls into a space a few rows behind Nathan and hopes that the rain will obscure his vision in the same way it’s dulling hers. She keeps the windscreen wipers on full power, yet they still struggle to offer her a clear view through the glass.
Ten minutes slowly pass, with Nathan still in his car. Alice switches off her wipers to try and retain some level of inconspicuousness, which makes it all the harder to stake out the women she sees; squinting through her rain-splattered windscreen as they make their way to or from their cars, waiting for one of them to head towards Nathan.
A dark car reverses into the space beside Nathan’s, but Alice can’t see the make or model. It doesn’t seem to matter, as five minutes passes without movement. Alice is on the verge of leaving when she sees the car’s door open and a woman get out. There’s a flash of long dark hair, but it all happens too fast as the woman quickly gets into the passenger seat of Nathan’s car.
Alice is rooted to the spot in shock and anger, fighting off the overpowering temptation to run over there and pull her out by her hair. Her hand is on the door handle, her pride pushing her out. She wants to kill him, and then her, but just as she’s about