new email address.’ Bea clicked the TV on with the remote. ‘Why? Is it an RSVP? I thought we were having all those sent to that party email?’
‘No, it was from you and it wasn’t anything to do with the party.’
‘But I didn’t send you any emails today. What did it say? And if it’s not my email address, what makes you think it was from me?’
‘It had your name on the account,’ Eleanor replied. ‘So it looked like it was from you at first glance. I checked the address and it was slightly different; the E in Barker was a three.’
Bea stopped scrolling through the programme list. ‘So what did it say? Penis enlargement? Viagra advert?’
‘Have you got your laptop there? I’ll send it to you.’
Bea resisted the urge to sigh. Eleanor could be so melodramatic sometimes – why couldn’t she just tell her what the bloody thing said? All this cloak-and-dagger, and her melted cheese was going claggy.
‘Here, let me stick it on now.’ She booted up her laptop. ‘So how are the kids?’
‘Fine, thanks. Do you have it?’
‘It’s still starting up. What’s up, Els? You know me and Karen have been worried about you the last few weeks. Is there anything I can help with? Can I have the boys more for you so you can get some rest?’
‘What’s Karen been saying? Don’t you think she’s been acting a bit weird?’
Bea stayed silent. She knew exactly why Karen had been weird around Eleanor, but there was no way she was going to talk about it now, and especially not over the phone. Eleanor hadn’t told her personally what Karen had said to her about Adam, which meant she either didn’t believe it at all, or she did believe it and didn’t want to talk about it.
‘Has she said something to you?’ Shit, she’d been quiet too long. ‘About what happened with Noah? About what I’d thought happened?’
‘Huh? I’m just getting my email up. What did you say?’
‘It’s okay, I’m just rambling. Do you have it?’
‘Yeah, here, I’ve got two from you.’ Bea’s cursor hovered over the first email.
‘I only sent one. When was the other one sent?’
She checked the time stamp. ‘Midday. The second one’s from your AOL account and the first one’s from your Hotmail.’
She double-clicked on the second email and a new window opened.
‘I don’t have a Hotmail account. What does it say?’
‘Calm down. I’m opening the one you just sent.’
The picture appeared bit by bit on the screen. ‘It’s Karen coming out of the Bellstone. Why would anyone send you this?’
‘Look at the time stamp on the photo,’ Eleanor instructed. Bea looked at the digits in the bottom left-hand corner of the photo.
‘Two forty-five a.m. Doesn’t the Bellstone close the bar at eleven? I didn’t think they did lock-ins.’
‘They don’t. She must have had a room. Why would she book a room twenty minutes from home?’
Bea almost shrugged before she realised Eleanor couldn’t see her. ‘I don’t know; maybe she and Michael had a sexy night away.’
‘Look at the date. Two weeks Saturday. Michael was working away that weekend.’
Bea blew out a breath between her teeth. ‘You think she’s having an affair?’
‘I don’t know, but it looks odd, right? And if you didn’t send it, who did? What does the other one say? The one that’s supposedly from me that I didn’t send you this afternoon from a Hotmail account I don’t have.’
‘Just a sec … it’s loading … Jesus, this computer’s been slow lately.’
The picture on the email downloaded. Shit.
‘Eleanor? I’m going to have to call you back.’
She hung up before Eleanor could protest and stared at the screen, where her friend’s boyfriend stood with his arm around another woman on what was clearly their wedding day.
49
It was after our first session; that was when I knew. She thought she had the measure of me, that she could hide who she really was, but there isn’t any hiding, not from someone like me. A killer in plain sight – what do they say? A wolf in sheep’s clothing. When you wear a mask yourself, you see others more clearly, you know what to look for, the signs that someone is imitating. We were more alike than she would ever be willing to admit, both so desperate to be normal and loved for who we really were, not who the world thought we were. The only difference was that I was on to her. I knew how dangerous she was.