to check the bedroom for the keys. It was carnage up there. He understood now why Cassie had done what she’d done – Kim had been playing him, playing them both; why hadn’t he been able to see that? – but the fact that she had obviously mistrusted him shook him to the core.
Halfway down the stairs, his gaze shot to the front door as the bell rang. He stopped, his body tensing, then hurtled down the rest of the stairs and swung it open.
‘Hi. Is Cassandra home?’ the young man on the doorstep asked. ‘I need to speak to her.’
‘No, she’s not,’ Adam said shortly. ‘Can I help?’
‘Not sure.’ The guy looked him over warily. ‘Ryan,’ he took a breath and introduced himself, ‘Josh’s mate from school. I was hoping Cassandra might know where Jemma is. She’s not at home and I can’t get hold of her.’
‘Why would she?’ Only half listening, Adam glanced past him to his car. He was about to ask him for a lift when he realised he recognised him. ‘I saw you at the funeral, didn’t I?’ he asked. ‘With your wife.’
‘We were there.’ Ryan smiled uncomfortably. ‘We’re actually not together any more.’
‘Oh?’ Adam felt a ripple of apprehension run through him and wasn’t sure why. ‘That’s a shame. I thought you were…’
‘Expecting a baby? We were. That is…’ Ryan trailed off with an awkward shrug.
Shit. This wasn’t the time or the place, but… ‘Is there a problem?’ Adam couldn’t help feeling for the man.
‘You might say that.’ Massaging his forehead, Ryan glanced down and back. ‘Look, there’s no easy way to tell you this… It’s Josh’s. Liam, Jemma’s baby, Josh was the father.’
Adam stared at him, astounded, for a second. Then, Samuel, he thought, his heart almost stopping.
‘He had an affair with my wife,’ Ryan went on, as Adam’s mind raced. ‘We were going through some stuff at the time. The details don’t really matter. The thing is, I think Cassandra knew about it. I’m not proud of it, but I checked Jemma’s texts.’
Adam shook his head, his bewildered thoughts reeling back to the last conversation he’d had with Josh. Was this what he’d wanted to talk to him about? Why he’d been on a deserted station platform late at night having been drinking? And Cassandra knew?
‘There’s something else.’ Ryan hesitated. ‘There was a sum of money deposited in Jemma’s account. It allowed us to buy our house. We could never have afforded it without it.’
Adam’s gaze shot to his. ‘Money? What money?’ His mouth ran dry as he realised he probably knew the answer.
‘It came suddenly out of nowhere,’ Ryan supplied. ‘Jemma said it was left to her by some distant relative who’d died. It was bullshit. I checked her online banking. The deposit was made by Cassandra. I think she paid Jemma to keep quiet about the baby. I’m not sure what she told Josh, but…’ He stopped, clearly choked.
Cassie paid her off? Paid her to keep quiet; to keep the information from her husband? Why? Adam had no idea. What he did know, though, a jagged picture forming in his head, was that that had somehow led to this. That realisation hit him like a sledgehammer.
‘Jesus Christ.’
Fifty-One
Cassandra
Samuel wasn’t where she’d imagined he might be. She’d gone straight to Jemma’s house having found no one at the cottage. Jemma hadn’t been home. The place had been in darkness, no cars on the drive. She’d come back to the cottage, but there was still no one here either. Peering through the rivulets of rain that ran down the conservatory window, Cassie could see the place was empty. An icy drip of water snaked its way down her spine as she surveyed the upstairs windows. She wouldn’t easily gain access that way, not without the next-door neighbour seeing her. Shivering, chilled to the bone, she made her way to the back door. She would get in by whatever means. Kim had to come back sometime. She would wait all night if she had to. Victory was never won without a battle. And Cassie knew how to fight. She’d fought all her life.
The back door was solid. She was about to try the kitchen window when a thought occurred to her. Going around to the front of the cottage, she pulled out Adam’s key ring – and there it was, the spare key Kim had given him so he could let himself in to finish the wardrobes. Cassie had wondered about that, why she