photograph of Corinne in the shower, with the various rude bits blacked out, flashed up on the screen.
‘Oh my God!’ exclaimed Nina.
‘Holy shit!’ muttered Annie.
‘Shoosh!’ commanded Meredith.
‘This is just one of the many photographs found by Tasha Bowen, and supplied to the nation’s media,’ intoned the host. ‘And Tasha has agreed to speak with us from her hotel. Good afternoon, Tasha. Can you tell us about this photograph?’
‘It’s one of the ones I found on his computer,’ said Tasha, her eyes brimming in a damning close-up. ‘And I took his phone. He thought he’d lost it. I know I did the wrong thing, but I had to know for sure. There were lots of text messages on it from her. Nothing that, you know, you could say on television ’cos there might be kids watching.’
The panel members all nodded sympathetically, even though they had an urgent requirement for more information before the next break.
‘Tasha, we know this is a very hard time for you,’ crooned the host. ‘Especially when your twins Violet and Daisy are so young . . .’
‘Six months old! Hard to comprehend this sort of behaviour.’ The crusty old ex-footy player crammed into his red blazer shook his head with genuine wonder. ‘Tasha, do you think that this alleged affair had anything to do with Mitchell’s much-criticised performance at the Australian Open this year, when he was bundled out in the first round by the unranked Russian?’
‘Well,’ Tasha sniffed, ‘Corinne . . . Miss Jacobsen . . . she was there. She was there the whole time in the same hotel. Mitchell said that he couldn’t sleep in our suite ’cos of me breastfeeding the twins and everything. So he took another room up the hall. I couldn’t understand why he still looked so tired. Now . . . I reckon I know why.’ The camera zoomed in to catch her tears.
‘He should of won.’ She sobbed. ‘If he didn’t want to do it for me and the girls, he could of done it for Australia.’ She dropped her head, unable to continue.
This was possibly the worst news of all for Corinne. She’d already been branded a husband stealer, home wrecker and cradle snatcher. Now she’d done something far more reprehensible—robbed the nation of international sporting success. Her reputation was rubble.
In the van, Meredith was slapping her hands on the table in merriment, Nina was open-mouthed and speechless, while Annie cringed in the corner, chewing on a cushion.
The piece wrapped with an invitation to viewers to take part in an exclusive Sportsdesk poll: Which Woman Would YOU Rather Be With? The choice was between a blurry image of the naked forty-six-year-old Corinne Jacobsen, taken with a mobile phone, or a glossy portrait of Tasha Bowen in a leopard-print bikini on the beachside set of her soapie series for the cover of TV Week. It was a no-brainer.
‘I have to find my mobile and vote.’ Meredith jumped from her seat and began rummaging through cupboards.
‘Don’t! You’re being a total bitch!’ admonished Annie. ‘Poor Corinne.’
‘Poor Corinne?’ Meredith was scandalised. ‘Shane Warne went down for less!’ She stabbed her finger at the television. Annie could find nothing to say. Meredith had a point.
The weather report was halfway through when Nina’s phone trilled. She fell downstairs and took the call.
‘Did you see it?’ Brad’s tone was triumphant.
‘Bloody hell! How did you pull that off?’ Nina was genuinely in awe of her husband’s powers.
‘Bit of inside info from young Travis . . . Apparently the kid sister and the in-laws were waiting for hubby to come home. I talked her out of it. Convinced her that she was far better off financially if she nailed the prick.’
‘She did that alright! And Corinne . . .’
‘I told you I’d fix her too. Didn’t win Best and Fairest over so many years for nothing!’
Nina smiled. It was an in-joke between her and Brad that the Best and Fairest title was won by rat cunning more than anything else.
‘I’ve just gotta get Tabby through this court thing in Melbourne on Monday and I’ll be back to my usual shit-fight. Jeez, I’m knackered with all this! I wish you were here. I just checked and the boys are off to footy with Dad, so it’s all good at home. I’ll see you soon then. Miss you, babe.’
‘Bye, honey, see you soon. I miss you too. I love you.’
‘Love you too.’
Annie was strolling to the beach under the shade of the paperbark trees for an afternoon dip