Page 61 of My Husband’s Wife

Sixty

Eva

Two days later

I’m sitting at our table. Zach has packed his bags, and Mum is respectfully waiting in the kitchen.

I’ll pack once he’s gone and maybe I’ll move back in with Mum for a bit, once I’ve worked my notice at the Sea Horse.

The house is going to have to go. Hugo didn’t die by suicide when we lived in Malvern, and the insurance money isn’t mine; the investigation will bring all that up.

All I’ll get to keep is the equity Hugo and I had in our house at Malvern before he died, which I’m not scoffing at.

I’m going to need every penny. Of course, I am a victim in all this.

I had no idea Hugo had lied all these years, or that he murdered his brother.

Mum and I haven’t explained any of this to Caiden, but I will have to say something soon because the newspapers are already reporting some of our story.

‘I love you, Eva. That wasn’t a lie.’ Zach picks up his bag.

Caiden will miss him and I will too, but I’ve had enough. Is it so hard to find genuine love? I thought I had, twice, but each time was a lie. ‘You inserted yourself into my life when I was vulnerable. I believed you.’

‘I was vulnerable too, Eva. I was genuinely grieving for my brother.’

‘You never did tell me how you found me.’

‘You want me to tell you?’ He throws his bag down, not in a temper, more in frustration.

‘Yes. It creeps me out that you targeted me, got to know me and worked your way into my bed, my life, my son’s life. I even married you!’

‘I’d spent years looking for Hugo and Theo.

Years.’ He runs his fingers through his hair and paces towards me.

‘After the incident, they both ended up in care, so it made it impossible to find them. Of course, they were never convicted of my Justin’s murder; and it was their abusive homelife that got them taken off their mother.

’ He shakes his head and swallows. ‘When my mum died, I found Justin’s old school photos and I recognised one of the kids.

It was Hugo. He was the boy who I saw stabbing Justin from inside that wooden playhouse.

I searched online for him by name and his obituary came up, the obituary that you sent to the paper.

’ He paused and looked out at the sea below.

‘I searched for you and I found you. After that, I put the feelers out, sharing Hugo’s school photo and his obituary photo online in the hope of finding his twin, and some people had said there was a man in Devon with similar features so I spent more time targeting this area. That’s how I met Nicole.’

‘How could you lie all that time?’

‘Because I love you, I fell in love with you. Yes, I started coming to your bereavement group to get to know you better. I thought you might know more about Hugo’s brother, though I soon found out that you didn’t know he existed at all.

By that time, I was already in love with you.

I knew if I told you that I’d inserted myself into your life to investigate your husband’s brother, you’d dump me. ’

‘And look how that worked out for you.’

‘If you’re going to be like this, there’s no point talking to you. I’m being honest here. I fell in love with you. I didn’t want to lose you. I love Caiden. What I did was wrong. You have every right to hate me.’

‘It was wrong, and for the record, I don’t hate you. I just don’t trust you and I’m sorry about what happened to your brother. I can’t imagine what you went through seeing him killed like that.’

‘But you’re casting me aside.’

I lean on the worktop. ‘I can’t do this. I need a fresh start – and then there’s Nicole.’

‘I know and I’m sorry. Nothing happened between us, she just helped me look for Hugo.’

‘How did she know him?’

He shrugs. ‘I don’t know. Maybe I should have asked but I was so fixated on my own needs. I didn’t get into it with her.’

My hands clench together and I slam one on the worktop. ‘You both lied to me. She owes me nothing so I can forgive her.’

‘She found Hugo and we were investigating him together. When I saw her in our house that day, it was a shock. I made up some rubbish about her mooching through drawers…’

‘Then you had to call her to make sure she said the same thing?’

He nods. ‘She was helping me. It’s not her fault and she was upset because she really liked you; and I made you think she was up to no good. Nothing went on between us.’

‘How did we end up right here, right where you needed to be, to look for Hugo?’ I’m angry. I feel so played by Zach. I know why but I want to hear him say it.

‘When we spoke about moving, I went on about how wonderful it would be to live here. You had that photo of Caiden on the beach, and I knew Combe Martin held a special place in your heart. I knew that being here would help me find Hugo and get justice for my brother.’

‘Then you must have known that I might see Hugo, too, and my world might be blown apart. You also must have known that for you to get justice, the truth had to come out and it would affect me too.’

‘I didn’t think. I’m sorry.’

‘Then you and Nicole just happened to meet up all the time at the pub to talk about your past and your loss, the same loss you didn’t want to share with me.’

‘You were still in Malvern and, as I said, Nicole was helping me to find Hugo. I’d had a few drinks at the pub on a couple of occasions and I shared a bit too much with her, but we never had a one-night stand, an affair, a kiss or anything.’

I don’t know if I believe him but what I do see is genuine sadness in his eyes. He loved his brother, that was real. ‘You say that they killed your brother, that it was Hugo. Was it definitely him and not Theo?’

I have to know if I was married to a man who could murder a child.

I’m prepared for him to say he doesn’t know; after all, he was a scared little boy when he saw his brother being murdered.

He swallows again and dips his head. I can tell it’s upsetting for him to talk about this so I walk over and give him a friendly hug.

I’m disappointed in Zach but I still care for him.

He tries to kiss me, but I turn my face away from him.

‘The boy who killed Justin had a large birthmark on his neck. Other people who knew them both told me that Theo didn’t have a birthmark, that’s how they could be identified. Since I’ve been here investigating, he kept it covered up, but Nicole had seen it, she knew.’

That sends me almost sick. In my head, I’m picturing young Hugo chasing an innocent boy down with a knife.

That’s what Theo must have been threatening to expose on the night Hugo killed him.

I’ll never know what Theo wanted. Maybe it was money in exchange for his silence or maybe he wanted the truth to finally come out.

I wish that everything had been different as I drink in the musky, woody smell that is Zach through and through.

When we first met, I wish he’d knocked at my door enquiring about Hugo and Theo.

He could have told me the truth about them from the start.

It would have been a shock but I still think I’d have fallen in love with him.

He didn’t need to follow me around, get to know where I hung out before joining my bereavement group.

He didn’t need to lie to insert himself into my life.

I’m sad for what he’s been through but I can’t get past this.

From now on, it’s just me and Caiden. I hug Zach again. I’m not even angry anymore but I think he can tell by the way I’m only lightly hugging him that we’re over.