Page 110 of The Dead Ex

He brushes it away.

‘Why can’t you just get rid of it?’

I can’t pretend I haven’t consideredthis. ‘You won’t change my mind, David. If you don’t promise to do your bit, I’ll tell everyone – including your wife. And Perdita too.’

He scowls. ‘How do I know it’s mine?’

‘When it’s born, we can do a DNA test. Then you’ll see it’s yours.’ I spit the words out, furious. ‘I can assure you that I haven’t slept with anyone else.’

‘Not even that kid from the IT department who claims he’s alreadygot into your pants?’

‘Nigel? That creep? He’s making it up because I wouldn’t go out with him.’

His mouth twists in a way I’ve never seen it do before. ‘You expect me to believe that? Just get out. Do you hear me?’

I can’t help it.

‘How dare you!’ He’s staggering back, rubbing his cheek where I’ve slapped him. I’d never done that to anyone before. But if anyone has earned it, David has. Infact, he deserves a whole lot worse.

Not long afterwards, I hear him leaving the office, declaring he’s going to a meeting.

The next day Perdita comes into my office. She looks terrible without make-up. I hadn’t realized how much she relies on under-eye concealer. ‘Have you seen Mr Goudman?’

‘Not since yesterday.’

‘Are you sure?’

Something’s up. Perdita isn’t just looking terrible. She’sshit scared, twisting her hands and interlacing her fingers like she’s playing an invisible cat’s cradle.

‘He didn’t turn up at an important meeting last night. That’s really out of character.’

She’s staring at me as if she has X-ray vision.

‘Sorry,’ I say airily. ‘I’ve no idea where he is.’

43

Vicki

27 June 2018

Penny still wants to know more about my relationship with my ex. She thinks it might help in the trial. So I fill her in on our brief relationship which had initially blown me away but ended by blowing me apart.

‘David sounds a bit like a Jekyll and Hyde character,’ she says thoughtfully when I finish.

I give a rueful shrug. ‘He was. But I didn’t realize how bad it wasat the beginning.’

My solicitor looks reflective. ‘How do we really know what someone is like underneath?’

Her words make me nervous. Is she talking about me? I think back to the woman I was when I married David. ‘I used to have a friend during my thirties who worried about not finding the right man. I thought she was silly at the time. But when I met David, I’d got to forty and was beginningto feel the same.’

‘Ah.’ Penny nods as if she gets this all too well. ‘The old marriage clock! Has it ever occurred to you that if you swap the letters around in “marital”, it makes “martial”?’

‘As in martial arts?’

‘Exactly.’

It sounds like she’s been hurt too. But I’m not prepared for the next question.