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FIFTEEN

TUESDAY 28 JANUARY

Kate leaves the surgery and makes her way to South Kensington. The Tube is packed with rush-hour commuters, hot bodies crammed together, vying for space. She wants to scream, but wills her mind to be silent. Harper had been so convincing, so believable, but Kate won’t let herself be fooled. Nobody else could know she spent that night with Jamie.

Relieved to finally breathe in the cool outside air, Kate rushes towards Rowan’s practice. It’s nearly six p.m., but she’s sure that Rowan won’t have left yet. He’s told her before that he doesn’t leave until all his paperwork for the day is done, and neatly filed away, and Kate knows each of his work days is booked solid with appointments.

Once again, Kate has had to call on Ellis to pick up Thomas, but at least he did it without asking questions, other than to check she was okay. He still cares about her – although it’s more than that – but she can’t give headspace to that now.

The door is open when Kate reaches the mews house, and she steps inside, expecting to see Frieda at her desk, but instead her chair sits empty. Feeling like an intruder, Kate makes her way to Rowan’s door and listens for a moment before knocking, just to make sure he’s not still with a patient. Or his wife again.

‘Come in,’ Rowan calls, when she finally raps on his door. He looks up as she enters the room, his eyes widening.

‘I’m sorry,’ Kate begins. ‘The door was open so I came through.’

‘I thought you were Frieda,’ he says. ‘Coming back because she’s forgotten something. I let her go a bit early today. Are you okay? Has something happened?’

Kate hovers by the door; this will be a defining moment and she wants to be able to run if she needs to. ‘You said if I needed to, I could talk to you any time.’

He nods. ‘Yes, I tell all my patients that. I want to be available whenever anyone needs me. If it’s urgent, of course. I do need some boundaries.’

‘This is urgent. Someone put a photo of the man I slept with in my son’s school bag. Addressed to him. Thankfully I found it before Thomas saw it and opened it. And there are things I haven’t told you.’

Rowan stands. ‘You’d better sit down.’ He walks to the door, leaving it slightly ajar.

‘Do you mind if I stand?’ Kate says. ‘I really can’t sit right now.’

‘Whatever makes you comfortable. Just start from the beginning.’ He sits down, showing her he’s ready to listen.

Kate tells him how she found the photo, and how when confronted, Harper denied all knowledge of it. ‘I know it was her – it had to be. Nobody else could have put that envelope in Thomas’s bag. What I don’t get is why she’d do that? Why not just confront me? What is she hoping to achieve?’

For a moment, Rowan considers everything she’s said. ‘I agree this is troubling,’ he says. ‘And I’m happy to talk through any of it with you, but you know I can’t tell you what to do, Kate. I can help you work it out, though.’

As frustrating as this is, Kate understands. ‘I know. I’m not looking for you to tell me what to do. I just…’She takes a deep breath. ‘There’s more to this. And telling you will change everything.’

Rowan shifts in his seat. ‘Okay. But again, we can work through that together.’

‘I wasn’t exactly honest with you about the man I slept with.’

‘Okay.’ Rowan’s forehead creases.

‘I’m sorry. I just wasn’t ready to talk about it. It was too painful. But now I have no choice, because things are escalating and I need you to believe that this woman is targeting me.’

‘Go on,’ Rowan says.’

‘The man I slept with was called Jamie Archer. And I…I lied about how he died. It wasn’t natural causes…it looks like he was murdered.’

Silence descends on them as Rowan grapples with the bombshell she’s dropped. ‘I’m very sorry to hear that,’ he says, after a moment. ‘That must have brought up all kinds of feelings. And I can see that this makes everything with his wife so much harder. When did he die?’

Kate pauses. Part of her still can’t believe she’s telling Rowan all of this. But what choice does she have? It’s all catching up with her. ‘The day after I slept with him.’

Silence again – deafening and excruciating. Kate hadn’t wanted to do this, but now she has there’s no going back.

‘How dreadful,’ Rowan says, sitting straighter. ‘What happened?’

‘I don’t know. I don’t know anything. All I know is that I left him in the early hours of that morning and he was fine. I spoke to him. We said goodbye to each other and arranged for me to go back the next afternoon.’

Rowan’s mouth hangs open as he stares at her and his body seems to freeze. Kate’s never seen him stunned speechless, and for a second he feels like a stranger, until finally he composes himself. ‘Kate, have you told the police that you were with him?’ he says, glancing at the clock above her head.

‘No. And please don’t tell me to.’

‘But you would have been one of the last people to see him. You must go to the police. Right away. And you can tell them what you believe his wife is doing too.’

Slowly, Kate shakes her head. ‘I can’t.’

Rowan sighs. ‘Because of Graham White?’

She doesn’t answer.

‘That’s got nothing to do with this,’ Rowan continues. ‘Kate, please listen to me. You need to tell the police. Now. It’s already been several days, hasn’t it?’

‘Nearly ten.’

‘Can I ask what’s made you tell me this now?’ Rowan asks. ‘You must have known that I’m duty-bound to inform the police. Why tell me at all?’

‘Because I need your help. That photo was a warning from Harper. And she’s done other stuff too. Sending me dead lilies. Writing Jamie’s birthday in my calendar.’

Rowan stares at her. He doesn’t believe her – and even Kate, now that she’s said it aloud – wonders if she’s losing her mind.

‘I’m not sure how she knows I was with Jamie,’ she continues, ‘but clearly she does. And I’ve been thinking about this a lot – if she believes I had an affair with him, why doesn’t she confront me? That’s what most people would do? It scares me that she’s trying to make friends, to have me in her life. It can only mean she’s got something else in mind. I told you she wanted to kill me and now this is proof.’

Rowan stands and walks over to her. ‘Kate, I’m urging you to go to the police. None of this sounds like it will end well.’ He glances at the clock again. ‘I’ll even come with you. Will that help? I’ll just have to call my wife – we have a dinner reservation at seven.’

Kate shakes her head. ‘Thank you but you don’t need to do that. I’ll go to the police.’

Rowan sighs. ‘I’m relieved to hear that. You’re innocent, Kate – you’ve got nothing to hide.’

But these words offer her no comfort. ‘Harper thinks I had something to do with Jamie’s murder.’ Although Kate’s had this thought in her head, saying it aloud breathes life into it.

For the first time since she met Rowan there is stark fear in his eyes. ‘But…I’m sure she can’t think that. Why would she? You left in the middle of the night, didn’t you?’

Now Kate has reached another crossroads. If she says out loud the thing she’s tried to suppress, there’ll be no going back.

‘There’s something else, isn’t there?’ Rowan says, his shoulders sagging. Seconds tick by while he waits patiently for her to answer. ‘I really think you need to talk about this, Kate,’ he urges.

‘There’s nothing else,’ she says, forcing herself to maintain eye contact.

But she can tell from his silence that Rowan doesn’t believe her.