Page 38 of The Lucky Winners

The clouds collect above the lake in a way that I’m learning is often the sign of an imminent downpour. I usually leave the big glass doors open but I close them now. It feels better like that.

When Dev comes into the room, he walks over to the windows and frowns when he sees they’re shut. He lays his palm on the handle. ‘Shall I open these?’

But I don’t want to talk about that. ‘I have something to tell you,’ I say. ‘And I’ll warn you now. It’s bad.’

‘OK, I’m listening.’ He walks over and sits down, pressing the back of his head into the soft cushion of the chair.

‘We’ve got a big problem.’ I open my laptop where I’ve loaded the new Facebook page ready to show him. I turn the screen so he can see it, my stomach churning, but his warm hand brushes against mine steadying me.

Dev studies the photos, and I watch his face carefully. His eyes narrow as he swipes methodically through them.

‘Someone took these pictures,’ I say, my voice quiet but firm. ‘From inside our house.’

Dev’s calm expression shifts to something that’s a little harder to read. ‘We just had the locks changed. Are you saying someone still managed to get in here and take the photos? Then somehow hacked your account –’

‘I’m just saying it’s more likely this is someone known to us, Dev. There’s no sign of forced entry and we just had the locks changed. I can’t be sure yet, but the chances are, it’s someone we’ve invited in here.’

He frowns as he grasps what I’m saying. ‘One of our new friends, you mean?’

I nod. ‘It’s the only explanation.’

‘Unless one of the DreamKey team came in here and took them.’

I stare at him. ‘These photos are no more than a week old. The flowers I bought in town are on the kitchen counter, so that dates it accurately.’

‘You just came across the pictures?’

‘No. Paige saw them and assumed I’d created the new Facebook page and posted them. Obviously I haven’t, so I’m trying to work out who has.’

‘You haven’t posted any pictures of the house online at all?’

‘No. I haven’t even been on Facebook since we moved here and I’m having to use Paige’s link because I can’t log into my account.

It’s been hacked.’ Dev frowns, not understanding.

‘To create a new page you have to log into your primary account.’ I point to the top of the new page.

‘See? I’m down as the admin of the page, so I know it’s been created from my original account. ’

I attempt to log into my Facebook account to show him the message:

Your email or password is incorrect.

‘Could you press the forgotten password link and get in that way?’

‘No, I’ve tried. Someone has taken over my log-in and changed my email and password.

I don’t know how that’s possible because there are supposed to be safety checks, but that’s the only way this could’ve been done.

I’m trying to see if there was any kind of security alert I missed but I haven’t found anything yet. ’

On the photographs, I point out the freesias on the kitchen counter, the strewn clothing in the bedroom. ‘I’d never post anything this intimate publicly.’

‘But why would someone go through the bother of doing this?’

‘Because someone hates us enough,’ I say quietly. ‘Someone really wants us gone, Dev. They have done right from the very beginning.’

‘So you think even that brick through the window wasn’t just a random vandal? You think it’s connected?’

A spark of vindication flares in my chest. ‘That’s exactly what I think.

We need to find out who took those photos, Dev,’ I continue, my voice rising up an octave.

‘Whoever did this has been inside our house and, seeing as nobody has broken in – as far as we can tell – it must be someone we know. Someone we invited here thinking they’re genuine. ’

Dev’s frown deepens. For once, he doesn’t interrupt, doesn’t downplay what I’m saying. Encouraged, I press on, a plan tumbling out of me before doubt can creep in. ‘But it’s hard to believe one of our new friends would do anything like this.’

Dev watches me carefully, his expression unreadable. ‘And just say we discover it’s definitely not one of them, what then?’

I stand up, stiff and suddenly cold. My pulse thunders in my ears as I try to make sense of it all. I’m struck by a sudden urge to leave this place and go back to what we know. Our old home in Nottingham. But Paige is installed in the semi now. We’re trapped here.

Dev’s question hangs in the air, heavy and suffocating. I don’t have an answer.

Then my line of thought gets darker still.

What if the culprit is someone who knows about my past?

People gossip, stories are passed on … It could be someone I’ve never set eyes on who knows who I am.

The six degrees of separation theory … It’s too horrifying to entertain and I shake my head, forcing the thought away.

The unease lingers, hooked tightly into my chest. Outside, the light is fading. The clusters of trees look thick and darker than ever. The vista is open and wide but standing here, with fear writhing inside me, I feel like a bug under a microscope.

I tell Dev then – I just blurt it out in the middle of everything else – about the man I think I saw in the trees.

‘It’s not my imagination, Dev. There’s someone out there.

He’s watching the house. I think he’s watching me.

I keep catching glimpses, like a small movement, but when I try to focus on it, there’s nothing. ’

He pauses and frowns, then says kindly, ‘You’ve had a lot on, Merri. Maybe your mind’s just … I don’t know … filling in blanks. There’s no reason for anyone to be watching you, is there?’

When I don’t say anything, Dev stands up and crosses the room, his warm hands finding my shoulders. His grip feels steady, grounding. ‘We’ll handle this, Merri. Together. We won’t let anything spoil our happiness here.’

I swallow the words that are threatening to spill from my mouth.

It might already be too late for that.