James leaned his head away from her, his voice an agitated stammer. ‘No, no, no… you’re wrong. I had no idea what was going on at the hotel. Honestly I didn’t.’ His face flushed red. ‘I was given the weekend tickets as a sweetener, from the network, and I wasn’t… I wasn’t going to go. But they said I’d be doing them a favour if I did and took you with me.’
People were glancing at them, frowning, James’s body language giving out clear signals that he felt under threat.
‘You’ve got to go, and don’t come back,’ he said, his voice suddenly much louder.
Sara’s cheeks burned. ‘I just want to know—’
‘Leave me alone!’ he shouted, and she sprang to her feet, aware that she was probably about to be thrown out.
‘I’m going,’ she said to the nurse who hurried to the bottom of his bed. ‘I didn’t mean to upset him.’ The nurse gave her an annoyed frown and stood to one side, following her to the main door of the ward and watching as she left.
She drove back to her house hoping that Hailey had been freed from the office by now, her thoughts on James and his reaction. He’d been asked to take her to the hotel – it wasn’t him who was behind this. He was a pawn in the whole thing, an enabler. Had he known what was going to happen to me, and still agreed to it? Or was he telling the truth when he said he knew nothing about the arrangement?
Still struggling to work out what she knew and what she believed to be true, she parked outside the house, behind the locksmith’s van. It was only when she got out of the car that she saw the smoke pouring out of Matt’s office.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Sara ran up the drive to where Hailey was leaning against the wall of the house, staring at the office. ‘What’s going on?’ She put a hand over her mouth and nose in an attempt to stop herself from breathing in the acrid smoke that was pouring out of the office door.
‘I think it’s an electrical fault or… I don’t know.’ Hailey looked dazed and definitely puzzled. ‘Is it possible Matt had it wired up to destroy the hard drive if the lock was forced?’
She coughed, and Sara pulled her away to the back garden, the breeze taking the smoke in the other direction.
‘The locksmith took the old lock out and put a new one in, and we were chatting on the road by his van while I sorted out payment when I noticed the smoke. Well, it wasn’t just smoke – by that time the carpet had gone up in flames. Luckily the locksmith carries a fire extinguisher, and he charged back in there.’
As she finished speaking, a stocky middle-aged man with a shaven head came out of the office door and walked over to them. He pulled off his sooty face mask, leaving a clean triangle on the bottom half of his face. ‘It’s all out now, but there’s a bit of damage. Better get the insurance people over to have a look. All the computer equipment is ruined, and the desks and chairs.’ He gave an apologetic shrug. ‘I’m sorry, I did what I could, but those acrylic carpets without fire retardant are lethal.’ He held out a blackened phone: Sara’s. ‘I don’t suppose this is going to work now, either.’
Sara took it off him, the case still hot to the touch, and tried to switch it on, but the shattered screen remained blank. ‘Thank you so much,’ she said, thinking that a dead phone was the least of her worries. ‘Thank goodness you were here, or it could have been much worse.’
The man looked embarrassed and wiped a hand across his sweaty forehead, leaving a black smear above his eyebrows. ‘Happy to help.’ He looked back towards the house. ‘Home offices can be death traps if the electrics aren’t set up properly. Overloaded sockets, all sorts of problems.’
Sara gave a tight smile, wondering if Hailey’s theory was right. ‘Well, I really appreciate your help, and thanks for getting my sister out of there. Do we owe you anything else? Let me compensate you for—’
‘Nah.’ He shook his head. ‘All part of the service. Anyway, I’m going to get off and get myself cleaned up.’
Sara looked at the house – her home – and a new determination gripped her. She smiled at the man. ‘Before you go, I wonder if you could put new locks on the house for me as well? I’ve lost my keys, you see.’ She gave him a hopeful smile. ‘Only if you’ve got time. Otherwise I’ll have to break a window or something.’ She grimaced, tucked her hands in the pockets of her joggers and looked longingly at the house. ‘My husband’s away, so I’m a bit stuck.’
He looked at her for a moment, checked his watch. ‘I’ll just have to give my next client a call, tell them I’ve been delayed. And I’ll need proof this is actually your address.’ His eyes didn’t leave hers. ‘Don’t want to be aiding and abetting any wrongdoings, do I?’
Sara gave a strangled laugh. ‘No, you wouldn’t want to be doing that.’ She pointed to the road. ‘My bag’s in the car, I’ll just go and get it, see if there’s anything in there.’
She hurried away, coming back a few minutes later with a reminder for a smear test, the only document she could find in her handbag with her address on it. He glanced at it, handed it back, his eyes not meeting hers.
‘Sorry, but I had to ask,’ he said. ‘Okay, I’ll crack on, shouldn’t take too long. I suppose you want high-security standard?’
Sara nodded. ‘Absolutely.’
They watched him walk back to his van, and Hailey gave Sara’s shoulder a gentle punch. ‘Nice work, sis. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of that.’
Sara could hear her teeth grinding and stretched her jaw, massaging the aching muscles. ‘It’s as much my house as Matt’s, and now I know what he’s been doing, I don’t see why he should assume possession. I need to be here for the children. This is their home, and this is where we’re going to be.’ She took a deep breath, emotion swelling in her chest, threatening to choke her words. ‘He’s not coming back into my family. Not after this.’
She looked at the office, wisps of smoke still wafting out of the door.
‘I suppose all the evidence has been destroyed?’
Hailey puffed out her cheeks as she followed Sara’s gaze. ‘I don’t know. Sometimes they can get information off damaged computers. Just depends how bad it is.’ Her expression wasn’t hopeful, though, and Sara wondered if they really were getting anywhere, or whether they had already lost the battle.
They went to assess the damage, standing in the doorway as they scanned the room. The edge of one computer screen had melted, making it look like something out of a Salvador Dali painting; the desk it was sitting on was blackened, and the hard drive standing underneath had become a deformed skeleton, a mere remnant of its former self.
‘I wish I understood how these things worked from a technical point of view,’ Sara said, glancing at Hailey. ‘If the hard drive is ruined, does that mean all the information stored on there has gone, or does it still exist on the internet?’
Hailey’s fingers rubbed at her lips as she thought. ‘Don’t you think he’ll have a backup?’