A sheen of tears blurred her vision and she blinked them away, glaring at Matt, who was standing open-mouthed, obviously unsure what to do next. His eyes slid to the back door.
‘Locked,’ she said.
His mouth twitched.
‘Look, love,’ he said, as if it was a normal day and she’d just come back from work, ‘let’s have a chat, shall we?’ He walked through into the lounge, turned on the TV and flicked through until he found the CBeebies channel. ‘Hey, Ezra,’ he called. ‘Look what’s on telly.’
At the sound of the familiar theme tune, Ezra’s eyes lit up and he gave Sara a kiss on the cheek before scrambling down and going to sit on the sofa to watch Teletubbies, his thumb in his mouth.
Satisfied that his son was occupied, Matt came back into the kitchen and leant against the worktop, just a few feet away from her. It felt too close, but they needed to be able to speak without disturbing Ezra.
‘You punched me,’ Sara said in an urgent whisper, before he had a chance to speak. His mouth opened and closed. She gave a derisive snort. ‘Yeah, there’s no excuse for that, is there?’ She pointed towards the lounge. ‘And what’s the plan with taking Ezra?’
Matt stuffed his hands in his pockets, mouth twisting from side to side before he answered, his eyes on the wall above her left shoulder. ‘I was just going away for a few days until everything settled down. Fiona said to go to Center Parcs as the booking had already been made.’
‘Don’t you think that’s a bit of an obvious place?’ Sara scoffed. ‘She’s played you good and proper, hasn’t she?’
Nerves tugged at her stomach and her hand found Hailey’s phone, felt the reassuring coolness of the metal casing. She sneaked a quick look at the screen as he studied the floor, then slipped it back in her pocket.
‘I’ve spoken to Fiona,’ she said, and noticed another twitch of his lips. ‘I know she was your client, the one who runs the website business. I know it was her idea… but Matt, you didn’t have to do it. You could have said no at any time, when you knew what it was all about. Can’t you see how something like that can ruin people’s lives? Innocent women being exploited to feed men’s fetishes. Can’t you see it’s wrong?’
He stared at her for a long moment before he finally spoke, scuffing at the tiles with the toe of one of his trainers.
‘I needed the money to keep our family solvent.’ His voice was low and even, as though he was having to patiently explain something obvious to someone who was being a bit thick. ‘She assured me the women had given their consent. She said they were willing participants. No harm done. And it would earn us a shedload of money.’
Sara’s anger burst into flame, her finger the only weapon to hand as she stabbed the air. ‘But you know that’s a load of rubbish, don’t you? Look at what happened to me. In no way did I consent.’ She realised she was shouting, and glanced into the lounge, worried that Ezra would hear, but thankfully, he’d fallen asleep.
When her gaze came back to Matt, his expression told her she’d caught his lie.
‘I got it wrong, love.’ He ran a hand through his hair, searching the wall for an excuse. ‘She mesmerised me, enticed me with talk of all the money we would make, how it would give the family stability, how you weren’t coping and needed me to step up.’ He gave a slow shake of his head. ‘She said she was doing us a favour, helping us out.’ His voice cracked. ‘I can’t understand how she did it, but she made me believe it was the right thing, the only thing I could do.’
‘Oh Matt.’ Sara wasn’t having any of it, suddenly immune to his wheedling ways. ‘You’re not that gullible. She’s not a bloody snake-charmer, is she?’
Matt huffed. ‘Well she charmed you well enough. Look how she took over the girls. Always offering to take them on trips with Chelsea, feeding them all sorts of ideas. Separating them from us. Did you see that?’
His words made Sara pause and think for a moment. Her anger flickered. He’s right. Her head had been turned by Fiona. She had been flattered by her desire to be friends. Am I to blame for this too? A shiver of doubt ran through her and her hands found each other, twisting together.
‘You’ve ruined everything.’ His voice was getting louder, and she glanced towards the lounge, hoping he wouldn’t wake Ezra. ‘We were doing great until you brought her into our lives.’
‘Me?’ Sara’s voice was incredulous. ‘I ruined everything? How is this my fault?’
‘Shh,’ Matt said, motioning with his eyes towards the lounge. ‘Keep your voice down.’ He took a step towards her and put a hand on her arm, tried to draw her to him. ‘I’m sorry, love. I’m just really stressed about everything.’
She shook his hand away and stepped back, determined not to let him break her resolve. ‘You need to give yourself up. Tell the police everything you know and let’s get the whole thing stopped. That’s the only way forward.’
He pursed his lips and shook his head. ‘Nope. I can’t do that.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because… I’m not going to prison.’ He shuddered. ‘I couldn’t…’ He bit his lip, looked away.
‘I’ve had to face up to my mistakes. I know it’s not going to be great for a while, but we’ll get through the bad patch and then rebuild.’
He glanced at her, his voice hopeful. ‘You mean we’d still be together?’
She heard a knock at the door and looked her husband straight in the eye.
‘No, Matt.’ Her voice was hard, her meaning clear. ‘After what you’ve done, we can never be together.’
She ran to the door and let the two uniformed officers into the house, handing them the phone from her pocket that had recorded the conversation. Then she watched as they cuffed Matt and led him away, his head bowed.
This is the end, she told herself. But in truth, it wasn’t quite.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The police were very polite and listened to Sara’s story, but then they listened to Fiona too. Her account put a very different spin on everything, turning Sara and Hailey’s version upside down.
Fiona said she’d gone for a run on the moors as she regularly did and had tripped and hurt herself. Sara and Hailey had found her. Nothing more sinister than that. She denied having anything to do with a Sleeping Princess or voyeurism website, appalled that anyone could think such a thing. She pointed out that she was Sara’s boss and had simply been trying to help her through a sticky patch. Matt was clearly lying to save his marriage.
Sara knew this was what had been said, because the police reflected everything back to her, suggesting alternative interpretations of what had happened through their questions. She became quite flustered, wishing she’d thought to record the conversation with Fiona on the moors. Fiona had told the police that Sara was under a lot of stress because her home life was rocky. She’d been worried about Sara and told her to take time off work. That was true, of course, but it implied a certain amount of emotional instability that made Sara a less than credible witness. Without the incriminating video evidence, all Hailey knew of the alleged crimes was what she’d heard second-hand from Sara. Even the pictures she’d seen on the screen in Matt’s office could be quite innocent; just a man looking at a bit of porn.