Page 111 of Love Thief

“Yes, do.” And he hangs up.

“Someone cloned my phone, Mick. Or has diverted Evie’s calls away from this mobile,” I tell him.

He raises his eyebrows at me. “One of those girls from England do you think? It’s easy to divert calls and block numbers if you know how. Didn’t one of them work in the IT department at the school? Lots of clever kids these days, full tech savvy, look at James.”

I call Jonno as soon as I’m able and he dives straight in. “She diverted her calls and blocked her number. Doesn’t look like a clone, but easy to do and hard to tell unless you’re looking for it.”

“Do we know whose number the calls went to?”

“Yes, Grace by the looks of it.”

We say nothing for a few minutes, letting it sink in.

I close my eyes, disgust washing over me. What have I done?

“What has she done with the recordings?” I choke out.

“Nothing. They’re all still there, saved to a cloud system. I’m just deleting them all now.” I can hear the grin in his voice. “I’ve knocked the divert off and unblocked the number, so if E rings you it will go through. And you better fucking answer.”

“I will, I would have. What are you going to do?”

He scoffs out a very unfunny, and mildly evil, noise. “Don’t ask questions you really don’t want the answers to.” He sounds deadly as he continues. “Those two women have caused my sister so much harm. They had you, they were living at your house, living the dream,” he says sarcastically, “but they couldn’t stop harassing her. Wouldn’t stop. Internet trolling on a regular basis, stories that the babies weren’t yours. She got pushed and shoved in the fucking street at twenty-five weeks, obviously pregnant. I think they wanted her dead, I really do.”

“I’m sorry, Jonno. I didn’t know the full extent of it. Why didn’t you tell me? You spoke to Xan.”

“You weren’t listening, Kell. You weren’t looking. Too busy focusing on numbing out life, brother.”

I hang my head. I know he can’t see me, but he is so right.

“I’m sorry, Jonno,” I croak out. “I’ll make sure everyone knows it.”

“Just make sure my sister does. She is the only thing that matters, the only one.” He hangs up.

“Fucking Grace,” I say to Mick. “How could they be so cruel? Listen to her messages asking me to come and not pass on one word. They knew how pregnant she was.”

“If they couldn’t have you, they certainly wouldn’t want Evie with you. They wanted her life, but they wouldn’t be able to have it because they aren’t her. They’re bitter and twisted. You know, when I think about it, she was odd after that first night of cards and whiskey. How everyone was going mental over Evie’s new place. She asked everyone if Evie really owned it. Or was it Jude’s, or had you bought it for her. She certainly was jealous to death.”

“Well, it is an amazing place, honestly. She still pretended to be friends in Vegas at first. Although, she tried to upset Evie, but then defended her. Weird.”

He’s thoughtful, then says, “Do you really think she was defending her? Or was she cranking it up to cause more drama and upset? If you walk away, no drama. But if you stand and argue, people say more horrible things.” He nods his head at me, like all the pieces have just fallen into place, the whole jigsaw laid out.

“The manipulative bitch. I never thought about it, but it makes sense now. I thought the first day in the hotel was weird. Evie said she’d just reminded her of something, and it was to do with France.”

Mick adds, “Yeah, well, look how that went.”

I sit back as it all hits me. She’d tried to play everyone. Look like a nice friend, when all the time she was the worst.

I debate whether to text Evie or not, but ultimately decide not to. I should get to Barclay on the thirty-first. Halloween. I just hope I’m not too late.

Chapter

Thirty-Five

EVIE

Iwake late. I’m not too bothered, as it will be a late one tonight. The fire festival for Samhain, all these wonderful traditions. Yet again, the house will take centre stage. Another bonfire, music all night, a trick or treat fancy dress for the kids—the village and local community have gone to town on the celebrations.

Eamonn’s already gone, as there’s no warm bundle next to me. I can hear sounds of activity outside the windows, but I lay here daydreaming, focusing on my breathing.

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