Page 64 of My Husband's Wife
Madison is so used to looking after Orla and Tammy, it feels odd for Tammy to be looking out for her. She gently leads Madison into the reception area. ‘Have you seen Eva?’
‘Eva?’ Tammy shrugs. ‘Do I know her?’
‘The woman who came in for a haircut the other week. You booked her in.’ Tammy looks blank so Madison calls up Eva’s Instagram. ‘She came here to speak to me earlier. She’s the wedding planner at the Sea Horse Hotel, the place we cancelled to come here.’ She holds a photo of Eva up for Tammy to see as they both sit on a couch.
‘Ah, I saw her earlier. She dashed in while we were having canapes. What was she doing here?’
‘I haven’t got time to explain. You’ve been here all day, haven’t you? Have you seen her since?’
Tammy shakes her head, her wonky fascinator falling into her lap. ‘No.’
‘I saw her.’ The receptionist pipes up from behind them, coat in arms as she was just about to leave. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.’
‘It’s okay.’ Madison stands and thrusts her phone at the receptionist.
‘Some angry, drunken woman came in, knocking the flowers over earlier.’
‘Was this before the wedding?’
‘You mean the wedding that wasn’t?’ The receptionist suddenly recognises Madison and clears her throat. ‘I’m sorry, that was your wedding. Err, the woman in that photo told your wedding planner that she was your sister and that she had something for you. Next thing, the other woman, long brown hair down to her waist, knocked the flowers over. We told her to leave. She clearly wasn’t dressed for a wedding, and you had the place booked out for the day. The woman in your photo went outside looking for her. I didn’t see either of them after that. I assumed they’d left.’
‘And you haven’t seen either of them since?’
‘I’ve been here since this morning and they haven’t been back.’
Madison holds the photo up. ‘This woman is called Eva. Her car is still in the car park and the police are looking for her. Do you have CCTV on the car park?’
The woman frowns. ‘The camera out the front only reaches the terraces. It doesn’t cover the car parks. There is another camera alongside the building but it’s out of action. You could ask the day staff a few questions if you come back tomorrow. They might remember more. Could the woman in your photo have got a taxi? She might have had a drink while she was here. That’s what normally happens when people leave their cars overnight.’
‘I guess. Do you know why the woman with the brown hair was here? You said she was angry.’
The receptionist swallows. ‘I feel really awful having to say this.’
‘Please, I walked out on my wedding today. Whatever you have to say, say it.’ Madison’s stomach begins to turn.
‘She said she had to stop your wedding. Your partner was angry at her presence, and he asked us to get rid of her. He said she’d been stalking him. He also asked us not to say anything to you as he didn’t want the day ruined, then he left us to deal with her. I nearly called the police to get her off the premises, but she left. When you ran out at the altar, we thought that someone else had told you about the incident and that you were upset or that maybe he was having an affair with her.’ The receptionist pauses. ‘Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. You’ve had a horrible day.’
‘It’s okay.’
Tammy places a loving arm around Madison’s shoulder.
‘Again, I’m sorry,’ the receptionist says.
‘It’s okay. It’s not your fault.’
The receptionist flashes a sympathetic smile and leaves.
Madison thinks back to the day that the brown-haired woman and Zach had their meeting with Theo. She stared at Theo, and Madison remembered thinking that it was strange at the time. What if all this time, Theo had been stalked? She thinks of all the phone calls, the messages, his rising stress levels. Theo said it was all down to his mother, but now Madison doesn’t believe him. She thinks back to that night she was checking out the shed, when someone had been watching them. Emily did have brown hair clasped in her tiny hand, not Madison’s red locks like Theo had claimed. He’d tried to cover for his stalker, but why? He should have told her if she and Emily were under threat.
Primal anger rises within her, the type of anger that would definitely result in an explosion – and there is only one person in the world she wants to release that bomb on. Theo.
Fifty-Six
Madison
Before turning onto their bumpy drive to the cottage, Madison spots a small empty van set back from the main road. It’s parked up against the hedge, almost hidden from view. After pulling up, she steps out of her car and sees that Theo’s still not home. Both she and Theo arrived at the hotel in a wedding car that morning so he had to have come back for his car – and gone where?
The hairs on Madison’s neck prickle again. It’s dark and creepy now, and she doesn’t have Camille with her for backup. She tries to ignore her pounding heart. The anger that brought her here is now swirling in her stomach as fear. It would be so easy to get back in her car and drive away. Buster barks from behind the door. With Theo being AWOL, there’s no way she can leave her little dog behind. She pulls her door key from her bag and heads through the creaky gate towards the front door.
