Amanda felt a little frisson of pleasure at her own cleverness when Jenna phoned to tell her how Luke had been behaving. Immediately after he responded to her online review, she deleted it. And how typically arrogant of him was his reply:
I don’t know who you are. You’ve never received treatment from me. Delete this immediately.
How high and mighty was he? Demanding that she delete her comments. No ‘please’. No attempt to mollify. Just ‘get rid’.
Okay, done, mate. See how you like it now.
The man was unravelling. She rubbed her hands at the thought.
‘Luke’s just been here,’ Jenna said when Amanda answered Hazel’s phone. She judged that it was time to progress to more actual phone calls rather than messaging, now that they’d met in person. It was more intimate, and, besides, typed conversations could take ages.
‘And? Did you kiss and make up?’ Amanda asked.
‘Not bloody likely,’ Jenna replied. ‘He was going mental. Saying all this nonsense about me trying to ruin his life. He got some photos, apparently. Threatening ones. What does that even mean?’
Amanda pressed her hand over her mouth to stifle the sound of her laughter. That was the first time she’d heard Jenna swear. She must be rattled. Once she recovered her equilibrium she said, ‘That sounds crazy. Poor you. What else did he say?’
‘Something about Rab Cameron abducting Nathan, and how on earth did I manage to arrange that? The man’s lost it. And Cameron was the boy’s biological father, so I’m not sure abduction is the right word.’
‘Wow,’ Amanda said.
There was silence from the other end of the phone. Then the sound of crying.
‘Poor you,’ Amanda said. ‘He’s really got to you, eh?’
‘Yeah, he thinks I’ve co-ordinated this attempt to ruin his life,’ Jenna managed through her sobs. ‘How mental is that? My life isn’t exactly a picnic, mate.’
‘Oh, honey, I wish I was there to give you a hug.’
The sound of Jenna sniffing came down the phone line.
‘God. Snot and tears,’ she said with a half-laugh. ‘It’s not pretty.’
‘I hope you told the prick to piss off,’ Amanda said.
‘Didn’t get the chance,’ Jenna said, her emotions sounding as if they were more in check. ‘He kinda flounced off to his car.’
‘Flounced,’ Amanda repeated. ‘Love it.’
Both women laughed, their laughter feeding each other and before long they were in fits of giggles.
‘Oh, lordy,’ said Jenna. ‘That was just what the doctor ordered. You can’t beat a good laugh.’
‘True. And what now?’ Amanda pressed.
‘To be honest, I’m not happy the way we left it. Him getting the last word.’ Jenna paused. ‘He did mention you by name. Or someone else called Hazel who had written some awful reviews for his business, and that was part of my plan to ruin his life. Idiot. But when I went online and looked there was nothing there. And if there was nothing there, how does he know your name? How does he even know you exist? Has he been looking through all of my friends? And if so, why pick on you?’
At this Amanda gave herself a double pat on the back. Jenna’s thinking was all over the place. One stone thrown in to the water and the ripple effect was just starting.
‘Do you think he’s got that stalker thing in him?’ she asked.
‘Who knows? He’s killed someone, so what’s a little bit of stalking to someone like that? Should I be worried?’
Amanda thought carefully about how she should respond to this. What would be the best result for her and Jamie? Jenna was getting close to the truth, she could feel it in her gut, and when she did, wouldn’t the impact on them be greater if Luke and Jenna were together?
But would Jenna stop digging if they made up?
There would be a way round that, Amanda thought. There was always a way.
‘An accidental killing, and stalking? Strikes me there’s two different kind of personalities going on there. Has Luke shown any previous behaviour to suggest he could be that kind of creep?’
‘No,’ Jenna replied instantly. ‘He was always respectful. Always giving me space. But he’s rattled. Threats to Nathan and to his livelihood, if that’s how he sees it, have to be unsettling. And when people feel threatened they tend not to act rationally.’
‘What do you do now?’ Amanda asked. ‘Do you want to have the last word.’
‘Not sure I need the last word,’ Jenna bristled. ‘But I want the chance to argue my side of the story.’