Jack checks the time and sighs. It’s just after eleven. He’s in the main office tonight, and he has a lot to get through. The company’s just about to sign another big contract to supply ophthalmic equipment to a major high street optician, and he needs to double-check every detail, but he’s struggling to concentrate. He can’t stop thinking about Heather.
In a way, what happened this morning in the gym reassured him. If she willingly had sex with him there, surely she doesn’t know about the hidden camera that was silently recording them? He went to bed feeling less agitated, but this evening, when he got up and had a quick scroll through the footage from when he’d been sleeping, the doubts returned. What was she really doing up in the attic?
Although the sound was a little muffled, he could hear her telling Rhona she’d come up to take some photos. But after his housekeeper left, Heather had, just as she’d done in the gym, tossed her sweatshirt over the box containing the camera, blocking its view of what she did next. After that, there’d just been a few minutes of her humming and singing to herself and some indistinct noise, before she picked up her top again and left. He rushed straight up to check, but nothing seemed out of place, and he walked slowly back downstairs with a frown crinkling his brow. He tried to convince himself she probably was just taking photos, moving around to get the best vantage point. But then he arrived at work and Naomie – who’s working day shifts this week – called in for her handover and told him something that made his jaw drop. Heather had contacted his PA, and asked if they could meet up. And that meeting had happened in the coffee shop down the road at lunchtime today.
‘When was that arranged? Why on earth didn’t you tell me she’d got in touch with you?’ he spluttered, but Naomie quickly explained that she hadn’t seen any point in bothering him with such trivia when he had so much on his plate with the new contract, and that she’d decided to wait and see exactly what Heather wanted before telling him about the encounter.
‘She said in her email she needed advice about what to get you for your birthday, and she thought as I know you better than most, I might be a good person to ask,’ she said. Jack felt his irritation and alarm begin to subside and his heart softening.
‘Really?’ he said. ‘And did she ask about anything else when she turned up?’
‘Not really,’ Naomie replied. ‘She said she was struggling for ideas, and asked me if I knew if any previous girlfriends had given you anything you particularly liked. I told her we don’t talk about your previous girlfriends.’
Her voice tightened as she said the word ‘girlfriends’, and Jack who has long suspected his PA has feelings for him he’d rather not encourage, felt his lips curve into a smile. Naomie is generally the politest, most diplomatic employee he has, but on the topic of his exes, she can be vicious.
‘And that was it?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ she said, and he left it there, but he still doesn’t really know what to make of it. It does make some sort of sense that Heather might seek advice from another woman about a birthday present for him, and the sweetness of the gesture gives him a warm feeling in his chest. But why not just chat to Naomie on the phone? Why go to all the trouble of travelling to meet her in person? And the fact that she asked, even in a seemingly innocent way, about previous girlfriends…
Jack leans back in his chair and rubs his eyes, then straightens up again and stares at the numbers and words on the screen in front of him, as if they’re going to answer the questions spinning round his head.
Then he nods slowly to himself. He knows what he needs to do. And he needs to do it as soon as possible. This weekend.
Time to stop these half measures. Time to find out if she’s up to something, once and for all.