The Tangled Web (25 page)
Authors: Lacey Dearie
Vicky
xx
*****
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Postcards from Diana
Date: 17
th
April
Hi
Of course I’ll
do it. But why not just delete the profile now and forget about the whole
sorry business? Or just block him?
Christos
xx
*****
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Re: Postcards from Diana
Date: 17
th
April
Hey :)
Because it’s
still being used to round up another couple of assignments. I wanted to block
him but Flic said we should keep it open until Amy’s sent her payment.
Vicky
xx
*****
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Postcards from Diana
Date: 17
th
April
Hi :)
Of course I’ll
help you, agapi mou. Send me his address and I’ll get a postcard sent from
Diana to him once I’m there.
I read your new
blog.
Christos
xx
*****
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Postcards from Diana
Date: 17
th
April
Thank you!
Oh, did you? I
just had to get some stuff out there. No big deal. I feel better now I’ve
gotten it off my chest.
Vicky
xx
*****
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Postcards from Diana
Date: 17
th
April
I know. I just
wanted to let you know I read it ;)
Christos
xx
From: [email protected]
Subject: Goodbody v. Goodbody
Date: 29
th
June
Dear Sirs/Mesdames,
I have been frantically attempting to contact you through
the usual email address, to no avail, which is why I am contacting the main
address retrieved from your website. It is imperative that I speak to someone
within twenty-four hours or I shall be forced to contact another private
investigator.
I am no longer satisfied with proof of my husband’s online
infidelity, which you were so efficient in providing. He has arranged a
spontaneous holiday to Cyprus with a group of male friends and I suspect he is
on his way to meet one of your honeys. I believe the woman in question is now
living in Cyprus. He leaves on 10
th
July for a two week break.
I understand that you do not usually take on cases which
require any real-life investigation, but I hope you are willing to make an
exception since I am an existing client. I am prepared to pay the going rate
for international assignments if necessary. However, I believe that your
travelling and accommodation expenses and your usual fees combined are
significantly cheaper than I would pay for another private investigator to take
on this task. I have looked into this and know exactly how much all this will
cost. I attempted to secure the services of a local private investigator in
Cyprus but they were all fairly ambiguous regarding their fees. It also
occurred to me that there may be a conflict of interest in them investigating
another private investigator’s activities with my husband. I am unsure of the
legalities.
I require proof that they have met and had improper
contact. Photographic or video evidence, however brief, should be
satisfactory. I’m sure there will be plenty of opportunities for him to have
inappropriate physical contact with females (or males) on a holiday of this
sort.
I must have your answer within twenty-four hours.
Yours faithfully,
Amy Goodbody.
*****
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Goodbody v. Goodbody
Date: 29
th
June
Dear Mrs Goodbody
I acknowledge receipt of your email. I apologise for the
delay in responding to you, however it appears that we have not received any
email at the other email address you speak of. I will discuss this with my
colleagues and revert to you before 9pm this evening. Many thanks for your
patience.
Adam Robertson
Senior Investigator at HunE-trap Investigations
*****
To: [email protected],
From: [email protected]
Subject: Fwd: Re: Goodbody v. Goodbody
Date: 29
th
June
Please read above email exchange between myself and a Mrs
Goodbody. Who is responsible for the case she is talking about?
Adam
*****
To: [email protected],
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: Goodbody v. Goodbody
Date: 29
th
June
Since nobody has owned up to this yet, I suggest we have a
team meeting this evening at 7pm at the Robertson house.
May I remind you that we were ALL to be briefed on all
cases which were taken on? Can whoever is responsible please bring all
paperwork to the meeting?
Mags
*****
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Re: Fwd: Re: Goodbody v. Goodbody
Date: 29
th
June
Shit! What do we do? Blame Pamela?
*****
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Fwd: Re: Goodbody v. Goodbody
Date: 29
th
June
I’m owning up. We have nothing left to lose. I’m not with
Magnus, you’re not with Adam. We don’t want to be part of HunE-trap
Investigations anymore. There’s nothing to be gained by lying now. It’s not
like we took any of the new assignments. We haven’t taken on a new one since
March. With a bit of luck they’ll chuck us out of the company for good and
we’re in the clear.
Vicky
xx
29
th
June
Vicky pulled the blind closed. The glare from the sun was
almost blinding her as it streamed through the window onto the screen of her
laptop. She began to print all the email exchanges between herself and Amy,
Flic and Amy, the chat between Zoe and George and all of the interactions Diana
had with George.
Flic put down the copy of Heat magazine she had been
pretending to read and peered over Vicky’s shoulder.
‘Is it possible that we could NOT include the chat between
Zoe and George? You know the one I’m talking about,’ she cringed. ‘It’s just,
I know Adam and I aren’t together any more, but I really don’t want him to see
me say those things to someone else.’
‘I thought it wasn’t you saying those things. It was Zoe,’
Vicky raised an eyebrow.
Flic stared pleadingly at Vicky. Vicky saw the guilt in
Flic’s eyes and felt a twinge of sympathy. She knew that Flic had caused this
mess in the first place but a part of her understood the train of thought Flic
had when she was overcome by her own bitterness and took this case on.
Vicky ripped the freshly printed sheets. ‘Let’s not show
any of them to Adam or Magnus. We’ll say we deleted it all. They can’t argue
with that.’
Flic bowed her head and stared at her own knees. ‘You
know, when we start owning up to…stuff, other…stuff might come out that we
don’t necessarily want to hear.’ She kept her head bowed but looked over at
Vicky through her eyelashes.
‘Like what?’ Vicky frowned.
A soft knock on Vicky’s bedroom door interrupted them and
brought Flic to her feet. She padded quickly towards the door and creaked it
open.
‘Don Juan and Don Two are downstairs,’ Pamela whispered
from the other side. ‘Can I come in?’
Flic opened the door fully and motioned with her hand to
Pamela to enter the room. Pamela ignored Flic’s hand on the doorknob and
closed the door herself, then stood with her back against it. Her eyes
glistened excitedly and she looked ready for a gossiping session. She smoothed
back a stray strand of hair from her tight ponytail and smoothed down the
jacket of her navy skirt-suit.
‘Going somewhere?’ Flic squinted, eyeing Pamela’s attire
with amusement.
‘I thought I’d better look professional. I have a feeling
I’m going to get the blame for this mystery case, so I thought I’d better look
like I’m on top of things.’
‘I see,’ Vicky smirked. She hadn’t seen Pamela wear
anything like this before. She suspected that despite all the jibes about her
age, Flic was Pamela’s new fashion muse.
‘What do you two know about this Mrs Goodbody? She’s
something to do with the girl you wanted me to investigate, isn’t she?’ Pamela
pressed.
‘Just hang on a few minutes and you’ll find out,’ Flic
advised. She slipped on her shoes and put her hand on Pamela’s shoulder to
usher her out of the room. She turned to look at Vicky and Sasha on her way
out. ‘Are you two coming?’
‘Yeah,’ Vicky nodded.
She banged the laptop screen down onto the keyboard and
pushed it aside. Her stomach churned. She couldn’t remember when she had last
felt this nervous. Possibly when she was going in to hospital to have labour
induced. She took a deep breath then picked up her daughter, who had been
practicing her new walking skills while holding onto the dog. She looked at the
happy little face in front of her and wished she could have the same childish
innocence and naivety.
‘Come on Sasha. Leave Bidean alone. We need to go
downstairs. Time to face the music.’
Vicky, Flic and Pamela each took a seat at Vicky’s kitchen
table. Vicky had felt confident - brazen even - about what they were about to
tell Adam and Magnus. That had changed with Flic’s vague caution about finding
out things they didn’t want to know. She positioned Sasha in her high chair
and looked at Adam and Magnus. They were evidently not amused.
‘Does anyone have anything they want to share with us?’
began Adam, looking directly at Flic.
Flic looked at Vicky for approval before she started
speaking. Vicky nodded. Pamela leaned forwards, ready to hear something
juicy.
‘Before I tell you all what’s happened, I’d just like to
announce that Vicky and I are officially leaving HunE-trap Investigations, as
of tonight.’
‘Walking before you’re pushed?’ offered Pamela, who by this
point was almost salivating with anticipation.
Flic tossed a strand of her long black hair back from her
shoulder. ‘We’ve come to an agreement that this is not the business we set out
to start. Neither of us want to be involved any more, in any way.’
Vicky nodded. ‘That’s correct.’
‘Does Sasha really need to be here, Vicky? Can’t you get
her out of here?’ interrupted Magnus. He looked impatient and put-out.
‘Yes she does and no I can’t,’ Vicky sneered. She was
getting more than a little bit tired of Magnus’s attitude towards her daughter.
