The Woman At The Door, Daniel Hurst [world best books to read TXT] 📗

in terms of the illegal operation I have given Erica permission to execute on my behalf.

‘Sam, I wasn’t expecting to hear from you so soon.’

‘I know, but things are happening here, and I’ll be honest with you, Erica. I’m getting desperate. My wife is going to divorce me, and she is going to do it quickly unless I can prove my innocence.’

‘How quick are we talking?’

‘I’ve got a couple of days, max.’

There’s silence at the other end of the line, so I waste no time in filling it.

‘Is that going to be a problem?’

I sincerely hope not, but I have to find out if the self-imposed deadline I just gave to my wife was really a bad idea and one more nail in my coffin.

‘You’re really not giving me much time to do my thing,’ Erica replies, but I choose to look at her response as a positive one because she hasn’t shut me down completely yet.

‘So what have you done?’ I ask.

I hear a deep sigh at the other end of the line before I get the answer.

‘I have hired an assistant who I have used in the past, and he is going to help us gain access into Alexandra’s home this evening.’

I didn’t realise Erica had an assistant at her disposal, and maybe it’s a sign that I’m paying her too well.

‘How is he going to do that?’

‘He will create a distraction so that he can gain access to Alexandra’s home and plant the recording devices that will hopefully give us more insight into what she is up to.’

‘Okay. That’s good. You say you’re doing this tonight?’

‘That’s right.’

‘You can’t do it right now?’

‘I’m going as fast as I can.’

‘I understand.’

It’s not fast enough for me, but I’ll have to be patient. If bugs are being planted around Alexandra’s home this evening then we may very well have some answers by the morning.

‘What else are you doing?’ I ask.

‘My assistant is keeping watch of her while I see what I can do about accessing her phone records.’

‘You think you can do that?’

‘If you are asking if I have done it before then yes, I have. Can I do it for Alexandra? I don’t know yet, but if I can then be sure it will be done.’

‘That’s good. Please, do what you can. I just want my wife back.’

Erica says nothing, and I wonder if it’s because she is too professional to offer sympathy or whether it’s because she feels too awkward to reply. In the end, I just tell her to call me soon and then hang up.

With that call taken care of, I pick up the two suitcases that my wife ever so kindly put outside the house for me and drop them into the back of my car before getting behind the wheel and starting the engine. As I drive back in the direction of the hotel where I will spend yet another lonely night, my thoughts are not on what might happen with Erica, her assistant and Alexandra tonight but rather the fact that my wife saw me leaving the office with Maria yesterday. I have to admit that would not have been a good look for me to have been seen going into a bar with a woman while my marriage was on the ropes. I obviously had no idea that Rebecca was going to see me doing that, but that’s not the point. The point is that I should have kept refusing Maria’s invitation for a drink until she got the message before going back to the hotel and having an early night. That way, Rebecca would have had one less thing to be mad at me about, and I would have looked more like a sorrowful guy rather than a guy who was in the mood for drinks with a pretty woman.

Not going for the drink would have also meant not having the awkward moment when Maria tried to kiss me, and it was that awkward moment that led to several more awkward moments in the office today. I guess it was slightly optimistic of me to think that things between the two of us could go back to normal after she made a pass at me and I turned her down. We’re still both professional enough to get on with our jobs, but it was evident today that there is a tension between us now, and it’s one that means things might never be the same again. This time yesterday, I thought Maria was just friendly to me because we worked together, but now I know that it is because she likes me. How can that not change the dynamic between us? With my awkwardness and her embarrassment, I’d say it’s going to be a while before we are having a conversation that doesn’t feel loaded with subtext and confusing thoughts.

As I drive on back to my dreary room for the night, I decide that I am going to make more of an effort to let Maria know that I want us to still be good friends. As inappropriate as what she did was, I can put myself in her shoes because I know how it feels to be lonely. I’m feeling lonely right now, and the only way to combat loneliness is to seek out the company of another human being. That is all Maria was doing yesterday. She was trying to combat her loneliness. Therefore, I can’t be too hard on her, nor should she be too hard on herself.

Bringing my car to a stop at a set of traffic lights, I find myself checking my phone again as if there is going to be a message or a missed call from Erica with some new information that is going to get me out of the mess that I find myself in. But there isn’t, and that is hardly a surprise considering it’s been less than ten minutes since I last spoke to her. I need to give her time