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  This time Suzy was going to be prepared for him. Tonight was the night that she was going to catch Chris red-handed with his slut. He’d told her he was going to an insurance brokers’ meeting. He was a bare-faced liar. He looked at her, straight, with those innocent blue eyes and told her he wouldn’t be home from work that evening so she needn’t cook dinner for him. And then he’d the nerve, the nerve to kiss her on the cheek before he grabbed his briefcase and hurried from the house.

  How her palm had itched to slap that smooth jaw. Well, tonight she would slap his face, hard, when she caught him with his floozy of a mistress out in Glenree. She had to get petrol, Suzy reminded herself as she poured hot milk over the twins’ cornflakes. It wouldn’t do to run out of petrol on the back roads to that godforsaken hole.

  Suzy fed the twins their breakfast and then wiped their hands and faces before wrapping them up warmly in hats, coats and scarves so they could go out and play on the swing in the back garden. It was good for them to get fresh air, but today in particular she was glad that the sun was shining and that depressing grey drizzly sky they’d had over the past few days had cleared. She had a reason for wanting the children to be outside this morning. She had a task that needed all her attention and she didn’t want Adam and Christina asking awkward questions.

  Suzy washed up quickly and hurried upstairs. She pulled two large suitcases from deep in the recesses of her floor-to-ceiling fitted wardrobes and flung them on the bed. In one she packed Chris’s underwear, socks, shirts and pullovers, in the other she crammed his suits.

  A cold rage fuelled her actions. He could have his slut but he was going to lose everything else. A forgiving wife she was not going to be. She wasn’t going to close her eyes to his infidelity for one minute longer. Chris had betrayed her and their children and ruined their marriage. He’d treated her like dirt. He was so smug, he thought he could keep rubbing her nose in it and get away with it. Well, he’d picked the wrong woman to put up with his crap, Suzy fumed as she shoved his expensive leather shoes into a holdall. And tonight he was going to learn that to his cost. She was exhausted by the time she carried the lot out to the car.

  By the time her babysitter came at four, Suzy was a coiled knot of nerves. She hadn’t been able to eat all day. She could barely manage to take a few sips of tea. She gave the girl a few brisk instructions and hurried out to the car, palms sweaty.

  She parked discreetly down the road from Chris’s office twenty minutes later. She got out of the car and hurried to the car park at the side of his office. She had to make sure Chris was still there or her whole plan would collapse. Heart pounding, she saw his red Peugeot. So far, so good. Now all she had to do was wait.

  Suzy had to wait for almost an hour before she saw her husband’s car nosing out into the traffic. Sick with anticipation, petrified that he’d see her in his rear-view mirror, she allowed a few cars to come between them before she edged out into the lane and started the chase.

  She was indicating to turn right at Pembroke Street Lower, sure that her husband would do the same to head north along Leeson Street, when she realised that he was continuing south along Baggot Street. How odd, Suzy thought, as she cut in in front of a Mini and earned herself an irritated blast of a horn. She had fully expected Chris to drive towards the city centre and the northside of town, instead he was driving southside. What was he up to? Maybe he had a brokers’ meeting. If he had, she’d have to race home and unpack all his damned clothes.

  ‘Hell! Hell! Hell!’ she swore. Where was he going? They crossed the canal into Upper Baggot Street. Maybe he was going to Jury’s. Maybe that’s where the meeting was. No, not Jury’s, she thought as he carried on towards the American Embassy. He was heading towards Ballsbridge. Why would he be going to Ballsbridge? She was thoroughly confused.

  She followed him towards the Merrion Road and then saw him indicate right for Anglesea Road. Why was he going down there? The meeting was hardly in the RDS. He passed the side entrance and continued on. In a minute he’d be passing the apartments where Alexandra lived, Suzy thought irritably. What kind of a wild-goose chase was he leading her on? Maybe he’d seen her in his mirror. Maybe he was trying to throw her off the scent. But she’d been very careful to leave cars between them and he certainly wouldn’t expect her to follow him from work. She’d just have to keep after him and see what he was up to. They were almost at the entrance to Alexandra’s apartments. She should call in to her friend and forget this nonsense, Suzy thought wearily when her eyes widened with shock as she saw Chris’s car glide up the discreet tree-lined drive.

  What on earth was Chris driving into Alexandra’s pad for? He couldn’t stand Alexandra. They never had a good word to say about each other. Suzy drove on, flummoxed. As soon as she had a chance she did a U-turn and headed smartly back. From across the street, half-hidden by shrubs and trees, she could see her husband standing on the steps of Alexandra’s apartment block with a bouquet of roses in his arms.

  ‘Oh my God!’ It’s Alexandra! He’s having an affair with Alexandra! The realisation was like a hammer-blow to her skull as she watched Chris disappear behind her best friend’s front door.

  Chapter Five

  Suzy sat in the car, her heart thudding. She was so utterly shocked she had a sensation of complete unreality. This wasn’t happening. This was a nightmare. Chris couldn’t be having an affair with Alexandra. They couldn’t stand each other. They never lost an opportunity to insult each other with snide barbs.

  But he was here on her doorstep with a bunch of flowers. He’d told Suzy he was going to a brokers’ meeting. Instead he was at her best friend’s place with flowers. She’d seen it with her own eyes.

  All her instincts about him having an affair were true. But she’d got it terribly wrong about the other woman. She’d been convinced it was Ellen Munroe. She’d kind of got used to the idea, strange as it seemed. Never in her wildest moments had she suspected Alexandra of being her husband’s mistress. Alexandra! Her best friend. The pain of it. The pain of it. It was as though she’d swallowed a burning rod right down to her solar plexus. It was a physical ache that overwhelmed her and made it difficult to breathe. Did they both think so little of her? Did they both consider her feelings of such little consequence? Chris knew Alexandra was her best friend. Alexandra knew how much she loved Chris . . . she’d even advised her on how to get him to pop the question all those years ago and still she’d betrayed their friendship in the worst possible way a friend could betray another.

  Grief, anger, hurt, fear, ripped through Suzy.

  She’d have got over Chris having an affair with Ellen Munroe, eventually. They had a past history and a child together. Suzy’d always intended teaching Chris a lesson until he came to his senses and ended the affair. That had been her thinking about the Munroe woman. Now she knew their marriage was well and truly over. This she could never forgive or forget or put aside, even for the twins’ sake. She could have forgiven an affair but she’d never be able to get past the sheer callousness of Chris and Alexandra’s betrayal. Her feelings meant nothing to either of them. There hadn’t been the most infinitesimal drop of loyalty towards her. In their eyes, she was a nothing.

  The emptiness that she felt at that moment was the worst emotion she’d ever experienced. Feelings of loss so strong she felt as though she’d never ever climb out of the void of despair she’d just been flung into. She’d never really trusted Chris, deep down. But she had trusted Alexandra. And trusted her with all her fears about Chris’s infidelity. How that bitch must have been laughing up her sleeve at her. The hypocritical, sly, lying husband-stealer.

  Suzy burned as she remembered how she’d confided the most intimate details of their marriage to Alexandra. Alexandra knew all about their sex life. She’d even given Suzy a book about sex with tricks to spice up their love-making. Some of them had made Suzy blush even to read about. No doubt Alexandra had used all her erotic techniques on Chris.

  How could she sit and listen to
Suzy giving out about Chris and look her in the eye. All the nights they’d gone out, even as recently as last week when they’d gone to a make-up party together and they’d laughed and gossiped as usual. And, all the time, Chris was screwing her. How long had it been going on? Maybe months. Maybe they’d been deceiving her for years. It was obvious Chris’s marriage vows meant nothing. Why had he bothered to marry her? Suzy wondered desolately. And why had Alexandra encouraged it if she’d been interested in Chris herself? What kind of sick game had they been playing all along? What warped, twisted, dirty, seedy charade? A cold fury replaced her devastation. She’d make them pay. By the time she was finished with them, they’d suffer as much as she was suffering. They weren’t going to treat her with such contempt and get away with it.

  Suzy sat rigidly in her car for a good thirty minutes waiting until she saw a BMW drive into the complex. She got out of her car and hurried across the street. She didn’t want to drive in herself for fear Alexandra or Chris would spot her car. She couldn’t get into the building unless someone was going in or out. If she rang Alexandra’s bell herself, they’d know she was on the warpath.

  ‘Hi, I’m just going in myself,’ she said breathlessly as the man who’d been driving the BMW inserted his key in the lock. ‘I’m a friend of Alexandra Johnston’s.’

  ‘Ah, Alexandra.’ The man smiled.

  You’ve probably fucked her too, Suzy thought bitterly as she stepped past him and hastened up the carpeted staircase to the first-floor landing where Alexandra’s apartment was located. She heard the man go into his own apartment downstairs.

  Suzy swallowed hard. Right this minute, Chris and her best friend were probably going at it hammer and tongs, grunting and groaning their passion. Chris liked his women to groan and moan – it made him feel good. Made him feel like he was the world’s greatest lover, Suzy fumed. Well, he wasn’t. For the last few years he’d been a selfish shit in bed. Once he was satisfied, that was it. Forget it. She was going to give them something to groan and moan about, she vowed as she rapped on the door. Hard. She kept rapping until eventually Alexandra opened the door, dressed in a silk gown, her hair dishevelled.

  ‘Yes, what is it?’

  She saw Suzy and her face drained of colour. ‘Suzy! What are you doing here? How did you get in?’ The famous Johnston self-assurance was lost momentarily.

  Suzy shoved past her and raced into the bedroom. Chris, stark naked, lay spread-eagled on the bed, his hands bound to the brass bedstead with the cord of Alexandra’s dressing-gown. His eyes bulged in panic when he saw her.

  ‘Fuck you, you fucking bastard!’ Suzy screamed as she clawed at his face with her nails. ‘You lying toad! You worm! You’re the lowest of the low.’

  He twisted and turned, kicking out as he tried to avoid her and struggle free, but he was bound too tightly.

  ‘Suzy! Suzy, cut it out! Get off! Alexandra, get these knots open!’ he yelled.

  Alexandra hovered by the door, shaken by the wild woman clawing and screaming and shouting obscenities.

  ‘Calm down, Suzy, he’s not worth it. It means nothing,’ she announced in her husky voice. Suzy stopped her attack on Chris and advanced, face contorted in fury, on Alexandra, who ran into the lounge.

  Suzy followed and grabbed the bunch of flowers that lay on the coffee table.

  ‘You lying, two-faced, cheap slut whore!’ she yelled, battering the other woman with the red roses. ‘I’ll make you pay for this, Alexandra. You’ll be sorry, you sly, conniving, evil bitch.’ She punched her former best friend in the nose as hard as she could and felt a fierce satisfaction when two crimson streaks gushed out. Alexandra collapsed in a heap, howling in pain.

  Chris was yelling from the bedroom, ‘Suzy, get the fuck out of here! Alexandra, cut me free. If I get my hands on that mad bitch I’ll kill her.’

  Suzy ran back to the bedroom and picked up one of Alexandra’s white stilettos. With all the savagery she could muster she whacked Chris across the face and then, even more satisfyingly, she jumped up on the bed and kicked him hard in the balls.

  Chris went green, groaned, and doubled up.

  ‘Yeah, groan, baby, I’m not finished with you by a long shot,’ Suzy panted as she landed one on his pasty ass for good measure. ‘I have your clothes packed in suitcases. I’ll leave them outside. I want a cheque from you every week with the housekeeping. And you make sure you keep paying the mortgage on that damn house or by God I’ll create such a stink, you fucking shit.’

  She marched out of the room to where Alexandra was cowering in the corner. ‘You’re going to regret this, Alexandra, believe me,’ she said emphatically. ‘And I hope your nose is broken,’ she added furiously. ‘You and Chris are welcome to each other. You’re two of a kind. And don’t forget you took my kids’ father away from them. I hope you can live with that, you underhand bitch.’

  ‘You drove him away, you stupid cow! With your complaining! What man wants to come home to a pigsty and a wet rag of a wife who never shuts up about him having an affair, even when he’s not having one? You pushed him into my arms, Suzy. You better take some of the blame. You had it all. A sexy husband, loads of dosh, a fab house and two kids. What more did you want? You were never satisfied. You knew what he was like when you married him. Don’t blame me because he came to me when he couldn’t put up with your carry-on for another minute. You’re a stupid, frivolous, silly little airhead! He needed a real woman and that’s what he got. I’m sick of you whingeing and moaning. At least I won’t have to put up with that any more,’ Alexandra ranted as she tried to staunch the flow of blood from her nose.

  ‘Yeah, well at least I don’t go around stealing other women’s husbands!’ Suzy shrieked at the top of her voice.

  ‘Shut up, you blithering idiot! I don’t want everyone to hear this racket,’ Alexandra exploded.

  ‘Don’t you call me a blithering idiot!’ Suzy launched herself on the other woman and they tussled and struggled on the floor, pulling hair and hitting and kicking. Moments later Suzy felt herself being pulled away.

  ‘Get out of here, Suzy, before I break your goddamn neck!’ Chris yelled as he manhandled her to the door. He gave her a violent shove that sent her sprawling along the landing and slammed the door shut behind her.

  Panting, breathless, Suzy lay, shaken to the core. She heard the click of a door and looked up to see an elderly dowager type peering through a slit in a door opposite.

  ‘Disgraceful! Disgraceful!’ she rebuked, scandalised.

  ‘Piss off,’ muttered Suzy as she dragged herself to her feet and staggered downstairs on very unsteady legs. She made it to the car and collapsed in a heap behind the wheel, sobbing her heart out. She felt sick, only an immense effort of will stopped her from vomiting. After a little while she regained some composure. She drove the car into the grounds, unloaded his belongings from the boot and left them at the bottom of the steps. She looked up at the window of the apartment and saw Chris looking down at her.

  Suzy stared back with a hatred so strong she could almost taste it. She gave him a vicious two fingers, got back into the car and drove straight out on to Anglesea Road without looking left or right. If she got killed, she got killed. That would serve them right. They’d have to live with the guilt of that for the rest of their miserable lives. And she’d haunt them. They’d never have a minute’s peace.

  Suzy started to cry again. All she wanted to do was to get home to her own house and drink herself into a stupor, to forget for an hour or two the nightmare that was now her life.

  ‘Look at my face! Jesus, I’ll be scarred for life,’ Alexandra wept as she stared at her pumping nose and her marked cheeks.

  ‘Look at mine, for chrissake. She could have blinded me. I can’t go into work looking like this.’ Chris was horrified at the sight that was reflected in the mirror. Deep gouge marks that had drawn blood ran the length of his face from temple to jaw. A purple weal over his right eye, where Suzy had hit him with the stiletto, was swollen
and redraw. He still felt nauseous from the hard kick she’d given him. The pain a sickening reminder that she might have damaged him for life, for all he knew.

  He wiped his poor battered face, gingerly. He couldn’t believe how savage Suzy’d been. It had been unbelievable. He’d never have thought his wife was capable of such passion.

  Chris felt extremely apprehensive. He didn’t like what he’d heard about housekeeping cheques and mortgage payments. He wasn’t getting out of his house. He’d give Suzy a day or two to calm down and then he’d have to persuade her that it was all over between him and Alexandra.

  What a bloody nuisance. He didn’t want all this hassle. He turned to look at Alexandra. She was sitting on the side of the bath with her head back holding a towel to her nose. He’d better be nice to her. He’d have to stay with her for a day or two.

  ‘Are you OK?’

  ‘You are a fucking shit. All you care about is your own face!’ Alexandra snapped.

  ‘Hey, hey. Stop this. I am concerned about you. And anyway what was all that about me not being worth it? You told Suzy it meant nothing,’ Chris retorted angrily.

  ‘Well, I had to say something to calm her down. And besides it’s not as if we’re madly in love with each other.’

  ‘Why are you having an affair with me, Alexandra?’ Chris demanded.

  Alexandra looked at him through swelling eyes. ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time. Right now I don’t know.’

  ‘Don’t you feel anything for me?’ he asked, shocked by her dispassionate response.

  ‘I like you OK, sometimes. Like I said, we’re not madly in love with each other.’

  ‘What about when we’re having sex?’ Chris was most taken aback by her attitude.

  ‘Sex is sex,’ Alexandra drawled. ‘You satisfy my itch for now and I satisfy yours.’

  ‘You are cold.’ Chris couldn’t believe his ears. He felt . . . he searched for a word to describe his feelings. Used . . . he felt used by her. All he was was someone to satisfy her sexual needs.