Chapter 1

Harriet reached into her bag for her phone. As she felt around for it, her hand made contact with an item which made her smile, she grasped it for a moment, feeling it’s warmth as she held it in her palm, feeling its smooth, rounded edges, before letting it fall back to the bottom of her bag and pulling out her phone.

It was, she’d been told, a piece of African ebony which had been hand carved into the shape of the spade symbol from a suit of cards. It had been given to her as a memento by Witness Obi when he left Manor Close four months ago, moving on as part of his work. She hoped it wasn’t one of many from a box full that he carried around with him as with the cheap charm necklace she used to wear. To her it was special and a memory of her brief time as the Queen of Spades.

Other memories weren’t so fondly held, and Harriet tried to bury them deep, but they occasionally bubbled to the surface. The termination of her pregnancy still stung. It was a simple procedure that she arranged privately with the help of her neighbour, Anne. Just a day in the clinic, two pills and then allowed home once the process was complete. She was home before the family and no one was any the wiser, except Harriet. She hated herself for doing it.

She’d had no choice really. There was the slim chance it had been her husband Andrew’s child, but she knew it was most probably Witness who was the father. He left the close not knowing, so the gift wasn’t related to that. She tried hard to separate the two memories.

Witness had released Harriet’s sexual needs from a lifetime of suppression. It had even improved her sex life with her husband. Sex within her marriage was now much more regular and not only at his request. She would perform oral sex on him at unexpected moments when the children were hidden away in their rooms. Sex between them was now without condoms, as another consequence of her time in the Witness Program was that she was now on contraception. She had been recommended an injection by the clinic she had attended which only needed to be renewed every three months. It was discreet and only she knew about it. Andrew seemed to let her assess the risk of unprotected sex, prioritising her obvious enjoyment of it, over the risk of pregnancy. He had no idea, but whatever made her happy.

She was also much more fun as a mother, rather than the home organiser. Hannah had noticed the change in her, even if Daniel hadn’t. All in all her home life was much more relaxed, and no longer regimented by lists and household duties.

Harriet looked at her phone. She still had the log in to the site that Witness had given her. She tracked new additions to the Witness Program, and still felt a pang of jealousy every time a new woman was added. But she was still there, number 22 of 29, and still enjoyed reading the comments and messages, well some of them, that she received.

Online flirting was definitely an outlet for her wilder urges, but it never truly met her deeper needs. A recent exchange of messages on the site had led her down a rabbit hole investigating dogging, public sex amongst strangers. It sounded seedy and outrageous, but she couldn’t stop reading about it. She had found a list of locations and discovered that there was one only twenty minutes drive away. It sounded both far enough and near enough to satisfy her curiosity, and she had already driven past it several times. A seemingly forgotten turn off on a busy road.

Of course all the sexual activity was a late evening event, and she only had the daytime to herself. Nevertheless she still got a thrill of excitement from knowing and imagining what occurred overnight each time she drove by.

Harriet checked her messages and once again watched a video of herself being fucked by Witness. Hearing her own moans, she felt her excitement rise and the recklessness return and she walked out to her car. The dogging spot had become a mini-obsession for her and today she was going to drive in so she could picture it better in her fantasies.

The drive passed quickly and she slowed as she neared the entrance. Turning in she could see it was empty. It extended quite far alongside the road and she drove towards the end and reverse parked. Switching off the engine she looked around, taking in her surroundings.

She could hear traffic on the road which was now behind her. Trees and bushes hid it from sight. In front of her was another row of parking spaces with trees and paths leading off behind them. Three wooden picnic tables with benches were spaced out in front of the trees, each one looking worse for wear, as if they had been forgotten about for many years. The carpark itself was rough and weeds and grass grew from cracks in the surface.