Chapter 1

Sunday 12th May 2002

“You’ve got to be joking, Aidan!” Julie was not happy.

Unfortunately Aidan was not joking and was as aggravated as she was.

It was coming up to their third anniversary. They were not married, but had been living together for that time after knowing each other for some years before. Aidan Redmond had bought the large first floor flat with a mortgage and she had moved in with him. He was twenty-nine and she was twenty-eight.

Aidan was healthy, slim with broad shoulders and narrow hips, and a handsome somewhat craggy face with a large nose and a strong chin. He had a habit of brushing back his sandy hair off his face. He smiled a lot. He was after all a happy man. Six feet tall, so not a giant by any means; average height, he thought.

They had long since known they liked the same things, did everything together and their life was good. Very good.

Julie Fellows was in fact Aidan’s sister-in-law, since Kevin Redmond, his brother, who was four years older than he was, had married Julie’s older sister Caroline seven years earlier. Aidan had introduced them to each other while he was at university, when Kevin came to collect him at the end of one of the terms. Caroline had come to collect Julie.

Both sisters were attractive women. Not devastating beauties, but Julie’s face in particular did something for Aidan. He often said he could have gazed on that face for hours. She was slim and well proportioned with medium bust, a neat behind and long legs. Richly dark brown hair, and of course, there was that delicate, pretty face.

It is a well worn problem, a couple at sixes and sevens because of one of them is overworking. Aidan was overworking, Julie was not.

Julie was a temp. She was with an agency and did secretarial work when firms needed temporary help. She was very adaptable and efficient, having management skills as well as the usual secretarial knowhow. It meant she could decide whether or not to work on any specific assignment. Her life was tranquil, and thus she had a good deal more energy each evening than Aidan, who often had to work late.

Aidan had an accountancy practice in partnership with a girl he had known at university and at accountancy training. Victoria Gibbons (she preferred Vicky) was a genius. Aidan and she had gone out together a few times but had rapidly realised they could never survive living together. She was a pretty woman, a good few inches shorter than Aidan, with a shock of red hair, though she did not seem ot have the temper to go with such a mane. Neither of them were into casual sex, and so their relationship never got as far as the bedroom.

Vicky came from the London area, while Aidan was born and bred in Bury, Lancashire, and so their successful practice would never have come about had they not shared lectures and tutorials at the same university and had not each admired the other’s talents and skills. The practice was successful and growing, and they were finding it difficult to keep up with demand for their services. It was based in Cheadle, a suburb of Manchester, where both Aidan and Vicky lived (separately of course).

It was mid-May when the argument was sparked.

Vicky had been on holiday for a fortnight and Aidan had had to take on her work as well as his own, necessitating long hours and two lost weekends. Julie had not been happy about that, but he pleaded that as soon as Vicky returned, he in turn would be eligible for a break and they would take a two week holiday of their own at Julie’s parents’ holiday home on the coast of Wales, and she had reluctantly accepted his prolonged absences in the evenings.

Then disaster struck. Vicky returned on a Sunday from her holiday in Mauritius with severe food poisoning. She was a borderline hospital case and it was on the cards that she would not be back at work for another two weeks at least. Aidan was stuck. The jobs their company had on hand had to be completed and their small staff needed oversight. Hence Julie’s outburst.

She stormed out and he could hear her talking angrily on the phone. Then she came back.

“I’ve had enough of this,” she snapped. “Caroline says she’ll go with me to the house. Kevin is away for work next week. Our parents will look after Annie. We’re going to have a holiday without you.” Annie was Kevin and Caroline’s baby daughter.

That worried Aidan. The four of them used to go clubbing together, and while they always had a good time, Julie and Caroline would dance with other men when Kevin and Aidan sat one out.

Julie was very careful not to allow any contact, but Caroline was wild. Aidan once asked Kevin about her grinding against these other men, but he shrugged and said she always came home with him, and he always kept an eye on her. Aidan thought he was too complacent, and was glad that Julie was more restrained.

As a result, Aidan was not happy that Caroline and Julie were going together without Kevin. It worried him, especially with Julie in a strop. He could not understand why she was so angry; Vicky’s illness could not be helped.

“Julie,” he begged, “it’s only while Vicky’s ill, and then we can go away anywhere you like for two weeks or even longer if you want. These two clients are huge and will set us up for years if we keep them happy and produce results on time. If Vicky weren’t ill, you know I’d be more than ready to go! Be reasonable!”

She seemed to soften a little, but the words were not soft. “Sorry Aidan,” she said with an air of resignation, “Caroline and I are going tomorrow. We’re going to have a bloody good holiday without you. I’m sick of not seeing you from one week to another. You look after Vicky and I’ll look after myself. You spend more time with her than me anyway.”

He wondered where that remark came from, and it annoyed him, but he was in too much of a conciliatory mood to follow it up, and forgot it as he continued to argue...

“Julie,” he said gently, “I don’t trust Caroline, even if she is my sister-in-law. She loses control. If you insist on going with her, ok. Just remember who loves you.”

She made an annoyed noise, “Kevin isn’t bothered, why should you be?” she snapped.

She turned and went to pack. There was no loving that night; she was asleep by the time Aidan had done the chores and had shut the house up.

On Monday morning they ate a silent breakfast before Aidan left for work. Julie looked unhappy. Aidan went to her and kissed her. She kissed him back but it was half-hearted.

“Have a good holiday,” he said, forcing himself to be genuine. She smiled.

“Bye, darling,” he said, giving her another kiss, “be good!”

“What d’you mean by that?” she almost snarled.

“God, Julie,” he bridled. “What’s the matter with you? Joke! You remember Jokes?” and he turned his back on her and left without a backward glance. He could not work out what was the matter with her.

He heard her saying something, but did not catch it.

He found it hard to get into the swing of things at work after the previous twenty-four hours. After work he left early, went home and then went to see Vicky. He was glad she lived nearby, because Julie had taken the car without asking. That really did annoy him, since, though it was a short walk to work, he often needed the car for visiting clients, but he forgot all that when he saw how weak Vicky was.

“Aidan,” she said, as he brought her some tea. “We’re doing too well. We need another secretary and at least two more accountants. We need someone in forensic accounting – a few local authorities are showing interest. I’m good at that, but there’s too much else to do. All this extra work is not helping you and Julie, is it?. Life is more important than a stupid job!”

He smiled at her. Even with stomach cramps, and frequent rushes to the lavatory, she was thinking business, and looking after his welfare.

He knew she was right, and they decided to get things under way as soon as she was up and running again.

He realised then that she was alone and had no one to look after her, so he suggested she came home with him. The flat’s master bedroom had an en-suite bathroom which would be more convenient if she needed a quick visit.

“And with your workstation in your office at home, I could do some work for you there,” she said. She was itching to get back to work.

He took her home in her car and set her up in Julie’s and his bedroom, moving his stuff into the guest bedroom.

Later that evening, after feeding Vicky a bland meal of eggs and mashed potatoes, he phoned Julie’s mobile, but it went to voice mail. He left a message asking her to call him back. He wanted to tell her he had moved Vicky in while she was ill, and about their decision to take on more staff. He hoped it would improve her mood if she knew he would have more time for her. She did not ring back.

He had worked a long day to get through things faster and was too tired to try again later.

On Tuesday evening he tried phoning her again and again there was no response. Now he was worried. By Wednesday he was really upset. He tried Caroline’s phone, but got no joy there either.

On Thursday morning, Vicky arrived in the home office before he left for work. She looked like death, but said she couldn’t stand another day in bed. He told her about his abortive phone calls. She frowned.

“Why don’t you go down there?” she said. “I can hold the fort here for one day, and then it’s weekend. Anyway, you’ve covered most of the work.”

The beginning of the week had been wet and blustery, but Wednesday had brought some fine dry and warm weather which seemed set fair for a few days, so Aidan was happy to agree with her, though he worried that she would try to do too much.

Aidan made sure there was plenty of food in the kitchen for her, and instructed her to eat a little bland food and drink lots of liquids.

“Yes, Mum,” she grinned. He scowled but it merely made her laugh.

The next morning, Friday, dawned warm and sunny, and Aidan eagerly packed to go away and join his girlfriend. Then, as he might have expected, he got a phone call from one of their biggest clients. They wanted Aidan to be introduced to one of their subsidiaries. There was no way he could have turned them down, and it was mid-afternoon before he got a taxi to the railway station, cursing that Julie had the car. There was a train at six and he arrived at his seaside destination at eight.

It was a short walk to the house, and in the warmth of the late spring evening it was very pleasant. Caroline’s and Julie’s parents had been left the holiday house by an Aunt in her will. It was a modern design and had four bedrooms. The house looked westward out over the bay, and enjoyed wonderful sunsets.

The front door led directly into a lofty living area the full height of the house. Over the rear half of this living area there was a master bedroom which had a glass fronted balcony looking down onto the living room, and out to the sea and the sky. Part of the glass could be folded back and there was a railing to prevent anyone falling into the room below. The bedroom was reached by a wide curving staircase which began opposite the front door. Behind the bedroom was an en-suite bathroom and a dressing room. Downstairs there was a large kitchen behind the living area, and beside it, another bedroom with a bathroom. A flight of narrow back stairs led up to two other bedrooms with a shared bathroom.

As Aidan arrived, he could see their car parked in front of the garage, and a light in the living room, but there was no one in there. On knocking, it was clear there was no one at home. He thought the two women must have gone to the pub or clubbing, and his heart sank. He found the rock round the back of the house which concealed the front door key and let himself in.

He wandered to each of the bedrooms, finding Caroline’s things in the downstairs bedroom, and then he mounted the stairs to the master bedroom which overlooked the living room. The glass partition was folded back. Julie’s stuff was in there, so he dropped his bag and went down to the kitchen for something to eat. He found cheese and biscuits, and beer. Neither of the women drank beer, so he assumed it was bought for his benefit before he was unable to go.

He made himself comfortable on the long sofa in the living area until about ten, when, feeling tired after his long day, he decided he would go to bed. He tidied away his meal and mounted the stairs. He stripped off naked and climbed into the bed. Julie was in for a surprise when she came to bed, he thought with a grin.

He either fell asleep or was dozing, for he was woken by a clatter as someone fell against the front door. The door slammed back on its hinges and someone tumbled into the house. There was female giggling ensued and other voices. Male voices.

He started up in the bed. What was going on? So the women were entertaining men in the house. What else were they doing, he wondered with a sinking feeling. He quietly dressed and resolved to wait and see what would happen next. He sat on the bed, a worried frown on his face.