Page 37 of The Woman Who Said Yes

‘Let’s see him,’ he says, and I pull out my phone and bring up Dom’s Facebook profile.

‘Ohh, that type,’ he says knowingly.

‘What type?’ Marnie asks.

‘You know. That smug, presenting-a-property-show type.’

‘You’re right.’ I chuckle, and Trudy leans in for a look.

‘Ooh, he’s very handsome,’ she says admiringly.

‘Looks a bit fake to me,’ comments Kian. ‘Like she found him in the gift shop on the ship.’

Marnie sniggers. ‘An “assemble your own attractive fifty-something boyfriend” kit.’

‘That’s it,’ I say. ‘He doesn’t seem quite… real.’

‘And you don’t want to see her being taken for a ride,’ Phil suggests, frowning.

‘That’s right.’ I nod. ‘I mean, you know she doesn’t have much. It’s not that she’s rolling in cash. There’s her flat, but she’s never had savings or anything like that. So it’s definitely not her money he’s after…’ I turn to Kian next to me. ‘What would you do, if you were worried about a friend diving into something like this?’

Kian has been with Jake for five years and I’m extremely fond of him. Apart from his credentials as a lawyer and his obvious devotion to my son, I regard him as the kind of all-knowing, unflappable adult I’d love to have living next door. He’d always have a ladder, a working printer (plus a ready supply of ink cartridges) and the right kind of fuse if your oven broke.

‘I guess it’d depend on how worried I was,’ he says, ‘and why. I mean, if it was just that they were rushing in⁠—’

‘It’s not just that,’ I tell him, relieved that other conversations are sparking up around us now. I don’t want Eva’s wedding to dominate Marnie’s birthday night. However, Kian seems keen to delve in further.

‘What is it then?’ he asks, and I tell him a little about my and Sam’s snoopings. How we found Dom on a website for some property business that no longer seemed to exist.

‘Companies go bust all the time,’ he remarks.

‘Yes, of course.’ He seems to be studying my face, knowing there’s more.

‘He had a different name on there,’ I add.

‘Really!’

I nod and sip my wine. ‘And he has this little notebook, and I spotted an address on it…’ I hesitate to go on, realising how crazy this might seem. That I’m obsessing over the wedding and want everything to stay just as it’s always been: the Knitwits forever single and freely available to one another. However, even that doesn’t stop me discreetly showing Kian the picture of Dom’s notebook page. His brow furrows as if it might be evidence in a case. ‘Dom told us he has this property portfolio,’ I add. ‘He made it sound really upmarket⁠—’

‘And it’s not?’

‘No.’ I scan the table, and the sight of my family all together lifts my heart. ‘Me and Sam went round there,’ I tell him.

‘What, to that address?’

I nod quickly, and Kian frowns. ‘You’re really worried, aren’t you?’

‘Yes, I am. And the place was a dump.’

‘So he doesn’t live there?’

I twist the stem of my glass. ‘No. We think maybe he lets it out. I don’t know exactly where he lives, and neither does Eva⁠—’

‘You’re kidding.’

‘’Fraid not,’ I say.

Kian exhales quietly. ‘You need to go through all his Facebook friends. Does he have many?’