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Back Perfect Ten Save as PDF
Chapters (45)
  1. Chapter One
  2. Chapter Two
  3. Chapter Three
  4. Chapter Four
  5. Chapter Five
  6. Chapter Six
  7. Chapter Seven
  8. Chapter Eight
  9. Chapter Nine
  10. Chapter Ten
  11. Chapter Eleven
  12. Chapter Twelve
  13. Chapter Thirteen
  14. Chapter Fourteen
  15. Chapter Fifteen
  16. Chapter Sixteen
  17. Chapter Seventeen
  18. Chapter Eighteen
  19. Chapter Nineteen
  20. Chapter Twenty
  21. Chapter Twenty-one
  22. Chapter Twenty-two
  23. Chapter Twenty-three
  24. Chapter Twenty-four
  25. Chapter Twenty-five
  26. Chapter Twenty-six
  27. Chapter Twenty-seven
  28. Chapter Twenty-eight
  29. Chapter Twenty-nine
  30. Chapter Thirty
  31. Chapter Thirty-one
  32. Chapter Thirty-two
  33. Chapter Thirty-three
  34. Chapter Thirty-four
  35. Chapter Thirty-five
  36. Chapter Thirty-six
  37. Chapter Thirty-seven
  38. Chapter Thirty-eight
  39. Chapter Thirty-nine
  40. Chapter Forty
  41. Chapter Forty-one
  42. Chapter Forty-two
  43. Chapter Forty-three
  44. Chapter Forty-four
  45. Acknowledgements

I drop the phone in my panic to get the battery and SIM card out. My God. She’s following it up. She’s tracking the women and probably getting statements. They all think it’s me. I jump out of the car and onto the soft moss at the side of the road. In the distance I see the moon reflected on a moorland pool. I run to the edge and hurl the phone and the battery into the water.

Think, Caroline, think. She’s got the journal. Why wouldn’t she investigate? This is why you took the phone in the first place, to find out. All she’s going to find is evidence of lying and cheating. There’s the little cricket and mouse incident with Frances, which I’m mortified about, but she’s probably got a new phone by now and she’ll get hold of her on that.

I never thought she was stupid. I knew she would get both sides of the story and I knew that this was where it would get tough, because he’s so fucking plausible. Of course she has to look into what’s in that journal. Some of those women will have complained as well. They’ll have instinctively thought that it was me. So she’s just ruling me out. She can’t prove anything.

I walk back to the car, still mulling over DS Percy. She knows all this is connected somehow, and it’s connected by me. So she’s sticking by me. But how has it escalated? Why is Jack suddenly at the station again with his solicitor? I have to be careful. The only thing I can do now is carry on with my plan. It’s the only way. Until I’ve been to the social services meeting. I’m too deep in now to do anything else, even though the only thing I really want to do is to hug my children.

I get back in my car and drive back to the layby. I open Monica’s laptop and log into Facebook. I’m Alicia now and the thread has grown and grown. Lots more women are sharing their Jack stories and the whole thing has been shared. Other women who don’t even know you are on the #cheatingbastard #allgirlstogether thread, sharing their stories about men who had sex with them and used them.

They’re posting pictures of themselves and one of them has mentioned Twitter. I log into my Twitter account and type the #cheatingbastard keywords in and it’s gone viral. It’s trending. They’ve added a #Jacksthedaddy hashtag. Twitter has firmly divided itself into two camps – #teamJack and #teamCaro. I can see why you’re so furious now. And I’m fucking delighted.

Chapter Twenty-six