I ring the bank and tell them I want to withdraw twenty thousand pounds in cash. That I’ll be calling at the local branch for it at lunchtime. To do my house up. Needs a complete renovation and several skips, I explain to the call that is recorded. My next call is to a skip company who I ask to deliver a medium-sized skip to my driveway and I will pay cash on delivery.

Then I go to the staffroom and find the used cars for sale section of the local paper. I check my post box. I know what’s in the A4 brown envelope before I open it. There are pictures of me sitting on the Metro with a laptop on my knee looking very focused. Nothing unusual about that. Except somehow this person has managed to stand behind me at a station and photograph me updating Monica’s Facebook page. I turn them over quickly. Someone has written ‘STILL WATCHING’ on the back. Shit. Shit shit shit. I hide the photos in my bag. I can hardly go to the police with this. I make a coffee and smile as Eileen sits beside me, even though I’m dying inside. She doesn’t say anything, but puts her hand on my arm and pats me.

I need to move more quickly. Before whoever is doing this goes public. I wonder why you haven’t already. I would have. It just makes me think that you are preparing to return my serve with something bigger.

I find an inconspicuous four-wheel drive in silver. It’s compact and functional and has slightly tinted windows, which is perfect. I call the owner and arrange to come over at lunchtime. Just before I leave the university I check my look in the mirror to make sure I look homely and middle-aged. I do. Even I would trust myself.

I go to the bank and collect my cash, mentioning again about my home renovations. Then I buy the car. It’s easier than I thought it would be and I even manage to knock the owner down by a couple of hundred. We swap contact details – Jane Smith’s in my case, and I drive away with the paperwork.

I toss Monica’s computer in my bag, along with her mobile phone and the journal, on the back seat and drive a short way to the side of the park, near to the Metrolink stop. The Metrolink signal is strong here. I check Monica’s profile and I can almost sense all your friends hovering over your Facebook account, waiting for the next revelation.