She closes her eyes and starts to hum. It is the equivalent of a child sticking its fingers in its ears and pretending it can’t hear.

It’s quite pitiful. I start to wonder what I ever saw in her. I thought she was like me, but maybe she is like the rest of them. A bug. An insect.

I continue reading.

‘What you must understand is that we love each other. We always have. But Annabelle became trapped in an abusive marriage. We will not say what she suffered, but suffice it to say she was mistreated in every imaginable way by her so-called husband.’

Her humming grows louder. It sounds like an insect. She is pathetic.

‘We have decided to take our lives together. It is a fitting end to a great love story. Do not mourn for us; we are happy. This is what we want. With love.’

I put the pad down.

‘What do you think?’ I say. ‘Your idiot husband will believe it, I’m pretty confident. And even if he doesn’t, he’ll have his doubts. That’s the great thing about it. Whether he thinks it’s real or not, he’ll never know for sure. And that will torture him.’

I smile at her.

‘That’s my final gift to you, Annabelle. You’ll take to your grave the knowledge that your husband and children will never get over your betrayal of them.’

Annabelle

1

She just wanted to drown him out. Switch him off. Erase him from her life. Erase him from the universe.

There had been things about Guy – the supercilious manner, the arrogance, the aloofness – that had always annoyed her, but she had overlooked them. They were friends, and he had his good points: supportive, generous. And after all, no one was perfect, right?

Now she couldn’t believe she had put up with him. She hated the sight of his smug face, and the sound of his whining voice.

And she didn’t want to know what he was saying. She didn’t want to hear him read his letter, didn’t want to hear him crow about how Matt would be tortured by the doubts the letter would sow.

She couldn’t help hearing it, though, and she had to face it. Not only would Matt – the man she loved more now than ever – have to deal with losing her, he would always wonder if she had been unfaithful to him.

He would think she hadn’t, would suspect that the suicide note was faked, but he wouldn’t know. That was Guy’s final act of cruelty.

And it would extend to the children too. Had their mum abandoned them? Had she preferred to die with her lover than be there for their graduations and wedding and newborns?