Rifling through his piles of clothes she discovered that some were missing: casual T-shirts, shorts, jeans and jumpers all unaccounted for. All his work outfits seemed present and correct, she noticed, hanging undisturbed. She wasn’t sure what that meant yet. She moved to their bathroom next and searched through the cabinet, looking for his travel toiletry bag. It was gone. She returned to their bedroom and went to the dresser where the family’s passports were kept. Pulling the drawer open, she counted, one, two, three. His was missing. She wasn’t particularly surprised that he’d taken it with him but the fresh reality of it all still hit her like a ton of bricks.
Suddenly feeling desperate to be in the company of another human being, she tore back down the stairs and into the kitchen where Erin was making tea. Instinctively she grabbed her phone from the table to check his social media accounts. He’d set up Facebook and Twitter profiles years ago when everyone had them although he hardly ever used them, save for the odd photo of a lads’ night out or one of the girls’ birthdays. She knew he wasn’t going to post a photo of himself with his mystery woman, helpfully tagging her and their location with a brief explanation as to his state of mind. But there would at least be some comfort in seeing the familiarity of his profile. She typed his name into Facebook and waited for his profile picture, a photo from their wedding day, to appear but there was nothing. Confused, she searched her list of friends, looking for his name. It was gone.
‘He’s deleted his Facebook profile,’ she called out to Erin who, fishing teabags out of mugs, turned to her in surprise. Opening Twitter, she searched again, but while lots of other Pete Garlands came up in the results, his profile was nowhere to be found. Finally, she went on to LinkedIn. Again, while Pete Garland the Head of HR, Pete Garland the Life Coach and Pete Garland the Senior Sales Executive all popped up in the search results, there was no Pete Garland, Associate Director at Media Corp. Her husband had digitally vanished.
‘Jesus Christ, he’s deleted them all,’ she exclaimed. It was as if he’d never existed, his online history had been entirely erased. The thought hit her like a fresh punch in the stomach. Erin pulled out her own phone, checking the social media channels herself to make sure it wasn’t a mistake. ‘They’re definitely gone,’ she confirmed. ‘Bloody hell, Kate.’ Then she added: ‘Have you checked your bank accounts?’
‘What for?’ she replied, confused for a second.
‘You might be able to get some clues from his transactions.’
It was a reasonable suggestion, so Kate logged into their online banking app, searching their current account and credit card for anything unusual but there was nothing that she couldn’t account for over the last few days. The bill for the supermarket delivery, the regular council tax deduction and a cash withdrawal she’d made to pay the window cleaner.
‘There’s nothing untoward,’ she told Erin.
As an afterthought she logged into their ISAs, not expecting to see any action in their long-term investments which they had both agreed to leave untouched. It was their savings for the future, for the children’s education and their retirement together. Clicking into the recent transactions, her blood ran cold as she looked at the numbers staring back at her. Surely it was a mistake? She looked again.
‘He withdrew £10,000 in cash from our ISA last month,’ she exclaimed, as the level of his deception became even more obvious. ‘The bastard has been planning this for at least a month.’ She bent forward in her chair and thought she might throw up.
‘I can’t believe this is happening,’ Erin said, looking at her with horror. ‘It doesn’t make any sense. It’s one thing going away for a few days to sort out your head, it’s quite another to take a passport and a wad of cash and disappear off the face of the planet. Something doesn’t feel right here, Kate, you need to get on to some of his mates, to people at his work, find out what they know. You need some answers.’
‘But he doesn’t want to be found. He’s made that perfectly clear. Maybe I should just do what he wants, give him some space?’
‘And what about you?’ Erin demanded. ‘And the kids? What about what you want?’
What she wanted was for her damn husband to be sitting in his office in central London like he should be and for this whole thing to have been a nightmare. But that option wasn’t on the table and she wasn’t really sure what the next best alternative was. Certainly not this uncertainty. Anything but this. They sat in silence again, looking at each other without really knowing what to say. The ticking of the clock reminded her that she hadn’t had anything to eat all morning. She was just debating whether she could stomach some toast when the sound of a key turning in the lock made her jump. For a split second she thought it was Pete and her heart leapt at the idea of him strolling into the kitchen, declaring that he’d decided to work from home and he’d pick up the kids from school later, before reality kicked in.
‘Shit, it’s Rachel,’ she said aloud. She had completely forgotten that their nanny would be returning to the house to do some chores before school pick up. She suddenly had an unpalatable thought – what if it’s her? Is she the other woman? The nanny and the husband, it would hardly be the first time, would it? But then lovely, kind Rachel entered the kitchen with a big smile and enveloped Erin in a tight hug before launching into tales of
