“You were supposed to meet him? What’s going on?” wailed Ben, clutching his forehead in his hands.
“I should have told you,” she said, getting up and reaching out for him.
“Yes, you should,” he said.
He headed for the door.
“Don’t get the door. Make him go. Make him go away.”
The bellow of “Vanessa!” from the other side was unmistakably Dafydd.
Before Vanessa could stop him, Ben had opened the door and was staring Dafydd straight in the eye.
“Oh, hello,” said Dafydd, switching on the instant smarm. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Why ever not?” Ben spat the words out.
“Not after what I sent to your phone earlier.”
Ben dropped his hand from the door handle.
“What? What was that?”
“Why don’t you check your phone now and see?”
“Don’t bother,” broke in Vanessa, hovering by Ben’s shoulder. “It’s a photo. A photo of me.”
“Aren’t you going to let me in, Mrs ap Hughes?” asked Dafydd.
“No, I’m not. I’m calling the police if you don’t go away now. You’ve done your worst.”
Ben was fumbling in his pocket for his phone.
“Ah, I’d switched it off,” he said, frowning. “In case it ruined the moment.”
Well, yes, thought Vanessa, her stomach in plunging knots. It might have had that effect.
“Don’t look,” she said, although she knew it was useless. “It’s not what you think.”
Dafydd laughed.
“It’s exactly what you think,” he said. “What do you think of Vanessa’s neck? Nice mark, hmm? My signature on her skin.”
“You know you forced yourself on me,” shouted Vanessa. “You know you did, you bastard.”
“No I didn’t. You allowed me to kiss you. Shocking memory you have, Nessie. Must be old age creeping up. Don’t you think, Ben? Not that you’d know.”
Ben had obviously found the photograph, judging by the way his hands were shaking and his eyes filling with tears.
“I can’t take this,” he said, dashing the phone back in his pocket and wrenching the door wide so it would let him through. “I’m sorry, Ness. I just can’t take it. I need some time…”
Vanessa hung in the open doorway and pleaded with him to come back, but his footsteps echoed up the stairwell, never retracing, until she heard the outer door bang shut.
“Get out of here,” she said in a low, hard voice to Dafydd. “Get out of my sight.”
“Let me in, love. I’ve got things to say to you.”
“I’ve got nothing to say to you. Nothing, ever, ever again.”