Revenge (5 page)

Mark

Date: Tuesday, April 25 1.03 p.m.

From:
devils
-
revenge

To: assassin_hire

Savannah,

This is the information you'll require on the targets. My wife's name is Rebecca McNa
mara.
The two
women are Shona Morgan and Penelope Garrett.
Rebecca spends a lot of time in France. We have an apartment in St. Malo which is on the northern coast. It is located approximately a thirty minute drive from the airport. I will t
ext you the exact address. It’s
a hotel and apartment complex which is situated near the train station. The taxi dr
iver will know it well. There’s
an entrance between L'Escale Nightclub and Coucou Bar Tabac. There are many shops with their merchandise
on display as you walk through
the complex. Turn right after the fourth shop and the door to the apartment block is on the left. Any of the shop owners will direct you. I mentioned previously that Rebecca
also has a yacht
and likes to spend most weekends sailing.

Shona Morgan and Penelope Garrett
share an apar
tment which is located
five miles
outside Dublin's city centre. I’ll
text you their address separat
ely.

The women spend a lot of time at Rebecca's holiday home in Westport which is on the west coast of Ireland in County Mayo. Again, I will text you their exact address and directions to
the house. The house is
in an isolated area overlooking the sea. They usually go to Westport at the weekends and often have friends and family from Dublin staying with them. I can confirm that Shona and Penelope will be in Westpo
rt next
weekend.

Rebecca has a company called M&R Photography Ltd. I will text you the exact location and address. Two doors away from the business is a red-bricked house with a "For Sale" sign outside. The seller is David Ryan Auctioneers. Nobody has lived in the house for more than a year. Behind the house, beside the central heating bo
iler is a concrete block. I’ve
left the keys to M&R Photography underneath the concrete block.

I’ll
call you later.

Mark

Chapter 3

"I'll be available via email until I return from France next week," Mark announced as he shut down his comp
uter and gathered his paperwork
together. "I
f anyone needs me urgently
they c
an contact me on my mobile
."

"I'm sure we'll cope," Shona muttered sarcastically
under her breath
, without even bothering to look at him.

"Bon voyage," Penelope said unenthusiastically. "Give our love to Rebecca."

Mark straightened his shoulders and took a deep breath before forcing a stiff smile. "Thanks." He packed his computer into his briefcase and marched out of the office.

"He's such an asshole," Shona turned to Penelope as soon as the door had barely shut behind him.

"You don't have to tell me," Penelope rolled her eyes and swung around in her chair to face her frie
nd.

"I didn't think he'd ever leave," Shona sighed, visibly r
elaxing. "I can’t help feeling tense around him
."

"Don't let him have any effect on you," Penelope replied. "I wouldn't give him the satisfaction."

"You're
right, of course, but it's
awkward working with him under these circumstances."

"Thankfully, we don't see much of him."

"I don't kn
ow how Rebecca puts up with having
him around at all."

"Well, there's no doubt tha
t he's a total asshole, but he’
s a brilliant photographer, whether we like to admit it or not. Rebecca made the right decision to keep him around. He's good for business and with
the contract we have with the Renaissance Hotel G
roup his photographs should make us a small fortune."

"There are other photographers," Shona protested.

"Sure there are, unfortunately there aren’t many who are as talented as Mark, much as I hate to admit it
."

"
I suppose it's a good thing
he
can do most of his work from home
so we rarely get to see his smug face. I don't know how Rebecca can even stand the sight of him after everything he's done."

"Needs must," Penelope shrugged nonchalantly and got to her f
eet. "He’
s the father of her children so I guess she wants to
maintain some sort of relationship with him
for their sake and from everything she says about him he does seem lik
e a great dad. We know he’s
an atrocious husba
nd
but it
doesn't necessarily mean
he's a bad father. Besides, she hardly ever gets to
see him these days with the amount of
time she spends in France, lucky woman. "

"That's very magnanimous of you," Shona glanced curiously at her friend.

"Yeah, well, life's too short to hold grudges and Mark McNamara isn't worth getting an ulcer
over
," Penelope shrugged. "Would you like a coffee?" she asked, deliberately changing the subject.

"Absolutely, coffe
e would be great.”

Penelope wandered into their makeshift kitchen to organise their coffees and Shona gazed unseeingly at her computer screen. She had a million and one things left to do on her ever-increasing "to do" list and she really wasn't in the mood for any of them. A lot had changed at M&R Photography during the past few months and Shona was st
ill struggling to take to get her head around everything that had happened
. Rebecca had appointed Shona as the office manager and Penelope was in charge of booking models. They'd expanded the business to include photographing models' portfolios and their workload had increased exponentially as a result. Mark was inundated with work, especially
since they'd taken on the
l
ucrative hotel contract and he'd
even hired an assistant photographer to
help him with his workload.

Shona
had to work in quite close proximity with Mark at times which bothered her, because in spite of her best intentions, she still had unresolved feelings for him. Sometimes the way he looked at her or a simple, unintentional brush
of his hand on hers could
send shivers up and down her spine. De
ep down, in her heart she was
a little bit in love with him. She didn't dare admit her feelings to Penel
ope or Rebecca as she knew
they would be absolutely and rightly appalled. No matter how much she tried she couldn't stop her heart skipping a beat at the very sight of him. She knew it was ludicrous but it was difficult for her to get over
him completely, not that she
ever had any intention of acting on her feelings, but
it was difficult
sometimes
.

Penelope seemed to be completely over him and
had
no problem treating him like a second class citizen but a small part of Shona
couldn't help feeling
sorry for him. He was trying his best
and he really seemed like a reformed character. She'd never seen him work as hard. He was on the phone to the office first thing in the morning and he often sent emails after midnight. His work was impeccable and he seemed to be desperate to earn Rebecca's forgiveness.

Rebecca was a mess, there was no doubt about that
. Ever since baby Ethan was
born she'd slowly fallen to pieces and Shona knew that Mark was often left with the responsibility of their baby boy. Mar
k never complained but Shona
noticed the strain the last months had ta
ken on him. He'd lost
weight and rarely smiled. He seemed like he had a lot on his mind and sometimes Shona wondered if he was preoccupied with more than the stress of the business and family problems. Mark had never seemed like the type of man to carry any
guilt. She'd been close enough
to him to know that once he'd made a decision he stuck to it and never worried much about the consequences.

However, he seemed like a shadow of the man that he'd once been. He kept himself to himself and spoke to Shona and Penelope strictly on work
-
related ma
tters. There wasn't a hint of
flirtation from him and on the rare occasion that he was in the office he stayed at his desk and didn't bother anyone. All the fight seemed to have left him and this made Shona wonder what was really going on with him.

"Penny for them," Penelope carefully placed a steaming cup of black Colombian coffee in front of Shona.

Shona shook herself to get rid of the thoughts that were whirling around in her head and smiled tightly at her friend. "Thanks." She inhaled the heady aroma and took an appreciative sip.

"Better than sex, eh?" Penelope winked at her.

"I don't know about you, but it's certainly better than any sex I've been enjoying recently," Shona grinned cheekily over the rim of her coffee cup.

"Tell me about it," Penelope sighed. "I think Mark McNamara has turned me off men for life."

"Join the club," Shona raised her cup and clinked it in solidarity against her friend's before turning back to her computer and continuing proofing the photographs for the latest wannabe model on their books.

Chapter 4

"Darlings, it's so good to see you," Mark gathered his wife and son to him in a warm embrace and kissed them both on the cheek.

"Hi," Rebecca smiled weakly at her husband and quickly disentangled herself from his arms. He'd been a great support to her since Ethan was born and although he would always be the father of her children, she doubted she would ever be able to completely forgive him for how he had betrayed her. She loved escaping to their apartment in France. It was the only place where she felt she could be herself and that nobody else knew or cared about the sordid details of her husband's pathetic affairs. When she'd revealed
his indiscretions
the media had jumped on
the story and their faces
had been
splashed
all over the newspapers for days. It had been extremely embarrassing and humiliating but contrary to what she had imagined, their business had increased exponentially. Apparently, it
was true; even bad publicity was
good publicity!

Baby Ethan was born in January and was a happy, healthy
,
bonny boy
.
She loved him dearly but she’d
been crippled with post-natal depression since shortly after his birth. Brianna Moynihan, her psychologist, had advised her that her depression was probably a mixture of her pregnancy hormones returning to normal and a culmination of the horrendous stress and
upset
of her husband's aff
airs. Sometimes she wished
she never had to see him aga
in but she wanted to maintain a
fairl
y amicable relationship
for the sake of their children. He was a good father and she knew it was important f
or her sons to have him in their lives.

There were occasions when
it was difficult for her to maintain her distance emotionally from him, in spite of her best efforts. It wasn't easy to wipe out the strong feelings and heartfelt emotions that she'd had for him for more than twenty
years of their marriage. He’d
shown her amazing kindness, patience and compassion since Ethan's birth
even though she’d
completely turned his world
upsi
de down; deservedly, yes, but she didn't know how
she would have survived
the last few months without him by her side. It w
as difficult to reconcile the
man who stood in front of her now with the cheating, lying man
who had betrayed her so terribly.

"Hello, little man," Mark smiled at the bundle who was sleeping peacefully in his mother's arms. His shock of thick black hair was standing up in tufts on his perfectly formed head and his face was scrunched up in concentration as he slept. His long, dark eyelashes fluttered gently on his chubby
,
rosy cheeks and his tiny hands clutched the ends of his blanket. Mark softly kissed his son's head and dropped his coat and bag on the sofa.