TOYL

today?’
    ‘I haven’t got any.’
    ‘You shouldn’t be alone,’ Stuart advised. ‘This was supposed to be the greatest day of your life. It’s bound to be difficult and you’ll need support.’
    ‘Don’t,’ Emma said. ‘I don’t want charity.’
    ‘What are you thinking about Dan’s letter? Do you believe Lizzy?’
    ‘I want to. But I want to believe Dan too.’
    ‘It’s difficult. Either your best friend is lying or your fiancé is lying.’
    Emma put a hand to her face.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ Stuart said.
    ‘It’s not your fault,’ Emma replied, standing up from the table and walking over to the window. ‘I just can’t get my head around what the letter said. I can’t believe that Lizzy would do that to me. Not if she’s the person I always thought she was. That Lizzy would never have done this. But I still can’t believe Dan would have done this either.’
    ‘Sometimes people let us down. Even those we love and trust the most. When it comes down to it, humans are pretty weak creatures.’
    ‘I’ve been thinking. Maybe there is another explanation.’
    ‘Go on,’ Stuart said.
    ‘Maybe Dan didn’t write the letter. After all, it was typed, so it could have been from anyone.’
    ‘Like who?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ she admitted. ‘Anyone. The story was splashed all over the papers yesterday. Maybe someone decided to write the letter as a prank.’
    ‘Some prank,’ Stuart said. ‘They would have to be a really sick person.’
    ‘But it’s possible. Maybe the press wrote it themselves, just to make a better story.’
    ‘Are you sure you’re not just kidding yourself? I mean, I can understand that you don’t want to believe what it said.’
    ‘But you saw last night the lengths they’re prepared to go to. They made me think that someone was in trouble down there, just to get a few photographs. It really scared me, Stuart.’
    ‘I know. And when we find out who took them, they’re going to regret it, believe me.’
    ‘I doubt we’ll discover who did it.’
    ‘Oh, we will,’ Stuart said confidently. ‘And I know where we’ll find our answer.’

    ***

    ‘It doesn’t make sense,’ Stuart said, putting yet another newspaper back on the rack in the local newsagent’s store. ‘Why would they go to the bother of taking your photo and then not publish it? I was sure this was going to work.’
    ‘I’m not sure,’ Emma said, as she finished looking through the paper she was holding. ‘But I have one idea.’
    ‘Go on,’ Stuart said.
    ‘I met someone a few days’ ago, in Regent’s Park. He took my photo.’
    Stuart looked aghast.
    ‘He seemed pretty harmless,’ Emma said, knowing just what Stuart was thinking. ‘It’s not the same as last time.’
    Stuart looked unconvinced. ‘Really?’
    ‘Honestly, he’s not another Stephen Myers,’ she protested.
    ‘But you still think he might have been hanging around outside your apartment, wearing a balaclava and pretending to need help?’
    ‘Maybe you’re right,’ Emma acknowledged. ‘Maybe I’m just being naïve.’
    ‘Tell me more about him.’
    ‘I don’t really know much. Apart from he’s probably about twenty, and he hangs around Primrose Hill taking pictures of celebrities. He was also a big fan of Up My Street .’
    ‘For God’s sake, Em,’ Stuart said, in an aggressive tone that shocked her. ‘How could you get involved with someone like that again?’
    ‘Probably the same way I got involved with another man who just upped and ran out on me,’ Emma shot back.
    Her anger flaring, she turned and walked out of the store. She didn’t bother to look back and check if Stuart was following.
    How dare he just walk back into her life and start judging her like that?
    ‘Emma,’ Stuart said, catching up with her a few metres down Oxford Street. He moved around in front of her. ‘Please, let me apologise.’
    Emma stopped.
    ‘I’m sorry for saying that back there,’ he said. ‘It’s just I don’t want to see you making the same mistake again.’
    ‘You think Stephen Myers was my mistake?’ she snapped. ‘You think it was my fault?’
    ‘No, of course not. I didn’t mean it like that. Look, we’re both stressing out about this. Let’s just go and get a coffee, and relax a little.’
    ‘Okay, I’m sorry too,’ she said, softening. ‘You were right – today is going to be difficult.’

    ***

    They had just left the coffee shop when Emma spotted Eric. He was on the other side of the