James

Adam is safely born. Beth is asleep. Richard too…

Nervous exhaustion?

Lol!

It’s quiet. And it’s dark.

And it’s the first real chance I’ve had to sit quietly. To think…

… To consider what Charlotte said.

But… but… you sent me an email, with the link to the site and that photo. I went right through it. They had some lovely things. But I knew you liked that corset so I bought it.

I turn the words over in my head.

Not like her to fall for something like that… Way too canny…

Too suspicious…

So it must have been good.

?

It seemed to come from me…

So, someone had my email address…

And baited the message with something so perfect Charlotte had no reason to doubt it…

And they… they…

… they what?

They sold her a corset…

?

?

Weird or what…

Yes… What?

How could they know her that well? To target her so well?

*****

“Charlotte, do you still have that email? The one you said I sent you. Or have you wiped it?”

She glances up from her laptop. “I was just about to wipe it. Why?”

“I’d like to see it. And the invoice for the corset if you still have it. And the packing slip.”

face clears. “Sure. Gimme

A4 sheets. “Invoice and delivery note.” Shaking her head

hallmarks of a scam, except that all it appears to have achieved is

achieved?” She swallows. “I’ve not done something

so. But someone else has gone to a great deal of trouble if the only intention was to sell you expensive underwear.” I snap my

in the back of

*****

my head. The lingerie company appears to be a perfectly legitimate business. It’s been trading for nigh-on thirty years and the only thing that’s changed in that time

reveals that the company listed on the paperwork is the same one as is connected with the website. A further search shows that the directors are authentic, actually

are still ringing.

website has a newsletter. So, making a couple of adjustments to my online security first, I sign up and wait to see

inbox within two minutes. Welcome

I read on…

Not inspired, but since they’re selling a quality product

back in my seat, fingers drumming

I join

spin in my chair, but it’s only Richard. “I

Yes, of course.

He pulls up a chair by my desk, slides a glass across to me. An inch of amber nectar sits in the

“Beth alright? And Adam?”

on their sleep.” He leans

him, along with some of the print-offs I’ve

“What’s so exciting about a sales

then take a gulp. “Something’s

like that all the time, trying to sell her this or that: clothes, jewellery, bags, hats… For that

in Beth’s in-box purporting

comes from one of the How To Spend It outlets. Usually trying

This email professed

“Personal email address?”

“No, work address.”

a ten-second look at a Haswell corporation brochure would pick it

the

this from the wrong end. What did that email lead Charlotte to do? It purported to advertise a lingerie website. What exactly did she do when she

enough tactic with hackers, but this link

not enough of a tech man to know but, just because a company is legitimate…

it

look at the link and page together? Perhaps I can ask

Charlotte’s email onto the

this site. Find something you

Charlotte for looks, but the suggestion is there: a red-headed girl in sexy underwear which, had I really sent this message, is just the kind of

they are. This is no random spam. It’s

website… again… I already know what I’ll find, I’ve done it three times already. The link

that attached tagging that tells

for anything out of kilter.

Page. Where would she go next? How about

email doesn’t lead

doesn’t lead her

her a request to

Christ!

to find it, scoured the menus until she

would have clicked

chin on the knuckles of one hand, with the other I mouse through menus until I

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