18. Helen
HELEN
Carrie FaceTimed Helen the following morning. Helen was regretting giving the game away that she’d been researching Nigel.
‘I’ve only just seen your message.’
‘Why were you looking at Nigel’s LinkedIn profile?’
‘Because he said he’d resigned from his job, so I was just curious what that job was. And that’s when your happy smiling face popped up on his page.’
‘You don’t have to say it like you’re accusing me of having a torrid affair with him.’
‘I’m not. I’m just surprised you hadn’t mentioned it before, that’s all. “You’ll never guess who connected with me on LinkedIn today” - that sort of thing.’
‘I don’t remember connecting with him.’
‘It’s definitely you.’
‘I know - I checked after I got your message. He’s looking quite hot in a “late-forties high-flying exec” sort of way these days. Is that profile picture up to date?’
‘I’d say so. Anyway, that’s not the point.’
‘I must’ve clicked on him when I first joined LinkedIn. Or he clicked on me and then we forgot all about it.’
‘It doesn’t matter now.’
‘So what else have you found out about him?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Oh, come on. You didn’t just find his profile page and leave it at that. What does Mrs Farnham look like?’
There was no point in denying it. ‘I’ll send you the link to her gallery’s website.’
Helen copied the link into the chat.
‘Just a minute, I’ll look on my laptop - I can’t see on my phone without glasses now.’
‘You can make the font bigger.’
‘I’d worked that out, but when it’s so big you can only fit four words on the screen, it’s not that helpful.’
Carrie disappeared off camera for a few moments and then returned. ‘He’s not done too badly for himself.’
‘Apart from the fact she’s ignoring him.’
‘Is she? So that’s why he’s come back to Blighty.’
Helen didn’t want to tell Carrie everything Nigel had shared with her. If he was sticking around, there was a good chance they’d meet in person in a few weeks. ‘You’re a curator. What do you think of her gallery?’
‘I haven’t got a clue about art galleries. I spend most of my time trying to make medieval pottery shards and cesspit contents look interesting. But she founded it eight years ago, and it’s still in business, so she must know what she’s doing.’
‘You’re right. And she looks so perfectly put together and professional.’
‘You look perfectly put together and professional on your website. You shouldn’t believe everything you see online.’
Helen laughed. ‘Thank you so much for that vote of confidence.’
‘I didn’t mean it like that, as well you know.’
‘I’d still love to know why he gave up a good job though.’
‘When are you seeing him next?’
‘Tomorrow. We’re playing tennis.’
‘Plenty of opportunities to ask him then.’