Chapter 9

The next morningI was woken early by a text from Eric. He had sent me some emails with the information that was finally starting to come together about Natasha. Her ex-husband, Trevor, lived in Leicester, and given how close we were to there, I figured I would get in the car and take myself over to his house for a little chat.

I left a message on the door for Lennox, then told Levi of the latest update and that he would have to do the run through of the venue. Nathan was back from holiday, having arrived yesterday looking very tanned and relaxed, so he would be able to be around for Lennox while I was away and Levi was at the venue.

It was about an hour later when I pulled up outside the unassuming detached, early 1900s house on Linden Drive in the Evington area of the city. Checking that I had the right address, I got out, locked the car, and approached the front door.

My knock was answered by a tall burly man with gingery-blond hair, green eyes, and a surprisingly gentle air about him, despite his large physique. "Hello?" He smiled.

"Uh, hi, Mr. Gibson. You don't know me, my name's Tom Thatcher, but I'm here about your ex-wife Natasha. I'm afraid she might be in a bit of trouble with a singer, Lennox Love," I started and waited for his reaction to my statement, watching closely.

A variety of emotions flickered across his face. Confusion, worry, understanding, and an element of defeat. "You'd best come in, I think," he said, standing back and opening the door wide for me to enter. "Is Tasha okay?" Was his first question as I stepped inside.

"At the minute, yes, but she's going to be in a lot of trouble if she keeps acting how she has been."

He concurred, and I got the impression he had been waiting for a conversation like the one that was about to happen here.

"Can I make you a coffee?" he asked and directed me to a sofa in the large open plan kitchen-diner-family room at the back of the house.

I nodded and took a seat. "I'm going to be honest with you, Mr Gibson."

"Call me Trevor," he interrupted.

"Trevor," I corrected. "I work for Lennox Love. I was employed by his record label to look after his safety after an incident where Natasha broke into his hotel room."

Trevor sighed. "Yeah, I had the police here after that. I hadn't seen her in months."

"Is that still the case?" I asked, picking up on his phrasing.

"She called not long after it to be honest, telling me that if the police contacted me, I wasn't to tell them about her and Lennox. She's not well, Mr Thatcher." His voice sounded genuinely concerned.

"Please, call me Tom." I smiled. "Do you mind if I ask you about what happened between you?"

Trevor shook his head. "Not at all, Tom. It's not really that much of a story. I loved my wife very much, I still do love her, and I worry about her more than you can know."

Taking the mug of coffee he offered, I listened as he settled on the other sofa and told me everything that had happened to end his marriage.

"Natasha's not a bad person. You have to believe that. She's just – well she's had a hard life, and sometimes, it's caused problems for her. I won't go into the details of it, because it's not mine to tell. But it was bad, it caused her trauma, and it left her looking for comfort in places that weren't always good for her."

"Does she have any history of substance abuse?"

He shook his head. "God no, nothing like that. It's just that she can have trouble with knowing what's real."

"Delusional then?"

Again, Trevor disagreed. "No. God, it's so hard to explain. It's like she just becomes so obsessed with something that she can't see the truth, and she reads too much into things."

"Is that why you divorced?"

"Honestly, everything was fine with us until Lennox started to come back onto the music scene. It was as though it sparked something within her. Until then, she'd struggled a bit with her mental health from time to time, but it was like once he was back in the public eye again, old feelings that she had buried became unlocked. I've never seen her so obsessed about anything like that in the twelve years that I've known her. To be honest, it just all got too much. I was living in another man's shadow, no one can compete with a fantasy."

Trevor paused to take a drink of his coffee. I had to admit, I felt sorry for him. Here he was in love with his wife, only to have her obsessing about someone else. It didn't make for a healthy marriage at all. I wasn't surprised he had decided to call it a day.

"Thanks, Trevor, I really appreciate your honesty."

He shrugged. "I still love her, and I worry about her, especially with what she's been up to recently. But it was just too much."

"Do you think that she's violent, or that she could be if pushed?"

"Christ, no," he answered without hesitation. "He's everything to her. She'd never forgive herself if anything happened to him. She thinks she's in love with him."

I nodded, drinking my coffee and thinking about what the hell could have pushed someone to be so detached from reality. She was lucky to have an ally in the man who was pushed out for a celebrity. But there was still something about it all that made me wonder if Trevor was actually telling me the truth. I had no way of knowing if he was covering for her. I hoped not, he seemed like he might have more sense than that.

Setting the mug on the coffee table, I moved to stand up. "Thank you very much for talking to me about Natasha. I appreciate it and your honesty." I pulled my business card from my pocket and handed it to him. "If you hear anything else from her, anything that you think could help us at all, I would really appreciate it if you would give me a call."

He took the card from me and glanced at it. "I will, Tom. Tell Lennox I'm sorry that this is happening to him. I really am. Tasha is just a bit lost at the minute, and I wish there was some way of getting through to her. If I hear anything that can help, I'll be sure to give you a call."

Again, I thanked him for his time and left the poor man in peace. Once back in my car I called Levi.

"Boss?"

"How's the venue looking?"

"All good. You get what you needed?"

Pausing to reflect on how I was feeling about what Trevor had shared, I had to be honest. "I'm not sure, mate. I'm coming to Sheffield now; I'll see you in about an hour and forty-five minutes."

"All good here. See you in a while."

I started the car and pulled away from the home of Trevor Gibson, wondering if he would actually call me about Natasha. The next seventy odd miles couldn't pass quickly enough. I just wanted to get back to Lennox before the start of the next concert.