Case Study 4: Digging Too Deep or Not Deep Enough?

Background

The lockdown period caused a spike in the number of clients contacting us about suspicions they have that their partner is conducting an affair. In this article, I have detailed a recent booking. The following names have been changed to protect the client’s identity.

Hazel is in the midst of the storm on a daily basis, working for the #NHS in #Manchester, and she sees the effects of the virus every day. As she said, “I left the house every day hoping that the systems of work we have adopted, coupled with the PPE, would protect me and my family.

Every night when I returned, I would park up a few streets away from my home to compose myself, have a little cry, and then straighten my makeup before driving back home with a brave face”.

David, her partner, normally worked in an office at #Liverpool in the City centre, but the office had been placed on lockdown and he was now working from home on reduced hours.

Hazel described her partner as always being supportive and attentive, but at the same time, independent, with his own hobbies and social circle, which mainly revolved around his office colleagues.

Suspicion Arises

At the outset of the lockdown, the couple agreed that he would self-isolate to reduce the risk of either of them bringing the virus into the family group, and for the first three weeks, they had stuck to that agreement.

However, in week three, David purchased a bicycle from the local Manchester cycle shop together with a full set of Lycra cycling clothing and began going for daily exercise. Hazel understood that he needed to get outdoors, as he had often complained about “going stir crazy” being on his own most of the day.

About a week prior to her calling us, Hazel had returned home to find that David was out on a cycle ride. She called his mobile phone only to hear it ringing upstairs, where she found the phone on the floor near a pile of David’s clothes, where he had obviously changed into his cycling gear.

Just as she located the phone, David appeared at the top of the stairs with what Hazel described as a frightened look on his face. He said hello and quickly picked up the mobile and disappeared into the bathroom, saying he was going to shower.

“David’s reaction to seeing me with his phone and the way he snatched it off me and disappeared into the bathroom just seemed wrong to me,” said Hazel. “That is when I started to suspect that he was hiding something from me”.

Growing Concerns

She continued, “David sleeps like a log, and I know this is so wrong, I decided to pretend to sleep and wait for him to fall off. I then picked up his mobile phone only to see that all his call history had been deleted, together with the internet browsing history.

David uses his mobile for work calls, and when I have been on a late shift, I have regularly witnessed him making or taking dozens of calls a day. I didn’t say anything to him about it, but decided to check his phone again the next night, only to find that he had changed his screen lock code, so I was unable to access it”.

“I know this sounds crazy,” Hazel said, “but I even checked his cycling clothing and it smelled of a woman’s perfume. I do the washing, and there is nothing I use that smells anything like the perfume, but each time he leaves the clothing to be washed, the same perfume smell is there.”

The Confrontation

“I have challenged David, he says I am overworked and imagining things, but we have been together a long time, and I know him. He is definitely acting strangely. We have argued, although I have never mentioned that I have looked at his phone or about the perfume smell, I have accused him of having an affair.

Just before I called you, I saw a scratch mark on his back when I walked in on him unexpectedly in the shower. He tried to turn and hide it, of that I am sure, the arguments started again, and he said he would take a lie detector test, so that is why I am ringing you”.

Next Steps

Hazel and David have made a booking with darkslategray-horse-497881.hostingersite.com/ for a test to be conducted, when we hope to be able to resolve their situation by conducting a test.