Country Plot (28 page)

The spree, even a moderate one, had already got her into trouble, Jenna thought. Perhaps she'd make a nice safe date with a girlfriend instead. She hadn't seen Izzy since the break-up with Patrick. Perhaps they could meet halfway somewhere – if Izzy wasn't engaged, waiting in by the telephone on the off chance that Toby might call.

It didn't take much to persuade Izzy to abandon her phone-watching duties in favour of a girls' night out. ‘It'll serve Toby right if he does phone and I'm not there,' she said with more defiance than conviction, as they had a pre-dinner drink in the bar of the White Hart in Andover, their chosen halfway house. ‘Anyway, it's good to have a change of horizon now and then.'

‘I needed to get out. I was getting cabin fever,' Jenna said.

‘Oh rubbish! How can you get cabin fever in a great, big, huge, mansion-y palace of a stately home?'

‘Nevertheless, without a change of scene from time to time I could go completely mad and start murdering people with an axe.'

‘You won't go mad,' Izzy said confidently.

‘It's been known to happen,' Jenna said darkly. ‘There are people around the village who don't seem one hundred per cent mentally stable, if you get my drift.'

‘I'll lend you my Uzi,' she promised. ‘So what's with this house, anyway? How can people living in a stately home be so poor they have to move?'

Jenna explained about the running costs and Kitty's fixed income.

‘But there must be a million ways of making money out of a house like that,' Izzy said when at last she was convinced. ‘Weddings, for instance.'

‘That's one of the things on my list. But it would involve huge organization and I'm not sure one little old lady would feel up to it.'

‘She could get someone else in to run the thing. Or what about a country house hotel? All those bedrooms – perfect!'

Jenna burst out laughing. ‘Can you imagine the investment needed to get the rooms up to standard, fit bathrooms and fire doors, rearrange the reception rooms, buy furniture and bedding and towels and cutlery and crockery, refit the kitchen to meet Health and Safety standards, not to mention all the staff you'd have to hire? You'd want to be a millionaire to begin with.'

‘Oh phooey. You always see problems with everything. Never mind, I'll keep thinking.'

‘You do that,' Jenna said.

‘So tell me about the local wildlife,' Izzy said when they were settled at their table. ‘Any exotic fauna?'

Jenna told her about her date with Harry.

‘Oh, very cunning, throwing him a false scent by playing pinball and trampolining.'

‘It wasn't a false scent. I don't fancy him.'

‘Really?'

‘Well, a bit. But not enough. And it's too soon.'

‘Oh, this is a Patrick thing, is it? Don't let that lowlife stop you exercising your democratic right to bed anyone bedworthy who crosses your orbit.'

‘You're a fine one to talk,' Jenna pointed out.

‘I know.' Izzy sighed. ‘And I see it all perfectly when I'm away from him, like now. Twenty-twenty vision. But as soon as I get home, that telephone starts staring at me like a little yellow one-eyed god – it's actually grey, but you know what I mean. It's sorcery, plain and simple. I mean, what's so special about Toby?'

‘You'd have to tell me,' Jenna said. ‘Obviously
I
can't see it.'

‘He's not even really good-looking.' Izzy sighed again. ‘And he's going thin on top, and I've a horrid feeling he's the sort that won't let go gracefully, and I'll be in the humiliating position of being in love with a man with a comb-over.'

‘
Is
it love?'

‘I suppose it must be. Or he mesmerizes me. One or the other. Oh, I wish I could just get free,' she said with a surge of passion. ‘Cut loose, break it off, over, finished, just like that.' She made a chopping movement of her hand on the table that made the cutlery rattle. ‘You were so brave getting out from Patrick the way you did.'

‘It didn't
feel
brave. And I sometimes wonder if it was the right thing to do.'

Izzy looked alarmed. ‘Oh no, don't
you
have second thoughts! He was a louse, a creep, a subhuman! You deserve so much better.'

‘So do you.'

‘Well, maybe. All right, promise me you won't go back to Patrick, and I'll give Toby the heave-ho.'

‘Really?'

‘Well, I'll think about it. I'll try.'

‘I won't hold my breath.'

‘Probably better not to. But come on, apart from the Toyman, there must be some other useful types down in deepest Zummerzet.'

‘It isn't Somerset,' Jenna pointed out.

Izzy waved a hand. ‘They're all the same to me, these rustic retreats. Anyway, there you are, living on the set of
Pride and Prejudice
, so don't tell me there's no Colin Firth striding around in breeches and riding boots. Aha! I can tell from your expression there is. You sly dog! Or dogette, I should say.'

‘It's not like that,' Jenna said. ‘I mean, he could probably play Darcy, with a bit of help, but there's nothing between us, and never will be.'

‘Never say never, girl. Come on, give! All the details!'

So Jenna told her the sad history of relations between her and Xander. Izzy listened with rapt attention, and at the end said, ‘It seems obvious to me that the man has feelings for you.'

‘I knew you'd say that!' Jenna said, exasperated. ‘Look, I know you're only being supportive and best-friendy, but not everyone falls instantly in love with me.'

‘Think about it,' Izzy insisted. ‘You said his behaviour when he got mad with you was irrational – well, jealousy
is
irrational. He was jealous when you went out with this Harry bloke. Think about that lovely evening you described to me, with him in front of the fire, when he was all gentle and relaxed and amusing and normal? “The person he ought to have been,” you said to me. He let down his guard, let himself go with you, exposed the tender green shoots of his feelings – and then the very next day you heartlessly go out and bonk another bloke.'

‘I didn't—'

‘Yes, but he thinks you did. S'obvious. He was hurt, mad, jealous. And that proves he has feelings for you,' she concluded triumphantly.

‘“Mad” is the only word in there that fits,' Jenna said. ‘He is clearly nuts, mad as a badger, besides being a moral dinosaur. So don't try to cook up a romance there, because he regards me as pond slime. My only business is to avoid him for the next couple of weeks, and hope not to upset Kitty.'

‘As you please,' Izzy said with a secret smile. ‘He who lives longest shall see most, as the Bard says.'

‘The
Bard
?'

‘My boss said that the other day,' Izzy admitted. ‘I've been waiting for a chance to use it. Hey, do you know who I saw coming out of Ottolenghi's last week?'

The talk went on to other subjects of common interest. It was wonderful to have a completely relaxed girly evening, with absolutely frank exchanges and no need to watch what you said in case of misunderstandings. It made her miss London, and made her life at Holtby House seem remote and bizarre and quite unreal.

It was while they were heads-together, looking over the bill, that a movement made Jenna glance up and she saw Caroline Russell coming into the restaurant on the arm of a man. She hunched down even further so as not to be seen. Fortunately they were being led to a different part of the restaurant, and neither was looking her way.

‘What?' Izzy said.

‘Don't look now, but that woman who's just come in is the Ice Queen.'

‘
No
!' Izzy said with enormous gratification.

‘I said don't look now! I don't want her to see me and come over.'

‘Don't worry, she's got her back to me. Ooh, I
hate
that dress! Nasty, nasty. No one should wear that shade of blue outside of an institution. The waiter's seating them – she's still got her back to me. But don't tell me that's your Colin Firth she's with? It's all right, you can look now.'

Jenna straightened up cautiously. Caroline's companion was a tall, lean man who looked to be in his forties, with a perma-tan and carefully tended, prematurely silver hair – the Steve Martin look. The hair looked suspiciously full, as if it had been blow-dried by a hairdresser to disguise the fact that it was thinning. He had a very swish suit and an over-white smile that spoke of expensive dental work. The archetypal silver fox. Good-lookingish, but not as good looking as he probably thought he was. ‘No, of course it isn't Xander,' she said. ‘I've never seen him before.'

‘Thank goodness for that,' Izzy said. ‘Gak! Mister obvious or what? I bet he's wearing make-up. And look at the way he's looking round, as if he expects people to recognize him and ask for his autograph. I don't fancy your Ice Queen's taste, in dresses or men.'

‘But who is he, and why are they meeting here?' Jenna said.

‘Maybe the same reason we are – halfway to London. The White Hart's very well known, and it's right on the main road.'

‘A business meeting?' Jenna suggested.

‘Not entirely,' Izzy commented, as Mr Obvious put his hand across the table and laid it on Caroline's. ‘And look at that leer.'

‘It's not a leer, it's a smile,' Jenna said, but she felt a pang all the same and thought,
poor Xander
. Was Caroline reverting to type? The man was obviously rich and looked as though he was powerful. Much more what Harry said was her taste. And certainly he behaved as if he knew he was important. As she watched, he released Caroline's hand to take a call on his mobile phone. ‘No manners,' she commented.

‘D'you know, I'm sure I've seen him somewhere before,' Izzy said, frowning. ‘On the news, maybe. I mean, he looks like a B-list celeb, doesn't he? Oh, look at him with that mobile! Swanketty swank.' She put on a voice. ‘“I'm so important my people have to be able to contact me twenty-four-seven.”'

‘Interface with me,' Jenna corrected, and copied the voice. ‘“Sorry, I have to take this – it's New York.”'

‘Wouldn't it be wonderful if the Ice Queen snatched it from him and hurled it across the room?'

‘Or into the ice bucket,' Jenna said as the waiter arrived at their table with one.

‘Champagne? Mr Obvious runs true to form. Pass the sick bag, Alice.'

‘Sshhh! They'll hear you,' Jenna hissed. ‘God, he's looking this way. Let's go, before she turns round and sees us.'

‘All right. We can pay at the desk over there. You go first and I'll selflessly interpose my body between you and the enemy.'

‘You'd throw yourself on the grenade for me?'

‘In a minute!'

They crept out.

‘But I wish I could remember where I've seen him before,' Izzy said when they were safe. ‘It's on the tip of my brain.'

‘As long as we never see him again, that's enough for me,' said Jenna.

Kitty and Jim arrived home around midday, looking relaxed and refreshed.

‘Good show?' Jenna asked.

‘Superb,' said Jim. ‘Especially the heavy horses.'

‘They had a decorated tradesmen's vehicle competition,' Kitty said. ‘Won by an old-fashioned coal dray pulled by a pair of the most glorious shires, all ribbons and shining brasses. And the runner-up was a rag-and-bone cart and Fell pony, with a mane practically down to its knees. Put me in mind of Veronica Lake. Magnificent. First-rate show all round.'

She and Jim exchanged a glance, and he laughed. ‘The evening and night weren't bad, either.'

‘Don't put me to the blush, you dreadful man!'

He kissed her lightly. ‘I'd better be off.'

‘Oh, aren't you staying for lunch?' Jenna asked.

‘No, I have to go and visit Rose,' he said without inflexion.

When Kitty came back from seeing him off, she looked sombre. Jenna said, ‘Oh Kitty, I'm sorry for being clumsy just then. I should have thought—'

‘No, no, don't trouble yourself,' Kitty said automatically. ‘You didn't know. Sunday afternoon has always been his time for visiting the home. I should say, one of them. And he rings Erica when he gets back, and has a long chat with her. It's a sort of family day, really, and I try not to intrude on it.'

Jenna thought of Izzy, who had often told her that Sunday, when all the world was with its family, was the hardest day of all to be a mistress. Not that the cases were equivalent, but all the same . . .

‘It must be painful for you,' she said.

Kitty sighed. ‘When we're away – like yesterday and last night – we forget about the situation. It feels so normal, being together. But as soon as we come back here, it all comes down like a thick fog.' She met Jenna's eyes. ‘I feel so guilty. I never set out to be an adulteress.'

Jenna was shocked by the word. ‘I'm sure no one—' she began hotly, and then stopped, remembering what Bill had said to her.

‘It's just a fact, my dear,' Kitty said. ‘There's no escaping it. Whatever excuses we use to ourselves, it's quite simply wrong. That's the price we have to pay.' She tried a smile. ‘What is it they say nowadays? If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.'

Jenna had nothing to offer by way of comfort, so instead she settled for distraction. ‘I was wanting to talk to you about something,' she said as they walked towards the kitchen. ‘I've jotted down some ideas for ways to make an income out of the house, so that you don't have to sell it, and I'd like to put them to you and go over some of the points, see what you think.'

Kitty brightened. ‘Really? How exciting. You are sweet to do that for me! Is that what you've been working on?'