Authors: Susan Lewis
Shelley looked vaguely glassy-eyed in the twilight and unusually pale. ‘She’s adamant she hasn’t told anyone,’ she replied.
‘Do you believe her?’
She sighed. ‘I’m not sure. Part of me does, but then another part . . .’ She shook her head helplessly. ‘She’s really cut up over Rick, I can tell you that much. What’s more, she’s convinced he’s involved with Charlotte. She says she saw them together on Saturday night.’
Bob’s jaw tightened. ‘Do
you
think he’s involved with Charlotte?’ he demanded, almost angrily.
Shelley shrugged. ‘I’ve no idea, but the fact that she thinks he is is what’s got us to where we are now.’
His face remained taut. ‘So how did she come up with her amazing conclusion?’
‘About Charlotte and Chloe? How do you think? She went online and eventually found her way to the right websites.’
‘But what made her look in the first place? OK, she thinks Charlotte’s involved with Rick, but to go from that to launching a major Internet search . . .’
‘According to her she always knew “something wasn’t right”, as far as Charlotte’s concerned, so she Googled what she knew about her which I think only amounted to where she comes from. But apparently it was enough to get her on to the local paper’s website and from there she didn’t really need to take the short step to the nationals, though apparently she did.’
His eyes were glinting fiercely. ‘So what did you tell her?’
‘Obviously that she was wrong in her assumptions, but I’m afraid she wasn’t buying it. She kept saying, “It’s right there on the screen in front of you, look for yourself and tell me if you can read it any other way?”’
‘And you said what?’
‘That I didn’t need to look, because I know everything I need to know and that I’m sorry I can’t tell her any more at this stage.’
‘That was it?’
‘More or less, apart from promising to speak to Rick to find out what’s really going on with him.’
Bob grunted his annoyance. ‘Good luck with that,’ he muttered. ‘For the record, I spoke to Charlotte today and she says there’s nothing between them – why are you looking at me like that?’
‘What made you bring it up with Charlotte?’ she cried, amazed at his presumption.
‘Well, Katie’s got a point, Rick and Charlotte do seem very close, and the way he just dismissed the house on Opito Bay then apparently went straight to the bach . . . In Katie’s shoes I might be thinking the same way.’
‘But you’re not now?’
‘Not really. I didn’t have any reason to doubt Charlotte.’
‘And Katie says Rick’s denying it too, but obviously she doesn’t believe him, because she can’t see why else he would be ending their relationship.’
Bob’s expression turned flinty. ‘Why else indeed?’ he growled. ‘Maybe you can throw some light on it.’
‘Not until I’ve spoken to him, and even then, he doesn’t have to tell me if he doesn’t want to. He’s a grown man, Dad, with every right to start and end relationships whenever he pleases . . .’
‘What’s going on between them isn’t really the main issue, is it?’ Bob cut in snappishly. ‘How did you leave it with her?’
‘That I’d call round again after I’ve spoken to Rick.’
‘And meantime she’s going to do what, exactly?’
‘About Charlotte, you mean? I’m hoping nothing, but I didn’t press for a promise to keep things to herself. I thought if I did that I’d end up making it seem as though she was right and we really did have something to hide.’
Turning away, Bob stared down through the trees to where the lights of the lodge were twinkling in the distance. In his mind’s eye he could see Anna getting the supper ready, probably glancing at the TV or singing along with some music, completely oblivious to the disaster heading their way – a disaster he absolutely had to find a way to avert. ‘OK,’ he said in the end, ‘you did your best and it sounds, for the moment, as though it’s paid off. What’ll happen if Rick really does end the relationship . . . Well, I guess we’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.’
‘And in the meantime we’ll hope that Katie was being truthful when she told me that she hasn’t spoken to anyone else about it.’
Bob eyed her meaningfully. ‘Indeed,’ he responded shortly, and after kissing her goodbye, he got into his car to drive back down to the lodge.
Katie had turned the computer off now and was lying on the bed, exhausted, still half-drunk and heavy with despair. She’d hoped to hear from Rick after Shelley had left, but he hadn’t rung, or emailed, or even sent a text. Maybe Shelley hadn’t spoken to him yet. She wondered if he’d rung Charlotte today, and the burn of jealousy was so intense she could hardly bear it.
Turning her face into the pillow, she sobbed and begged Rick to ring. ‘Please God, please, please, please, don’t let this be happening.’ It hurt so much, more than anything she’d ever felt before. It seared and twisted through her, tore at her heart and wrenched her insides so viciously it made her want to throw up. It couldn’t be over between them, it just couldn’t. They were getting married. She’d chosen the invitations, the dress, the venue for the reception. He didn’t know any of that, but maybe if she told him he’d understand just how much he meant to her. He wasn’t a cruel man, he wouldn’t want her to be suffering like this, so maybe she should call him now and tell him she was sorry for everything she’d said, that she loved him more than anything and that if he said he wasn’t involved with Charlotte then she believed him.
That was what he’d said, that he’d spent the night at the bach, but ‘it’s not what you’re thinking.’ It could have been innocent. What she’d seen on the beach . . . They hadn’t actually kissed, or lain down together, or even touched in a particularly intimate way. All of that was in her mind. She’d imagined it, tormented herself with it, over and over, but for all she knew none of it was real. ‘She’s not my sister,’ he’d reminded her. ‘There’s nothing going on.’ But later he’d said, ‘She got me to see that I can’t go on lying to you, or to myself.’ What else could that mean but that Charlotte Nicholls had convinced him he was living a lie, that he shouldn’t be with her, Katie, and why would Charlotte do that if she didn’t want him herself?
She hadn’t told Shelley about her call to Detective Chief Inspector Gould of the Dean Valley Police, mainly because there wasn’t really anything to tell. At four in the morning, British time, the detective hadn’t been at his desk, and because it was still Sunday over there she didn’t suppose he was going into work today. She’d left a message with her name and number and why she was calling, but whether or not she’d ever hear back she had no idea.
If she did and they took her seriously, it would be the end of Charlotte Nicholls, and though Katie realised that it would be the end for her too, at least if she couldn’t have Rick then Charlotte couldn’t either.
How much better would that make her feel?
It wouldn’t, not at all, but on the other hand could she really sit here knowing the truth of what Charlotte had done and do nothing about it?
Chapter Nine
IT WAS TURNING
into a strange sort of a week. The weather wasn’t helping much, with sudden violent downpours pelting the landscape followed by an atmosphere that felt even more belligerently stifling than before. Rick was behaving oddly too, calling randomly with nothing particular to say other than to tell her about an amusing incident at the office, or what he thought of something in the news. He’d never done that before, so Charlotte couldn’t think why he was doing it now.
‘Anything exciting going down your end?’ he’d asked a couple of times, tossing it in like an afterthought, while managing to land her with the feeling that he was expecting more of an answer than she could give.
‘Not especially,’ she’d tell him, since she couldn’t imagine he’d be interested to hear that she’d covered for the receptionist at Dr Polly’s surgery, as the children called it, on Tuesday. She didn’t mention anything about Polly chasing her up for Chloe’s medical records either, because why would he want to know about that? Thankfully, Polly understood that Chloe’s old GP had been involved in the same paedophile ring as Chloe’s father and consequently his surgery had been shut down, which was the reason for the delay and confusion.
‘Heaven only knows what’s happened to the files,’ Charlotte had grumbled. ‘Obviously they must be somewhere so I’m sure we’ll track them down eventually.’
Luckily Chloe didn’t have any pre-existing conditions, and enjoyed good health, so Polly wasn’t unduly worried. However the vaccination records were important, as was the Personal Child Health Record, aka the NHS Red Book, charting Chloe’s development. Charlotte really ought to have had that, but she’d never been able to get it from Chloe’s father.
There was no chance at all of that now, which Polly understood, so she no longer pressed for it, only the official GP records.
Like Rick, Shelley didn’t seem quite herself this week either, Charlotte had noticed when they’d met for a coffee after yoga on Wednesday. She was unusually distracted, as though worried about something, but when Charlotte voiced her concern Shelley insisted she was fine.
‘Just didn’t sleep all that well last night,’ she smiled. ‘It happens to me sometimes. I go through periods of insomnia that drive poor Phil mad, especially when he has to be up early.’
Since it was a reasonable explanation, Charlotte had changed the subject, saying, ‘Have you seen anything of Katie lately?’
Shelley looked surprised. ‘Not for a couple of days. Why? Have you?’
‘No, not at all, but that’s not unusual, we don’t often meet up.’
Trying to sound casual and not quite pulling it off, Shelley asked, ‘Has Rick mentioned anything to you about her?’
Since Charlotte didn’t want to break Rick’s confidence, but nor did she want to lie to his sister, she hedged by saying, ‘I think they might be having a few issues at the moment.’
Shelley’s expression turned wry as she replied, ‘Well, that’s definitely one way of putting it. Poor Katie’s beside herself, or she was when I saw her on Monday. I promised to try and talk to Rick, to see if I can make some sense of what’s going on with him, but when I rang last night all he’d say to me was that he’s coming back at the weekend and he’ll speak to Katie then. The big question is, what, or who is he going to speak to her about?’
Realising Shelley was trying to probe into her own relationship with Rick, Charlotte said, ‘I’m incredibly fond of your brother, and I like to think he feels the same about me, but as far as anything of a romantic nature goes that’s definitely not us.’
Shelley blushed slightly as she smiled. ‘I was that transparent?’
Charlotte’s eyes twinkled as she considered it. ‘Well, there’s subtle and there’s not, and you were kind of . . . not.’
Shelley laughed. ‘Well, that’s me told,’ she retorted, clearly enjoying the bluntness. Then, after sipping her coffee, ‘So he isn’t going to break up with her for you?’
‘Absolutely not. Apart from being related to one another, sort of, which would make it a bit weird, we’re definitely not each other’s types.’
‘Mm,’ Shelley murmured thoughtfully, ‘I’m afraid he’s decided that Katie isn’t his type either. The problem is she’s really set on marrying him, and I’m not sure what she’ll do if he lets her down.’
‘Do? In what way?’
Shelley sighed. ‘I guess the only one who can answer that is Katie,’ she replied, ‘but at least when I pop into the salon later I can assure her there’s nothing going on between you and Rick.’
Startled, Charlotte said, ‘Why, did she think there was? My God, that’s terrible if she did.’
Shelley smiled reassuringly. ‘Whatever she may have thought, there’s no reason for her to fear it now, is there, which is very good news.’
Afterwards Charlotte had spent the rest of the day organising her mother’s samples, portfolios and collection of weird and wonderful accessories she kept for shoots into the large estate car Anna used for business, while Anna herself spent the afternoon at the Kauri Cliffs hotel on a final recce with the client. Though Anna called often there was no opportunity to discuss any personal or family issues; this was a time for Anna’s work to come first, and Charlotte could tell from her mother’s voice that her excitement – and tension – was building. She absolutely loved being at the heart of a shoot, getting right into the demands of framing and styling the shots as she worked with designers and decorators to create visual masterpieces from the client’s sumptuously expensive furniture and homewares. From the two previous occasions when Charlotte had assisted her she’d been left in no doubt that her mother was really very good at what she did. She was also extremely popular with her clients, as well as the crews, who seemed to appreciate her as much for the air of fun she brought to proceedings as for her readiness to consider and often act upon other people’s ideas. She wasn’t someone who was in any way troubled by the petty or querulous scrabblings of an ego; she was, in her words, just an ordinary woman who still felt surprised and a bit baffled by being involved in such a rewardingly creative process.
It was going to be an enjoyable, though hectic couple of days, Charlotte was thinking as she collected Chloe from Aroha just after four on Wednesday afternoon and went on to Countdown to pick up a few things for dinner. Chloe was full of a new Maori song she’d learned that day, singing it over and over to Boots and Charlotte and even, shyly, to the woman at the checkout.
Laughing, the woman said, ‘She’s adorable.’
‘Thank you,’ Charlotte smiled, and steering the trundler out to the car park she settled Chloe and Boots in the back seat before loading the groceries into the boot.
As they turned on to the peninsula heading for home, she decided to drop in on Grant and Polly to check whether the weekend’s sleepover was still on.
‘It sure is,’ Grant assured her, wiping his oily hands on his overalls as he came out from under the trailer he was repairing. ‘The weather might have settled down by then, but if it doesn’t we’ll find plenty of other stuff to do. Thrilled to bits Chloe’s coming,’ he added, directing his words to Charlotte in a way Chloe could hear.