I had rehearsed this so many times in my head over the past seven days. Something slightly audacious, but achievable. ‘I want a weekend with Finn, once every month. Here at Albermarle, of course.’ The script transformed itself into calm, measured words.
Blaine
raised a disdainful eyebrow. ‘That’s certainly some request. It would mean you spending more time with him than any other client ever has. And for this unprecedented generosity, what would I get?’
‘There are two elements. The first is that I would bring you a new client in time for your birthday.’
‘Is that
it
? I think you’ll find I’m perfectly capable of finding new guests all by myself, Lilith.’
Blaine
kicked Bruno into a walk back along the bridle path, clearly disgusted by my meagre offer.
‘I wasn’t implying that I would simply grab someone off the street. I mean someone who means something to me. No more ‘innocent victim’ – I become complicit in your business.’
Blaine
hauled Bruno to a halt. ‘And who would this ‘someone’ be? From what I recall, your address book is hardly bursting at the seams.’
‘Gabriel James.’
And then
Blaine
couldn’t help but smile. ‘What, your little puppy from
London
?’
I nodded. ‘He’s completely besotted with me. And he has an appetite for depravity that’s just waiting to be explored.’
‘You’re sure of that?’
‘Positive. Some people are exceptionally easy to read. I’m sure he’d be willing to perform, in all senses of the word.’
Blaine
patted Bruno’s taut neck with a gloved hand. ‘I certainly don’t doubt your judgement on these things. So how were you planning to contact him? Another trip to
London
is quite out of the question.’
‘I’ll call him. From your office, with the speaker on – that way you’ll know exactly what’s been said by both of us.’
‘And the second part?’
Despite her calm, non-committal response, I could see the excitement begin to glitter in her eyes at the thought of a personal minstrel to add to her new collection of artists. Now to seal it.
‘You get me. Finn told me that you usually bring one of your girls up from
London
for your party – well, from now on you won’t have to.’
Blaine
gave a harsh laugh of surprise. ‘You mean you’re willing to let me auction
you
instead?’
‘That’s pretty much it. Yes.’
‘Lilith, are you entirely sure about what you’re offering here? Because there will be no going back on any of this, if I agree.’
‘I’m certain.’
She stared at me for the longest time. The only noise came from Ruby, softly cropping at the frost-covered grass, as
Blaine
pretended to consider my deal. In truth, there was nothing to consider – the very thought of me, finally defeated and reduced to whoring in return for my one weakness, was more than the woman would be able to resist.
Finally she gave a single nod of her head. ‘You can make the call to Gabriel this afternoon, as you suggested. And I’ll contact my staff at Marley’s and let them know the usual arrangements won’t be necessary.’ Business done, she kicked Bruno into a breakneck gallop downhill to the village.
I let Ruby have her head and she chose to follow in a steady canter. This time, I was content to let
Blaine
win.
On the morning of
Blaine
’s accursed birthday celebrations, fat flakes of snow began to curl lazily down from a loaded sky so that by the start of the festivities, the whole island would be covered in a fairytale layer of pure white. The irony was almost hilarious.
I held the legs of a stepladder as Lilith perched precariously on the top rung and draped a final garland of fresh ivy and fir branches into place over the mirror in the great hall. It was about all I was good for; thanks to
Chester
and Ellis’ peculiar brand of affection, I hadn’t worked since that night with them. In fact, I would still need a stick of concealer and some pretty impressive mood lighting before
Blaine
regarded me as bargain-basement saleable later that evening.
‘Right, all done.’ Lilith nimbly leapt from the last rung of the ladder. ‘God, I’m bloody freezing. I miss central heating.’
‘Looks nice.’
‘It looks
horrific
, Finn. It’s like something Dickens might have conjured up if he’d dropped acid before picking up his pen. And it makes the whole bloody place stink of pine-fresh toilet cleaner.’
‘Very apt,’ I grinned. ‘Anyway, I think it was very generous of
Blaine
to keep you occupied now the picture’s all done and dusted. You know you’d hate to be bored.’
‘Where is my illustrious patron, anyway? I think this is the longest she’s left me alone in days.’ She pushed her icy hands up the sleeves of my sweater.
‘New victim’s due to arrive at any minute, isn’t he? She’ll be up in her room, painting on her mask of respectability.’ As if on cue, a distant clatter shattered the snow-muffled silence. ‘Jesus fuck, is that a fuckin’
helicopter
he’s got?’
‘That would be Gabriel, yes.’
‘The flash little get.’
‘Absolutely. Right, I’m off to see if Henry will put a shot of medicinal whisky in a coffee for me. You want one?’
‘Nah, I’m good. I’ll get tidied around here, ready for the welcoming committee.’
She gripped my hands in hers. ‘Here we go, then.’
‘Yup, here we go.’
Lilith stood on tiptoe and kissed me softly on the cheek. ‘For luck,’ she whispered, before leaving in search of sustenance. At that moment I could have murdered a newborn baby for half-a-dozen temazepam, but settled for a quick smoke out of the window instead.
*****
‘Just through here, Mr James, sir. Welcome to Albermarle Hall. And may I just say, it’s an absolute pleasure to have you here.’ Coyle was in full-on arselicker mode, which was a little surprising. I’d never had him pinned as a Gabriel James fan.
I observed this part of the ceremony from a safe distance – I was, after all, still invisible at this stage of the game. Gabriel walked into the hall like he owned the fucking place, with a strut that suggested a lifetime of doors simply swinging open before him. Behind him came a tanned, shaven-headed young man, carrying two small suitcases. I could just imagine the range of possibilities running through
Blaine
’s head at this moment.
Like a moth to a particularly tempting flame,
Blaine
appeared from her quarters and made her graceful entrance down the stairs. ‘Gabriel! How
lovely
to meet you at last. I trust you had a good journey up here?’
‘Cool. Thought the snow might cause a few problems, but we kept ahead of it. Thanks for the invite, yeah?’ Gabriel kissed
Blaine
on both cheeks. ‘Like some fairytale castle you’ve got here, ain’t it? Oh, this is Noah Barker, my PA.’
Noah, by far the quieter of the two new arrivals, merely settled for a polite handshake and shy smile.
Blaine
frowned. ‘Finn, where’s our artist? I’m sure she wouldn’t want to miss the welcome party.’
‘Lili? She’s in the kitchen, I think. Do you want me to -’
‘It’s fine, I’m here. Gabriel, it’s so good to see you.’ Lilith walked over with her arms outstretched towards our latest guest, all upper-class confidence and poise.
‘Lilith, babe,’ Gabriel grinned, and gave her a hug that went on for about ten seconds longer than it had to, and from the corner of my eye I could see Coyle just standing there, smirking like the twat he was.
‘I’ll go and get Henry to do the business whilst you folks are getting re-acquainted,’ he said, once he’d had enough of an eyeful.
For the first time in three days, Henry emerged from his kitchen. He’d been working around the clock, roasting swan, or maybe a couple of unicorns, ready for that night’s feast. ‘Nice to meet you, Mr James. I’m sure Mr O’Halloran explained the rules about technology here at the Hall. I’ll just take a quick look, if that’s all right?’ He was already hauling the larger of the cases over to a small table in the hallway.
‘Yeah, whatever.’ Gabriel gave a shrug and continued to gawp at Lilith, before making some ridiculous small talk with
Blaine
about weather fronts and flying conditions, like he’d piloted the fucking helicopter himself.
‘Um, I apologise for interrupting, but, er...’Henry had paused from his rummaging through our visitors’ underwear and wash kit, and held a mobile phone at arm’s length, as though it were radioactive. ‘I’m sorry, sir, but we do insist without exception that our guests don’t use mobile technology whilst they’re at the Hall.’
Gabriel proceeded to kick off like a right stroppy little bastard. ‘For fuck’s sake, I didn’t come here for fuckin’ Jeeves to start orderin’ me around in the first ten seconds,’ he snapped. He actually snatched the thing back, and I thought Henry was about to turn on the waterworks.
‘Gabriel darling, I appreciate that it’s difficult to surrender something that seems so necessary, but I can assure you that within hours you’ll hardly miss it.’
Blaine
gave an apologetic smile. ‘And I’m afraid it
is
something I insist upon if you’re to remain at Albermarle.’
‘It’s okay, Gabe,’ Lilith assured him. ‘I managed it without it killing me.’
There was a distinct stand-off as Gabriel clung onto his phone as though it were a kid’s comfort blanket. He even managed a pout as he reluctantly handed it over to
Blaine
.
‘Thank you.’ She placed her hand over his and let her fingers briefly caress the underside of his wrist, already moving in for the kill. ‘Now, why don’t the pair of you follow Mr O’Halloran to your rooms so you can freshen up?’ She gestured towards the stairs and her latest guests followed Coyle like two obedient little sheep.
At two o’ clock in the afternoon,
Blaine
left the island to visit the salon in the village, taking Coyle with her as boatman and porter.
Five hours left until showtime.
I waited in my room until I could no longer hear the launch engine, then ran to the Hall where Gabriel was already at the grand piano, warming up for that evening’s performance. He was making easy work of Rachmaninoff, his fingers skimming over the keys of
Blaine
’s Steinway. His quiet young PA sat at the dining table, diligently making notes in a small spiral bound notepad, and at the sound of my footfall, he turned to face me. ‘Safe?’ he mouthed.
I nodded, and ran into his embrace.
‘Bloody
hell
, Lilith, what kind of a mess are you in here, lovely?’ he whispered.
‘Huge,’ I muttered into his chest. ‘Huge, but fixable, now you’re here. Oh God, you have no
idea
how good it is to see you.’
‘Even if I am a sad bastard without life or girlfriend?’ Nat Carlin, the recipient of my clandestine phonecall, grinned, and I hugged him harder still.
‘Even if. Shit, I’m so sorry, Nat. For what I said... all of it. I was an absolute bitch...’
‘You don’t need to apologise, Lilith. Should have known it was something pretty massive for you to be so worked up. I probably need to give my head a shake, to be honest.’ And with those few words, I was forgiven faster than I truly deserved by the most decent man I had ever known.
I finally broke away. ‘You’ve got everything you need?’
‘I reckon so. All safe in my room, out of the way of that Coyle twat. Like you said, they were that happy to find the phone, they missed the good stuff. To be honest, I didn’t even need to hide everything as well as I did – I’m almost disappointed.’
‘Coyle’s not the brightest spark,’ I said. ‘But watch him, please? He’s still dangerous.’
‘Yeah, he has that aura of gorilla, doesn’t he?’ He shook his head. ‘Fuck me, Lilith, I’ve never managed to break so many laws in such a short space of time. Means I can now add ‘Fraudster’ and ‘International Drug Smuggler’ to my CV, mind you.’
‘There you are, then. You can think of it as career development. The hair suits you, by the way,’ I said, and brushed the flat of my hand across the blond stubble.
‘That was the hardest bit, you know. Took me years to grow it that long. You sure it was necessary, or did you just reckon I needed a haircut?’
‘It just wasn’t worth the risk. I don’t think
Blaine
’s got any shots of me in Santa Marita, but all it would need is one picture with you in the background, and she’d have figured something was up. You’ve got to admit your ringlets
were
pretty distinctive.’