by Susan Lewis
Once the situation had been explained to those he’d let down, or put on the spot, they were all relief and sympathy, knowing only too well how unreliable the trains could be. The biggest relief to Miles, however, was that no one had bothered to check the story, because if they had the lie would almost certainly have leaked out to the press by now. As it was, Miles felt fairly confident that only he and Rosalind knew that all trains from Paddington to Temple Meads had arrived bang on schedule that night. Where David had gone from there remained as big a mystery as why he’d lied to Lisa about taking a taxi to Dee’s. Being reluctant to admit to eavesdropping Rosalind still hadn’t challenged him on it, and since Miles hadn’t overheard the phone call himself he didn’t feel able to confront David either.
As the Jubilee line disgorged some passengers at Green Park station, and sucked in a few more, Miles, in his pale grey Armani suit and collarless white shirt, strode up the escalators, too busy checking his BlackBerry as he went to notice the several female heads that turned. Half a dozen new emails had come in during the short time he’d been underground, but none that couldn’t wait, so using his Oyster card to exit the station he pressed through the barriers and on out to the street. The part of this peculiar business that was troubling him the most wasn’t only the elaborate tale David had concocted about the train and forgetting his car keys, but his reluctance the next morning to call the producers himself to apologise for letting them down. It was completely out of character for him to baulk at doing the right thing – he was usually such a stickler for it that it kept them all on their toes making sure they lived up to his standards. However, on this occasion, he’d left the explaining to his staff while he, according to Rosalind, had driven off in his car without telling anyone where he was going, and when he’d returned a couple of hours later he’d shut himself up in Rosalind’s study with his laptop and hadn’t come out again until it was time to go and fetch Lawrence from school.
‘He seems absolutely fine in himself,’ Rosalind had said on the phone over the weekend.
‘But he still hasn’t mentioned anything about where he went after the train?’ Miles had wanted to know.
‘Not a word, and I don’t want to ask him about it, because it’ll be like telling him I know he’s lying, and I can’t imagine him taking very kindly to the fact that we checked up on him.’
‘Nor can I,’ Miles agreed, ‘but something’s obviously going on and I – or we – need to know what it is.’
‘Actually, I’ve been wondering if he’s having second thoughts about her and is trying to find a way to break it off.’
Since he didn’t feel convinced about that, Miles hadn’t responded.
‘You know how sensitive he is to other people’s feelings,’ she went on, ‘except mine and Mum’s, it would seem, but what I’m saying is, if he wants out of that relationship, then being the kind of man he is, he’ll be finding it extremely difficult to find a way of letting her down. I reckon the whole thing is probably stressing him half out of his mind, and that’s why he disappeared on us, so he could be alone to think.’
Knowing how much Rosalind would like that to be true, Miles hadn’t argued, or even expressed an opinion, but if David had missed a scheduled TV appearance simply to work out how to break up with his girlfriend, then as far as Miles was concerned his boss had managed to pull off an overnight morph into someone he didn’t know.
It was baffling, and worrying, but now that David had gone off to Bristol to meet Dee for an afternoon surgery in Radstock, the coast was clear for Miles to find out if Lisa was able to throw some light on all this.
* * *
Lisa was already at the table when Miles arrived seeming harassed about being late and faintly embarrassed, judging by the flush of colour in his cheeks. Suspecting this had more to do with the fool he’d made of himself when he’d tried flirting with her when they first met than it did with his tardiness, she tactfully pretended not to notice.
‘I’m sorry, I got caught up,’ he apologised, sitting into the chair the maitre d’ was holding out for him.
‘It’s not a problem,’ she assured him kindly. ‘It’s nice to see you. This is a lovely choice of restaurant.’
His smile was polite, possibly even stiff. ‘I’m glad you like it,’ he replied, turning off his BlackBerry and setting it down next to his plate with his office keys. ‘Have you ordered a drink?’
‘No, I thought I’d wait and join you in whatever you’re having.’
‘I have to drive later, I’m afraid, so no vino for me, but please don’t let that stop you.’
With a playful grimace she said, ‘Actually, it would be good for me to abstain too. I don’t want to start putting on weight this close to the wedding, so Evian or similar would be great.’
‘I’m sure you’ll look stunning on the day,’ he said gallantly, and then probably wished he hadn’t given the speedy return of heat to his cheeks.
‘Just three weeks to go,’ she said happily. ‘It’s coming round so fast I can hardly keep up, there’s so much to do.’ She smiled up at the waiter as he handed her a menu. ‘It’s OK, Joe,’ she said, ‘I don’t need to look. I’ll have the crayfish risotto.’
After making a quick selection of bangers and mash, Miles ordered a large bottle of Evian to go with it, then apparently making an attempt to be chatty, he said, ‘So what are you planning to do with your sabbatical? I mean, once the honeymoon’s over.’
‘Well,’ she said drily, ‘I’m afraid for sabbatical read unemployed because things have changed recently, but that’s fine, because I’m thinking about venturing into something new. However, if you don’t mind, I’d rather not say what it is just yet, because I’ll feel a fool if it doesn’t work out.’
‘Well, whatever it is, I wish you luck with it.’
‘Thank you,’ and after the waiter had filled their glasses with water, she raised hers and clinked it to his. ‘And what about you?’ she asked. ‘Do you have anything arranged for the summer?’
‘Not yet,’ he confessed, sipping his drink. Then, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t have as long as I’d have liked for lunch, a few things have cropped up at the office, so I’d better come to the point of why I’m here.’
Allowing her fascination to show, she propped her chin on her hands and fixed her eyes on his in a way that, unfortunately, sailed the colour straight back to his cheeks.
‘When I first invited you to lunch,’ he began, his eyes dropping for a moment, ‘it was to discuss something other than the matter I’m going to mention now, but we’ll come on to it. For the moment, I’d like to ask you if you think something might be bothering David.’
As her light-heartedness faded, she put her hands back on the table, saying, ‘I’m not sure what you mean.’ Then, deciding this was no time for artifice, ‘Actually, yes, sometimes I do.’
He swallowed and glanced down at his glass. ‘Has he talked to you at all about what happened last Thursday, when he got stuck on the train?’ he asked.
She shook her head. ‘Not really, other than on the night it happened. It hasn’t been mentioned again since, I suppose because I didn’t want to make too big a deal of it, but I don’t mind telling you I was worried out of my mind when I didn’t know where he was.’
‘We all were,’ he assured her. His eyes came awkwardly to hers, then moved away again. ‘I’ve checked with First Great Western,’ he told her, ‘and no trains got stuck in the Box tunnel that night. They all arrived at Temple Meads on time.’
As she registered his words she felt a disorienting confusion coming over her. ‘But why would he lie?’ she asked, searching his eyes as though he must have the answer somewhere.
‘I don’t know.’
‘Then where was he?’ she asked nervously.
‘Again I don’t know. Rosalind overheard him telling you that he turned up at Dee’s in a taxi, but I’m afraid that wasn’t true either. He was in his own car.’
Lisa sat bac
k, almost as though he’d struck her. ‘Are you sure?’ she said. ‘I mean, you’re not saying this to … Well, I don’t know why you’d make it up. Have you told him you checked the trains?’
Miles shook his head. ‘He’s not someone who normally lies, so it’s not easy to confront him, but we have to presume that he has a very good reason for it, and I was hoping you might have some idea …’
His voice trailed off as a waiter arrived with the food. There were so many thoughts crowding into her head, but not one of them was making much sense. ‘I don’t understand why he would lie like that,’ she said, when they were alone again.
Taking a breath, as though bracing himself, he said, ‘Being pretty au fait with what’s going on in his professional life, I’m more inclined to think he’s worrying about something, or someone, in his personal life.’
‘You mean like Lawrence, or Rosalind?’ she said, knowing already that he didn’t. ‘I think you could be right.’
‘Or you?’ he said bravely.
Forcing herself not to go on the defensive, she said, ‘But why do you think he’d be worried about me?’
His eyes dropped again. ‘I need to tell you the reason why I first invited you to lunch,’ he said, ‘because I’m guessing from our conversation so far that David hasn’t mentioned it himself.’
Feeling herself growing more tense by the second, she waited for him to go on.
‘I’m sure you’re aware,’ he began, ‘that David has political enemies.’
‘I suppose so,’ she replied cautiously.
‘Well, it turns out they’ve managed to unearth your connection to someone who was involved in a possible money-laundering scheme.’
For several moments she was too stunned to speak. Then, not sure what else to say, she told Miles, ‘It was a mistake. He was released without charge.’ She paused. ‘I can’t believe anyone’s managed to find this out. As far as I knew it didn’t even make the records.’
‘Well, it seems it did, and obviously it could cause some embarrassment for both you and David if his enemies try to make something of it.’
Her mind was spinning. Surely to God Tony hadn’t told anyone about it in some insane attempt to mess things up for her with David? He was capable of a lot of things, but she’d never known malice to be one of them. ‘And you say David already knows about this?’ she said, putting Tony on hold for the moment.
‘I’ve mentioned it to him, yes, but he wasn’t prepared to discuss it with me.’
‘What did he say, exactly?’
‘That he knew everything there was to know about your past …’
‘Which is true, he does. I’ve told him about Tony, and how wild he could …’ She stopped abruptly, realising she didn’t have to explain anything to Miles. ‘We all have a past, Miles,’ she said tartly.
He nodded. ‘Of course.’
When he said no more she filled the silence herself. ‘You think this is what’s bothering him?’
‘Let’s put it this way,’ he said, shifting in his chair. ‘I first mentioned it last Thursday, before he caught the train to Bristol, and we know what happened after. Having said that, no matter how angry and upset he was about it, I can’t bring myself to believe it would stop him turning up for a TV programme.’
‘Then what do you believe?’
‘I wish I could give you an answer, but all I can tell you is that he’s been behaving quite oddly for a while now, and none of us has yet come up with a reason why.’
Knowing very well that they were blaming her, she said, ‘Apart from grief?’
He nodded.
‘Or …?’
He shrugged, clearly reluctant to put his suspicions into words.
‘What does Rosalind think?’ she asked bluntly.
Loosening a collar that wasn’t even buttoned, he said, ‘She thinks he wants to break off his relationship with you, but can’t find it in himself to hurt you.’
As her heart turned over she felt the blood draining from her face.
‘But that’s Rosalind,’ he added hastily, ‘so I don’t think we can take it for granted that is the case.’
‘But if it is?’
He shook his head, apparently unwilling to commit.
‘She thinks her father’s going to pieces over her mother,’ Lisa said tightly, ‘and to save him she wants me to call off the wedding? Is that how it goes?’
He didn’t deny it.
‘Well, you can tell Rosalind from me,’ she said, throwing down her napkin, ‘that if there is something wrong with her father then she should look to herself for the reasons, because if she knew how anxious and stressed he is about her she might do something about pulling herself together and damned well growing up,’ and after tossing two twenty-pound notes on the table for a meal she wasn’t going to eat, she walked out of the restaurant.
With Tony’s card already in her hand, Lisa slammed the front door shut behind her and snatched up the phone.
‘Sommerville Antiques,’ a sulky female voice announced down the line.
Since it hadn’t occurred to her that anyone else might answer, there was a beat before she said, ‘Is Tony there please?’
‘I’ll check if he’s in his office. Who’s calling please?’
Picturing the little hottie with hair as long as her legs and eyes wider than her brain, she felt like slapping her down simply for being there, never mind for trying to block her. ‘It’s Lisa Martin,’ she said coldly. ‘I’m sure he’ll speak to me.’ If he didn’t after that, she’d go down there and personally smash every fake antique in the place.
‘Of course. Can I tell him what it’s about?’
She was about to snap a cutting no, when she changed her mind and said instead, ‘I’m calling from the Gloucestershire clinic for venereal diseases with the results of his recent test.’ It was an old one, but it usually worked, and she had no reason to think it wouldn’t this time, as a pregnant silence followed. After a few clicks on the line Tony was laughing as he said, ‘She’s the cleaner.’
‘I don’t care who the hell she is,’ Lisa informed him, ‘I want to know if you’ve been talking to anyone about the money-laundering incident.’
‘What?’ he said, sounding genuinely baffled. ‘Why on earth would I do that? It was over three years ago – and, let me remind you, was …’
‘All above board, yes, so you say, but was it really? Apparently it’s gone on the record somewhere, presumably in Manila, and one of David’s political rivals has managed to find it.’
‘Ah, right. That’s not good, except you weren’t involved personally, and there were no charges, so as far as I can see you should have nothing to worry about.’
‘But you know how sensitive that particular issue is these days, and I thought … Well, I want to be sure that nothing ever came of it for you either, because if my name can be connected to anyone or anything that’s either criminal or in any way scurrilous …’
‘It can’t, at least not as far as I’m concerned, because contrary to popular belief, I have a squeaky-clean police record.’
‘This is me you’re talking to.’
‘OK, then it’s got a couple of grubby prints here and there where the wrong people have got hold of it, but I can promise you, my forays over to the other side of the law have all been accidental, or simply from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. So, my darling, you have nothing to fear from me – unless you consider my undying love to be a threat to your soon-to-be wedded bliss.’
‘I do not,’ she informed him crisply. ‘So you’re sure no one’s been in touch with you, asking about me?’
‘I’m sure I’d remember if they had. However, I admit I’ve been half expecting it, though I’d imagined it would come from the tabloids, rather than some government half-wit with a grudge.’
‘And your answers if anyone does ask about me?’
‘No comment, of course.’
‘Why don’t I believe you?’
He laughed.
‘Would you rather I told them that I’ve turned my life around for you, only to find myself dumped in favour of a …’
‘Don’t you dare insult David.’
‘Actually, I wasn’t going to – or maybe just a little. The point is, you know I’d never deliberately say or do anything to hurt you, in spite of being broken-hearted that you’ve traded me in for an older model.’
‘You’re not funny.’
‘You used to think so.’
‘I used to think a lot of things where you were concerned, but I’m over them now.’
‘So how come you can’t get me out of your mind? You are thinking about me a lot, aren’t you? I know, because I’m thinking about you all the time, and it’s driving me nuts. Come back to me, Lisa. We belong together, you know we do.’
‘What I know is that I’m marrying David in a little over three weeks, and nothing you or his daughter can say will change my mind.’
‘Ah, so his daughter’s not welcoming you into the fold?’
‘Not exactly, but I’m sure she will in time.’
‘Right,’ he said dubiously, ‘but if it doesn’t work out the way you hope, you know where I am. And next time you call, please don’t say anything to scare the cleaner. If she’d been feather-dusting something fragile when you impersonated a doctor, it might have cost me a lot more than my pride.’
She forced herself not to laugh. ‘There won’t be a next time,’ she assured him, ‘but thank you for putting my mind at rest about your role in what’s going on,’ and after ending the call she quickly connected to Polly.
‘When you were over here the other night,’ she said, ‘you mentioned you had something to tell me.’
‘Oh yes, that’s right,’ Polly replied. ‘I had a call from someone the day before I saw you, asking about the time we were working as interpreters, and was it true it was all a front for some kind of international escort business.’
As the shock hit her Lisa’s blood ran cold. ‘Did they say who they were?’ she asked.
‘No, he just spun a line about investigating certain allegations that had been made, like he was some kind of detective, but I guessed he was most probably from the tabloids, so I told him he was definitely barking up the wrong tree as far as we were concerned, and please don’t waste my time calling up again with his crap unless he wanted to speak to my lawyer. Bloody cheek. Do you think it’s real, that someone is trying to make out that we – or you, I suppose, because that’s who they’re interested in – were being paid for another kind of service?’
