‘It’s all taken care of,’ Camilla said, shocking Lorie again.
‘I’m sorry?’
‘Really, Mrs Stone, I appreciate the offer, but I think you have enough on with repairs to the house, flights to America and medical bills. We’re happy to cover the cost if you’re in agreement.’
Lorie was shaking one fist in the air in triumph by now. ‘That’s just too generous –’
‘No it isn’t,’ Camilla said firmly. ‘I insist. You go and see to your mother and I hope things can improve at this end when you get back. Really, Naomi is a lovely girl. I’m sure she’ll want to bring the family together and not divide it further.’
‘Mrs Hamilton –’
‘Camilla. Please.’
‘Camilla, I’m very grateful.’
‘The pleasure is ours.’
After a few more pleasantries, Lorie finished the call and shouted out in relief. Her hands were shaking with the elation. She phoned Nathan back, sure she’d burst with the news if she didn’t share it.
Nathan, ‘Hey, how did it go?’
‘Just call me brilliant.’
‘Really?’
‘I had her eating out of my hand, it was awesome. She doesn’t even want any money. It would be their pleasure, Camilla told me, to pay for the lot.’
Nathan laughed. ‘Unreal. How do you do it?’
Lorie smiled to herself. Impressing Nathan never got old. ‘Never mind that, I have a question for you and it’s time you answered it.’
‘Not that one again,’ Nathan said, sickeningly sounding like he was up for some fun now the crisis had passed.
‘Yes that one. It’s nine weeks to the wedding and you’ve been seeing her for nine long months, longer than we intended. I’ve chucked Simon out of sheer boredom and because I’m more attracted to a Big Mac than to him.’ Nathan laughed again. ‘Now don’t dodge the question – do you enjoy kissing her or not?’
Nathan turned silent until it became uncomfortable for Lorie.
‘I’ll take that as a yes then,’ she said, frostily.
‘No, I’m just thinking.’
‘You shouldn’t need to think.’
‘Look, babe, it’s a job. It’s not the worst I’ve ever had and no one could call her ugly. Great body.’
‘Nathan,’ Lorie sighed, deflated suddenly, nausea clutching at her insides. She wanted reassurance. She wasn’t getting it. The only way she could save face was to take charge. ‘I’m only going to ask you one more time –’
‘Is that a promise?’ Nathan joked.
Lorie carried on in the same tone, refusing to be drawn in. ‘Do you enjoy kissing her, yes or no?’
She could never tell what Nathan was doing on the other end of the phone. Was he squirming, smiling, sweating? She’d have betted on him smiling from the vibes she was getting. His games went too far sometimes.
‘Babe, come on, I’m a man –’
‘Yeah, I’ve noticed,’ Lorie snapped, before cutting Nathan off. She collapsed onto the sofa and broke down. Having made her point, she held on to the phone, ready to take the call when Nathan rang to apologise and tell her, finally and emphatically that kissing Naomi meant nothing. She decided she’d let it ring a while before she answered. Lorie waited, she sobbed, she ached, she waited some more. The crash after the high was a hard landing. As time stretched on, she wondered if she hated him as much as she loved him. He didn’t call.
<><><>
It was much earlier than Camilla’s normal bedtime. She slid between the freshly laundered bedding beside Henry, who was smiling from behind his latest crime book that had a dagger on the cover drenched in blood.
‘Didn’t I say there’d be a perfectly logical explanation?’ he said, glancing up.
Camilla was too tired to think of a good comeback, so she said nothing. It was a good kind of tired. Since her conversation with Valerie Stone, she’d felt a loosening in her muscles. Her mind was more at peace. Having found some answers to months of solution-seeking, her body was telling her it was time to take a well-deserved rest. The mental energy spent on Nathan and Naomi, and Annabel, had been exhausting.
‘She seemed like a very nice woman,’ Camilla conceded.
‘Why wouldn’t she be? Nathan’s a very nice lad,’ Henry said, patting her arm with hot fingers. ‘Families aren’t perfect as well we know. Stop fighting now, love, and let things be. Buy yourself an outfit and a hat. Start to look forward to it.’
Camilla settled into her two feather pillows, back to Henry. ‘It won’t be complete without Annabel there.’
Henry placed a very warm hand on her and left it there. ‘Tell her that. Speak to her. She might be stubborn at first, but she’ll see sense. The longer this silence goes on between the two of you, the harder it will be to put right. Mm?’ He rubbed her arm vigorously beneath the duvet and finally let go.
‘How often do you contact her?’ Camilla asked, grudgingly.
‘Every week,’ Henry said. ‘She’s doing well, working hard, lots of friends, you know Annabel.’ He paused. Camilla had nothing to say back, especially because she found that she had a painful lump in her throat. ‘Come on, love, time to bury the hatchet and make a fresh start. Mm? If she knows you’ve accepted Nathan, maybe she’ll do the same. Maybe she’ll come home.’
Camilla swallowed a few times to steady her voice. ‘When did I ever say I’d accepted him?’
Henry’s hand was back again, even toastier. ‘What do you want from him?’
It was a fair question. During the silence that followed, Camilla repeated it to herself. She’d been quiet so long, she didn’t know if Henry was still listening or was back with his book. She thought she was answering in her head, but realised she was speaking out loud when she heard her own voice.
‘I don’t trust him.’
A short pause. ‘What’s this really about, Camilla?’
Camilla could feel her defences prickling. She hadn’t meant to head towards a conversation like this. She squirmed free of his hand. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Your issues with trust. The way you distance yourself from anyone who crosses the line. The way you must be in control. The way you struggle with intimacy.’
Camilla turned to glare at him. ‘That’s not true.’
‘You know it is.’
Camilla, too furious to express herself, turned her back on Henry again and shuffled to the cool edge of the bed.
Henry’s voice was gentle. ‘I’m trying to help.’
‘Is that right?’
‘Yes. Think of this wedding as a fresh start. Our girls have left us, Camilla, suddenly. It’s a wrench. It’s hard to adjust, but we have to look to the future and embrace the changes whatever they might be.’ Henry snapped his book shut and cleared his throat. ‘We have to trust Naomi to Nathan and we have to believe Annabel is making the decisions that are right for her. We have to let Lorie go very soon too. Stop battling what we can’t change. Acceptance is the way forward.’
Even in her silent mutiny that prevented her from responding, she accepted he was right. What else could be done? The wedding date was rushing towards them. The plans and events that were keeping her busy daily now, meant that long summer days only flashed by. Naomi had finished her first year. She was due to pack up and come home that weekend. The next time she returned to college, she’d be married.
Camilla sighed and found herself thinking out loud again. ‘I suppose it’s time I bought an outfit.’
Henry moved right over to Camilla’s side of the bed and wrapped one arm around her. ‘That’s the spirit, love. And isn’t it time we gave them the money too?’
‘Not while I’m still living in hope of them changing their plans.’
‘Camilla,’ Henry said, ‘have you ever seen a couple more in love?’
Camilla avoided the question. ‘I suppose a lump sum would get them a home. I can’t think of Naomi starting married life in that dreadful flat of his.’
‘We can’t dictate how
they spend the money. Once it’s gone, it’s no longer ours. This Saturday, when Naomi comes home, let’s prepare a nice dinner for her and invite Nathan round and have a cheque ready. I can sort it out. What do you say?’
Camilla was trapped and felt claustrophobic. Loving gestures had a habit of leaving her feeling this way. ‘On the condition that you remove yourself to your own side of the bed and don’t invade mine again, I say let’s do dinner and hold the cheque off for now.’
After a delayed moment where Camilla held her breath, Henry obliged and Camilla resumed breathing.
‘Whatever you say. But call Annabel, would you? That can’t wait.’
Henry took Camilla’s silence as a positive. He leant over and flicked the switch on his lamp, plunging them into darkness. He could smile freely into the blackness without the risk of being questioned. Things were coming together, finally.
<><><>
Lorie had hung around waiting for Dan’s dinner guest for long enough. Without the engine running, she was cold. Without having brought anything but a bag of mixed boiled sweets, she was hungry too. She wanted to stretch her legs, but she daren’t wander around. She’d been planning to take a look at the girl, then find somewhere to eat and return later. The girl was an hour late. Maybe she wasn’t coming. In her indecision and her need for company, Lorie found herself calling Nathan again.
Nathan answered sleepily. ‘This had better be good. I’ve got a flight tomorrow. I need to sleep.’
‘My heart bleeds,’ Lorie said, mimicking a phrase Nathan often used. ‘I haven’t moved since we last spoke. Dan’s girl never showed and I’m getting pretty sick of hanging around.’
Nathan yawned. ‘Is it dark there?’
‘It’s England. Of course it’s dark. And damp. And cold.’
‘You might have missed her.’ He sounded bored. ‘Walk up to the house, take a look through the windows. If you have no joy, ring Dan on a pretext, see what he says.’
‘Have the reporters stopped hounding you?’
‘Yeah, it’s all died down. It’s over. Only call me back if you have to tonight. Definitely call me after you’ve done the drop at Solomon’s tomorrow.’
Nathan hung up. Lorie panted sharply, got out of the car and resisted the urge to slam the door. She wrapped her jacket around her and climbed with care over the nearby wall. The house was at the bottom of a little grassy bank. Lorie advanced steadily towards it, passing through a row of conifers. By the time she reached the bottom, the long wet grass had penetrated her shoes. She wasn’t dressed for this. She hadn’t planned on a spying mission in Cumbria while Nathan lazed in paradise. Lorie found the path in front of the house and ran down it on tiptoes. An outside light lit the way and fortunately wasn’t movement-sensitive.
There were two windows either side of the front door. One glowed, curtains closed, the other was unlit, curtains also closed. Lorie crept round the back of the house into darkness, keeping her complaints in her head. The kitchen window had a roller blind, she remembered, which was all the way down. Beside the window was the back door. She tried the handle. Locked. Frustrated and with no options, Lorie bent down to look through the keyhole. Light from the hall fed into the kitchen. She had a limited view of a thin slice of the kitchen table with a gingham table cloth and the kitchen door behind it, which was half open. Her eyes returned to the table. At an angle, she could see keys and a phone.
Suddenly, she could hear a voice, Dan’s drawing closer. So Dan was not alone. Her instinct was to back off and run, but she fought it, assuring herself he wasn’t likely to exit the back door. Dan passed the kitchen door and she could hear him running up the stairs. The bathroom light went on above her head. A plan occurred to her in a rush.
Hoping to draw the girl into the kitchen, Lorie rang Dan’s mobile. She watched it light up as the ringtone sang out from the table. Lorie was crouched and still. Dan called from upstairs.
‘Leave that.’
‘Come out of your hiding place,’ Lorie whispered to herself as she continued to wedge her eyeball against the tiny opening. The phone’s answering message came on – Dan’s voice.
‘Crap,’ Lorie whispered, out of ideas now. She disconnected and redialled and continued to watch.
‘Come on, come on.’
No one came. By the time Dan thudded down the stairs again, the answering message was telling her she was through to Dan’s phone, blah, blah, blah. She cut him off. Dan came into the kitchen, flicked on the light, picked up his phone, looked at the screen.
‘Two missed calls from Lorie,’ he said too loudly to be talking to himself.
Silence in response. Lorie was confused. Why would some girl in the other room care who ‘Lorie’ was? Had Dan talked? Instead of leaving, Lorie was suspicious enough to hang around. It was risky being this close to Dan, about two, three metres at the most. An adrenaline surge fired through her. This was ridiculous. What was the worst that could happen? A shadow appeared on the floor behind Dan. The girl would be visible if only Dan would shift.
That was Lorie’s last thought before the world stopped revolving. It seemed to happen in slow motion – Dan, eyes on his phone, moving out of view, clearing the way for Lorie to stare at the dark-haired girl in the doorway wearing jeans and a zip-up tracksuit top. Lorie’s pulse banged in her ears. For a frozen moment, she couldn’t understand. Her eyes were deceiving her. Or, she was dreaming. She’d wake up soon with the sound of the sea drifting through the open windows, Nathan already out for his morning swim. She’d tell him of this nightmare back in chilly England.
The next horrifying sound brought her to her senses, dragging reality back. Her mobile phone on ‘silent’, buzzed and vibrated in her hand. Lorie dropped it with the shock. It crashed to the ground. No. Lorie looked down in panic at Dan’s name. She snatched up the phone and rejected the call. The back of the phone was missing. No time to search. No time to think. She had to leave.
‘What was that?’ Dan’s voice from just inside the back door. Lorie bolted to the side of the house just as she heard the back door opening.
‘Shh.’ Dan’s voice again. She could picture him standing in the doorway listening with the attention of a predator on the hunt, scanning the length of the murky garden. She wasn’t safe where she was. If Dan took a few paces and turned the corner, she’d be in full view. At the same time, she was too afraid to move or breathe loudly.
‘Probably an animal.’ Naomi’s voice, low. Dead Naomi?
‘Stay here,’ she heard Dan say in a hushed tone.
She knew she had to move, no choice. As noiselessly as possible, she made her way to the front of the house and ran for the cover of a horse chestnut tree, which was on the house side of the stone wall. Every panicked step to the tree, she expected Dan to pierce the night air with a yell. She made it a couple of seconds before Dan, brandishing a torch from his mobile phone, came into view. Lorie ducked behind the tree and crouched amongst a mass of spikey conkers, short of breath. Her palms were clammy.
Suddenly aware that Dan might call again, she scrambled to switch off her phone. Lorie couldn’t move. She daren’t even peep. The rough bark of the tree scratched her back. She closed her eyes. All Dan had to do was discover her here and it would be over. All he had to do was climb the grass verge to see her parked car. Months of planning would be obliterated.
Maybe it was too late already. The unthinkable had happened. Dan had betrayed Nathan and spared Naomi, making Dan the enemy. Lorie had to reach safety. She had to reach Nathan. Had Dan spilled to the police? Would they be waiting outside her flat when she drove home? Logic told her that the fact that Dan was in hiding with Naomi meant that the secret was still intact. Dan wouldn’t risk going public.
Lorie covered her head with both hands and ordered herself to stop thinking. One thing at a time – she had to get away without Dan knowing what she’d discovered. She had to wait until the small circle of light that was being flashed around the grass to her left, had disappeared.
She sat there long after the light had stopped searching the grass. Eventually on liquid limbs, she stood. The wall was a few paces away up a small incline. She ran for it and threw herself over as quickly as she could. There was a small grass mound on the other side, which met with the road. Head low, Lorie ran in the direction of her car. The comfort of reaching it was all she wanted now. Though the lane was badly lit, she could see the dark outline of the rear of the car not far away.
Lorie pulled her keys from her pocket as she stumbled along. She fired up her phone, waited for a signal and redialled Nathan’s number. It rang once, twice, three times, four.
‘Come on, come on, pick up,’ she hissed as she neared the safety of her Mini.
26
THE BIG DAY
It was the first Saturday in September and was pleasantly warm, more so than it had been all August. The beautiful blush in the morning sky that announced the rising sun dimmed Dan’s mood. The atrocities that would be committed today didn’t deserve a glorious prelude of colour or a fanfare of birdsong. Dan hadn’t slept all night and hadn’t wanted to. Afraid to shut his eyes and find in the next instant that hours had evaporated into nothing but nightmares, he’d lay in the dark stillness through the creeping minutes, feeling the pulse of passing time so consciously, he’d slowed it down.
Dan tried to reckon the number of hours he’d slept that week and could find less than fifteen. It had been seven days since he’d discovered that Lorie and Nathan had been hatching a plan. They weren’t just plotting to devastate the life of Naomi Hamilton, they were planning to end it and rob her parents of a small fortune. Dan had overheard a phone call from his room. Nathan had the gruff-voiced guy on the other end of the receiver, on loudspeaker. The guy was telling Nathan, as casually as if he was explaining how he’d fix the washing machine, how he planned to take Naomi out and how no one would ever either find her or look for her.
Either Side of Midnight (The Midnight Saga Book 1) Page 32
