Chapter 22
22
Jade felt her stomach clench as Finn took her at face value and walked ahead of her through the sanctuary side gate, and Sarah drove off in the direction of home.
She went to the driver’s window of the Range Rover where she could see that Declan was doing something on his mobile phone. When he saw her, he slid down the window.
‘Good afternoon, Jade. Good to see you again.’ His eyes told a different story and Jade felt a sense of trepidation building.
‘Is this a flying visit, or would you like to come in?’
‘I’ll come in for a sec.’
He followed Jade through the side gate. The main gates were already locked, Jade saw, and Dawn’s car had gone. She had said she’d have to get back just before five so that was fair enough.
Jade unlocked reception and ushered Declan in.
‘Please sit down.’ She gestured to the visitor’s chair. ‘Would you like a coffee?’
‘No. Not tonight.’
What was that supposed to mean? Jade looked at him uncertainly. Was he implying he’d have liked one when he was here before, or was she being paranoid? Reading things into the situation that weren’t there?
He hadn’t sat down either. He was standing very still in the middle of the small room. Behind him in his cage, Mr Spock was also very still. There hadn’t been a peep from him since Jade had opened the door. That was unusual. She longed for him to break the silence with some silly saying – even a swear word would have done. Maybe the parrot could sense that Declan was bad news.
‘So what’s the outcome?’ Jade asked, forcing a cheery smile onto her face.
‘The outcome is that we are not able to sell you any of the land. The development will go ahead as per the original plans.’
‘Er, can I ask why? I thought you said it wouldn’t be an issue. That the access road could just be altered slightly. Did the Highways Agency refuse permission?’
‘Nope.’
‘Then what went wrong?’ She felt a bit shocked. This was such a different Declan than the amiable, helpful man he’d been the other times she’d seen him.
‘Rural Developments have decided they can’t change the original plans.’
‘Can’t or won’t?’ Jade asked, feeling a surge of anger rising. There was something in his eyes she didn’t like. Something hard and cold and unfeeling.
‘Can’t,’ Declan said, and a little smile played around his mouth. There was no warmth in it at all. He shook his head and put on a mock apologetic expression as he shrugged and spread his hands, palms upwards.
‘These things are always give and take, aren’t they, and there was nothing in it for them. My company. No sweeteners, no advantages, no real reason to alter their plans…’
‘Are you saying what I think you’re saying?’ She took a step towards him, feeling even crosser. ‘Were we – was I – supposed to offer you some kind of sweetener? Bribe even.’ She could feel her skin crawl at the flash of acknowledgement on his face, even though it disappeared almost immediately.
‘You said that – not me.’ He was smiling openly now. ‘But if we’re on the subject of sweeteners, you did get a pretty good dinner out of it, didn’t you, Jade?’
‘Come in, you bugger.’ Mr Spock chose that moment to speak and it couldn’t have been more inappropriate, Jade thought, before she registered a movement to her left and realised that Finn was standing just outside the door. Oh my God, had he been listening? How much had he heard of their conversation?
She looked at him. His face was blank, but she could see the iciness in his eyes. ‘I thought I’d come and see how it was going?’ Finn said in a voice that was dangerously calm. He shot a glance at Jade. ‘You’ve been out to dinner with this guy?’
‘Yeah,’ Declan said. ‘She loved it, didn’t you, Jade. We had a right laugh before I brought her home.’
Jade closed her eyes, God, he made it sound so sordid.
‘Is this true?’
‘It was a business dinner, that’s all.’
‘Last Saturday,’ Declan added glibly. ‘We were out so late she fell asleep in the car. She was too tired to invite me in for coffee. Gave me a lovely goodnight kiss, though.’
Jade gasped. ‘That’s a lie.’
But the damage was done. Finn stepped into reception, strode across the room and punched Declan squarely on the nose.
He went down like a felled tree, and in that slow-motion moment of shock, the only coherent thought in Jade’s mind was, thank goodness he didn’t take the parrot cage down with him like Aiden had done. Mr Spock could have been hurt.
‘Another one bites the dust.’ The parrot launched into song, roused into action.
Declan was now curled up on the floor moaning, and his hands were covering his face. ‘My dose. He’s broken my bloody dose.’
After that, everything seemed to happen at once. Finn was trying to haul Declan up, presumably so he could punch him again. Jade was shouting at the top of her voice. ‘Stop it. For God’s sake, stop it.’
Declan was still moaning and Mr Spock, excited by all the action, was singing ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ at the top of his reedy voice.
Mickey, who must have come out of the cottage with Finn, was now growling and trying to get a hold on one of Declan’s boots.
‘Stop it,’ Jade shouted again at Finn, who was still beside Declan, although if anything, he looked even more dazed than Declan did. All of a sudden, he let go of Declan and backed away. He looked as though he wasn’t quite sure what had just happened. As if it was someone else, not him, who had floored Declan so efficiently.
Mickey let go too and looked at Finn as though waiting for further instructions.
Declan, as if aware that the danger had passed, struggled up into a sitting position, still holding his nose, which was bloodied. He started muttering about assault and going to the police.
Mr Spock, oblivious to the human fiasco that was playing out in front of him, had got to verse two and had also gone up an octave.
Both men were red in the face. Jade could smell the testosterone in the air and feel the terrible mortification of shame. This was all her fault. She was responsible for this fiasco. She glared at Finn.
‘I did not kiss him. He kissed me.’
‘I’m glad you made the distinction.’ Finn glared back at her. ‘Or are you saying he forced you?’
‘There was no forcing,’ Declan objected, taking his hands away from his nose for long enough to look indignant. ‘I don’t need to force myself on my women.’
‘I am not your woman,’ Jade snapped at him. ‘And I’m not yours either,’ she said, glaring at Finn, who was looking faintly mollified. ‘For goodness’ sake, I can’t believe what just happened here.’
Declan, taking full advantage of the fact Finn had backed off, clambered unsteadily to his feet. ‘I’m going straight to the police. I’ll have you up on an assault charge.’
‘You need a witness for that,’ Finn said, flicking him a contemptuous glance.
Declan stared at Jade. ‘You’ll both lie through your teeth then. Is that what you’re saying?’ He aimed a kick at the parrot cage and connected with the lower part of it, and Mr Spock stopped singing mid-song and made a sound like a hiccup as he lost his balance on the perch and lurched against the bars of the cage.
Jade took a threatening step towards Declan. ‘Touch any of my animals again and I’ll thump you myself.’
Declan backed away. ‘You’ll never get your land. We’ll build all over that site, and we’ll be there for months, making loads of mess and noise and more noise, scaring the living daylights out of every living thing for miles around. You’re going to regret messing with us. I’m going to make damned sure of it.’
He stood in the doorway for a fraction of a second longer, before turning and striding away towards the side gate. A few seconds later they heard him screech away on the dirt track outside.
Jade looked again at Finn, and they both spoke at the same time.
‘That wasn’t necessary.’
‘What’s been going on, Jade?’
He gestured for her to go first.
‘Can we talk inside? I just want to make sure that parrot’s OK.’
Finn turned abruptly away. ‘Of course you do,’ he said in a voice that was both weary and sad. ‘I’ll see you inside.’
Jade felt her eyes fill up with tears as he strode away. Partly shock, partly anger, partly sadness that the day, which had started so promisingly, had ended like this. She opened the door of the cage and held out a hand. After a few seconds of coaxing, Mr Spock moved onto her fingers. She gently drew him out and checked him over.
He submitted patiently and Jade was relieved that he was totally unharmed.
‘Just a few ruffled feathers, hey, boy?’ she said, returning him back to the cage and offering him a treat, which Mr Spock politely declined.
He put his head on one side and said quietly, ‘Ding dong, the witch is dead.’
In any other circumstances, Jade would have smiled. But she didn’t feel at all like smiling today. Shock was still numbing her brain.
She turned off the lights, locked up and went into the cottage. She and Finn didn’t often row. He wasn’t often angry. Certainly she’d never seen any sign of violence in him. Even when Aiden had thrown a punch at him last summer, he hadn’t retaliated. In fact, if anyone had asked her before today if Finn was a pacifist, she’d have said yes, he probably was.
So what had happened just now? Had Finn really thought she’d kissed another man or had Declan just goaded him into it? The way he’d spoken, the cockiness in his voice, had been enough to rile a saint. She and Finn had a lot of talking to do, but whatever Finn had thought, he surely hadn’t been justified in hitting Declan.
OK, so she’d not told him about the dinner, but she hadn’t lied to him. She hadn’t been going behind his back. She still felt guilty as hell though.
She found Finn sitting in the lounge, doing something with a pack of peas and a tea towel.
‘Are you hurt?’ She moved quickly across the room.
‘Yeah. I think I might have broken something in my wrist when I hit that muppet.’
‘Let me see. Where does it hurt?’
‘I thought you trained as a vet, not a doctor,’ he objected mildly, but he moved the makeshift ice pack and showed her.
‘I think you might have injured your scaphoid. You’ll need an X-ray to be sure. And if you have broken it, it’ll need treating.’ She realised she was preaching to the converted. The resigned acknowledgement in his eyes told her he already knew.
‘Yes, I know. When I was a first aider I saw a guy who’d done the same thing. That was after a fight too. Hopefully it’s not broken. But I need to check. Painting’s going to be out for a while if I have.’
Jade felt a wave of coldness as the enormity of that situation hit her. ‘You can’t stop painting. What about the exhibition?’
‘Hopefully Eleanor will have enough of my work without me doing any more.’ He blinked a couple of times. ‘It serves me right. I shouldn’t have hit him. I just saw red.’
She knelt on the carpet. ‘Come on, I’ll drive you to hospital.’
‘Thanks.’ He held the frozen peas against his wrist. ‘I’ll keep this on and keep my fingers crossed. Metaphorically anyway.’ He managed a wry grin. ‘We need to talk. But we can do that at the hospital. I need to know exactly what’s been going on here, Jade.’
She felt another wave of shame. If she’d just told him everything before, none of this would have happened. She had a feeling it was going to be a very long night.