CHAPTER 56
Jess ducked back into her office with Snuggles and locked the door, rubbing the dog’s ears to keep him quiet. Outside in the foyer, she could hear people shouting and running, and she sent up a quick prayer that people would leave by all the exits, to create a proper diversion.
Minutes later, the foyer quietened and she stuck her head outside. There was nobody around. “Come on, boy.” She took him into the foyer and ran straight into Emily, who was holding Diva.
Jess tightened her grip on Snuggles’ lead as both dogs began barking.
“Jess!” Emily’s eyes widened. “Where’s the fire? Nobody seems to know!”
“Not a clue!” God, she was running out of time – maybe she should come clean with Emily.
“Mr Neary should figure it out pretty quickly,” Emily said, holding tightly on to Diva, who was trying to jump out of her arms. “He can see all the smoke alarms on his iPad so he’ll know which one was triggered.”
Shit! “We’d better just get out, Em.”
“Right, yeah.” Emily frowned. “How come you have Snuggles, by the way?”
“Long story, just don’t tell anyone, okay? And um, I can’t come with you. Don’t worry, I’m getting out another way.” When she noticed Emily’s frown, she added, “Just trust me.”
Emily bit her lip and nodded, hurrying out through the castle’s main entrance as Jess ran with Snuggles to the west entrance, where she stopped, breathing hard. She messaged Adam again. 2nd distraction coming now.
She slipped outside, skirting close to the castle walls as she kept Snuggles on a short lead.
When she’d gone as far as she dared, she ducked in behind one of the original merlons – small, jutting defence walls that still existed in places around the castle wall – and squinted towards the open gate – which she knew would stay open thanks to the automated fire system.
Snuggles strained against her hold. “Wait for it, boy!”
Her phone buzzed, and with her free hand she pulled it out of her pocket and thumbed open the message from Adam. Ready when U R
Please let this work. Heart thumping fast, Jess unclipped Snuggles’ lead and pulled off his muzzle. “Off you go, boy!”
Barking loudly, Snuggles tore off across the grounds, running in circles for a few moments before heading in the direction of the gates. All she needed was for the assembled photographers to scatter. She held her breath.
Why hadn’t she thought this out better? Snuggles was a dog – not a person who could understand complex instructions. Or read her damned mind!
Now, the paparazzi started to back quickly away from the gates, but to Jess’s horror one photographer slipped inside the grounds and started to snap photos of Snuggles as he approached. The big dog skidded to a halt and leaped on top of him, toppling him to the ground.
Shit! That one was definitely on her. But as she glanced towards the unguarded gate, she saw two figures slip in and run towards her. Adam had his arm clamped tightly around Afric’s shoulders, as she kept her head low, her hair and most of her face obscured by her hood.
“Well played,” he said as he reached Jess. “Take Afric inside. I’ll go get Snuggles, and rescue that photographer from being licked to death.”
Jess took Afric’s hand and pulled her back along the wall, not stopping until they were back inside the entrance to the west wing.
Afric tugged down her hood. “Who’s got Diva?”
“Emily. She’s fine.”
“Thanks.” Afric shrugged. “Sorry again about the tunnel, but I’m not sure why we couldn’t have just done this in the first place.”
Say nothing, Jess. “Don’t forget, you’ve had a stomach flu. And you had to have the doctor out earlier to give you a shot to stop the vomiting. But you’re feeling a lot better now.”
From the direction of the foyer, they could hear the sound of raised voices.
“It looks like people have figured out there’s no fire,” Jess said. “You should go ahead without me. Those producers are looking forward to seeing you.”
Afric huffed and gestured to her tangled hair. “I don’t want to meet them looking like this!”
“Actually, you look exactly like someone who’s been very sick,” Jess said flatly. “All you have to do is act.”