Chapter 31 #4
The concierge is unusually away from his desk when I get back to the Shard. I have a strange feeling, one that I can’t describe, like someone or something is watching me, as I wait for the lift. I walk backwards into the lift, looking around the ground floor, but there’s nothing to see.
Still, I slam the apartment door behind me and quickly lock it.
After working out how to use Gregory’s super-techy sound system, I manage to get the tunes from my phone playing in the kitchen and lounge.
My hips swing and my head bobs along to Ed Sheeran .
By my reckoning, I have around forty minutes before Gregory’s home.
Under Sandy’s instruction, I boil the broccoli and make a saucy concoction of cream, stilton, corn flour and some less important bits of seasoning.
Whilst those things are cooking, I cut some potatoes into chunky chip size and put them into the oven with oil.
‘Okay, we’re under control,’ I tell myself between singing along to Ed.
Gregory should be just minutes away by the time I drain the broccoli and pour it with the sauce into the blender. I’m about to place the lid on the blender when I smell burning.
‘Chips!’
I ditch the lid and fling open the oven door to expose a load of hot, smoky air.
‘Crap!’
I pull the chips from the oven and rest them on a chopping board in their tray, utterly inedible.
I turn back to the blender and just as I flick the switch to ON, the smoke alarm starts to sound, then the contents of the blender is swished out of the top where I’ve forgotten to place the lid.
Warm soup is spitting all over me, the smoke alarm is blazing, I’m screaming and I can’t find the OFF switch.
As I pull the plug from the wall, Gregory bursts through the apartment door, closely followed by Jackson, panic evident on their faces.
Gregory stops when he sees me and Jackson almost runs into the back of him.
Wiping soup from my face with the back of my hand, I look down to see the cheesy liquid splattered over my body from head to toe. Ed Sheeran stops singing about building a Lego house. The black chips stare at me from the bench. The smoke alarm is still blazing.
Raising my arms up with what I hope is an adorable smile, I say, ‘I tried.’
Jackson is first to laugh, then we’re all at it, though Gregory’s laugh is short-lived. Jackson takes a tea towel from the bench and wafts it under the smoke alarm until it’s silent.
‘You went out then?’ Gregory asks.
‘I hate to state the obvious but I’ve been going outdoors without supervision for about twenty years.’
Jackson quietly takes himself off to his room.
‘Things are different right now.’
‘What happened?’
He sighs. ‘Get yourself cleaned up and we’ll talk. Is there anything we can salvage here?’
‘A bottle of wine and cheesy-soup-covered steak.’
‘I’ll order in. And next time, tell me if you want a home-cooked meal. I employ Amy for that.’
By the time I’ve showered, changed into a fresh pair of jeans and a shirt and blow-dried my hair, two steaks have arrived, not covered in cheesy soup and certainly cooked better than I would have managed.
Gregory is pouring the wine, his shirt unbuttoned by three but still tucked into his navy trousers. Too damn sexy.
‘Maybe this was a better idea,’ I concede.
He slides a glass of wine in my direction and leans forwards, his hands gripping the edge of the kitchen island.
‘This can’t be good.’
He takes a drawn-out drink from his glass.
‘Don’t try to sugarcoat it; just tell me.’
‘This was hand-delivered to the office today,’ he says, unfolding an old-looking document onto the island and sliding it across to me.
I’m looking at the birth certificate of Gregory James Pearson but there’s a cross made with pen through his name. Next to the field for Mother, there’s also a cross through Lara Olivia Pearson . The only name not crossed is that next to Father, Kevin James Pearson.
‘Your birth certificate?’
‘Ryans is my mother’s maiden name.’
‘Okay. And this was delivered to your office?’
‘I spoke to my mother earlier and she said she hasn’t had it since South Africa. We just left; there were things she didn’t have time to find. If we could buy it or replace it, we left it.’
‘So you think Pearson had this and delivered it to your office?’
‘This afternoon, when you were there. The notes, the?—’
‘The wedding ring.’
He shoots me a questioning glare. ‘How do you know about that?’
‘Is that you confessing that you were keeping things from me again? It doesn’t matter how I know. What does it mean? He’s coming for us?’
‘I think the only question is when and where.’
Goose pimples rise under the hairs on my arms. I gulp from my wine glass.
‘What’re we going to do?’ I try and fail to suppress the tremor in my voice.
‘You’re going to start listening to Jackson and me.
Jackson will be with us and he’s got more guys at my mother’s house.
He’s got extra security for the party. But I won’t just wait for him, not this time.
Jackson’s pulled a team together to find him before he finds us.
The problem is, he has no base here. He doesn’t live in England and he doesn’t have a routine. ’
I take two deep breaths as subtly as I can. ‘Do you…’ My voice breaks so I cough to disguise my fear. ‘Do you think… How far will he go?’
Gregory refuses to meet my eye. His reaction alone is enough to give me the honest answer but he says, ‘We can’t know for sure.’
‘And you still don’t think the police should be involved?’
Gregory doesn’t respond. I know exactly why the police can’t be involved and it terrifies me. The thought that something might happen to him is unbearable.
We eat in relative silence. In bed, we both lie awake, staring at the ceiling. My mind flits from fear to anger and each time I sneak a glance at Gregory’s open eyes, I wish I could tell what mix of emotions he’s feeling.
I want this to end. However it happens, I just want him to be free.