Chapter 7 #2
Secrets! They were everywhere. Including her own family. She stepped outside the library and shot a text to Dan. She needed to see him, too.
Later that night, Lucy sat at her small dining table, laptop open, scrolling through everything she could find about Oliver. There was quite a lot. Just not much about his business.
Her apartment was on the top floor above the florist’s she co-owned.
It was a beautiful spot, with the fragrance of flowers drifting up and the ever-present sound of the sea through her open windows.
Small, yes. But what more did she need? It was her retreat — above the village, and yet still part of it.
Down one flight of stairs and she was back in the thick of the community.
Up here she could leave everything behind and feel as if no one could get to her.
Except now they had. He had.
From her window, if she looked straight back up the road from the sea, she saw on one side the community hall with the church perched on the hill behind it, and a line of old-style shops that included her café.
Opposite was the Old Colonial Hotel. Built in 1905, it had once been grand, catering to tourists up from Wellington on the newly laid rail tracks.
With each decade, it had slumped further.
Its character had quietly leached away. She’d hardly noticed it fade.
It had simply become part of the backdrop of her days.
But she noticed it now.
She rose and wandered to the window, pushing it wider to let the sea breeze in as she pondered what she’d discovered.
The only part of Oliver’s life he seemed willing to reveal on social media was his party side.
And judging by the photos, that must have taken up a considerable amount of time.
She flicked through pages of images of him with beautiful women and noted, with a twist of distaste she wasn’t particularly proud of, that the women all looked strangely similar.
Same hair, same figure, same blandly perfect faces.
She imagined the conversation was probably the same too.
Sex, she supposed. That would be the point.
Her phone chimed, and the little square of her door camera sprang to life. Her brother Dan stood outside.
Good. She’d ask him what to do. She’d always been closest to him.
‘Hey, Lucy-Loo.’ He kissed her cheek before stepping into the apartment and heading straight for the coffee machine.
‘Make yourself at home,’ she said facetiously. She liked that he did.
‘Have done already,’ he replied as he ground the beans, and twisted the coffee tray into position. He turned away as the machine filled his cup. ‘I need to keep my wits about me — I’m assuming you haven’t invited me over for a casual chat.’
‘You assume correctly,’ she said, leaning against the kitchen bench. ‘I need your expertise.’
‘And which one would that be?’ He took his coffee and sat down in an armchair, waving a hand airily. ‘I have so many.’
‘Well, it’s not your modesty.’
He grinned.
‘You’re a playboy, aren’t you, Dan? You like women.’
He held up his hands. ‘Guilty as charged.’
‘Excellent.’
‘Now that’s not something I thought my sister would say.’
‘That’s because your sister is interested in understanding a man with similar proclivities.’
His face darkened. ‘No way, Lucy. Do not get yourself involved with a womaniser.’
She couldn’t help but smile. ‘Do you think so badly of yourself? And others like you?’
‘You got me there. It was pretty good having my life. Not so good being involved with me.’
She frowned briefly at his choice of tense. Was? Had something happened to make him change?
He grimaced. ‘That doesn’t sound great, does it?’
She shook her head. ‘Not really. It kind of sounds selfish, Dan, if I’m honest.’
‘And you’re always that.’
She didn’t bother confirming the obvious. ‘Also, it doesn’t sound like the boy I looked up to when we were kids. I don’t remember you being selfish growing up.’
He jumped up, crossed to the window and shoved his hands into his pockets. He stared out at the clear blue sky, the South Island a dark smudge on the horizon. He took a fraction too long to turn back. She knew that meant she was right. Washington had changed him.
In a burst of affection, she slipped her arm through his and leaned her head against his shoulder. They both faced the view. It was easier to talk like that.
‘What made you change, Dan?’
She felt him shrug but didn’t move away. She’d tried to get it out of him before. Each time his resistance grew a little weaker. With every visit he stayed longer, and the gaps between visits grew shorter. She sensed he was coming home in more ways than one.
‘Which change? The “me” who became a selfish womaniser, or the “me” you see before you now?’
She patted his chest. ‘This “me”.’ She felt him inhale, her hand rising against his chest.
‘I fell for a woman, got entangled with someone who…’ He sighed heavily. ‘I don’t know… is “betrayed me” too dramatic?’
‘Oh, Dan!’ From the look on his face, Lucy didn’t think it was. He sounded so destroyed she could have wept. ‘I’m so sorry. We didn’t... I mean, I didn’t imagine it was anything like that.’
‘No, well, my track record with women was the opposite. I hate the thought now of how much I’ve hurt people in the past. But,’ he said between gritted teeth, ‘more than that, I hate how women can hide so many secrets, so successfully. I mean, how can you trust them?’
‘Not all women are like that, Dan. Not by a long shot.’
‘Yeah, well, I won’t be testing that assertion any time soon.’
‘So… you’ve returned to MacLeod’s Cove to escape your life, lick your wounds and avoid women.’
‘Something like that.’ He looked at her carefully. ‘So when did my little sister become so adept at psychoanalysis?’
‘It comes with the territory. Running a café. Talking to people, watching them ruin their lives one minute, make a success of them the next. Wanting things, running from things. People are tricky.’
‘Tell me about it,’ he said dryly, taking a sip of his coffee. ‘Anyway, why the summons?’
‘I, Dan, have an enemy.’ She spread her hands. ‘I’m at war. And the stakes are high.’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘Sounds serious.’
‘It is. You know my whole life is my café, my community, my family. I literally don’t want anything else.’
‘Not even a man? Or a woman, maybe?’
‘Neither, thanks. Not on anything more than a casual level.’ She took a breath. ‘Anyway, I need your help.’
‘You got it. What can I do?’
‘I need to know this man. Figure out what makes him tick, what the stakes are for him, if I’m going to fight off his advances.’
‘He’s making advances?’
‘Of course. But I’ve fought off the personal ones,’ she said crisply. ‘Now all I have to do is bury his business aspirations.’
‘And they are?’
‘He’s bought the Old Colonial Hotel.’
Dan looked genuinely surprised. ‘He’s going to renovate it? At last. That place has been needing someone to take it in hand before it disintegrates.’
‘No. I suspect he plans to demolish it. Then build something super-stylish to draw the crowds. What exactly, I don’t know. His plans aren’t public yet. But they will be soon. He’s in the consultation stage.’
‘That means something big.’
‘It does. Anyway, he won’t go ahead.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because I’m going to stop him.’
‘Ah, right. If anyone can, you can.’
‘Thanks for the vote of confidence. But I need your help. I’ve got Augustini —’
‘Who’s she?’
‘The librarian. She’s going to do some research for me. She’s also an independent researcher for government agencies.’
‘What’s she doing working in a tiny library, then?’
‘Goodness knows. She’s a bit of a recluse. Mum knows her a little. But my point is, I need more than that. I need your insight into his mental state, because God knows I don’t want to go there.’
‘So you’re leaving the dirty work to me.’
‘That’s about the sum of it.’
‘So what do you need to know?’
‘What makes a man like that tick? What’s his likely plan of attack?’
‘Easy.’ He leaned against the counter. ‘If he’s anything like…
erm, people I know, he’ll underestimate you.
Not that I would, obviously. But he might.
He’ll think he can persuade you with his charm that he’s really a good guy and then, once you’re thinking “what a lovely man”, he’ll make you see his plans are the best thing ever for the village.
My advice? Appear to go along with him. The worst thing you can do is attack him.
He’ll come out firing on all cylinders. No, if I were you, I’d keep his defences down so you can slip right past them. ’
‘Right. Interesting.’ She tapped her lips with her finger. ‘Keep your enemies closer kind of thing?’
‘Exactly. There’s just one crucial thing to be aware of.’
‘And that is?’
‘These people are very, very good at what they do best. Charm. Persuasion. You’ll have to keep your guard up all the time.’ He paused. ‘If you want to, that is. You might find you agree with him after he’s finished.’
‘And hell will freeze over.’
He laughed, checked the time on his phone, then slipped it into his pocket. ‘Anyway, I’d best be going.’
‘Got people to charm?’ she said with a grin.
But he didn’t grin back. ‘No. I said I’d give Sam a hand at the cottage. His usual helper’s not available.’
‘Liam?’ asked Lucy.
‘Yep. They don’t make five-year-olds like they used to. He is a cute kid, though, isn’t he?’
‘Very cute.’
Lucy watched him leave. She loved all her family but had always felt closest to Dan. It was hard watching someone you loved change before your eyes. But as she turned back to her laptop, she couldn’t help thinking that, just maybe, this time the change might be for the best.
She steepled her fingers, stretched her arms and sat back down at the computer.
She had grovelling to do. But not yet. First, she needed ammunition. And Oliver Perry-Warnes had just made himself her target.