Chapter 37
‘ MORE COFFEE? ’ MAGGIE ASKED , smiling brightly at David in the dining room on his first morning.
‘Please.’
Audrey had started breakfast, but she’d grumbled about her back when Maggie came downstairs and immediately gone outside for a cigarette.
‘I hope you slept well,’ she told him, topping up his mug.
‘I did. Thank you, although I woke to a rather strange alarm call, so I stuck my head through the windows and saw the donkeys.’
‘Yeah, sorry, they can be, um, enthusiastic in the morning.’
David laughed. ‘Made a pleasant change to my iPhone.’
‘I’m sure. Can I get you anything else?’ Maggie cast a glance over his table.
‘I’m all set. But can I just ask … I couldn’t help but do some Googling of this place last night and I gather it was quite the hotel?’
‘Yep, it was. My aunt liked a party.’
‘I’m so sorry. That she died, I mean,’ he added, as a look of confusion crossed her face. ‘Were you close?’
‘Er, kind of, but if you’re all good here I mi—’
‘What’s going to happen to this place?’
‘It’s all being sorted out at the moment.’
‘So you don’t want to take it on?’
‘I live in London, so it’s a bit tricky.’
‘Ah, but that’s not a no,’ he teased.
‘It kind of has to be a no. My aunt …’ Maggie paused and frowned. She definitely didn’t need to tell this man about her aunt’s financial problems.
‘Your aunt?’
‘Never mind. I shou—’
‘Sorry, just one more question: is that Gray Hudson outside?’
David nodded through the French windows and she followed his gaze to see Gray, pacing around the swimming pool, talking into his AirPods.
‘Er, yes. Yes.’
‘Blimey. He been here for long?’
‘Um, a few days,’ she replied vaguely. This man had too many questions for this time of the morning.
‘Good place to hide out, I suppose?’ David suggested, with a chuckle.
‘Yes, but my aunt had a privacy policy here. So if you don’t mind …’
He winked reassuringly. ‘Secret’s safe with me.’
Maggie made her way back towards the hall where she almost collided with Gray as he came through the front door.
‘Hey,’ he said, removing his AirPods. ‘Nice dress.’
‘This?’ She looked down at another of Phil’s gypsy dresses. ‘Thanks.’
‘Listen, I’ve gotta FaceTime someone in LA but the signal’s playing up in my room. D’you mind if I do it in there?’ He pointed at the dining room.
‘In there?’ she checked, dropping her head back to see David looking towards them. There was something weird about him. Something that didn’t feel right. ‘Um … no, no, don’t go in there.’
Gray frowned. ‘What? Why not?’
She gestured him into the small, confined area behind the reception desk, concealed from the dining room.
‘Maggie, if you wanted to get so close, you could have just asked,’ he joked, as they stood huddled, just inches away from one another.
‘Shhhh, keep your voice down. You got your phone on you? OK, do me a favour, can you google David Donovan?’
‘Who’s that?’
‘Just do it.’
‘I’m on it. Yes, ma’am.’ Gray tapped at his screen and up popped various Google results which, Maggie saw immediately, were about himself.
She almost laughed, but caught her breath.
‘Just … keeping tabs,’ he mumbled, embarrassed.
‘Hey, could have been worse. You should see my search history,’ she joked, thinking of the gynaecological searches that she’d run in the past few years.
‘I would sincerely like to,’ Gray replied, looking up from his phone with a grin.
‘OK, not the moment, come on.’ She nudged his elbow. ‘I need to know this.’
‘David what was it?’
‘Donovan.’
‘Spelled like it sounds?’
‘Mmmhmm.’
‘Who is this guy?’ Gray checked, as the results flashed up.
‘Can I see?’
She peered at his screen. She was right: the results were hundreds of newspaper articles spilling over several Google pages. David Donovan was a journalist.
‘He’s a reporter for the Mirror ,’ she said quietly, before taking the phone and scrolling down. David Donovan seemed to have written about every celebrity she could think of; pages and pages of gossip speculating on their romances, their careers, stints in rehab, break-ups, fall-outs with other celebrities and, in a couple of cases, their sexuality.
‘Who is he?’
‘That guy,’ she said, sticking her thumb towards the dining room. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t know, he arrived yesterday and asked for a room because his other place had cancelled or something. And I let him. But then, just now, this morning, he was asking so many questions, and he asked about you and I …’ She looked up and looked doubtfully at Gray. ‘I mean, guess we don’t know that he’s definit—’
His face hardened. ‘A lying jerk? No, sure. But in all likelihood.’
‘What if he is here on holiday?’
‘This guy?’ Gray said, taking back his phone. ‘The guy who recently wrote a story about Beyoncé’s new cat? And …’ he paused and carried on scrolling, ‘seemingly every woman Harry Styles has ever dated? Jeez, he’s been … active. No way. It’s sweet of you, but trust me, this guy’s an asshole.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Why’re you apologizing?’
‘He shouldn’t be here. That’s the point of this place. These arseholes …’ Maggie peered towards the dining room, ‘aren’t supposed to get in, but he gave me his passport and said it would only be two nights and …’
‘Hey. You’re trusting. It’s a good trait. Pretty rare these days, actually.’
‘OK,’ she murmured, trying to summon up the courage to confront him. ‘I’ll just go back in and ask him to leave. I can do that. You stay out of sight. I can handle him. What?’ she added, when Gray looked uneasy.
‘I’d prefer to handle it.’
‘Why? You don’t think I can?’
‘No! God no. You’re an immensely capable woman. I realized that on day one when you ripped into me for missing dinner.’
Maggie rolled her eyes. ‘Ripped into you. Hardly. All I did wa—’
‘Kidding. It’s good for me, being put in my place. But no, just, these guys can be nasty and I don’t know how he’ll react so I think it’s better if I …’ Gray stopped and his face lifted in a smile.
‘What?’
‘I mean I could go in there or …’ he began, still smiling, ‘we could have some fun?’
‘What kind of fun?’
‘Get even with the guy? Take him on?’
‘Gray …’
He held his hands in the air, so close that Maggie could see the individual lines trailing across his palms. ‘I don’t mean anything illegal. I’d like to, I’d like to punch the guy so hard he craps his own teeth.’
‘Gray …’
‘But I won’t! I won’t. Just some fun. D’you trust me?’
‘I don’t know,’ she replied, teasingly.
‘Yeah, you do,’ he said, one corner of his mouth lifting in a grin, and Maggie smiled back, realizing that she did.
‘OK, you go in there and act normal,’ he instructed. ‘I need to think.’
‘About what?’
‘About our plan .’
‘I thought you had one?’
‘No! You have to think about these things. You never seen Home Alone ? That shit didn’t just happen by accident. But look’ – he checked the time on his phone – ‘I gotta do this Zoom because it’s late in LA.’
‘Why don’t you go do it on the other side. My aunt’s room. Through the kitchen and upstairs, first door on the left. Wi-Fi reaches up there.’
‘Thanks. Then I’ll figure it out.’
Maggie slid past him and out from the space behind the desk.
‘Oh, and Maggie?’
‘Mmm?’ She spun around.
‘Don’t let on that you know anything. Act normal.’
‘Coming from the guy who Googles himself?’
He dropped his head back and laughed. ‘Someone’s got their fighting gloves on.’
‘Sorry. Too far?’
‘Not at all,’ he replied, his eyes meeting hers. ‘I like it.’