Chapter Thirty-Six
Finally, when she could put it off no longer, she called Geoffrey and Simon and then started to call her clients. Everyone sounded supportive on the phone, but she wondered how many, if any, would return to her when her name was cleared.
Absentmindedly she sipped at her coffee again then got up and poured it down the sink. The press pack had left an hour ago and the security detail, Jeremy and Charles, said they would be back at eight the next morning, just in case. Charles handed her his card and said if she had any trouble in the night to call and they would be over. When she asked if she should have Jeremy’s card as well Charles just laughed.
‘He’d sleep through an earthquake. Just call me and I’ll nudge him. We can be with you in ten minutes so don’t hesitate.’
Thanking them, Nick wondered what it was like working with your partner. Would you get fed up with each other or would it bring you closer together?
Muttering to the dog she picked up the phone. ‘Ohana, it’s time to be bold.’
Gabe answered on the first ring. ‘Is everything okay?’
Just that simple concern almost undid her but Ohana seemed to sense her indecision and gave a quick bark of support.
‘Is that Ohana – have the reporters come back? I’ll call the security team. ’
Nick would have been happy to just listen to him talk, She could imagine him, his eyes darting around the room as he quickly drew up some options.
‘No, everything is fine. I’ve just decided to take up your offer of accommodation, just for a week or two. And I have to pay rent.’
‘You don’t, but whatever you want. I’ll be over shortly.’
That caught Nick on the hop. ‘I thought you’d need to hire a larger car?’
‘Did it when I left earlier today.’
‘How on earth did you know I’d change my mind?’
‘Because this is the right thing to do. I know you don’t like to rush things but I figured you’d get to this conclusion sooner or later. Now, start packing I’ll be over in a jiffy.’
***
Three hours later they were heading into the Cotswolds. Ohana sat on Nick’s lap and Gabriel spent most of the drive chatting about the house he and his brother were renovating.
Parscombe Court was built in the early 1800s. It was a huge, imposing building in the Palladian style – tall windows and columns nestled between the warm Cotswold stone. At first it had simply been a very wide house in the shape of a rectangle, but subsequent generations had added two wings at either end, forming a capital letter I. However, a fire in the 1940s had gutted the main body of the house. Unable to repair the extensive damage, the owners had pulled the centre down, leaving the two wings standing in woeful isolation. Trekking the two hundred metres between each wing in the wind and the rain was miserable so the family retreated into one wing, leaving the other to deteriorate. For a couple of years it sat in probate after the last resident died and then the beneficiaries of the will took one look at the properties and walked away in horror. A few years later they decided to sell it when Rafe approached them and asked if they were interested in getting rid of it.
Now the brothers had all their hopes pinned on it being their ticket to an independent business and launching their careers.
As Gabe chatted on, Nick sat watching the passing countryside. She had taken a leap of faith that this was the right thing to do, and she was feeling unsure and vulnerable. But as Gabe filled the silence with his easy-going charm, she felt that everything might just work out.
The car turned off the main road as the sun was gradually sinking. Two imposing buildings stood out against the evening sun – they looked wrong without the central building joining them – and Nick thought privately that for all their size and grandeur they weren’t a patch on Hiverton.
Gabe showed Nick around the building she would be staying in and then the one they were renovating. Hers was only marginally more habitable than the building site. In fact, the way the renovations were coming along Nick could see that soon the building site was going to be a very desirable property. Her building, on the other hand, was the poster boy for shabby chic with very little chic in evidence. Worn rugs, bare floorboards, buckets in the attic, and an oven from the Ark. Two bedrooms were made up with two decent beds, and a sitting room had some sofas and a table – it looked like the brothers had raided local charity shops for some quick furnishings.
‘We sold everything else to raise funds, although the good stuff had gone decades ago. Probably to cover the death duties.’
Nick and Gabe walked around the echoey rooms. ‘Once the other property is sold, we’ll have enough to bring this one up to spec and hopefully at the end of it enough money, experience and reputation to shake free of the family altogether.’
Nick noticed that whenever he said the family, she could almost hear the capital letters. It was hard for her to comprehend having family members, blood relatives, that you despised. She certainly had no love for her grandparents that had rejected them, but they were dead. How would she feel about her father’s mother if she found her?
The air between them was uncomfortable and Nick wasn’t sure what to say. She had lapsed into silence and was now uncertain how to proceed. She wanted to be back to how things were on the island but since then his family and her investigation seemed to have come between them.
Rummaging around in the kitchen, Gabe put some jacket potatoes in the oven and when they were almost done, put some beans in a pan and opened a bottle of red. The evening passed quickly, as they debated whether the grated cheese went on the potato or the beans and generally talked about nothing at all.
Gabe grinned at Nick with a challenging look, then waved a packet of cards at her. ‘Time for me to redress the balance, I think. ’
She smirked and stretched her knuckles out in front of her. ‘Come on then.’
***
Half an hour later he challenged her to a best of three, laughing as she shuffled the cards again.
‘So, Gabe, when you sell this place for oodles of cash, what will you do?’
Gabe talked as he dealt the next hand. ‘Probably leave my current chambers. Maybe leave the profession altogether. I’ve lost the sense of enjoyment I used to have in work. I think I need something new in my life.’
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Confused, Nick changed the subject. ‘What about Rafe?’
Gabe leant back and looked at his hand. If he was disappointed that Nick had changed the subject, he didn’t show it. ‘Well now, he does know what he wants. He will set up his own property development company. I think he really chafes at working so closely in the family business. I’m only on a retainer, but Raffy has plans and I want to help him with those. I may even join the business with him.’
Nick looked up from the cards she had been studying in surprise.
‘You’d give up all that training? Your professional life?’
‘It’s only a job, Letta. It’s not who I am.’
Nick played the wrong card and Gabe pounced, winning the next few sequences until she lost the hand entirely.
‘That’s your fault distracting me with revolutionary talk. “Only a job”. ’
‘I need every tool at my disposal if I’m going to beat you,’ chuckled Gabe. ‘Watch out for seditious rumours about a work/life balance coming your way soon.’
‘Work/life balance sounds like fighting talk to me. My work is my life,’ declared Nick.
Gabe stopped dealing and looked up at her thoughtfully. ‘I’d be happy to add a little turbulence?’
Was he flirting with her? She was certain he was, but how to respond, she always preferred the direct approach but at the moment she didn’t feel she could commit to anything.
‘I think I have all the turbulence I need in my life right now,’ she said in a cautious tone. ‘But when the court case is settled—’ she paused and smiled hesitantly ‘—yes, I’d like that.’
‘Right, well, on that note… I have an early start so I’m going to turn in.’
Nick was gutted; she would have played cards until dawn with him. Should she have been more eager? Now she was so disappointed it was ridiculous.
‘But you’re winning.’
Gabe paused and leant on the back of the kitchen chair. The curls in his fringe framed his eyes as he smiled warmly at her. Nick felt her heart glow as the two of them looked at each other, neither looking away.
‘I always retire when I’m ahead. Good night, Letta.’ And with a small bow he left the room.