Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
I finished the scenery, took several shots on my phone, and sent them to Abi. She rang me and squealed down the phone. ‘Oh, my goodness, Rachel, that’s amazing. That sky is so dramatic and I love the stable.’
‘I’m glad you like it.’
Abi laughed. ‘Like it? I love it. Seriously, you have some talent there.’
‘Thanks, that means a lot.’
I packed everything up and made my way home. On the way I thought about Ben, our kiss, and the rumours of him being a player. Inside me, a war was raging. Half of me wanted to run away from him and protect my wounded heart. However, the other half of me wanted to kiss him again and ignore the rumours.
The manor house was silent when I entered. I assumed everyone was asleep but I was wrong as Aunty Bev was sitting at the kitchen table. She’d taken out her curlers and her long brown hair extensions were full of bouncy curls. Her pearl-coloured silk shirt offset her dark, tanned skin. At her feet was a snoozing Humphrey.
‘You still up?’ I said, as she lifted her head and grinned. She gestured for me to grab a glass and join her in a bottle of red. Once she’d poured me a glass, she leaned back with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
My heart began to thump. Aunty Bev was making me nervous. Over the years we’d all been witness to one of Aunty Bev’s impish looks. They usually preceded trouble like when she announced one family Christmas that she was going on a cruise with a ninety-year-old millionaire who had paid for her ticket and had agreed to cover all costs. That announcement had started with the same look of mischief. My mother nearly dropped the roast turkey in shock as she carried it to the table.
There was also the time when Aunty Bev announced to the family on WhatsApp she was getting back into singing. She’d sent us all a photo of her grinning with a microphone in her hand. Two nights later she sent us a clip of her getting on stage at a rock concert and doing a duet with the lead singer.
A sense of unease passed over me.
‘I have the keys to the west wing,’ she grinned. ‘I might have borrowed them from the cleaner’s handbag in the hallway. I am going into the west wing.’
I gasped. ‘You can’t do that.’
Aunty Bev shrugged. ‘Layla won’t miss them now. She made the mistake of telling me she cleans both sides of the house and that Frank has banned her from showing the west wing to anyone. It was like showing a red flag to a bull. Rachel, you know how I have spent my life struggling with the word, “no”. You’d think I would have understood it in my fifties, but it’s getting worse. I’ve been waiting for you to get home as I hate being naughty by myself.’
The thought of betraying Layla made me shake my head. ‘Aunty Bev, I can’t get Layla in trouble.’
Aunty Bev rolled her eyes before leaning across the table. ‘Aren’t you curious?’
‘About what’s in there? Yes, I am.’
Aunty Bev drained her glass. ‘I smell a rat in this manor house. Something is not right, and I am going to get to the bottom of it.’
‘But what happens if Frank has cameras set up and he sees you entering the west wing?’
She laughed. ‘He’s too busy doing deals in Malibu and anyway you’ve had Layla stay with you. If he’d been paying attention to his cameras, he would have sent you instructions to have her removed. She told me how vile he has been to her and how she must leave her employment come the first of January.’
I felt uncomfortable. ‘This feels like we are invading their privacy but…’
‘What?’ Aunty Bev frowned.
‘I can’t talk. I am sleeping in a bedroom in the west wing. I took Grandpa into Frank and Maddie’s master bedroom and I let him borrow one of Frank’s suits.’
Aunty Bev poured herself another glass of wine. ‘I know you’re worried about your sister, Rachel. Now, I don’t like my sisters much, but if one of them was in a weird marriage to someone like Frank I would be doing what I could to find out what was going on behind locked doors. You’re different to me in that you and Maddie have always been close.’
I hang my head. ‘It’s been on my mind for ages, Aunty Bev.’
‘Great,’ said Aunty Bev, ‘let’s stop stewing over this. I am feeling naughty.’ She rose from the table and dangled the keys. ‘Let’s go exploring.’
‘But Layla…’ I tried to stop Aunty Bev but she turned around.
‘Maddie is your sister. Your loyalties are to her.’
Nausea ate away at me as we headed for the reception hall. Aunty Bev rubbed my arm. ‘Don’t look so scared, Rachel. Frank won’t know and even if he did – what exactly is he going to do from Malibu?’
‘I know but what if…’
Aunty Bev slotted a key into the door adjacent to the east wing living room. It wasn’t the right key, so she tried another until she had success. ‘Bingo,’ she said, with a cackle of laughter. She turned the handle and opened the door.
We stepped inside and Aunty Bev flicked on the lights. We both gasped in awe. It was a living room the same size as the one in the east wing. However, it was nothing like the east wing. It was funky and cool with raspberry-coloured walls, a white ceiling, a white fireplace, purple sofas and several distressed brown wooden cabinets, shelves, and bookcases.
‘Why are they hiding this from us?’ Aunty Bev gushed, running her hand over the purple fabric sofa. ‘This is much better than Frank’s lifeless living area.’
‘This must be Maddie’s living room,’ I said, surveying the furniture. ‘The bedroom I am staying in upstairs has a similar bold, colourful vibe.’
In one corner of the room was a collection of photos. My eyes were drawn to the familiar tall guy with black curly hair who was waving from a tractor in one photo and standing next to a horse in another. It was Josh. He was older now but still had that boyish smile.
I remember him from when I used to go visit Maddie at Oxford University and they’d both take me out for milkshakes. When he went to collect our drinks orders Maddie would gush about how cute his smile was. Had Frank seen these photos? I walked over to a desk which was tucked away at the back of the room. It was clear apart from an orange leather journal.
Aunty Bev came to stand beside me. She peered over my shoulder. ‘Look inside.’
Reading Maddie’s journal felt like a step too far. ‘I can’t do that.’
Aunty Bev shrugged and led the way through a door opposite the desk. After she turned on the light, we both gasped once more. We were in a kitchen-diner, painted in duck egg blue, with cream units. ‘So, Maddie has her own kitchen?’ Aunty Bev said, surveying the little jars of herbal tea.
‘Why would she need her own kitchen?’
Aunty Bev folded her arms across her chest and surveyed the room. ‘They’re living separate lives.’
‘What?’
She nodded. ‘He lives in the east wing, and she lives in this wing.’
‘But they’re newlyweds and…’ I thought back to their wedding, the way Frank tenderly kissed her once they were man and wife, the way she gazed at him adoringly outside during the wedding photos and the way they giggled like lovestruck teenagers at their reception.
Aunty Bev shrugged. ‘I don’t get it. If they were living separate lives, why would they go to such lengths to keep it a secret and tell everyone they only live in one part of the house because the other is too expensive.’
‘Maybe living separately works for them?’ I suggested. ‘They live inside this house 24/7 so this is how they stay sane?’
Aunty Bev let out a heavy sigh. ‘That’s another thing I don’t like. Why does he confine them to this house?’
‘He’s not liked in Harp Brook,’ I explained.
We walked back into the living room. I went to study the framed photo containing the front cover of the Hello magazine which featured their wedding.
‘Who the hell is Vanessa?’ Aunty Bev cried out. I whirled around to see Aunty Bev reading from Maddie’s journal. ‘Maddie has written – “Frank and Vanessa” and circled it in red pen. Do you think she suspects them of… having an affair?’
The blood drained from my face and my heart ground to a halt. Was that the secret Layla was referring to? On jellied legs I staggered over to the desk where Aunty Bev was stood. Aunty Bev lifted her gaze up from the journal. ‘Who is Vanessa?’
‘She owns the pub in town. Everyone fears her, and she’s been horrible to Layla. Her son was the guy who made Layla homeless. Layla did say there were rumours about Vanessa and Frank. I thought he’d argued with her or something as she said something about how Frank had made things worse.’
‘I want to read more,’ said Aunty Bev, closing the journal and placing it under her arm. My heartbeat quickened. Instinctively I snatched it back. ‘No, we’ve read enough. I think we should put it back. Those are Maddie’s inner and private thoughts.’
Aunty Bev shrugged and placed the journal back on the desk. ‘I have a feeling we will regret not reading more. Do you know when me and my sisters were younger, I read all their diaries in secret? Did you know Karen thought Robert had a wandering eye at sixteen? Some things never change. Jackie has always liked weird men and Polly had a fling with a woman before she met Kevin.’
I ignored her family gossip. ‘Let’s get out of here. I need a drink.’
Once we’d locked up Aunty Bev placed the keys back where she’d found them, and we went to sit in the kitchen.
‘Frank’s having an affair and he’s bank-rolling my sister,’ groaned Aunty Bev, pouring herself a glass of wine.
‘We don’t know for sure,’ I said, trying to think calmly. ‘We don’t know why she circled their names.’
Aunty Bev continued. ‘I have done some stupid things in my time, but they don’t come close to letting a man like Frank buy me a villa in Tenerife.’
‘What shall we do?’
Aunty Bev shook her head. ‘We need to sleep on it. Maybe the affair is why they are leading separate lives?’
I ran my hands through my hair. ‘She and Frank seemed happy.’
Aunty Bev drained her glass. ‘Appearances can be deceiving.’
It was Ben’s face that flashed up inside my head. Was I being deceived by his outwardly nice-guy appearance?