Chapter 75
‘Holly, you don’t know these people. And that’s a fair old sail, across to those islands. Are you sure?’
‘I’m not sure about anything anymore,’ Holly admitted.
It was nearly twenty hours since Charlie had been taken. Another twenty or so before she and the others could set out on their journey to get him back. Craig’s friend’s boat simply wasn’t available until early Monday evening.
Forty hours of pretending everything was normal; that she wasn’t falling apart.
‘Is Charlie going with you,’ Coffie went on. ‘I know he likes boats, but—’
‘No.’ Holly dropped her eyes. She couldn’t look at Coffie and lie to him. ‘He’s staying with his dad for half-term week. And people sail to the Scilly Isles all the time, according to Craig and Tug. It’s not dangerous.’
Logan Quick, thank God, had agreed to them travelling independently. Craig had been proven right. For obvious reasons, Quick wanted to keep the trip under the radar.
‘And when you get there?’ Coffie asked. ‘When there’s a posse of armed guards waiting to meet you?’
Holly forced a smile. ‘He’s not a drug baron.’
‘We don’t know what he is, Holly. Other than a bloke with nothing to lose who’s messing with all your heads.’
Holly picked up the glass of wine Coffie had poured for her.
‘You look ill,’ he said. ‘Are you really sure you want to do this?’
‘I wish you could come,’ she said, without thinking.
Coffie’s reaction could barely be measured: a twitch of an eyebrow, a twist of the head, maybe a deepening of his stare. Tiny things. Discountable. Which made all the difference in the world.
‘I should go.’ She got ready to slide back her seat. If she stayed much longer, she’d break down, tell him everything. ‘It’s been good to get away from the media scrum.’
‘Move in here,’ he told her. ‘There’s plenty of room. Come as my flatmate, just till this will gets sorted out one way or another.’
No, Coffie. Not now. ‘I can’t.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because you and I can’t be flatmates. We both know what would happen if I moved in here.’
It was the first time any such admission had passed between them. Finally, he said, ‘And why is that a problem?’
Holly got to her feet. ‘I can’t do this right now. I’ve too much to think about.’
Coffie took a deep breath. ‘Yeah, that would be fine, Holly, except this thing with you and me didn’t start with Logan Quick’s will. You’ve been keeping me at a distance for as long as I’ve known you. And you won’t tell me why.’
Holly felt her eyes filling. ‘I can’t.’
She turned away. But somehow Coffie was standing directly in front of her.
How could he move that fast? She stood, breathing in the scent of him, feeling the warmth of his body inches from hers.
It would be the easiest thing in the world to let herself lean against him, wrap her arms around his waist, let events take their inevitable course. And the worst thing she could do.
Holly made a decision.
‘I need to show you something,’ she said.
Coffie didn’t move. ‘What?’
She took a step back. ‘Is your laptop handy?’
‘My laptop?’
‘Yes, where is it? There’s something you need to see.’
Picking up on the urgency in her tone, he crossed the room and took his laptop from its case. He put it down on the dining table and opened it up.
She waited until Coffie had stepped away before typing Cornish Courtesans into the search engine.
The home page came up quickly. Nine photographs appeared beneath the heading, in three rows of three.
The picture headed Tamara, showing a brunette on all fours, bare arse towards the camera, was in the centre row.
She clicked on it and her own page flashed up.
Well, at least Coffie could say he’d seen her naked now.
She could hear him, behind her, breathing.
‘I’m being blackmailed.’ She made herself turn round and look him in the eye.
‘By the friend who took the photographs. I’ve given him three grand already and as soon as he finds out about Logan Quick’s will he’ll bleed me dry.
He won’t wait for it to be finalised. I’ll have to stop paying for my dad’s care, which means he’ll go into a home. It will break him.’
Coffie, to his credit, hadn’t looked away.
‘Now,’ she said. ‘Are you sure this is something you want to get involved with?’
No reply. She gave him seconds. Too many seconds. Then she pushed past him, picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder.
‘Thanks for the drink.’ Holly avoided eye contact as she opened the front door. ‘I’ll see you at work.’
Coroline wasn’t thrilled by the late-night phone call, even less at Holly’s decision to leave the agency immediately, but when the circumstances were explained, she agreed to have all of Tamara’s photographs taken off the website first thing in the morning.
She went further, too, and assured Holly that the website manager could do some sort of deep clean so that the pictures wouldn’t show up on any but the most vigorous of historical searches.
Holly’s phone rang as she was finally getting into bed. It was Coffie.
‘Hi,’ she said, telling herself it meant nothing; those bridges had been well and truly burned.
‘I’ve got a mate in CID,’ he told her. ‘I think I can persuade him to pay your friend a discreet visit and remind him of the UK’s anti-blackmailing laws.’
Did he really think she hadn’t thought of that herself?
‘In the meantime, the advice is to have no further contact with the blackmailer. Block his number and don’t respond to any communication you get from him.’
If only it were that easy.
‘Please don’t get involved,’ she said. ‘You’ll make things worse.’
‘Holly …’
‘No, listen. I’ve left the agency. Those photographs should be down first thing in the morning.
But Chris won’t give in easily. Even if he can’t harm me professionally, he’ll take his photographs to Charlie’s dad and Tim will believe him.
He’ll use it in a custody battle and then I’ll be faced with having to deny it in court. Which is—’
‘A criminal offence,’ finished Coffie.
‘I’ll deal with it, Coffie. Stay out of it, please.’
She put the phone down before he could say anything else.
Now that she’d left the agency, it was unlikely Chris could do anything to damage her career.
The photographs, if made public, would be embarrassing but not proof in themselves that she’d ever been an escort.
And sharing indecent private images without permission was an offence in itself, so it was unlikely Chris would take that risk.
He could easily, though, make trouble with Tim.
Tim would choose to believe him. Tim could use the accusation in a custody hearing and then the onus would be on her to prove he was lying. Which she couldn’t do.
And all this was assuming that Charlie was safely returned.
For the first time since her son had been born, Holly considered the possibility that Charlie was better off without her.