‘Grace, Grace, Grace,’ he said, ushering me into his office. ‘How has it taken us so long to meet?’
‘It’s very kind of you to offer to see me,’ I said, gazing around the room. It was large but seemed cramped somehow. It probably had to do with the walls, which were covered from floor to ceiling with signed photos of celebrities. Some of them were dead now, I was sure. He’d obviously been in the business a long time.
‘It’s my pleasure, dear girl,’ he said, sitting down in front of me, at an enormous desk, empty but for a phone, a laptop and a notepad. ‘I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to have you here.’
‘So,’ I said. ‘Do you think you can do anything for me?’
‘Oh, my dear.’ He clasped his hands together. ‘With your looks? I mean, just look at you. Your figure! That hair! Those eyes! Those cheekbones!’ He paused briefly to give a satisfied sigh. ‘And, of course, you’ve come here at such a serendipitous moment.’
He paused theatrically, waiting for me to speak. I didn’t. I could only look at him, wondering if he’d gone stark staring mad. Was he even talking about me? I think he thought I didn’t understand what serendipitous meant because when he started talking again, he repeated it, complete with explanation.
‘Serendipitous, darling. Fortune is smiling upon you, my dear. Just when that footballer…’ He wrinkled his nose in distaste. ‘…Has been such a very bad boy, and that naughty girl Kitty has gone AWOL. Oh, I’m cross with her. I am. I’d be a liar if I said otherwise, but it’ll all come out in the wash.’
He stopped again for a moment and looked at me, consideringly. ‘Now, let me see. What have I got at the moment?’
He leafed through his notebook, before throwing it down in disgust and turning to his laptop. He perched a small pair of glasses on the tip of his nose and seemed to be looking down a list. Every now and again, he’d turn back to look at me.
‘Hmm, no,’ he said, on one occasion. ‘You’re a bit…thin. My dear, you do need to eat, you know. It’s a man you’ve lost, you know – not a pair of Manolos. It’s not the end of the world.’
I smiled, in spite of myself. He was eccentric, but he seemed to have a good heart. I could see why Kitty doted on him. The luvvy-meter must have been maxed out, when they were in here together.
‘Why don’t we try you with a little spot on This is the Morning to start with?’ he said, finally, looking at me over his glasses. ‘Just a quick chat. You know the sort of thing.’ He put on a woebegone face. ‘Oh, well, I was utterly destroyed by it but, you know, I’ve picked up the pieces and I’m stronger now… That sort of thing. Get the audience’s sympathy. Make them like you, then…wham! You’re available for public appearances.’
‘I don’t know,’ I said, thinking maybe it had all been a horrible mistake. I went to get up. ‘I’m sorry. I should’ve thought this through. I didn’t think. I mean, it’s not like I’m a celebrity, like Kitty.’
‘Not a celebrity?’ Jimmy jumped up from his seat and came round to my side of the desk, settling me back down in my seat. ‘Who’s not a celebrity? Let’s do a search, shall we?’
He turned the laptop to face me and, carefully, using two fingers, typed in Gr. The first search result that came up – with only those two letters – was Grace Anderton. I sat back in my chair, feeling floored.
‘And let’s click on some of those links, shall we?’ he said, pressing very precisely on the mouse.
The first was a news website, the second an entertainment site, and the third, a chat room for teenagers. All of them had features or discussions about me.
‘And look. There’s pages of them.’ Jimmy clicked onto the fourth page, and it was the same. ‘And images – hundreds of them.’
Nearly all of them with Leo, I noticed ruefully. It’d been the only time, up until now, anyone had wanted to take a photo of me.
‘You see, my dear,’ he said, putting his arm around me. ‘You hiding yourself away like that – you’ve turned yourself into a sought-after commodity. Everyone’s going to want a piece of you. Not like Kitty.’ He rolled his eyes and gave a shudder as if trying to rid himself of the thought. ‘Between you and me, I can’t give her away at the moment, but don’t tell her I said that.’
I stared at the screen in horror. No wonder the Filth Monger – I couldn’t think of him as Nathaniel – had paid those guys off. He must have realised they were sitting on a goldmine.
‘In fact,’ Jimmy sat back down at his desk and spun the laptop back to face him. ‘I think, if you were to agree to an interview, we might be looking at a bidding war.’
‘A bidding war?’ I echoed, trying to take it all in. ‘For me?’
‘Oh, yes.’ He sat back in his seat, looking pleased with himself. ‘And that’s just the start of it. I can see great things ahead for you, Grace.’
I just nodded, unable to process the enormity of what he was saying.
By the time I left, I had the feeling my life was never going to be the same. Instead of finding the nearest Tube station, or trying to work out a bus route, I hailed a cab and headed back to Liv’s…in style.
Twenty Eight
Him
As soon as I’d concluded my business with Leo Sparkes, I headed over to the Castle. I was still smarting from the conversation in the car earlier, and I wondered, once again, why I was still pursuing this business with Grace – why I was still pursuing this business at all. It all stemmed back to Aimee, and I knew I was cursed to carry on indefinitely or, at least, until I found redemption – like that was ever going to happen. Aimee was still everywhere, in everything I did.
Even though I knew in my heart it was best I kept away from Grace, for the moment at least, I hadn’t been able to help myself. I’d really thought I was getting somewhere with her, there in the café. I’d done my best to hold back, in the hopes that she might give me some sort of indication of her feelings, and I’d actually thought she was beginning to like me.
Then, she’d come straight out with it in the car. She’d only got in touch with me for my help – because I was the only one who could help her. And why did she think that? Because of that damn fool card I’d given her. It was my own fault for being so hopelessly inept, and now there was nothing I could do but suck it up.
And that boyfriend of hers. What the hell had he been doing with himself? The man – if he could be called one – was a mess. The whole apartment was a state – reeked of curry, with beer cans all over the coffee table and some video game playing on the flat screen. He was lost without her, that much was obvious, but his belligerent attitude hadn’t exactly gone down well with some of my men.
Mother was waiting on the steps of the Castle as I pulled up. I wondered how long she’d been standing there. It was gone seven and the sun was low behind the turrets, the steps in shade.
I got out of the car quickly. ‘Mother – where’s your cardigan? Who let you come out here like this?’
‘Let me?’ She turned her cheek up to me to be kissed. ‘I know you think I’m gaga, darling, but I’m still Mistress of this estate, and don’t you forget it. Not your precious Ronnie,’ she added in a stage whisper.
‘Ronnie’s just overseeing things,’ I said. ‘I can’t expect you to run the place when I’m not around. Not with…’ I trailed off, not wanting to upset her with further mention of her mental state. ‘Not with Father the way he is. How is he?’ I added, feeling duty-bound to enquire after the old man’s health.
‘Come and see him,’ she said. ‘He’s quite bright today.’
I allowed her to lead me away from the steps and round to the East wing of the old pile. We went in through the back, into the quarters they lived in now. The main house had too many stairs, was just far too big for the pair of them now. I’d moved them out when my father had become ill, and Mother had started to lose her way…and her marbles. She’d been found in the library, crying and saying she’d never seen the place before. It might even have been true – Father was precious about his privacy – but it wasn’t something the staff felt able to cope with on a regular basis, which it quickly became.