‘Thanks.’ Maddy hesitated. ‘But that might be a bit ...’
Kerr raised his hands in acknowledgement. ‘OK. I know. Sony, I shouldn’t have said that. Oh, before you go, there’s one other thing that’s been puzzling me.’
Lovely. Something embarrassing, I hope. ‘What’s that?’
‘On Saturday night you didn’t recognise me. On Monday morning you did. I mean, I know it was dark in the garden, but it wasn’t that dark.’
Phew. Only semi-embarrassing, what a relief.
‘Vanity,’ said Maddy. ‘I’d lost one of my contacts and couldn’t bear to wear my glasses.’
‘So that’s what you’re wearing now? Contact lenses? I can’t see them at all,’ Kerr marvelled, moving closer.
‘Actually, that’s the general idea.’ Maddy obligingly tilted her head, allowing him to peer into her eyes. There was that aftershave again, and the giveaway fluttering action in the pit of her stomach. OK, surely ten seconds was enough .. .
Shifting her gaze, she saw that Kerr hadn’t been studying her lenses at all. He was looking at her. As their eyes met, the wing-flapping of the hummingbirds in her stomach intensified. Was he going to kiss her? He wanted to, that much was for sure. And she wanted him to, and he knew she wanted him to .. .
It was easy, Maddy discovered, to break the spell. All you had to do was imagine Marcella bursting into the office. Maddy took a step back and gave Kerr McKinnon a look of reproach.
‘Sorry.’ His smile rueful, he pushed his hair back with his fingers and shook his head. ‘Cheap trick.’
‘Very cheap trick.’
‘I couldn’t help myself.’
‘Just picture my mother with a gun in her hands.’
‘Right. That’s very helpful. Thanks.’
‘Any time,’ said Maddy, realising as she let herself out of the room that they were doing it again.
Making jokes about something that really wasn’t a joking matter.
Chapter 8
It was midday on Thursday and Kate was still in bed, buried under the duvet because in all honesty what was the point of getting up?
But she wasn’t asleep, which was hardly surprising considering the racket going on downstairs.
Her mother had visitors, judging by the snatches of laughter, the doors slamming and the click-clacking of high heels across the parquet flooring in the hall.
Finally she heard Estelle climb the staircase and call out something muffled.
Kate groaned and rolled over onto her back, wincing as the sunlight streamed in through the bedroom window and into her eyes. But trying to ignore her mother was pointless; when she wanted a reaction she was as persistent as Jeremy Paxman.
As the bedroom door swung open, Kate said wearily, ‘You’ve got a what?’
‘A surprise! Darling, come on, just slip some clothes on and come down to the kitchen. You’ll love it, I promise.’ Kate doubted it.
‘Who’s downstairs?’ She had successfully avoided Marcella Harvey so far, by the simple expedient of staying in bed until mid-afternoon.
‘No one.’
‘I heard noise. And voices.’
Looking suspiciously smug, Estelle said, ‘Oh, that was Barbara Kendall. She’s gone now. Come along, sweetheart, I can’t wait to show you!’
Grumpily, Kate crawled out of bed and pulled on a grey T-shirt and baggy jogging pants. At least if the house was empty she needn’t bother with make-up.
Triumphantly, her mother flung open the door to the kitchen. Presented with not one but two unwelcome sights, Kate took a step back and said, ‘Oh, good grief, what’s that?’
The thing straining towards her was dark brown, snuf fly and grossly overweight. Its claws scrabbled against the quarry-tiled floor while its stubby tail — like half an old discarded sausage —
juddered with excitement. Sitting on one of the kitchen chairs, hanging on to its lead, was Maddy Harvey’s mother.
‘Isn’t he wonderful?’ cried Estelle. ‘His name’s Norris!’
Norris the bulldog. ‘He’s gross,’ Kate declared. ‘And I thought you said there was no one here.’
She avoided looking at Marcella as she said it, but was acutely aware of the bright glare of sunlight on her own unmade-up face.
‘Darling, I just meant that Barbara had gone. Marcella isn’t a visitor, she’s part of the family.’
Family, indeed. Kate bit her tongue; now she knew her mother was officially losing it.
‘Hello, Kate, it’s been a long time,’ Marcella said easily. Raising herself from her chair she said,
‘Now why don’t I take a good look at you, then that’ll be the awkwardness put behind us.’
‘Good idea,’ said Estelle. ‘I’ll take Norris, shall I?’
Take Norris and drown him in a bucket preferably, thought Kate, scarcely able to believe that she was standing there like a statue in a bloody art gallery, allowing Marcella Harvey to walk round her studying her face from all angles. How Estelle could possibly think this was a good idea was beyond her.
The woman was hired to clean their house, for crying out loud.
‘Well,’ Marcella said finally, ‘I haven’t run screaming from the room. It’s only a bit of scarring, when all’s said and done.’
Only a bit of scarring. Kate could have slapped her.
‘You were lucky not to lose that eye,’ Marcella observed. Catching the mutinous look on Kate’s face, she smiled and said, ‘OK, I know, there’s nothing more annoying than being told to count your blessings. But all I’m saying is, it doesn’t change who you are.’
Of course it does, you stupid old witch, it changes everything.
‘ Not unless you let it change you,’ Marcella went on, ‘and it’d be a real shame if you did that.
You’re still a pretty girl, you know.’ Kate flinched as Marcella reached out and gently stroked her face, first one side then the other. ‘Anyone who can’t see that isn’t worth bothering with.’
Appalled, Kate realised that quite suddenly she was on the verge of tears; Marcella’s gentle fingers and matter-of-fact tone had got to her. She was talking absolute rubbish, of course, but at least it made a change from the endless sympathy.
She wondered if Maddy had told Marcella about the incident in the pub, and guessed that she hadn’t. Marcella’s loyalty to her own family was legendary. Giving herself a mental shake, Kate said,
‘So what’s the dog doing here anyway?’
‘He’s Barbara’s dog,’ Estelle proudly explained. ‘She rang me yesterday in a terrible state. They’re all off to Australia in a few days and they’d arranged for Norris to be looked afterby a neighbour, but the neighbour’s broken her hip and all the boarding kennels are booked up, so I said why didn’t we have him here with us?’
Kate could think of lots of reasons, not least that Norris was diabolically ugly, as fat as a pig and – on the current evidence – a champion drooler. If there was a national saliva shortage, they could donate Norris to the cause.
‘It’s only for six weeks,’ Estelle chattered on, ‘and he’s such a poppet, he has a lovely nature.
You’ll be able to take him for lots of long walks, darling ... it’ll do both of you the world of good. To be honest, Barbara spoils him rotten and he doesn’t get nearly enough exercise. I thought we could put him on a bit of a diet while he’s with us, work out a fitness regime—’
‘I don’t need to lose weight.’ Kate was stung by her mother’s comment that it would do her the world of good.
‘Darling, I know you don’t. But you can’t spend all your time in bed, you should be out in the fresh air, and taking Norris for a walk would be such a nice way of meeting people.’
‘I don’t want to meet people.’
‘But you must! Sweetheart, you’re twenty-six,’ Estelle pleaded, ‘you can’t hide away like a hermit.