Ava’s hands shook as she pulled off her dress and unhooked her bra.
‘Gawd, you’re gorgeous.’ Ruby had already wriggled out of her own things. ‘Good job we’ve got big knickers, innit, with Jake saying no tights in case they come up too high and into shot.’
Ava nodded. Usually a thong girl, she was glad she also had some more modest black bandeau shorts in her collection. ‘Do you think Patrick’s staying?’ Now the time had come to almost bare all, she felt sick.
Ruby had brought a silky pink wrap and now she swept it around herself with a cheerful grin. ‘Got eyes everywhere, that one, ain’t he? Let’s get rid.’
‘Yes, let’s,’ Ava agreed with feeling.
Not having a silky pink wrap, Ava settled for her thick white towelling bathrobe and tightly tied the belt as she trudged back to the studio in Ruby’s wake.
Sweeping in, Ruby gave Patrick a quick kiss on the cheek and a twiddly little wave of her fingers. ‘See you, then, babes. You’ve got lots to write, eh?’
Patrick already had his slim laptop open. ‘I’ll write here, time being of the essence.’
Ruby waved at the studio door. ‘Fab! You go down in the kitchen, then. Me and Ava don’t want you tippity-tip-tapping in the corner while we’re having our picture took. Do we, Ava?’
Clutching her bathrobe, Ava shook her head. Her throat was so dry that she was sure words would stick to the sides.
Patrick’s dark gaze rested on her for a second. ‘Right.’ He left the room and Ruby closed the door behind him.
Jake was studying his iPad. ‘This original image really captures something, Ava.’
She gave a tiny whimper of dismay.
He lifted his gaze. ‘Are you uncomfortable about this shot?’
Her dry throat managed a hoarse, ‘A bit.’
The situation was obviously not a new one to Jake. ‘Don’t worry. You probably show more in your bikini than you will in the finished shot and I’ll turn my back while you arrange yourselves,’ he said, easily. He went back to his iPad. ‘I think you’re standing up in the original shot? We’ll do the same because it will be better for posture. Can I pull the blind over the skylight? I don’t want the backdrop bleaching out at the top.’
He wound the blind into place then turned to face the wall. ‘Right, ladies, grab your hats. Tell me when I can turn round.’
‘Here we go, babes.’ Ruby shrugged off her wrap and reached unabashedly for her designated hats.
Trembling and reluctant, Ava followed suit, the cool air touching her skin making her tinglingly aware of her naked top half. This shoot was evoking bad memories.
‘Graeme Blissham for Harvey Snaith.’ Graeme smiled genially at the waif-thin girl on the front desk of a reception area notable mainly for spiky sculptures on shining white plinths. ‘He said he’d be in this afternoon if I wanted to drop in,’ he glanced at her name badge, ‘Jyoti.’
Dark brown eyes, kohl-enhanced, and thick black hair shining under the fluorescent lighting, Jyoti nodded and smiled, picking up a desk phone.
‘I don’t suppose he actually said that?’ Sam murmured.
‘Of course not,’ Graeme muttered back. ‘It would probably have made her tell me if he wasn’t in, though. Front desk’s goal is always to get rid of you.’
Jyoti removed the phone from her ear with an expression of professional regret. ‘I’m so sorry, I’m afraid you’ve caught Harvey on the hop. He says can you leave a number where he can contact you?’
Graeme smiled even more genially and raised his voice to a level that end-of-the-phone Harvey couldn’t help but hear. ‘If Harvey’s not available I don’t mind speaking to one of the senior partners.’
Jyoti looked appalled at this intrepid bandying of senior partners but a buzzing from the telephone saved her from having to find a graceful way to protect the upper echelon from the hoi polloi. ‘Oh … OK. Thanks,’ she said into the phone, obviously relieved, before clicking it back into its rest. ‘Harvey says he’ll make five minutes for you. I’ll show you into Meeting Room Two.’
‘Wonderful.’ Graeme’s smile was as wide as a crocodile’s.
Meeting Room 2 held a desk and five navy leather chairs and looked out onto a side street. As they waited for Harvey, Sam’s phone vibrated with a text from Jake. Sent low-res files to server for you to check out. Also sent to Tod for his reference. Clicking the link, Sam entered his password quickly. Soon he was flicking through the sample images from Jake’s shoot.
Oh.
The camera loved a pouting, smouldering Ruby. But Ava looked like a wooden carving of a beautiful rabbit caught in the headlights.
Quickly, he texted back to Jake. I’m looking for warmth and twinkle from Ava.
Jake responded in seconds. So am I!!! She’s trying, but she’s hating the whole thing with the hats, though she was OK earlier, when she was fully dressed.
Sam glanced at his watch. I’ll try and get over there. Take a coffee break and chat about other stuff. Maybe she’ll slide into an easier frame of mind. Ruby’s pics are coming along.
OK. Yeah, Ruby’s fantastic.
It hadn’t occurred to Sam that recreating the original image would throw up this problem. Frowning, he stowed his phone as Harvey Snaith sidled into the room, opening and closing the door quickly as if he was afraid something in the room might bound out into the wider workplace. The back of Sam’s neck prickled and he fondly revisited his fantasy of shaking Harvey un-gently by the throat. The look Harvey shot Sam was so full of dislike that it somehow made Sam feel better. If such a disgusting weasel had liked him it would have felt like an insult.
Wearing a dark blue business suit and white shirt that was boringly immaculate, his dark hair looking as if he’d just arrived from an expensive hair salon, Harvey cleared his throat and extended his hand. ‘Graeme.’
Graeme kept his own hands in his pockets. ‘Sit down.’
Silently, Harvey sat, looking even more uncomfortable than Ava had in the images Sam had just viewed. He clasped his hands tightly on the desk.
Graeme fixed Harvey with a gaze that glinted with malice. ‘Harvey Snaith, you’ve been causing my daughter a lot of worry.’
‘I don’t know what you’re—’
‘You know exactly what I’m referring to so don’t dick me about.’ Graeme’s calm delivery was somehow scarier than bellowing rage. ‘Get your phone out.’
Harvey hesitated.
Mistake, Sam told him, silently.
Graeme’s voice dropped an entire octave. ‘Get your phone out. Or I’ll have to turn your life into very deep shit, and damn me if I’ll care about your suffering.’
Reluctantly, Harvey dipped into his inside jacket pocket and produced an iPhone. He made as if to offer it to Graeme.
Graeme shook his head. ‘Find me those intimate shots of Ava.’
Fumbling, Harvey tried. He tried for over a minute. Then his gaze lifted slowly.
Spreading his hands in mock astonishment, Graeme grinned. ‘Oh dear. Have they gone?’ He leaned forward. ‘I think you’ll find that they’ve gone off your tablet, your laptop and the Cloud. That’s strange, isn’t it?’
Although he hid his surprise, Sam wanted to burst into applause.
Harvey’s near-black eyes were wary and confused, fixed silently on Graeme.
‘What hasn’t disappeared is the stream of threatening and abusive texts you’ve sent to my daughter.’ Gently Graeme shook his head. ‘Silly boy. Stupid boy to provide an ex-police officer with clear evidence. As the sentences for malicious communication offences have just been beefed up, now seems a good time to tell you a couple of things.’ He sat back, steepling his fingers. ‘The collateral consequences of criminal convictions are a nuisance. Criminal convictions have to be declared on job applications, they stop you entering certain countries, they even affect your insurability and your creditworthiness. Wouldn’t it be dreadful if you got one? Some people convicted of malicious communication offences even go to prison. And now
you’ve sent some to my friend here,’ he indicated Sam, ‘we have to consider the new law on disclosing private sexual images to cause distress, which also carries a prison sentence. It deals nicely with scum like you.’
Horror burst across Harvey’s face, kapow, as if dealt by a giant fist.
Graeme rose easily to his feet and planted his hands on the desk, getting right in Harvey’s face, voice dropping to a smoothly dangerous whisper, every day of his life as a cop etched on his features. ‘In case you’ve squirrelled those pictures somewhere we don’t know about, we’ll keep your texts nice and safe, and trust the images never find their way out into the public domain.’
Minutely, Harvey shook his head. Sweat shone on his pale forehead.
Sam’s heart thudded with satisfaction. It would do Harvey good to be scared. It would give him a taste of how he’d made Ava feel. Sam rose, too. ‘If you have a spare moment, look up a support group called No Blame or Shame. Read their website. Pick up a few tips on the acceptable way to treat women.’
Harvey’s gaze cut to Sam. Slowly, he nodded.
‘Right, bye then.’ Graeme sounded almost jovial. ‘I hope I won’t have to bother you again.’
Harvey shook his head.
Once on the pavement outside Harvey’s building, Sam and Graeme didn’t even discuss their next move. Graeme hailed a taxi and gave Ava’s address and Sam followed him into the back seat.
‘That was awesome,’ said Sam, sincerely. An ex-police officer issuing promises of retribution had probably been more effective than dragging Harvey across the desk by his bright white shirt and throttling him, as Sam had felt the urge to do, and carried far less risk.
Graeme seemed gently pleased with himself. ‘I’m glad that Ava asked me to help with this. I admire her trying to handle it alone, of course. We brought our girl up to be self-sufficient. It meant throwing her in at the deep end sometimes but Ava’s a swimmer, not a drowner.’
Despite the obvious pride in Graeme’s voice Sam halted in the act of buckling his seat belt, blinded by this spotlight-bright insight into Ava. Her prickliness over money. The way she’d tried to hide her desperation until it had nearly destroyed her. The thought made his guts ache. ‘Are you sure that was what she wanted?’ The cab jerked in a sudden change of direction as the driver took advantage of a gap in the inside lane. Sam caught Graeme’s gaze and held it. ‘One man’s self-sufficiency is another woman’s being left to cope alone.’
Graeme’s smile of satisfaction slid from his face. Slowly, frowning, he looked away, to gaze out through the cab window.
When they’d completed what proved to be a mainly silent journey, they found Ava, Ruby, Jake and Patrick on coffee break in Ava’s studio, Ruby swathed glamorously in silk, Ava huddled miserably in towelling.
Sam wanted to wrap comforting arms around her and tell her that everything was going to be all right. But today that wasn’t his job.
‘I’m sorry,’ she blurted as soon as she saw him. ‘Jake’s being fantastic but I’m like a sour-faced shop window dummy.’
He didn’t bother to pretend that he thought otherwise. ‘It’s OK. Your dad’s about to cheer you up.’
Her eyes swivelled to her father. ‘How?’
Graeme pulled her up off her stool and scooped her into a big fatherly hug. Some of his earlier bounce might have vanished, but his smile oozed confidence. ‘Your old man is a magician, sweetheart. I waved a magic wand – well, actually a contact in a civilian high-tech surveillance agency I used to use – and it all went away.’
Ava pulled back to gaze into his face. ‘Went away? What?’
‘Every image on every device, Cloud or other online storage associated with Harvey Snaith’s email or accessed from any of his devices. Harvey’s been hacked. Poor lad. The only record of the images he held are probably on your phone – and we’re going to keep them and his texts very safe indeed, aren’t we? In the event we need them?’ His grin would have done justice to any wolf.
‘Dad,’ breathed Ava, her eyes beginning to dance. ‘You’re not supposed to do that sort of thing.’
‘What?’ He shrugged, pulling off his coat. ‘I didn’t do anything. Someone I used to encounter in the course of my employment was annoyed that we were being caused anxiety, that’s all. Abracadabra.’ But then his voice became husky. ‘I’d do anything to help you, sweetheart. I hope you know that.’
Joy blazed across Ava’s face. She gave a tiny scream. ‘Dad! I love you!’ Flinging herself onto her father, she danced him round in an excited circle, then swept on to treat Sam to the same triumphant jig.
It felt amazing, even bundled up in that shapeless bathrobe, to have her body pressed against his. Like Christmas had come early. He probably held on to her longer than he should have done, momentarily frozen by the assault on his senses; the scent of her hair, the sound of her laughter.
‘What about hugs for the rest of us?’ demanded Patrick.
From within the circle of Sam’s arms, Ava grinned. ‘Dad? Patrick needs a hug.’
Everyone roared with laughter at Patrick’s expression of alarm. Then he looked from Sam to Ava with a half-smile and a small nod, as if acknowledging that he wasn’t to be the provider of hugs for Ava.
When they finally disentangled themselves, Sam had to swallow before he could grin at her. ‘Now would be a good time to try those shots again, Jake. I think Ava’s going to be OK.’
Chapter Twenty-Four
Bubbling under
Still Friday 21 December
Ava hummed as she waited for seven o’clock to roll round, the time of Wendy’s next fitting.
There wasn’t much to do apart from a bit of tidying up after the shoot. She’d showered and popped her black dress back on but was too antsy with relief and not quite believing that Harvey was beaten to collapse into a chair with the TV remote.
Instead, she sat cross legged on Izz’s bed and helped her wrap parcels ready for her Hampshire family Christmas, gleefully reporting Harvey’s downfall and that incredible melting moment of relief when she discovered what her dad had achieved.
‘The photo shoot became fun, in the end. Ruby was so outraged when she found out the full extent of Harvey’s behaviour that she kept dreaming up worse and worse punishments for him, which made me laugh. A testicle abscess was the least of the horrors she suggested.’
Izz giggled. ‘Let him put that on Facebook.’
‘In the end, I was sorry to see everyone rush off to meet their deadlines.’ Ava picked up a crackly sheet of bright red paper sprigged with holly. ‘Dad’s gone to stay with an old police buddy who has a guest room, as we can only offer him the sofa. I’ll see him again before his return flight on Sunday. He’s really insistent that I hang on to the threatening texts from Harvey, just in case. Do you know if there’s some way to backup message threads?’ Ava’s crippling fear of exposure had vanished but she wasn’t quite so giddy with joy as to throw caution to the wind.
Izz readily held out her hand. ‘If you give me your phone I can back them up to iTunes.’
‘Seriously? That would be fantastic. You’re magic at this stuff.’ Ava gladly passed the phone over. It seemed that everything was going her way, today. ‘I’m really sorry you won’t be here for Christmas. I’ll miss you, Izz.’
‘You’ll be with Sam.’ Izz kept her head bent over the phone as her fingers and thumbs got busy on the screen.
‘Only because you made other plans.’ Ava hesitated, feeling a wriggle of worry. There hadn’t been much indication as to whether Sam’s comic-geek efforts had killed Izz’s crush. The thought caused a tiny wrinkle in Ava’s euphoria. ‘Do you still like Sam?’ she asked, tentatively.
Izz shrugged. Then she peeped up at Ava from behind her hair, cheeks colouring. ‘Actually … I’m going out tonight. With Patrick. He turned up at work as I was leaving and he told me what was happening with the Ruby Glennister campaign and why the agency had more-or-less emptied this afternoon. We got talking. Then he looked up so
me gigs and said there’s an indie band on tonight at Koko, did I fancy it.’
‘Wow,’ said Ava. Then, aware she’d sounded astonished rather than pleased, ‘That’s great, but you took me by surprise! You’ve been working together for months but I didn’t know you liked him.’
She passed back Ava’s phone. ‘There, all backed up. We don’t seem each other’s type, do we? I suppose I thought … Well, I’ve never gone out with such a jack-the-lad before. Cocky, confident men don’t usually hit on me so I decided, hey, give it a try. He didn’t say it was a date date.’
‘It sounds like a date to me.’ Ava beamed, glad that Patrick was sufficiently attuned to Izz to take her to a Camden music venue. ‘Have a fantastic time.’ Ava gave Izz an enthusiastic hug. ‘What are you going to wear?’
‘Flat shoes,’ said Izz, pragmatically. ‘And a grateful expression.’
‘Izz!’ protested Ava.
Izz laughed, eyes dancing. ‘OK. That dark purply top with my sparkly jeans.’
‘You look great in that top,’ Ava assured her. ‘And I won’t even tell you not to keep Patrick out too late because those involved in Ruby’s campaign, including me, are going to turn ourselves into a bit of a social-media hub at the agency tomorrow, even though it’s Saturday. In fact, I hope that your evening goes on until breakfast.’ She wouldn’t have picked Patrick as a likely date for Izz but, you never knew, he might bring her out of her shell a bit. In turn, Izz might encourage him to be a bit less … Patrick-ish.
Then the doorbell shrilled and Ava swung her legs off the bed. ‘That will be Sam bringing Wendy for her hat fitting. Want to come up? It won’t take long this time so we can ask them to stay for wine. I bought mince pies, too.’
Izz checked the time self-consciously. ‘I need to get ready.’
‘OK. Offer’s open if you change your mind.’ A last hug and Ava flew down the stairs.
When she answered the door, she found Wendy was already wearing a hat, in the form of a knitted Christmas pudding complete with sprig of holly. She beamed from beneath it. ‘Ava! I’m all excited but I don’t want to spoil the Christmas Day surprise. Can I have my fitting with my eyes closed?’
The Christmas Promise Page 20