by Mandy Baggot
‘We’d better go,’ Isla said, checking her watch. ‘I’m surprised Hannah hasn’t called me yet.’
‘I can’t wait for tomorrow,’ Brooke said. ‘I wish I could see their faces when they find the stuff.’
‘I know,’ Chase agreed. ‘But we can’t be here. Isla and I are too close to the situation. If we were here it would look suss and the whole plan might fall apart.’ He looked at Brooke seriously. ‘Then we might have to go looking for that cadaver.’
‘I think that’s enough about that,’ Isla said, putting an arm around Maddie’s shoulders.
‘Can we go eat?’ Brooke asked as they began to head back in the direction of the gate, breath clouding the air.
‘Seriously, Brooke? You’re still hungry?’ Chase exclaimed.
‘Diwali might still be open,’ Isla informed.
‘Oh, Daddy, yes, Asian food.’
‘I feel like I’m being taken for a ride here,’ Chase replied.
‘Please, Daddy,’ Maddie answered.
‘Okay! Okay!’ He held his hands up in surrender.
‘Come on, Maddie,’ Brooke said. ‘I’ll race you to the gate.’
The two girls set off, feet pumping at the ground, hard snow spitting from the soles of their feet and into the blackness.
‘So,’ Chase said, walking closer to Isla. ‘We committed how many felonies tonight?’
‘Not being utterly up to speed with criminology of any kind I don’t have an exact figure but, without any doubt, enough.’ She shot him a tentative smile. ‘Probably enough for my whole lifetime.’
‘You’re acting like you didn’t enjoy it at all,’ Chase answered.
She let a breath go. ‘I’m just hoping that it works.’
‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘Me too.’
He reached for her hand then, holding on to it, wanting to feel her touch. He relaxed a little when he felt her moulding her hand to his.
‘But, if it doesn’t work, it isn’t the end,’ Isla said. ‘Not for me. Because I live here and I can’t give up on it.’
‘Hey,’ Chase said. ‘I’m no quitter either and, being here, seeing all this …’ He took a breath. ‘Meeting you.’ He stopped walking, and looked into her eyes. ‘Notting Hill isn’t right for this project. I can see that now.’ He reached under the rim of her hood to touch her hair. ‘Because Notting Hill is pretty much perfect exactly how it is.’
And so was she. She was perfect too. But he didn’t want to scare her saying too much too soon. They needed time. And time was the only thing they didn’t seem to have when they were about to be separated by an ocean. But he had to say something.
‘Isla …’
‘Yes?’
‘Whatever happens after tonight … will you come visit me in New York?’
He wanted her to say yes. He wanted her to throw her arms around him and kiss him for the longest time.
She smiled and squeezed his hand before letting go. ‘We should really catch up with Brooke and Maddie.’
And that felt like as good as a no. ‘Yeah,’ he answered. ‘Sure.’
Seventy-Nine
Beaumont Square, Notting Hill
‘Stuffed … to the brim … no room for anything else. Can I take this hoodie off now?’
In the middle of the living room, Isla watched Hannah shift and struggle to get the pullover top up and over her shoulders. She stepped in to help, taking hold of the top and edging it upwards and off.
‘In this weather, I didn’t imagine I’d ever feel hot,’ Hannah puffed. ‘But who knows what those hoodies were made out of or who they pledge their allegiance to.’
‘I think it’s best not to think about it,’ Isla responded, dropping into the armchair.
‘No,’ Hannah agreed. ‘Let’s just remember that Raj provided adequate coverage for undercover operations no matter where they originated from.’
‘Yes,’ Isla said. She couldn’t respond properly. Her brain was fried with thoughts about the morning – what would happen when Mrs Edwards turned up at Holland Park and ‘discovered’ the history hidden in the hole – and what Chase had said tonight. He had asked her to come and visit him in New York. But how could she? She had Hannah. Hannah liked home and Hannah was part of the reason home had to be saved. New York was a long, difficult flight away. It didn’t make sense. She swallowed. Except what she felt did make sense. Somehow it felt, with Chase, that finally all the pieces of her life were starting to fit together at the very moment everything else seemed to be falling apart.
‘So, we couldn’t really talk much at Diwali with Maddie and Brooke wowing over the poppadoms but the “disposal” went okay?’ Hannah asked.
Isla nodded. ‘Yes. We did what we talked about. Buried everything, not too obvious, in a few different areas.’
‘Then we just have to wait,’ Hannah breathed. ‘And rely on Mrs E to put on a good show.’
Isla smiled. ‘I think if there’s anyone we can rely on to put on a good show it’s Mrs Edwards.’
Hannah laughed. ‘She did look a little too invested in her character when I spoke to her earlier.’
‘I have every faith in her performing the role perfectly,’ Isla said.
‘But is it going to work?’ Hannah breathed. ‘Is it going to be enough?’
Isla looked at her sister, the lights on the feathered Christmas tree reflecting off her cropped hair. She still looked so young. She was still too vulnerable to let go of completely.
‘I don’t know,’ Isla admitted. ‘But we have a good chance.’
‘Do you think so?’ Hannah asked.
‘Well, I wouldn’t have scaled a gate and carried around some ancient broken pots if I didn’t think it was worth it,’ Isla said.
‘No,’ Hannah agreed. ‘I guess not.’
‘So, how are things with Raj?’ Isla asked. ‘Anything to report while you were keeping watch?’
Hannah shook her head. ‘We talked. You know, about this and that … or rather dis ’n’ dat … and it was nice but … I just don’t know how he feels.’ She sighed. ‘Sometimes I think things are building up to something, you know, and then he almost retreats.’
‘You could ask him,’ Isla suggested. ‘Or tell him how you feel.’
‘I don’t know,’ Hannah said straightaway. ‘I don’t know if I have the guts to do that.’ She looked up. ‘What about you and Chase?’
Isla swallowed. What could she say? That she had never felt this way about a guy, but she was too scared to believe it could be real? That she was terrified to accept love in case it didn’t last or wasn’t somehow as genuine as she needed it to be?
‘He asked me to visit him in New York,’ Isla blurted out.
‘Wow!’ Hannah said. ‘Really?!’
Isla nodded.
‘That’s amazing, Isla. I mean, it means he must, I don’t know, kind of … love you.’
It couldn’t mean that, could it? It was all too soon. He was not long divorced and he had Brooke and Maddie. She swallowed. But she loved kids. She had always wanted kids and Brooke and Maddie were great. Brooke was obviously struggling a little but Isla believed her heart was true …
‘I can’t go, though, obviously,’ Isla said.
‘What?’ Hannah asked.
‘I can’t go to New York.’
‘Well, why not?’ Hannah queried.
Her sister’s gaze was heavy and Isla suddenly felt under scrutiny. What could she say?
‘Well, I’ve got too much going on here with work—’
‘He’s your boss,’ Hannah interrupted. ‘Surely he can smooth that over if it’s to his advantage?’
‘Well, there’s the … the … house.’
‘Which might end up being demolished,’ Hannah said.
‘Don’t say that!’
‘Well, why don’t we cut to the chase, so to speak?’ Hannah snapped. ‘You don’t think you can go to New York because of me.’
‘No,’ Isla said. ‘Not at all.’ She sounded so unconvincing it was
pathetic.
Hannah shook her head. ‘You have got to stop doing that!’
‘Doing what?’ Isla asked.
‘Not living your life because of me.’
Isla held her breath. She had never wanted Hannah to think that. She hated herself for causing Hannah to even think that.
‘I know that’s what you do, Isla,’ Hannah continued. ‘And, at first, when Mum and Dad were newly dead, I couldn’t have gone on without you.’ She paused. ‘You were … you are … everything to me, and I can’t imagine what my life would have been without you in it, without you supporting me so wholly and thoroughly, no matter what kind of bitch I was to you.’
‘You weren’t—’ Isla started.
‘Yes, I was,’ Hannah said. ‘And deliberately so some of the time.’
‘Well, you had good reason,’ Isla said.
‘No, I didn’t.’ Hannah sniffed almost indignant. ‘I was just a bitch. But I’m over it now, most of the time. And I’m over you dipping out on stuff and using me as an excuse.’ She directed a killer glance at Isla. ‘Because that’s what you do, you know. You use me as an excuse when you’re too scared to do something.’
Isla shifted uncomfortably in her chair, and suddenly found the Christmas cards on the wall exceedingly interesting. It wasn’t true. She didn’t avoid anything deliberately, just maybe a few things that she considered might be too much for Hannah, or prove difficult.
‘Don’t try and deny it,’ Hannah said. ‘I can give you countless examples and I am to blame because I let you do it for the most part. But that was wrong. I shouldn’t have let you. And I don’t want to let you any more.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Isla began. ‘I don’t—’
‘You need to start living your life, Isla. Yours,’ Hannah reiterated. ‘First and foremost yours, not yours as a sister to little ol’ invalid me.’
‘I do.’
‘You don’t,’ Hannah countered. ‘And it’s not up for discussion or a debate or argument, I’m telling you. I don’t need you under my wheels all the time. I need you to be happy. Find someone. Chase Chase,’ Hannah ordered. ‘You tell him you’ll go to New York to visit him. I mean for God’s sake, Isla, look at the guy, he’s as hot as Jamie Dornan … in fact, from what I’ve seen, his arse is actually better.’
Isla swallowed. He did have a good arse. She could totally vouch for that. Focus on what your sister is saying. Could this work? Could she let go a little? It was one thing agreeing to Hannah wheeling to work on her own but another to spend a few days, a week, out of the country.
‘I’ll get someone to stay with me,’ Hannah said quickly. ‘I’m sure Claudia or maybe Valerie would be able to come over and help if I asked them to.’ She swallowed. ‘I’m not irresponsible or being short-sighted. I know I can’t manage completely on my own. But I don’t necessarily need you,’ Hannah concluded. ‘And I don’t care if that makes you feel redundant, but your supervision is easily replaced.’ Hannah smiled. ‘And the sister stuff that can’t be replicated by anyone else can take place on FaceTime … from the top of the Empire State Building if needed.’
‘I don’t know,’ Isla breathed.
‘Yes you do,’ Hannah stated boldly. ‘You do know. I’ve seen the way you look at him and the way he looks at you. I freaking know! Aaron freaking knows! Don’t mess this up!’ Hannah ordered. ‘I mean what other guy would be working his hot arse off sorting the venue for the Breekers’ Christmas Party.’ Hannah stopped talking quickly, clamping both hands over her mouth. ‘Ignore that. I didn’t say anything.’
‘Has Chase found a venue?’ Isla asked.
‘Not saying anything more,’ Hannah mumbled through a tightly closed mouth.
‘Hannah, just tell me if he’s found somewhere, please, I’m going out of my mind worrying about everything. I need to know!’
‘I can’t. I promised.’
‘Hannah, I’m your sister.’
‘Argh! Don’t play the family card, it’s not fair. And basically, if you get married one day, he’s going to be my brother-in-law so that would make him family.’
‘Hannah!’
‘Yes, he’s found a venue,’ Hannah stated finally. ‘And that’s all I’m saying.’
Isla smiled. With a venue and catering coming together was it possible that the Christmas party was really going to happen?
‘Promise me you won’t tell him I told you,’ Hannah said.
‘I promise,’ Isla replied.
‘And promise me something else too,’ Hannah begged.
‘What?’
‘Promise me you’ll think about New York.’
Isla looked at her sister. She didn’t look as young and vulnerable now that determined expression was set on her face. She smiled. ‘I promise.’
Eighty
Sugar High, Portobello Road
‘Get down, Rolo,’ Mrs Smith said, berating her dog that was trying to jump up on Maddie’s lap.
Vicky had gone to town with the Christmas decorations in the café now the big day was getting closer. Spirals of glitter hung down from the ceiling, interspersed with stars and little glowing Christmas puddings. There were gingerbread men in holding-hands chains across the window panes and the aroma from the kitchen was constant pumpkin and thick, fragrant cinnamon and nutmeg. Chatter from the customers was all to-do lists of what they had to accomplish before Christmas Day and the background music was Bublé, Sinatra with a dash of Tony Bennett, and Wham!.
‘He’s so cute,’ Maddie announced, eyes on Rolo. ‘I wish I had a little dog like that.’
‘This one would eat you out of house and home,’ Vicky announced, putting hot chocolates and the Mulled Christmas Muffin in front of everyone in turn. ‘And then eat you probably.’
‘I thought he was on a special diet,’ Isla commented, moving her cup to make space on the table.
‘So did I,’ Vicky remarked. ‘But it doesn’t seem to be enough for him. Yesterday I found him out the back dragging leftovers from the bins.’
Isla looked to Chase. He had been juddering his leg up and down ever since they had sat down, his phone clutched in his hand, looking so tense. Her stomach was revolving too. So much was at stake. Her whole life up in the air like juggling balls being tossed by a novice. The only thing keeping her externally calm was Maddie and Brooke. Neither of them could know just how important this was to their dad and to her. And they really shouldn’t need to know.
‘May we start?’ Maddie asked with perfect British undertones.
‘Yes,’ Isla said. ‘Of course. Eat.’ She smiled. ‘What are you listening to, Brooke?’
Brooke was nodding her head up and down in appreciation of something and Isla had no idea if she had heard her or not.
Maddie answered. ‘It’s Rag ’n’ Bone Man. She’s a lot obsessed.’
‘She told me,’ Isla replied.
Chase’s phone suddenly erupted into life and he looked at it, as if not knowing how to answer.
It was Raj. He should answer it. He was going to answer it. Looking up he took in the three expectant faces: Maddie with a slick of custard at the corner of her lips, Brooke popping out her earbuds to engage and Isla … she was toying with her fingers as her hands rested on her lap, trying to remain still and stoic and in control, but he knew how she would be feeling on the inside.
He stood up quickly, shifting past tables, nudging Rolo, and making for the door that led outside.
‘Chase!’ He heard Isla call out after him.
He stepped out on to the street, somehow needing to be right in the thick of Notting Hill life when he heard whatever he was going to hear. Could the plan have worked? Or was Mrs Edwards being hauled away and dismissed as crazy?
‘Hey, Raj,’ he greeted.
‘Chase, man, it’s all kicking off, innit?’
‘Kicking off?’ Chase queried. He looked across the street to the retro T-shirt store, bright multicoloured tinsel wound around the rails that held every roc
k-band top you could imagine.
‘We’s got the police and an ITV camera crew now, man. It’s kicking.’
Chase frowned. ‘So, is it kicking? Or kicking off?’
‘Put it on speaker phone.’
Isla was at his shoulder now, her tension palpable. They were in this together. He shouldn’t have run out here. He pressed the appropriate button.
‘Mrs E, she played it so good, man,’ Raj continued. ‘At first they didn’t listen … I think they thought she is nuts … but she kept it on going, pointing and saying what she can see and then she reaches down, so low down I think she is gonna fall into the hole, man and she pretends to scrabble a bit in the dirt. I think she was making that coin she kept last night all muddy for the ageing effect and she shows it to the guy and she says …’ Raj cleared his throat. ‘“This is a Roman coin. This could be an ancient burial site. You have to call the authorities”. Then, get this, she says “And you have to call Time Team”.’
Chase looked at Isla and she looked back at him. Hope was growing, he could feel it, like a bulb in spring. But nothing was certain yet.
‘Raj,’ Isla said. ‘What’s happening there now?’
‘Everything, Isla. It’s like the centre of the universe in Holland Park. All the press guys I called are gonna come down here. There is people taking photos and there’s tweets about it already, man … and they’ve stopped digging.’
‘Is Mrs Edwards okay?’ Isla asked. She was still looking at Chase, a smile spreading over her face.
‘She is banging, bro,’ Raj replied. ‘Everyone is making a real show around her, man, and she is getting free tea and cakes and all that.’
‘Raj,’ Chase interjected. ‘We’ve gotta go.’
‘Sure, man.’
‘You’ve gone a great job, Raj,’ Chase told him.
‘Phone Hannah,’ Isla said. ‘She’ll be dying to hear.’
There was silence.
‘Raj?’ Isla queried. ‘Could you call Hannah? She’ll be waiting to find out and—’
‘See, I know I was supposed to call you first, innit, but—’
Isla smiled. ‘You’ve already told Hannah, haven’t you?’ She laughed. ‘Bye, Raj.’