Jai was too tense to feel relieved.
“I thought she said they didn’t know where you lived?” the policeman asked.
“They must have taken or looked at her laptop when they were last in her flat. She’d Googled me. They’d seen a photo of me in the paper, and worked out we were on the same flight. It was probably a long shot for them, but they went to my place and asked for me and Summer. Brody, my housemate, told me someone had been there but I assumed it was someone else. All Brody probably needed to do was say ‘They’re not here’, and they knew they were right. I guess they waited for us and when we walked down the street, they grabbed us.”
“Pity no one saw it happen.”
Jai gave a heavy sigh. “I told her not to do anything stupid.”
“Since when do women listen to us?”
He groaned. “Can you find out how she is?”
“We’ll be at the hospital in a couple of minutes.”
Jai was even more worried now. Did the cop know more than he was letting on? Don’t let her be dead. He cleaned the blood off his face. The last thing he wanted was to be whisked away for treatment before she saw her.
* * * * *
One useful thing about being with a policeman was that they cut straight through the crap to the people who really knew what was happening. Summer was in surgery though that was as far as it went. No one could tell them anything else.
“You’re attracting a lot of attention,” the cop said. “Let’s see if we can find somewhere more private.”
That got rid of the general public but not the nursing staff, who walked past the area where they were waiting in ever-increasing numbers.
“You don’t need to stay with me,” Jai muttered. He put his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands.
“I want to know she’s going to be all right,” DS Spencer said.
Jai glanced at him.
“I should have put her in protective custody. They weren’t just going to give up over a million pounds worth of cocaine.”
“A million pounds?” Jai gulped.
“Once it’s been cut, at least that.”
“Oh god. If she’d never met me, she’d be okay.”
The two of them looked at each other and sighed.
* * * * *
Pippa was the first of Summer’s family to arrive. Jai introduced the policeman.
“I’ve come from work,” Pippa said. “Dad called me. What’s happened? Why was she stabbed?”
“She was trying to get away from someone,” the policeman said.
“Oh god, poor Summer.” Pippa slumped on a chair. “A year and a half in South America and nothing happens and now this.”
Jai bristled. “Nothing happened in South America? How would you know?”
Pippa stiffened. “Mum or Dad would have said.”
“Didn’t email her yourself, then? Didn’t keep in touch with your younger sister?” Jai knew he was taking his anger and frustration out on Pippa but he didn’t care.
“Mum and Dad kept in touch.”
“You’re her fucking sister.”
Pippa sucked in her cheeks. “Yeah, well, you know why we were upset with her.”
“You held a grudge because of something that wasn’t Summer’s fault? She didn’t fucking crash on purpose. You don’t think she was hurt too? How would you have felt if you’d been behind the wheel? She was so racked with guilt she ran halfway around the world.”
“I didn’t want to have to tell Angie I was in contact with her.”
Jai blazed with fury. “You’re a real work of art, you know that, Pippa? Summer was caught in a riptide off Chile and nearly drowned, she fell off a boat when there was a shark in the water and she was knocked unconscious by a llama. But those were minor things compared to what’s happened to her since she came back. And if you hadn’t all been on her case about something that wasn’t even her fucking fault, she’d probably never have gone to South America in the first place.”
Shit. Shut up. Jai pressed his lips together.
Summer’s father came into the room and Pippa rushed into his arms.
Jai stood, his hands twitching at his sides. “This is Summer’s father, Dr. Dey. This is DS Spencer. How is she?”
“She’s out of surgery and in recovery. The knife punctured her lung, nicked her liver and she swallowed a lot of dirty water.”
“Is she going to be okay?” Jai asked.
Her father nodded. “She should be fine.”
Jai had to sit down. His heart pounded so hard he felt lightheaded.
Summer’s mother rushed in and grabbed her husband’s arm.
“It’s all right,” her father said. “She’s in the recovery room.”
“Thank god, thank god,” her mother muttered over and over.
Pippa had her arms around her mother and father and Jai felt a mix of anger and resentment that they could show concern now after the way they’d treated her.
“I’ll need a statement from both of you,” DS Spencer said to Jai and rose to his feet.
“I’m not leaving until I’ve spoken to her,” Jai said. Actually, not even then.
“Tomorrow will be fine. Ask for me at Deptford. I’ll speak to Summer once she’s well enough.”
“You don’t think she’s still in any danger?” Jai asked, aware the faces of her family had turned in his direction.
“There must be others higher up the chain, but once they know these three have been arrested and there’s nothing in it for them, I suspect they’ll cut and run.”
He shook the hands of Summer’s family and left as Baxter, Summer’s brother, rushed in.
“She’s okay,” Pippa assured him.
Summer’s father sat at Jai’s side. “Tell me everything.”
Not everything. Jai didn’t think they needed to know anything personal, but he made sure they realized how isolated Summer felt, how she hadn’t wanted to tell them about the drugs in the case she’d left at the airport because she feared spoiling Angie’s day, and even when she’d discovered the coffee beans were fake, she’d not said anything because she hadn’t wanted to upset them.
Her family was white with shock by the time he told them how she’d come to be stabbed.
Summer’s father checked Jai’s head. “You need that looking at.”
“Not until I’ve spoken to her,” he said. “I’ve never met anyone as selfless as Summer. She’s had terrible things happen and got on with life in the best way she could. You turned your backs on her and that was why she went to South America. Angie didn’t want her to be a bridesmaid and Summer didn’t want to do it either. All she wanted was for everyone to be happy and she didn’t know how to make that happen. You don’t deserve her.”
“And you do?” her father asked.
Jai shook his head. “No, I don’t. But she makes me want to be the man who does.”
A nurse popped her head around the corner. “She’s awake. One visitor at a time, only for a few minutes. Family only.”
Jai’s heart sank as Summer’s mother stepped forward but her husband put his hand on her arm.
“Jai, you go first,” her father said.
He nodded his thanks, he wasn’t sure he could have spoken. He followed the nurse down the corridor and into a controlled area.
“Use the hand gel,” she said and gave him one of those smiles. “You’re Jai Winter, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” He rubbed his hands together to spread the sanitizer.
“And you’re not a relative.”
“No.” Not yet.
“She’s in there. Go ahead.”
He sucked in a breath when he saw her, she was so still and pale. There were machines all over the place, a tube leading to a bag and a drip in her arm. He dropped into the chair next to the bed and took her hand in his.
“Summer Girl,” he whispered. “I thought I told you to be careful.”
She opened her eyes and her lips curved in a smile. “You told me not to do an
ything stupid.”
“That’s all right then.”
“Don’t make me laugh. It hurts.”
“I can’t believe that bastard stabbed you.”
“My coat saved me and nearly killed me. The knife didn’t go in as far as it might have done but once I landed in the water, I thought I was going to drown. My coat’s at the bottom of Greenland Dock.”
Christ. He stroked the backs of her fingers with his thumb.
“Did they get all the bad guys?” she croaked.
“Yep.”
“I don’t suppose that creep would have stabbed me if I hadn’t pushed him in the water. But I needed his phone wrecked so they couldn’t find out there were no drugs. At least not for a while longer.”
“That might have only won you minutes.”
“Hey. Let me have my moment in the sun.”
Jai smiled. “You are the sun. My sun.”
Tears trickled down her cheeks.
“Your family is gathered outside. Well, not Angie obviously. I don’t think she could come back from Bali.”
“They probably want to know what I left them in my will.”
“Don’t even joke about it.” He shuddered. “I have to let them come in but I’m not going home. I’ll be here all night. If I can’t stay with you, I’ll be in the corridor. I’m not leaving you. Ever.”
There were some benefits to being famous.
After Summer was transferred to a private room and he was treated in casualty, Jai was allowed to stay with her. He was supposed to be monitored because he’d been knocked out, and there were a long line of nurses who came to check on him. He didn’t care, as long as he could stay with Summer. He sat in a chair next to her bed, holding her hand or sliding his fingers along the network of blue veins running up her arms or stroking her honey-soft skin with his thumb. When he was too tired to keep watch any longer, he rested his head on the bed and felt her fingers creep onto his cheek.
Then he allowed sleep to take him.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Once Summer had eaten some of the breakfast they’d brought to her, he kissed her goodbye and snuck out of the hospital through a rear exit to meet Brody waiting with his car.
Brody handed him the keys. “How is she?”
“Complaining about the breakfast, complaining about being in bed, complaining about me fussing.”
Brody grinned. “That’s a good sign.”
“Want me to give you a lift to work?”
“No, it’s okay. Go and do what you need to do. I can get a train from Ladywell Station.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
Brody stood fidgeting. “Jai, mate. I’m really sorry.”
“There was no way you could have known.”
“Yeah, but we’ve been so careful. There’s always some wanker from the press trying something but when the bastard used Summer’s name, I didn’t even think.”
“They’d have probably camped outside and waited anyway.”
“You going to bring Summer back when they let her out?”
“Yep. But we’re going to look for a place of our own.”
Brody nodded. “We get an invite to your wedding, right?”
Jai laughed. “I’ve only just met her.”
“But she’s the one.”
A lump formed in Jai’s throat. “Yes, she is.”
* * * * *
Jai emerged from Deptford Police Station feeling as though he’d been through a long cycle in a washing machine. He’d gone over and over the same things as they tried to prize every detail from him. The guys who’d abducted them had been charged with a long list of offenses. One confessed to everything but the others were still maintaining their innocence. DS Spencer reckoned it was only a matter of time before they cracked.
Once he was back in his car, Jai sat and called his lawyer. Until he’d made these calls, he wasn’t driving anywhere.
“Mr. Winter. How can I help you?”
“I want out of my contract with Saul DeVries.”
“Has something happened?”
Jai had to rein himself in. “In a way. What sort of notice do I have to give?”
“Hold on. Let me bring up details on my computer… Okay. The original contract was for three years, then it automatically renewed on a yearly basis on the anniversary date. You can terminate with thirty days written notice delivered by registered mail. You must honor bookings already made in the notice period, and of course your independent contracts are unaffected.”
He swallowed hard. “Terminate the contract.”
“Is there something wrong?”
“Not anymore,” Jai said.
Next on his list was Pin.
“Hi, Jai, what’s up? We have some fantastic shots from Paris. Your face. Wow. I don’t know what you were on, but you look great. I—”
“Listen.” Jai had to interrupt. Pin was like the ball in a pinball machine—part of the reason for his name. “Thirty days from now, Saul will no longer be my agent.”
“Ah, this has something to do with Paris. You’ve been with him from the start. You’re still contracted to us though, right? What’s happened?”
Jai knew he didn’t need to tell Pin the truth but he’d decided anything less might blow back in his face.
“He and his wife have been blackmailing me.”
Silence from the other end of the phone.
Jai took a deep breath and continued. “It originally related to an incident at a party that had nothing to do with me. Not directly. I was trying to protect my brother’s reputation. Turns out my brother had nothing to do with it.”
“Well…that’s good.”
“The thing is…I…” Oh shit.
“What, Jai?”
“Saul didn’t want money to keep silent, he wanted sex. Not just with him but with his wife, his friends and people he wanted to influence. Some of it was vanilla but not all. There are photos. There might be movies. Once Saul had reeled me in, he used the threat of exposure to keep me cooperative.”
“Oh shit.”
“Yeah.”
“How long has it been going on?”
“Since I was seventeen.”
“Christ, Jai. You were a kid.”
He swallowed hard.
“You know you can’t work for us anymore. If this got out…”
“It’d probably boost your sales.”
Pin snorted.
“It’s been going on for ten years and no one has found out. Saul picked people who’d keep quiet or he could persuade to keep quiet. It isn’t in his interests to let this get out. If I’m not working, I’m not earning him any money.”
“But now you’ve sacked him? What will stop him speaking out?”
Jai sighed. “I don’t know and it’s why I’m telling you.”
“He might keep his mouth shut.”
“It’s possible.”
“He has more to lose by speaking out than he does by keeping quiet. You should fucking blackmail him. Who’s going to sign with his agency if he treats his models like that? In fact, that’s a good idea. All the other big names would leave him if they knew. You’d ruin him. Maybe I was a bit premature saying you couldn’t work for us. Let’s wait and see how this pans out. Of course, I’ll deny I ever had this conversation.”
“Right.” Jai gave a short laugh. “Let me just turn off my recording machine.” That thought triggered another.
“It explains a lot,” Pin said.
“What do you mean?”
“About your lack of interest in either sex. I don’t feel so bad now you turned me down.”
Jai let out a choked laugh.
“Does the new woman in your life have anything to do with all this?”
“She’s made me see the light.”
“Good for her. Thanks for telling me, Jai. I guess it can’t have been easy. Let me know when you get a new agent and if this is going to leak to the press, give me a heads-up.”
“There’s something else
.”
“Oh fuck. Better or worse?”
Jai ran through the events of the last twenty-four hours.
Pin sighed. “No trouble from you at all and now this? At least it’s not your fault and a relief you’re both okay. I like Summer.”
“So do I.”
Pin laughed. “Think we all hadn’t noticed?”
Before Jai made another call, he checked to see if Summer had phoned—no—then called his brother.
“Jai. I’ve been trying to get in touch with you.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I’ve been…involved in something with Summer.”
“I’ve spoken to a lawyer friend of mine who has a contact in the police and the man was able to access the file on Tania Savage. It started off as a murder investigation but was eventually downgraded and the official conclusion was accidental death. She’d taken a cocktail of drugs and was drunk. The place she was found was on her way home. She’d stumbled and hit her head. There was blood on a nearby rock and signs of rough sex but no proof it was rape. No sperm sample. No unidentified DNA. In his statement, Saul said he heard her calling a cab and when she disappeared, he assumed she’d gone home.”
“Oh.”
“So it’s okay.”
“No, it’s not.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’d only been home for about an hour when Saul called me and told me to wash your clothes. He said she was dead. So he must have moved her after she died and set up the scene. Maybe she did die accidentally, but she died when she was in his house. All he needs to say to the police is that you begged him, paid him, promised him whatever if he dealt with Tania. Mud sticks.”
“Fuck.” Evan didn’t often swear. “Okay, so we need to go to the police and tell them everything.”
“No, not yet. I’ve an idea. I told my lawyer to terminate my contract with Saul. Thirty days and I’m free. Not that he’ll know until tomorrow morning. I’m going to go and see him now and confront him.”
“To what end?”
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