Stolen (44 page)

‘I felt instantly better when Scott rang me to tell me what happened in court today. I had to come right away.’

‘I am so glad you did,’ Lotte said, hugging her again. ‘I couldn’t really celebrate without you, or have the full post mortem. You are staying, aren’t you? I can make you up a bed in my room; Simon’s got one of those inflatable mattresses.’

‘Glad you asked,’ Dale laughed. ‘I didn’t even stop to think where I’d sleep.’

It was a very happy, noisy party, but by one in the morning Lotte had retreated on to one of the sofas and was just watching everyone else. Dale and Scott were dancing together, and there was no doubt they were about to become more than just good friends. He was smiling right into her eyes, his hands were running over her curves, and Dale was stroking his ears and neck and looking like she’d fallen in love.

She had said drunkenly a little earlier that her parents had told her she’d changed for the better, and if they’d known locking her up for a few days would have such an effect, they would have done it years ago.

Lotte could laugh at that now because she knew it wasn’t just the days in the basement, or even working on the cruise ship which had changed Dale from a selfish prima donna to a person who was sensitive to others. It was friendship which had made the difference. She’d learned to care for someone more than she cared for herself, she’d discovered the magic of having someone to share good times and bad with, someone to lean on and to be leant on. To laugh at herself and to share it with another.

And it hadn’t been one-way traffic. Dale had made Lotte braver, tougher and less hung up about what people thought of her. Together they’d rounded each other out and discovered new strengths.

‘You look tired.’

Lotte looked up at the sound of David’s voice. He’d been engrossed in talking to Simon when she last looked to see where he was. That was another thing she liked about him; apart from being kind, generous, sexy and gorgeous, he didn’t need looking after – he could mingle with people and chat.

‘I suppose I must be, but it’s such a good party I wouldn’t want to be the one to break it up,’ she smiled. ‘Come and sit here with me.’

He sat down beside her and put his arm around her, drawing her close. ‘That’s better,’ he sighed. ‘I’ve been itching to cuddle you all evening.’

She tucked her feet up on the sofa and snuggled right into his arms. She didn’t think she could remember ever feeling so safe or happy before.

‘What are you thinking about?’ David asked her after a minute or two. He was running the tips of his fingers up and down her neck by her ear in a way that was making her wish Dale had somewhere else to sleep tonight.

‘Wondering how I can have you all to myself,’ she said, turning her face up to his to kiss him.

Simon had said earlier today that she might need counselling to deal with what she’d been through, and perhaps she would once it all began to sink in properly. But right now there was nothing on her mind but David.

His kiss made her tingle all over and everyone in the room disappear, and she pressed closer to him for more.

‘That is the “we-stay-here-snogging-till-first-light-then-I-whisk-you-back-to-my-place” kiss,’ he whispered. ‘Or is that too presumptuous?’

‘When you kiss the way you do you are allowed to be presumptuous,’ she said with a smile. Suddenly she realized that what she’d said to David that night in St Richard’s when he’d saved her from Howard still applied. It was good that he was not from her past. She didn’t know yet whether they had a future together, but it felt as if they did right now. ‘But I’ve already told Dale I’d go out to Marchwood with her tomorrow morning,’ she said. ‘She needs to talk to the boss there about coming back and she knows all her and Scott’s friends in the spa are burning to meet me. But you could come with us too! They are all just as intrigued by you as by me, and then we could go on somewhere afterwards.’

‘If that’s OK with you,’ he smiled.

On her way to the bathroom a little later Lotte saw Scott kissing Dale goodbye out on the balcony by the front door. Lotte knew it wasn’t a drunken mistake on Scott’s part; he hadn’t been drinking because he had to drive back to Marchwood and be up early in the morning.

She slipped into the bathroom without alerting them she’d seen them, smiling to herself. She thought they’d make the most perfect couple.

On the way out to Marchwood Manor the next morning in David’s car, Dale suggested Lotte ask if they had any vacancies for hairdressers. ‘It would be great,’ she said excitedly. ‘We’d all be together again.’

‘I think I want to stay with Simon and Adam for the rest of the summer,’ Lotte said. ‘They’ll take me back at Kutz too, and besides, after last night you and Scott don’t need anyone playing gooseberry.’

Dale blushed. ‘I might’ve known you’d pick up on that. You never miss anything!’

As David parked the car in the hotel car park, Lotte suggested she and he should get a cup of coffee while Dale went into the spa and saw her boss first.

‘There’s no need for that,’ Dale said. ‘Come on in with me now.’

Lotte had her misgivings about this. She didn’t work there, David looked a bit crumpled after a night on the sofa, and from what Dale had told her before about Marisa De Vere it was clear she wasn’t the most genial of people. But assuming Dale knew she was going to get a warm welcome, she allowed her friend to lead the way.

As they walked in through the doors into the tranquillity of the spa reception area, a slender, dark-haired woman by the desk spun round to Dale.

‘To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?’ she said, her tone pure poison.

Lotte had rarely known her friend lost for a quick, pithy retort, but clearly the frosty greeting was so unexpected that Dale was momentarily stunned. ‘I came to tell you I’m ready to come back,’ she said in a small voice.

‘The spa doesn’t need someone as unreliable as you,’ Marisa replied. ‘And who are these people you’ve dragged in with you?’

Had Lotte seen Dale ready to fight her own corner, she would’ve apologized for intruding and backed away. But the colour had drained from Dale’s face and she was staring open-mouthed in disbelief at Marisa.

Lotte stepped closer to the woman. ‘I’m Lotte Wainwright, the friend who inadvertently prevented Dale from working,’ she snapped. ‘She couldn’t help what happened to her, and how dare you speak to her in such an unpleasant manner!’

‘This is nothing to do with you.’ Marisa’s voice rose a little. ‘Kindly leave the spa immediately. You, Dale, can collect your belongings and we’ll send on your cards and any money due to you.’

Lotte’s blood was up. No one was going to treat her friend like that.

‘Oh no you don’t,’ she said warningly to the woman. ‘I think you’ll find some of the other staff will walk out if you sack Dale. I know Scott will, and possibly the hairdressers too.’

As she spoke, she saw the door to the hairdressing salon open and guessed the man with highlighted hair, eyes almost popping out of his head as he looked in, was Frankie. Dale had talked about him a lot while they were imprisoned. ‘Frankie!’ She beckoned to him to come out. ‘This woman intends to sack Dale for being so careless as to let herself be abducted and have her life threatened. I’ve already told her Scott will walk out in sympathy if she does. How about you?’

‘She wants to sack you, babe?’ Frankie asked incredulously, coming forward to hug Dale. ‘No way. She can’t do that. We’ll all walk out if she does.’

He let go of Dale and walked swiftly back to the salon, yelled for everyone to come out, then did the same in the beauty salon. Hearing the noise he was making, Scott appeared too from the swimming pool.

Lotte glanced at David. He raised one eyebrow and smiled. ‘See what you can do if you put your mind to it?’ he said quietly as the reception area began to fill up with people.

There was nothing for it but for Lotte to explain to everyone.

‘Dale came back this morning hoping to return to work,’ she began. ‘She brought myself and David out here too because she believed as you’d all been so interested and supportive since I was found by David on the beach, that you’d like to meet us. Maybe she shouldn’t have brought us in here without checking with the manager first, but did she deserve to be sacked for unreliability?

‘How has she been unreliable? She was only away from work because she was abducted with me. That happened because she tried to save me. That was brave. Not unreliable.’

Lotte paused to look from one face to another. Most of the staff were nodding their heads in agreement with what she’d said. ‘I don’t believe so either,’ she went on. ‘In fact, I think Marisa is being not only unfair, but vindictive for some reason. So I’m going to ask who will support Dale by stepping forward and refusing to work until she receives a full apology.’

Scott leapt forward and Dale shot him a look of gratitude. Frankie was almost as quick off the mark, in fact he accused Marisa of having always been unpleasant to Dale. Then the other male hairdresser joined them, quickly followed by all the girls.

‘Oh dear! You’ve got no one left to finish off the clients’ treatments and haircuts,’ Lotte said mischievously as she saw a couple of women in towelling robes peeping out of the beauty salon door. ‘What is to be done, Marisa? I know, I’ll go and get the general manager. Could someone tell me his name?’

Frankie called out that it was Mr Sellers and offered to get him for her.

The expression on Marisa’s face was laughable. Shock that someone had dared stand up to her, panic that she could now be in trouble, mingled with jealousy and hatred. Lotte half expected her to start stamping her dainty little feet in rage.

In the midst of this, Quentin Sellers walked in and asked what was going on.

Scott took over then, no doubt aware that the hotel manager wouldn’t wish to speak to Lotte as she didn’t work there. He took him out of the spa back into the hotel to explain.

The five minutes the two men were gone seemed much longer, with Dale looking at the floor, Marisa glowering at Lotte and everyone else speaking in whispers. David caught hold of Lotte’s hand and whispered that he was proud of her.

Then Scott came back.

‘Mr Sellers would like to see you immediately in his office,’ he said curtly to Marisa. ‘He asked the rest of you if you would please return to your clients and he will address us all later. As for you, Dale, he regrets he wasn’t around earlier to welcome you back personally after your ordeal and asks that you and your friends go into the lounge for coffee and he’ll join you very shortly.’

Marisa had a face like thunder now, for clearly it was she who was in trouble. She flounced off, her high heels tapping out a staccato message on the hardwood floor. The rest of the staff tittered, then disappeared back into their respective salons.

‘It’s OK, Dale,’ Scott said, coming over and running his hands affectionately down the sides of her head and shoulders. ‘He was appalled at what Marisa said today. It won’t be you being sacked. But I’ll have to go, I’ve got to do a fitness appraisal for someone in the gym. Come in the pool for a swim later and we’ll talk.’

Two hours later Lotte and David said goodbye to Dale in the car park. It seemed Mr Sellers had already been aware that Marisa was something of a bully to all the staff in the spa. She’d also been rude to quite a few guests and had been on a warning. Today’s incident had clarified Mr Sellers’ mind and he had decided she was the one to be fired. To save any further unpleasantness, he’d asked that she leave immediately.

When he came out to speak to Dale, Lotte and David he was charming, asking the girls about their ordeal, offering his congratulations to Lotte that all charges against her had been dropped. He asked if she’d like to work at his salon, but Lotte thanked him warmly and declined.

As for Dale, Mr Sellers asked if she would manage the spa on a trial basis. He said while she’d been absent he’d become aware that the rest of the staff liked and respected her, but was afraid that after what she’d been through it might be too much for her.

Dale said she wasn’t sure she could manage it, but she’d give it her best shot.

Once the three of them were on their own again, Dale hugged Lotte tightly. ‘You were so great this morning,’ she said, her eyes full of tears. ‘I couldn’t believe you could be so confident, so strong. I ought to have, of course, after all it was you who held me together in the basement. Don’t you think she’s amazing, David?’ she asked.

‘Totally,’ he said, looking at Lotte tenderly.

Lotte sniggered. ‘What are you two like?’ she said. ‘Is this Boost Lotte’s Morale Day?’

Dale reached out and took Lotte’s hand. She couldn’t say what she wanted to, for it was all mixed up in her head: gratitude, love, admiration, pride, along with a degree of fear that her friend would never entirely recover from what she’d been through. Dale might be excited about her budding romance with Scott, and her new job here at the spa, but she was happiest of all to see her friend with David, for she really felt he was going to heal all Lotte’s wounds.

‘Be happy with David,’ she said simply, and turned and walked away from them. It was a glorious day and she was going for a swim now before she started looking around the spa and finding out what had been going on in her absence.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw that David was kissing Lotte. She smiled. Everything seemed to be going right for both of them at last.

LESLEY PEARSE was told as a child that she had too much imagination for her own good. When she grew up she worked her way through a number of jobs, including nanny, bunny girl, dressmaker and full-time mother, before, at the age of forty-nine, settling upon a career that would allow her gifts to blossom: she became a published writer. Lesley now lives just outside Bristol. She has three daughters and one grandson.