(2012) Evie Undercover (39 page)

Rachel looked anxiously at Tom. ‘
What do you think is going to happen about what the paper claimed
?’

‘The worst of the two attacks is, of course, the Zizi thing.
Pure Dirt
will probably
go to the Court of Appeal
and
claim
that
Zizi
having
a
candlelight
dinner
during the course of the trial
with her
barrister
,
who’d already been shown to be dishonest,
is enough to
suggest
that
the
ir
other claims could be true
. They’ll say
that as
she’
s
diminished her reputation
,
their damages should
be
accordingly
diminished. They’ll want something financial out of this after all of
their devious efforts.’

‘You can bet they will,’ Rachel said bitterly.
‘Will they win, do you think?’

‘My guess is
that
they’d settle. Going to court is always a gamble, and in this case there are too many uncertainties on both sides.
I imagine that
Zizi will probably have to give up
some of her
damages and pay her own costs
, but not theirs
.
Pure Dirt
may even get away with not paying any damages at all.
’

‘What about the fax thing?’ Jess asked.

‘
As far as
that
goes, t
he Bar Standards Board will probably refer the matter to the Head of Chambers or to a Disciplinary Tribunal
, and I’ll be fined and reprimanded
.
I don’t want to let myself feel too confident as it’s a very serious offence, but
I’d be surprised if I were
to be
suspended – it happened a long time ago.
The fact that the revelation comes from such an unpleasant source should help me, too.
’

‘
I certainly hope
it won’t be any worse than that,’ Rachel said warmly. ‘
We both do. We’d
hate to see that
sleazy
rag
win.’

‘By far the worst punishment for me is that I’m not going to be able to
hunt
for Evie until my current case is over. It opened today and I’ve got to be in court every day
for two weeks
–
there’s a limit to what the junior can be left to do by himself. Not only that, I’ve a full
workload for the coming weekend
;
not only working on the present case, but I’m also preparing for a case that begins in a month’s time.’

‘That sounds heavy,’ Jess said with a grimace.

‘I’m used to it. But it means that m
uch as I
’m desperate
to find Evie, I dare not let myself
be distracted in the next couple of weeks
. I want to do my best for my client
–
that’s paramount
–
but I’m also determined to show
Pure Dirt
that their sordid little plan couldn’t
even
lose me
the case I was
working on.’ He paused, then added, ‘
Since I can’t look for her at the moment,
I think I’ll hire a detective to find her.’

‘I wouldn’t, if I were you,’ Jess said at once. ‘
She
obviously needs time by herself to get over what’s happened
. O
therwise she’d have been in touch.’

‘Jess is
right, Tom. Give her some space
.’

He hesitated.
‘
I don’t know. I need to feel as if I’m doing something. If I can’t do it myself, and I can’t, the next best thing is knowing that someone else is doing it. I’m not good at sitting back and doing nothing.’

‘
But that
could be the best thing for Evie,’ Jess said quietly.

Tom sighed deeply. ‘Maybe you’re right.
OK
,
I’ll hold off o
n the detective
;
for the moment
,
anyway.
Soon as
the case
is
over
, I’m going to
concentrate on finding her.
Till then
, though,
I’ll
be patient. That is, when I’ve done the one thing that I’ve got to do this evening
–
something that can’t wait.’

Jess
smiled
at him. ‘It wouldn’t entail a trip to Holland Park, would it?’

Chapter Twenty-Six

The Moment of Truth

‘Who is it?’ Gabriela’s voice came through the intercom seconds after Tom had buzzed the number of her flat.

‘It’s Tom. I was in the area and I thought I’d drop by on the off chance you were home. But just say if it’s not convenien
t
–
I can always go away. I wouldn’t want to impose.’

A little laugh sounded through the intercom; a slightly nervous little laugh, he was inclined to think.

‘It’s no imposition, Tom. I shall be happy to see you.’ He heard the pleasure in her voice, but there was definitely a hint of wariness, too. His lips ti
ghtened.
So there should be.
‘Push the door now
,’ the disembodied voice instructed. ‘I’m on the first floor.’
             

He pushed open the doo
r and went into the entrance hall
.
Struggling to stifle
the wave of
anger
that welled up in him, he
made straight for the staircase. When he reached the first floor, Gabriela was standing in her doorway. She stepped forward
as he approached
, her wide smile not quite touching her eyes. Pursing scarlet-coloured lips in the air, she raised her
face
to him.

Steadying himself, he l
ean
ed
down
and
kissed her on both cheeks. Musky perfume enveloped him.

‘It’s wonderful to see you again, Gabriela,’ he said, straightening up and staring into her face. There was unmistakable nervousness in the depths of her jet black eyes. ‘Wonderful,’ he repeated, putting as much warmth and enthusiasm into his voice as he could muster.

‘I feel the same,’ she murmured, and he sensed her beginning to relax. ‘It’s so lovely to see you again, Tom. But
come – we must not stand here. L
et me be very English and offer you some tea.’ With a smile of invitation, she turned and led the way into the
apartment
and across the hall.

He
clos
ed
the door behind him
. His
jaw
clenched,
he followed her into the sitting room
.
P
aus
ing, he
looked around.
‘What a beautiful room
,
’ he
commented
.

Huge pictures hung from the white walls, their muted grey and brown tones echo
ing in the
profusion of light grey and lavender throws and cushions, and in the intricate shapes of musky grey sculptured glass that had been skilfully placed around the room for dramatic effect. ‘You must have worked very hard to get it like this in so short a space of time.’

‘I didn’t have so much to do
. T
he flat was already very beautiful, and in a style that pleases me. For the rest, I had help
.
You lent me Evie for a few days, did you not?
’

‘That’s a name I’d rather you didn’t mention, thank you very much,’ he said tersely, and he sat down heavily on the sofa and started to loosen his tie. He stopped mid-action, his hand still on his tie
for dramatic effect
. ‘It is OK to make myself at home, isn’t it?’

‘Of course, it is,’ Gabriela said with a broad smile. ‘You must look upon this as your second home.’

‘You’re very kind,’ he told her. ‘
Or
as my third home,
to be more precise
.’ They both laughed.

He
pulled off
his tie, put it into his pocket and undid the top button of his shirt. Leaning back against the sofa, he smiled up at her. ‘And I’m going to be even bolder than I’ve already been, and tell you that I could do with something stronger than tea. I rather think I need it, the way I feel.’

She laughed merrily. ‘I have a very good single malt whisky. At least, I have been told that it’s good. You must tell me if you agree with the recommendation. For me, I prefer to drink wine. There’s a bottle of white wine in the fridge. Perhaps you will go and open it for me and bring it in here. You’ll find a rather elaborate opener in the cupboard above the refrigerator.’

He promptly got up and went out to find the kitchen.

When he returned to
the sitting room,
an open
bottle
of wine
in one hand and an ice bucket in the other,
he saw
Gabriela ben
ding
over the glass table
. She
’d obviously just
mov
ed
one of the magazines from the top of the pile to the bottom and
was
hastily
straightening
t
hem all.

‘Here we are,’ he said, p
utt
ing
the ice bucket on the table, and
resting
the bottle
on the ice
.

‘Thank you, Tom,’ she said with a smile, and
went over to the
white cabinet in the corner of the room
.

He sat down on the sofa and
watched
as she took
out a wine glass and a crystal whisky glass, followed by a decanter of whisky
, and
carried them on a pale wood tray to the coffee table
. She
placed
the whisky glass and decanter in front of Tom, and the wine glass
by
the chair on the
opposite
side of the table. Putting the tray squarely on top of the magazines, she sat down.

‘You’re certainly right about it being an all singing, all dancing wine opener
,’ he
remarked
, rais
ing
himself slightly to pour
some wine into
Gabriela’s
glass
. Then he
rested
the bottle
back in
the bucket,
filled his glass with
whisky
and
sat back on
the sofa.

Gabriela picked up her glass.
‘I think we should have a toast
. To
the first of what I hope will be many visits.’

‘I’ll drink to that,’ he said, and he forced a smile to his face as he raised his glass to his lips. ‘It’s good to see a friendly face after the day I’ve had.’ He took a long drink, then put the glass on the table. As he did so, his gaze slid along to the pile of magazines under the tray. He leaned across and removed the tray.

He felt Gabriela’s eyes on him as he ran his fingers down the edges of the magazines, nudging them sideways to expose the issues that lay at the bottom. He heard her catch her breath as his eyes zeroed in on the letters visible on the magazine at the bottom of the pile.
Dirt
and EXPOSÉ glared back at them.

‘I assume you’ve read the article,’ he said flatly, sitting back and nodding towards the magazine.

‘Yes, I have, Tom,’ Gabriela said, a note of apology in her voice. ‘I started buying the magazine as it was one of the things that Evie said I should read in order to learn about the English way of life.’

‘The English way of life!’ He injected a harsh note of bitterness into his voice. ‘So that’s how she describes the content of filthy rags like
Pure Dirt
, is it? Well in my book, using subterfuge and lies to uncover and expose the secrets of people in the public eye, secrets that are no one else’s business, is the very opposite of the English way of life. There’s something deeply sick about it, and about the people who
are
making their living by trying to destroy the lives of others. And that includes Evie Shaw. She really pulled the wool over my eyes in order to screw me good and hard.’