Rumor Has It (40 page)

    Oh.

    Right.

    So a fleet of police cars weren't about to be sent out to catch Jack and haul him back. That was a real shame.

    What had happened between him and Amy anyway? Why had they both lied about it? Tilly couldn't begin to imagine, but one thing was for certain.

    
She had to find out.

WHEN SHE'D COME DOWN from London to work for Max, how could she ever have imagined that part of her job description would be chaperone-cum-third-wheel?

    'I've got an appointment with Matt and Lizzie Blake over in Bath tonight,' Max had said earlier. 'You'll have to keep an eye on Kaye.'

    'OK.' Tilly shrugged. Well, there were worse ways to spend an evening. 'Lou? Want to come along and keep me company?'

    'If you don't mind me getting expelled.' Lou pulled a face. 'I got a detention today for not paying attention in geography and tonight I've got my French essay to do, plus history, and a mountain of math. Calculus,
yeeurgh
.' Hopefully, she added, 'Unless you want to write a letter to my form tutor saying I couldn't do any of it because I
had
to come out with you.'

    Which was how Tilly came to be sitting, like a right Nellie No mates, all on her own at a table in the garden of the Horseshoe Inn on the outskirts of Roxborough. Well, not completely on her own. She had Betty with her. But adorable though Betty was, when it came to sparkling conversation, she was no Dawn French.

    At the other end of the garden, Kaye and her stalker were en grossed in conversation, laughing together, and generally having a brilliant time. In addition, a dozen or so wooden tables were oc cupied by customers enjoying a warm summer evening outside a picturesque Cotswold pub. They all looked as if they were having fun too. Then again, they weren't stuck with a companion who'd spent the last hour snuffling around in the grass for bits of old chips.

    Ten minutes later, Jack emerged from the pub and Tilly's heart lollopped into overdrive. As he stood surveying the scene, Betty abandoned her chip hunt and raced over to her hero, greeting him like an ecstatic groupie.

    See? Even Betty was under his spell.

    But Tilly was glad he'd turned up. Max must have told him she'd be here on her own and Jack had come over to keep her company. Which meant she could quiz him and find out what had really gone on between him and Amy. She was longing—
longing
—to know.

    Jack came over with Betty bouncing around his feet.

    'Hi.' Tilly beamed. 'Let me guess, Max rang you.'

    Jack nodded. 'He did.'

    'Betty, leave Jack alone. Let him sit down.' Eagerly, Tilly moved her glass of orange juice, the empty chip packet, and her handbag out of the way.

    'I can't stop.' Shaking his head, he said, 'I've got new tenants moving into the Farrow Road flat this evening. Said I'd meet them there in thirty minutes.'

    What? She had to shield her eyes from the sun that was setting behind him. 'So why did you come?'

    Jack tilted an eyebrow. 'Because Max asked me to. It's OK, I'm pretty good on first impressions. Five minutes'll be enough to check him out, see what I think.'

    So, not here for her benefit then. Now how stupid did she look? Scooping Betty up onto her lap, Tilly watched Jack head over to where Kaye and the stalker were sitting. He greeted Kaye with a kiss, shook Parker by the hand, and joined their table.

    'I'm off.' Four minutes had passed and Jack was back.

    'One thing before you go.' Tilly blurted the question out; it had been driving her nuts all day. 'Because there's something I
really don't understand. Why would Amy say she'd slept with yo
u if she hadn't?'

    He shook his head, smiled slightly. 'I don't know.'

    Which meant he
did.

    'And if it's true that you didn't sleep with her, why didn't you tell me
that
before, instead of letting me carry on thinking you had?'

    'OK, now listen to me.' Jack regarded her steadily. 'What did I tell you months ago? I said I never discussed my sex life. Never have, never will. Because I have certain standards.' His eyes glittered. 'If you and I were to… have any kind of relationship, would you be happy to know that I was off telling everyone all about it? Regaling them with all the details? Well, would you?'

    Tilly flushed and shook her head. 'No.'

    'No, you wouldn't. And neither would any girl. So I respect that and say nothing.' Pause. 'I shouldn't have told you about Amy this morning, but this baby business was getting out of hand. So there, that's your answer. Happy now?'

    Well, that told her. Feeling thoroughly chastened—and frus tratingly none the wiser—Tilly brushed away a hovering insect and murmured, 'Yes.'

    'Good.' Jack pulled his car keys out of his pocket, ready to leave. With a wink he added, 'Who knew I had morals? Tell me you aren't secretly impressed.'

    After chastising her like that? Not a chance. Ignoring this, Tilly said, 'What's the verdict on Kaye's stalker?'

    'Seems OK. Not obviously howling at the moon. Kaye's keen.'

    'Just a bit.'

    'Right, I'm off.' He bent down to ruffle Betty's ears. Betty promptly rolled over, squirming with delight and shamelessly wag gling her legs in the air.

    'Bye then.' Tilly put on a brave face. God, you really knew you were in trouble when you wished you could swap places with a dog. To say that Kaye was keen on Parker Price was an understatement. She was besotted. When he'd said his good-byes and left the Horseshoe at closing time, you could tell she was longing for him to kiss her. Possibly if Tilly hadn't been there, he would have. But a chaperone wouldn't be doing her job if she were to allow
that
to happen so she hadn't discreetly waited around the corner, but had stayed put instead.

    Then Parker's taxi had taken him back to his hotel, and Tilly and Kaye walked with Betty the short distance into the center of Roxborough.

    Well, Tilly and Betty walked. Kaye was probably floating along a couple of inches above the pavement. And keeping her attention was like trying to get a kitten to read a book.

    'He's just lovely, isn't he? You do like him, don't you? Honestly, I can't remember the last time I felt this comfortable with a man, it's like we've known each other for
years
…'

    'Excuse me.' Tilly's tone was accusing. 'Did you just skip?'

    'Sorry?'

    'Skip. You know.' She pointed at Kaye's scarlet-sandaled feet. 'Oh my God. You did, didn't you? You actually physically
skipped
.'

    And instead of looking guilty and ashamed and issuing an im mediate flat-out denial, Kaye grinned and shook back her hair. 'Well, maybe I can't help it. That's how he makes me feel!'

    'You still have to be sensible.' Tilly felt duty-bound to say it. She was a chaperone, after all.

    'I know, I know. I am!' Kaye gleefully executed another skip and followed it up with a twirl.

    'Can I ask you something?'

    'About Parker? Anything!'

    'No, about Jack.'

    Kaye stopped twirling. 'What did Jack say about him?'

'Nothing. I mean, he said he seems fine.'

    'Can you believe Max, sending him along to cross-examine Parker?'

    'This thing about Jack.' Tilly tried again. 'It isn't anything to do with Parker. Listen, remember after you and Max broke up?'

    Kaye wrinkled her nose. 'What about it?'

    'You told me you'd slept with Jack.'

    'Ye-es.'

    'Well, did you really?'

    'Sorry?' Kaye sounded puzzled. 'Did I really what?'

    'Sleep with Jack.'

    'Of course I slept with Jack.' Incredulously, Kaye said, 'Why would I say I had if I hadn't?'

    Well, exactly.
Exactly
. And there was no question of not believ ing Kaye. The thing was, she believed Jack too. Tilly pulled Betty away from a discarded chocolate wrapper and waited for Kaye to ask why she was so interested.

    'So anyway, listen to this. Parker came over here for a week's holiday but he's going to see if he can stretch it to a fortnight, isn't that
fantastic
?'

    So much for curiosity. Kaye evidently had far more important things on her mind. Tilly smiled at her and said, 'Great.'

Max was already back from his meeting in Bath, frying eggs and bacon and slathering brown sauce on bread. He waved his spatula in greeting and said, 'Lou's gone up to bed. How did it go with the stalker?'

    'Fine. She's seeing him again tomorrow. But she doesn't want a chaperone this time. She says she's a big girl now, you're not her dad, and you have to let her and Parker go out together on their own some time.'

'OK.'

    'Really?' Tilly was astounded; she hadn't expected him to give in so easily.

    Max shrugged. 'They can go out together. Not stay in.'

    'Well, that's a start. Kaye'll be pleased.' Marveling at his change of heart, she said, 'Is there enough bacon for me and Betty too?'

    'Yep.' As he flipped the rashers Max's phone began to ring on the kitchen table. 'See who that is, will you?'

    Tilly peered over at the screen. 'It's Kaye. Shall I answer?'

    Was he struggling to keep a straight face? 'Be my guest.'

    'Is Max there with you? Oh my God, you won't believe what he's done,' Kaye shouted over the phone. 'Tell him he's a com plete bastard!'

    'You're a complete bastard,' Tilly dutifully reported. 'Why, what's he done?'

    'Only gone and phoned up Parker's offices and interrogated everyone who works there! I'm so
embarrassed,'
shrieked Kaye. 'What are they going to
think
?' He's already had calls from two of his fellow architects, his secretary, and his office cleaner. He's never going to live this down—they're going to tease him about it until the day he dies.'

    'OK.' Seizing the phone, Max said laconically, 'I can hear you squealing away, but I happen to think it was the sensible thing to do. I could have called them up and heard them say, "Parker's girl friends? Oh, it's the strangest thing, after a week or so they always seem to vanish off the face of the earth… oh yeah, now you come to mention it, there
is
a funny smell coming from under the floorboards in his apartment."'

    Max's New York accent was spot on. Hiding a smile, Tilly took over frying the bacon. Now it was her turn to hear Kaye's outraged tinny squawks.

    'No,' Max switched back to his normal voice, 'as it turns out, they didn't say that. They told me he was a nice normal guy, every one likes him, no history whatsoever of chopping women up into small chunks.' Pause, tinny squawk. 'Well, I thought you'd be happy to hear it.' Pause, tinny squawk. 'Look, I just want you to be safe and I'm sure Parker can appreciate that. None of them had anything bad to say about him at all… yeah, yeah, I know, unlike me. And Jack says he seems OK too. So now that we know all this, I'm happy to let you go out with him tomorrow night on your own.' Pause, brief tinny squawk. 'Well, charming.'

    'What did she say?' Tilly busily piled rashers of crispy bacon on to the lined-up slices of bread.

    'She just called me something
very
rude.' Max pulled a sorrow ful face at Betty, whose only concern was that there might not be enough bacon for her too. 'And then she hung up. I potentially saved her life and this is the thanks I get.'

TILLY STUDIED THE ORDER of service in her hands and felt guiltily void of emotion. It felt faintly fraudulent, attending the funeral of someone you'd only known briefly and hadn't even liked very much.

    Oh God, and even that was an exaggeration. She had barely known Stella and hadn't liked her at all. But Erin had begged her to come along today and she hadn't had the heart to say no. Petrified that the turnout would be pitiful, Erin had been badgering practi cally everyone Stella had ever met in her determination to ensure that the church would be reasonably full.

    And thank goodness—for Erin's sake if not Stella's—it was. Over a hundred people had turned up. Potential disaster had been averted. The so-called friends who hadn't visited Stella in the hospital were all here today. Either their consciences had been well and truly pricked by Erin or the opportunity to look glamorous in black was simply too good to pass up. The request to wear bright colors had been ignored by most of the women; black was
so
much more slimming and stylish.

    Tilly, furtively gazing around the church as they waited for the service to begin, recognized Stella's fellow shopkeepers amongst the assembled congregation, mixed in with several of her neighbors and various familiar faces from the Lazy Fox. Staff from Fergus's estate agency were here too, including his secretary Jeannie, whom she knew for a fact had never got on with Stella.

    And there, towards the back of the church, was still-thin but visibly pregnant Amy, wearing dark glasses (perhaps she thought she was in Hollywood) and an elegant black velvet wrap-around dress. Tilly still hadn't been able to get her head around the Amy conun drum. Had Jack got her stupendously drunk? Had she woken up the next morning with a cracking headache and amnesia, only to be told by Jack that they'd done the dreaded deed
when in fact they hadn't?

    Had he hypnotized her into somehow believing she'd had wild sex with him?