The Hornbeam Tree (18 page)

‘Hi. How are you?’ she said.

‘I’m good,’ he answered. ‘Is it OK to talk?’

The sound of his voice was already having the effect she was dreading. ‘Yes,’ she said, managing to sound much more in control than she was feeling. ‘Actually, Elliot wants to be in touch with you about a story he’s getting involved with. Do you happen to know Tom Chambers?’

‘Tom? Sure I do. Do you know what it’s about?’

‘I should let Elliot fill you in.’

‘OK, I’ll give him a call.’

Realizing that really wouldn’t be a good idea, she said, ‘Maybe you should wait till he calls you.’

‘Anything you say,’ he responded, seeming to understand. ‘So, you had a good time in Bali?’

Wishing she wasn’t actually sitting in Elliot’s car while having this call, she said, ‘Yes, it was lovely, thank you.’

‘Lovely in the sense it’s all worked out with Elliot? You’re officially back together?’

Not entirely sure how she wanted to answer that, she said, ‘Let’s put it this way, we haven’t
given
up on each other yet, but we’ve still got a way to go.’

There was a pause, then his voice seemed to steal right into her as he said, ‘So there’s some room for hope?’

Oh God, how was she going to answer that when she truly didn’t know?

‘He doesn’t deserve you,’ he said softly.

She took a breath. ‘Nick, I … I’d like us to be friends …’

He gave a sharp intake of breath, as though he’d been stung. ‘Not what I wanted to hear,’ he told her.

‘OK, if you want to know the truth,’ she said, ‘I do still have feelings for you, but Elliot and I …’

‘Listen, you don’t have to explain. I get the picture, and I shouldn’t be putting this pressure on. So consider it off, and tell me where you are now.’

Closing her eyes in relief she said, ‘Wiltshire. Actually, I’m looking into making a programme about Katie Kiernan, so I could be here for a few days.’ She wondered if that had sounded like an invitation, and even thought it might be.

‘I’m going to be down that way myself tomorrow,’ he said. ‘Well, GCHQ Cheltenham, which isn’t a million miles away.’

‘About an hour, I think,’ she answered, not daring to allow her mind to go any further than that.

‘Listen, I’m sorry, I’ve got another call coming in,’ he said. ‘It could be one I’m waiting for. I’ll get back to you.’

As he rang off she dropped the phone on the seat beside her and heaved an unsteady sigh. At least she hadn’t actually suggested they meet tomorrow,
nor
had she let him think Elliot was out of the picture. Which he wasn’t. Far from it, but if Nick wanted to see her when he was down this way, was she really going to say no? And if he came to her hotel … She cut the thought off there, for she knew only too well what would happen, and if it did, where the hell was that going to leave her relationship with Elliot?

The Daughters of Lilith were hanging out in Allison’s bedroom, listening to the latest CD from Beyoncé, while painting their nails and brushing each other’s hair. The TV was on too, showing pop videos with the sound turned down, and the computer was logged on so they could go in and out of chat rooms when they felt like it.

‘… so then the bloody teacher grabbed the picture,’ Molly was saying, ‘and now I’m in deep trouble. He’s even got the diary stuff me and Allison wrote.’

‘I bet it makes him all randy and yuk,’ Donna giggled, pulling a face.

‘Just say someone planted it on you,’ Cecily advised, dipping a brush into a pot of purple nail polish. Then dismissing Molly’s concern, she said, ‘So now Molly’s met someone from the Net we can move on to Step Four. Oh God, whose phone is that?’ she grumbled, as one started to ring.

Afraid it was hers, Molly quickly checked, but then Donna was saying, ‘Ugh, vomit. It’s my mother.’

‘Ssssss,’ they all hissed. ‘The enemy. Ssssss.’

Molly laughed the loudest and sank down on to the bed. She’d sent a text to her mother on the way
over
to say she wouldn’t be home for dinner, as if she’d care, with all her friends there keeping her happy.

‘Right, forget Step Four for the moment,’ Allison declared when Donna had finished on the phone, ‘I reckon we should give Molly the good news now, don’t you?’

Molly’s eyes opened wide with surprise. ‘What’s that?’ she said, already excited.

Allison looked at the others. ‘Shall I tell her?’

‘No, keep her in suspense,’ Donna teased.

‘No!’ Molly cried, throwing a cushion at her. ‘What is it? I want to know.’

‘It’s about Brad,’ Allison told her.

Molly’s heart turned over, and the smile dropped from her face. ‘What about him?’ she said, feeling sick and hot and like really strange. ‘Is he seeing someone? Oh God, please don’t tell me he’s seeing someone.’

‘We just said it was good, didn’t we?’ Allison scolded. ‘So no, he’s not seeing someone – though he
might
…’ her eyes swivelled round the others and came back to Molly, ‘be seeing you.’

Molly’s breath caught as her heart tried to catapult out of her chest. ‘Oh my God,’ she murmured, feeling herself start to shake. ‘Why? Did he say something? Oh my God! Oh my God!’

‘He asked Toby to get your mobile number off me,’ Alison told her.

‘Oh no! Oh no!’ Molly gasped, pressing her hands to her cheeks. ‘He’s going to call me?’

‘Why else would he ask for your number?’ Allison laughed, glancing at the others. ‘You are like, so lucky, because you’re not going to have any
problem
with Step Six if he’s interested in you already. And he thinks you’re sixteen, so don’t go telling him your real age or you’ll blow it.’

‘And don’t go missing out Steps Four and Five,’ Cecily reminded her, ‘because remember, we all have to achieve Step Sex –
sex
!’ And she screeched with laughter at the slip of the tongue. ‘I said sex! Can you believe that? I said sex instead of six.’

‘What she means,’ Donna continued, ‘is we all have to make Step Six on the same night, and as we’ve designated the night of the party, you’ve got to wait, Molly. OK? So don’t go letting him do anything before. I mean you can like snog, and he can feel you up and stuff, just don’t go all the way.’

Feeling almost faint at the idea of it, Molly flattened herself on the bed and stared up at the ceiling.

‘Right,’ Cecily said, ‘so we all know what we’re doing for Step Four, but we’ve still got to come up with an idea for Step Five.’

‘I reckon it should be more like Step Four,’ Molly said. ‘You know, nothing to do with boys. Stealing something’s good. It’s got high risk, and gets us something we want, so for Step Five, why don’t we do something more like that?’

No-one seemed to have a problem with that, but as they all started to discuss it Molly couldn’t think about anything except Brad. He wanted her number. She just couldn’t believe it. This was like, really amazing. People would talk about her in shops and places when she walked in, saying things like ‘That’s her, Brad Jenkins’s girlfriend,’ or ‘He’s really crazy about her,’ or ‘She is
so
lucky,’ and she’d just pretend she hadn’t heard, and go on
looking
through the clothes rails, picking out something to wear to a party she was going to with Brad that night.

‘Are you listening, Molly?’ Donna cried, poking and tickling her. ‘You want to know what Step Five is, don’t you?’

Molly sat up, ready to listen.

Allison started to speak, and as Molly registered the words her eyes dilated. ‘I can’t do that,’ she protested. ‘No way. I’m not doing that.’

‘Mothers are the enemy,’ Donna reminded her. ‘So what’s the problem?’

‘I’m just not doing it,’ Molly replied, getting up.

‘But you hate your mother. You said so.’

‘I know, but I’m not doing that to her.’ Molly was picking up her belongings now, preparing to leave.

‘Are you a Daughter of Lilith, or are you a snivelling coward who’s cheated her way in, and who we’ll now have to expel?’ Cecily snarled.

Molly swung round, green eyes blazing. ‘My mother’s been really sick, and she’s only just getting better,’ she cried, close to tears, ‘so no way am I going to push her down the stairs. That’s a really mean thing to do to anyone …’

‘Actually, her mum has been sick,’ Allison said to the others, ‘so maybe we should think of something else. I mean, mine’s falling down the stairs all the time, she’s so drunk, but Molly’s mum’s a bit different.’

Cecily tore her eyes from Molly and blew on her nails.

‘Come on, Mol,’ Allison said, going to put an arm round her. ‘The pizzas’ll be here any minute, so you can’t leave now.’

Allowing herself to be led back to the bed, Molly tried to say something, but was still too close to tears.

‘So what was the matter with your mum?’ Donna asked.

‘Nothing,’ Molly answered, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. ‘She’s all right now,’ and desperate to change the subject, she said, ‘let’s go online and see if we can find some ideas for Step Five.’

As she and Donna started to surf, Cecily beckoned Allison over to one of the sofas.

‘I’m telling you, she’s not for real,’ Cecily whispered. ‘I reckon that dork she met by the bridge was someone from school, and she’s definitely making it up about hating her mother.’

‘Listen,’ Allison said, keeping her voice down, ‘if you start upsetting her, or think about throwing her out, we won’t be able to pull this off with Brad, will we, and you said yourself, it is going to be so completely awesome if we can.’

Cecily’s eyes travelled in Molly’s direction. ‘All right,’ she said, finally, ‘we’ll give her one more chance, but I’m telling you this, whatever Step Five turns out to be she has to do it, no excuses, no tantrums, or she’s out.’

It was gone midnight by the time a taxi arrived at Katie’s to take Laurie back to the inn. Before she left, she made one last call to Elliot to find out if Tom had been in touch yet.

‘Still no word,’ she said regretfully to Michelle as she rang off.

Knowing Elliot would have contacted them right
away
if there had been, Michelle covered her mounting concern with a smile. ‘We’ll see you tomorrow?’ she said, going to the door with Laurie.

Laurie nodded. ‘I’m sure he’ll have been in touch by then,’ she said encouragingly.

‘I’m sure he will too,’ Katie said, as she and Michelle walked upstairs together a few minutes later, and after checking Molly’s light was out, she went into her bedroom. Michelle went into hers where she passed a sleepless night tormenting herself with all the dangers Tom could be facing.

Chapter Seven

DEBORAH GOUGH WAS
waiting patiently for the rest of the committee to take their seats around the conference table. As the chair, she was at the head, ageing hands clasped loosely on the blotter in front of her, a stack of files to her right, a fresh cup of coffee to her left. Her benign, somewhat attractive features masked the full force of her intellect and lethal drive of her ambition. However, there wasn’t a man present who was unaware of how ruthless she had been in achieving her position, or of how powerfully connected she now was.

Already she was sensing a degree of resentment at her appointment as head of this hastily formed Special Operations Executive, which was made up of the most senior-ranking advisors, experts and analysts from both the US and Britain’s intelligence services. She’d spoken to each of them individually over the last two days, so knew who her most dangerous enemies were. Ronald Platt of the National Security Council, and Daniel Allbringer of the Defense Intelligence Board.

Once everyone was settled and the support staff had closed and secured all doors, she cut through ceremony and came straight to the point.

‘As you know, gentlemen,’ she began in a raspy Southern drawl, ‘our purpose is threefold. First, we must identify the actual source of the leak. Who, in the upper ranks of the intelligence community, or Government, arranged for those documents to reach a member of the press?’ She looked swiftly around, knowing that everyone was wondering if the culprit sat right here in this room.

She allowed her eyes to alight on no-one in particular and continued. ‘Joshua Shine is now back in this country and has been taken to Camp Peary, where he will be interrogated. Should he prove unhelpful it will become necessary to investigate ourselves and our own departments. As each of you has already assured me that you are fully prepared to do this, we’ll move on our second purpose, which is to retrieve the documents. So far we have no evidence to say that the journalist, Tom Chambers, actually has them in his possession – his computer revealed no communications referring to the P2OG, and his cellphone records showed no contact with anyone to give us immediate cause for alarm. However, it’s been almost a week since his personal belongings were taken from his apartment, and as it’s a matter of record that he met with Josh Shine at least twice in that time, we’re going to be working on the assumption that Chambers does have the documents, or has already passed them on.’ She looked across the table to Michael Dalby, Director of Operations for Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, whose very name was
unknown
to the British public, and his colleague, Sir Christopher Malton, who was chairman of Britain’s Joint Intelligence Committee.

Understanding what was expected of him, Dalby, a short, trim man with grizzled grey hair and a neat moustache, said, ‘I can report that Michelle Rowe did not transport the documents into the UK, nor did any emails on her computer refer to them.’

‘Phone calls?’ Deborah Gough prompted.

‘None on her mobile to cause any concern. Apparently, she’s in the country to take care of a dying sister who, I feel it prudent to mention, is a journalist of some repute in the UK.’

‘Name?’

‘Katie Kiernan.’

After noting it down, Deborah Gough looked up again. ‘Considering the state of the woman’s health, I don’t see her as a potential cause for concern, but before we dismiss the possibility, would anyone like to comment?’

Daniel Allbringer immediately said, ‘I think we should run a background check, get an update on her health and current political affiliations.’