The Hornbeam Tree (61 page)

‘I’m not arguing with any of that,’ Tom assured her, ‘I’m just saying, getting it out there …’

‘Will be impossible if we rely solely upon the mainstream media,’ Laurie finished for him. ‘Which is why we’re setting up a simultaneous webcast which can be accessed in the States. It’ll help the editors over there to get round the injunction, if they report on a Net-based story, rather than on information received direct from you.’

‘And using those two mediums, TV and the Internet,’ Katie came in, ‘will make it an even bigger sensation than if you managed to run it in
five
dozen papers on five different continents. Whether we print junkies like it or not, viewing audiences are a lot larger than readerships, and these days people come alive to moving pictures.’

Tom was laughing. ‘It’s OK, I’m convinced,’ he assured them, ‘but legally we’re going to be running into a whole lot of trouble. Yeah, I know you realize that and you’re prepared to take the risk, but once they know what we’re up to, they’ll shut you down faster than you can say cut.’

‘That’s still no reason not to give it a try,’ Laurie said. ‘And, as I outlined to you on the phone, we’re going to disguise the shoot to make it look as though I’m continuing with a programme about Katie. It stands to reason you’d be a part of that, though there are other aspects we’ll find slightly trickier to get around, it’s true. However, we’re coming up with circumventions all the time, and once we’ve got everything recorded, edited and ready for transmission, there’ll be nothing they can do, because even if they slap an injunction on the broadcast company here in Britain, who by the way are determined to fight if that happens, there’s still the Internet, and if they manage to block the site, we’ll just flood the media with hard video copies and no-one will ever know how many have gone out, or where they’ve ended up.’

‘So the all-encompassing contract they’re planning to throw at us,’ Michelle added, ‘won’t be worth the paper it’s printed on by the time the public knows the full story. Besides, they’ll be so tied up dealing with the fallout they won’t have the time to sue.’

‘Frankly, it’s playing as dirty as they do,’ Katie
said
with no little glee, ‘because they sure as heck don’t have any regard for the law if it doesn’t suit them. They just make up new ones where they need them and throw the book at the rest of the world when it comes to establishing an International Court of Justice, or ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, or tearing up an Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty … OK, OK, too much … I know …’

‘You can always bring those issues up when I interview you about the role you’ve played in all this,’ Laurie told her.

‘Am I going to be in the programme?’ Molly asked.

‘Probably,’ Laurie answered, certain she’d manage to work out something.

Katie downed the last of her champagne and nudged Molly to fetch some more. ‘So, I guess, that’s my biography dumped on the back burner,’ she grumbled. ‘If you don’t mind me saying so, Laurie, I think you’ve got a problem with your priorities.’

As they all laughed, Laurie said, ‘Actually, your book is quite safe, and being expanded even as we speak, so no reason to feel overshadowed.’

‘Not possible,’ Michelle remarked. ‘She wouldn’t recognize the shade if it turned up in a black cape and gagged her.’

Katie’s eyes widened with interest. ‘I think I like the sound of him,’ she responded.

‘Muuu-uum,’ Molly groaned.

Katie laughed and held out her glass to be filled. ‘So, it seems as though we’re all going to be pretty busy becoming stars of the small screen for the next … how long?’ she asked Laurie, licking the over-fizz
off
her fingers and almost gagging at the whiff of bad perfume that wafted up with it.

‘Two weeks, possibly three,’ Laurie answered. ‘I talked to my partner, Rose, last night and she agrees we should try to have it ready for the one-hour transmission slot we’ve got coming up in a month. It’ll be well enough in advance of the presidential elections for this to play and play and get right into everyone’s consciousness while they’re taking the decision about who they want to run their country – and our world.’

Katie was rubbing her hands together. ‘Oh the power,’ she purred gleefully. ‘And what Laurie hasn’t told you yet, Tom, is that yours truly is going to present the programme.’

Tom looked at once impressed and delighted.

‘Just topping and tailing,’ Katie said modestly, ‘but my name, my face, my input will all be there.’ Consideration for Molly prevented her mentioning a swan song, but they all knew that was what she was saying, and Katie Kiernan just wouldn’t be Katie Kiernan if she didn’t go out on a controversial note.

‘So when do we start?’ Tom asked.

‘Actually, tomorrow,’ Laurie answered. ‘I’ve drawn up a running order for you to look at, which entails you coming back here in the morning so we can start laying down the first part of your interview. We’ll shoot a lot with you over the next couple of weeks, obviously, but where we can we should try to keep it in the general vicinity of Katie, and as she’ll still be here tomorrow …’

‘I was hoping to be in London for at least three days,’ Tom said. ‘I’ve got a lot to do here.’

‘That’s OK,’ Laurie told him. ‘Once Katie’s gone you can stay here at the flat, then we should be able to shoot as much as we like without any problem.’

He looked at Michelle. ‘Does that work for you?’ he said.

Before Michelle’s loyalties started tearing themselves asunder, Katie said, ‘It’s OK, consider yourself off the hook for a couple of days, because the three remaining boxes of photo albums that my daughter is insisting we trawl through can always wait. No, honestly, they can,’ she insisted as Michelle started to laugh, ‘and I’m sure Tom would enjoy taking a little jaunt down our memory lane too, so let’s not deprive him.’

His eyes were shining with laughter as Michelle groaned and Molly grinned. ‘I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather go,’ he responded. ‘Katie in plaits and Michelle in hot pants, how could I not?’

‘It’s Mum in hot pants that does your head in,’ Molly informed him, and yelped as Katie started to tickle her.

It was an hour or so later, afraid of putting too much of a strain on Katie who’d manage to stage a valiant performance for most of the evening, that Michelle and Tom finally left the apartment to walk back across Tower Bridge to the hotel.

‘So are you really OK with this change of plan?’ Michelle asked, as he drew her to him so they could walk closely together along the cobbled street of Shad Thames.

‘It’s growing on me all the time,’ he admitted, ‘and, frankly, it was never really going to work out the way we intended. The best-laid plans never do. And maybe I’ve got a better chance of persuading
everyone
I’m as patriotic as the next man if I present the case in person. I just wonder how far we’ll get before an injunction’s slapped on us.’

‘We’ll keep going until it is, and if it happens we’ll deal with it then,’ she replied.

He was quiet as they mounted the steps up to the bridge, then pulling her in tighter to him as the full strength of the wind caught them, he said, ‘Meanwhile, we’ve got other things to think about, like when we’re going to get married. I guess it can’t be until this is over, but do you have any dates in mind?’

Loving the determination of his words and protective feeling of his arm, she closed her eyes for a moment and let him lead her on in the darkness. ‘How would you feel,’ she said finally, ‘if instead of getting married when this is over, we do something special for Katie and Molly instead? I mean, we can tie the knot any time, but Katie’s got a birthday coming up and it would be nice to mark it for her, don’t you think?’

‘Of course,’ he responded. ‘Do you have something in mind? Shall we take them away somewhere?’

‘If things were different I’m sure Katie would love an exotic adventure, but even coming to London for the night was making her anxious. She’s a lot weaker than appearances suggest now, so she likes to be near her own bed, in case she doesn’t feel good. Which means if we do something, it has to be close to home, and Molly’s come up with an idea that she wants to tell you about herself.’

Feeling pleased that Molly considered him
worthy
of special attention, he said, ‘She seemed on pretty good form today.’

‘She’s OK,’ Michelle answered. ‘She has her down times, obviously, and it could break your heart to see the state she gets into, but what can you expect? They’re extremely close the two of them, and no matter how much we try to prepare Molly, nothing’s ever going to make this easy.’

Hearing the emotion in her voice, he hugged her in tighter and pressed his lips to her hair. ‘It won’t be for you either,’ he said gently. ‘Actually, for any of us, considering the impact your sister makes, but Molly’s the one who matters. I guess now’s not a good time to talk to her about where she wants to live after, though we’ll have to get something sorted.’

‘Katie’s fairly certain she’ll want to come back to London. The cottage will always be hers, obviously, and everything in it, but if she does decide she wants to stay in the country, would that be OK with you?’

‘We’d have to buy a bigger place,’ he said, ‘but I’m happy to be wherever you are, so a house in the country, a flat in London, or both, it all works for me. Though right now, I’m focusing on a riverside hotel which looks just the perfect setting for you to slip into some new underwear I think you got today – and me to check out how well I did on size.’

Chapter Twenty-Six

GOING BACK TO
school didn’t turn out to be as bad as Molly feared, though it was like,
really
embarrassing when the teacher made everyone clap and chorus, ‘Welcome back, Molly,’ when she walked in the class. She’d just wanted to curl herself up in her Prada purse and zip herself in when that happened. Still it was all right after, because amazingly no-one took the mickey out of her, or said anything nasty – in fact, they were all really friendly. She had a feeling Rusty had told them about her mum, so they were all like, feeling sorry for her now, but she didn’t say anything, because she didn’t want to talk about that to anyone – it was none of their business, and anyway she’d only end up crying.

Rusty was hanging around her all the time now, but she supposed that was OK. She was still horrible to him, but he never seemed to mind, he just blinked out through those jam-jar glasses like he didn’t really get it, and then did a scary smile with his braces and teeth. Actually, only she was
allowed
to be mean to him. If anyone else was, she just got hold of his arm and walked him away, and now no-one was really being that bad to him any more. Her mum and Michelle kept saying she should invite him round for a meal, but no way was she going to do that – he might start thinking he was her boyfriend, or something, and like, no way. Brother maybe, because he’d be kind of cool to have on tap doing her homework, but boyfriend –
puhleeze
. Anyway, he couldn’t be her brother either, because her cousin Robbie would sort of be that, if he came to live with them, but him and Rusty would probably get on, so Rusty wouldn’t be left out. It was just a shame they were both boys, because she wouldn’t mind having a sister, and even if Michelle’s baby turned out to be a girl, she’d be like, much too young. So Molly was considering suggesting to Michelle that she and Tom could maybe like, adopt one of the Afghan girls from the camp where Michelle used to work. It seemed the kind of thing they’d do, and Tahira, who Molly had been emailing lately, who was thirteen and like dead pretty and didn’t have any family and would really love to come to England, could come and live with them.

Anyway, Molly didn’t really think very much about that, only now and again when her mind wandered off on its own, but then she’d remember her mum wouldn’t be there when all that happened, and then everything came to a stop, because she didn’t want to think about her mum going anywhere without her, even though she knew she had to.

Michelle was like, really cool now Molly was
getting
to know her, and Tom was just awesome, though he’d gone off to Washington yesterday to see some senators or congressionals or something, and Molly wasn’t sure when he’d be back. She understood some of the story he was working on, but it was quite complicated really and impossible to keep up with, because all the filming was happening while she was at school. Laurie had taken some shots of her too though, strolling in the woods with her mum and Trotty, having breakfast together, and even doing some homework together the other night. She was going to make a special copy of that for Molly to keep. It was all going on in their house at the moment, something always happening, or someone always there – Molly just hoped she and Michelle managed to get on the computer tonight, so they could carry on with their arrangements to make one of her mum’s dreams come true in time for her birthday.

Now, she was just getting off the bus on her way home from school, when she heard someone calling out to her. She looked round, frowning against the sun, then her heart turned over as she saw Allison Fortescue-Bond standing on the other side of the road. Immediately Molly started to walk on.

‘Molly, please can I talk to you?’ Allison shouted. ‘It won’t take long.’

Molly was horribly torn. She really wanted to run away, but for some weird reason she was starting to feel sort of sorry for Allison. She must be feeling a bit stupid standing over there shouting and being ignored, which was no more than she deserved, but in the end Molly decided that maybe
there
wasn’t any harm in at least finding out what she had to say. So, after waiting for a cyclist to whizz by, she crossed the street, keeping her expression set on hoity even though she could see that Allison wasn’t about to pick a fight, and when she got to the other side she said, ‘Well? What do you want?’

Allison turned a deep shade of red as she said, ‘I just wanted to say I’m sorry for what we did. It was horrible and mean and like, I never really wanted to do it, but I know that’s not a good enough excuse, and I shouldn’t have laughed that night when Brad came in, I was just drunk and stupid and …’ She took a breath. ‘Anyway, my mum says I should have stopped Cecily and Donna coming to the house, because you’re a nice girl and didn’t deserve to be treated like that, while they’re like, all screwed up and … Well anyway, I wanted to tell you I’m sorry, not just because my mum says I have to, and that I can’t have my computer or DVD or anything back again until I do, but because I like …’ She shrugged, ‘Well like, I really miss you, and you were like, my best friend, and I don’t have anything to do with Cecily and Donna any more, not even at school. So I was like, hoping that you like, might, you know … If you want to, that is. Anyway, even if you don’t, I’m still sorry and wish we’d never done that horrible thing to you.’