The Perfect Match (25 page)

‘That’s better,’ said Michael. ‘I love your arms. They remind me of eggs.’

‘Eggs? Is that supposed to be a compliment?’

‘Not the shape, my darling, it’s your freckles. They remind me of new-laid eggs, slightly brown, with freckles.’

Alice smiled, not knowing if she should react to the compliment or to the fact he’d called her his darling. ‘OK, so when you think of my arms you’re reminded of a dippy egg with soldiers?’

‘Exactly. And what nicer thought is there?’

‘I think you’re mad,’ said Alice and picked up her croissant. But she didn’t wear her cardigan again while they were alone.

The rest of the time both flew and stood still. Alice felt she had been away for months and yet every individual minute flew by. It was heaven. When she was tired, as was prone to happen, and the doubts crept in, she was convinced that Michael wouldn’t stay in her life for long, but she decided it was worth it. She might well spend the rest of her life missing him but this wonderful weekend would keep her warm in her heart for the rest of her life.

BELLA HAD GONE
home in a state of utter devastation. Although she knew she should have felt elated – she’d got the fussiest couple in the history of house-hunting the perfect home; a match made in heaven even – and yet she’d still felt as if her heart had been torn from her. The feeling persisted as she had breakfast and cleared up. She was just about to get on the internet when her phone went. She picked it up. It was Tina.

‘Bells? Sooo sorry to bother you on a Sunday. Are you busy?’

Bella had been going to spend the day on her computer, but Tina sounded in a flap. This was so unlike her. It shocked Bella out of her gloom. She said, ‘Well, not particularly. What’s up?’

‘My daughter. She’s having a party for the little one and she’s got no one to help her. Her husband’s away and I can’t stay long because I promised Mum I’d take her out. I’ve cancelled the last two times so –’

Bella used Tina’s need for breath as an opportunity to get a word in. This could be just what she needed. ‘I’m happy to help, but what do I know about children’s parties?’

‘They’re not a specialist skill! You just have to keep them amused, take them to the loo, stop them crying, all those things.’

‘I haven’t got children, Tina. I don’t know all about those things.’

‘You’ve got loads of common sense. It’s at lunchtime which is better I think.’ She paused. ‘So I can tell her you’ll come? It’s not far from yours.’

‘OK,’ said Bella, thinking at least it would stop her moping, and she should have time to do a bit of research before she had to go. ‘When does she want me?’

‘As soon as you can get there, really. I am so grateful, Bells. I knew you wouldn’t let me down.’

A rather dazed Bella put the phone down a few minutes later, directions scrawled on a scrap of paper. Still, she had recent experience of being a child’s entertainer and although her experience was limited, she did like them. And being really busy would stop her moping about Dominic.

However, she had the drive to the party to think about him in, and she found she couldn’t stop doing it.

It wasn’t only that she was in love with Dominic and he didn’t seem to feel the same about her, it was that he had to live with a situation that was intolerable. If Celine stuck to her condition that he could only have Dylan when her son could have Dominic’s undivided attention, she’d be able to find a reason to stop him coming whenever it suited her. She would always have the upper hand.

And there didn’t seem any way out. He wasn’t Dylan’s father. Dylan’s mother was now married to him – they were a perfect family unit. Dominic’s feelings for the boy were neither here nor there. And, even more importantly, Dylan’s feelings didn’t seem to matter either. It was clear that he absolutely adored Dominic. And he had quite liked her. A reminiscent little smile lifted her spirits for a moment, as she thought about his squeals of laughter as she had cartwheeled round the lawn.

That evening, in spite of being tempted by the bottle of white wine in the fridge, Bella made herself tea. She needed a clear head to try and work out what to do. The party had been a good if exhausting distraction, but now she needed to concentrate. Dominic had probably forgotten all about her email asking for help after Celine’s dramatic appearance yesterday, and there hadn’t been a moment to discuss it before – there’d been too much else happening. She’d just have to solve the mystery of what Nevil was up to on her own.

Taking her mug with her, she went into the sitting room to her laptop and opened it. In her heart she knew what she should do and soon – if not immediately. She should leave Nevil, leave the business and relocate somewhere else. But not, she felt, until she had worked out what he was up to and, if it was wrong, put a stop to it.

She had had several reasons for not breaking up with Nevil, but at least two of them had now gone. She had admitted to herself she hadn’t loved Nevil for some time, and the Agnews, her favourite, fussiest clients, were suited. Another reason, her not wanting to up sticks from a job and area she loved, had changed. If Dominic was relocating to the area, she didn’t want to stay and keep bumping into him when she was in love with him and he, plainly, wasn’t in love with her.

It would be really hard for her to go back to her hometown and start again there, but possibly easier than finding somewhere completely new. But at least everyone here would be OK. Jane had the Agnews, who would keep an eye on and be company for her. Alice had Michael and wouldn’t feel lonely without her. The office would survive. And knowing this would make it easier for her – wouldn’t it?

She kicked off her sandals, went on the internet and put in Nevil’s name.

It was nearly ten when her phone bleeped. There was a text. Bella grabbed it. Was it Alice in some sort of difficulty? She’d been so obsessed with her own problems she’d hardly spared a thought for Alice in Marrakesh.

It was Dominic. He said,
Are you at home?

She caught her breath. Her heart soared up and then down again.
Yes
, she replied.

The moments between her sending and the reply coming seemed like hours.

Can I come over?

She swallowed and typed in quickly,
Yes
.

She forced herself to put her phone down and walk across the room while she waited. She hardly had time to fiddle with the curtains before she heard her phone bleep. She raced back to it and pressed ‘open’.

I’m on my way
.

Bella decided that her excitement was ridiculous and tried to calm herself down. She rushed upstairs and put on some mascara and a bit of lip gloss, and was about to find some gel for her hair when she heard a gentle knock on the door. As she flew down the stairs to answer it she realised Dominic must have been only at the end of the road when he sent the text.

She opened the door and he stood on the threshold for a few moments, looking at her, holding his briefcase.

‘I’m sorry to come so late,’ he said. ‘As I said earlier, I did get your message a couple of days ago – I’ve just been so busy. You must have thought I was so rude, ignoring you.’

‘Do come in,’ said Bella, ‘and I didn’t think you were rude. I wouldn’t have asked for your help if I could have thought of anyone else.’

He stepped over the threshold, looking tall and rather stern, she felt. ‘Of course you should have asked me for help! Think how much you’ve done for Aunt Jane!’

He seemed to tower over her and Bella wished she’d put on some shoes; she felt vulnerable in her bare feet. ‘What can I get you? A glass of wine? Tea?’ She led the way to the kitchen.

‘I wouldn’t have called so late, but I had supper with Aunt Jane and had some work to catch up on,’ he said as he followed her. ‘Then I tried to do some research on the link you sent me.’ He halted at the kitchen table with a rueful smile. ‘I wanted to be able to bring you some information, but I didn’t get very far. I think it’s something we need to do together.’

Bella felt herself blush and went to the kettle. Boiling it would give her a reason to keep her back to him until she was a normal colour again. She was glad he’d said they were friends, of course she was, but she so wished they were something more. She turned to face him. ‘I’ve put the kettle on out of habit. You’d probably prefer wine – or would you like tea? There
is
wine . . .’

‘Some wine would be nice, but it’s getting late.’ He glanced at his watch.

‘We’ll take it through with us,’ said Bella. ‘You go into the sitting room. My laptop’s there.’

When she brought the wine in (having opened one of the better bottles in the rack in his honour) she found Dominic had set up his laptop on a small table next to hers. It would mean they had to sit next to each other on the sofa. The thought that they would be close and probably bumping into each other was both exciting and awkward. But there was nothing she could do about it.

She put the glasses of wine down, one on each little table.

‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘I do hope we won’t disturb Alice?’

Bella laughed. ‘That’s unlikely, she’s in Marrakesh.’

‘Really?’ He was satisfyingly surprised. ‘How come?’

‘She’s gone there with Michael.’ Bella adored the fact her godmother was doing something so dashing at an age when most people would assume you were past it.

‘I’m impressed!’ said Dominic.

‘So am I,’ said Bella, taking her seat next to him on the sofa.

He nodded. ‘He’s such a nice man.’

‘He is,’ agreed Bella.

‘I wish I could say the same for your fiancé,’ he said, turning his attention to the grainy picture on his screen.

Bella shrugged and made a face. ‘I know. He’s a right dodgy geezer.’ She smiled, to make sure he knew she was half joking.

‘So why are you still with him?’ asked Dominic.

Slightly tempted to ask him what business it was of his, Bella sighed.

‘Well?’ Dominic went on.

‘The thing is, when I leave him – and I will – I’ll have to leave the agency too. His ego would never let me stay if I dumped him. And if I leave, I won’t be able to investigate him so easily.’

‘And how easy has it been so far?’ He seemed sceptical.

Bella chuckled softly. ‘Well, not easy at all, actually.’

‘No reason why you should stay then,’ he went on briskly.

Feeling prickly about it, Bella felt obliged to explain. ‘I had to get the Agnews settled first.’

‘Well, you have. And wonderfully.’ He seemed less critical now. ‘Aunt Jane is very happy. She adores the prospect of sharing her house and garden.’

Bella contemplated explaining that leaving the agency might mean leaving everything else. Nevil had powerful friends. He knew all the estate agents and almost everyone in the town through one contact or another. It might be hard for her to get a job without moving away. She decided against it. He probably wouldn’t be interested.

‘I’m so glad,’ she said. ‘Shall we have a look at this film then?’

‘You haven’t answered my question properly. You’ve settled your clients and even though you share an office, you’re not finding you can investigate Nevil, so why are you still with him?’

‘For a lot of reasons I won’t bore you with.’ She paused. If he could ask intimate questions, so could she. ‘Why are you so concerned?’

He frowned and compressed his mouth into a line. ‘Shall we get on?’

A tiny spark of something very like hope flickered in Bella’s stomach. She didn’t press him and she tried not to smile, but her spirits lifted.

They both peered at their screens. ‘I’m still trying to find out who that man digging with Nevil is,’ she said, as if she didn’t care that he hadn’t answered her question.

‘Have you asked Nevil about this directly?’

She shook her head. ‘Up to now, I haven’t thought there was any point. He’d try and tell me he was burying someone’s dead cat or something.’

‘Unlikely, in the middle of the night, surely.’

Bella sighed. ‘He’d find a good reason why it could only be done then.’ She frowned and peered at the time-stamp on the video. ‘It’s eleven thirty at night. That is late. Too late for it to be anything legitimate, I think.’

‘I agree. Do you have any clue who the man with him is?’

Bella sighed. ‘No, but I do have a suspicion about one of Nevil’s golfing partners, Gerald Roberts. He’s bought a few properties recently. I don’t really know it’s him, but as I can’t get a proper look I don’t know it’s
not
him, either.’ She paused. ‘And this is all guess-work, but I found some plans in the photocopier . . .’ She went on to describe how she thought it meant the old farm and the surrounding land was going to be turned into a site for a supermarket.

He listened patiently until he’d heard all her speculations, some of which she was aware she’d already put in her email to him.

‘So, tell me, Bella: what do you want the outcome of all this to be?’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Well, do you want them hauled off to prison? Public humiliation – exposure all over the papers?’

‘Not either of those, no. I couldn’t do that to Nevil. But I do want them to stop whatever it is they’re doing.’

His expression indicated he thought she was being too lenient. ‘I suppose a threat of all the other stuff might be enough to prevent them going on with it. We just need to find out who this man is.’ He peered closer at the screen. ‘You can’t think of anyone?’

‘The only person is this Gerald Roberts and I’ve met him a few times. But as I said, I don’t know if it’s him. I suspect not.’

‘Anyone – anything else?’ Dominic had minimised the link and gone on to Google. His fingers twitching, he was obviously keen to type something in.

Bella made a face. ‘The trouble is, it’s all just rumours and odd ideas. The only other thing I can think of, only I don’t have a name, which makes it fairly useless, is that Nevil took me to a very posh housing estate. He wanted us to have one of the houses. They were vile and way out of our financial league but he said we could afford it. That must be something to do with it, but as I don’t know any names, where do we go from here?’