Nine Ten Begin Again: A Grasshopper Lawns affair (14 page)

Vivian sobered abruptly, dabbing away the tears of mirth under her eyes. ‘Oh, Edge. No, remember he paid rather than be exposed before. He’d shut up rather than be exposed now. Just like you. Where’s Donald? We have to get him to have a look at Thomas. And I think we should find Joey and have a word.’ She looked sidelong at Edge and started to laugh again. ‘And I have to go to this club!’

Donald was discovered stretched out reading on his bed. He listened with interest to their theories, although he frowned reprovingly at Edge when Horace’s name came up and Vivian started giggling again.

‘I
have
seen Morrison, but in the distance. He could be. I didn’t get a clear look either, I was deliberately avoiding eye contact. But you’re right, we can’t possibly ask Horace. Anyway, either he didn’t recognize him, or he did and is keeping quiet, and either way he wouldn’t say anything. What does William think?’

Vivian looked at her watch. ‘We didn’t ask, but it’s nearly one so he should be finished for the day. I’ll phone—if he doesn’t answer, there’s no point going over, he won’t answer the door either. He simply doesn’t hear it. We usually do meet for lunch. If you want to join us, we can talk it over then?’

William joined them within fifteen minutes in the conservatory with his tray.

‘Let Donald tell me,’ he stopped them sternly as both women started talking at once. ‘You’ll confuse me.’

He frowned as he listened and ate, and pointed a chicken leg when Donald had finished a succinct summary.

‘So Edge thinks Joey’s nephew is in fact Jemima’s wossname, handler. That sounds unlikely. Either he’s not Joey’s nephew, in which case why would Joey say he is, or he isn’t one of the men with Jemima at the club. Are we even one hundred percent sure that it was Jemima at the club?’

Edge nodded. ‘Completely sure. Movements are as distinctive as features, and she flinched exactly as I’d seen her flinching away from both Donald and Patrick. She wasn’t heavily disguised, only a mask, once you knew you could see it was her.’

‘Charming.’ William leaned back, looking thoughtful. ‘At its most boring, Joey’s nephew has the temporary bursar trained to heel and they party together secretly, and who cares? But Vivian, you’re the most observant person I’ve ever met. You said last night that Joey’s nephew is the twin of your sleazy loans and investments bloke. I didn’t like that last night, and I
really
don’t like it now. If there’s any chance, any chance at all, that Thomas and Slimy Si are related, or even one and the same, we’ve got a banker and a bursar with access to our accounts pulling the wool over our eyes. That makes me nervous. As to why Vivian’s banker would dress up as the new maintenance manager and force Joey to propose him to Katryn, well, I have no idea. But I doubt it’s because he wants to drive a minibus and have access to people’s apartments.’

‘I love your imagination,’ Edge said appreciatively. ‘You leap tall buildings in a single bound. But can we check any of it?’

‘I’m frighteningly good,’ William agreed modestly and patted her hand. ‘Vivian, my lovely, would you know for sure if you saw your slimy Si again, clean-shaven and in a suit, whether he was Thomas or not?’

‘Yes, of course. I haven’t seen Simon in months so it could just be an uncanny likeness. But I have a very clear mental picture of Thomas.’

‘Then you should call and make an appointment to see Slimy Si about your investments. I’ll go with you. That’ll sort that bit out straight away. Whether he’s left the bank, or turns out not to be the same man, whatever, we either confirm the theory or brush it away. Pity we can’t track down a way of seeing Jemima out with her bloke, as well. Then we get to look at all three men.’

‘
You
could.’ Donald put his knife and fork together and sat back and William looked at him, surprised.

‘Say what?’

‘
You
could go to the clubs. You said you had the kit.’

Vivian’s eyes brightened. ‘Oh
yes
, I said I wanted to go!’

‘Not you, cailleach.’ William put his hand on her arm, still looking at Donald. ‘I’m not taking Vivian into any of those places. I told you that you shouldn’t take Edge.’

‘You were right. I hadn’t realized until we were there and I saw it through her eyes. But a man, especially a man as big as you,
is
safe.’

‘You and me, then?’

‘I can’t. You’re going to be with a man who knows me from the clubs, and I don’t want him connecting you and me and realizing who I really am, then making the link to Edge. He knew them and they knew him. There’s something you should know—’

He dropped his voice and told William about Horace. William’s shout of laughter turned heads.

‘Sorry, sorry.’ He quietened to a murmur. ‘I tell Horace I know he’s Sputnik and that I want to trawl around the leather clubs with him? Why? He’s going to want to know. He’s not going to believe I’m looking for a woman, not when I’m royally suited already.’

‘You’re a writer, William.’ Edge was a little impatient. ‘All writers are known to be nuts, and prepared to do anything in the name of research.’

‘Donald, would you know where to find him tonight? Or tomorrow night?’ Vivian asked intently. ‘Because if William approached him
as
Sputnik, rather than as his neighbour Horace, it would be better.’

‘I’m rather distinctive,’ William said plaintively. ‘Once seen, never forgotten. He’s going to know who I am.’

‘Yes, but
he’s
not distinctive. If a well-known writer asks the notorious Sputnik to take him round seedy clubs—and you don’t know how seedy you’ll have to get—he’s not going to let on that he’s also your neighbour. That keeps him quiet here, which frankly I think is not a bad thing. And he’s much more likely to
take
you to seedy places.’

‘Does Angie know Sputnik?’ Edge asked suddenly. ‘You said she goes to the clubs.’

‘Everyone knows Sputnik.’ Donald nodded. ‘Ask her to introduce them?’

‘It could work. Just say you’ve got another writer on your hands, and can’t be bothered. And yes, ask her to do the introduction.’

He looked thoughtful. ‘Depends when she’s next going, of course. And how often he goes. And if she can find him.’

William looked alarmed. ‘I’ll do this once. Perish the thought I’m going to get myself up like a dog’s dinner on a nightly hunt.’

Donald was unsympathetic. ‘It was your idea. And it won’t be that bad. Most regulars go during the week, the weekends are for the thrill-seekers. I’ll find out when she goes. Sputnik was nearly always at my usual, at least for a while, whenever I went. If she doesnae ken when or where else to find him, she’ll find him there. We’ll be in Devon by then but I’ll call her this afternoon to set it up.’

‘Then she’ll know your club,’ Edge pointed out uneasily and he raised an amused eyebrow.

‘I’m not going clubbing again, Miss Prim. It doesn’t matter.’

‘You’re going at least once more,’ Vivian said a little indignantly. ‘You keep saying your club is okay, and I do
—
no William, shush
—
I really do want to go once. Between the two of you and that security door, how could we not be safe? And Edge said it was
such
fun. A couple of drinks, maybe dance a bit, and then leave. What could the harm be? William, you call me old woman, I’m the youngest of the four of us. I also want a bit of fun.’

William started to laugh. ‘I love this woman,’ he told the other two. ‘Of course we will, my lovely. When this is over, you and I, and Donald and Edge if they want to come with us, will go walk on the wild side.’ His eyes gleamed. ‘You’ll have to wear my collar and leash. I’m not letting you out of my sight for a minute.’

Vivian chuckled and shook her head mischievously and William looked disapprovingly at Donald. ‘Any other chaos you want to cause?’

‘No, I’m done,’ Donald said politely. ‘So Vivian is going to have a look at the banker and you’re going to find Jemima and her handler. If I think of any other chores we need to leave for you before we go jaunting off to Devon, I’ll let you know. ’

Chapter 8 - Thursday November 28th

William’s adventures

‘Okay, time to pack up,’ Shona Black said resignedly and Edge looked up, surprised, and took her glasses off her nose.

‘So early? Are you going out tonight?’

‘No, Edge, but it’s after six and Donald has looked through the door four times. God, I hope when I get to your age I’ve got a lover that keen. No offence. About the age, I mean.’

‘None taken. You’re getting better. Hardly mention it more than three or four times a day.’ Edge smiled at her. Shona was missing the polite gene but had other qualities that more than made up for it, and Edge was enjoying herself thoroughly.

‘Be fair, you’re older than my mum, and she’s plump, doesn’t own a lipstick, has a red face and is in bed by nine o’clock every night of her life.’

‘Tell her to change her name from Beulah. It’s a curse.’ Edge put her spectacles away, stood up and straightened with an involuntary groan. ‘Stiff! But we got a lot done. Good session.’

‘How much of this is from your on-line dating experience?’ Shona asked with interest and Edge shrugged.

‘I wasn’t on the senior singles websites very long, so only about ten percent. Another ten, fifteen percent is from stories I was told, suitably jigged. The rest is fiction, but based on general fact. So, are we ready for the read-through tomorrow?’

‘I’ve got my storyboard and I think you’re right: allowing for a little ad-libbing could bring in good stuff. We’ll see how they handle it first time out the box. They’re a good team, used to working together. Edge, I’m getting a bit excited about this. It’s starting to fizz.’

‘It is, isn’t it? And by the way, Donald is only reminding me we’ve got a phone call to make. That’s all.’

‘Oh right, and you don’t look at each other as if no-one else is in the room. Did you meet him through the research?’

‘No, we’re neighbours. You’re sure you’re okay with him sitting in for the read-through tomorrow?’

‘Edge, while he’s thinking of investing in the show,’ Shona said frankly, ‘he can sit on my lap if he thinks that will be more comfortable. On my
head
. He can read one of the parts if he likes—I was going to get Jason to read the Hanson role, but he’s no actor, and Donald was. Up to him. He made some really good points on the planning side yesterday, he must be pretty familiar with the scripts.’

‘Yes, he is, I’ll ask, he might find it fun. Ten tomorrow, then.’

She took down her padded jacket and shrugged into it, half-raised her hand in farewell as Shona picked up her storyboard to frown over it again, and let herself out of the darkened offices. Donald was crossing the parking lot towards the door and walked straight up to her to swing her round and dip her in a stage embrace. She gasped with laughter and caught at the lapels of his coat.

‘If you drop me, Mr MacDonald!’

‘Not going to happen, Mrs Cameron. Oops—’

She shrieked as he let her drop a few inches, before pulling her upright, then looked over her shoulder, grinning.

‘You two. Get a room.’ Shona walked past, smiling.

‘An excellent idea. We have one. We have two. I’m still not sure why you wanted to book adjoining rooms?’

‘It seemed like a good idea, in case one of us wanted to escape for a while. We’re going to get fed up with each other at some point, want some peace and quiet. This way it’s there on tap, refuge for an hour at least. And I don’t really like sharing a bathroom. It’s been worth it for that alone. I’m sorry we ran a bit late and I forgot all about the call, but it went really well today. I wished you had been there a couple of times because you know more about the overall planning thing than I do, but it was mainly dialogue. We’ve got in the stuff Shona wanted. She’s got such a strong vision and we’re knocking really good sparks out of the interaction. We’ve left pointers on the bits we couldn’t agree over and will ask you guys to adlib, see if you come up with something stronger?’

‘Us guys?’

He was listening, smiling, but at that gave her a surprised look. She shook her head, laughing at herself.

‘Would you like to read Hanson tomorrow? The rest of the parts will be read by the actors shooting here at the moment, but if you’d rather not, Jason can read. It’s just to get a feel of the dialogue live.’

‘I’ll read. No problem. You’re really getting into this, aren’t you?’

‘Donald,’ she stopped walking and tugged on his arm to bring him round to face her, smiling up into his blue eyes. ‘It won’t last. It couldn’t. But right now, when the planning is exciting and the writing is going smoothly, and you here to share it—I’ve never had more fun in my life. This is a perfect moment, one of the ones that you count over at the end of your life and think, wasn’t life great?’ She put her hand on his lean face in his own familiar gesture to run her thumb over his lips, then kissed him lightly. ‘Perfect moment.’

‘Cheeky bint, using my moves on me.’ His voice was husky, and he cleared his throat hastily. ‘That
is
quite sexy.’