Public Property (20 page)

‘
Three courses?
With drinks and sides?
’

‘
Whatever you want
.
I promise
.’

‘
Sure, keep the paper
.’

She licked her lips as she looked at the dresses in the catalogue. She’d bypassed the frills and the lace and was gazing at heavenly creations she might be able to get a dual use from. Some of Nicholas’ film parties needed glamour. She heard him come back into the room.

‘
Don’t come any closer
.
I’ve seen a couple of frocks I like and I do not want you getting even a peek
at
any of them
.’ She picked up the brochure and held it against her chest.

‘
You might want to look at this
.
’
H
e put the newspaper down in front of her.

She
looked at the headline and then read ou
t loud.

‘
Nicholas
Kaden
and fiancée Frey
a
Johnson
,
visited Carlton General Hospital yesterday to unveil the facility’s new scanning equipment paid for by
the Nicholas
Kaden
Foundation.
During the visit they met with patients of the cancer ward, most of whom have limited life expectancy. O
ne such young patient, who cannot
be named,
was heard
ask
ing
Miss Johnson about her upcoming nuptials and
in particular
whether her father, billionaire business tycoon Eric Lawson-Peck,
would be attending the ceremony.
A source claims
Miss
Johnson
seemed particularly uncomfortable when asked about her father and ultimately informed the patient her father was dead.
Eric Lawson-Peck, alive and well, attend
ed
a reception in New York last night
where he
refused to comment
. Last year,
Freya Johnson’s ex-partner
,
Russell Buchanan
,
claimed Miss Johnson had been abused by her father throughout her childhood and made countless accusations of improper conduct
relating to
both his personal and business life. These claims were strongly refuted
by
Lawson-Peck and
Miss Johnson issued an apology. Shit!’

‘
Good
,
huh?
’

‘
I don’t understand. H
ow the
h
ell did they get hold of this? I mean
,
they’ve misquoted me to start with
.
I didn’t actually say it like that and I didn’t blurt it
across the ward.
I said it to Katherine and you were the only one there
. S
he’s a kid and from the look of her yesterday she was in no state to give interviews to
The Gazette
,
’
Freya exclaimed
.

This was bad. Anything with her father involved was bad but this, telling the world he was dead! Nothing good was going to come out of that. How stupid was she? Why had she said it? She didn’t think. That had always been her trouble and now she was neck deep in just that.

‘
Well
,
I don’t know how they got hold of it but they did and they printed it
.
Brian
also
said he heard something about it on the news this morning
.’

‘
Oh my God
.
W
hat am I going to do?
’ She put her hand to her chest as the breath caught there.

‘Look, calm down.
L
et’s think rationally about this
.’

‘
Think rationally?! How can I think rationally? My father
’
s going to take one look at this and think I wanted it
. The paper
’
s already asked him about it and he refused to comment
.
W
hat does that say?
’

‘
It says he knows how to handle the media and he
’
ll let his press agent take care of it
.’

‘
Oh no, no
.
Y
ou don’t know my father like I do. He won’t be letting anyone else handle this
.
He’
ll be handling it himself. If there
’
s one thing I know about my father
,
it
’s
that he doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty
.’

‘
Freya, calm down.
What
d’
you
think
’
s
going to h
appen?’

‘
What’s going to happen is what always happens. He
’
s going to punish me
.’ She felt the tears brimming in her eyes.

‘
That isn’t going to happen
.
Come here, come on.’ He pulled her into his arms. ‘I
t’s not so bad. I mean
you said he was dead.
I
t was
an off
-
the
-cuff remark.
I
t didn’t mean anything
.’

His words did nothing to comfort her. She knew the man. She knew how he operated.

‘
He won’t like it. It won’t be acceptable, for me to speak out like that, off
-
the
-
cuff remark or not. I’ve put h
im in
the papers and brought everything all back up again. He
’
s going to do something about it
,
Nick
.
H
e
’
s going to hurt you or me, or Emma
.
Oh God!
W
hat if he hurts
Melly
?
’
Her voice came out as a shriek and the tears fell.

‘
Listen, that isn’t going to
happen
. I mean
,
read the article again
. I
t’s just rubbish. So
,
someone overheard you say your father
’
s dead? What
’
s that
really
going to mean to him? You aren’t part of his life anymore
.
T
o you he
is
dead
,’ he reminded.

‘
He just won’t like it
,
Nick
.
He’
ll feel insulted and people will be looking at him wondering why he isn’t going to his only child’s wedding
.
T
hen the
rumours
will start and people will
start
asking questions again about all the things Russell told
Shooting Stars
magazine
,’
Freya told him.

‘
The truth
,
you mean
.’

‘
Yes
,
the truth
.
B
ut
dealing the
truth was too much of a price to pay and it was over
.
B
ut now?
God
,
why
can’t I keep my big mouth shut?’ She wiped at her eyes,
then
put her fingers in her mouth to chew the nails.

‘
Come on
,
b
abe, it’s going to be fine. Look, if you’re really worried let
me
sort i
t out. I’ll get Sandra on to it.
W
e’ll issue a statement telling everyone you were misquoted and we’ll cut this off before it has a chance to do any damage, to us or your father
,’
he said
, running a hand through Freya’s hair.

‘
It’s too late, it’s done and he won’t let it go again
.’
Her voice was trembling now. That’s what that man did to her, terrified her.
All the happiness and excitement she felt earlier about her wedding and choosing a dress had all but evaporated.

The phone rang.

‘
That
’
ll be the start of it. That will be a reporter
,’
Freya stated, letting go of Nicholas and going back
over to the newspaper.

‘
No it won’t
. Hello,’ he greeted.

Freya looked again at the photograph
on the front page of the paper
and
racked her brain as to who would have overheard her comment about her father.

‘
Ye
a
h she’s here
.
N
o
,
that’s
OK,
I’ll just pass you ove
r.’ He held the handset out. ‘It’s
Sasha
.’

She
took the phone
and he
put a strong arm
around her, kissing her cheek.

‘
Listen, I’m going to grab a shower
.
D
on’t worry about it
,
OK? I
’
ll deal with it
,
I promise
.
’ He squeezed her free hand. ‘O
h an
d these letters are for you too.
O
ne of them looks like it’s from
a
shopping c
hannel
.’ He passed her the rest of her mail and left the kitchen.

She
put the phone to her ear and raised her shoulder to keep it in place as she opened the first letter.

‘
Hello
,
Sasha
.
I
s the office on fire?
’

‘
No
.
S
orry to call you at home again but I’ve had journalists calling already this morning asking about your father
.
I just wondered what, if anything, you wanted me to say
.’

‘
Nothing
,
Sasha
, just say nothing. I know
that’s
something
I
usually can’t manage but I
’
m sure you
’
r
e far
more adept at it.’ She let out a sigh and took the letter from the envelope.

‘
You don’t sound surprised they
’
ve been calling
.
H
as something happened? Is everything OK?
’

‘I’m headline news again.
T
hat’s what’s happened. Good photo
graph but terrible article.’ She looked at the letter in her hands and couldn’t stop herself from reacting.
‘O
h my God
!’

‘
Freya? Are you OK?
’

Freya stared at the letter. There was one word
stuck
on
to
the piece of paper
,
made out of newspaper cuttings.

B
itch

Freya stared at the word
,
then
turned the piece of paper over to look at the reverse side. It was blank.

‘Freya? Are you still there?’

‘
Sorry
,
Sasha
, I’m still here
.’ She folded up the paper and slipped it into the pocket of her robe.

‘
So
,
what shall I tell the journalists?
’

‘
Nothing.
Say I have no comment to make. Listen, I probably won’t be in this morning
.
What’s in the diary?’
She picked up
The Gazette
.