Obsession (The Talisman series) (20 page)

An impatient sigh.
“I know you spent a couple of days with Suki and I’m curious how that went, if you saw any evidence of her affair with Craigowan? She’s begged me to forgive her and promised to stay faithful. She said it was one-sided, he made all the running and she felt flattered by his attention.”

What
? I groped for something to say. “I, er, didn’t see them together. He was in Paris, of course.” My head spun.

“
Of course.” His smooth drawl sounded more poisonous, the more I spoke to him. “I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt. As far as I’m concerned, we have a solid and happy marriage and this is just a tiny blip. You can forward your invoice to Alan Houghton. Suki and I will be out of the country for the next few weeks.”

I terminated the call and stared at the phone in disbelief, my daydream shattering into a thousand fragments. This made even less sense.

Gabriel had manufactured a scenario where everyone would think Suki had been seeing Jon. But instead of using that as the catalyst for a divorce, as I’d been hoping, they were staying together. Had Suki really begged him to stay with her? She’d told me she loved her husband.

I felt sick. Something was very wrong with this picture and now my access to Suki had been cut off. As I sat at my table, oblivious to the shifting mass of people around me, I tried to focus on what I knew, as opposed to what I thought I knew.

My concentration was summarily broken when somebody dropped into a seat next to me. I jerked my head up, surprised. The airport café was busy, but not so crowded that I’d have to share.

It was Jon. Hair rumpled and unshaven, he looked pale and exhausted, but his blue eyes were sharp.

“Hey, are you okay?” I was relieved to see him out of the hospital.

“
I’ve been better.” He stared at the French newspapers spread across the table, his story prominent in each of them. “Thanks for looking after Anita, taking her to the airport and all that.” He paused, looking towards the café entrance. “She’s just in the bathroom, she’ll be here in a minute.” Sitting forward in the chair, he leaned over the table, his fists clenched. “Anita thinks you’re behind this. The text to me. The set-up with the prostitute.”

“
Me
?” I snorted in disbelief. He stared back at me, his eyes fierce underneath swooping brows.

“
Yeah.”

Gabriel’s termination of my services now made sense. He was trying to frame me for this. Well, fuck that.

10.4 Suki

It felt like days since I’d slept properly and I paid little attention to the cab ride through the busy streets to Gabe’s plush hotel. He guided me to his room, the door closing behind him with a velvety click.

“
Come and sit down.” He indicated a leather sofa and I sat gingerly on the edge, nervous now that we were truly alone. Standing over me, blocking my escape, I had to crane my neck to look up at him. All of a sudden, I was a naughty child again, being told off by my father.

Gabe waited until he had my full attention.
“You hurt me, Suki.” Folding his arms across his chest, he looked even more intimidating. “Hearing about you and Jon Craigowan… reading that text and then seeing it splashed across the fucking papers. What the fuck were you thinking?”

I could feel my heart thudding in my chest, hear the blood roaring in my ears. Digging deep, I forced a calmness to my words.
“I never sent that text. There hasn’t been anything going on. Not with Jon or
anyone
.”
Oh God
. Please don’t let me blush under his scrutiny. I mustn’t think of Josh. He must
never
learn about The Kiss. My palms had begun to sweat. I pressed them flat onto my thighs and concentrated on not getting upset.

A long moment passed, then Gabe leaned down, his face just inches from mine. His smoke grey eyes almost black, they seemed to bore into me, frightening in their intensity.
“I won’t go through that again. Do you swear it will never happen again?”

Annoyance sparked at his clever question, he’d effectively snared me. If I answered
yes
, by implication I agreed something had happened, while if I answered
no
, well that was plainly the wrong answer. I thought hard as I tried to formulate a reply. I didn’t think quickly enough.

“
Well?” His hands flashed forwards, holding my face in a tight, uncomfortable grip.

“
Gabe, please stop. You’re hurting me.”

Tears sprang to my eyes and he released me with a jerk, before stepping back.

I wiped my eyes and tried to compose myself. “I swear to you, nothing happened. And nothing ever will.” My voice jumped and wobbled, but he nodded, seemingly satisfied. The dark gaze softened. He nodded slowly, took a seat next to me and took me in his arms, pressing my face into his shoulder. I froze, but he didn’t notice. One hand tangled in my hair, the other settled down by my waist. His voice a loud rumble.

“
That Joe Summers, as he called himself, was a fake. His real name is Josh Delaney and his writing credentials are completely bogus. He came to me with some photos he’d taken, pictures of Anita snogging some guy at the riding stables where she works.” I was glad my face was obscured. He would have surely noticed my gasp of horror. “He tried to blackmail me, the bastard. Said if I didn’t pay him off, he’d spread pictures of you and me in equally compromising situations. Then all this crap with Jon… from what I can gather, his drink was spiked. And you know what? We swapped drinks at the last minute. I spilled his and gave him mine. That could have been me getting set up. God knows what was slipped into it.”

I shifted my head slightly to be able to speak.
“How could it have happened? He was in Anglesey, with us.”

I felt Gabe shrug.
“Not sure yet, but I think he probably hired someone to work the bar and spike the drink. Then she posed as the call girl and ran to the paparazzi, who were conveniently waiting outside.”

The Parisian girlfriend again. Could it be true? We’d suspected Josh of taking those pictures, but was he really trying to blackmail us? He could well have sent the text to Jon. I frowned, it still didn’t make sense, something huge was missing from this story. And quite apart from anything else, I felt humiliated, completely and utterly. He’d taken me for a fool. The Kiss. It had meant so much to me, but had all been part of some trick. Gabe was still talking and I pushed my bubbling emotions firmly down, to park them until later. I needed to be on my own to think about how I really felt. About Josh. Even thinking his name hurt.

“Suki, darling. You didn’t put yourself in any potentially embarrassing situations with him, did you? Nothing he can use as another opportunity to cause trouble.”

Only in his arms in a strange house, in front of an estate agent while I pretended to be his wife.
God
. I was such a fool.

I swallowed hard, and again. It felt as though something was lodged in my throat. Shame, perhaps.
“No,” I whispered, the lie coming easily. “There’s nothing to worry about.”

He sighed with relief.
“I’ve contacted the police, of course, and I’ll talk to Jon later. If he tries to get in touch with you, for fucks sake don’t talk to him. Just send him straight on to me.”

I nodded. I couldn’t speak.

Gabe hugged me now, holding me close, his anger gone. “I love you so much, Suzu, The mere thought of you with someone else crucified me. I couldn’t cope with that. You’re mine.
My
Suzu. Don’t ever forget that.”

10.5 Josh

I waited until Anita had joined us and the waitress had delivered fresh coffee.
“There’s something I need to tell you and I’d like you to hear me out, please. Don’t judge until I’ve told you everything.”

Anita’s face paled, her hand snaking across the tabletop to grip Jon’s. Her emotions were clear. To my distress, she was afraid of me. I tried to give her a reassuring smile, but it had no effect.

“You were right. I took the original pictures at the stables, but I took them in good faith. I didn’t tamper with them, and I didn’t send them to you. As far as I was concerned, they were just pictures. I was horrified when you showed me the email.”

I paused, waiting to see if they would leap in. Anita may have been about to, but Jon squeezed her fingers and she quieted again. Her fear was rapidly morphing into anger.

“I’m not a journalist, or even a writer. I guess I’m a kind of private investigator.” I stared at them each in turn. “I was told your marriage was in difficulties, that Anita was straying.” Her eyes became huge, and then narrowed, a look of suspicion on her pretty face. “I was paid to check her out, see if there was any truth in the rumour. I took some pictures and reported back that you were very happy together and I didn’t think anything was wrong. To me, that was the end of it. And then you showed me that email.”

I leaned back in my chair trying to look confident. Jon spoke first, his voice low and angry.
“So why the fuck didn’t you say so earlier? And more to the point, who paid you to snoop on us?”

“
A guy called Alan Houghton hired me. He’s a lawyer in Wilmslow. Do you know him?” They shook their heads. “He contacted me, supposedly representing a good friend of yours who was concerned about you.” I paused, took a quick breath. You could have heard a pin drop. “That friend turned out to be Gabriel Bridgewater.”

Anita hissed out a noisy breath.
“I knew it,” she snarled, her eyes narrow points of light, a wild rage gathering around her. Jon cocked his head slightly to one side. “Proof?” he asked.

I quirked my eyebrows.
“That’s more difficult. Alan Houghton hired me for his anonymous client. I only found out later that it was Gabriel. All my paperwork has gone through Alan.”

“
So,” Jon rolled the word around. “You don’t actually have any proof. You lied to us about taking them, now you’re probably lying about why.”

“
What about Suki?” Anita’s interruption startled me. She leaned forward again, jabbing a finger at me. “What’s her involvement? Why have you been chasing her around? Does she know?”

“
And how did you find out it was Gabriel?” Jon’s face was calmer than I’d expected. In his shoes, I’d have probably leapt across the table by now, fists flying.

I hesitated. The chances of me having any kind of relationship with Suki were minimal, but I couldn’t bear the prospect of her finding out what I really did, how I earned my money.
“When I reported back to Alan Houghton, he told me the client had another job for me. I wanted to see who it was, so I played along. Then I told him I wasn’t interested.”

“
Go on, then,” Jon still sounded amazingly calm. “What was the second job? Was it anything to do with this crap in Paris?”

I gave him a half-smile.
“No. And I can’t tell you, as I didn’t find out what the job was.”

“
Why didn’t you tell me it was Gabriel?” Jon again.

“
I didn’t think you’d believe me. I wanted to get some kind of proof before I approached you.”

“
And Suki?” I glanced at Anita as she repeated her question.

I had to tread carefully now. I ran a hand across my jaw as I contemplated what to say. For once, I told the truth.
“I like Suki—a lot. If she wasn’t married, I’d probably be begging her to go out with me.” Thinking about Suki hurt. I paused to get myself under control. “I feel connected to her, I can’t explain it, but there won’t be anything between us. I respect that she’s Gabriel’s wife, even if I don’t like it.”

“
You kissed her.” There was more than a hint of challenge in Anita’s bald statement.

“
Yeah. And I shouldn’t have.” I could feel myself going hot under her stern gaze. “But while we’re being honest, I’ll tell you what worries me. There’s something not right about their marriage. I spoke to Gabriel a couple of hours after Suki was trapped in the cupboard, after she damn near lost her mind, and he was cool as anything. He fucked off to Paris the next morning as though nothing had happened.” I had to stop and take a deep breath, pinching the bridge of my nose with my fingertips while I calmed down. “If that’d been you, Jon, you wouldn’t have left her side.” I figured it was best to keep my other suspicions to myself.

Jon glanced at Anita, they seemed to pass an unspoken message between them, and then he looked back at me.

“My career is on the line, my professional reputation being torn to shreds. If Gabe’s behind it, I want to know. Can you get me any proof? Anything at all?”

All of a sudden, the discussion had shifted gears. I sat up straight as my brain started working again.
“I wondered about tracing the prostitute. Her story is a bit too slick. She bumped into him outside your room? That was convenient.”

He nodded, intent and alert.
“Gabe helped me into my room in the first place. What if he never left? What if he engineered the whole thing?”