Public Property (27 page)

‘
And this will definitely keep anyone out
?
It’s guaranteed
? I mean
,
Freya does have a habit of forgetting to set the alarm and
…’ he started.

‘
This equipment is state of the art
.
Y
ou can
’
t leave the house without knowing you haven’t activated it. It warns you with a noise and a verbal command and it
won’t
let you leave until you
’
ve done what it says
.’

‘
It won’t let you leave until you
’
ve done what it says?! What is this machine based on?
Terminator
?’
Freya exclaimed. She put a pot of tea on the table.

‘
It sounds complicated but it
’
s really simple to use
.
I
’
ll go through it all with you when it’s up and running
,’ Roger assured.

‘
I have a better idea
.
W
hy don’t we
not
install it and move to a desert island where the only things to bother us would be sun, sea and fish
?’

‘
Excuse Freya
,
Roger
.
S
he’s not had a lot of sleep and what with what happened to Mike
.
S
he’s understandably edgy
.’

‘
Don’t make excuses for me
.
I’m just bordering on being admitted as a psych patient that’s all
.’ She slammed a plate of biscuits down.

She was actually bordering on fury. Nicholas hadn’t mentioned anything about arranging to meet her father. So much for there being no more secrets! He knew how scared she was of her father. He ou
ght to believe her when she said he was dangerous. Meeting him, having a head on confrontation was madness.

The phone rang and Nicholas jumped up to answer it.

‘
He won’t e
ven let me answer the phone now.
God knows what he thinks is going to happen if I
do
answer it
.’

Of course, it could also be because he was waiting for a call back from Sandra arranging the meeting with her father.

‘
He’s worried for you
,
Freya
.
I’m
worried for you too. Having someone get into your house like that and do a crazy thing
…
it’s unsettling
,’
Roger told her.

‘
It’s
Sasha
for you
.’ Nicholas held the phone out to her.

‘
Shit
,
I forgot to ring her
. H
ello
,
Sasha
.
D
id
Mrs
Garcia turn up?
I’m so sorry, I meant
to ring you to cancel her and…’

‘
It’s fine, she came and I saw her
.
S
he’s booked a session with you next week
,’
Sasha
spoke.

Freya moved out into the hall.

‘
Oh thanks
,
Sasha
.
T
hat was great of you
.’

‘
So are you coming in to the office today?
’

‘
Er
no, not today
.
W
e had a bit of a time of it last night. Nick’s driver got attacked by this gang and the car
was smashed up
.
Then
when we got home last night someone had been in our house
.’

Saying
it
out loud made her
realise
how bad this situation had become.

‘
N
o! How awful! Was it a robbery?’
Sasha
exclaimed.

‘
We don’t exactly know yet
.
A
nyway, the police are investigating and we have a security team here this morning making sure no one
wi
ll be getting in here again. You should see
them,
they
’
re so hi
-
tech they could probably build the Star
s
hip Enterprise
.’

‘
Well
,
that must have been awful, having someone in your house like that. Did they take anything?
’

‘
We haven’t had a chance to go through everything yet
,
but it doesn’t look like it
.’

‘
Well
,
that’s something. So
,
I expect you
’
re both feeling a bit shaken up
.’

‘
A bit
,
but we can’t let it take over our lives
. A
fter all
,
we have a wedding to
organi
s
e
.’

‘
Of course
!
A
re you still planning t
o go ahead with it on December twenty second
? Have
you thought more about venues?’

‘
We can’t make up our minds at the moment
,
but when we do you
’
ll be one of the first to know
.’

‘
OK, well don’t worry about anything here
.
I’ll get
Avril
in if I need her and field anything I can’t deal with personally
.’

‘
Thanks
,
Sasha
, I’ll see you tomorrow. Oh one thing you should know.
I lost my handbag last night
,
so if you need to
call you
’
ll have t
o phone this number
. My mobile was in there.’

‘
Oh, OK
.
I will
.’

‘
See you
.’

She
went back into
the kitchen where Roger and Nicholas were discussing where to put the motion sensors.

‘
Could I make a suggestion?
’
Freya asked.

‘
Sure
,
’
Roger replied.

‘
I don’t think having motion sensors in the bedroom would be a good idea. I don’t want half of
Mayleaf
woken up every night thinking there
’
s an air strike about to happen if the alarm goes off
.’

‘
Roger will tell you
all about motion sensors later.
T
hey have an on and off button
. That
means every room in the house is open for experimentation
.’ He winked at Freya.

‘
Ah
,
j
eez
!
G
uys
!
T
rying to think security here and anyway
,
you aren’t even married yet
,’ Roger reminded them.

‘
But we will be soon
.’
Nicholas
put his arms around Freya and kissed her on the mouth.

‘
Nick, can we go out for lunch today?
Maybe
ge
t a takeout from
Casey’s and
go and see one of the bridges?’
Freya asked, turning to face him.

‘
Sure, is that OK
,
Roger? You don’t ne
ed me here for anything do you?’

‘
No, if you’re happy with the plan
,
the team can get on with it. It
’
ll take
them
most of the day to install everything
.
A
s long as you’re back this evening for me to explain everything to you then that’s fine. I have your cell, I can call
.’

‘
By the way
,
Roger, what are all these alarms and beams and motion se
nsors going to mean for Willis?’
F
reya wanted to know.

‘
Ye
a
h I’ve thought of that
.
Willis might be a problem. We might have to train him to limbo
.’

Nicholas laughed out loud
.

‘
I was being serious!
’

‘
Ye
a
h I know you were
,
b
abe
.
D
on’t
worry,
we’re going to take care of it
.’

Freya was glad to get out of the house
.
The security team seemed to be in every corner of her home and it was unnerving the amount of measuring
,
pointing and drilling they were doing.
She didn’t really relax until
they
were at County Bridge.

They
’
d bought
bagels,
sodas
and a mud pie from Casey’s and they took the food down to the bridge
. They
sat together, their feet hanging over the side, watching the water flow up stream.

‘
God
,
it’s been a mad few days
,’
Nicholas r
emarked, taking a sip of his drink.

‘
Completely mad
.’

‘
Look
,
Freya I know we agreed we
’
d try and live like two normal people, with no ostentatious
behaviour
or unnecessary, showy outings
. We also said we’d
involve ourselves in the community an
d
try and become a part of that…’ he started
.

‘
I’m waiting for the
“
bu
t”
. Did I interrupt it? Was the
“
but
” coming just then?’

‘
I just want you to know I don’t want the security either. I love living in
Mayleaf
.
W
e have a real home there with friends who care about us. I don’t think I
’
ve ever felt as at home anywhere as I do there. Perhaps it
’
s a sign of getting old
,
but when I have to leave to film or something
,
I really don’t want to go
.’

‘
No, I feel the same
.
That’s
why I hate that this is happening. It’s spoiling
everything
.’

‘
We
’
ll try not to
let it
ruin
things but we have to take precautions
.
W
e would be crazy not to
.’

‘
I know
,
Nick, I’m not stupid
.
I know we have to be careful and that
,
like it or not
,
we
’
re on the top of the celebrity tree. I just never asked for it that’s all
.
T
he attention, the spotlight, that’s
your
thing not mine
,
’
Freya reminded him.

‘
I would never do anything to put you in any danger and if my chosen career is putting you in danger, putting
us
in danger then…
’