The One You Fear (11 page)

‘Enjoy the ride,’ he repeated. ‘But doesn’t it take time to organise this sort of thing? We’d have to book in somewhere.’

‘My friend runs the club where I jump,’ she explained. ‘I’ve already checked with him, and we’re all good to go, two o’clock tomorrow. Sorry it’s such late notice, but they’ve managed to squeeze us in, and weekends are booked for weeks in advance. I know you said it’s usually easy for you to get time off, so I went for it. He’s even given me a big discount. So, are you ready for your biggest challenge yet, Mr Holden?’

Everything about the jump scared him. But he was in love, and that proved much stronger than any fear. ‘Yes, I’m ready.’

***

‘I don’t really know what this all means,’ Emma said, as they retraced their steps back towards the train station.

‘Adrian Spencer was lying to us, for a start,’ Lizzy replied. ‘But who knows why.’

Emma stopped. ‘
He
knows. Let’s call him.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes, let’s do it. We can meet with him somewhere public, and then ask him face to face what he’s doing.’

She pulled out her phone and dialled the number she had stored for Adrian Spencer, following his initial call those weeks ago. ‘Hi, is that Adrian? It’s Emma Holden here. I’ve decided that I am prepared to talk. I’m free now, if that’s convenient… Great, so we could meet somewhere in the centre. How about the coffee shop in Harvey’s Bookshop on Charing Cross Road, in an hour…? That’s great, see you then.’

‘Are you really sure about this?’ Lizzy said. ‘I mean, I know I’m normally the one to jump at the chance of challenging this kind of thing, but it could be risky. Not to mention the fact that there is this other person still out there, following you too.’

‘You’re right,’ said Emma. ‘I’ll call Dan. He can come too.’

***

‘Try him again.’

Emma dialled Dan’s number, but once again it cut straight through to the answer service. ‘Nothing.’ It was odd, considering that she’d spoken to him not long before and arranged to meet him in the bookshop.

‘You’re probably right, he’s stuck on the tube.’ Lizzy looked at her watch. ‘Adrian Spencer will be here any moment.’

Emma looked around. This had been a good choice of venue, in that it was very public. The small coffee-shop area was integrated with the bookstore, in an open-plan style that encouraged users to browse books while they drank. It was one of the innovative features of the newly redesigned bookshop that enabled it to succeed where other, bigger bookstores had failed in recent years. It offered something that online stores couldn’t – atmosphere. The store was a favourite for them all, and as such it felt like home territory for Emma. But still, she didn’t relish tackling Adrian Spencer without Dan’s support. ‘He’s here.’

‘Dan?’

‘No.’

Lizzy turned to see Adrian Spencer approach. He was a few minutes early. He sauntered over to them and took the seat opposite, smiling. ‘Hello there. I didn’t expect to see you too, Lizzy.’

‘Change of heart,’ Lizzy said.

‘Great, great,’ he said, delving into his bag and pulling out his notebook. ‘I’m glad you’ve seen sense.’

Lizzy had to bite her tongue.

‘So,’ he said, ‘shall we get started?’

‘Is it okay if I ask a question first?’ Emma glanced over his shoulder in the hope that Dan might appear.

‘Of course, fire away.’

‘You said you’re doing a feature for the
London Daily Post
.’

‘Yes, that’s right.’

Emma was feeling nervous – they would have to play this carefully, especially now they were on their own. She tried her best to look relaxed, wondering if her face gave away her true state. ‘Who asked you to do it?’

He looked confused – or was that defensive? ‘Well, my boss, of course. The editor.’

‘Who is…?’

He did his best not to look rattled. ‘If you want to talk to my seniors, then I’d be happy to put you in touch with them.’

‘It’s okay,’ Emma replied. ‘That won’t be necessary. How long have you worked at the newspaper?’

Now she could hear the nerves in her voice. It was surely a dead giveaway.

But Adrian Spencer didn’t seem to notice. ‘Well, six, seven years.’

‘Do you enjoy it?’

‘Yes, I do.’

‘Why are you lying to us?’ Lizzy said.

He feigned shock. ‘What?’

‘You don’t work for the
Post
, do you?’

His eyes darted around the room. He was wondering whether to run.

Emma gathered some more courage. ‘We know you don’t work for the newspaper. We went there today. They’ve never heard of you.’

Now he smiled and held up his hands in surrender. ‘Bravo. You got me.’

Emma pressed home her advantage. ‘Who are you?’

‘Adrian Spencer,’ he replied.

‘You know what I mean. You were following me, taking photographs. Why?’

‘I’d better be going,’ he said, moving to get up. ‘Things to do, people to see.’

But as he went to rise, he was pressed back down into his chair by the man he hadn’t noticed arriving just seconds earlier: Dan.

‘An ambush.’ Adrian twisted to look up at Dan, who kept a hand on one shoulder in a way that an onlooker might interpret as simply a friendly gesture.

Dan smiled. ‘You can call it whatever you like.’

Adrian turned back to Emma and Lizzy. ‘Okay. I’ll tell you. I don’t want there to be any animosity between us. I’m a researcher, working for Firework Films.’

Emma shook her head. ‘I should have known.’ Firework Films – the production company that had wanted to make the tell-all programme about them. Well, if this was the way they went about conducting their research, then she was doubly glad she had dismissed their offer.

‘Look,’ he said, ‘I know I’ve probably gone about this the wrong way. I should have been upfront with you. To be honest, I don’t know why I used that cover story. It was stupid, I understand that.’

Emma didn’t want to hear it. ‘You wanted to cover your bases, in case I said no to Diana Saunders about collaborating on the drama documentary. You wanted to get quotes from us, and that way you could still go ahead with the programme, without our direct input. You figured that we would be more likely to provide a few quotes for a newspaper article. And if I’d said yes to Diana, then no doubt someone else from Firework Films would have been liaising with us, and we’d never connect you and your shady practices with them.’

He smiled back. ‘You know, I wish you were as helpful as your father.’

‘What?’

Again he smiled. ‘It’s just that if you were all as open as he was, it would make the programme so much better, so much more powerful, to really know what was going on in your heads.’

Emma felt sick.
He had to be lying. ‘He didn’t talk to you. He wouldn’t have done that.’

‘Oh he did, Emma – on more than one occasion. But don’t worry, he was generously reimbursed for his time.
Generously
reimbursed.’ He went to stand, and Emma nodded at Dan to let him go. She was reeling at the revelation. But Adrian Spencer hadn’t quite finished. ‘Next time you see him, pass on my thanks on behalf of Firework Films.’

13

‘I still can’t believe he would have done it. I just feel so angry.’

Emma, Dan and Lizzy had returned to their apartment to regroup. It was late afternoon, and they were in the kitchen, sitting around the table, all still reeling from what Adrian Spencer had told them. The thought that Emma’s dad had spoken to that man, for money, really hurt.

‘It does explain the note that he left Miranda,’ Lizzy said. ‘About betraying us all.’

‘Which makes it sound like he regrets doing it,’ Dan added. ‘Try not to be too hard on him.’

‘You think that’s why he ran away?’ mused Emma. ‘Because he realised what he’d done, and just couldn’t face us?’

Dan shrugged. ‘Maybe. Look, I’m not making excuses for him – well, maybe I am – but Adrian Spencer
was
extremely persistent,
and
he was offering money to someone who’s been really worried about his income. You know how he’s been stressing about losing his clients, and Miranda mentioned that he’d said about not being able to support her and the new baby, just before he left. I know he’s brought some of this on himself, but the guy is obviously really suffering.’

‘Your dad has been under a lot of pressure,’ Lizzy acknowledged. ‘He might have just got tempted, and then really regretted it.’

Emma could see how it might have happened.

Just a few minutes of your time…

I can recompense you…

This way we can make sure we get the story straight…

‘You’re probably right. But running away isn’t going to solve anything. It just makes things worse. He’s abandoned Miranda and caused even more hurt. Can’t he see that?’

‘Maybe,’ suggested Dan, ‘now that he’s run, he doesn’t know how to come back and make things right. He might feel too ashamed about it all. He also might genuinely believe that we don’t want to see him again.’

Emma shook her head. ‘I just wish he’d get in contact, or turn his phone back on. At least we’d know he’s safe.’

‘Safe?’ Lizzy said. ‘You think he might not be?’

‘Oh, I’m sure he’s fine, Lizzy. But we don’t know that for certain. If he is in such a state, then we don’t know what he might do. People can do really irrational things when they’re not thinking straight.’

‘It’s best to stay positive,’ Dan advised. ‘We’ve got enough to worry about, without thinking the worst of your dad. Just assume he’ll get in touch when he’s ready to, and when he does, you can take it from there. I’m sure it won’t be long before you hear from him. After all, he’s got a wonderful family and a baby on the way. He won’t want to lose that.’

‘You’re right,’ Emma replied. ‘We’ve got to deal with the other things, as much as I want to sort out Dad.’

‘Do you think that Adrian Spencer will leave us alone now?’ Lizzy asked.

‘Hopefully he will, now that we’ve also complained directly to Firework Films.’

As soon as they’d got back to the apartment they had called the production company. When Emma had explained what had happened, the woman had sounded understanding about the situation, and had said all the right things about making sure that they wouldn’t bother them again, but there was no promise about whether the programme was still due to go ahead. Perhaps, sometime in the future, the programme would air. It wouldn’t be pleasant, but Emma hoped that everyone would be in a much better place by then, and able to withstand the bad memories and unwanted attention.

‘At least if he crawls back into his hole that’ll be one thing off our backs,’ Lizzy said. ‘But obviously the big worry is still this other person pretending to be Stephen Myers.’

‘I still can’t believe he followed us to Windsor,’ Dan said. ‘He must have tailed us from first thing that morning, otherwise how would he have known we were going there? To think that he’s probably been stalking the apartment and the police aren’t interested.’

‘I know,’ Emma said. ‘David Sherborn only started following us from the train station after I texted him to let him know where we were going, but this guy was already there when he arrived. He had to have followed us from here.’

‘Creepy,’ Lizzy said. ‘It’s just like last time.’

‘Except that this time we’re not just helpless victims,’ Dan said. ‘Last time, you didn’t know anything about what was happening and who was involved. But this time, because we enlisted David Sherborn’s help – because we took the initiative – we at least have some information on this person. We know that he knows Guy Roberts.’

‘And we also know that it isn’t actually Stephen Myers who is doing this,’ Lizzy added.

‘Exactly,’ Dan said. ‘And even though it was pretty crazy to think that it was Stephen Myers, someone wanted us to think that. If we hadn’t done what we did, identifying the person who is doing this, then there might still be that element of doubt. Especially given what Peter Myers had said to you, Lizzy, about Stephen being alive.’

‘Which he said just to scare us,’ Lizzy said.

‘That’s right.’

‘So the next step is to go and see Guy Roberts,’ Emma said. ‘And find out what he knows about this person.’

‘Do you think he’ll tell us?’ Lizzy asked. ‘I mean, we can’t assume he’ll cooperate. We know what kind of person he is.’

‘I agree it might be difficult. I’m not assuming anything.’

‘And we can’t particularly trust him either,’ Dan replied, ‘but we haven’t really got any other options, have we?’

‘No,’ Lizzy said.

‘So the question is, when?’

Emma glanced at the clock. ‘How about after we eat?’