[Churchminster #3] Wild Things (33 page)

Aside from Angie, Clementine hadn’t told anyone Veronica Stockard-Manning was behind the story. The Bellows wanted to put it behind them – even though Joyce was in fact enjoying a surge in popularity – and Clementine didn’t want to distract anyone from the task they had in hand. But it had made her realize, once again, that underneath her waxed jacket, Veronica was a very dangerous woman.

Chapter 43

‘
ARE YOU GOING
to go and talk to him, then?’

Calypso eyed her sister over the marmalade. It was the next morning, and she’d made breakfast for them both, but Camilla hadn’t been able to eat a thing.

‘I don’t know, darling,’ said Camilla wearily. She’d cried so many tears in the night she didn’t think she had any left to give. Now she just felt hollow, listless.

‘Come on, you can’t just give up!’ urged Calypso. ‘If there is something going on with him and Slutty Sophia, then you bloody well need to know!’

‘I keep asking him, he keeps saying no. What else am I supposed to do – put a private detective on to him?’

‘No, you need to get yourself up there and sort it out once and for all. Do you want me to come with you?’

‘That’s very sweet, but don’t worry,’ said Camilla hastily. She knew how protective her younger sister could be.

Calypso looked at the clock on the wall. ‘Aren’t you going to work?’

Camilla rubbed her hands over her face. ‘I’ve called in sick. I barely slept a wink. Mr Fitzgerald wasn’t too happy, but I don’t care.’

Calypso smiled, reassuring her sister. ‘Why don’t I go and run you a bath? You can have a nice soak and then go up there to see him.’ She repeated herself. ‘You need to sort this out, Camilla.’

‘I know,’ Camilla sighed. ‘I know.’

By ten thirty Camilla was driving the familiar route to Clanfield Hall, feeling more sick and nervous than she had in her entire life. It was so weird: the one person in the world she was meant to be the closest to, was the one she was the most awkward around, right now. Jed had become like a stranger to her, and in a few minutes she was about to find out what kind of man he really was. Had he been brazen enough to conduct an affair with Sophia right under her nose? All the warning signs were there, it was a classic textbook affair. Camilla gulped down another wave of nausea.

She’d expected to find Jed in his office, or off on the estate somewhere, but as she turned left into Clanfield Hall, another vehicle coming from the opposite direction was turning in as well. As Camilla and Jed’s eyes met through the windscreens, both their mouths dropped open; Camilla’s in astonishment, Jed’s in what looked like blind panic. He was driving Mrs Bantry’s neat little Peugeot and was wearing, she noted with even greater surprise, a suit and collar. She hadn’t even known he owned one!

Jed gestured to her to pull in at Gate Cottage and she
did
so, his car following closely behind. Even before she had cut the engine, he was at her window. He was freshly shaved, his black hair tamed by gel.

‘Camilla, I haven’t been honest with you. But it’s all right now, I can explain.’

She jumped down from her vehicle. Wild possibilities whirled through her mind. The nice suit, the spruced-up appearance: had he been off in some five-star hotel with Sophia? Instinctively, she looked for another car following, but there was none. She faced him, trying to contain the anger and shock.

‘Have you just spent the night with Sophia?’

Jed looked pained. ‘Camilla, please don’t start this again. I’ve told you. Of course there’s nothing going on with her.’

Her voice was shaking now. ‘So you keep telling me, Jed. But I can tell you, from where I’m standing it doesn’t look that way at all. You’re hiding something from me and I know it. Just
tell me
.’

He dropped his eyes, face paler than ever. ‘I’ve made a right cock-up of this.’

‘That’s one way of putting it!’

Jed stepped forward and gripped Camilla’s hands so tightly it hurt. She gasped in surprise. ‘I see what you must have thought; I understand that now. But I was so wrapped up in it, I thought it was the best thing not to tell you. I thought I could handle it by myself, shield you from it.’

‘Jed, what on earth are you talking about?’

He dropped her hands abruptly, stepped away. ‘I found a lump, Camilla.’

His statement was so shocking, so unexpected, that it completely blindsided her.

‘A lump?’ she stuttered.

A vein throbbed in his forehead, indicting high stress. ‘In my right testicle. I found it weeks ago, when I was having a shower one morning.’

The realization of what he was saying started to dawn on Camilla. ‘Oh, Jed, no,’ she whispered. ‘Why didn’t you say anything?’

His jaw clenched. ‘Because I didn’t want to admit it to myself! I was scared of going to the doctor’s, scared of what I might find, so like a stupid idiot I buried my head in the sand. I thought if I didn’t think about it, it didn’t exist.’ He gave a humourless laugh. ‘Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that.’

Camilla’s mind was racing. Jed’s weight loss, him complaining of being tired when normally he was as strong as an ox. It was too dreadful to contemplate.

His voice was toneless and void of emotion. ‘I couldn’t ignore it, no matter how hard I tried to, so eventually I went to the doctor. He took one look and said it didn’t look good, not with my family history.’

Camilla felt sick, Both Jed’s grandfather and his aunt had died of cancer. She couldn’t believe this was happening, not to her Jed! He was so strong, so healthy. It seemed like a horrible joke.

‘It all happened so quickly. The doctor did blood tests and then I was referred to the hospital for urgent X-rays. I’ve had to take quite a bit of time off work.’

So that was what Jed’s mysterious appointment had been about.

‘But you and Sophia …’

Jed sighed again.

‘I haven’t been having an affair with her, Cam. Sophia came into my office one morning when I wasn’t there and found a letter from the hospital on my desk. She was waiting for me when I got back. At first I was furious she’d been going through my things, but she said she’d only picked it up because she recognized the consultant’s name on the top of the letter.’

Jed paused.

‘It turned out she’d had a cousin who had been through exactly the same thing. Sophia said she knew how I felt. I didn’t want anyone knowing but she said she wouldn’t say anything.’

Camilla felt a burn of jealousy that Sophia had been there for Jed and not her. He sensed it from her face.

‘I didn’t go looking for sympathy from her,’ he said quickly. ‘Sophia was the one popping in to see me, leaving me little notes. To be honest it made me feel a bit awkward, but I only thought she was being nice. She called me last night to wish me luck at the hospital, but I swear we’ve never spoken on the phone before that.’

Relief started to seep through Camilla. She knew he was telling the truth.

‘Jed, I can’t believe you’ve gone through all this by yourself!’

Her voice cracked.

‘Why didn’t you just
tell
me?’

He ran a hand over his face.

‘Cam, I’ve handled this whole thing so badly. I was so wrapped up in myself; I never stopped to consider how you would see it. The stupid thing is I thought I was protecting you, by not telling you the truth. And my ma.’

This time it was Jed’s voice that went.

‘I’m all she’s got.’

Tears spilled out of Camilla’s eyes. ‘Oh, Jed,’ she sobbed. The lack of interest in sex, his cagey behaviour. It all fell into place now. All along she’d been thinking he’d been losing interest, or having an affair with Sophia Highforth. What a waste of precious time and energy.

Jed swallowed. ‘That’s where I’ve been today, seeing the urology specialist at the hospital. Today was D-Day, Camilla. To find out whether the lump was cancerous or not.’

She could hardly bear to hear his answer.

Jed stared at her, eyes channelling on to hers, searching, haunted. ‘It’s benign.’

For a moment Camilla didn’t understand. ‘Benign?’

‘Yes, benign. As in non-malignant.’ Jed’s face relaxed into a smile. ‘I haven’t got cancer.’

Her knees literally buckled in relief. Camilla flung her arms around him. ‘Oh, thank God!’ she wept. ‘Thank God!’

Jed held her tightly, and together they stood for a minute, just taking the news in. Finally he released her.

‘I couldn’t believe it myself when the specialist
told
me,’ he said in a shaky voice, ‘I still can’t, really. I had literally convinced myself that that was it. I was going to die and there was nothing I could do about it.’ He shook his head as if in wonderment. ‘He had to repeat the results about five times. Apparently it’s a harmless cyst. After all that, a bloody cyst! It’s causing no harm being there, so they’re going to leave it. I’ve got to keep checking myself regularly from now on for any changes, but that’s about it.’

‘I need to sit down,’ Camilla said weakly. The last five minutes had been the most terrifying and happy of her life. She sank down beside the car, Jed crouching in front of her. ‘I thought you were having an affair with Sophia!’ she told him. Camilla shook her head, exasperated. ‘You had me acting like a nutcase! I really thought something was going on, Jed.’

He held her to him. ‘I’m sorry. I handled it so badly, but it was the only way I
could
handle it. Please believe me.’

Camilla nestled into him. ‘None of it matters now. All I care about is that you’re going to be all right. Jed, I love you so much …’

Calypso was shocked. ‘He thought he had cancer? Bills, that’s terrible!’

‘I know. But instead of saying anything, Jed kept it to himself. I can’t bear to think how he must have felt.’

‘That sounds like Jed, I suppose, soldiering on by himself.’ Calypso winced. ‘So my parting shot about
ripping
his balls off if he messed you about probably wasn’t the best thing to say.’

‘You weren’t to know,’ Camilla said kindly.

‘All the same, I’d like to say sorry. Is he upstairs?’

‘Yes, I’ve sent him to bed for the day. Poor man is exhausted.’

Calypso climbed the stairs and knocked on their bedroom door. Jed answered immediately.

‘Come in.’

She pushed the door open. Jed was sitting up in bed, surrounded by magazines and books. A jug of water with fresh lemon slices in it was sitting on the bedside drawer.

‘This all looks very pleasant,’ she remarked.

Jed smiled. ‘Camilla seems to think I need some rest.’

‘I think Camilla is probably right,’ Calypso said. She sat down on the bed and shook her head, smiling. ‘You’re a dick. Why didn’t you say something?’

‘I’ve had just about as many conversations about dicks and balls as I can handle, if that’s OK.’

‘Shit, sorry.’ Calypso paused. ‘Look, you had your reasons for doing what you did, and I do understand that. I just wanted to say, you know, sorry for accusing you of shagging Sophia Highforth.’

He gave a nod. ‘Apology accepted. I didn’t exactly inspire confidence in you.’

‘Well, that’s water under the bridge now.’ Calypso leaned across and kissed him on the cheek. ‘I’m really pleased you’re OK, Jed.’

‘Get away with you,’ he smiled as she got up and made for the door.

‘See you later?’

‘Not if I see you first …’ he teased.

As she left the room Jed’s smile faded abruptly. Face darkening, he turned to stare out of the window.

Chapter 44

AN ANNOUNCEMENT HAD
caused much commotion in the film industry. Sophia Highforth was parting ways with her manager Gordon Goldsmith and employing the services of his brother Stevie instead. The Goldsmith brothers’ rivalry was well known and the story made the entertainment pages of several of the dailies. It was one of these newspapers that Katie the dresser found Sophia reading, when she entered her Winnebago early one morning.

‘Katie, hello!’ Sophia gushed over the top of it. ‘I’m just reading about myself in yet another newspaper. Can you believe everyone is making such a big fuss about it?’

From the smug look on her face, Sophia could indeed believe the hype.

‘How did Gordon take it?’ Katie asked.

‘Went completely ballistic, as you can imagine. Threatened breach of contract and all that, but I’m confident my lawyers can come to some arrangement.
Stevie
just understands me, you know? He is going to take me to even greater places in my career!’

That’s who she was on the phone to that time
, Katie thought.

‘So when you told me you had a special chemistry with someone, you didn’t mean that hot estate manager?’ she asked innocently.

Sophia’s face fell, then she regained her composure. ‘Oh
him
. He was madly in love with me, of course, but I found it rather off-putting. I had to let him down gently.’

Katie stifled a smile. It had become patently obvious to anyone but Sophia that the bloke wasn’t interested. ‘He must have been devastated,’ she remarked cheerfully.

Sophia flushed. ‘Well, of course he was.’ She shot Katie a look. ‘You ask far too many questions. Anyway, is that my dress? You’ve taken far too long to finish it, as usual. I thought I’d have to do my scene naked.’

Bearing in mind Sophia had flung the gown at Katie at midnight, ordering alterations, Katie thought she’d done a pretty good job.

‘Come on, then,’ Sophia said irritably. ‘I haven’t got much time.’

Enough time to read about yourself in the newspapers
, thought Katie as she hoiked Sophia back into the dress.

Calypso fingered the Eurostar tickets happily. What better way to start their holiday on the French Riviera than a three-day stop in Paris, the most
romantic
city in the world? Rafe was going to be over the moon when she gave them to him. Calypso had gone ahead and taken the liberty of booking it all anyway, Rafe kept saying how much he needed a holiday.

With her contacts, Calypso had managed to get them into one of the most exclusive hotels in Paris. Rafe’s name would have been enough anyway, but she wanted to show him she was just as capable of calling the shots. They’d got the penthouse suite, and Calypso imagined lazy days wandering the streets and passion-filled nights screwing each other’s brains out. It was going to be perfect.