Public Property (37 page)

‘
Perhaps I should change the name and have it sent to Jonny
,’ she
suggested as they walked.

‘
I think we should start thinking of anyone who might have a grudge against you besides your father
.’

‘
Look
,
I know I can be a little abrasive
,
but making someone dislike me
enough to do this sort of stuff?
I can’t think of anyone
.
U
nless
…’

‘
W
hat? You’ve thought of someone?’

‘
Martha
?’

‘
Martha?
’
Nicholas remarked.

‘
Yes,
you can’t have forgotten
your old PA
already
!
S
tern suits, even sterner
demeanour
.
T
he one you fired for being a complete bitc
h to me. She must despise me
.
I lost her
her
job
.’

‘
I don’t think this is Martha’s thing
.
A
nyway, she’s working for Terry Quinlan now
. I’ve heard she’s having a ball
bossing him around
.’

‘
Well
,
you asked me to think of someone and that
’
s the only person I can come up with. How about you? Can you think of anyone I
’
ve pissed off recently?
’

‘
Not off the top of my head
.’

‘
Then we’re at a loss
,
aren’
t we? We
’
ll just have to play a waiting game and hope we won’t need to use this wreath for real
.’

‘
Don’t say that
.’

‘
Oh my God
,’ Freya stated
, clamping her hand to her mouth, her eyes widening.

‘
What?
’
Nicholas exclaimed as he pushed open the front door.

‘
Well
,
what event in my l
ife did all this coincide with?’

‘I don’t know.
Y
ou
’
re going to have to elaborate
.’

‘
It’s Jonny. This all started after I met up with Jonny. That’s
who’s
behind it all
.
N
ot my father, but my father’s clone
.’

Freya arrived at
Exposure ready to explode. On the drive in
,
all she could think about was Jonny and
his potential involvement in this ugly business.
Despite his pledge of support for the
Every Day
project, everything else in Freya’s life had gone downhill since he
’
d reappeared on the scene. As much as she wanted her new found knowledge regarding their relationship to be erased from her memory banks, she
now also wanted to know why he despised her so much and why he seemed to have turned into a carbon copy of their father.

‘
Morning
,
Sasha
,’ she
greeted as she entered the reception area
. She mar
ched towards her office, barely giving her assistant a second glance.

‘
Oh
,
Freya, this is a surprise
.
I wasn’t really expecting you in today
. Wow! Your hair,
’
Sasha
remarked, hurrying from behind the desk to follow Freya into her room.

‘
Weren’t expecting me
? Don’t I have Miss
G
uide
at
eleven
and Toby James at
four
?
’ Freya asked
, looking down at her diary on her desk.

‘Well, yes.
B
ut I wasn’t sure, what with everything that’s been going on, whether you
’
d
feel
up to working
.’

‘
I feel fine
.
I
n fact, I feel better than ever. I mean
,
who wouldn’t feel on top of the world when they have a gorgeous fiancé to marry in the next few weeks
?’ She smiled.

‘
I guess nobody
.’

‘
Right, so
,
hav
e you got my messages?’

‘
Um, yes
.
I’ll just get them
.’
Sasha
left Freya’s office and headed back to the reception.

Freya began leafing through papers on her desk, looking for a Post-It note she knew she
’
d kept. She really needed to
sort out
the items on her desk
.
It was chaos and there was probably food under the files somewhere.

‘
Here you are
.
T
here are quite a few
.
I marked the ones I called back
.’ She passed Freya the message pad.

‘
Thanks
,
Sasha
.’ She took the book.

‘
So is everything OK at the house now?
No more break ins or anything?
’
Sasha
questioned.

‘
No, no everything’s fine
.
I
n fact everything
’
s more than fine
.’ She couldn’t keep the smile from her face. Despite everything else that was going on, the baby news was wonderful. She might have reservations about her capabilities but she was excited. It was unexpected but not unwelcome.

‘
Really?
You sound like you have some
sort of news
.’

‘Well, actually I do.
B
ut it’s completely confidential
.’

She didn’t want to share this news with the world. She
’
d hardly had time to take it all in herself yet.
S
he wasn’t ready to react to the world’s reaction.

‘
That goes without saying
.’

‘
Well, Nick and I
…
we’re going to have a baby. Isn’t that just the most exciting and terrifying news you
’
ve ever heard
?’

‘
Wow
.
I mean, that’s fantastic news, really great
,’
Sasha
replied, smiling broadly.

‘
Yes it is
,
isn’t it? I mean
,
I wasn’t sure at first but Nick is so excited.
A
nd I think he
’
s going to be a wonderful father
.’ She recalled his expression when he saw the image on the scan monitor the night before.

‘
I’m sure he will
be amazing.’

‘
The only down side to the pregnancy is I
seem to have totally gone off all the foods I used to crave. For exam
ple, the thought of eating leftover Ch
inese for breakfast makes me feel quite sick
.’

‘
I’m sure
it
will pass
.’

‘
I hope so
.
B
ecause I can’t see the baby getting all it need
s from
Jell-O
sandwiches
.’

‘
Would you like me to get you something from the patisserie?
’

‘
No thanks
.
B
ut a cup of tea would be great
.’

‘
I’ll go and make one
.’

Miss Guide was
one of
the lar
gest lingerie compan
ies
in the US
and Freya knew her intimate photos of Nicholas were the reason she
’
d been asked to shoot
for them. Although scantily-
clad women were not her subject of choice, the job paid extremely well and Freya had also been able to suggest the company
thought about
making a range for the larger woman.
T
hey had
taken this on board
and Freya had agreed to endorse the product. She
’d devoted
the morning
to
looking at designs and trying on some prototypes. In between changes of underwear she
’
d telephoned Jonathan.

S
he
’
d got through to his voicemail and
had
left a message for him to meet her at
Gatebrook
.

It was just after one when Freya arrived and Jonathan was already there. He was stood, leant against the bonnet
of his car
, a pair of sunglasses in his hand. He looked more composed than the evening before
.
H
e was wearing a fresh suit and everything about him was immaculate
and restored
.

Freya pulled up in front of his car
. Her stomach was churning. She didn’t really know what to say to him. Taking a deep breath she
got out
and
shut the door firmly behind her.

‘
Got your car back then
,’
she
remarked
. She walked towards him
.

‘Y
e
a
h
,
I went to the hospital last night but they said you
’
d already gone and I didn’t want to call the house. I guessed,
as
you
’
d left,
it
meant things must be alright
.’

‘
Things aren’t alright
,
Jonny. Things are far from alright
.’ She threw the wreath at him. It
landed on the
bonnet of his car. Some
of the flowers
detached and fell to
the ground.

‘Wh
at is this?
’
he asked, looking at it.

‘
Oscar worthy!
Come on, keep it up
.
S
how me
some real surprise and outrage.
Nick says it’s all in the stance
.
S
o
,
come on
,
Jonny, give me a stance
.’

‘
Who sent you this?
’ he asked,
moving his gaze from the flowers to Freya.

‘
Fantastic! Great line
and perfectly timed. I wish I was recording this.
P
erhaps Nick could swing a part for you
.’

‘
Freya, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Am I supposed to
know what
this
is
?
’
Jonathan questioned.

‘The camera would love you.
Hold on, I have
Donald
in my bag somewhere.
L
et me get some stills
.’ She dug into her handbag and looked for her camera.

‘
Freya, stop it
.
I don’t know anything about this. Where did
it
come from? Was it sent to you? Have you informed the police? Stuff like this is
serious
intimidati
on
.’