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Finn: K-I-S-S-I-N-G!
Finn has been removed from the group.
Estelle: Right. That’s Finn gone. Anyone else want to side with Savage?
Leo: I’m not saying a word. This is top quality weekday night entertainment and I’ve got a ringside seat
Henry: We’re here for you, Estelle. Whatever you need
Estelle: Thanks bro X
Willow: So, what’s the plan for tomorrow? Xxx
Estelle: I’m gonna spice up his life…
Leo: With bhajis?
Estelle: No, the girls are coming with me to work…
8
The sun still hadn’t risen when Estelle brought the Defender to a careful stop outside Shoscombe Manor the next morning. A couple of lights were glowing from inside the main house, but the offices were dark. Using the torch on her phone, she inputted the code, then propped the door open so she could bring things in.
James and Henry may have had wildly different personalities, but their desks were identically spartan.
Estelle’s was not.
When working, she needed to see everything at the same time, and also have reminders of the people she loved around her. These weren’t photos, but knick-knacks she’d been given, everything from mugs to ornaments to stress balls. Henry couldn’t stand the clutter and Estelle was hoping James hated it even more.
It took three trips to get everything from the car, including some extra additions she’d collected from the livery and bought from a gift shop in the village. Her slippers remained turned off. Despite what she was going to pretend to James later, she not only hated the sounds they made but also any noise when she worked.
By half-past eight, the room was set, and Estelle was ready for the first coffee of the day. The winter sun had finally risen and shone weakly into the corridor as she made her way towards the kitchen. Up ahead, golden light was spilling out from under the door to the ladies’ bathroom. Was it ‘E’ getting her perfume back?
She pushed the door inward to see a woman cleaning one of the sinks.
‘Oh, my Christ!’ the woman yelled, leaping back and crashing into the hand drier.
Estelle held her hands up in a gesture of defence. ‘Sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you!’
The woman was gasping for breath, her kohl-rimmed eyes wide. She was wearing rubber gloves and a coral-pink tabard over a zebra-striped jumper, and was clutching a neon-green cleaning cloth to her chest.
Smiling, Estelle held out her hand. ‘Hi, I’m Estelle.’
The woman stared at it as if it were a box of chocolates suspended over a bear trap, then turned, grabbing spray bottles and jamming them in a cleaning caddy.
‘You’re not meant to see me,’ she muttered, giving the already spotless sink another quick once-over with her cloth. ‘I shouldn’t be here.’
‘Why not?’
The woman hovered, her eyes flicking to the door behind Estelle as if desperate for escape.
‘Promise you won’t tell him you saw me?’
Estelle’s stomach lurched. Did she mean James? His dad?
‘Tell who?’
The woman swallowed. ‘James.’
