‘I’m just wondering if we’re rushing things a bit.’
There was a horrified silence coming down the phone. Kate had to think quickly and change the subject. Before something catastrophic happened, like her bursting into tears. Desperately, she grabbed a conversational lifeline.
‘Why else are you having a bad day? Apart from anything to do with me?’
‘What? Oh… I can’t find Lady Dorothy’s necklace.’
Relief flooded Kate. Here was her reprieve. ‘Oh, my God… Have you lost a string of priceless Dawson diamonds or something?’
‘Not diamonds. Garnets. And I haven’tlostit. I’ve just… misplaced it. Only it’s Lady Dorothy’s favourite and she’s kind of upset.’
‘Where did you last see it?’ Kate was idly sorting papers again, confident that she’d headed Bella off from dangerous territory. Good grief, but these pathology results that needed her attention were piling up. Some had been sitting on her desk for weeks and weeks now. Well, that one could go. She screwed up a copy of a result that she’d made a note on about getting the calibration of a machine checked. The task had long since been done.
‘I took it off for her when we were in the spa pool the other day but I know I picked it up afterwards. We just didn’t stop to put it back on because she was a bit cold and I wanted to get her dressed again.’
‘So you must have dropped it somewhere. Retrace your steps.’
Always the best idea. Go back to the point you started from and find out where things had gone wrong. Bella seemed to be explaining that she’d done exactly that, but her voice was no more than a background buzz in Kate’s ear now.
She had unearthed a scrap of paper at the very bottom of that pile from the corner of her desk. The result that had her name on the top and the date that marked the point where things had started to go so terribly wrong.
‘I’ve got to go,’ she said, cutting Bella off. ‘Just keep looking until you find it. Focus, Bella. It’s not as if it’s the first time you’ve dealt with this kind of thing, and I really can’t sit here and talk about it. I’ve got a lot on my plate right now.’
Too much. Kate hung up the phone, ignoring how hurt Bella’s farewell had sounded after the brush-off. Her niece had no idea how lucky she was having a stupid piece of jewellery to worry about. Her own problem was a hell of a lot bigger.
Big enough to ruin her life.
Worse, it was big enough to ruin the life of the man she loved so much.
* * *
The house felt oddly empty.
Oliver checked his watch: 6.15p.m. He wasn’t late. He was home earlier than usual, in fact, because he’d promised to spend some time with his mother before attending an engagement on her behalf later this evening.
The event was the annual gala of her favourite children’s charity, and Oliver was going to present the main award on Lady Dorothy’s behalf. She was anxious to make sure he knew exactly which people he couldn’t omit spending time with, probably because they included members of the country’s ‘rich list’ and were being groomed to become future sponsors.
But Lady Dorothy wasn’t in her sitting room. Neither was Bella. Why was that so disappointing? Oh… that’s right. Oliver had caught up with Wally’s progress today and the chemotherapy her old patient was receiving seemed to be shrinking his brain tumour to the point where surgery might be possible without causing too much collateral damage. Bella would be thrilled to hear that.
In fact, it had been Bella that Oliver thought of instantly, when he’d been in the MRI lab scanning the latest results on Wally. He could imagine the joy dawning in her eyes and then spreading to the rest of her face and he knew it would culminate in one of those smiles that could light up the darkest of rooms. He couldn’t deny that he was really looking forward to telling her the news.
But she wasn’t there.
Oliver went swiftly back down the sweeping staircase and headed for the kitchen area. Yvonne, the housekeeper who came during the day, prepared meals amongst her other duties and left them in the kitchen. Bella was now in charge of reheating and serving his mother’s dinner and Oliver knew she was also in the habit of eating with her employer now.
Unorthodox but perfectly acceptable when it gave him the freedom to stay at work for as long as was necessary without the worry of upsetting a routine that was more important than ever given his mother’s health status. Oliver decided that was probably where they both were right now. Maybe his mother’s blood sugar was a little lower than it should be after her evening dose of insulin so Bella had decided to serve dinner earlier than usual.
Except that the kitchen was also empty.
Very strange. Unsettling.
Oliver wandered from room to room on the main floor of the house, the silence pressing in on him and somehow making him more aware of the size of his family home than he’d ever been. It was huge by any standard. Ridiculous that only two people lived here.
Three, if you counted Bella, he supposed.
And who wouldn’t count Bella? Oliver’s mouth twisted into a wry smile. Given the size of Bella Graham’s personality, she probably filled as much space as three ordinary people would.
The smile faded but Oliver found himself wishing for the faint strains of some foot-stomping country music to be coming from one of these vast, deserted spaces.
