Page 86 of The Only Way Is Up

Ruby rolled her eyes. ‘Highlight of my social calendar.’

‘You don’t HAVE to come, you know.’

‘I want to see Granny and Justin do their thing live, in front of real people. I’m hoping for a real-time disaster.’

‘Fine, be quiet then.’ Daisy glared. ‘The reason I’ve got you all together is because I want to find out who the village mole is, the person who’s been sharing stories about me with Christian’s manager. Or, former manager.’

Tom furrowed his brow. ‘What does it matter if you’re leaving on Monday?’

Daisy gave Tom a significant look. ‘Because there may be times when I want to come back. But let’s just say I’m curious.’

‘Fair enough,’ Tom said easily. ‘But didn’t we decide it could be any one of the twelve people at your birthday party? Or eleven, not including you?’

‘We did,’ Daisy glanced at Will, ‘but Will and I have narrowed it down to a possible four.’

Tom and Ruby looked at Will, who blushed and gave a shrug. ‘It’s a quiet village. I’ve got time on my hands.’ He looked at Daisy, who nodded for him to continue. ‘OK, so we started with twelve, right? At Daisy’s party. But the mole must also have been at Justin’s Pig in a Blanket. Before Christmas.’

‘How come?’ Ruby frowned. Will looked a little awkward, so Daisy picked up the thread.

‘Because there was a story a few days after about Tom and I kissing in the kitchen. So somebody at that party must have seen us.’

‘Seen you doing what?’ Ruby was clearly scandalised.

Daisy smiled, her cheeks flushing at the memory. ‘Kissing. In Tom’s kitchen.’

‘When?’ demanded Ruby, her eyes wide.

‘After the Pig in a Blanket. You’d already gone home. Look, it doesn’t matter. The point is, somebody who left the party must have snuck back and seen us through the kitchen window. It’s too much of a coincidence otherwise. Which means the mole must have been at both parties.’

‘But that’s pretty much everyone.’ Ruby frowned. ‘Other than Dad and Archie, the same people were at both parties.’

‘Yes, but we can also exclude my parents,’ Will interjected. ‘They went home from the pig thing early, remember?’

‘Any chance one of them could have been hanging around in the dark?’ asked Ruby. ‘Sorry, I don’t mean to pin this on your mum and dad. I’m just considering all the possibilities.’

‘No.’ Will shook his head. ‘Mum was in the bath when I got back, and Dad was already in bed. I’d have known if one of them had just been out.’

Ruby nodded and looked at Daisy. ‘OK, so how do you know it wasn’t me? Or Will? Or Tom?’

Daisy smiled sadly. ‘Because I trust all of you, and I don’t think any of you would sell me out to the press. Am I right?’

Everyone nodded solemnly. ‘Good. So that narrows it down to four – Mum, Miriam, Marcus and Justin.’

‘Do you really think it could be Granny?’ Ruby looked distraught.

‘I really want to say no, Rubes, but I can’t discount the possibility. She hasn’t always been as together as she is now, and she’s done this kind of thing before.’

‘I suppose.’

‘But look,’ Daisy couldn’t bear the sadness on Ruby’s face, ‘this isn’t about punishing anyone. I’d just like to know who it was, and why. Nobody will know apart from me.’

‘Fair enough.’ Tom rolled his sleeves up. ‘So, what’s the plan?’

Ten minutes later, Will and Daisy had outlined their idea and invited Tom and Ruby to add their thoughts.

‘Just so I’m clear,’ Ruby looked sceptical, ‘because to be honest this sounds like the plot of a really crap film, we’re going to make up four random bits of gossip about you, then you’re going to pass one on to each of our suspects, so you can see which bit of gossip gets leaked to the press via Christian’s evil manager, who’s not his manager any more.’

‘Exactly!’ Daisy shouted. ‘And because I’ll decide who gets told what, I’ll be the only one who knows who the mole is. It was Will’s idea. It’s worth a try.’