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“Relax, it’s the weekend. And to be honest, I don’t think there’ll be much for you to do until I meet with Paul Martin, and that won’t be until Monday now. But can you make sure to stay within the confines of the hotel for when I do need you? Until then, you’re free to enjoy yourself.”
“Really?”
“Of course. Use the pools, go to the spa, have a couple of treatments. Just give them my name and it will be taken care of. If I need you, I’ll send someone to find you.”
After breakfast together the next day, Ned disappeared into the business lounge. I wanted to use the pool, but I hadn’t thought to pack a swimsuit, so I headed to one of the hotel shops and bought a red bikini. I also bought myself a pair of black aviator sunglasses and spent the morning swimming lengths and lying in the hot desert sun. At lunchtime, a young man came with a message from Ned, asking me to meet him for lunch.
“Paul Martin is now saying he can’t meet until Tuesday or Wednesday.” Ned looked different today. His face was unshaven and there were dark circles under his eyes. He was playing with his salad and there was an edge to him I hadn’t seen since the journalist had tried to talk to him at the party. “He knows that I came out specially to interview him. I’ve told his agent it has to be Wednesday at the latest, because we’ll be flying back on Thursday.”
“That’s my birthday,” I exclaimed. “I’ll be twenty.”
“Twenty?” He raised his wineglass. “We’ll have to celebrate that before we leave.”
Despite his darker mood, I liked being with Ned. He was funny and charming, and when he asked me to tell him about myself, I ended up telling him that both my parents were dead. He couldn’t believe that I was all alone in the world.
“You must have relatives somewhere in France,” he protested, taking a drink of wine.
“I don’t think so,” I said, glancing around the room at the other guests. “My father was an only child and my French grandparents diedbefore I was born.” I swapped my wineglass for my water glass and took a sip. Ned had persuaded me to try the wine he’d ordered but I wasn’t sure I really liked it. “My English grandmother died a few years ago. My mother had a cousin somewhere in Scotland, I think, but I’m not sure she ever met him. Even if I do have relatives, I wouldn’t know where to begin searching for them.”
He gave me a sympathetic smile. “I’m an only child too, now. Although my father does have another child, the Hawthorpe Foundation.”
“You must be proud of it, and of your father.”
Ned twirled the stem of his glass between his fingers. “Yes, I am. But to be honest, the foundation has turned out to be a bit of a disappointment on a personal level.”
“Why is that?”
He shifted in his chair. “It was supposed to be something my father and I could do together. He was just about to launch the foundation when I got into a bit of trouble—had a fight with someone, wrapped a car around a tree, that sort of thing. Of course, because of who I am—because of who my father is—it made it into the press, and he had to put the whole thing on hold because some of the potential benefactors got cold feet, muttering that the foundation would be tarnished by my ‘indiscretions.’ My father was furious and when he finally launched the Hawthorpe Foundation ten years later, he refused to let me have anything to do with it.” He paused, drained his glass, and signaled to the waiter to bring more wine. “When I told him that I knew people who would be happy to make substantial donations, he said he didn’t think the people I had connections with were the sort of people he wanted associated with the foundation. The fundraiser I did in September is a case in point. We received millions in donations, but he wouldn’t take it, so we donated it to another charity.” He waited while the waiter poured him wine. “The truth is, my father cares more about the foundation than he does about me.”
“I’m sure that’s not true,” I said, feeling sorry for him.
“It is.” He couldn’t hide the bitterness in his voice. “Enough aboutme, let’s talk about something else. How are your plans for college coming along?”
“I received an offer from King’s College, but I deferred it for a year.”
“Why?”
“Because I haven’t saved enough yet.”
“And you want to be a lawyer, right?”
“Yes. My mum died in childbirth in a hospital in Paris, through negligence. I watched my dad fight for justice for years, but we never had enough money or the right people on our side to get anywhere. It made me determined to be not just a good lawyer, but a great one for people who can’t afford to pay for representation.”
“That’s very noble, but you’ll never be rich.”
I laughed. “I’m not interested in being rich, all I’m interested in is not being poor. I’ve been there, and it’s horrible. It’s why I don’t want to take out a huge loan to pay for college, in case I can never pay it back. But I might have to.”
“I remember what it was like when my father decided to put most of our money into the foundation,” Ned said, his face suddenly grim. “If my grandfather hadn’t stepped in, my life would have been very different from the one I have today.”
But still comfortable,I wanted to say to him.Still wealthy and privileged.But I didn’t say anything, because he was my boss and because I didn’t think he had any idea of what it was like to be any other way.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
PRESENT
Pains cramp my stomach. I stop walking, knead it with my hands. I haven’t had anything to eat since the bread and cheese the night before my escape attempt, and that was ages ago. If I could sleep, it would take my mind off my hunger. But with the cramps and the cold, it’s impossible.
I go to the bathroom, fill my empty stomach with water, so much of it that I vomit it up. I can’t stop shivering as I score another line on the wall, because another day must have gone past by now. Eleven days; why has nobody come for us?
