Bare Legs
Holly arrived at my office the following day just as she had promised. It was the middle of the afternoon and I was heating the water for another mug of coffee when she burst in through the door.
‘Just in time,’ I said. ‘Would like a drink?’
‘No, thanks, Matt.’ She bounded over to the window and perched herself on the desk. ‘I had a nice cup of tea before I left the factory.’
Holly was tense. Though she swung her bare legs casually in an effort to appear relaxed, she was in fact trembling from her head to her toes.
‘What’s wrong?’ I asked.
‘Nothing.’ There was no evidence of conviction in her voice.
‘Something must be bothering you.’
She cleared her throat awkwardly.
‘I just wondered whether you’d had any ideas about how to get Richard away from Lyonesse Court.’
‘No, not really. What’s bothering me more is how we’re going to hide him if we ever do manage it.’
Holly gave a huge grin.
‘Well,’ she said, ‘you don’t need to worry about that any more. Hazel says we can keep him in her house.’
‘Who the hell’s Hazel?’
‘My favourite aunt. She’s absolutely great, Matt! She lives alone in a nice house in Eastbourne and it suddenly came to me, last night, that it would be the perfect place to hide Richard, so I gave her a ring, and she said she’d love to see us and we were perfectly welcome to use her place for a retreat.’
‘Really?’ I took my road atlas off the shelf, found the pages which covered the south-east coast and made a few calculations. ‘Eastbourne’s only about sixty miles from Margate. Do you think it’s safe being that close to Lyonesse Court?’
Holly waved a hand airily.
‘Oh, I’m sure of it. The best thing about Eastbourne is that it’s a far enough from Margate to be out of the Perfectionists’ reach, yet near enough to get Richard off the road before they notice he’s gone. I’ve already seen Daddy and booked myself a couple of weeks off work for this job. Are you free to come down to Kent and help me with it?’
‘When did you want to go?’
‘Tomorrow.’
‘For two weeks?’
‘Yes, if necessary.’
I sighed.
‘I’ll just check the diary.’ I flicked over a few pages. ‘Sorry, Holly. I can’t make it tomorrow. I have to be in Acton with a client. And Friday’s out as I’m in court.’
Her eyebrows rose.
‘Really, Matt?’
‘Oh, it’s only as a witness …. Look, Monday seems to be free at the moment. How would that suit you?’
Holly pouted.
‘I suppose it will have to do. I’ll just have to let Daddy know that my holiday won’t start until Monday. By the way, the Mercedes won’t be any use to us as there isn’t room for three in it. How’s Andy getting on with your Golf?’
‘He hasn’t been able to do anything. He’s pretty sure the car’s a write-off, but he has to wait for until my insurers to send one of their engineers to confirm it.’
‘Oh.’ Holly seemed to be disappointed.
‘Of course, there’s always the Corsa,’ I said, to encourage her.
‘That’s no good. It’s got four doors.’
‘What’s wrong with that?’
‘If we put Richard in the back of it, what’s to stop him simply letting himself out again?’
I smiled.
‘Oh, I think I can fix that, Holly. I’ll see you Monday. What time would you like be collected? Ten thirty?’
‘No. Make it ten, Matt – and bring a pair of pyjamas and a dressing gown for Richard. Buy them wherever you get your own stuff and put them on my account.’
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