naïve.
She’s just lost her father. I don’t want her to feel
browbeaten and attacked by the police, too.”
“We’ll treat her with every courtesy. CS
Hetheridge was very clear on that point,” Kate said, wondering what
effect Hetheridge’s name would have on Madge.
No flicker of response passed over Madge’s
pale, over-painted face. “Very well, then. I have a great many
calls to make, and arrangements to oversee. I’ll be in the bedroom
if Jules needs me,” she murmured, and retreated deeper into the
suite.
Jules entered the sitting room less than a minute later , dressed in another pair of
calculatedly ripped jeans and a black t-shirt emblazoned with the
words KEVIN’S TOY. Kate had seen such personalized tops, sold in
the back of celebrity magazines, but she’d never before come face
to face with a grown woman willing to wear one.
“Sorry I kept you waiting,” Jules yawned,
covering her mouth and waving for Kate and Bhar to be seated.
“I can’t seem to pull myself together. This feels like a
dream.”
Jules shook Bhar’s offered hand as he
introduced himself, then belatedly recognized Kate. “Oh, it’s
you. Guess you haven’t slept, either. Did you find
Kevin?” she asked, apparently believing detectives from Scotland
Yard had spent the night beating down doors and vaulting from
rooftop to rooftop in search of her man.
“The police are still looking,” Kate
said. “I take it he hasn’t tried to get in touch with
you?”
“No, and I’ve called him a hundred times,”
Jules said, pulling her mobile phone from her jeans pocket and
placing it on the coffee table. “I’ve called his mum, his sister,
the place where he used to work. Nothing. Daddy really
managed to fix things,” she said, her face settling into that
habitually disappointed mask Kate had noticed the night before.
“Couldn’t even die without killing my happiness, too.”
“Tell me about the engagement party,” Kate
said. “Had you been planning it for a long time?”
“Only a week or so. It was mum’s idea. She
liked Kevin much more than Daddy did. She thought a party with just
a few guests would help ease Kevin into the family.”
“You mentioned your father didn’t like him.
Is that why you aren’t wearing your ring?”
Jules glanced at her left hand, then covered
it with her right – a gesture so quick, it might have been
reflexive proof of an embarrassment her conscious mind refused to
admit. “We haven’t picked out a ring yet. That’s Kevin and me.
Material things always come last for us.”
“When’s the big day?” Kate asked, betting she
already knew.
“Haven’t settled on that, either. The big
decision’s made. Everything else is a minor detail.”
Oh, Dylan, Kate thought, recognizing the
shadow of doubt in Jules’s large blue-gray eyes, whoever keeps
cloning you needs to stop scattering versions of you throughout
London, or an entire generation of women may go off men. Smiling at
Jules, she decided to take a gamble.
“So what are his best qualities? What made
you ask him to marry you?”
The doubt vanished from Jules’s gaze, and she
smiled back. “I’ve never known anyone like Kevin. He’s an artist,
and very intense. But at the same time he has a hidden side, a
vulnerable side, he won’t let anyone see. Of course, he’s good
looking, and amazing in … other ways,” she giggled, throwing a
glance at Bhar. “And it wasn’t just me asking him to get married,”
she added, suddenly realizing what she’d revealed. “He wanted it,
too, but he didn’t know how to say it. I had to make the first
move, because he’s so insecure, deep down. He kept telling me I was
too good for him, and I deserved someone who wasn’t married to his
work.”
Isn’t that what Hetheridge told Madge
Comfrey, right before he broke their engagement? Kate wondered. Do
all men use the same excuse when they’re desperate for a way
out?
“Tell me again about the two couples
She’s just lost her father. I don’t want her to feel
browbeaten and attacked by the police, too.”
“We’ll treat her with every courtesy. CS
Hetheridge was very clear on that point,” Kate said, wondering what
effect Hetheridge’s name would have on Madge.
No flicker of response passed over Madge’s
pale, over-painted face. “Very well, then. I have a great many
calls to make, and arrangements to oversee. I’ll be in the bedroom
if Jules needs me,” she murmured, and retreated deeper into the
suite.
Jules entered the sitting room less than a minute later , dressed in another pair of
calculatedly ripped jeans and a black t-shirt emblazoned with the
words KEVIN’S TOY. Kate had seen such personalized tops, sold in
the back of celebrity magazines, but she’d never before come face
to face with a grown woman willing to wear one.
“Sorry I kept you waiting,” Jules yawned,
covering her mouth and waving for Kate and Bhar to be seated.
“I can’t seem to pull myself together. This feels like a
dream.”
Jules shook Bhar’s offered hand as he
introduced himself, then belatedly recognized Kate. “Oh, it’s
you. Guess you haven’t slept, either. Did you find
Kevin?” she asked, apparently believing detectives from Scotland
Yard had spent the night beating down doors and vaulting from
rooftop to rooftop in search of her man.
“The police are still looking,” Kate
said. “I take it he hasn’t tried to get in touch with
you?”
“No, and I’ve called him a hundred times,”
Jules said, pulling her mobile phone from her jeans pocket and
placing it on the coffee table. “I’ve called his mum, his sister,
the place where he used to work. Nothing. Daddy really
managed to fix things,” she said, her face settling into that
habitually disappointed mask Kate had noticed the night before.
“Couldn’t even die without killing my happiness, too.”
“Tell me about the engagement party,” Kate
said. “Had you been planning it for a long time?”
“Only a week or so. It was mum’s idea. She
liked Kevin much more than Daddy did. She thought a party with just
a few guests would help ease Kevin into the family.”
“You mentioned your father didn’t like him.
Is that why you aren’t wearing your ring?”
Jules glanced at her left hand, then covered
it with her right – a gesture so quick, it might have been
reflexive proof of an embarrassment her conscious mind refused to
admit. “We haven’t picked out a ring yet. That’s Kevin and me.
Material things always come last for us.”
“When’s the big day?” Kate asked, betting she
already knew.
“Haven’t settled on that, either. The big
decision’s made. Everything else is a minor detail.”
Oh, Dylan, Kate thought, recognizing the
shadow of doubt in Jules’s large blue-gray eyes, whoever keeps
cloning you needs to stop scattering versions of you throughout
London, or an entire generation of women may go off men. Smiling at
Jules, she decided to take a gamble.
“So what are his best qualities? What made
you ask him to marry you?”
The doubt vanished from Jules’s gaze, and she
smiled back. “I’ve never known anyone like Kevin. He’s an artist,
and very intense. But at the same time he has a hidden side, a
vulnerable side, he won’t let anyone see. Of course, he’s good
looking, and amazing in … other ways,” she giggled, throwing a
glance at Bhar. “And it wasn’t just me asking him to get married,”
she added, suddenly realizing what she’d revealed. “He wanted it,
too, but he didn’t know how to say it. I had to make the first
move, because he’s so insecure, deep down. He kept telling me I was
too good for him, and I deserved someone who wasn’t married to his
work.”
Isn’t that what Hetheridge told Madge
Comfrey, right before he broke their engagement? Kate wondered. Do
all men use the same excuse when they’re desperate for a way
out?
“Tell me again about the two couples
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