Read Online Missing by Susan Lewis - Free Book Online Page A

she was trying to get me out of his life. Everyone knew she’d set her sights on him.’
    ‘I’m not denying that, but my money’s still on the Critch. He’s been after Miles’s hide ever since Miles started running
The Grunt
.’
    ‘Miles isn’t a cartoonist.’
    ‘But it was in his paper, which makes him as guilty as if he was writing it himself. Or that’s the way the Critch sees it, and if you think about it, he’s right, because Miles could have dropped that strip any time he liked, but he never did.’
    ‘Which is why Miles holds the Critch responsible for the article that brought Jacqueline back,’ Alice informed him. ‘As the editor he carries the can. But I’m with Vivi. I think Justine wrote it – or at least gave the Critch the information he needed.’
    Pete shrugged. ‘You could be right, but imagine how you’d feel about the person who turned you into a laughing stock. You’d stop at nothing to get back at them, which is exactly how the Critch feels about Miles. As far as Justine’s concerned, she’s tough, I’ll admit, and ruthless, but she’s too shrewd to risk getting on the wrong side of Miles.’
    Wanting to change the subject, Vivienne said to Angus, ‘Would you mind opening some more wine?’
    Giving her a wink, he reached behind him to take a bottle of red from the art deco drinks cabinet that occupied one wall of her softly lit dining room. The adjacent wall was almost entirely given over to French windows that in warmer days opened onto a small patio. This formed part of a secluded communal courtyard which sloped down to a locked gate opening onto the towpath and river. The opposite wall of the dining room was actually a counter top that divided off the bijou black granite kitchen, and the fourth wall was mostly doors, one opening into the hall that led upstairs to the sitting room and bedrooms, and the other into the garage where Vivienne kept her precious VW Beetle. It was a house she adored, and had had no problem affording during the agency’s heyday. Now her mortgage was three months in arrears and a small pile of red bills was sitting next to the phone. Just please God some money came through soon, from Irwin’s movie, or
La Belle Amie
, because it would break her heart to have to leave here.
    As Angus refilled their glasses, Pete turned to Vivienne again, his sharp features and proud bald head aglow with intrigue. ‘So how many times has Justine actually called?’ he demanded, clearly determined not to let this go.
    Vivienne looked to Alice for the answer.
    ‘Three that I know of,’ Alice provided.
    Pete gave a shriek of laughter and rubbed his hands with glee. ‘She must be incandescent by now,’ he declared happily. ‘No one ever blocks the Justine. Or they never used to, but we all know the days are darkening for poor Justie, so do be careful, darling, a panicky she-cat with a used-up ninth life is not an animal to mess around with.’
    ‘That’s what I keep telling her,’ Alice agreed.
    ‘Can we drop this please?’ Vivienne said crisply. ‘I thought we were meeting to discuss auctions and movies.’
    ‘Oh we will, we will,’ Pete assured her, ‘but we need to get the important stuff dealt with first.’
    Angus chuckled at the despair on Vivienne’s face. ‘Great dinner,’ he told her. ‘Nothing’s burnt, underdone or even raw.’
    Vivienne gave a gurgle of laughter. ‘Something of an achievement for me,’ she responded. ‘I’m a latecomer to Jamie Oliver. If he weren’t already married, I’d propose.’
    ‘Oh, bollocks to Jamie Oliver – love him though we do,’ Pete interjected. ‘If you won’t talk about Justine, then tell us more about Miles.’
    ‘The police were in touch with Vivienne this afternoon,’ Alice informed him, while staring at Vivienne. ‘And you still haven’t told me what they said yet,’ she prompted.
    Vivienne shrugged. ‘They just wanted to know if I’d heard from Jacqueline, which I haven’t. Or if I have