fade.
Madeleine, meanwhile, had been doing some furious coordination behind the scenes, setting up all our travel arrangements.
She had automatically assumed that Simone could afford—and would want—the best of everything. She’d reserved us seats in Virgin Upper Class for the transatlantic and rooms in the best hotel, overlooking Boston Harbor, for the open-ended duration of our stay Simone had flipped when she’d seen the cost.
Privately, I thought she was making a fuss about nothing, but I recognized it would be all too easy to develop a money-doesn’t-matter attitude that lasted right until it was all frittered away Eventually, Madeleine had talked her into sticking with the plans on the grounds that there wasn’t time to change them. Madeleine had also sneakily sent her an e-mail link to the hotel she’d selected. One look at the sumptuous rooms and the in-house health spa had Simone’s objections crumbling.
“One more thing,” Sean said now. “You might be interested to hear that I went and paid a visit to Matt yesterday afternoon.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to preempt any problems. There was a chance he could have kicked up a fuss about Simone taking his daughter out of the country without his agreement, and the law would have been on his side,” Sean said, his voice grim.
“Hell,” I said. “I never even considered that.”
“Mm, well, the guy’s seriously paranoid about Simone getting in contact with her father, let me put it that way.”
“So, is he going to make trouble?”
“No, he saw sense eventually,” Sean said, his tone dry. I had a pretty good idea of the form Sean’s persuasion would have taken. I could almost feel sorry for Matt. Then I remembered Simone’s anger, and Ella’s fright, and my sympathy faded somewhat. “He’s denying he had anything to do with the press invasion, by the way,” Sean went on, “and I think I might even believe him.”
My eyebrows went up. “Really?”
“He’s been borrowing a bed at his cousin’s place since he and Simone split, and the cousin turned up while I was there. I wouldn’t actually be surprised if he was the one, rather than Matt, who went to the papers.”
“Based on … what, exactly?”
“A feeling,” he said, and I heard the smile in his voice. “That and the fact that his cousin is possessor of a lot of nervous twitches, a permanent sniff, and a glass-topped coffee table with an interesting set of scratches on it. I get the impression he’s the type who might well have been tempted by the offer of some easy cash to dish the dirt.”
“He could just have a head cold and be particularly careless with his furniture,” I pointed out.
“True,” Sean allowed. “Or he could have an expensive coke habit and need of some extra income. Either way, he’d just been out and spent a fortune on games and DVDs and—when I arrived with a rake of tabloids — I think even Matt figured it out. To be fair to Matt, he did seem to be pretty upset by what happened to Ella.”
“He’s going to be even more upset when he gets the papers today, then,” I said, thinking of the two photographers jammed up against the kitchen window. Madeleine was already taking the breach of privacy up with the Press Complaints Authority, even though I felt it was too late for an apology “But he’s definitely agreed to let them go?”
“Relax, Charlie. If it means they’re out of harm’s way for a while, yes,” Sean said. “I don’t think we’ll have any trouble providing it doesn’t take these private eyes months to find this guy.”
“What happens if it does — ?” I began, just as the PA issued another raucous reminder to reduce the number of security alerts by not leaving baggage unattended.
“Bloody hell, Charlie, where are you?” Sean asked. “I thought you were all supposed to be tucked away in the VIP lounge?”
“We are. At least, I’ve left the pair of them up there—security’s pretty tight, so I thought
Madeleine, meanwhile, had been doing some furious coordination behind the scenes, setting up all our travel arrangements.
She had automatically assumed that Simone could afford—and would want—the best of everything. She’d reserved us seats in Virgin Upper Class for the transatlantic and rooms in the best hotel, overlooking Boston Harbor, for the open-ended duration of our stay Simone had flipped when she’d seen the cost.
Privately, I thought she was making a fuss about nothing, but I recognized it would be all too easy to develop a money-doesn’t-matter attitude that lasted right until it was all frittered away Eventually, Madeleine had talked her into sticking with the plans on the grounds that there wasn’t time to change them. Madeleine had also sneakily sent her an e-mail link to the hotel she’d selected. One look at the sumptuous rooms and the in-house health spa had Simone’s objections crumbling.
“One more thing,” Sean said now. “You might be interested to hear that I went and paid a visit to Matt yesterday afternoon.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to preempt any problems. There was a chance he could have kicked up a fuss about Simone taking his daughter out of the country without his agreement, and the law would have been on his side,” Sean said, his voice grim.
“Hell,” I said. “I never even considered that.”
“Mm, well, the guy’s seriously paranoid about Simone getting in contact with her father, let me put it that way.”
“So, is he going to make trouble?”
“No, he saw sense eventually,” Sean said, his tone dry. I had a pretty good idea of the form Sean’s persuasion would have taken. I could almost feel sorry for Matt. Then I remembered Simone’s anger, and Ella’s fright, and my sympathy faded somewhat. “He’s denying he had anything to do with the press invasion, by the way,” Sean went on, “and I think I might even believe him.”
My eyebrows went up. “Really?”
“He’s been borrowing a bed at his cousin’s place since he and Simone split, and the cousin turned up while I was there. I wouldn’t actually be surprised if he was the one, rather than Matt, who went to the papers.”
“Based on … what, exactly?”
“A feeling,” he said, and I heard the smile in his voice. “That and the fact that his cousin is possessor of a lot of nervous twitches, a permanent sniff, and a glass-topped coffee table with an interesting set of scratches on it. I get the impression he’s the type who might well have been tempted by the offer of some easy cash to dish the dirt.”
“He could just have a head cold and be particularly careless with his furniture,” I pointed out.
“True,” Sean allowed. “Or he could have an expensive coke habit and need of some extra income. Either way, he’d just been out and spent a fortune on games and DVDs and—when I arrived with a rake of tabloids — I think even Matt figured it out. To be fair to Matt, he did seem to be pretty upset by what happened to Ella.”
“He’s going to be even more upset when he gets the papers today, then,” I said, thinking of the two photographers jammed up against the kitchen window. Madeleine was already taking the breach of privacy up with the Press Complaints Authority, even though I felt it was too late for an apology “But he’s definitely agreed to let them go?”
“Relax, Charlie. If it means they’re out of harm’s way for a while, yes,” Sean said. “I don’t think we’ll have any trouble providing it doesn’t take these private eyes months to find this guy.”
“What happens if it does — ?” I began, just as the PA issued another raucous reminder to reduce the number of security alerts by not leaving baggage unattended.
“Bloody hell, Charlie, where are you?” Sean asked. “I thought you were all supposed to be tucked away in the VIP lounge?”
“We are. At least, I’ve left the pair of them up there—security’s pretty tight, so I thought
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