‘And there are frankly some absolutely ABSURD expenses on here. You can take her out for dinner, but you can’t take the piss.’
‘No!’ stammered Theo. ‘I’m not.’
‘Well, what the bally hell are you up to then?’
‘I ... I have a lead,’ said Theo. ‘We’ve identified the writer and artist together.’
‘REALLY?’
Theo could practically feel him rubbing his hands together.
‘Yes.’
‘So, it exists, you think?’
‘I think it’s definitely possible ... We’re moving on to Edinburgh.’
‘Oh, you’re a “we” now, are you?’
‘No, but . . .’
‘No, I quite understand,’ said his uncle with an unpleasant sneer. ‘Honeytrap, eh? Tempt her in, then pounce when the moment’s right. Like it, like it. Didn’t think you had it in you. Jolly good.’
He sniffed and the computer clicked in the background. Theo had absolutely no doubt he was still staring at the accounts.
‘Don’t you dare come back without it,’ said his uncle, his voice as cold as ice.
Chapter 17
Theo seemed muted when he came back from his phone call, Mirren thought. And she was tired too. They should call it a night. As she stood up, though, she realised that for the first time in a long time – through the days of that awful spring, the endless hours spent sobbing and begging the holiday company, the relentlessness of work, her mother’s general low-level disappointment, then poor Violet getting sick – it felt like she was having a good time. She walked, a little unsteadily, into the lobby. A second huge, elegantly narrow Christmas tree stretched up through the winding staircase, decorated entirely in silver and glass, which made it look modern and glittering, like an ice palace. Mirren let her head fall back so the tumbling glitter and lights filled her vision end to end. Theo smiled, watching her.
‘Oh, it’s lovely,’ said Mirren. ‘I always forget how much I love Christmas, don’t you?’
‘And the dark and the cold?’ said Theo.
‘Well, that’s what I mean,’ said Mirren. ‘It’s dark and cold but then you go in somewhere warm, and the loveliness of that – the nice warm car, or pub, or home, or coffee shop – it is just the loveliest feeling. Or hopping into bed and getting cosy. Or having an electric blanket.’
‘A what?’ said Theo. The family he’d grown up in rather saw feeling the cold as a moral failing and never turned the heating on ever; it ate into the capital, apparently.
‘Oh, it’s just lovely to be cosy and warm, that’s all,’ said Mirren, smiling and moving closer to the fire by the entrance.
‘I think,’ said Theo, ‘you have had quite enough whisky and should probably head upstairs.’
Mirren grinned at him. She looked, Theo thought, uncommonly pretty in the flickering light. Outside, the snow was piling up on the window frames. He was feeling happily content after a big meal and the cheeriness of finally, potentially, pleasing his uncle. As for feeling guilty that he hadn’t come clean with Mirren ... well. Yes. He did feel guilty about that. Without having the faintest idea what to do about it that wouldn’t result in him being thrown out on the street. He’d think of something, surely?
‘Come on,’ said Mirren, feeling loose-lipped and devilish. ‘Let’s go upstairs.’
Inside the lovely old room, warm and softly lit, the top cover of the four-poster had been pulled back and everything was looking incredibly inviting.
‘I ...’ Theo cleared his throat. ‘I’ll take the trundle, naturally.’
But Mirren’s eyes were flashing. It had been so long, she thought, since she’d had an adventure. She had a missed call from her mum on her phone. She didn’t want to answer it.
‘You’ve been so kind,’ she said. ‘And it is your bed ...’ She smiled at him wickedly. ‘And it’s dark, and nobody knows we’re here ... We could share ...’ She patted the pillow beside her.
‘Don’t tempt me,’ he said. Then regretted it, because instantly the mood in the room changed. Mirren looked back at him, her gaze direct, and suddenly both found their breath had quickened.
Theo looked at her sorrowfully. She looked absolutely gorgeous there, her long hair different shades in the firelight, her cheeks pink; beneath her plain black dress, who knew what he might discover? And he would so much like the chance to find out. He was incredibly tempted.
