He put the phone down. He had a bag to pack and a flight to book. His conscience was telling him he had to go.
Jake booked his flights online and then sat staring at the laptop, at a loss to explain how a trip home that morning to collect his car had led to enforced time off work and a flight booked for Scotland.
Jake retreated upstairs and found his mobile phone. He knew Faye was at work, but he wanted to speak to her before he left; to let her know he was taking the head’s advice and going away for a short break. Failing that, he’d have to leave a message.
It went straight to voicemail. As he left his message, he hoped her failure to answer was because she was teaching and not because she was avoiding his call.
Chapter 14
Jake made himself a sandwich and picked up his phone to call Faye again. He’d left it all morning, hoping she’d call back during her break. It was now lunchtime. He frowned. She still wasn’t picking up. He looked at the sandwich and didn’t feel hungry. He glanced at his watch. He’d have to get a move on if he was going to check in to the airport hotel. His flight wasn’t until the next afternoon, but he just didn’t fancy hanging around his house until the next day. He had made up his mind.
He bounded up the stairs and was just packing some clothes into a small carry-on holdall when the doorbell rang. He looked up. ‘Now what?’
It was still ringing when he opened the door.
Marcus was standing there with his finger on the buzzer. He removed his finger when he saw Jake. ‘Ah, I was starting to think you’d gone already.’
Jake looked Marcus up and down then looked past him to the street, where Marcus’s black Saab was parked. ‘What the hell are you doing here? And what do you mean – gone already?’ Jake said in surprise.How on earth did he know I was going away?he wondered.
‘Faye says you’re going on holiday.’ He sounded worried.
‘Faye told you?’ Jake stared at him angrily. So she hadn’t answered his calls, but she’d spoken to Marcus. ‘So, I’m going on holiday. What’s the big deal?’
‘But you don’t go on holiday, not since—’
‘Well I’m going now – no thanks to you.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
Jake held up his bandaged hands. ‘I can’t do my job with these, can I?’ Jake shut the door in his face. Then swiftly opened it again – Marcus was still there. ‘And when did you get on a first name basis with Faye?’ Jake involuntarily opened the door wide. Marcus took it as an invitation to step inside, which he did. Barring physically throwing him out, Jake knew he wasn’t going to get rid of him that easily.
Jake reluctantly shut the front door.
Marcus hovered in the hallway, poking his head into Jake’s lounge. ‘You’ve done some decorating,’ Marcus said conversationally.
Jake gave him an uninterested look and walked up the stairs.
Marcus followed. ‘I didn’t notice this morning.’
Yeah, but you noticed Faye, Jake thought. Just how much had Faye noticed Marcus? They had been out in the hall talking for a considerable time. It occurred to Jake that perhaps the two of them had hit it off. After all, didn’t women like them tall, dark and handsome? He had money. Apparently he’d even appeared in some high-brow magazine in a list of London’s most eligible bachelors – an unwanted accolade he himself had been only too familiar with not that long ago. And things were not going well with Lydia.
Jake tried to brush the thought aside, but it kept coming back.
‘What do you want, Marcus?’ Jake opened the wardrobe door in his bedroom and took out four shirts and a couple of pairs of jeans. He didn’t plan on being away long.
‘Where are you going?’
Jake returned to the wardrobe to dig out some underwear and socks. He didn’t forget to pack some jumpers – it could be chilly if he went for a walk down by a loch, even in summer.
He threw them in his hand luggage, along with the shirts, and looked at Marcus. ‘What – did you think I was going to spend my time off work moping about the house?’ It was, in fact, exactly what Jake had had in mind before Arnold Wright had called.
Jake had one final look in the wardrobe to see if there was anything else he might need.
‘You’re not going to tell me where you’re going, are you?’ Marcus said.
‘Nope.’ Jake turned around to find Marcus standing on the other side of the bed, studying something on his bedside cabinet. Jake knew what he was looking at, but Arnold’s address was tucked safely in his wallet, and the time he had written down on the notepad by the phone had no reference to a flight or destination. Marcus had no way of knowing where he was going. Jake realised he had nothing to worry about. Marcus wasn’t going anywhere; he had a multi-million-pound corporation to run, and he never took time off – ever.
Jake zipped up his bag. He was done packing.
