And Amber’s parents, well he had never met them. Amber claimed they’d disowned her but he had never bothered to find out more. He wondered if they knew the struggles she’d had over the years, or if she had two children.
‘Did you leave the woodshed open or was Flora playing in there?’ Hil asked as she peeled some eggs.
‘Woodshed? No, I haven’t been out there.’ Edward shook his head.
‘Odd. There were some of Flora’s blankets out there and the fire bucket was outside the shed. Flora shouldn’t play in there. There’re things to start fire with like the accelerant and fire bricks.’
‘I’ll make sure I tell her,’ said Edward. ‘But she doesn’t like it much anyway, says there are spiders.’
Edward went to his study and read his emails.
Nothing of any importance.
God he missed Eve. He thought about texting her but she didn’t want to hear from him.
He sat in his chair and looked out over the gardens.
The only thing he knew how to do was write, when he felt like this, he thought, and then he opened a new document and typed at the top of the page:
Book Two – Detective Anna Tilson
For Eve,he wrote and then scrolled to a new page.
39
Eve adjusted the sleeves of her blazer and smoothed out an invisible crease on her pant leg.
She had sent her résumé out to every publishing house she could, having saved all the contacts in her laptop from working at Henshaw and Carlson. It was the least the company could do after Serena blew up her career there.
She had had two phone calls with initial interest and then they called her back, and she’d received one invitation to meet for coffee in London with a small independent house that was getting a good name for prize-winning fiction and having a diverse list of authors.
The managing director was a man called Jasper Harris who, according to the trade magazines, was a champion of women writers, LGBTQI authors and authors of colour, diverse topics and excellent new crime fiction. Eve hoped that this was actually true and that it wasn’t all bullshit.
Serena was listed as the female mentor of the year in one of the largest publishing magazines for the past few years and Eve knew what a lie this was. Serena never lifted anyone else up besides herself.
Jasper had suggested a cosy little café on Great Ormond St in Bloomsbury, just near his office and she was relieved not to see anyone she knew as she arrived. The publishing world in London was large in nature but made smaller by gossip.
Jasper arrived in a rush, with a trench coat over one arm and a large bag of what looked to contain fruit in the other hand.
‘Gosh, sorry, Eve, I’ve been rushing around. My assistant is pregnant and she’s craving anything citrus-flavoured so I popped out and grabbed her a selection of things that will hopefully ease the cravings. She works mostly from home but is in today doing some sorting before she goes on leave.’
Eve wasn’t sure she heard correctly. ‘You’re getting fruit for your assistant?’ she asked. ‘That’s a surprise. Not many bosses would do that for their staff.’
‘I think you might find you’re framing that opinion based on Serena, not normal human beings.’ He laughed as he sat down and put the bag of fruit on the spare chair.
‘How are you? I’m so pleased you wanted to meet with me,’ he said. ‘I know we’re not as big as Henshaw and Carlson but we really are wonderfully committed to publishing excellent books.’
Eve smiled. ‘I know about your company and the books you’re publishing. It’s wonderful for me to meet you also.’
‘Let’s get a coffee each and then we can get stuck in,’ Jasper said.
Soon they had their drinks and Jasper leaned forward over the table.
‘Before we start,’ he said. ‘I have to tell you that Serena has been calling everyone, telling them not to speak to you.’
Eve felt her stomach drop. ‘Excuse me?’
Jasper sighed. ‘Yes, she seems to think you’re going back there soon.’
