‘How dare you railroad me? I didn’t want publicity. I was happy to do something low-key for the youth club but this …’
‘Oh, chill out, Jenna. It’ll be great. Let’s meet up later and fine-tune it, shall we?’
‘I can’t promise anyone anything. I don’t want to be hustling record and TV companies for the winner. That’s work. I’m on a sabbatical. Don’t you understand?’
‘For God’s sake, a couple of phone calls won’t give you a nervous breakdown, surely.’
‘And my name isn’t Diamond any more. It’s Myatt. Why didn’t you tell them?’
‘Oh, I’m sure I did, but you know the Gazette – hazy on the details.’
‘That’s another reason why you shouldn’t have blabbed. Honestly, I’m really pissed off, Lawrence. Really, truly, pissed off.’
‘Well, I’m sorry if I pre-empted you. I thought it was OK, honestly. I thought you were up for this.’
‘You should have cleared it with me,’ she said, suddenly understanding Jason’s ire about her art gallery stunt of the day before. Perhaps she should take his approach and give Lawrence a good spanking. The thought made a tiny bubble of laughter rise inside her and she couldn’t sound as angry as she wanted.
‘OK, I should have. I’m sorry. But can we meet? We need to establish times, dates, prizes, details, all kinds of things.’
‘I’m a bit busy,’ she demurred.
‘Well, what if I come to you? Bring a bottle and a takeaway, if you’re free tonight?’
God, no!
‘No, no, that’s fine, I’ve got painters and decorators in,’ she lied, ‘and the place is an unholy mess. I’ll call you and we’ll do something at the weekend, yeah?’
‘But couldn’t we—’
There was a hammering at the door, reminding her that she needed to fix the bell.
‘Shit. Delivery – I have to go. I’ve already missed this one once.’
She ended the call and ran to the door. In the hustle and bustle of supervising the delivery of a fine big bed into the drawing room, she forgot her irritation and spent the rest of the day out shopping for sheets and pillowcases, and supplies for decorating the big front bedroom, her next project.
‘Nice to have a bed to lie in, isn’t it?’ she said contentedly to Jason, the new furniture having been tested for strength and durability in the time-honoured manner. Jenna was wrung out, stinging between the legs and ready to fall into the sleep of the just, while Jason was sitting up, finishing off a half-bottle of wine.
‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘It’s been a while, for me.’
‘I’ll get started on that bedroom tomorrow, if you’ll help.’
‘I’ll take a break from painting by painting,’ he said.
‘I know, but it is different, at least.’ She yawned hugely. ‘Aren’t you tired?’
‘Knackered,’ he said. ‘But I want to wait up and listen out for strange noises.’
‘What?’ She turned tired eyes to him.
‘Last three nights in a row I’ve heard noises,’ he clarified.
‘What sort of noises?’
‘Like somebody crying.’
‘Shit.’ She sat up, staring. ‘Somebody told me this place was haunted.’
He gave her a pitying look. ‘Don’t be daft. I thought it might be rats or summat like that. There’s a cellar down below, is there?’