Private Lives

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‘Only just,’ she replied derisively, looking down ruefully at the key in her hand she had ready for her departure. ‘I got your message earlier, Gail.’ A little late, but she had got it! ‘Everything seems in order at the cottage.’ She crossed her fingers at this blatant mistruth; the last thing it had seemed at Rose Cottage today was ordered. ‘So—–’

‘That’s just it,’ the other woman cut in agitatedly. ‘It isn’t in order at all. Fin, I’m worried about Jake,’ she added anxiously.

Oh, dear, it was going to be another one of those calls, Fin realised with dismay, where she had to play a guessing game, trying to discover what was actually being said to her.

She sat down wearily in her chair. It had been a long and trying day, and she was just too tired now to play any more games. And most of the reason it had been such a trying day had been because of Gail’s ‘uncle’!

‘In what way?’ she prompted evenly; from the little she had seen of Jake Danvers, he wouldn’t welcome anyone’s feeling ‘worried’ about him!

‘He—he’s being difficult!’ Gail seemed somewhat reluctant to put the actual problem into words now that it came down to it.

Fin sighed. ‘He’s your friend, Gail; I’m sure you know better than most what he can be like.’

And it really was none of her business if Gail was having problems with him. Sorting out personal relationships, family or otherwise, was not one of the services her agency offered; there were professional agencies for things like that. It wasn’t that she wasn’t sympathetic to Gail’s obvious concern, it was just—well, it was Jake Danvers!

‘So do you, by the sound of it,’ Gail realised with rueful humour. ‘A little of Jake goes a long way, hm?’ she acknowledged drily.

‘Yes,’ Fin agreed tersely, glancing impatiently at her wrist-watch; time was pressing on, and she had her tea to eat before getting ready to go out to the committee meeting. She also had something else to do before she did any of those things, and needed to get home.

The other woman drew in a ragged breath. ‘Look, the thing is, Fin—I don’t know what Jake has told you about himself—–’

‘Not much,’ she told her pointedly.

‘No. Well.’ Gail sighed. ‘He’s a pretty private sort of person. Is quite fanatical about it, actually, but … Look, I’ve tried several times to reach him by telephone this afternoon,’ this last bit came out in a rush, ‘just to make sure he’s settled in OK. But each time I called the line was dead. I contacted the operator after the last time, a few minutes ago actually, and she said the telephone has been unplugged from the connection!’ Gail revealed incredulously.

It seemed a rather stupid thing to do when the cottage was as remote as it was. But, as Gail said, Jake Danvers was a very private person, and she was sure he had a very good reason for disconnecting the telephone … ‘Gail,’ she said slowly, ‘exactly what is it you’re worried about?’

‘Oh, God, I don’t know,’ the other woman said exasperatedly, and Fin had a brief image of the usually coolly capable blonde running agitated fingers through her long tresses. ‘He’s become so unpredictable. He had become almost a hermit, living out in the wilds of—– Well, from living a very solitary sort of life, he suddenly started flitting about all over the place; I don’t know what he’s doing half the time. And now he’s disconnected the damned phone!’ she concluded with a wail.

Fin could hear the near-desperation in the other woman’s voice now. She felt sorry for her predicament, knew Gail had a performance this evening, that there was no way she could come down here herself to find out what Jake Danvers was up to. ‘Have you thought of contacting the police, if you’re that worried about him?’ she suggested gently.

‘He’d kill me!’ Gail groaned with feeling.

She didn’t think now was the right moment to point out that he would hardly be able to do anything if, as Gail seemed to think—otherwise, why else was she so worried?—he might have done something desperate!

‘Gail, he didn’t appear the suicidal type to me, if that’s any help,’ she reasoned gently, vividly able to recall the hard mockery in those strange-coloured eyes, and the arrogant twist to those sculptured lips. No, he didn’t look the suicidal type at all to her! Besides, if he was who she thought he was then surely ten years ago would have been the time when he might just have felt desperate enough to have taken his own life. Although she obviously had no idea what might have happened in his life during the following ten years …

‘It isn’t,’ Gail snapped impatiently.

‘Do you want me to drive out to the cottage and check on things there for you?’ Fin heard herself offering without even being aware she was about to do such a thing. But what else could she do? Gail was obviously worried out of her mind about the damned man, and over the last year the other woman had become a friend as well as a client.

But Fin already knew it was an offer she would regret, however it turned out. She already regretted it!

‘Oh, would you?’ Gail pounced gratefully—almost as if that weren’t what she had been angling for the whole time! ‘I really would be grateful.’

‘You don’t know how grateful,’ Fin muttered.

‘Oh, but I do.’ The other woman had relaxed slightly, now that she knew Fin was going to help her, the smile evident in her voice. ‘I’m well aware of how bloody-minded Jake can be.’

‘As long as you remember you owe me one,’ Fin returned ruefully at the other woman’s shameless manipulation.

‘Oh, I will,’ Gail acknowledged lightly. ‘I have to admit, this was what I had hoped for when I called you.’

‘No!’ Fin said in exaggerated surprise. ‘Believe me, Gail, you aren’t going to win any awards with the sort of acting you’ve just shown me!’

‘Subtle as a sledge-hammer, that’s me,’ Gail accepted without offence, obviously just relieved that Fin was willing to be involved. ‘I have to leave for the theatre in about an hour,’ she added thoughtfully. ‘If you could just get Jake to give me a call before then I would be grateful.’

She very much doubted that very many people ‘got’ Jake Danvers to do anything unless it was something he had already decided he wanted to do—and she wasn’t sure, especially with the evidence of the disconnected telephone, that telephoning Gail came under that category!

‘I’ll pass on your message, Gail,’ she said non-committally.

‘And tell him not to disconnect my telephone again!’ Gail added frustratedly.

‘You tell him not to disconnect your telephone again—if, and when, he calls you!’ Fin told her decisively.

The other woman gave an amused chuckle. ‘Jake seems to have made his usual charming impact on you!’ she derided.

‘Oh, undoubtedly!’ Her sarcasm was unmistakable, even to someone with the subtlety of a sledge-hammer! ‘I’ve no doubt I’ll speak to you again soon, Gail,’ she said drily before ringing off, her humour fading as soon as she had replaced the receiver. She should have just ignored the telephone when it had begun to ring, shouldn’t have answered the call; now she had to go and see Jake Danvers again. And feel the sharp edge of his tongue again, no doubt. Three times in one day was just too much for anyone!

The cottage looked picturesquely beautiful as she turned from parking the van in the driveway. But there was no Jake in the garden this time, and when she knocked on the door, albeit tentatively, there was no response, and when she turned the handles on the front and back doors she found them both locked. There was no car in the driveway to tell her whether this was just because Jake was actually out rather than just not answering her knocks, and it was impossible for her to see into the high windows of the garage itself to see if his car was parked inside. Not for the first time, at that moment, she cursed her lack of height!

She was left with no other choice: she would have to use her own key to go inside the cottage and see if Jake Danvers was there and just not answering the door. After all, she had the owner’s permission to find out what had happened to him—even if the man himself was likely to be furious just at the sight of her again; he had made it pretty clear the last time that if he ever saw her again it would probably be too soon!

She could feel the palpitations in her chest as she searched through her bag for her keys, finally finding them, only to drop them on to the front step in her agitation. God, it was ridiculous to feel so nervous; she had been asked to come here, wasn’t an intruder, and if—–

‘What the hell do you think you’re doing now?’

She had been in the process of putting the key in the lock, but at the first sound of that harshly angry voice she gave such a startled leap that the hand holding the keys shot up in the air and the keys flew over her shoulder, hitting Jake Danvers in the chest with a painful thump. Fin winced as she turned just in time to see the keys make contact, although the man himself seemed unmoved by the bunch of heavy metal.

All of Fin’s misgivings about the advisability of coming here at all returned with a vengeance as she slowly turned to face him fully. And then wished she hadn’t: he looked absolutely furious, his arms folded across the broad width of his chest now. Tall, dark, menacing, and absolutely furious! So much for her excuse of coming here as a favour to Gail because the other woman was so worried about him—he didn’t look as if he was the one in any danger, she did!

‘I can’t believe this!’ He ran an exasperated hand through the dark thickness of his hair. ‘“Use my cottage,” Gail said,’ Jake mimicked disgustedly. ‘“It’s very quiet there,”’ he continued scornfully. ‘“No one will disturb you if you don’t want them to.” Disturb me!’ he repeated as his eyes were raised heavenwards in open disgust. ‘I’ve been disturbed constantly one way or another almost since the first moment I arrived here! As for its being quiet—my God, a hotel lobby would be quieter during the busy season!’

The fact that his criticism was completely valid, and that she was the main culprit for intruding on his privacy, didn’t make her feel any better.

‘What are you, Fin?’ He scowled at her. ‘Some sort of one-woman peace and quiet shatterer? Do you go around looking for people who just want to be left alone, and then do everything in your power to make sure that they aren’t? Is this one of the services of Little People: if someone expresses a need for privacy, you make sure they don’t get it?’

His anger seemed to be increasing, not decreasing! ‘Very funny,’ she grimaced, still treading very warily.

‘It isn’t funny at all!’ he rasped, glaring at her accusingly.

Did she look as if she was laughing?

‘Well?’ he demanded. ‘What do you want this time?’

She had to bite her tongue to stop herself from making just as angry a retort. But the last thing she needed was to get into a slanging match with this man, and that was exactly what she would do if she answered him in kind. Besides—she tried to see this from his point of view—he had just walked up on her trying to enter his temporary home with a key! Obviously he had come out of the back door while she had tried to enter through the front.

‘Gail rang me,’ she told him flatly, deliberately keeping all emotion from her voice. ‘She thought there might be—some sort of problem here.’

Jake’s eyes narrowed. ‘What sort of problem?’

This man, committing suicide! Now that she was face to face with the man the mere idea of that was even more ludicrous than she had thought it earlier. She should have just insisted that Gail call the police rather than coming here herself and having to take the consequences of Gail’s over-protectiveness where this man was concerned. Anyone more arrogantly assured and capable of taking care of himself, thank you very much, Fin had yet to meet!

She moistened her lips, shrugging dismissively. ‘Your telephone appears to have become disconnected—–’

‘I know,’ he nodded grimly. ‘I disconnected it!’

She had already guessed that, damn it, giving him an impatient frown. ‘Wasn’t that rather an irresponsible thing to do, in the circumstances?’

‘What circumstances?’ His eyes were narrowed.

She didn’t think he would appreciate the truth! ‘The cottage is pretty remote, and—–’

‘I know it’s remote; why the hell else do you think I came here?’ he said exasperatedly. ‘For God’s sake, what do I have to do to be able to actually get some sleep now that I am here?’ he demanded frustratedly. ‘I was rudely awakened this morning by two completely unknown women who had invaded my bedroom. And now this afternoon, when I again try to catch up on some sleep, I’m woken up by the sound of someone systematically trying all the doors of the cottage and snooping around the windows, trying to—–’

‘I wasn’t snooping!’ Fin defended heatedly, her cheeks warm with indignation. ‘Gail was worried about you when she realised the telephone wasn’t working! She asked me—–’