Page 20 of Never Too Late
‘Well, his house is still standing. I went down to the sea before coming here and looked across at it. Does he really live there all year round?’
‘Yes, all on his own apart from Waldorf.’ Steph saw Sky hesitate before continuing. ‘Although he does have a number of female visitors. I imagine you’ve seen the stories in the papers. I’m afraid he’s got himself a pretty dodgy reputation.’
Steph nodded. Robert was the son of her current employer after all so she would do well not to dwell on his dubious lifestyle in front of his sister. ‘He’s a good-looking man and very talented with it. I suppose there are lots of women only too happy to throw themselves at him.’
‘Yes, but he’s almost thirty now. It’s time he started thinking about settling down.’
Steph felt she should play devil’s advocate. ‘He is younger than you, though, and you’re only just getting married now…’
‘True, but Tom and I’ve been living together for almost four years. Look at you: you’ve got Ethan, haven’t you?’
Remembering what she had agreed with him, Steph just nodded vaguely and dodged the question.
They were just finishing breakfast when Willow appeared with a face like thunder. Ignoring Sky’s greeting she stomped across to where Steph was sitting and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her round towards her. She lowered her face until it was barely an inch or two from Steph’s before hissing at her: ‘I know what’s going on, you slut! Just you keep your hands off him. Do you hear me?’
For a moment Steph genuinely thought she was about to find herself on the receiving end of a slap, but Willow must have thought better of it. Straightening up, the woman turned away and stormed out of the door, leaving Steph feeling completely bewildered. Opposite her, Sky clearly felt equally bemused by the scene.
‘What on earth was that all about? Willow’s not the friendliest of people, but I’ve never seen her like that before.’
‘I have no idea.’ No sooner had she said it than Steph realised that she might in fact have an idea as to what might have sparked off this incandescent reaction. ‘Although… something funny happened last night. I wonder if she put two and two together and got five.’
‘What happened?’
Steph briefly outlined how she had heard Denver at the bottom of the stairs outside the studio in the middle of the night and as she spoke, an explanation for Willow’s outburst began to emerge in her head. ‘Willow must have realised that Denver had been down at the studio where Ethan and I are staying, and she assumed that this meant he was with me.’
‘And that’s not what was happening?’
‘That’s not what was happening at all. I heard Denver’s voice, but I didn’t even see him. Like I say, I was in the studio checking that it wasn’t getting flooded. All I can assume is that he was down there to see Ethan for some reason, but why that was in the middle of the night I haven’t got a clue.’ Her voice tailed off in bewilderment, but Sky leant across the table towards her and gave her a little touch on the back of the hand.
‘Steph, does Ethan do drugs?’
Steph looked up sharply. ‘What makes you ask that?’
An expression of regret appeared on Sky’s face. ‘It’s no secret that drugs were responsible for killing Vince and almost killing Ben. Dad has a rigid no drugs policy as far as anybody in any of his houses is concerned. I know Den’s no stranger to the scene, but even he knows what would happen if Dad ever found out he was doing drugs here, so as far as I know he stays clean when he’s with the family. But if somebody else brought drugs into the house he might be tempted again. That’s why I ask. Do you think Ethan might have brought drugs with him and supplied them to Den?’
As she listened, Steph had to struggle to avoid revealing the turmoil Sky’s question had aroused inside her. Surely Ethan couldn’t have been so stupid as to bring drugs over with him. If he’d been caught with them at the airport, she had no illusions that she would probably have ended up being arrested alongside him. Conscious that Sky was waiting for an answer, she opted for dissimulation – for now at least.
‘I think alcohol’s more his thing. I did have my doubts a few times when we were back in London, but I’ve never caught him taking anything.’ Although strictly true, this was more than a little disingenuous, and she felt ashamed for not being completely honest, but she knew that first she needed to have a serious talk with Ethan. ‘I can’t believe he would be so stupid as to smuggle anything on the plane and I can’t see how he could have got hold of drugs over here. As far as I’m aware, he doesn’t know anybody in Italy and he hasn’t left the villa. I’d better go and talk to him to find out exactly what was going on last night, before Willow comes back with a carving knife.’ She managed a little smile at Sky. ‘I’ll let you know what I find out.’
She found Ethan still in the studio, sitting at the console. He had been playing around with the recording Ben had made the previous day and had managed to enhance it even more. In spite of her brewing rage, Steph stopped and listened, genuinely impressed by the result. She waited until the piece had finished before confronting him. She told him about Willow’s accusations but stopped short of mentioning what Sky had said about drugs. She wanted to hear what he had to say for himself first. To her surprise, his reaction to the accusation of her hooking up with Denver was to laugh out loud.
‘That girl’s crazy. Den wouldn’t be interested in you.’
Steph decided to ignore the implied slight, but she couldn’t miss his use of the abbreviated version of Denver’s name. Did this imply greater intimacy?
‘Well, I have absolutely no interest in Denver, so I hope you’re right. Tell me, if he didn’t come down here last night to try and climb into my bed, what was he doing? Presumably he was with you in your room? Feel like letting me know what the two of you were up to?’ She knew Ethan well enough to recognise the guilty look that crossed his face, and her heart sank. ‘Ethan? What was going on?’
‘We were just chatting.’ As explanations went, it was hardly inspired. Even he must have realised how weak it sounded as he immediately set about embellishing his story. ‘You know… recording stuff. He was telling me how pleased he was with what we did yesterday morning and he wants me to help him prepare a really slick demo for him to hawk around when he’s over in the States.’ He kept his eyes firmly fixed on the console and refused to look up.
‘Just chatting? Ethan, were there drugs involved?’
‘Drugs?’ His tone was one of hurt pride, but not totally convincing. ‘Of course not. I don’t do drugs. That would be crazy.’
‘Yes, it would and not just because you might get yourself arrested.’ She went on to tell him what Sky had said about Keith’s inflexible rule and she saw her words hit home. She finished with a warning, ‘So if you’ve brought anything with you, I suggest you flush it down the drain pronto.’
‘I didn’t bring anything, honest.’
Two things struck her simultaneously. First, she reckoned that this time maybe hewastelling the truth, and second, she couldn’t miss the slight emphasis he put on the pronoun ‘I’. Did this mean that if drugs had been involved, they hadn’t been brought by him, but by Denver? She wouldn’t put it past the man.
