Page 97 of Carbon

26

Ifound out the plan early the next morning. Well, early for me. Nine thirty. I’d never been an early riser, but most of these people looked as if they got up with the larks and did a day’s work before I stumbled downstairs for breakfast. At least I managed to find the kitchen in the maze of rooms that made Shotley Manor look like a council house.

Sofia was at the table, staring into a cup of coffee with rapt concentration, while Gideon sat opposite eating a pain au chocolat. Every so often, he glanced at the iPad by his side, but Ruth kept interrupting him with questions about lunch, which he answered with good grace. And that voice that was like molten caramel to the ears.

“Yes, tomato soup would be wonderful, but all your cooking tastes delicious.”

“Would you prefer cheese croutons? Or fresh bread? Or a green salad?”

He turned that smile on me, and my knees went a little weak. “Augusta, which would you like best?”

“Huh?” I’d been too busy staring at the way his perfectly pressed shirt stretched across his back to concentrate.

“How do you like your soup?”

“Uh, in a bowl?”

Dammit. Was it possible to reverse time, just for a few seconds, so I could get my foot out of my mouth?

The corners of Gideon’s lips twitched, and I knew he was trying not to laugh, but thankfully Emmy chose that moment to walk in and save me.

“Okay, we’ve got a plan.” She took a croissant from the plate at Gideon’s elbow and bit into it, then looked at me. “But I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

From the glint in her eye and the way my gut churned, I did believe she might be right. “What plan?”

“We need to be proactive. Exploit Ben’s weakness.”

“Ben isn’t weak,” I said. “He only ran away because—”

She held up a hand, cutting me off. “That’s not what I meant. Everybody’s got a weakness. An Achilles’ heel, if you like. Gideon here isn’t fond of small spaces, for example. It’s always entertaining taking the elevator with him. I have issues sleeping. With Ben, it’s women.”

“He’s not a womaniser.”

“No, that’s Casanova here.” She patted Gideon on the shoulder, then sidestepped as he pinched her bottom. “Ben needs to protect women. Look after them. Not only did he save Kali from Leroux in Chad, he also tried to adopt her afterwards. The courts wouldn’t agree, seeing as he was a single guy with no fixed abode, but he fought bloody hard. I bet he left Shotley Manor as much to draw Leroux away from you as to save himself, and when we last saw him, he was taking a woman to the hospital.”

“So, what are you going to do? H-h-hurt a woman to make him come out of hiding?”

Black materialised behind Emmy, snaking an arm around her waist as he eyed Gideon. “I don’t think we need to go that far. With the right girl, a little upset should do the trick.”

“What girl? Kali?”

“Kali’s vanished. She disappeared from the orphanage in Chad one night, and out there the police don’t give a missing girl the same degree of priority as they do in the UK. No, we need you for that role.”

“Me?”

“He cares about you. We know that from his last phone call.”

“But I can’t call him. Luke said his phone’s been turned off since the funeral.”

“We were thinking of something more dramatic.”

His smile scared me more than his usual stern demeanour. Because it wasn’t a cheery expression or even one of relief. It was pure cunning, and his eyes were two glittering obsidian spheres as they focused in on me.

“L-l-like what?”

“A press conference. If you sob your pretty little heart out on TV, Ben’s going to call. I guarantee it.”

TV? I couldn’t even do my own book signings because I hated the idea of people staring at me. Judging me. And I bet he wasn’t talking about some two-second soundbite on an obscure satellite station in the middle of the night either.

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