‘Lili? She’s in the kitchen, I think. Do you want me to -’
‘It’s fine, I’m here. Gabriel, it’s so good to see you.’ Lilith walked over with her arms outstretched towards our latest guest, all upper-class confidence and poise.
‘Lilith, babe,’ Gabriel grinned, and gave her a hug that went on for about ten seconds longer than it had to, and from the corner of my eye I could see Coyle just standing there, smirking like the twat he was.
‘I’ll go and get Henry to do the business whilst you folks are getting re-acquainted,’ he said, once he’d had enough of an eyeful.
For the first time in three days, Henry emerged from his kitchen. He’d been working around the clock, roasting swan, or maybe a couple of unicorns, ready for that night’s feast. ‘Nice to meet you, Mr James. I’m sure Mr O’Halloran explained the rules about technology here at the Hall. I’ll just take a quick look, if that’s all right?’ He was already hauling the larger of the cases over to a small table in the hallway.
‘Yeah, whatever.’ Gabriel gave a shrug and continued to gawp at Lilith, before making some ridiculous small talk with Blaine about weather fronts and flying conditions, like he’d piloted the fucking helicopter himself.
‘Um, I apologise for interrupting, but, er...’Henry had paused from his rummaging through our visitors’ underwear and wash kit, and held a mobile phone at arm’s length, as though it were radioactive. ‘I’m sorry, sir, but we do insist without exception that our guests don’t use mobile technology whilst they’re at the Hall.’
Gabriel proceeded to kick off like a right stroppy little bastard. ‘For fuck’s sake, I didn’t come here for fuckin’ Jeeves to start orderin’ me around in the first ten seconds,’ he snapped. He actually snatched the thing back, and I thought Henry was about to turn on the waterworks.
‘Gabriel darling, I appreciate that it’s difficult to surrender something that seems so necessary, but I can assure you that within hours you’ll hardly miss it.’ Blaine gave an apologetic smile. ‘And I’m afraid it is something I insist upon if you’re to remain at Albermarle.’
‘It’s okay, Gabe,’ Lilith assured him. ‘I managed it without it killing me.’
There was a distinct stand-off as Gabriel clung onto his phone as though it were a kid’s comfort blanket. He even managed a pout as he reluctantly handed it over to Blaine.
‘Thank you.’ She placed her hand over his and let her fingers briefly caress the underside of his wrist, already moving in for the kill. ‘Now, why don’t the pair of you follow Mr O’Halloran to your rooms so you can freshen up?’ She gestured towards the stairs and her latest guests followed Coyle like two obedient little sheep.
Lilith
At two o’ clock in the afternoon, Blaine left the island to visit the salon in the village, taking Coyle with her as boatman and porter.
Five hours left until showtime.
I waited in my room until I could no longer hear the launch engine, then ran to the Hall where Gabriel was already at the grand piano, warming up for that evening’s performance. He was making easy work of Rachmaninoff, his fingers skimming over the keys of Blaine’s Steinway. His quiet young PA sat at the dining table, diligently making notes in a small spiral bound notepad, and at the sound of my footfall, he turned to face me. ‘Safe?’ he mouthed.
I nodded, and ran into his embrace.
‘Bloody hell, Lilith, what kind of a mess are you in here, lovely?’ he whispered.
‘Huge,’ I muttered into his chest. ‘Huge, but fixable, now you’re here. Oh God, you have no idea how good it is to see you.’
‘Even if I am a sad bastard without life or girlfriend?’ Nat Carlin, the recipient of my clandestine phonecall, grinned, and I hugged him harder still.
‘Even if. Shit, I’m so sorry, Nat. For what I said... all of it. I was an absolute bitch...’
‘You don’t need to apologise, Lilith. Should have known it was something pretty massive for you to be so worked up. I probably need to give my head a shake, to be honest.’ And with those few words, I was forgiven faster than I truly deserved by the most decent man I had ever known.
I finally broke away. ‘You’ve got everything you need?’
‘I reckon so. All safe in my room, out of the way of that Coyle twat. Like you said, they were that happy to find the phone, they missed the good stuff. To be honest, I didn’t even need to hide everything as well as I did – I’m almost disappointed.’