After Jodie: An atmospheric thriller set in Cornwall (Barbara Whitnell Cornish Novels) by Whitnell Barbara

Author:Whitnell, Barbara
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sapere Books
Published: 2023-01-05T00:00:00+00:00

SIX

When I arrived at the hotel the following morning, I found Paul and Delia in a state bordering on panic. A big wedding was taking place on the Saturday of that week — the ‘It’ girl Kiki Jephson to the fabulously wealthy media tycoon Gerry Gainsford — with guests arriving from London and New York and various other points on the globe, filling every available room in the hotel, and all bed-and-breakfast accommodation for miles around taken by the attendant paparazzi.

The only room in the hotel not pressed into service was the Sunflower Room, which was out of use due to a massive refurbishment programme. Not only had it been divested of its beds and all soft furnishings, but the bathroom was no more than an empty shell, needing retiling and a completely new bathroom suite. Now Lady Jephson, the highly autocratic mother of the bride who had been on the phone constantly checking every detail of food and decor, had contacted reception to say that another four guests had, somehow, to be accommodated.

The Ransleighs were busy poring over the room plan in Paul’s inner sanctum, having by the sound of it their own separate nervous breakdowns, when Isobel put her head round my door. Shaken out of her usual reserve, she was sufficiently fired up by the drama to bring me up to date on the cause of it.

‘I can’t imagine how they’re going to sort it out,’ she said, her voice lowered. ‘Sunflower’s going to take an army of decorators to get it ready in time, and the last I heard, the bathroom suite is still on the high seas. Naturally it’s not one of your average bathrooms. They can’t just pop down to B&Q for a replacement!’

‘So what’s going to happen?’

‘Well, I told Lady Jephson we were completely full, but she refused to take it in. I thought she was going to have a fit! She even threatened to cancel the whole thing — said we simply had to make room.’ She rolled her eyes as if in despair. ‘Did she imagine we could run up an extension before Saturday, or conjure bathroom suites out of the air? Luckily Paul was standing right beside me when the call came through, so as soon as she got stroppy I handed the whole thing over to him. He is the boss, after all. Let him take care of it.’

‘They should call her bluff,’ I said. ‘She’d never get anywhere else to put on such a big affair at this late stage. Good heavens — there are only five days left!’

‘I don’t know about that. Think of the publicity! There’s a rumour that Hello!’s paying for the lot, so really you could say it was a make-or-break deal. The Jephsons bring a lot of business here as it is, so Delia will jump through hoops to avoid offending them. Still, if we’re full, then we’re full. You’d think she could understand that.’

With that she departed, leaving me to reflect that every cloud had a silver lining.

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