The Book Ghost by Lorna Gray

Author:Lorna Gray
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2019-09-25T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Jacqueline’s first act was to prove that it was all my own fault that I’d been unsettled by the way she had sought to increase my commitment to her book. Because she certainly hadn’t tried to use Archie’s memory for that purpose. She greeted Robert as though she believed he was my Mr Peuse.

It was possible, of course, that she had simply forgotten that detail about me. The business of my previous visit was all old news today – even her scheme to use her photographs of the young ward of the house, Harriet Clare, to prove the existence of the giraffes had faded. This time, she was passionately determined to show us the present-day repairs to her stairs.

‘Come in, Lucy,’ she said excitedly. ‘The workmen have begun the process of smoothing the damaged plaster on the walls, and the staircase has been made safe so I can finally take you up to the first floor.’

She was terribly stylish again. She was also a little flushed and wafting graceful hands to show us the vast entrance hall and to take in the sweep of the stairs and the marble, and the heavily ornate newel post.

I stopped the rapid flow of her enthusiasm when I said firmly, ‘Jacqueline, this is Robert Underhill. He’s the editor you dealt with when you first got in touch with Kershaw and Kathay Book Press.’

She turned to stare at him at the moment of setting a foot upon the first step. She looked, in fact, a little bewildered, because as well as forgetting most of the details from my last visit, she had apparently also forgotten who she had greeted at the front door just now. It was flattering in its way because I thought it was my presence that counted.

‘Oh,’ she said, aghast at the oversight. ‘I wasn’t really thinking about the book, but of course you’re the editor. And you’re very welcome.’

She didn’t notice the way my formal introduction had briefly made Robert’s mouth compress into a line. Whereas I heard the way he added his own amendment as Jacqueline shook his hand. ‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘And I’m glad to finally meet you too. But I will just make it clear that Lucy is in charge of the edits to your book now.’

It was an odd experience, being aware that it mattered to me that he should say that, but still feeling the way my mind had been irritated outside. It showed in the brief sideways glance he and I shared as we followed Jacqueline onto the stairs.

And that was where my irritation abruptly ceased. Because although I had been thoroughly unsettled by Robert, it wasn’t the memory of his caution to take care that hit me as I climbed to the midpoint of the sweeping staircase.

These stairs were set to be the equal of the grand staircase that had climbed through the heart of the other Dunn hotel I had visited – the Blaze Hotel near Bristol. Here, a tall and arched Regency window lit the turn before the final rise to the first floor.

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