Revenge by James Patterson

Author:James Patterson [Patterson, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2018-08-22T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER 39

SO, THAT WAS Lucy Shelley, thought Susie Drake, motionless on the changing room’s polished-ash bench in the wake of the other woman’s departure. The famous Lucy Shelley.

And then, with a shudder of something that was partly regret and partly desire, she remembered the kiss, a thank-you-for-your-help-today kiss that had become something greater – when, for the briefest moment, David almost hadn’t pulled away.

‘I’m sorry,’ he’d said at the same time as she was saying the same thing. They’d both reddened. Both surprised and yet not surprised that their sort-of flirtation had been allowed to flower despite the stable base of her rock-solid marriage and his forth-coming one.

And that had been it. One time only.

Still, though. She’d thought about it. She’d lain awake at night thinking about it, thanking God that neither Emma nor Guy, or anybody else for that matter, had blundered into the kitchen and seen them. Thanking God that it had not developed.

Thinking about it developing.

How did he feel? She’d never asked him. They had never discussed the kiss; they’d pretended it never happened. It didn’t matter, though, because although nothing was said, the knowledge still existed between them. It was just … there.

Then had come the kidnapping attempt, and he’d announced he was leaving.

She’d been to see him. ‘I lost concentration,’ he told her. He held her gaze and they both knew what he meant, and why. They both knew that his position with the family had been compromised.

‘You saved our lives,’ she told him, just as she knew Emma had.

‘I was lucky,’ he replied. ‘But in my job, you don’t rely on luck. It’s about planning and forethought. Anticipation. That’s what I lost. I’ve been distracted.’

‘What about if I don’t want you to go?’ she heard herself say.

‘It’s better that I go,’ he insisted. ‘It’s better all round if I go.’

She hated herself for what she said next: ‘Even if it means letting Emma down?’

‘I’ve already let Emma down,’ he said. ‘Emma. You. Lucy.’

And that was the only time he had, directly or indirectly, referred to what happened between them. The only time either of them had.

So to see – to actually meet – Lucy Shelley. No surprise, her heart was thudding heavily in her chest. Her palms were wet, nothing to do with the pool. Should she have felt anything? she wondered. Should she read any significance into the fact that David had sent Lucy here?

No, don’t be ridiculous, Susie. The only thing to read into Lucy being here was that the situation was serious. That’s all there was to it. Now was the time to stop daydreaming about a brief, stolen kiss that happened over a decade ago and time to start getting dressed and doing as Lucy said: getting the hell out of there.

Just then the door to the changing room opened and in came one of the smartly dressed spa staff, a really nice woman who Susie recognised as Judith – she gave great massages.

Behind Judith came a well-dressed woman who wore a pair of dark sunglasses – incongruous, even for Hampstead.

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