‘Thanks, son.’
Callum hurried with Tasha, glad she had offered to join him. He hoped there wasn’t anything too untoward going on outside but was confident Tasha had experience dealing with overzealous fans turning up on Riley’s doorstep at some point since she began working for him.
‘Let’s hope we can find whoever this is quickly.’
Tasha didn’t answer but he noticed she had a look on her face that made him wonder if she might suspect something already.
They stepped out onto the terrace and walked towards the lawn. ‘Pretend to be speaking about something and see if we notice any movement. Whoever it is won’t want to be spotted, so we’ll need to be subtle.’
‘I agree.’ She went to say something else when he saw her eyes narrow and she put her hand on his upper arm. ‘Don’t look now but I’m sure there’s a person to my right in the border next to the one you thought you spotted someone hiding in earlier. I’ll turn slightly and laugh; you have a look past me when I do that.’
She did as planned, and Callum, his head down as if he was speaking to Tasha, looked across the lawn in the direction she had mentioned. Several of the deep pink flowers moved at the same time and as there was no wind he knew it could only have been someone behind them who had caused it.
As he looked back at her, Callum spotted a couple kissing passionately at the corner of the building. Recognising the long fair hair as his sister’s, he peered at them to be certain. A bright light caught his eyes, blinding him. Callum squeezed his eyes against the glare.
‘What’s the matter?’ Tasha asked.
‘I thought I saw my sister kissing your boss, but then a harsh glare hit me.’ He shook his head. Then it dawned on him why the light had been so brief, yet piercing. It must have been a camera flash that he had seen.
‘Erin kissing Riley?’
He noted Tasha sounded as shocked as he felt but was suddenly more concerned about who might be watching them.
‘I think there’s someone with a camera taking photos of them.’ Annoyed to have their privacy invaded, he felt his temper rising. ‘I’m going over there now.’
‘I’ll come with you.’ She took his hand once again. ‘If they’re busy watching Riley and Erin, they might not notice that we’ve spotted them.’
‘Let’s hope not.’
They broke into a run, reaching the border in a few seconds. As they neared, Callum let go of Tasha’s hand and barged into the border, knocking over a middle-aged man, sending his camera and large lens flying over his head and landing behind him on the immaculately manicured lawn.
‘Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing?’ he shouted, pushing Callum away and getting slowly to his feet.
Callum almost fell but after stumbling regained his balance. He picked up the camera. ‘Never mind me,’ he said angrily. ‘What are you doing here? Isn’t it obvious this is private land?’
The photographer snatched his camera from Callum’s hand and checked it. ‘I was invited, if you must know.’
Shocked, Callum tried to work out who might have done such a thing. None of his family would do anything to risk ruining his grandfather’s birthday.
‘That’s a bare-faced lie.’ Tasha brushed away the leaves that had ended up on her dress.
‘No, it isn’t,’ the photographer insisted angrily.
Callum had had enough. ‘I invited the guests. And I know for certain you weren’t one of them. This is a private gathering. Now if you’ll step out of the damn flower bed you can tell me what you’re doing here and more importantly who told you to come.’
The man glowered at him without responding.
Enraged, Callum added, ‘Now, before I call the police and have you arrested for trespassing on private property.’
Grumbling to himself, the man frowned. ‘There’s no need to do that.’
‘So,’ Tasha said. ‘Who told you where you’d find Riley Sharp?’ She rested her hands on her hips and Callum could see she wasn’t a woman to be fobbed off if she wanted to know something.
‘Fine.’ He brushed dirt from his trousers and slung his camera strap over his right shoulder. ‘It was Dale Mackie who gave me the call.’
‘You flew from London?’
He shrugged. ‘Dale’s covering my expenses. At least that’s what he promised.’
