‘But it won’t be a wedding location, Maggie, don’t you see? So it can’t feature in the June edition. Castlemoon won’t be a hotel by the time the magazine comes out,’ Eliza stresses, knowing I’m struggling on the other end to take this information in. ‘It will be apartments.’
‘Amanda knew this all along?’ I ask in a daze.
‘I don’t think so, no. She believed Frederick was going to buy it and keep it as a hotel. So when he heard she was featuring it in the June magazine with a possible cover, he told her his plans had changed. I was at the table, Maggie, I was sitting rightnext to him, I heard it all!’ Ben says, rushing his words. ‘He told her the board had met and now it was going to be eight luxury apartments. He said he will keep some staff on to work in the gym and as cleaners and it will have a front desk, but that there was simply too much work to repair it as a hotel and it needed to be gutted inside but that he needed you there to have a sense of what the locals were feeling and report back. He wanted you to send a report on some book about how many bodies are actually passing through the castle? In his words, he wants you to get a sense of the lie of the land so he knows what to expect when he arrives on January tenth. I’ve booked his travel already.’ Ben exhales slowly, his voice faltering slightly as he says, meekly, ‘Sorry,’
‘Right .?.?.’ I take that all in. ‘You heard this too, Eliza?’
‘No, I was at the guests, table for the meal.’ I can hear she is close to tears.
‘Why hasn’t Amanda told me?’ I despair.
‘They are afraid you will tell the owner,’ Ben says.
‘Right,’ I say again.
‘This is super shit, I’m so sorry. But you will get the promotion, though, of that I have no doubt! I’ll make bloody sure you do!’ Eliza sniffs. She is livid.
‘I don’t care about the promotion or the article anymore but Frederick can’t do that to the castle. He can’t destroy Castlemoon!’ I am horrified. ‘They’ve just had a village meeting about it. The castle means so much to this community!’
‘He can and he is. This time tomorrow the deal will be signed,’ Ben informs me.
‘Over my dead body.’ I stand up, focus again on this white December night out my window.
‘There is a Zoom set up for five o’clock and it will be signed automatically online. The owner, Dan Delaney, gave us a digital signature when he was here,’ Ben tells me. He is a smart guy, nodoubt his facts are correct.
‘So what do I do? Amanda was just onto me to file the article tonight? Now that I think about it she sounded rather vague. Except for Frederick’s report. Do I play dumb? I don’t want to get you guys in trouble!’ I ask them, pacing the room now, phone in hand.
‘File it, please. That’s what I was saying to Eliza, we can’t lose our jobs, Maggie. Frederick knows I heard the conversation, it was only when Eliza joined me at the table after dinner that Amanda got uber paranoid. Frederick has sworn me to secrecy.’ Ben sounds so stressed.
‘Don’t worry,’ I reassure. I have to go find Dan right away. It’s my own fault I’ve taken this long to confide in him. I will tell him everything. Finally tell him exactly what is going on. He needs to know the truth!
There’s a loud, pounding knock on my door. Three times. I almost jump out of my skin. Then another three times. The frame of the door rattles.
‘I have to go. I’ll file it now, I won’t say a word.’
‘Do it,’ Ben says.
‘Thank you, guys.’ I wince as the banging on my door gets louder.
‘See you after the holidays,’ Eliza tells me. ‘Keep the faith.’
I almost laugh at the irony of her words as I hang up and pull open the door. Dan stands there, hands on his hips and a face like thunder.
TWENTY-FOUR
‘Care to explain this, Your Highness?’ Dan’s face blazes as he waves an A4 sheet of paper in front of me.
‘Dan! W-what?’ I take the piece of paper from his hand, read the top line:
CASTLEMOON REPORT:
FOR FREDERICK MACKEN ACQUIRED FINANCE
BY MAGGIE GRACE
PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL
‘H-how did you get this?’ A watery sensation floods my mouth. Oh no. Not like this!
