The more Liv thought about it, the more she seethed. She felt her eyes might fire out sparks. When she grabbed the arm of the sofa and heaved herself back to her feet, the apple bounced onto the floor again.
‘Mum.’ Johnny huffed at her.
‘Which rooms did she go into?’ Liv said.
‘All of them. She said she wouldn’t be long.’ His eyes swept over her. ‘Is there anything wrong?’
Liv tried to keep an edge out of her voice even though she wanted to scream.‘I just wasn’t expecting her, that’s all. If she calls again, don’t let her in. Essie might have some precious things lying around,’ she added.
‘Oh, right. Sorry.’
‘Hey, it’s fine. If she has any questions, I need to be here to answer them.’
Liv walked around the flat with her heart booming in her ears. She tried to see the place through Chloe’s eyes.
Liv’s old handbag sat in the corner of Essie’s bedroom, and her name was written on the dry-cleaning bags. Her jeans and T-shirt were folded up on the side of the bath. Her son was hanging out on the sofa and his paper planes littered the carpet. Any journalist worth their salt would have spotted all these things and more.
Essie’s laptop had a screensaver of floating books, and was also password protected, so there was no way Chloe could access it. Even so, the original handwritten manuscript lay on top of the writing table, and Liv’s typed-up version sat next to it. It was covered in her handwriting. She ground her teeth as she rejoined Johnny.
‘Did the woman go into Essie’s writing room?’ she said lightly.
‘Why, what’s wrong?’
‘Oh, nothing,’ she said, feeling like she could kill Chloe.
Liv sat down next to Johnny again and tried to eat her sandwich. The bread stuck in her throat and made her cough.
‘I nearly forgot,’ Johnny said. ‘She asked me to give you a message.’
Liv sucked in her breath. ‘What is it?’
‘Um, why didn’t Essie show at the book festival? Or something like that. Does that make sense?’
Liv stormed back to the writing room. Her eyes bore into the screen. She kept hearing imaginary sounds and jerked around to see what they were. How had Chloe known Essie was supposed to be attending Dubfest? What else did she know?
She looked around for the striped tie, only to find it had gone. She frantically searched under the desk and around the room. Liv touched her collarbone and pictured Chloe stuffing the tie into the back pocket of her jeans. Did she recognize it from somewhere, or was she trying to mess with her head?
She felt naked without it, as if a piece of Georgia Rory had been snatched from her.
Had Chloe discovered enough pieces of the puzzle to pull a full picture together? How long would it take her to realize Essie hadn’t been in the flat for months? And what would the journalist do with this information? Perhaps the photos in Essie’s award room had given her new contacts to approach.
Liv felt so helpless. The flat was her haven, somewhere she felt safe. And now it had been invaded. Her skin crawled and she wanted to scratch it raw.
Would Chloe dig her talons into Hank next?
Liv googled him once more, looking for information the journalist might have missed. She patiently scrolled through page after page until she found a link to a PR company. Buried amongst the information, she read,
Hank’s Bar. VIP private opening. Invitation only. Thursday, 5 September.
Bingo.
It was only a week away and she congratulated herself for finding it.
Liv felt like she’d discovered a twenty-pound note in an old handbag. She smiled to herself and noted the date down so she wouldn’t forget it.
However, when she tried to work on Book Twenty again, words stuck in her head and refused to come out. It felt like Chloe had broken some kind of spell.
Chapter 24
