Chapter 4
The Yellow Notebook
That evening, Liv’s stomach fizzed with excitement about Essie’s request. She even tried to join in the banter about football around the dining table. Afterwards, she, Jake and Johnny gathered in the sitting room to look at laptops on Jake’s phone. Johnny pointed to one that was two hundred pounds more expensive than the basic model.
‘The cheaper one looks exactly the same,’ Jake said.
Johnny wrinkled his nose. ‘I need more internal memory.’
‘It’s fine, get the one you need,’ Liv said, avoiding Jake’s eyes.
‘Thanks, Mum.’
When Johnny left the room, Jake shook his head. ‘How will we affordthat?’ he said.
Liv pursed her lips. She didn’t want to tell him about Essie’s request yet. There was no use getting his hopes up about a pay rise because she wasn’t going to ask for one. She wanted to prove herself to Essie before she even thought about recompense. Just a few moments of the author’s time, talking to her about books and writing, were worth their weight in gold. Essie’s temperament blew hot and cold, so it might only be a short while before her interest in Liv waned.Even so, Liv couldn’t wait to discuss her new duties with the author. Thinking about it got her through the next few days.
When Thursday finally arrived, Liv mopped the Platinum office loos and discovered someone had suffered a stomach mishap in one of the cubicles. As she held her breath and snapped on her rubber gloves, she tried to imagine the vanilla aroma of the tiny cakes she’d eaten at Essie’s afternoon tea.
After she’d finished, she was thoroughly washing her hands when a woman wearing a tight cream skirt suit tottered into the bathroom with her ear clamped to her phone. Her stiletto heels left polka-dot circles on the damp floor. She finished her call and looked pointedly ahead, pretending she hadn’t seen Liv. Examining her lipstick in the mirror, she pouted her mouth as if air-kissing. When she rooted around in her handbag for her powder compact, a biscuit wrapper drifted to the floor. She glanced down at it, and so did Liv. The woman smoothed a pad around her face and zipped her bag shut. She stepped over her litter and headed out of the bathroom.
Liv felt anger ripple through her. She snatched up the foil and scrunched it in her fist. ‘Excuse me,’ she called out.
The woman was halfway through the door. Her face was quizzical as she looked back.
Liv was about to say,You dropped this, but then she looked at the woman’s smart suit and down at her own uniform. Doubt about her actions clouded over her. ‘Um, have a good day,’ she muttered instead, tossing the wrapper into her cleaning cart.
When she arrived at the Cardinal residence, Liv told Hannah she had to leave promptly at noon.
‘Oh, sweetie.’ Hannah’s puppy-dog eyes came into play.‘I need you to go to the post office and shops. Tarkers has sold his telescope and mineral collection on eBay and it needs mailing out. I’ve run out of vitamin supplements and teeth whitener.’
Liv’s stomach skipped when she thought about Essie’s yellow notepad waiting for her. ‘I really need to get to my next job,’ she said. ‘I could go to the post office, and give cleaning the dining room a miss…?’
Hannah glanced at the multicoloured splats and handprints that marked the floor like prehistoric cave paintings. She let out the deepest sigh. ‘Walt and I are supremely busy…’
Liv felt guilt rumble inside her. She ran to the post office with cardboard boxes tucked under her chin, bought bottles of biotin and B12, and wiped paint off the floors at double speed.
Afterwards, she sprinted to Essie’s flat and stood panting while she waited for the lift to arrive. As it shot up to the top floor, she recalled a snippet ofThe River After Midnight.
The battered truck dropped Georgia off in the dark of night, in the middle of nowhere. Lights in the closest town twinkled a long way in the distance. Between her and them lay only darkness and the silhouette of trees. Georgia knew she’d have to knock on many doors to find what she was looking for. Life would be a challenge for some time. Even though her stomach churned and her throat was tight, she refused to show any fear. She picked up her suitcase and started walking.
Inside the flat, Liv took off her Converse in the hallway and neatened the lilies in a vase. She had to constantly wrap sticky tape around her fingers to pick up pollen off the silk table runners.She preferred it when Essie occasionally received extravagant bouquets of white roses, which only left dropped petals. When Liv trimmed the rose stems and arranged them, there was never a message attached. Perhaps a fan or admirer sent them. Or did Essie have a secret lover that no one knew about? When the author vanished, was it to a hush-hush rendezvous in a luxurious hotel room?
When she saw the writing-room door was closed, Liv’s heart plunged. She listened for the sound of scribbling before knocking. ‘Essie, would you like a cup of tea?’
There was no reply. Liv dejectedly mixed a solution of water, lemon juice, bicarbonate of soda and lavender oil to clean the kitchen. Her excitement about starting her new tasks began to slip away. She resumed listening toGarden Spells.
Everywhere looked just how she’d left it on Monday, except Essie’s suitcase had gone. There were no miniature bottles around, or notes attached to books, and she recalled a couple of recent favourites.
‘To Olivia. An intriguing premise in this sumptuous tale of regret, ambition and forbidden love,’ had been attached toThe Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugoby Taylor Jenkins Reid. ‘To Olivia. An unconventional heroine has to navigate a brave new world,’ was adhered toEleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fineby Gail Honeyman. Liv had devoured and loved both books.
After a couple of hours, Liv’s fingers were wrinkled and she approached the writing room again. She knocked and quietly inched the door open, pressing an eye to the gap.
Essie’s chair was pushed up to her desk. A coiled green Hermès scarf and a bottle of Fracas perfume sat on top of it. The yellow notebook wasn’t there.
Liv frowned, her stomach sinking. She hoped Essie hadn’t performed a vanishing trick again. Not today.
In the kitchen, she drummed her fingers on the worktop and switched on the fancy coffee machine that looked like a robot. Perhaps Essie was staying at a retreat or spa for longer.
