WOULD I LIE TO YOU? – KEEP YOUR COOL AND THINK QUICKLY TO WIN THIS GAME.
Xavier slept badly that night and woke up later than his usual 6a.m. start.
After having that conversation with Soli, his dreams had been tangled with memories of his time at boarding school – feeling isolated and humiliated when he’d been the only boy whose parents hadn’t turned up to watch an end-of-term performance before they all left for the Christmas break. It had then changed to him standing in the mostly empty register office with Soli. In the dream they were reciting the lines they’d been asked to say, except it wasn’t the registrar conducting the service, it was Great-Aunt Faith, who was barking instructions at them as if they were disobedient children.
As he’d turned to apologise to Soli, he’d realised it wasn’t her standing next to him after all – it was Harriet.
‘Really, Xavier? You had to pay her to marry you? How pathetic,’ she’d sneered at him and the ugly look of utter disdain on her face had woken him with a sickening jolt.
It had been so vivid and had drawn such a strong emotional response from him he felt exhausted now, as if he’d not slept a wink all night.
Remembering with relief that it was the weekend, he allowed himself to lie in bed and read the news on an app on his phone, determinedly pushing the unsettling echoes of the dream out of his mind, before finally dragging himself out of bed for a shower then heading down to the kitchen for breakfast.
He’d just got the coffee machine set up and running when the buzzer for the entry phone at the front gate went.
Frowning to himself and wondering who the hell would be so uncouth as to turn up uninvited at this hour on a Saturday morning, he picked up the handset and snapped, ‘Yes?’
‘Mr McQueen? This is Samuel Pinker. I’ve been employed by your great-aunt’s estate to visit you and your wife at home in accordance with her will.’
Heat rushed across his skin, quickly followed by a wave of cold panic that made his hair stand on end. So they were being checked up on already?
‘Okay. Well, you’d better come in,’ he said, forcing his tone to sound jovial and upbeat. ‘Solitaire is still in bed, I’m afraid. It’s a little early for her, so you’ll need to give me a few moments to rouse her.’
‘No problem,’ the voice of Pinker said over the phone. ‘I have a quick call to make so I’ll park in your driveway and give you a knock in five minutes, if that suits you?’
‘That would be fine,’ Xavier said steadily.
‘Thank you,’ the man replied.
Xavier pressed the button to release the gate, then dashed out of the kitchen and down the corridor to Soli’s room, where he banged hard on the door.
It was a full minute before he was able to rouse her.
‘Xavier? What’s the matter?’ she asked, hiding a yawn behind her hand and looking a little bewildered to see him standing there.
‘There’s someone here from my great-aunt’s solicitor’s office to check up on us. You need to get dressed. Quickly,’ he said, determinedly trying not to notice how appealing she looked, all bed-rumpled and sleepy.
Her eyes sprang open at that, and she did a little nervous jiggle on the spot. ‘Should I get dressed?’ she asked, her voice wobbling with panic.
‘No,’ he said, thinking it would seem more realistic if it looked as though she’d just got out of bed. ‘But perhaps put a robe over your pyjamas?’
‘I don’t have one!’ she said, flustered.
‘There’s one on the back of my bedroom door. Go and put that on. It’ll look better if you come from upstairs anyway. As soon as you hear me open the door, come down. Okay?’
She looked slightly terrified now. ‘What am I meant to say to him? We haven’t worked it out yet!’
‘Don’t worry. Let me do the talking. Just try and make it look as though you like me and find me attractive,’ he said, flipping her a wry smile.
She nodded jerkily. ‘Okay. I can do that.’
There was a strange, zingy tension suddenly between them, but he brushed it off, not having the time to consider what it might mean.
Two minutes after she’d dashed upstairs, the doorbell went, and Xavier took a deep, steadying breath before going to answer it.
Their visitor was a portly man, with a shock of russet hair and a cheerful smile.
‘Samuel Pinker,’ he said, holding out a hand, which Xavier shook firmly.
