Passing the cab driver a bill, Hayley caught Angel’s expression. Her daughter looked so much like her mother right now.
‘Let’s just get it done and then we can go somewhere nice for dinner tonight,’ Hayley said.
‘And spend all the money you made cleaning.’
‘Please, Angel, just for once in your life, could you act nine and not forty?’
The atmosphere cooled to well below freezing and, as the cab drove away, the silence and the hot breath from their mouths was all that was left.
Hayley took the mop from Angel and, with the basket nestled tight under one arm, she led the way to the steps at the front of the house.
‘OK, here we are. The client’s name is Cynthia.’ Hayley blew out a breath. ‘Do you think that’s a made-up name too?’
‘It’s better than Agatha,’ Angel responded.
When they got to the front door, the brass letter box and knocker all immaculate, the reality of what she was doing hit her. Working here was breaking the law. It had said as much in the small print of the visa waiver documentationandthe very serious man at JFK had mentioned it too. Yet here she was, rocking up to a house that looked fit for the Obamas to move into, her nine-year-old daughter in tow.She needed the money. Would that wash if immigration caught her? She hoped she didn’t have to find out. US immigration didn’t mess around. They were all tooled up more than mobsters.
Before she could move, either to flee back down the steps or to knock, the door swung open. A beautifully turned-out woman, possibly in her fifties, stood there. She was wearing a royal-blue, woollen skirt and matching jacket, patent, nude-coloured shoes,her blonde hair set in place and pearl earrings in her lobes. There was no need for fashion advice here. Everything was current. This woman had style written all over her.
‘Hello, I’m H… I’m Agatha from Majestic Cleaning,’ Hayley greeted, offering her hand forward and dropping the basket to the floor.
‘I’m pleased to meet you.’ Cynthia’s eyes went immediately to Angel and the woman smiled warmly.
‘Oh, excuse me, this is… Charlotte.’ Hayley swallowed down the lie. ‘Charlotte is here on work experience today.’
‘Work experience,’ Cynthia repeated as Hayley pushed the mop back onto Angel. The woman sounded a little confused and Hayley couldn’t blame her.
‘Yes, and—’ Hayley stuttered.
‘My mother is an actress,’ Angel blurted out. ‘But I want to do something real.’ She smiled. ‘And the world will always need cleaners.’
Hayley smiled at Cynthia.
‘Come in,’ Cynthia said, stepping aside.
Hayley gave Angel a glare and moved over the threshold and into the impressive hall. She dragged the basket over the doorway.
The house was show-home ready, with dark wooden floors, pale painted walls and large windows letting in every sliver of light available. If there was any mess or dust, it certainly wasn’t in the hall or up the sweeping staircase that trailed a path to a balcony. This might turn into a Camilla and not a Diana after all.
‘Ms Rogers-Smythe called and said she had someone new for me. I can’t stay; I have a meeting to get to,’ Cynthia said.
‘We understand,’ Angel said, nodding soberly. ‘You must be very busy.’
Hayley watched Cynthia study her daughter and wished thewoman had to leave now, before Angel could get another sentence out of her mouth.
‘Yes and I have a small gathering here tonight, which is why I need the house cleaned this afternoon.’
The shine coming from the floor said nothing but sanitation. Hayley wasn’t sure how she was going to get this place any cleaner than it was, unless there was the mother of all destruction in the lounge room.
‘Leave it with us,’ Angel responded.
‘Me,’ Hayley jumped in, glaring at her daughter. ‘Leave it withme.’
Cynthia was looking at them like they were both crazy and Hayley didn’t blame her one bit. It was like a scene from a situation comedy, except it wasn’t fiction; somehow, this laughable situation was now her life.
Cynthia took a black, expensive-looking woollen coat from a dark wood stand and put it on.
‘That’s a lovely coat,’ Hayley blurted out. ‘A hound’s-tooth scarf would really set it off.’
