‘I’ve offered to pay for it in monthly instalments or he can take his van back right now, which he doesn’t seem to want.’
‘Ah, there we go then.’ Reece claps his hands together. ‘Two perfectly reasonable options. Do you have a preference, Mr Stevens?’
Reece is like a different person. Even his voice is different. His strong Yorkshire accent is buried and every word is enunciated perfectly, like an in-person posh telephone voice. No one could argue with this sharp, confident man, whose presence is so commanding that I’ve almost forgotten he’s shirtless and slowly drying. Almost.
Jared thinks it over but that calculating look slips back onto his weaselly face and he stands up from the bench seat and steps towards the van door so he towers over Reece threateningly. ‘No, actually, neither of those options work for me. I want compensation for my troubles – the time I’ve spent trying to recover my van, and the time and money I spent working on it, along with a little something extra to make it worth my while to keep this little indiscretion to myself.’
I see Reece blink as he realises exactly what Jared is doing here, and the consequences for me if he doesn’t get what he wants. ‘Ah, I see, so this is simply a spot of good old-fashioned blackmail then, is it?’
‘If you want to call it that.’ Jared is hulking like a bull, huffing, with one hand curled into a fist. ‘I see it as a reasonable response to the trouble she’s caused me, and she needs to make it right. I bet newspapers would pay me for my story, so why shouldn’t she pay me not to tell it?’
‘Well, that’s a big claim to break down, Mr Stevens.’ If Reece is even vaguely perturbed, he doesn’t let it show. ‘Why don’t we step outside into a less combative space? I always find fresh air is conducive to reaching an amicable agreement.’
Jared glances at me and I try to keep my expression neutral and not show that my entire body is shaking so much that the van must be vibrating. Eventually, he rolls his eyes and jumps out, and I breathe the tiniest sigh of relief simply from getting him out of the van, and I wish I’d had the influence to do it on my own.
Reece holds a hand out to help me down too, and when I slip my fingers into his, he gives my hand the tightest, most reassuring squeeze, and I feel instantly better. He has the kind of cool professionalism that makes him seem like a force to be reckoned with, and there’s no way thiswon’twork out.
He lets go of my hand before Jared clocks that there’s anything more than a lawyer-client relationship between us, but even so, I stand a bit nearer to his bare bicep than strictly necessary.
‘Let’s start at the very top of your claims.’ Reece adjusts his pyjama bottoms now they’ve started unsticking from his wet body. ‘Your time and expense in making the vehicle what it is?’
Jared is pacing the car park in angry stomps. ‘It was just a shell when I bought it.Sheknows how long I’ve been working on it. How much of my free time I’ve invested in it,andhow much I money I’ve spent on the restoration. We’re talking thousands! The entire interior is custom-made tomydesign. Do you have any idea how much a vehicle like this would set you back if you were to buy one with so many features from a car dealer?’
‘I’m well aware of what they cost,’ Reece says to Jared. I have no idea whether he is or not, but his voice is so steady that no one would question it. ‘However, unless you can give us a full invoice for every item you bought for it, and a timesheet for every billable hour you worked on it, then your claims are unquantifiable. The best we can offer is a nominal sum as a gesture of goodwill.’
God, he’samazing. He’s slipped straight back into barrister mode, despite being the furthest thing from dressed for a courtroom… or dressed at all, really… He knows the right lingo, the intimidating way to word everything, and the right way to make me feel like I’ve got a fighting chance. He must have been aformidableopponent to anyone who faced him in court.
‘And what about my silence, hmm?’ Jared is only getting more frustrated by Reece’s calmness. His voice and his angry huffing is getting louder with every second that passes. ‘If she wants to keep her reputation then she’s going to have to pay for it.’
‘Silence aboutwhat, exactly?’ Reece folds his arms. ‘In law, my client has done nothing wrong. She doesn’t need to buy your silence because there’s nothing to be silent about. As we’ve established, to give someone a key to something is to invite them to use the thing in question.’
Jared’s eyes fall on me. ‘So you won’t mind if I take the hop, skip and pleasant little walk back into that tiny village and tell everyone I meet. There was an old bat pottering around outside the village shop when I drove in, I bet she’d be a good place to start…’
I almost laugh at the thought of what Lettie and the ladies would do to him if they heard him calling anyone an old bat, but he’s got the upper hand here and he knows it. I did steal the van. Even if I would have some chance of getting away with it from a legal point of view, Jared is right. He gave me the key in case he ever left his key at work, not because I was welcome to drive it, and morally, I knew that. If anyone finds out, it’s a rumour that would spread, and no one’s going to visit the Marzipan Campervan Café if word of it operating from a stolen vehicle gets out.
This fear is something I’ve been hiding from all summer, the dread that my shameful secret will be revealed, and I feel the anger bubbling up like it did earlier, and he ignored me then, but he’snotgoing to ignore me now. ‘You know what, Jared, tell whoever you want. Go into the village right now and tell them everything. Call the police. Do your absolute worst because I don’t want to keep hiding and living with the constant dread of someone finding out. Let them all find out. You don’t get to rock up here and talk about the friends I’ve made and how they’d feel about me if they knew the truth. They’d probably have some choice words to say aboutyoutoo, if they knew what led to me stealing the van in the first place. The villagers here knowme. They’ll understand, and people will understand thatyoudidn’t exactly cover yourself in glory over the course of our relationship either. I’m not letting you blackmail me into paying more than the campervan is worth because you’ve got something to hold over me. So every time you need money, you can threaten me again until I pay upagain. Tell whoever you want to. The friends I’ve made will stillbefriends, and no matter what,thatis the best thing that’s come out of this whole adventure – the people I’ve met and the connections I’ve made and the home I’ve found here. You can take your van or you can let me buy it from you, the choice is yours, but I amsickof having this threat hanging over me, and I want to move forwards with the life I’ve built here.’
Behind our backs, Reece gives me an encouraging bump with his elbow and nods proudly.
‘You’re bluffing. I know you, you’d die of shame if anyone found out.’
‘No, youknewme. But being here, this place, these people, they’ve given me a confidence that was sorely missing in my old life. Whatever you do, I’m strong enough to overcome it. Tell whoever you want and the people who matter will understand. Take your van back and I can start again, I can build up another business that will be just as successful, or you can accept a monthly payment, or you can bugger the hell off right now with absolutely nothing. I don’t want to spend another bloody minute being scared of my own shadow, and it’s beyond time that we got this sorted out, once and for all.’ I’m breathless by the time I finish, but my body is bursting with the thrill of satisfaction too. That feltgood, and it feels even better because, for the first time, I’m not bluffing, andIbelieve every word too.
‘And I’ve told you, none of those options work for me. You owe me. I don’t want some payment plan you can shirk out of later, I want?—’
‘Eight thousand.’
‘What?’ Jared and I both say in unison.
‘Eight thousand by bank transfertodayfor the van, purchased outright. You hand over your set of keys right now, and you sign the contract I draw up, confirming that our business is done, you won’t ask for any more money at a later date, and if any rumours about my clientdohappen to start circulating, then we have a right to counteract them by ensuring thatbothsides of the story circulate equally.’
‘Reece, I don’t hav—’ I say, wondering where the heck he’s got this figure from and how he expects me to pay it.
He holds up a hand to stop me, maintaining eye contact with Jared, daring him to refuse. ‘It’s more than a fair deal and you know it. Take us to court and the only thing you’ll get out of it is saddled with legal fees. You can’t sue someone for taking a vehicle they had a key to. You have no proof of how much time and expense you put into the vehicle because it was never intended to be sold for profit. And you can’t use blackmail in a court of law. This is the best offer you’re going to get. A nominal sum to cover the cost of the van, and in return, neither of us ever see or hear from you again. Do we have a deal?’
‘Reece,’ I hiss again. I charge 50p for a cup of tea. It’s going to be alongtime before the Marzipan Campervan makes that kind of money. No bank in their right mind would give me a loan to cover it. Is this some kind of bluff? Is he trying to trick Jared into signing something dodgy?
I can see Jared trying to figure it out like I am, like there’s a missing piece that hasn’t slotted into place yet, but there’s something in Reece’s voice, something menacing and resolute, and it gets through to Jared in a way my pleading couldn’t.
