Don't Let Me Go (17 page)

‘She’s really looking forward to it, aren’t you darling?’ Charlotte asked, turning to make sure Chloe was listening.

With a giant yawn Chloe nodded, up and down, up and down, but she didn’t look at Grant.

‘We’re going to try to catch some snapper for the barbie,’ Charlotte told him, ‘and we’ll have our chilly bin full of drinks. I’m thinking of bringing a salad of some sort and I expect Chloe will make some cupcakes.’

‘Wow. I’ve heard Chloe’s cupcakes are the business,’ Grant responded heartily, ‘so I’ll look forward to a couple of those.’

Longing for the day Chloe would feel brave enough to look at him, Charlotte said softly, ‘Sorry, I promise it’ll get better.’

Waving a dismissive hand he said, ‘I was going to call you later anyway. Did you see the notice in
The Bay Chronicle
about the Kerikeri Players looking for new talent? I’m sure I remember you telling me once that you used to do some theatre back in England.’

‘I did,’ Charlotte agreed, feeling the eagerness for it lighting her up, ‘only amateur productions, but I loved it and I’ve been meaning to get in touch with the Players.’

‘Go for it,’ he told her, slapping the side of her car. ‘I might even have to join up myself. Now, you watch how you go, you girls, give me a call if there’s anything you need, and watch out for those pesky caterpillars. You’ve heard about them, I take it.’

‘You mean the ones with poisonous spines?’ Charlotte replied with a shiver. ‘Have they turned up in Kerikeri now?’

‘Old Willard’s farm. The biosecurity guys have just confirmed it. Probably won’t be any down your way, but better make sure little Chloe doesn’t go hunting for one to put it in a jar.’

Charlotte and Chloe were back on the road heading for home before Chloe said, ‘Mustn’t pick up caterpillars. They’re poison.’

‘That’s right, but we don’t like caterpillars very much anyway, do we?’

‘No. Only butterflies. They come after caterpillars. Mummy?’

‘Yes?’

‘Can we watch
Tiki Tour
when we get home, please?’

‘Of course we can.’

‘I like
Tiki Tour
, it’s one of my favourites.’

‘I know you do.’

‘They jumped in muddy puddles the last time. I wish I could jump in a muddy puddle.’

Smiling, Charlotte said, ‘So is that going to be your birthday wish?’

‘No!’ Chloe shouted with a grin. ‘For my birthday I’m going to wish . . . Um . . . I’m going to wish that I could go swimming every day with Diesel and Danni.’

‘Even in the rain?’

‘Yes, even in the rain.’ She took a rapid breath. ‘Are you going to work with Nanna tomorrow?’

‘Well remembered, yes I am, so Auntie Shelley will be coming to pick you up from Aroha in the afternoon to take you to her house for tea. I expect you’ll like that, won’t you?’

‘Yes,’ Chloe answered obediently. However, she fell silent until finally saying, ‘Will you come to pick me up after?’

‘Of course I will,’ Charlotte assured her warmly. ‘I’m just going to be a bit late back with Nanna to make it in time for Aroha, that’s all. But I’ll definitely come to Auntie Shelley’s for you. You don’t mind Auntie Shelley picking you up, do you?’

Chloe lifted Boots to her face. ‘I like it when you come,’ she murmured.

Feeling terrible and torn, Charlotte said, ‘I know you do, sweetheart, but it’s only this once and you’ll be able to show Auntie Shelley all the things you’ve made during the day. Hang on, let me answer this,’ and clicking on her mobile she said, ‘Hi, Charlotte speaking.’

‘Charlotte, it’s Polly,’ the voice at the other end announced. ‘I’ve just been talking to Grant and he tells me you might be interested in joining the Kerikeri Players.’

Amused by how quickly news got round, Charlotte said, ‘I am. In fact, I was thinking about giving them a call as soon as I get home.’

‘Great, because I’ve been thinking about joining too, so I was wondering if you felt like going to see them together.’

‘I’d love that,’ Charlotte cried happily. ‘Shall I set it up? I’m driving at the moment . . .’

‘Don’t worry, I’m still at the surgery so I’ll do it. Any day next week you can’t make?’

‘Not that I can think of. Just let me know when it works for everyone else and I’ll be there.’

As she rang off Charlotte glanced in the rear-view mirror to check on Chloe, and finding her gazing drowsily out of the window she allowed herself a moment to revisit the memories of the theatre days that had come swimming to the front of her mind. She really had loved running the Mulgrove group, it had provided such a stimulating, energising contrast to the challenges she’d dealt with in her everyday life. They’d been a tight-knit bunch, always rooting for each other and ready to try out new things. She still received the odd email from some of the cast and crew who were old friends and neighbours, though there hadn’t been any word the last time she’d checked. Or maybe there had and she hadn’t noticed it amongst all the junk – and the shock of hearing from Anthony. It was at the opening night of one of her shows that she’d first met him. He’d come with his sister and brother-in-law, and she could only wish now that she’d taken more notice when they’d been introduced after the performance. She guessed she’d been distracted by several ovations, and given that she’d still been pretty mad about Jason at the time, she hadn’t been likely to either notice or feel a romantic interest in anyone else.

She wondered where Anthony was now, what he was doing. Had he given up on hearing back from her yet, or was he still hoping? Just over two weeks had gone by since he’d sent his email – only days since she’d read it – so he might still be hoping. More likely he’d written her off and was getting on with his travel plans.

Distracted by Chloe yawning behind her, she glanced in the mirror again and said, ‘So it’s
Tiki Tour
when we get home?’

Chloe nodded, and Charlotte smiled as she heard her whispering, ‘
Pak dakeha, pak dakeha.
’

‘Can you remember what that means?’ she asked.

Chloe giggled. ‘Hairy faces,’ she answered.

‘Very good. And why do we say hairy faces?’

‘Um. I forget.’

‘It’s what Maori people called English people, isn’t it, because English people were the settlers and they row backwards and the Maoris row forwards. So when the settlers came to New Zealand they had their backs to the land, so the Maoris thought they had hairy faces.’

‘You have a hairy face,’ Chloe cried wickedly.

Realising it was because she had her back to her, Charlotte said, ‘I’ll give you what for when we get home.’

Chloe gave a noisy, cheesy sort of chuckle then suddenly shouted, ‘Blueberries,’ as they passed a fresh-fruit stall on the roadside. ‘And kiwis and pom’granate.’

‘I think they had some peaches too.’

‘I like peaches.’

‘I know you do, so shall we turn around and get some?’

‘Yes!’ Chloe cheered. ‘And one for Boots too.’

As they drove back to the stall with its large blue canopy and open-top honesty box, Charlotte could feel the pleasure of being in their new world spreading even deeper roots. She just needed to remember, when she was feeling fretful or homesick for England, that four months really wasn’t very long to become established in a new place. She needed to give it more time and maybe make more of an effort. Joining the Kerikeri Players was going to be a good start, and it shouldn’t be too long now before it became possible for her to begin looking for a full-time job, and maybe a small house close to town for her and Chloe. They’d miss the bay, of course, especially their magical little cove, but they’d be visiting Bob and Anna at Te Puna all the time, and there would be lots of other adventures waiting for them in their new surroundings as well as all kinds of other people to meet.

All that really mattered, though, was that they were together.

‘Have you seen or spoken to Katie today?’ Bob asked Shelley as she stopped her car next to the Shiraz vineyard on Te Puna where he was testing the grapes.

‘Yes and no,’ she replied. ‘I dropped by the salon, but she wasn’t there, and when I rang her flat to ask if it was OK to go up she told me she was on her way out and didn’t have time to stop.’

Bob’s eyes were narrowed against a dazzling breakthrough of sunlight. Out in the bay a family of dolphins were putting on a playful display, while an attending retinue of terns and shags provided a restless aerial audience. ‘Did you get the impression she’s avoiding you?’ he said.

‘Just a bit,’ she replied drily. ‘She hesitated when I told her I’d spoken to Rick, but then said she was sorry but it was too late.’

Bob’s expression darkened. ‘I don’t like the sound of that.’

‘I can’t say I did either, but it was all I could get out of her. I was wondering if she might have confided anything in Sarah. I think she was over there last night . . .’

‘If she had, Sarah would have been on the phone to Anna by now.’

‘It might be worth asking though.’

He shot her a look. ‘Exactly how do you propose I phrase it’ he enquired, ‘without actually telling Sarah, or Anna, that we’re afraid Katie might have contacted someone, i.e. the police, about Charlotte?’

At a loss, Shelley could only shrug. ‘I rang Rick a few minutes ago to ask him to call Katie, but he said he doesn’t want to get into anything with her until he comes home at the weekend. I couldn’t argue because he was on his way into a meeting so he had to ring off.’

Bob’s expression was turning grimmer than ever. ‘I just hope he doesn’t find an excuse not to come,’ he growled. ‘If he does I’ll be flying to Auckland to get him myself.’

‘I’m sure he won’t put it off,’ Shelley responded loyally. ‘I think he’s genuinely busy and it’s not as though he doesn’t care about Katie, even if their relationship isn’t in a good place. And Katie’s obviously playing games of some sort . . .’

Bob’s eyes flashed sharply to hers. ‘With other people’s lives,’ he stated angrily.

Unable to argue with that, Shelley said, ‘I’m sorry, I have to go now. If she calls me, or if I hear from Rick I’ll get in touch right away,’ and putting the car back in gear she continued on down the drive.

Grant was still working on his trailer when his mobile rang again. Grumbling irritably to himself, he used a rag to wipe his hands as he returned to the phone. ‘So what did you forget?’ he asked, assuming it was Polly ringing back about something or other.

‘Grant, it’s Wex here,’ his sergeant told him.

‘Oh, mate, sorry, I was thinking you were the wife. What can I do for you?’

Wexley Harris’s voice was unusually sombre as he said, ‘You know the Reeves family pretty well, don’t you?’

Surprised and puzzled, Grant said, ‘I guess so. Why are you asking?’

‘It’s about Anna Reeves’s daughter, Charlotte. Do you know her too?’

‘Sure I do. She was just here, as a matter of fact. What’s going on, Wex?’ His blood turned suddenly cold. ‘Jesus Christ, don’t tell me there’s been an accident.’

‘No, no, nothing like that,’ his boss assured him. ‘I’ve had a call from CIB in Auckland . . .’

More baffled than ever, Grant said incredulously, ‘Criminal Investigation Branch?’

‘That’s who they were last time I checked.’

‘What do they want?’

Taking a breath, Wexley said, ‘I’m going right out on a limb here, mate, I want you to know that, but we’ve known each other a lot of years. I guess I can trust you to keep what I’m about to tell you to yourself, at least until we’ve had a chance to discuss it here, at the station, in the morning.’

As Grant listened he found himself needing to sit down. Then he stood up, walked inside the house and took a beer from the fridge. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. ‘No, no, no,’ he broke in finally, ‘you’ve got this wrong, Wex.’

‘I’m just repeating what the guys in Auckland told me,’ Wex informed him. ‘If it’s wrong, no one’ll be happier than me, but if it’s not . . . Listen, I know you’re not due in till two tomorrow, but I’d like you here for ten if you can make it. We’re going to have a lot to talk about, and by then we might have some more news in that’ll throw a different light on things.’

The instant Charlotte saw the Kauri Cliffs hotel she was completely blown away by it. It surely had to be one of the most stunningly romantic places in the world. With its elegant pale grey roofs, white walls, airy loggias and succulent tropical vegetation, it sat in such exotic splendour overlooking the crystal blue sweep of Matauri Bay that it just kept on taking her breath away. As far as luxury went it had every last word. Everything, from the paintings inside the plantation-style mansion, to the rugs, to the hand-picked antique furniture was of a quality that even her inexpert eye could see was the very best. And the billowing flow of the landscape with its immaculate fairways and greens, enormous infinity pool and private surf beaches glinting on the shoreline of this glittering swathe of the South Pacific had to be the very definition of paradise.

She wasn’t going to imagine how impressed Anthony would be by it, because she would never know, but it was very definitely the kind of place she could see him.

With her?

What a dreamer.

Cinderella comes to Kauri Cliffs.

‘How much does it cost to stay here?’ she whispered to her mother, as they transported themselves and Anna’s paraphernalia in a golf cart over to the pool.

The Cinderella analogy had to end there, before someone turned into a pumpkin.

‘I think around twelve hundred dollars a night,’ Anna replied, waving out to the crew who were already setting up for the shoot. ‘Or eight thousand if you go for the owner’s cottage.’

‘Eight thousand
a night
,’ Charlotte almost shrieked.

Laughing as she switched off the cart and hopped out, Anna embraced the scruffy individual who came to greet her, introducing him as Wolf, the photographer with more awards to his name than she had dollars in the bank.

With a droll grin, he turned a salute to Charlotte into a wave towards an enormous four-poster bed perched like a grand old duchess in scant robes at the far end of the pool. ‘As you can see, the star prop’s in place,’ he drawled.