Lipstick and Lies (46 page)

‘Perfect
!
’
I hit send.
‘
That message is a
pologetic.
And a
little bit contrite.
A
lso
totally inaccurate.
The twins
’ birthday is not for another
six months.’

‘Very good Cass,
’
Morag nodded approv
ingly
.

We resumed our walking but had barely gone five paces when my mobile
tinkled
the arrival of a
nother
text.
Once again we all stopped and huddled over the phone.
I opened the
message
.

Apology accepted.
Let twins choose restaurant.

‘O
H MY GOD
!’ squawked Nell.
‘He’s been kidnapped.
Call the police.
Call an ambulance.
Get the Fire Brigade too.
’

‘Phone Jamie,’ said Morag urgently.
‘Phone him now.’

I stared at the message in shock.
It was one thing to suspect I’d not been communicating with Stevie, but quite
another
to have it confirmed.
I suddenly felt a bit strange.
A
little
wobbly.

‘Hurry up Cass,’ said Morag.
‘Ring Jamie.’

‘Yes,’ I whispered.
With shaking hands, I found Jamie’s number on speed dial.
It rang
three times before connecting.

‘Hello?’ said a female.

My mouth dropped open.
Selina!
Why the bloody hell was that woman answering my husband’s mobile?
How many mobile phones belonging to other men d
id she have in her possession?

‘Er, it’s Cass.’

‘Hi Cass,’ she greeted me warmly.
For a moment I felt wrong-footed.
What if it wasn’t Selina sending fake messages from Stevie’s phone?
What if it was
another
fanatical female?
It wasn’t unfeasible that Selina was the only woman Stevie was seeing.
Two-timing
wouldn’t
trouble Stevie’s conscience.
For all I knew he
might even
be three-timing.
Stevie was like a dog on a scent
where women were concerned
.
‘How are you?’

‘
Yes,
I’m good.
Thanks for asking.
Um, is Jamie there?’

‘Sorry, no.
Both he and Ethan are in a meeting with James Powell
.
James is
the
b
ank’s big cheese.
The
men
want absolutely no interruption for the next couple of hours
,
hence me having their mobile phones.
Can I give Jamie a message?’

‘I was ringing to ask
, er,
what he wanted for his dinner
,’ I said lamely. ‘
Nothing important.’

‘Shall I get him to call you?’

‘No, that’s fine.
He can take pot luck.’

‘Okay, I’ll tell him that,’ she laughed.
‘So, are you looking forwa
rd to the ball this Saturday?’

Gordon Bennett.
Now she wanted to make
friendly
small talk.
This couldn’t be right.
Selina
sounded so natural.
So unfazed.
Not remotely like a person with a screw loose.
Jamie’s words suddenly reverberated around my head.
Can I just say Cassie, you’re not just coming across as neurotic, but certifiable
.
If I told Jamie about this, he’d
immediately declare
it was me with the screw loose.

‘Yes!’ I replied.
‘
I’ve b
ought my dress and accessories.
Can’t wait!
And you?’

‘Well, it’s business really for me.
But I’m
hoping for some romance!
’
She gave a throaty laugh.
‘
Ethan has booked us into
a
fancy boutique hotel
for the night – deluxe king room with river view no less
.
I’m one lucky lady.’

‘Sounds fab,’ I chortled.

Morag and Nell stared at me
.
Both women were clearly
baffled by my
friendly
conversation with a kidnapper.

‘One small hi
tch though Cass,’ said Selina.

‘Oh?’

‘It’s looking like Jamie and Ethan will have to go into work this Saturday.
James Powell has done wonders for Fareham & Mackerel
,
but boy doe
s he want his pound of flesh.’

‘That’s a nuisance
.
Is
James Powell
expecting you to be there too
?’

Nell tugged at my sleeve.
‘What the hell’s going on?’ she
whispered
.
I flapped my hand at her.

‘Fortunately
James
doesn’t need all three of us
.
’
Selina gave a sigh of relief.
‘
But it does mean
the boys
won’t
have time to go home
prior to the ball.
Therefore, when the
y’ve finished
work, they’ll
head
straight
to the hotel in
Oxford
.
Ethan has
suggested I pick you up and we travel to the
hotel
together
.
From there,
we’ll
later take a
mini
cab
to the ball
.’

I hesitated for a moment.
My heart wasn’t skipping with joy at spending the best part of a
n hour in the car with Selina.

‘Oh.
Right.
Would
you like me to drive?’ I asked.
‘I’m more than happy to do so.
’

‘Can’t unfortunately.
Sunday morning Ethan and I are expected in
Abingdon
to have lunch with his parents.
We’ll need a car.
So
I’ll pick you up at six
,
or thereabouts.’

‘Okay.’

‘Lovely chatting Cass.
I’ll look forward to seeing you Saturday.
Bye.’

‘Bye.’
I hung up.

‘What on earth was all that abou
t?’ asked Morag incredulously.

‘You heard,’ I sighed.
‘A bit of chit-chat about Jamie and Ethan in an important meeting
– without
their mobiles
,
hence Selina answering
.
And then an exchange of
pleasantries about the bank’s ball this Saturday
.
All four of us
are attending.
And joy of joys,
on Saturday evening
Selina
will be
my d
river.’

‘So,’ Nell splayed her palms out in a gesture of bewilderment, ‘is Selina a kid
napper or not?’

I raked a hand through my hair.
‘I would hazard not.
S
he was as cool as a cucumber.’

‘So who,’ asked Nell, ‘is sending tho
se texts from Stevie’s phone?’

‘I really don’t know,’ I shook my head
.
‘
We’re going around in circles.
I’m not sure about anything
anymore
.’

‘Well something isn’t right,’ said Morag.
‘That last text
about the twins choosing
a restaurant for a
fictitious
birthday
was utter tripe
.’
She paused and looked thoughtful for a moment.
‘I have an idea.
What about we
take a drive right now to
Selina’s bachelor apartment
and check it out
?
You said you followed her the other day Cass, so you know where it is.
Let’s have a bit of a sniff around.
See if it yields any clues.’

Nell pulled a face.
‘You mean like hearing a man shouting, “Help! Help!”’

‘Yes,’ said Morag firmly.

‘Actually that’s not a bad idea,’ I said.
‘At least we can potentially rule out Selina being a kidnapper.
I
f she
ha
s
abducted
Stevie
,
then
her flat is
the most likel
y place to keep him prisoner.’

‘
I’m not up for this.’
Nell shook her head vehemently.
‘What if Selina turns out to be a kidnapper after all?
What would happen if she unexpectedly
showed
up and found us peering through her letterbox?
We’d be brown bread
.
’
S
he made a sli
cing motion across her throat.

‘Selina is at work,’ I pointed out
.
‘We’re safe for
hours.’

‘I don’t get a good feeling about this,’ Nell
protested
.
‘
You two go.
Leave Eddie and Henry with
Rosie and me
.’

‘
We’ll take you up on that,
’ said Morag.
‘If there were any danger – I said
if
Nell – then we certainly wouldn’t want the babies with us.
Come on
.’
Morag spun Henry’s pram around
.
‘
T
here’s not a moment to lose.’

Forty-five minutes later I stood in Morag’s bedroom.
The bed was co
vered in a collection of wigs.

‘So tell me again what you use these for?’ I picked up an afro wig.
It was like an early Jackson Five hair-do.
Except
in
pink.

‘These are my sex wigs,’ Morag purred
.
She picked
up a shoulder
-
length brunette jobbie.
‘Matt particularly likes me in this one.
I wear it with
these.
’
S
he rummaged in a drawer and produced a pair of black
geeky
spectacles
.
‘Et voila!
’
Morag pushed the specs on her nose and plonked the wig on her head.
 
‘
Now I’m Secretary
Susie.
Susie
loves taking down dicta
tion and her boss’s trousers.’

I picked up some waist-length blonde tresses.
‘Don’t tell me,’ I sighed.
‘Barbie.’

‘How did you know?’ Morag clapped
her hands together gleefully.

‘
Combined with your chest measurements, it d
oesn’t take much working out
.’

‘Matt adores playing Barbie and Ken,’ confided Morag.
‘And I particularly like this one
.’
S
he
reached for
a wild ringletty affair
.
It
wouldn’t have looked
remiss
on
Cher
.

‘Pop icon?’ I asked.

‘Wrong!’
Morag
trilled
.
She
rummaged
briefly in the drawer before slinging a
stethoscope around her neck.
‘Does th
is
give you a cl
ue?’

‘Ah yes.
Doctor Do-Anyone.’

‘Nope.
Nurse
Knockers
!
’ she smirked.
‘
Nurse
Knockers
is
very
naughty.
She w
ears an old-fashioned uniform
with a hem line a
round her bum
.
She
particularly likes using her stethoscope to check out pulse points near the pe
nis.’