Daisy in Chains(49)

He doesn’t hesitate. ‘Because she’s sweet, and faithful and beautiful. And because she adores me. And you’ve jumped your turn. Where did you do your law degree?’

So far he is being easy on her. ‘I didn’t. My first degree was in a science subject. I did a Graduate Diploma in Law and then my Bar Professional Training Course at City University. Pupillage with Gray’s Inn.’

‘But you never appear in court?’

‘Is that your third question?’ she asks.

‘No. My third question is why don’t you appear in court? Why do you avoid the limelight?’

Another prisoner passes close by their table, forcing her to lift her bag from the floor, giving her a few extra seconds. ‘Bestselling authors are anonymous celebrities,’ she says. ‘That’s how I like it. My privacy is important and appearing in high-profile court cases would jeopardize that.’

He leans forward. ‘What are you trying to hide?’

She mirrors him. ‘Do you really believe the only people who value privacy have something to hide?’

‘Is that your fifth question?’

‘No, nor is it my fourth.’ She glances down and finds the folded sheet of paper she’d brought with her. It is a copy. The original magazine article is in her files at home. She puts it on the table and turns it to face him. ‘My fourth is, how do you feel when you see this?’





Chapter 40


Hello! magazine, September 2015 issue

CLAIRE AND TOM CELEBRATE THEIR HAPPY NEWS

Claire Cole was beaming with health and happiness as she showed off the Chelsea home she shares with her fiancé Tom Flannigan. Just days after announcing Claire’s pregnancy, they welcome Hello! staff to their stylish penthouse apartment on Chelsea Embankment, with its stunning views over the river.

The baby (the couple are keeping mum about the sex) is due in March, and the parents-to-be are hoping for a straightforward, uneventful delivery at the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, ideally not on a match day.

‘March is mid season for Tom,’ Claire says, one hand holding tight to the man she clearly adores, the other resting lightly on her barely discernible bump. ‘So we just have to keep our fingers crossed the baby doesn’t arrive during a big game. I’m not sure how José will feel about losing his star striker at a moment’s notice.’

The supermodel’s new-found happiness is in marked contrast to the difficult time that surrounded the break-up of her previous engagement, to eminent surgeon Hamish Wolfe. ‘Hamish’s betrayal nearly broke me,’ she has previously admitted. ‘After two years together, it was heartbreaking to find out I had no idea who he really was.’

Those dark days are behind her now. Tom’s eyes seldom leave his beautiful fiancée. The future of this young family looks assured.

(Maggie Rose: case file 062/118 Hamish Wolfe)





Chapter 41


MAGGIE ESTIMATES IT will take Hamish two minutes to read the article. He looks up after several seconds.

‘Fourteen women and two gay blokes sent me this cutting,’ he says. ‘One woman sends me every clip on Claire and Flannigan that she can find.’

‘So how do you feel about it?’

He shrugs. ‘Glad she’s OK. Not sure about the future being assured business. I met that twat. He must have had a fistful of coke up his nose.’

‘Explain. Not about Tom Flannigan taking cocaine. About why you can be so relaxed about the woman you planned to marry moving on. About her not standing by you.’

His eyebrows almost meet in an incredulous frown. ‘It never occurred to me that she would. She came to visit me once, on remand. You’d have thought she was being asked to walk through Belsen. Back when it was open for business.’

‘Her fiancé was in prison. Of course she found it hard.’

He actually laughs. ‘Oh, trust me, the wrongly accused fiancé she could have dealt with. Just as long as she had fast-track through the queues, her own personal security and a private lounge to meet me in. It was mingling with the great unwashed that Claire couldn’t handle.’

‘And this was the woman you were going to spend your life with?’

He sighs, as though having to explain something to a difficult child. ‘Maggie, men get married for all sorts of reasons, not always good ones. Claire was the one pushing. And my mum was desperate for grandkids. Granddaughters in particular.’

‘You got engaged to please your mother?’

The laughter is gone now. ‘It really didn’t matter how many people told me Sophie’s death wasn’t my fault. I was there. I was at the top when she fell. Maybe I felt grandkids were my way of making amends. Possibly they would have been. A little Sophie? Yeah, that would have been nice.’

She pauses to take stock. Five questions left. He has the same.

‘Could you kill someone?’ she asks him.

His face clouds, as though a grim memory is passing through his head. ‘I probably will if I spend much longer in this place. So, yes.’

There is something very dark behind his eyes now, but whether memory or prediction, it is impossible to tell.

‘What’s your favourite colour?’ he asks her.

‘White,’ she says, then backtracks. ‘No, I mean blue. Of course I mean blue. What else would it be, I mean, look at me.’ She lifts the ends of her hair.