The Prisoner(22)

I turned off my phone, thinking how surprised Carolyn would be to get my message. Ned pushed his chair back and yawned.

“I’m going to sleep,” he said. “Feel free to do the same.”

But I couldn’t, I was too excited.

We arrived in Las Vegas, and everything was like a dream. Ned had booked us into a mega hotel–casino complex. If I’d had to stay in my room all day, I wouldn’t have minded. It was enormous, with sliding doors that led onto a balcony almost as big as my studio apartment.

“What do you think?” Ned asked from the doorway as I peered over my balcony at an enormous swimming pool below.

“It’s amazing.” I turned to him. “Thank you for inviting me along, it’s so kind of you. You won’t regret it, I promise.”

Ned smiled. “I’m sure I won’t. In fact, I already know that you’re going to be a great help. Why don’t you unpack? Then we can have lunch. I’ll meet you in the lobby in thirty minutes.”

I unpacked quickly and sat down to send a message to Carolyn. I felt suddenly bad that I’d come all the way to Las Vegas without telling her. I’d had to pack in a rush—but was it because I thought she might dissuade me from coming that I hadn’t found two minutes to call her? I didn’t know why she might have tried to dissuade me, because she barely knew Ned. But the feeling was there, and I knew I would only feel better once I’d spoken to her.

But my phone wasn’t in my bag. My heart sank; I remembered putting it into the seat pocket after I’d switched it to airplane mode. I must have left it there.

Aware of Ned waiting for me, I took the elevator down to the lobby. There were so many restaurants to choose from that I was happy to let Ned decide.

“I think I left my phone on the plane,” I admitted, once we were sitting down.

“Don’t worry, when the plane lands in London, I can have it couriered back here.”

I paused, my glass halfway to my mouth. “You can’t do that, it would cost too much! It’s my fault I left it on the plane.”

He smiled. “I don’t mind. But it might take two or three days to get here, and we’ll probably be on our way back by then.”

“Don’t worry, it’s fine. If I need to contact anyone, I have my laptop.”

But later, when I was alone in my bedroom, I opened my laptop to email Carolyn and the screen was completely blank. I tried holding down the power button, but it didn’t make any difference. Without thinking, I picked up the hotel phone and dialed Ned’s room number. He answered after only three rings.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Ned, it’s Amelie. I’m sorry to call so late, but I can’t get my laptop to work…” I trailed off, realizing that he probably wasn’t going to be able to help.

“Did you knock it or drop it?”

I blushed, suddenly remembering dropping my bag on the floor in the bathroom at the airport. “Not that I know of,” I lied, because I didn’t want to seem too much of a liability after having left my phone on the plane.

“Let me make a few calls, see if we can get it fixed. If not, I’ll get you a new one.” He paused. “Don’t sound so worried, it’s not a problem.”

“But what if you need me to do any work?”

“Relax, it’s the weekend. And to be honest, I don’t think there’ll be much for you to do until I meet with Paul Martin, and that won’t be until Monday now. But can you make sure to stay within the confines of the hotel for when I do need you? Until then, you’re free to enjoy yourself.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Use the pools, go to the spa, have a couple of treatments. Just give them my name and it will be taken care of. If I need you, I’ll send someone to find you.”

After breakfast together the next day, Ned disappeared into the business lounge. I wanted to use the pool, but I hadn’t thought to pack a swimsuit, so I headed to one of the hotel shops and bought a red bikini. I also bought myself a pair of black aviator sunglasses and spent the morning swimming lengths and lying in the hot desert sun. At lunchtime, a young man came with a message from Ned, asking me to meet him for lunch.

“Paul Martin is now saying he can’t meet until Tuesday or Wednesday.” Ned looked different today. His face was unshaven and there were dark circles under his eyes. He was playing with his salad and there was an edge to him I hadn’t seen since the journalist had tried to talk to him at the party. “He knows that I came out specially to interview him. I’ve told his agent it has to be Wednesday at the latest, because we’ll be flying back on Thursday.”

“That’s my birthday,” I exclaimed. “I’ll be twenty.”

“Twenty?” He raised his wineglass. “We’ll have to celebrate that before we leave.”

Despite his darker mood, I liked being with Ned. He was funny and charming, and when he asked me to tell him about myself, I ended up telling him that both my parents were dead. He couldn’t believe that I was all alone in the world.

“You must have relatives somewhere in France,” he protested, taking a drink of wine.

“I don’t think so,” I said, glancing around the room at the other guests. “My father was an only child and my French grandparents died before I was born.” I swapped my wineglass for my water glass and took a sip. Ned had persuaded me to try the wine he’d ordered but I wasn’t sure I really liked it. “My English grandmother died a few years ago. My mother had a cousin somewhere in Scotland, I think, but I’m not sure she ever met him. Even if I do have relatives, I wouldn’t know where to begin searching for them.”