The Half Sister(67)

‘Just the two of you?’ she asks.

‘And a couple of the others.’

There’s her nemesis – clumsily thrown in as a casual aside.

‘That must have been a fun ride,’ she says, reaching for her hairbrush and dragging it forcefully through her hair.

Matt laughs as he takes off his shirt, rolling it up and throwing it into the laundry basket. ‘It was a quiet ride,’ he says. ‘It was a long night and some of the newbies aren’t quite as robust as us.’

‘Why, what happened?’ she asks.

‘It was just the normal government press office debacle,’ he says.

Kate stares into the mirror as she vigorously rubs cream into her face. She can’t look at him, because if he’s lying, she’s going to know by the look in his eyes.

‘Did Jess go?’ she asks, as he puts his head under the shower and groans in pleasure.

‘What’s that?’ he says.

‘I said, did Jess go?’ Her tone is acerbic. ‘Was she one of the newbies?’

‘Er, yeah . . . yeah, she was there.’

‘How did she get on?’

‘Yeah, all right,’ says Matt, shampooing his hair.

Kate can’t help but notice how short and clipped his answers are.

‘So, was she a help?’ she pushes on. ‘Was she able to take up some of the slack? Take the pressure off you.’

Kate tries not to picture the ways she might achieve that.

‘She was okay,’ he says. ‘Though I’m not sure politics is going to be her forte.’

‘Oh really?’ says Kate. ‘What do you suppose is her forte?’

‘Pass me that towel,’ he says, a classic diversion tactic if ever Kate heard one.

She stands there with crossed arms, knowing he’s on the ropes. ‘What is her forte?’ she repeats.

Matt looks at her with a vexed brow. ‘Since when have you been so interested?’

‘Since you decided to hire the girl who’s claiming to be my half sister.’ She’d not meant to say it like that. In fact, she’s not sure she’d meant to say it at all. If she’d had her way, she would have carefully revealed who Jess really was and what she wanted in her own time, but she’d felt suddenly compelled.

‘Wait!’ he says, laughing nervously. ‘What did you just say?’

Kate looks away, chewing on the inside of her cheek. ‘You heard.’

‘Jess?!’ he exclaims. ‘She’s the girl who turned up at your mum’s? She’s the one who’s claiming to be your father’s daughter?’

‘She is not my father’s daughter,’ snaps Kate, seeing red. ‘Why is everyone so happy to assume that?’

‘Hold on,’ says Matt, shaking his head and putting his hand in the air. ‘You’re saying that Jess is that woman?’

‘There is another option you know,’ barks Kate, ignoring the question. ‘You of all people should know that my father would never have deceived his family.’

Matt looks like his head is about to explode as he tries to put all the pieces together. ‘Are you honestly expecting me to believe that Jess is the same girl?’ he asks, clearly struggling with the admission. ‘Why would you think that? I mean, how have you come to that conclusion?’ He’s beginning to pace the floor, which means he’s unable to comprehend what Kate’s suggesting.

‘Because I’ve seen her,’ she says. ‘And because that’s her name.’

Matt laughs in a way that Kate can’t help but find patronizing. ‘Do you find this funny?’ she asks incredulously. She’d thought, hoped, that when she eventually told him who Jess was, he’d immediately try to help her solve the problem. But he seems to find it more amusing than worrying, and Kate feels bitterly disappointed.

‘So, you’re putting two and two together and coming up with five.’

‘Do you really think I’m that stupid?’ she yells, unable to hold her frustration in. ‘Do you honestly think I haven’t checked her out?’

‘And what did you find?’ he asks, with what Kate’s sure is the tiniest of smiles playing on his lips.

‘That the woman you hired – the woman who says she went to Bournemouth University – did no such thing. She doesn’t have a degree in journalism – in fact, she has never even studied journalism.’

‘What are you even talking about?’ says Matt, an air of impatience to him now. ‘Of course she did. I’ve got her CV – I’ve seen her qualifications, I’ve got her references.’

Kate allows herself a wry smile. ‘But did you think to actually check them out? Did it occur to you to call the uni up and make sure she was a bona fide student?’

‘Not yet,’ he says, clearly affronted by her accusing tone.

‘Well, maybe if you had, it would have saved us all a lot of trouble . . .’

‘Are you insinuating that this is somehow my fault?’

Is it? If he’s sleeping with her, then yes, he damn well needs to take responsibility for his actions. Whether Jess is her half sister or not.

Kate looks him in the eye. ‘Are you . . . are you having a relationship with her?’

‘What?’ he squeals, throwing his hands in the air.