Tess never wanted to see another envelope in her entire life. Her desk and floor were covered with a rainbow of different-coloured paper, along with endless Jiffy bags and packages. She had just spent the last hour laboriously going through them and her fingers – not to mention her head – were starting to ache. It was one of the chores she hated. Every morning she received an enormous volume of post that took hours to sift through, so she invariably left it until last thing. The vast majority of the envelopes contained party invitations for Brooke, everything from red-carpet events to fundraisers to shop openings. Brooke had to be seen at some of them, of course, the ones Tess would cherry-pick as the most high profile or ‘on brand’, but the majority went straight into the oversized recycling bin.
It wasn’t as if she didn’t have other things to do. As September slipped into October, media speculation about Brooke and David’s wedding had already cranked up several notches, meaning that Tess was constantly fielding phone calls and emails from press and television stations wanting everything from confirmation of location and dates to actual access to the wedding.
Today had been a particularly arduous day, and Tess was looking forward to going home. She had just pulled her coat off the back of her chair when she heard footsteps in the corridor outside her door.
‘Meredith,’ said Tess looking up. ‘I didn’t think you were in today.’
‘My secretary called me so I’ve just dropped by.’
‘Well, that’s good luck, because I wanted to speak to you. Could you come in? Sorry about the mess.’
Meredith walked into the room and took the seat opposite Tess, folding her pale, stocking-clad legs elegantly under the chair as she waited for Tess to continue.
‘I want to take a holiday,’ said Tess, trying keep her voice even. She was unsure why she thought the request might be interpreted as unreasonable – perhaps because of the ‘in at six, home at ten’ mentality of the New York worker; perhaps because they were getting closer to the ‘big day’; but either way she had been delaying asking Meredith. In the event she merely nodded.
‘Very well,’ she said. ‘When were you thinking, and for how long?’
‘This weekend actually. I’m sorry for the late notice but I’ve only just found out about the trip. It’s just a Friday night until Tuesday trip, so it would involve very little time out of the office and I would have my BlackBerry on all the time …’
Meredith was already shaking her head. ‘I’m afraid it’s not convenient.’
Tess felt a sinking disappointment, but knew she couldn’t object. Her job came first – it had to, the amount they were paying her-but when Jemma had told her about a trip she was taking to Lake Tahoe with some new friends, Tess had been keen to go along. She barely knew Jemma’s new social circle, but to Tess that was a bonus. What she really wanted to do was interact with people who weren’t anything to do with work. A look in the mirror told her she was tired. The nagging pains between her shoulder blades said she was stressed. She just wanted to have some fun.
‘Really?’ she said, flipping a few pages of her diary with a frown. She couldn’t see any pressing events written there. ‘Anything I should know about?’
‘Every year we have a Miss Asgill Hawaiian Glo pageant in Hawaii,’ said Meredith. She was trying to be matter-of-fact, but she clearly found the idea a little distasteful. Didn’t fit in with her new vision of Asgill’s as a luxury brand, perhaps, thought Tess.
‘We usually have a representative from the company on the judging panel. This year I was keen for Leonard to go along, but he’s had to schedule a hospital appointment.’
Tess nodded sympathetically, recalling that she hadn’t seen Leonard around the office all week.
‘As it happens, Sean is in New York this week,’ continued Meredith. ‘He heard that Leonard can’t make the pageant and suggested he should attend in his place.’
‘I bet he did,’ said Tess. ‘But Meredith, I’m not at all sure—’
Meredith raised her hand to silence Tess’s objections.
‘I am aware this goes somewhat against the grain of the wonderful work you have been doing to reposition Sean in the public mind, but he has done it before without incident, and it is a very good photo opportunity. It raises the profile of the pageant and hence the sun cream and, at the moment, that has to take precedence over any concerns about putting Sean, shall we say, in “harm’s way”?’
‘I appreciate that, Meredith,’ said Tess. ‘And I hear he has managed to stay sober since rehab, which is brilliant; but, even so, he’s too much of a loose cannon in the company of beautiful girls in bikinis.’
‘Which is why I want you to go.’
Tess’s mouth opened. ‘You want me to baby-sit him?’ She looked away, lest her anger show on her face. She could not believe Sean Asgill was once again interfering with her life, ruining her plans. As if unveiling Dom as an unfaithful bastard purely for his own entertainment wasn’t bad enough, now he was putting the kibosh on a much-needed trip to Lake Tahoe.
‘Not baby-sit, no,’ said Meredith. ‘I simply want you to make sure he doesn’t get into any trouble. Young girls and rich men don’t mix.’
Tess blew out her cheeks in frustration and Meredith looked at her with a more kindly countenance.
‘It won’t be so bad, Tess,’ she smiled. ‘Hawaii is a beautiful island and I understand the hotel where the pageant is being held is, well, fun. If you like, the company will pay for you to stay on a couple of nights afterwards; that way you still get your break. Take an airplane flight over Mauna Loa at night – it’s something you will never forget in your life. Invoice everything to me.’
Tess nodded numbly. She knew she was in no position to argue. ‘I’ll make all the arrangements tomorrow,’ she said.
‘No need,’ smiled Meredith. ‘I had my secretary book you on Saturday’s flight to Hilo. She has all the details.’
Meredith stood up and walked towards the door on her Ferragamo heels. ‘I do appreciate everything you’re doing for the family, Tess. I know your contract with us was until David and Brooke’s wedding, but I really hope you’ll stay on with us after that. Perhaps we can talk about it a little nearer the time?’
Tess wondered if now would be a good time to remind her employer of the quarter-of-a-million-dollar bonus she had been promised if the wedding went ahead. It had been mentioned at her first conversation with Meredith at the Connaught, and Tess had insisted it was put into her contract, but with rumours of financial trouble at the Asgill company beginning to surface, Tess made a mental note to double-check her contract to make sure there was no way they could wiggle out of it.
‘Oh, before I forget,’ said Meredith, slipping her slim hand into her Chanel quilt bag. ‘I received this today.’ She pulled out an envelope and handed it to Tess. It was addressed to Meredith at the Asgill’s office. Inside the envelope was a letter on blue airmail paper, the likes of which Tess hadn’t seen in a decade. She unfolded it and read the short message.
Your family has a secret.
Flipping over the envelope, she examined it.
‘Well, it’s a South Carolina postmark. I’m assuming you don’t know who it’s from?’
Meredith gave the smallest of shrugs. ‘I have no idea.’
Tess wasn’t unduly worried. One thing she had learned from her time in the tabloids was that the world was full of crackpots. At the Globe, they had regularly received letters from one of Britain’s most notorious criminals, sent from Broadmoor Hospital (the institution that in less enlightened times had been known as Broadmoor Asylum for the Criminally Insane); here, barely a week at the Asgill’s office went past without some email or letter from someone claiming to be Brooke’s best friend wanting her cell-phone number, or a long-lost relative claiming a slice of the annual profits. New York seemed to be particularly full of crazies. Tess tapped the letter against the palm of her hand thoughtfully.
‘Well, it’s not a demand or an accusation. It’s probably just another attention-seeker.’
‘Perhaps,’ said Meredith quietly. ‘But I’d like it taken care of.’
‘Don’t worry. I’ll handle it,’ said Tess with as much reassurance as she could muster. ‘And get any post like this diverted to me as soon as it arrives.’
‘Thank you, Tess,’ said Meredith. ‘This is exactly the reason I hired you.’
She watched Meredith leave the room and her face creased into a frown. What the hell does she want from me? she thought, annoyed. First a PR, then a babysitter, now they want me to be a private bloody detective!
She grabbed her coat and switched off the light, throwing the letter into the back of her drawer.