Amy took down the bookings ledger, and found the thin file of faxes she had exchanged with Mr A. Li in Taiwan. She carefully checked through what had been written on every scrap of paper she had received. In essence this was that the GunHo Corporation of Taipei required separate rooms with double beds for four adult guests, two men, two women, surnames Kravitz, Mitchell, Wendell and Jensen. All expenses run up by the guests were to be allocated to the corporate account, and at the end of each week one of the four named guests would check and sign the account, after which it should be faxed to Mr Li in the Taipei office. A draft in US dollars or UK pounds, based on this amount,
would then be available from the Midland Bank in Bulverton, and would be paid to them on demand. The booking was confirmed initially for two weeks only, but there was an option to extend the arrangement indefinitely. All enquiries would be dealt with by Mr Li.
Amy could not see any mention anywhere of them requiring exclusive use of the hotel.
She glanced at her wristwatch and mentally calculated how long it would take to drive to Bulverton from Heathrow. She reckoned the earliest they could arrive would be within the next hour, but they would certainly be here by the evening. Still she had done nothing.
She went upstairs to find Nick. He was lying on the bed, naked, and smoking a cigarette.
'It's the middle of the day, and there's nothing doing,' he said. 'Want to come to bed for a while?'
Her first instinct was to turn round and walk out of the room. She still enjoyed all that with Nick, but these days he seemed to want to spend most afternoons in bed. instead, she decided to shrug it off.
'There's something I need to know,' she said. 'It's pretty urgent. Is that true what you said?
That you're the only one who can make a guest leave the hotel?'
'What's bothering you, Amy?'
'I was trying to tell you earlier.'
'Don't worry about it.'
She sat down on the edge of the bed, and in spite of herself she laid a hand on his chest. His skin felt clean and smooth and warm.
'I don't want us to lose the money,' she said. 'This booking could solve a lot of financial problems for us. Well, for you, but that means me too.'
'Leave it to me. I've brought in an extra double bed for them, and that'll keep them happy.
When are they arriving?'
'Any minute now. They called from Heathrow an hour or two ago, and said they were going to drive down.'
'It always takes longer than people think,' Nick said, rolling towards her. 'Come on, get your clothes off.'
'No, 1 want to stay downstairs in case they arrive.'
He said no more but began pulling determinedly at the buttons down the front of her dress.
In his haste he fumbled them, so she pulled away from him and slipped the dress off. She lay down next to him, enjoying the sensation, as always, of him slipping his hands beneath her undies and sliding them down her skin.
Later, they were still lying against each other when they heard the sound of a heavyengined vehicle pulling into the car park beneath their window. They could hear the gears clanging in and out, as the driver eased to and fro in the confined space.
'That's them!' Amy said. 'I know it'll be the Americans.'
She rolled away from Nick and he turned over on to his side in simulated disgust; in fact, Amy knew only too well that once they finished lovemaking during the afternoons he was usually quick to move away from her and either take a short nap or get back to reading his newspaper.
She hurried naked from the bed. Crouching down by the window she peeked into the yard and saw a long truck, painted an unobtrusive dark green, being manoeuvred into the parking bay next to Teresa Simons' rented car. lt had what appeared to be a collapsible satellite dish folded down into a special cavity built into the roof The number 14 was next to this, painted in a lighter shade of green. Amy wondered briefly why anyone should want to paint an identifying number on the roof of a van, where only a few people would ever be able to see it.
A young woman with short, palebrown hair climbed down from the passenger door, and went to the back of the
van to help guide the driver into the parking bay. She glanced up at Amy's window, and for a moment their eyes met.
Even though she knew only her head could be seen from the low angle from the yard, Amy backed away and rushed over to retrieve her clothes from the floor beside the bed.
'They're here!' Amy said to Nick. She wrapped her bra round her with the cups at the back, hooked it together beneath her breasts, then twisted it round and pulled the straps into place.
She stepped into her pants, and looked around for her dress. Nick had rolled on to his side and was either reading, or pretending to read, yesterday's copy of the newspaper. 'It's all right, Nick,' she said. 'I can manage downstairs on my own.'
'I knew you would.'
But he grinned affably at her, threw the newspaper on the floor by the side of the bed, and after a quick and furtive glance into the car park began to put on his clothes. She was finished before him, but he grabbed her and gave her a quick kiss.
11,11 cook dinner tonight, if you like,' he said. 'And do the bar.'
'You don't have to.'
