'Of course I am. It's a marvellous start for her. Daniel, don't you see that this proves I was right about her potential, that she was right to follow her dream?'
'In fact, everyone was right except me?' he said bitterly.
'Yes. I think you should admit now that you were wrong.'
'Should I? Then let me remind you that this-' he tapped the picture '-was the first step on the road to Gretna Green and a disastrous marriage to a young man as callow as he's selfish.'
'They're not married yet. We can still prevent it.'
'That would be easier if we knew when it's going to be. I called the register office up there a few minutes ago-I thought I could find out the time of the wedding, but they don't give out that kind of information. It's posted up outside, but that's all.'
'PI,' said Sonya.
The other two stared at her. 'PI,' she repeated. 'Private investigator. Find the Yellow Pages for that area in the library. It'll list the local Pis. Then you call one and he goes down and reads what's written outside the register office. You could know in a couple of hours.'
'Sonya, you're a genius,' Daniel said fervently. 'Where's your local library?'
She gave him directions and he vanished.
'Well done, darling,' Lee said. 'Where would we be without you?' Something impelled her to add, 'Daniel's sister Jean said you get your brains from me.'
Sonya grinned, understanding this perfectly, and went to make a cup of tea. The phone rang and Lee snatched it up. It was Brenda Mulroy.
'Do you know where Phoebe is?' she asked urgently. 'I've called her home but there's no reply.'
'But-surely she's free until Thursday?'
'Yes, but I've heard from the Linnon people. They've decided to offer her the contract to be the face of Linnon.'
'That's marvellous!'
'Isn't it just? But they want another meeting with her, quickly, and I can't find her.'
Lee's brain raced. 'I don't know exactly where she is at this moment,' she declared, with perfect truth.
'A phone number?'
'I think she wanted to use her free days to get away from it all-out of reach of a phone,' Lee said, improvising wildly.
'It's not very professional of her to do that just now.'
'She probably didn't think she was this close to the Linnon contract.'
'Hmm! I hope you marry Phoebe's father soon. You'll be a steadying influence on her. If you hear from her, tell her to call me.' Brenda hung up.
Lee took a few deep breaths to steady her nerves. The shocks of the morning had left her wondering- what next?
After a few minutes Daniel returned. 'I got a little firm ten miles away from Gretna,' he said. 'Someone's going along to check. I've given him the number of my earphone. Let's go. What's the matter?'
'I'll tell you on the way.'
They dropped Sonya off at Katie's house. She hugged them both in farewell, and something fell out of her bag.
'You're a bit old for plasticine, aren't you?' Lee asked as Sonya hurriedly retrieved the object.
'It's for a very serious purpose,' Sonya said, stuffing it back into the bag.
'What serious purpose?'
'I'm going to make an effigy of Mark and stick pins into it.'
'Stick one in for me,' Daniel said grimly.
'Bye, you two,' Sonya said, and waved as they drove off.
When they'd turned the corner Lee let out her breath. In the flurry of departure she'd had little time to realise that she was going to be alone with Daniel.
Neither of them spoke at first. He was following the route she'd taken fourteen years ago, out of London to Birmingham and then Carlisle, but she felt it was too soon to be troubled. She'd driven this way herself several times to do location work. It was only after Birmingham that the past would start to trouble her.
'What were you going to tell me?' he asked as they swung onto the motorway and left London behind.
'Brenda called, looking for Phoebe. The Linnon Corporation have offered her a contract. I told her Phoebe was having a short break, 'away from it all'
I hope we find her quickly. If she doesn't call Brenda back soon it'll look bad.'
'What difference does it make? You don't think I'm going to let her accept, do you? It's time this whole business was brought to an end.'
Lee remained silent. It was useless pointing out to Daniel that Phoebe's career was way beyond his control. In his heart he knew it. His words were cries in the dark from a man who hadn't come to terms with the situation. She took out Woman Of The World and studied the cover again, feeling a deep professional satisfaction in having discovered this perfect material and having brought out the best in her.
And there was more inside. Lindsay Elwes had been so stunned by Phoebe that she'd included a short feature about 'the face of the future'. Every word was designed to send Phoebe further up the ladder of success and to break Daniel's heart.
The earphone rang and Daniel snatched it up. He listened, his face dark, and grunted his thanks before he hung up.
'Well?' Lee asked.
'About as bad as it can be. They're the first wedding tomorrow morning.'
'Oh, heavens!'
'I'm running low on petrol. I'll stop at the next service station and fill up.'
At the services they stretched their legs and had coffee. They sat in virtual silence. Lee's heart was heavy as she realised they were like strangers. Once she met his eyes and looked away quickly, but not before she saw him do the same.
When they resumed travelling her memories grew sharper. She couldn't recall the scenery. It was the distances that counted. Fifty miles out of London, then sixty. At this stage she'd been spending the journey twisted around in her seat, anxiously watching the road behind for any sign of her parents' car, until Jimmy had told her to stop being daft.
A hundred miles. They'd stopped for something to eat. She'd brought some money with her, but not as much as Jimmy had expected. He'd been snappy and irritable, which she'd ascribed to nerves. Later she was to learn that Jimmy was always irritable when he didn't get exactly what he wanted.
After their next stop Lee suggested to Daniel that she should take a turn at driving. He agreed, but it wasn't a success. His state of the art, computerised vehicle needed practice. Lee fumbled uneasily and finally settled into the slow lane until the next exit, when she gladly returned it to him.
'Sorry,' she said, cross with herself.
'Don't be. It wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have agreed.'
'You're going to be so tired if you have to do it all yourself.'
'Don't worry about me. We're making good time.'
It was a fatal thing to say. Almost at once the traffic slowed and in a few minutes they'd come to a standstill. Lee groaned at the sight of a jam stretching as far as her eyes could see.
After that they moved at a crawl for the next three hours. Now was another chance to talk. Lee waited, longing for Daniel to begin, but he only switched the radio on. After all, she thought, what was there to say?
At last they could move freely again, but they'd lost precious hours and the light was fading fast. As they went further north the rain started to fall, softly at first but then harder, until they were driving through a downpour.
'We've got to stop somewhere,' Lee said. 'You've driven nearly three hundred miles and you're exhausted. If we keep on through this we're going to have an accident.'
'I want to get there tonight,' Daniel said stubbornly. 'We might find out where they're staying.'
'They may not be in Gretna Green at all,' Lee protested. 'They might go straight to Gretna, which is next door. The register office is there. Let's spend the night in Carlisle. That's what Jimmy and I did. It's only nine miles away,
