Page 77 of Just for December

‘Yeah.’ Katerina nods. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to … those first photos, they were so innocent, I didn’t even think they’d be worth anything. And then it just … snowballed.’

‘I’m aware,’ Evie says, and she’s severe with it, despite her shoulders having softened.

Katerina finally looks up. Evie stares straight back.

‘What’s wrong with your dad?’ she asks, and then she adds, realising she’s being just the wrong side of abrasive, even though Duke thinks she’s every right to be. ‘If I can ask.’

‘Parkinson’s,’ she says, wiping away another tear. ‘I’ve really screwed up. I know I have. But I can’t stop. The home,’ she pleads. ‘It’s just so expensive.’

Evie sighs deeply. ‘Tell me about it,’ she says, drily.

Duke tips his head at Katerina, a signal to go. She looks at him gratefully, and then he has a second thought.

‘The photos,’ he says. ‘Delete them.’

Katerina pulls out her phone and scrolls through the images she just took, the three of them – Duke, Evie, and Magda – watching her.

‘And then from your trash,’ Magda says, and they watch her do that too.

Katerina slinks off into a lift that opens its doors to reveal Daphne. On spotting Duke she waves him over, her iPhone in her hand.

‘I’ve got Independent on the line,’ she says, with a grimace. ‘They’ve got some suggestions for an edit they’ve seen? Apparently it can’t wait.’

Duke sighs, and despite what Magda has said, addresses Evie directly.

‘We need to talk,’ he says. ‘I’ll find you. I have things to say, Evie, and I need you to hear them.’

She issues a shifty glance, side to side.

‘Okay,’ she says, and Duke takes Daphne’s phone off speaker to get on with his work.

39

Duke

The next day at breakfast, Duke comes down to see Daphne already sat with Magda and Evie. He hasn’t had asecondthese past few days, but he is showered and in desperate need of some food, and he tentatively approaches the table to see if he’s welcome. They’re all laughing together, after all. Evie must know Daphne is no threat if she’s sat having breakfast with her.

‘Sit,’ says Evie, when she sees him. ‘Daphne says you’ve had a crazy all-nighter again. I come in peace.’ She holds up her hands to emphasise her point.

‘I’ve cleared the air,’ Daphne tells him. ‘If that wasn’t obvious.’

Evie shrugs, as if to sayoooops!

‘Our girl here gets her exercise by jumping to conclusions,’ Magda jokes, winking at Evie, who scrunches up her nose and takes the hit.

‘I’ve got issues,’ she says, but she’s smiling.

Duke tucks into his fruit salad, and conversation ultimately turns to yesterday, and Katerina’s great uncovering.

‘I mean, jeez – she had better be telling the truth; that’s all I can say.’ Evie chuckles darkly as she spears a piece of asparagus with her fork. ‘Because right up until she said it was to pay for her dad’s care I was ready to … well, I’m not sure,’ she admits. ‘I was mad.’

‘I have known you for almost twenty years and have never, not once, seen you erupt like anything close to that,’ Magda agrees. ‘I was like, scared.’

‘I’ve onlyheardabout it from Duke.’ Daphne giggles, ‘And I’m still scared. Someone in production said you threw a punch! But Duke says it was more of analmost.So I’m pleased about that. What she did was awful, but we don’t condone hitting people, do we, Duke?’

Duke accepts the pointed barb.

‘We don’t,’ he says.

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