Page 56 of Finding Jacob
“Keep your phone in this when you’re not using it,” he said, handing me a plain black metal box. I’d seen the kind of boxes advertised for sale before, something to do with not having your credit or debit card chips scanned or cloned.
I put it straight in the box. “Is there a problem I should be worried about, Nathan?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so.” He gave me a warm smile and sat back down.
“Which one is it?”
“No, I don’t think so. Something isn’t right and my guess is that security services just wants to be sure that nothing bad is being done or said, or accusations thrown, towards the prince. That would be standard protocol.”
“I’d forgotten you would probably know that. Do you have any old contacts to see if he abused Jules?” I asked.
“I’m already on to that, and so far, the answer is yes. He did kick her outside the club. Whether anything is likely to be done, publicly, about that is another matter.”
“So, it could be the Palace that’s checking Hannah’s calls?”
“That, I doubt. However, it’s easy enough to work out who it is.” He tapped the side of his nose, and I knew then, he wouldn’t tell me how.
“I fucking hate all this subterfuge,” I said.
“Means to an end, and all that. So, are we leaving now, or what? I’m starving.”
I hadn’t planned on doing so, but the minute he’d said he was hungry, it was as if his goddaughter had decided she was as well, and kicked the shit out of me in protest.
I gripped my stomach. “Ouch, lady, cool it,” I said.
“Is that my niece? I’m not calling her goddaughter.”
“It sure is. Future football star I think.”
It had crossed my mind that his first niece or nephew had died when his sister had been killed. In my eyes, even if that hadn’t been the case, he could call her whatever he wanted. He was family as far as I was concerned.
“And you can call her whatever you want,” I said, finally piling my paperwork, picking up the box containing the phone and my handbag.
We travelled to a local bistro pub and met Jacob there. Nothing was said about their meeting or the private conversation. Instead, it was all about the baby and I ended up with a grubby T-shirt full of their handprints as they kept feeling her doing her gymnastics.
CHAPTERTWELVE
The next few days were a blur, and our sadness continued. Hannah had called to let me know the date of the funeral and that she’d meet me for a coffee in a few days. I wondered why, all of a sudden, there wasn’t the rush as before.
Hannah sat with Nathan and detailed what had been happening and her fears. He confirmed the prince had, indeed, assaulted Jules but doing something about it was another matter. He had heard, internally, the prince was being dragged back into line but that gave no justice to Hannah or Jules. She quietly wept.
“As for the calls, I want to add a device to your phone that will allow me to hack in. It will only record when you hear that click, so I won’t hear all your calls. But it might allow us to start a trace on where the calls are coming from. Is that okay?”
Hannah nodded. “I haven’t had any since the last one but once we announce the funeral, I’m sure they’ll start up.”
Nathan dropped me off home and then headed to Hannah’s. I got the impression she preferred it that way, and I knew Nathan would. If there was anything untoward going on, he wouldn’t want me around.
I decided on a nice cool shower and a sit in the garden until Jacob visited. I hadn’t seen him for a couple of days, he was ‘out of the country,’ wherever that was. He had insisted on being back for the funeral, however. I pulled one of my summer floaty dresses from my closet and, with no underwear on, slipped it over my head. Summer had started and we were experiencing a small heatwave. At just under five months pregnant, and with an obvious bump now, I couldn’t believe how hot I constantly was. Sarah, my nurse and friend, had told me all sorts of symptoms were likely to happen and not one pregnancy was the same as the other.
I was jollied up by a knock at my door. Since Jacob had a key, I knew it wasn’t him. I slowly walked down the stairs and peered through the spy hole. All I saw was a huge display of flowers. I pressed on the intercom button.
“Can I help you?” I wasn’t stupid enough to just open the door to a bunch of flowers.
“It’s me, open the blasted door, will you?” I heard, and then a chuckle.
“Where is your key?” I asked, as I did and smiled at a grinning Dory.
“In my pocket but my hands are full.” She thrust the huge bunch of gorgeous flowers into my chest. “Here.”
