Page 109 of Love like the (Real) Reel Thing
She doubled back across the foyer, bypassing the lift and taking the stairs down to the basement. Snuggles was in his bed in the small room just down the corridor from the kitchens. As soon as he saw her, he barked and jumped up. Gerry flushed red as he stuffed his phone quickly into his pocket.
“Hi, Gerry.” Jess flashed him a smile. “We need to borrow Snuggles for a little while.”
Gerry’s eyes widened. “But Mr Torres said –”
“Mr Torres is on set right now and can’t be disturbed.” Jess held her smile.
“Of course, ma’am.” As he clipped on the dog’s lead and muzzle, Jess told herself not to feel guilty. This was for a greater cause.
Snuggles thumped his tail on the floor as she took hold of the lead.You can do this, Jess.“Thanks, Gerry. Come on, boy.” She headed back upstairs, Snuggles bounding energetically by her side.
Back in the foyer, she looped the lead around the leg of the heavy reception desk and patted him carefully on the head, then rang Adam, willing him to pick up the phone. Dammit, why didn’t he? She ended the call abruptly and had started to message him when he rang her back.
“What’s wrong?”
“In a minute the fire alarm is going to go off. A few minutes later, I’m going to release Snuggles into the grounds at the rear of the castle. I’m hoping there’ll be enough distractions for you to slip Afric back in through the rear gates.”
“Here’s hoping.” Adam sounded tense. “There’s about half a dozen photographers here.”
“Just get ready for that distraction – you’ll have one chance.” Jess hung up, trying to calm her nerves as she looked down atSnuggles. “There’s about to be a really loud noise, okay?” She grinned as the big dog gave a single woof and wagged his tail again.
Hurrying to one of the Victorian fireplaces, she found a box of long matches on the mantelpiece. Back in her office, she shoved her laptop in her desk drawer, then climbed up on a chair and lit a match beside the smoke alarm.Shit!Why wasn’t this working? She lit another one, letting it burn for as long as she could. There was a shrill ringing as the automatic evacuation system kicked in.
Outside in the foyer, Snuggles started to bark. Quickly, Jess climbed down off the chair and ran outside to him.
“Calm down, boy, we just need to hide for a few minutes.”
CHAPTER 56
Jess ducked back into her office with Snuggles and locked the door, rubbing the dog’s ears to keep him quiet. Outside in the foyer, she could hear people shouting and running, and she sent up a quick prayer that people would leave by all the exits, to create a proper diversion.
Minutes later, the foyer quietened and she stuck her head outside. There was nobody around. “Come on, boy.” She took him into the foyer and ran straight into Emily, who was holding Diva.
Jess tightened her grip on Snuggles’ lead as both dogs began barking.
“Jess!” Emily’s eyes widened. “Where’s the fire? Nobody seems to know!”
“Not a clue!” God, she was running out of time – maybe she should come clean with Emily.
“Mr Neary should figure it out pretty quickly,” Emily said, holding tightly on to Diva, who was trying to jump out of her arms. “He can see all the smoke alarms on his iPad so he’ll know which one was triggered.”
Shit!“We’d better just get out, Em.”
“Right, yeah.” Emily frowned. “How come you have Snuggles, by the way?”
“Long story, just don’t tell anyone, okay? Andum, I can’t come with you. Don’t worry, I’m getting out another way.” When she noticed Emily’s frown, she added, “Just trust me.”
Emily bit her lip and nodded, hurrying out through the castle’s main entrance as Jess ran with Snuggles to the west entrance, where she stopped, breathing hard. She messaged Adam again.2nddistraction coming now.
She slipped outside, skirting close to the castle walls as she kept Snuggles on a short lead. When she’d gone as far as she dared, she ducked in behind one of the original merlons – small, jutting defence walls that still existed in places around the castle wall – and squinted towards the open gate – which she knew would stay open thanks to the automated fire system.
Snuggles strained against her hold. “Wait for it, boy!”
Her phone buzzed, and with her free hand she pulled it out of her pocket and thumbed open the message from Adam.Ready when U R
Please let this work.Heart thumping fast, Jess unclipped Snuggles’ lead and pulled off his muzzle. “Off you go, boy!”
Barking loudly, Snuggles tore off across the grounds, running in circles for a few moments before heading in the direction of the gates. All she needed was for the assembled photographers to scatter. She held her breath.
