Page 113 of Love like the (Real) Reel Thing
She started to crawl again, then took a huge gasp as the air started to freshen. Ahead of her, she could see the first chink of daylight and guessed the exit had been left open.
Shaking, Jess pulled herself out, emerging at ground level, beside one of the old kitchen delivery entrances to the castle.That was it!She was ticking tunnel-crawling off her list of things she never,everwanted to do again. Taking a few moments to slow her breathing, she turned and spotted Robert a short distance away, watching her. Jess realised she wasn’t that surprised.
“I heard you so I waited to make sure you got through okay.” Robert’s tone was jovial.
She wrapped her arms tightly around herself, in an effort to steady herself. “Is this the tunnel you’ve been using since the filming began?”
He laughed. “Why would I use a tunnel to get into the castle? I have a security pass, remember?”
“So why were you in it just now? Why was it unlocked?”
For a moment she thought he wasn’t going to answer. Then he shrugged. “The old lock was broken. I just fixed it today.”
“But you told Anthony it was dangerous.”
He hesitated. “Structurally, it’s okay. It’s just not as safe as the others because of its size. A big person could actually get stuck.”
“Maybe, but you opened it a while ago, didn’t you? Not for you, for somebody else – that reporter.”
“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about, Jess.”
Was she being paranoid?
He sighed. “Listen, I don’t blame you for cancelling last night, you had a rough day yesterday. What about getting together this evening instead?”
She stared at him. “You didn’t answer my question.”
He puffed out a breath. “Why are you obsessing about locks and tunnels? They’re all four hundred years old, sometimes they get a bit warped. Like the lock on the Lady Linford tunnel did when you were in there.”
Jess’s mouth had dried. “How did you know about that?”
“I heard about it. Jesus, they had to get somebody in to repair the panelling around it.”
He closed the gap between them but she found herself stepping away from him.
“Look, I’m not sure what’s going on,” he said, “but you’ve been acting weirdly the last few days.”
Maybe he was right. Maybe she’d got so caught up in the drama of the last couple of days she couldn’t see what was real anymore.Or maybe he was doing such a great job of gaslighting her that she was starting to doubt her own instincts. Something her nana had always told her to rely on.
But she was missing something. This exit was the same as the others – it could only be accessed from inside the tunnel. Unless … She crouched down beside it and tried to pull it towards her but it wouldn’t budge. “What did you do?”
He sighed. “I’ve just told you.”
“No, to the exit.” She placed her hand on the grass in front of it and felt carefully around, her fingers hitting against something low on the ground. Closing her thumb and forefinger around it, she tugged out a wedge of wood, and the exit swung loose.
“This had to be left wedged open for her, I suppose.”
“I just wedged it open for you a few minutes ago,” Robert said.
Jess stared at him for a moment. Nope, she didn’t have the bandwidth for this. “I assume you have a key for the tunnel?”
Robert a small, single key out of his pocket and handed it to her. “I just fixed the lock, Jess.”
“You’re good at warping them too, aren’t you, Robert?”
An expression of guilt, so fleeting she almost missed it, crossed his face. So she’d been right. She’d held out some faint hope that she’d got it wrong – that somehow the entrance to the tunnel had just got stuck. She’d have to report her suspicions to Anthony. She had to make sure that Robert wouldn’t be employed by the Charleston Group again.
He seemed to recover his equilibrium. “You don’t honestly believe I’d do anything like that, do you?”
