Page 52 of The Wedding Cake Wish
There’s an odd silence after that, as if Hudson’s remarksabout finding someone special have affected both of us.
Then the waiter tops up our glasses and Hudson smiles at meand raises his for a toast.
‘To a successful mission!’
‘Finding Rory!’ I smile ruefully. ‘I just wish we knew whichtent he was in.’
Hudson shrugs. ‘The main thing is we know he’ll be at theopening of the gardens tomorrow. And we need to be there to keep an eye on him...findout what he’s planning, if anything.’
‘True. It’s so weird, isn’t it? I mean, if we knew forcertain he was going to do something bad, we could...I don’tknow...report it to the police or something. But he might nothave anything sinister in mind at all.’
Hudson nods. ‘It’s tricky. We could tell Fen and Rob thatwe’ve found him, but then they’d ask all sorts of questions which we wouldn’tbe able to answer.’
‘So you think we should just shadow him tomorrow at thegardens and see what happens?’
He nods. ‘I mean, I’d like to think that nothing willhappen. But Rory’s behaviour is just too suspicious for it to be entirelyinnocent, don’t you think?’
‘I agree. Taking holiday leave from his high-powered IT joband suddenly starting work as a handyman, a hundred miles away from where helives? Very odd indeed.’
‘I’ll bet Stephanie has no idea that her new and apparentlyindispensable handyman is actually the son of her old schoolfriend Rachel.’
A shiver runs along my spine. ‘It’s all so baffling. What’s heup to? I don’t think I’ll sleep at all tonight, wondering what will happentomorrow.’
*****
After our meal, we pop into a pub that’s on our route backand after buying two glasses of port, mainly because I told him I’d never triedit, Hudson challenges me to a game of darts.
I used to play when I was younger and I obviously haven’tlost the knack because I end up beating Hudson – to his surprise and my secretdelight. (I act all cool, like it’s no big deal that I trounced him.)
We’re still talking darts as we walk back along the highstreet towards the glamping site. In fact, we’re laughing so much, we almostcollide with a woman getting out of a taxi and have to stop and apologiseprofusely to her. Then, just as we’re drawing level with the Duck Pond Café, Ihear the noise of an engine and a vehicle pulls out of the car park.
‘That’s Rory’s van,’ I hiss at Hudson, who’s looking in thewindow of a dog grooming parlour.
He spins around, just as the van motors past us, gathering speedand heading back along the high street.
We stare after it.
‘I wonder where he’s going at this time of night,’ I murmur.‘We could have followed him but we’ve both been drinking.’
‘There’s always the taxi.’
We look at each other. Then at the taxi with its light on.
And we start to run.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
The taxi driver is clearly intrigued by Hudson’sdirection to ‘follow that van’ and he steps on the gas as soon as we’re clearof the village.
‘He’s going to the gardens,’ I murmur, craning my neck tosee the road ahead. ‘I bet he is.’
Hudson is silent, intent on watching out for the van.
Sure enough, we catch up with Rory just in time to see himtaking the left turn that leads to the gardens’ tradesman’s entrance. As weapproach in the taxi, Rory is getting out and unlocking the gate, then gettingback in the van and driving in.
‘Could you pull up just here please, mate?’ asks Hudson.
I follow him out of the taxi. ‘That’s great. Thank you. Doyou have a card so we can phone you?’ I turn and lean back inside.
