Page 81 of The Wedding Cake Wish
‘Oh, for God’s sake, Ruby.’ He pushes back his chair andstands up. ‘I’m not staying here to listen to this. I’ve had enough of yourridiculous suspicions.’
‘Just wait. Please! I bet she won’t show me the photograph.’
Amelia stares at me, her eyes suddenly as cold as ice. But Iglimpse a flash of fear in them, too.
She shrugs and smiles. ‘What on earth are you talking about,Ruby? Of course you can see the photograph.’ She fumbles in her bag and bringsit out. ‘Here.’
Hudson is walking away, shaking his head. I take the photoand hurry after him. ‘Look! See where this was taken.’
He glances at it and shakes his head wearily. ‘Just leaveit, Ruby.’
‘Hudson, please look at it. It was taken at the Baker StreetCafé.’
He frowns at me. ‘What on earth are you talking about?’
‘Look! You can see the poster of Sherlock Holmes in thebackground.’ I hold it out and he peers at it, bemused. Then he takes the photoand studies it more closely. ‘I didn’t know Myles even knew about that place,’he murmurs.
‘But that’s the point. Hedidn’t. Myles probablynever went to the Baker Street Café in his life.’
‘So how does Amelia have a photo of him there?’ he demands.
‘Because that’s not a picture of Myles.’ I draw in a deepbreath. ‘It’s a photograph of you, Hudson.’
I stare at him, willing him to believe me.
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ But he snatches the photo back tohave another look.
I watch him, holding my breath. ‘It’s the eyes that give itaway. If you look closely enough. One blue, one green – but in Myles they’rethe other way around to yours...’
To my utter relief, his expression changes, and I realisehe’s seeing what I’m telling him.
He turns to me, bemused for a moment.
‘Hudson, I don’t think Amelia ever even met Myles. It wasall an act. Probably to get close to you.’
He stares into the distance and I can tell he’s grapplingwith the idea that Amelia could possibly have deceived him. I’m not surprisedhe’s finding it hard to comprehend. If it wasn’t for the fact that I’ve longsuspected Amelia wasn’t all she made herself out to be, I think I’d be findingthis impossible to believe, too...that someone could be sohorribly calculating...
Hudson glances at me, then walks back to the table and Ifollow him, my heart in my mouth.
‘This is a picture of me, not Myles,’ says Hudson, showingthe photo to a stunned Amelia. ‘Which I must admit I find a bit odd.’ His toneis pleasant and matter-of-fact.
‘What?’ She stares up at him in alarm. ‘No, of course itisn’t. It’s Myles.’
‘But it very clearly isn’t,’ Hudson says softly. ‘Rubyspotted it.’ He turns and ushers me into my seat, before sitting down himself.
Amelia turns her anger on me. ‘Well, I might have known itwould beyoutrying to accuse me of something I’m innocent of.’
I take a deep breath to calm myself. Then I say slowly, ‘Youand Kat were both in the café that day Gordon was taking photos for hisadvertising feature. I knew I recognised Kat but I couldn’t think how. And thenI recalled her comment about me punching above my weight with Hudson.’ I turnto Kat. ‘Remember?’
She frowns and shrugs.
‘Well, of course you remember. Because Amelia was there, too– although she had her back to us so I never saw her face – and you listened into our conversation, both of you, and you used what you heard us talking aboutto your advantage. So you could pretend to Hudson that you were Myles’s secretlover.’
I glance at Hudson. He’s just sitting there, motionless, hisbrow furrowed as if he can’t really believe it.
Amelia stares at me for a moment and I wonder if she’s goingto admit that I’m right. Then she throws her head back and gives a shriek oflaughter. ‘Well, that is the mostridiculousload of tripe I’ve everheard in mylife! Jeez, you must be really desperate to get intoHudson’s budgie smugglers, Ruby, to make up a far-fetched story like that one.’She shakes her head in disbelief at Kat. But I notice that Kat doesn’t respond.
‘Is Ruby right?’ Hudson interjects. ‘You didn’t even knowMyles?’
