Page 114 of Friend of the Family

‘Some party at the Bulgari. God, what on earth’s going on, Amy?’ said Janice without further preamble. ‘It’s like the world’s turned upside down. First you, now Juliet. I mean, what the hell?’

Amy flicked her eyes nervously over to David.

‘Slow down, Janice,’ she said. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. Tell me what’s happened.’

There was a pause.

‘You

don’t know?’

‘Obviously I know I’ve been suspended. But what’s this about Juliet?’

‘Amy . . .’ said Janice, her voice uncertain. ‘Rumours are going round the party like wildfire that the new editor of Mode is going to be announced tomorrow. Word on the street is that the person who’s bagged the job is Juliet James.’

Chapter 38

Amy sat frozen in her seat.

‘What’s wrong?’ said David after a moment.

She stared in front of her, not even able to focus.

‘Juliet. She’s the new editor of Mode . . .’ she said, her voice fading away. She could feel her phone trembling in her hands.

‘How do you know?’

She could feel thick bile rising in her throat.

‘That was Janice. She’s heard the gossip at the shows.’

Her eyes were welling up with tears; her stomach was tight and knotted as if all the air had been squeezed out of her body.

‘How could she do this to me?’ she croaked. ‘All the time we were in Provence, she never said anything. Even yesterday, when I saw her . . .’

David took the phone away from her and held her hands, turning in the confined space of the car to face her.

‘Amy, just stop. It’s gossip, nothing more. Guess-the-new-editor is just the latest parlour game. Until there’s an official announcement, no one knows.’

‘She sounded sure . . .’

‘Jules might have said she wasn’t interested, but it’s the biggest job in the industry. If she did apply, we can’t exactly blame her.’

She shot him a look. All she wanted now was complete loyalty from her husband, not excuses and deflections.

‘She’s not exactly played fair, has she?’

David didn’t reply, and she used his silence to let her thoughts take hold.

‘It all makes sense now,’ she said, her mind mulling over everything that had happened in the past few weeks. It had begun to slot together like a very elaborate jigsaw. ‘Juliet knew I was taking BlissVit and started the heroin rumours, because she knew it would be believable if anyone had seen any vials or syringes around the office. She knows better than anyone how the industry thrives on gossip, and also that Genesis would never hire anyone for the Mode job who had any scandal around them.’

‘Juliet is your best friend, Amy. Listen to yourself.’

‘I am listening, David. Josie told me that Juliet got her the job at Genesis. Hell, Juliet even admitted that much herself. She said it was because she felt guilty about what had happened in Provence, but Josie gave me a different version of events. Juliet told her to spy on me.’

‘Spy? Or keep an eye on you? Big difference, especially as we’ve all been worried about you.’

She knew that David’s allegiance to Juliet ran deep, but it was time for him to pick a side.