Page 108 of The Love Letter

‘Hello, Zoe.’ Art kissed her on the top of her head. ‘Right, we’ll be off. Thanks, Warburton, for all your help.’ He nodded at Simon perfunctorily.

‘Yes, bye, Simon.’ Zoe waved at him as Art led her into the VIP room. A small posse of security men followed after the couple.

Simon made his way back through the maze of airport corridors that took him landside again. His mobile phone rang.

‘Warburton.’

‘Yes, sir?’

‘You’re relieved of security duty until Miss Harrison returns. Stand by for further instructions.’

‘Right. Thank you, sir.’

Simon drove the Jaguar back to the car pool and handed over the keys. He then headed for the pub, where he treated himself to a perfect foaming pint of Tetley’s bitter, in which he intended to knowingly and whole-heartedly drown his sorrows.

The Isolated Pawn

A pawn that has no friendly pawn adjacent to it. It may either be seen as a weakness, or used as an opportunity for counterplay

25

Joanna sat at her desk, dejectedly typing an article about the top ten plants that could kill your pet. She felt numb, empty, used and confused, and on the verge of giving it all up and returning to Yorkshire to count sheep for the rest of her days.

Marcus had called her on her mobile and even a number of times on the tapped landline at her flat last night. Joanna had not returned his calls. In reality, she was ‘out’ to Marcus for the rest of her life, after the way he had betrayed her. She shuddered at the thought that during all those beautiful times they had spent together, he had simply been using her for anything she knew.

She was counting the minutes until it was half past five and time to switch off her screen. Though why she wanted to go home to an empty flat with no boyfriend and no best friend, she didn’t know. It didn’t help that the whole office was buzzing with the news of Zoe Harrison and the Prince. Or that this morning Marian, the female features editor, had called her into her domain.

‘You wrote the piece on Marcus Harrison, Zoe’s brother.’

‘Yes,’ Joanna had replied sullenly.

‘And word has it that you’re screwing him.’ Marian never minced her words.

‘I was, but I’m not now.’

‘As of when?’

‘As of yesterday.’

‘What a shame. I was going to suggest sending you to try and get an interview from her, seeing as you’re almost family.’

‘Impossible, I’m afraid.’

‘Pity. It could have got you off Pets and Gardens.’ Marian chewed her biro as she studied Joanna. ‘Okay, Jo, it’s your call. If you won’t do it, then someone else will. You trying to protect her?’

‘No.’

‘Fine. Because if you are, the best thing you could do is to get her to agree to talk to you. At least that way she’ll get a sympathetic hearing.’

Marian had waved her out dismissively and Joanna had slunk back to her desk.

At long last, it was twenty-nine minutes and fifty-five seconds past five. With a groan of relief, Joanna switched off her computer and headed for the door. She was waiting for the lift when Alec came up to her.

‘Hi, Jo. You okay?’

‘No, Alec, I’m not.’

‘Right, well, I want a word, but not here. I’ll meet you in the French House in an hour. Looks like you were right.’ Without giving her a chance to say no, Alec turned on his heel and went back into the office.