Page 94 of The Love Letter

‘Far be it from me to comment, but do you not think it might be safer for you to go and see His Royal Highness at the palace rather than him coming to Welbeck Street? It’s so much more secure.’

‘I know. But I feel so tense there. I always think there might be someone listening at the door.’

‘Okay. I’ll make myself scarce tonight, obviously.’

‘Thanks. Er, Simon, when I go to Norfolk this week to start filming again, how will you explain your presence there?’

‘Oh, I’ll check in, hang out in the bar, be a groupie on the film set . . .’ He shot her a grin. ‘I can be pretty inconspicuous when I want to.’

‘I’ll take your word for it,’ Zoe replied grimly.

Outside number ten Welbeck Street, the photographer waited patiently.

Having deposited Zoe home earlier, Simon pulled the car to a halt outside Welbeck Street for a second time that day. The Prince had been a more irritating passenger, compared to Zoe’s calming presence. Simon clenched his teeth as he sensed him shuffling impatiently in the back seat and tapping away at his mobile phone.

‘Don’t bother opening the door. I’ll hop straight out,’ the Prince barked as Simon made to get out of the car.

‘All right, sir.’

Simon watched as he made his way up the steps, neither of them noticing an infrared light flash on the other side of the road. He sighed and looked at his watch. The two of them could be hours and he really didn’t want to contemplate how they were spending their time. He took a thriller out of the glove box, switched on the spotlight above him and began to read.

His mobile rang at ten to eleven.

‘I’m coming out in five minutes.’

‘Right. I’m outside and ready to go, sir.’

Simon put his book away and turned the engine on. Exactly five minutes later, the front door opened. Zoe appeared, looked both ways, then beckoned to her companion. In the hallway he gave her a quick peck on the cheek and ran out to the car.

The infrared light flashed again.

‘Okay, Warburton, back home, please.’

‘Yes, sir.’

There was a sombre mood the first morning back in Norfolk on the film set ofTess. Everyone was shocked by William’s death and it had broken the jovial atmosphere.

‘Thank God it’s only one more month,’ said Miranda, the actress playing Tess’s mother. ‘It feels like a grave here too. That your new boyfriend?’ she asked in the same breath as she studied Simon, who was drinking a glass of Coke at the bar.

‘No, he’s a journalist who’s been sent up here to cover me for a week. They’re doing an interview to coincide with the release of the film.’ Zoe repeated the story the two of them had concocted together.

Despite his protestations that he would fade into the background, everyone had noticed Simon’s presence in the past two days. He was far too attractive to be ‘inconspicuous’, as he’d suggested, and everyone had noticed him as he hung around the edges of the film set, scribbling pretend notes onto a pad. Zoe had found Simon’s presence unsettling, but at least in the evenings, due to the heavy workload, she was crawling upstairs to bed soon after she returned from the set, and could avoid him.

On Thursday morning, as she was studying the script for that day’s shoot, her mobile phone rang.

‘Hi, sis, it’s me. How’re you getting on?’

‘Fine, Marcus.’

‘Are you coming home at the weekend? Only you mentioned going to Dorset and making a start on the attic.’

‘I can’t, I’m afraid. I’m going away actually.’

‘I see. Anywhere nice?’

‘Just a house party with some friends.’

‘What “friends”?’