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She unwrapped herself from his arms where she had been dozing for most of Sunday afternoon. The weather was appalling, the scudding grey skies hurling angry bursts of rain against the windows. They hadn't needed much encouragement to decide to spend the whole afternoon in bed.
Those shares were bought by whoever had the bank account and arranged the false address in Paddington' Mattie began, marshalling her arguments. 'That's the only conclusion you can reasonably reach. But the trail is very difficult to follow. Apart from telling us that the account was opened for less than a fortnight, the bank will tell us nothing, and have point-blank refused to let us see the signatures on the documents relating to the bank account. And the Paddington tobacconist's is even less helpful. I think all the attention and notoriety has put paid to some of the more profitable sidelines which he seems to have run out of his back room.'
Johnnie was not finished. 'But what is it you are trying to prove? The documentation is scarcely going to tell you any more than you know already. What you need to establish is not so much whether it was Charles Collingridge, but whether it could have been anyone other than him. If it could, along with your computer tampering you might have the beginnings of a circumstantial story.'
She rolled out of his arms to look him directly in the face.
'You still don't believe it was a frame-up, do you?'
'You haven't even yet proved that a crime was committed, let alone having any idea as to who might have done it' he argued, but his voice softened as he recognised the growing impatience in her eyes. You have to be realistic, Mattie. If you are going to launch yourself publicly into this great conspiracy theory, you will have a very sceptical audience who will want more than a few 'maybes'. If you turn out to be wrong, you will do yourself and your career a lot of harm. And should you turn out to be right, you're going to have some very powerful enemies out there, who could do you even more harm. If they can nobble the Prime Minister, what could they do to you?'I He stroked her hair tenderly.
It's not a matter of whether I believe your theory, Mattie. It's a matter of caring about you, of not wanting you to get caught in something which could be bigger than both of us and could cause you a great deal of pain. Frankly I'm scared you might be taking this one a bit too far. Is it really worth it?'
Instantly he knew he had said something wrong. He didn't know why, but he sensed her body go rigid, unresponsive, enveloped by a cold shell that had suddenly divided the bed in two.
Hell, Johnnie, I would be even more scared if it turned out to be true and nobody did anything about it,' she snapped. 'And damn it, it was you who encouraged me to go after the story.'
'But that was before... well, before you got into my bed and into my life. This isn't just another story for me, Mattie, this is personal. I really care about you.'
'So that's it. Drop the bloody story and concentrate on getting laid. Thanks, but no thanks! I asked you to go to bed with me, Johnnie, not own me.'
She rolled away from him so that he could no longer see her face. She could sense his bewilderment and pain, but how could she tell him. The feeling of panic which had come over her as he confronted her with a choice between her career and his caring. God, it was' going to happen all over again.
'Look, Johnnie ...' She was having tremendous difficulty finding the right words. 'I am fond of you - very fond, you know that. But my career is most important to me. This story is most important to me. I can't let anything else get in its way' She paused for a painful moment. 'Perhaps we made a mistake.'
'What are you saying? Goodbye? Just like that? You drag me into bed as if I'm the last caveman left on earth for a couple of hot nights and then - bugger off ? What is it? Just adding to your collection of notches on the bedpost?'
The sarcasm bit deep and rattled her. 'I needed you, Johnnie. I needed a man, not a lifelong commitment, I needed to feel like a woman again, it had been so long...'
'Great. A million pricks out there and you had to pick this one. I didn't realise it was just that, Mattie. I really wish you hadn't bothered,' he said with evident bitterness and anger.
'Johnnie, stop! This isn't right. Don't make me say something I don't mean. I like you, very much. That's the problem.'
'That's a problem? Well, I'm glad you have managed to put it behind you.' He gave a dry, humourless laugh and stared straight at the ceiling.
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