Love Me Till Wednesday (Sapphire Stars #1)

41

41

Lisa was back in the stuffy meeting room at work for a project closure session. At least it was taking her mind off last night’s bizarre encounter with Mel.

She still couldn’t get her head around how Mel had behaved. Despite Nick’s assurances about Mel being a good liar, Lisa was kicking herself for being oblivious to what Mel was up to for so long.

A text from her solicitor brought Lisa back to the present.

Exchange of contracts confirmed for Friday.

Good. Only two more days before the house sale reached the point of no return. Then, she could hand in her notice, devote more time to writing and recording with the Stars, and even visit Nick in LA. Please let it all go through smoothly.

She’d been nervous about seeing her work colleagues face-to-face today after last week’s negative publicity, but amazingly, all she got were a few funny looks. So far, no one had been brave enough to mention anything to her directly, apart from Nina asking if she was ok.

‘Any more lessons learned?’ Colin asked as he held on to the flip chart stand at the front of the room .

‘Yes. Don’t let Colin order the sandwiches,’ Nina muttered to Lisa as they looked at the dull array of plain ham, cheese and egg sandwiches arranged on a plastic platter in the middle of the table. They were curling up at the edges after sitting there for over an hour, having failed to tempt any of the meeting participants to eat them.

Colin looked in their direction with the smile he used when he was pissed off: all teeth and a venomous look in his eyes. ‘Nina. Was that something you wanted to share with the rest of the team?’

’No. Sorry, just clearing my throat,’ she said, smiling back at him with a similar expression.

Colin glared at her before turning to annoying Anya. ‘Anya. Any more lessons from you?’

‘Oh yes, Colin. I have several more on my list. Most importantly, we should review our time recording policy.’

Colin perked up. ‘That’s very interesting. Tell me more.’

Lisa stifled a yawn. It was amazing what other people found engaging.

While Anya and Colin were tying down the details of how the timesheet submission process could be streamlined, Lisa’s phone screen sprang to life with a text notification from her bank.

Her eyes nearly popped out of her head when she read it.

￡1,000,000 received from NNE into account ending 434

It must be a mistake.

Nina had noticed it, too. She tapped out a message on her Teams chat with Lisa.

Couldn’t help but see that. I thought you said the house sale hadn’t gone through yet?

Lisa replied.

It hasn’t.

She added a shocked face emoji.

Bought any lottery tickets lately?

Lisa typed

Yes, but none of the numbers have come up.

What if it was a scam? She’d heard about criminals deliberately overpaying you and then persuading you to return the money to them. Once your money hit their bank account, they cancelled the initial payment, leaving you thousands of pounds out of pocket. She couldn’t afford to do that with ￡1 million. She needed to get to the bottom of this urgently.

‘Colin. I’ve got some tasks I need to attend to. I’ve contributed all I can. Can I be excused?’

‘If you must,’ he snapped.

She left the room and headed to one of the booths in the corner of the main office area, where she could talk without being overheard. After a frustrating five minutes trying to get past her bank’s automated chatbot, she finally spoke to a human.

‘I’ve had an unexpected transaction on my bank account this afternoon.’

‘Let me check for you, madam,’ the voice at the end of the phone said. ‘Ooh. That’s a very nice amount to receive.’

‘Yes, but I’ve no idea who it’s from. Is it a scam?’

She could hear the man at the other end of the phone tapping away on his keyboard .

‘It looks like it’s from a legitimate account. We haven’t flagged it as fraudulent. I suggest you get in touch with them directly and query it. Is it someone you’ve ordered something from?’

‘No. I’ve never heard of them before.’

‘Sometimes a company’s bank name can differ from their trading name.’

‘So how do I find out who they are?’

‘Try Googling. I’d offer to do it for you, but our internet browsing is restricted here.’

‘Thank you very much for your help,’ she said, ending the call.

Lisa launched her web browser and searched for NNE. The top result was a market research company. That didn’t make sense at all. She scrolled through the rest of the results. Nothing leapt out at her as a possibility.

Nina was walking towards her. ‘Any news?’

‘No. It’s not obviously a con. Any idea who NNE are?’

Nina shook her head. ‘Look on Companies House. It should say what they do and who owns them.’

Lisa revised her search. ‘No, nothing there. Perhaps they’re not a British company. I don’t know what to do now.’

Nina shrugged. ‘I’d stick it in your savings account and wait for someone to get in touch.’

That evening, Lisa was cooking dinner when the phone rang. Jim. He didn’t usually call at this time on a weekday. He was either working late or putting the kids to bed.

‘Hi, darling. Everything ok?’

‘Yes, I’m fine. I just wanted to see if you’d checked your bank account recently.’

Surely Jim wasn’t behind the massive influx of cash? His business was doing well, but he said he had plans to expand. He shouldn’t be dishing out money to her. ‘Funnily enough, I have. What about it?’

‘Is your balance looking healthier than it was?’

‘Yes. Where did you get a ￡1 million from?’

‘￡1 million? I thought he was only going stump up the ￡800k you need for Greg.’

‘Who?’

’Dad, of course.’

‘Nick?’ Why hadn’t he told her? They’d been texting one another at lunchtime, but he hadn’t mentioned it at all.

‘How many other people do you know who’ve got a spare million kicking around in their accounts?’

‘But how did he know how much I needed? I’ve never discussed the details with him.’

‘I told him. I said I thought you were putting a brave face on having to sell the family home. He said he knew you’d always loved our house. He wanted to help.’

This was awkward. ‘It’s generous of him, but I’m not looking for charity.’

‘It’s not charity. You raised me all on your own. He owes you at least that, probably more. Don’t feel guilty about it. Do you know how much he got paid for his last movie?’

‘No. Surely you didn’t ask?’

‘I didn’t have to. It was all over the papers last year.’

Lisa must have missed that. ‘How much?’

‘Twenty million US dollars so he’s not short of money.’

Even so, it felt wrong to accept that much. ‘I’ll have to think about it.’

‘Don’t think too long. I don’t fancy Sunday lunch in that rented place you were looking at.’

‘Getting snobby now?’

‘No. But it’ll be impossible to get a pushchair up and down those steep stairs. And you deserve better. ’

Lisa tucked into her dinner while mulling over the pros and cons of accepting Nick’s generous gift. Yes, they were officially back together, but she didn’t want to be in debt to him. That wasn’t a good start to a relationship. Jim had a point about the cost of raising a child, though. If Nick had been around when Jim was younger, he’d have had to contribute whether they were together or not, though it wouldn’t have added up to ￡1 million.

Stop prevaricating, Lisa. Just talk to him. You know you want to. What time would it be in Los Angeles now? She looked at the bank of clocks on the kitchen wall. Nearly midday. Not an unreasonable time to reach out.

She sent Nick a WhatsApp message.

Can we talk about the money you sent me when you’re free? xx

He FaceTimed her immediately.

‘Hi, darling.’ He seemed to be deliberately looking sideways at the camera, and the background was rushing by.

‘You’re not driving, are you?’

‘No. Brad is. What have you been up to this afternoon?’

‘Participating in a very dull ‘lessons learned’ activity at work and doing some detective work on a massive incoming transaction to my bank account. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?’

He grinned. ‘The money arrived safely then?’

‘Yes. It was a shock, but thank you. I wasn’t expecting you to do that.’

‘I know you weren’t, but I wanted to help. That should cover Greg’s share of the house, shouldn’t it?’

‘It’s more than enough, but I don’t mind moving. I need a fresh start. ’

‘We’re having a fresh start already, aren’t we?’ he said. ‘Jim told me the rented flat you’re getting isn’t that good.’

‘It isn’t, but it’s only temporary until I can find somewhere permanent.’

‘This way, you can keep the old house until the right place comes along. Or we get somewhere together. But it’s entirely up to you what you do with the money.’

What had he just said? ‘We’re getting somewhere together?’

‘We could do if you want that too. I know I do.’

‘I guess that makes sense. Sorry, you’ve just caught me by surprise, that’s all.’

He flinched.

‘Are you ok?’

‘I’m not looking as pretty as I was when you last saw me.’ He turned to his full face the camera.

Lisa gasped. He was sporting a massive black eye, so swollen he could barely open it. ‘Ouch. What does the other guy look like?’

‘Tall, blonde and furious.’

‘Who?’

‘Adrienne. My lesson learned for today is don’t buy a three-carat diamond engagement ring for someone who doesn’t give a shit about you.’

‘She punched you?’

‘Yeah. Turns out she’s got a cracking left hook. She didn’t like me threatening to release the video of her playing away with the pool cleaner if she sold any more exclusive stories.’

‘I thought you said it was her tennis coach?’

‘I did, but when I asked my PA if she’d noticed anything, she said it was odd that the pool cleaner came so often. So she checked the security camera feeds, and lo and behold, my pool’s been getting a service several times a week, and so has Adrienne. ’

Poor Nick. ‘You wouldn’t get that problem in Camden.’

He chuckled. ‘No, and not just because I wouldn’t have a swimming pool.’ He looked at her intently for a moment. ‘Are you around if I come back to London?’

Her heart skipped a beat. ‘I thought you were filming?’

‘Not looking like this, I’m not. The best make-up artist in the world couldn’t hide this shiner. They’ve reorganised the schedule. I’m not needed back on set for a fortnight.’

She smiled. ‘I guess I could be available.’

‘That’s handy, seeing as I’m already on my way to the airport.’