A Model Mother

Chapter 19

“No, not at all, it’ll be nice to get out of London. But I need to be back by midnight."

“No problem. So, let’s talk business now and then we can enjoy our meal and gossip!”

Rose laughed. “OK, go ahead, what’s the deal?”

Once Rose had left Miles spent the time talking to staff in the US offices and then he Skyped Bill.

Bill recognised his surroundings immediately. “You’re at Rose’s flat?”

“Yes I am. I’m babysitting Lloyd. Rose has a business meeting.”

Bill smiled, remembering how just a week ago Miles was talking about getting full custody of Lloyd.

“Are things working out for you two?”

“Well, it’s really early days.  Rose is mad at me, but considering how I behaved to her she’s being more than generous over access to Lloyd. Lloyd has bonded with me real quick; I’ve decided I’m not going to give either of them up without a fight.”

“So when are Frankie and I going to get to meet Lloyd?”

“He’s asleep now. I’d love you both to meet him. Let me talk to Rose first, see if we can sort something out. “

“Have you shown her the photographs yet?”

Miles grimaced. “Not yet, I’ve promised I’ll give her a full explanation this weekend, but to be honest I’m dreading it. She may take one look at them and wonder how on earth I could have thought it was her. I wanted to find out if there was any more news from Max, so at least I could tell her what the scam was.”

Bill reassured him. “Don’t worry; the photos are a real shocker; even if she stays mad at you she won’t fail to see that someone went to a whole load of trouble and expense to make her look as guilty as hell.”

Miles concurred. “You’re not kidding! Tonight she was wearing some earrings I bought her when I was in Rome. I remember that when I bought them she was on that trip to Manila; but in the photos of Manila, the person impersonating her is wearing a replica of them.”

“Aside from the fact that I was a complete idiot not to notice details like that when I first saw them, how the hell did Max manage to get such exact copies of her jewellery, her car, her clothes? Was he stalking her? Did he break into our apartments? Now I’m starting to think about the details of this scam I’m getting nervous. Does Max really hate me that much? Is he sicker than we realise?”

Bill had been nodding while he listened, “Yeah, I must admit I’ve been wondering some of this myself. Are you happy with the level of security around her and Lloyd? Does she have anyone working for her who has access to the flat? For example, a maid? “

Miles thought about it, “I’m not sure about a maid. But actually, now you mention it we did have a cleaner who did both our flats when we were together, her name was Lily – she came from an agency, I’ll dig out her details. Funnily enough she left my employment when Rose and I separated, I’ll find out if she stayed on with Rose or not.”

“Stuff like that could be important Miles, just get it to me as fast as you can so that I can carry on trying to unravel what’s been going on. Anyway, I can update you on Max. Are you ready to listen?”

Miles sat back on the sofa and concentrated. “Go on.”

“Looks like he owes a large cash sum in gambling debts. In addition, one of his properties is mortgaged to the hilt – done in the last six months and the money from it probably went to pay off debts too. In theory he can sell some of his assets and get the remainder of the cash he needs although it would leave a large dent in his standard of living, which is extravagant to say the least. It looks like he has the classic gambler’s delusion of thinking he can make good his losses the next time he plays and apparently  he has had a couple of spectacular wins, but has quickly lost it all again. I think that his plan was definitely to get you to dig him out of his hole but he thought that if you were married to Frankie it would have seemed easier.”