The Real Katie Lavender by Erica James

What’s changed?’
    Ian shrugged. ‘I’ve had time to think about it, I suppose. I’m looking at it more objectively, putting my emotions to one side.’
    ‘You’re sure that’s what it is? You wouldn’t, for instance, be swayed by the idea of all that money?’
    He leant back in his seat, his eyes wide. ‘That’s a terrible thing to say!’
    ‘Isn’t it just?’ she said.
    His face flushed. ‘You’re accusing me of something, Katie, and I don’t like it. I’m only thinking of you.’ He pursed his lips. Then: ‘I thought I knew you; I thought you were levelheaded and warm-hearted, but now I’m not so sure. I’ve never seen you like this before, so cold and accusatory. I have to say, it doesn’t suit you.’
    ‘What? You expected me to be pathetically flaky, rushing to throw myself into the arms of a man who had sex with my mother thirty years ago, crying “Daddy, oh my daddy!” like that fool of a girl in The Railway Children ?’
    ‘I’d expect you at least to have an open mind. And not bite my head off for trying to help.’
    ‘Well, boo-bloody-hoo, I’m sorry to disappoint you,’ she said stiffly. ‘Though what else could you expect when you’re doing such a bang-up job of annoying me? But if you do really want to help me, there is something you can do.’
    His expression brightened. ‘What’s that?’
    ‘You can leave me in peace with my cold and accusatory self. Because you know what, I don’t need anyone else messing up my life right now.’

Chapter Seven
    The next morning, Saturday, and after sleeping well for the first time in a week, Katie woke with a clear sense of purpose and resolve.
    She hated to admit it, but Ian had been right last night. She was curious. But she would no more admit that to him than she would tell anyone what she was about to do. With Tess and Ben away in Barcelona for a long weekend, she felt she had free rein to do as she pleased, that while the cat was away, the mouse would play. Not that she was answerable to her best friend, but undoubtedly Tess would have something to say on the subject, and Katie didn’t want to explain herself or her actions.
    She knew that as plans went, it was on the woolly side, but in the circumstances it was the best she could come up with. If it came to nothing, what would it matter anyway? She suddenly felt that she had to do something; she had to be proactive and stop sitting around griping and feeling angrily sorry for herself. Her energy might be better put to use by looking for a job, but right now that didn’t feel such a priority.
    So with the satnav fired up, a map on the passenger seat and the information she had printed off from her computer, she was on her way to Henley-on-Thames, or more precisely, to a village called Sandiford, which was about three miles from Henley.
    Thanks to Ian’s snooping on the internet, she had Stirling Nightingale’s business address but not his home address. However, Ian wasn’t the only one to play at being Sherlock Holmes; after some digging around on her laptop whilst she’d been eating breakfast, she had discovered that the wife of Stirling Nightingale’s brother was a serious gardener, and that her garden had featured in several magazines. It had even popped up in an episode of Gardener’s World several years ago for a feature about newly created gardens. From what Katie had seen online, it looked beautiful.
    With The Meadows as her destination, she figured that as joint MDs of Nightingale Ridgeway Investments, the two men wouldn’t live that far apart, and on that basis one would lead to the other. She had ruled out tracking down Stirling Nightingale at his work address for the simple reason that it was the weekend and he wouldn’t be there. And now that she had made a decision, she didn’t want to wait until Monday.
    She had no intention of blundering in on Stirling Nightingale. Quite the contrary. If it was possible, she wanted to observe him from a safe distance, to see