Page 19

Attached. Megan WTF is going on?

He’d attached an audit and she’d managed to print that, and the e-mail, fold them and shove them into her pocket. The late-morning sun was still bathing the patio in sunshine and she slid onto a chair and put her head down on her crossed arms as weariness overwhelmed her. The same lethargy she’d experienced when her parents had been killed overtook her limbs and Megan blinked as her vision blurred.

Jet lag and interrupted sleep last night. That’s all it was.

She was not going to let herself sink into a depression just because some lowlife at the university had accessed her computer files. That had to be what had happened. There was no other explanation. She got a sense from the tone of Tony’s e-mail that he was beginning to doubt her innocence too. Her own brother-in-law was sceptical, so what chance did she have of proving she hadn’t done any of the things she’d been accused of? Looked more and more likely that someone had gone to great lengths to get her out of the department. Out of her job, and out of the university.

It had to be Greg; she had underestimated him and she hadn’t given him credit for his determination to get her out of her job.

He was a nut case; it hadn’t taken her long to figure that out. She’d seen the crazy side of him and had broken off their short relationship when she’d overheard him in a call to an ex-girlfriend one night. He was abusive and cruel, and she’d not been out with him again.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she pressed her fingers to her temples, trying to remember if Greg had ever had access to her password. They’d gone out for a few months and he’d suckered her right in. All he’d been after was the full time lecturer’s position, and any information that she had on the selection panel. He’d trampled all over her in the race for a promotion. And he’d worked hard to get in her bed, wining her and dining her, and taking her away for romantic weekends. She’d fallen for it hook, line and sinker, needing the comfort and attention in the months after the accident.

She had sworn off men for life when she’d realised what he was doing. He’d actually had the temerity to brag to his ex about it when he’d thought Megan wasn’t listening. She’d told him to leave her apartment and demanded the key back from him. Now, she realised, he’d obviously been in her files in her home office.

She’d never given him her password but he’d obviously figured it out somehow. She’d make him pay, if it was the last thing she did.

But no more of this mooning around. She’d go to the festival rehearsal, get some more food from the crazy lady at the village store, and chase up a plumber. And then when she got home, she’d figure out a plan of attack. She was going to fight to keep her job.

Sitting up straight, she squinted into the bright sunlight as the creak of a gate caught her attention. David was heading out the back of his cottage across the fields, his guitar slung over his shoulder, and he was obviously going to rehearse at the festival at Pilton. If she didn’t hurry, she’d miss the afternoon rehearsals. No more sitting around feeling sorry for herself. She’d grab her notebook and camera, go start her research, and enjoy herself while she was there too.

##

First stop was the village, and she walked along the road rather than cutting across the fields. The main street was quiet and she headed for the pub—there’d be more chance of getting local information there. The hippie woman in the shop had been less than helpful yesterday.

“Wait!” A shrill voice came from behind and Megan turned around. The purple apron was flapping in front of the plump shopkeeper who was wearing orange tights today. Megan smothered a grin.

“Sorry, love. Just wanted to tell you, Ned is dropping your water off at the cottage later.” The woman huffed as she came to a stop beside Megan. “He got in late last night and I forgot to tell him to deliver it to you. He had a long cab fare to London.”

“No problem. I’m just…er...going to the pub to see if they can find me a plumber.”

“No, no, no.” The woman shook her head and her long earrings jangled as her head moved. “No point, love. Another twenty-four hours to the solstice and whoosh…before you know it, everything will be working again as good as gold.” She reached over and gave Megan a motherly pat on the cheek. “You’ll see.”

Megan shrugged and headed off down the road, looking at the festival map that had been delivered along with her ticket.

Damn…I’ve gone the wrong way.

She’d totally lost her sense of direction—being in the Northern Hemisphere had thrown her and she had to think before she got her bearings. Pilton was actually closer to Shepton Mallet and it would have been quicker to go across the fields from her place than walk into Glastonbury and go around. It was only a two-mile walk that way. By coming into the village, she’d added about six miles to her trip if she wanted to continue on to the farm where the festival was. She flipped over the map and looked at the bus schedule, but the buses didn’t start running from the village until the festival proper kicked off tomorrow.

With a sigh, she turned back to the shop to collect supplies for a decent meal tonight. This afternoon she’d charge her phone and focus on the e-mail from Tony and then make sure she was up bright and early tomorrow to go to the festival.

***

For the first time, everything had gone according to plan on stage. Holly hadn’t shown up, and David was pleased with the rehearsal. Just as he crossed the field and lined up the markers, the sun set in a blaze of colour that highlighted Saint Michael’s Tower on the top of Glastonbury Tor. The air softened immediately. He loved the long English dusk and he missed it when he was on his Caribbean island.

The only thing that had stuffed up rehearsal today was worrying about Megan. For the life of him, he couldn’t understand why the woman stayed in his thoughts. He didn’t like what was happening to him. He’d dreamed about her and she was fixed in his mind. Perhaps it was the solstice that was screwing with his head.

Yeah, she loved his songs, and yeah she was a looker, but she’d touched him deeply and his emotions were kicking in for the first time for a long time. Every time he’d sung a song this afternoon, an image of her brushing at her eyes had stayed with him. Something had upset her.

He closed his eyes, touched the stone at the gate and let the rush take him home.

As he entered the back gate to his garden, the tantalising smell of Italian herbs wafted past. Before he could change his mind, he put his guitar on the bench on his back porch and walked around to the rear of Violet Cottage. Logic told him not to go, but he couldn’t help himself.

Megan was sitting at the table on the patio surrounded by a pile of papers. David stood watching quietly as she bent her head and wrote in a notebook. Her hair was damp and small dark ringlets were plastered to her forehead. Her shoulders were bare, her skin almost translucent in the soft light, and the same perfume she’d worn in his car today wafted across to him. It mingled with the perfume of the roses spilling over the fence between the cottages. As he stepped towards her, she frowned and pursed her lips, tapping the pen on the table. She lifted her head and looked at him without speaking as he stood by the table.

“I just came over to check on your water, but it looks like you’ve found a plumber?” He pointed to her damp hair.

She shook her head. “No, a guy called Ned dropped off a big container of water and lugged it into the bathroom for me. I managed to heat enough on the stove to have a much-needed bath.”