I mean, honestly.
“Becky, what if you’re arrested?” says Janice in a sudden panic. “We’ve already had one run-in with the police.”
“I won’t be arrested!” I scoff. “It’s not against the law to impersonate people.”
“Yes, it is!” says Luke, smacking a hand against his forehead. “Jesus, Becky. It’s fraud.”
Luke’s always so literal.
“Well, OK, maybe in some cases. But this isn’t fraud,” I say firmly. “It’s a quest for the truth. Anyone would understand that, even a policeman. And I’ve dressed up now; I can’t bottle out. See you later.”
“Wait!” calls Luke. “Remember, if there isn’t any housekeeper or household staff, if your phone loses signal, if anything feels wrong, you leave.”
“Luke, it’ll be perfectly safe!” I say. “This is a friend of my dad’s, remember?”
“Hmm.” Luke doesn’t look impressed. “Well, you be careful.”
“We will. Come on, Suze.”
We hurry down the steps of the RV and toward Raymond’s ranch. Luke drives off to hide the RV out of sight around the next bend. As we approach the massive gates, I start to feel quite severe jitters, but I’m not going to mention them to Suze. She’ll only say, Let’s not do it, then. And I really, really want to do this. It’s our last chance.
Plus…there’s more to it than that. Putting this plan into action, even if it is a bit ridiculous, I feel like I’ve come alive. I feel dynamic. And I think it’s the same for Suze. She’s still in a real state—she hasn’t heard anything from Tarkie, or about Owl’s Tower, or anything. But it’s like channeling her energies into this is making her feel better.
“Come on!” I clasp Suze’s hand briefly as we approach. “We can do this! You went to drama school, remember? If I get in trouble, you take over.”
The gates to the ranch are vast and wooden, and I count three cameras trained on us. It’s all a bit intimidating, but I remind myself that I’m Pauline Audette and head confidently to the intercom panel. I press the entry button and wait for someone to reply.
“Wait, Suze!” I say in a sudden undertone. “What’s our code word?”
“Shit.” She stares at me, wide-eyed. “Dunno.”
We’ve been talking about having a code word all morning, but we haven’t actually thought of one.
“Potato,” I say hurriedly.
“Potato? Are you nuts? How am I supposed to bring ‘potato’ into conversation?”
“Well, you think of a better one. Go on!” I add, as she looks blank.
“I can’t,” she says, sounding cross. “You’ve put me on the spot now. All I can think of is ‘potato.’ ”
“Hello?” A woman’s tinny voice comes over the intercom, and my stomach turns over.
“Hello!” says Suze, stepping forward. “My name is Jeanne de Bloor. I have Pauline Audette here for Mr. Raymond Earle. Pauline Audette,” she repeats, enunciating clearly.
Suze came up with the name Jeanne de Bloor. She’s decided that Jeanne was born in The Hague, has settled in Paris but has a long-term lover in Antwerp, speaks five languages, and is learning Sanskrit. (Suze is very thorough when it comes to creating a character. She’s made notes and everything.)
There’s silence from the intercom, and Suze and I exchange questioning glances. Then, just as I’m about to suggest that Suze try again, a man’s voice comes from the speaker.
“Hello? It’s Raymond Earle here.”
Oh my God. Now my stomach is churning furiously, but I step forward to speak.
“Allo,” I say into the intercom. “My name, eet ees Pauline Audette. We ’ave corresponded.”
“You’re Pauline Audette?” He sounds gobsmacked, as well he might.
“I ’ave see your exhibition at ze fair. I weesh to talk to you about your work, but I cannot find you. So I come to your ’ouse.”
“You saw my work? You want to talk about my work?”
He sounds so excited, I feel an almighty stab of guilt. I shouldn’t be doing this to a poor, innocent potter. I shouldn’t be raising his hopes. I’m a bad person.
But, then, he shouldn’t have sent Mum and Janice away. Tit for tat.
“May I come in to your ’ouse?” I say, but already the gates are swinging open.
We’re in!
“Jeanne,” I say briskly, for the cameras’ benefit, “you weel accompany me and take ze notes.”
“Vairy gut,” says Suze, in what I think is supposed to be a Dutch accent and nearly makes me double over.
The house is about half a mile away, up a badly kept track, and I realize he was expecting us to be in a car. But I can hardly go and get the RV. As we trudge along the track, I keep seeing weird sculptures everywhere. There’s a bull made out of what looks like car parts, and a man’s yelling face made out of iron, and lots of strange abstract pieces made out of what look like tires. It’s all a bit freaky, and I’m glad to reach the house, until I hear the frenzied barking of dogs.
“This place is spooky,” I mutter to Suze as we ring the bell. The house was probably really impressive once, but it’s a bit dilapidated. It’s made of stone and wood, with gables and a veranda and a massive carved front door, but some of the wooden railings look rotten, and I can see two patched-up broken windows. The dogs’ barking gets even louder, and we both shrink back.
“Have you still got a signal?” I murmur to Suze, and she checks her phone.
“Yes. You?”
“Yup. All good,” I say loudly, for Luke’s benefit. Suze’s phone is recording in her pocket and mine is connected to Luke’s, so everyone in the RV should be able to hear what’s going on.
“Down!” comes Raymond’s voice from inside the house. “You get in there.”
Inside, a door bangs shut. The next moment we hear what seem like about twenty-five locks being undone, then the front door swings open and Raymond Earle greets us.
The first word that hits my mind is “grizzled.” Raymond’s beard is like a gray furry blanket and reaches all the way down to his chest. He’s wearing a blue-and-white bandanna round his head, and his ancient jeans are covered in mud or clay or something. The house smells of dogs and tobacco and dust and old food, with a faint reek of rotting vegetation.
He could really do with a scented candle or two. I’m tempted to give him the link to Jo Malone.
“Miss Audette.” He bows low and his beard flops down. “I’m honored.”
Oh God. I feel even more guilty about tricking him, now we’re here. We need to get into his studio as quickly as possible and action my plan.
“I am enchantée to meet you after all zis time,” I say gravely. “When I come to Wilderness, I remember Monsieur Raymond who has written me ze kind lettairs.”
“Well, I’m delighted to meet you!” He grabs my hand and shakes it heartily. “This is such an unexpected pleasure!”
“Let us go straight to ze studio and observe ze work,” I say.
“Of course.” Raymond seems totally overcome. “I’ll just…come in. Come in.”
He ushers us into a wide hall with a fireplace and a wooden vaulted ceiling, which would be stunning if it weren’t such a mess. There are dusty boots, coats, dog baskets, a bucket of old bricks, and a rolled-up carpet, all just lying around.
“Can I get you a beer? Some ice water?” Raymond leads us into a messy kitchen, which smells of some meaty dish. The back wall is covered in shelves, on which are propped-up paintings and drawings and a few weird-looking sculptures. A housekeeper is trying to dust them, but I can see she’s not finding it easy.