A Model Mother

Chapter 9

Once he’d finished talking to Andrew, Miles called Bill and asked him to get to Max’s office to grab the mail. He told Bill he particularly wanted the photographs. Whilst he didn’t particularly want Bill to see anything intimate of Rose’s indiscretion he would have to take that chance.

 While he had Bill on the ‘phone he asked him if he had seen Max lately. He briefed him about Andrew’s call.

“No I haven’t,” replied Bill. “I had actually started to think maybe he was avoiding me.”

“Look Miles, about those photographs you gave me of Rose, can we talk?”

“Go ahead.” Miles stiffened.

“Miles, when I first looked at them I was shocked, especially when the dates you gave told me that she had been messing around while in a relationship with you. I’m assuming from what you told me that you have some more intimate shots that would leave the purpose of the relationships in no doubt.”

“Yes. I do.”

“OK. But the thing is, when I spent some time looking at the two you gave me, I’m not so sure they are of Rose.”

Miles was stunned. How could Bill be so dense? “Are you crazy? It’s Rose all right and she was in Vegas and Manila at those times.”

Miles thought of the other ‘photos. “I’ll get some of the others to you. They show her with her car, wearing jewellery I’ve given her, wearing her clothes. Christ Bill, what are you thinking of? Do you seriously believe I would have left her and my kid if I’d had any doubt at all about what she’d been up to?” Miles had raised his voice and realised that staff outside his office were turning their heads. He sat down and tried to calm down. His heart was thumping; Bill’s doubt had really rattled him.

Bill’s response was robust. “Miles, you know, I’m your lawyer, you pay me to be 100% certain of all the facts before you take any action and that applies equally to your private life as it does to your business. Look, just get those other shots to me as soon as you can will you? And please, try and take a long, hard look at them again. I just want you to be certain in your own mind that there is absolutely no way that they could have been taken as part of some kind of hoax.”

Bill paused, here was the killer question.

“Do you know who sent you the pictures? Or were they delivered anonymously?”

There was a long pause. When Miles spoke, Bill could hear the tension in his voice, which was quiet now.

 “Max gave them to me.”

“Max?” Miles heard the surprise in his voice. “How did he get hold of them?”

“He told me that he had found out about a possible blackmail attempt against me by Rose and a lover of hers. “ Miles swallowed, he still found this painful. “He should have come to me immediately but because he knew how much she meant to me, he had had her followed, just to make sure.

“The photographs were taken by a PI hired by Max. Max told me that the PI had gained the confidence of one of the men seeing Rose and he had let slip that Rose was planning to get pregnant by me so that she could sue me for a lifetime of alimony whilst shacking up with her lover. That’s not the worst; Max told me that Rose had come on to him too.”

“Rose…..to Max?” Bill tried to sound matter of fact and not as incredulous as he felt. He wished Miles had trusted him with this information sooner.

“There is evidence…….”, Miles trailed off.

“What? Of Rose and Max?

“Max was contrite, said he got drunk and couldn’t help himself; said Rose was all over him. We had a hell of a fight as you can probably imagine.”

“That same day, when I got back to the flat, Rose told me she was pregnant. After what I’d heard and seen I just couldn’t believe it was mine. I even suspected it could be Max’s baby.”

“Miles, I’m so sorry, this is awful. Have you talked to anyone else about it?”

“No. I just ……well, I just couldn’t. I felt like I’d been kicked in the stomach. Francesca was brilliant, she just made sure she was around for me and didn’t ask any questions. Her presence helped heal things between Max and I too. She tried hard to bring the two of us together again and we did at least get back on speaking terms and were able to deal with business issues.”

“Did you talk to the PI that Max hired? Did Max try to find anything out about the men in the photographs?”

Again, Miles paused. It all seemed so logical when he talked to Bill. Of course he should have talked to the PI, but he hadn’t and he was hard pushed to find any reasonable reason as to why he hadn’t. He had just been so damn upset by what Max had told him and by Rose’s betrayal that he hadn’t been thinking too straight. He hadn’t felt any need to confirm the authenticity of the pictures.

“No I didn’t; I’m sure Max can give you the details. If, of course, we can find Max.”

“Listen, you focus on finding Max. But I could really do with seeing the rest of the photographs. Is there any chance you can get a full set to me?”

Miles told Bill where he had stored them and provided him with the means to get at them. The only other set were with him, here in London. This was the set he was planning to give to Rose.

“Miles, you take care. Be cautious with Rose, ok. Keep your meeting with her as light as you can. And listen, Frankie…..I mean Francesca, is in London this week too. Why don’t you look her up? She might be able to help you track down Max.”

“Thanks, Bill. Be in touch.”

Miles rested his head in his hands. Bill’s doubt about the photos had really thrown him. In fact he felt slightly nauseous. He still was certain they were of Rose; but thinking through the consequences of his actions should they prove to be a hoax, was too much to bear. What niggled him was hearing about Max’s behaviour from Andrew. What had Max been up to? He decided to call Francesca. He wondered why Bill had called her Frankie, no one else did.