* * *
Matt knew this hotel. When his mother had left his father, she’d fled to London. Afraid of staying with any of her family here, in case his father should discover them, they’d stayed here for two weeks. Then moved on to another hotel and then another, until his mother could find a more permanent place to live. Permanent had turned out to be six months.
But this place was special. His mother had explained carefully that they’d needed to leave, but Matt hadn’t needed any explanations. His arm had still been in a sling from what his father had done to him, and he knew full well that they were fleeing from fear and pain, and that this was the start of a new life. While his mother had been engaged in meetings with solicitors and those members of her family that she felt she could trust enough to share the secret of their whereabouts, he’d explored every inch of this new world.
He drove past the unassuming entrance, and took a sharp right into the garage, below the building. They unloaded their bags from the car, and took the lift up to the lobby, where a porter immediately stepped forward to take their luggage, seeming almost offended that they’d dared to bring it this far themselves.
It was quiet here. No shouting, no screaming. It felt just the way it had then, like an oasis of calm in the busy heart of the city.
‘Hannah... Matt...’ A young woman that he’d seen before amongst the TV crew stepped forward. ‘You made it. How was your journey?’
She made it sound as if they’d braved hell and high water to get here. This time it had only been fifty miles of motorway and a few traffic lights.
‘Good. Thank you.’ Hannah smiled at her. ‘We’re looking forward to the weekend.’
Matt felt her elbow in his ribs, and realised that he should be a part of this conversation. ‘Yes. Looking forward to it.’
They were whisked over to the reception desk to sign the register, and then ushered upstairs. The top-floor suite comprised two bedrooms, on either side of a comfortable sitting room.
‘We’ve booked the whole place out for the weekend, and we have full use of all of the facilities, so make yourselves at home. This suite is your bolthole...’ The woman smiled at her own joke and Matt allowed himself a grim smile. The idea of the hotel as a bolthole was more appropriate than she knew.
‘There are no cameras here, we’ve set up a few rooms downstairs with static mounted cameras, and of course the outside broadcast team may be following you at times. But we’ll try to keep that as unobtrusive as possible. Dinner’s at six, and then there’s a meeting, where we’ll outline your challenge for the weekend.’ The woman smiled apologetically. ‘I’m going to need your phones.’
Matt took his from his pocket, handing it over. ‘Any last-minute texts, Hannah?’
‘Oh. Yes, of course.’ She’d been looking around at her new surroundings, and had momentarily forgotten that she’d promised to text her mother when they arrived. ‘I just have one more to send.’
‘Yes, of course.’
The woman smiled, waiting as Hannah typed furiously. She obviously had a little more to say than just a quick notification of their arrival and Matt reckoned that there would be hugs and kisses for Sam in there somewhere. Finally she gave up her phone, her momentary grimace showing that this might just be the hardest thing she did this weekend.
Their luggage arrived, and was placed in their rooms. And then they were alone. Standing on opposite edges of the large rug that filled the space between the two comfortable sofas.
‘What do we do now?’ Hannah looked at her watch. ‘We have two whole hours...’
‘Unpack?’ Matt shrugged. ‘Relax.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Do you feel as if you could relax? And it’ll only take ten minutes to unpack...’
Gold medal for unpacking, then. Hannah had brought four bags with her, and ten minutes sounded like a record-breaking sprint.
‘So...let’s unpack first. And then decide on a relaxation strategy.’
Hannah was as good as her word. It was nine and a half minutes from when he closed his bedroom door to hearing her knock.
‘Aren’t you done yet?’ Hannah’s voice drifted through from the sitting room.
‘Uh...nearly.’ Matt decided to work out the intricacies of the shirt press later, and stuffed everything that was left in his case into the wardrobe. That would have to do for the time being.
Hannah was bright-eyed and restless. Staying in their suite would be like trying to contain an inquisitive tiger, and he suggested they take a walk around the hotel. They explored the ground floor, finding that the lobby was full now of new arrivals, and slipping away to peer into the dining room and bar, and check out the conference room at the back of the building.
‘The pool’s that way. And a steam room!’ Hannah had caught sight of a sign that pointed towards the staircase that led down to the basement. ‘I brought my swimming suit.’
Matt had too, reckoning that a few early morning laps might prepare him for the days ahead. He followed Hannah downstairs.
‘Oh,
and a gym.’ Hannah peered through the glass doors and turned away. ‘What a shame. It looks great, but I doubt we’ll have enough energy to spare for it.’