Chapter Text
THE PROBLEM IN PARIS
~ for Eni ~
Chapter One
The British Justice System had prevailed and Adam had won his court case, in anticipation of which he had booked a table large enough to accommodate his entire entourage at a local Indian restaurant. It was a familiar haunt for the theatre crew, and the wait staff were evidently under orders to keep their esteemed guest happy, as a near-constant flow of food, drinks and sundries arrived to fill every spare inch of the table.
It was in the midst of the celebration that a comment made earlier on by Jonathan suddenly flooded back into Maddy’s head – a throwaway remark whilst they were at the courthouse about ticket sales in France, and the well-timed publicity of Adam’s hotel-related scandal. Jonathan hadn’t mentioned it again since, and indeed had never brought it up before; Maddy had a sneaking suspicion he was trying to pretend he’d never said it at all, which did not exactly bode well.
They were two months into a tentative, shaky attempt at a relationship: a proper one, rather than the confusing mess they’d been failing to define for the two years prior to that. It had been a little difficult to get off the ground due to Jonathan’s theatre commitments, which seemed particularly time-consuming of late, and indeed their usual brand of impossible-mystery-related activities. In fact, things were progressing glacially slowly, despite the close calls in the past. Maddy had assumed that it was the normal array of pre-show demands which were taking up Jonathan’s time, not to mention Adam’s latest mishap, but now she wondered if there was something he wasn’t telling her.
She broached this subject as nonchalantly as possible, whilst shovelling another serving of rice into her lamb bhuna.
“So, what’s this about France?” Jonathan gave her a quizzical look in response, presumably to buy himself more time, so she reminded him: “You said something about ticket sales?”
“Ah. Yes. I’ve been meaning to tell you about that.”
“Come on, then,” she encouraged. “Out with it.”
In truth, he had been waiting for an opportune moment to broach the subject with her, for a variety of reasons. The rather open forum of a large gathering was not quite what he’d envisaged. They’d gone public about their new status only a matter of weeks ago, but it felt strange to be having such a potentially personal, emotive conversation in full view of Adam Klaus and his accumulated crowd of bodyguards, lawyers and assistants. They were situated at the end of a long table, in opposite chairs – the positioning deliberate on Jonathan’s part, so they could try and avoid the rest of the group as much as possible. He made sure nobody was listening – all those within immediate earshot were engrossed in Adam’s flamboyant retelling of the trial, laughing sycophantically on cue – then took a deep breath and a swig of beer, watching Maddy’s expectant gaze for any sign of trouble.
“Adam’s doing a European tour,” he explained, “starting in Paris. If that’s successful, it’ll move on – hopefully Berlin, then Rome, maybe a few of the provinces if things go well.”
“Oh, right. Sounds great. I can see why he’d want the publicity – the French love a good scandal.”
“The thing is,” he continued a little obliviously, trying not to lose his nerve, “he wants me to go out there for the first leg, just to oversee things before I hand it over. We managed to find someone to take the reins; he speaks about six languages, so that will definitely help. I mean, I know a bit of French, but apart from that…”
She nodded in understanding. “I suppose that makes sense. When does it start, then?”
“That’s the other thing,” he admitted. “We… we fly out next week.”
Maddy paused in whatever she was about to say, her fork hovering over her plate as she stared at him. “Next week?”
He flinched. “Yeah. Sorry, I’ve been trying to find time to tell you.”
“What if I’d never brought it up?” she queried. “What, were you just going to bugger off to France without telling me? Honestly, Jonathan, we’re supposed to be…” Realising her voice was raising and starting to attract attention, she lowered her tone slightly and leaned a little closer. “We’re supposed to be making a go of this, remember? It’ll be a bit difficult if you’re not even going to be here for… how long, exactly?”
“A month.”
“A month?”
He shrugged. “Give or take.”
Maddy fixed him with a glare, temporarily unable to respond, and he could read all-too-easily the disbelief and irritation in her face. He was used to that, but the hint of trepidation drove him to try and reassure her.
“Look, I know the timing’s awful, but the trip’s been on the cards for the best part of a year. I didn’t think we’d end up…” He sighed. “I should have told you sooner. I’m sorry.”
Maddy could tell the apology was genuine, and melted a little.
“I don’t know – two months in and you’re bored of me already.”
He countered her humour with a serious response. “Of course not. I still… I still want to give this thing a go with you.”
This time he noted something else in her gaze when she stared at him – surprise at his honesty, perhaps – and it gave him courage to formulate the question he’d been agonising over for the past few weeks.
“Actually, I was going to ask if you… wanted to join us out there? Join me, I mean. Just for a few days.” When the silence continued to extend, he added, in a more nonchalant tone: “I could do with a break from His Lordship.”
“Out where?” she asked, though she already knew the answer.
He shrugged, feigning ignorance. “Paris.”
Maddy hoped her reaction was not too obvious from her face. Paris… Her head was immediately filled with images of the city – boat trips on the Seine, lunch in pavement cafes, the sprawling metropolis laid out at the base of the Eiffel Tower… and some other, more specific landmarks that had been on her bucket list for longer than she cared to remember. She had longed to visit Paris for what seemed like her entire adult life, if not longer, never quite getting around to it, and never having anyone with whom to share the experience… and now Jonathan, barely two months into their shiny new dynamic, had invited her there as if it were nothing more important than meeting for coffee. There was no possible way he could have anticipated that particular ambition – she’d certainly never mentioned it to him before.
She took a deep, calming breath before speaking. “Jonathan, that’s… Nobody’s ever asked me that before.”
He brushed it off, trying to quell the burning disappointment suddenly curling in his stomach at the thought she might refuse the offer, and stared into his korma like it held the answer to every question in the world.
“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to. I mean, it’s such short notice, so I’d understand if—”
“I’d love to.”
He glanced up from the plate in surprise, and saw that she was serious. He gave her a relieved smile, pausing a moment before answering so that he could formulate a response that didn’t give away how pleased he actually was that she’d accepted.
“Good. I’ll get Adam to sort it, then. Hotel, flights, the lot – you don’t need to worry about anything.”
“But—”
“No arguments. It’s the least I can do.”
She conceded with a nod, realising Adam would not exactly be out of pocket by funding the trip, and the accommodation was likely to be far better than she could afford herself.
“Okay. Thanks. Just give me a week or so to clear it with Barry.”
“That’s fine – we’ll be busy for the first week anyway, getting everything set up. After that, I imagine Adam’ll loosen the reins a bit.”
She acknowledged that with a nod, and for a moment they fell into a comfortable silence as they finished their respective meals, listening to the low-level raucousness of the conversation further up the table. Adam was relishing being the centre of attention, as usual, and it was easy enough to block him out as they both drifted off into their own thoughts – occasionally meeting each other’s gazes across the table, smiling awkwardly, and looking away again self-consciously.
Maddy was finding it a little difficult to process what had just happened. Notwithstanding the brevity of their relationship, they had never discussed even something as minor as a weekend away, let alone an extended trip to the continent – and indeed all the clichés attached to their destination. There was absolutely no way Jonathan could have anticipated her longstanding desire to go there; he was frighteningly intuitive at times, but thus far not actually psychic, as far as she was aware. A part of her had been ready to refuse: it seemed a monumental step forward, and she had to admit that the idea was vaguely terrifying.
She managed to quell the fear, mentally reminding herself that an opportunity like this might not arise again. Visiting Paris was a big enough ambition; to see it with Jonathan seemed almost too good to be true, even with Adam’s inevitable, well-meaning interference. Was it too early to determine that she might have landed on her feet this time? Probably, it was – but Jonathan seemed to be trying very hard to ensure things were perfect, so who was she to question it?
For his part, Jonathan had been dreading telling her about the trip and his inevitable absence. Even when Adam started making noises about it, before their mutual agreement to give things a try, he had been nervous to bring it up; predominantly, that was because he was convinced Maddy would constantly ring him up for the duration to request his assistance on whatever wild goose chase she’d gotten herself into. As the weeks turned into months, however, he kept on putting it off, and he was actually relieved that the comment about the ticket sales had slipped out after the trial. Maddy had taken it better than expected, but nonetheless he was surprised she’d accepted his offer to join him. The idea to ask her had popped into his brain only a matter of weeks ago and slowly begun to drive him mad, but he did not anticipate that she would agree.
Informing Adam of that would be a more complicated matter, though. He had already intimated for Jonathan to bring Maddy along – a suggestion made with dubiously-raised eyebrows and in such a manner as to make Jonathan quickly change the subject – but that had been a while ago, long before they’d officially announced their involvement. He was certain Adam would have no objections to him extending the invitation, even if he did have to foot the bill for the trip, but he was dreading how his well-meaning employer might try to “help” the situation.
There were no ulterior motives; Jonathan just didn’t want the time away to become a step backwards after the progress they’d been making. The city’s reputation was not lost on him, of course, and he maintained some small hope that the atmosphere, or indeed merely the benefit of being away from daily life, might play a part in ensuring they did not falter at the final hurdle.
Once the first week of looking after Adam was over with, at least Jonathan would have something to look forward to, rather than another fortnight of playing chaperone, tackling minor stage mishaps which their foreign associate was more than capable of dealing with, or generally being Adam’s dogsbody-slash-personal-assistant-slash-errand-boy, as was usually the case. And, with any luck, the time spent with Maddy might not result in any so-called “impossible crimes”…