The Runaway Daughter Page 35

After some consideration Clement hadn’t given himself up as a witness in the bus accident that had claimed Rawlings’s life. His association with the private detective had all been too messy to explain to the police. He’d wanted to keep the focus on Percival Blake, but the damnedest thing had happened. When he’d gone to collect the negatives that Rawlings had given him from the studio in Soho, the wretched man behind the counter had managed to destroy them. Which had meant that Rawlings’s evidence incriminating Blake had gone.

  Clement had thought about denouncing Blake anyway and telling the police what he’d seen, but he hadn’t wanted to have the Darton name dragged through the papers, or for it to be his word against Blake’s. Besides, if he and Rawlings had been linked to Anna, there might well have been repercussions concerning the girl in King’s Cross.

  Which had meant that Percival Blake, that awful little queer who’d protected his sister, had got off scot-free. Clement had been standing across the road and had seen him leaving the police station – that older woman from the Zip Club had been outside and had pulled Blake into a motherly embrace and led him away.

  Whatever had been the appeal of that sordid club for his sister, he wondered, when it harboured such lowlifes? But then again, Clement’s mind wandered back to that girl – the blonde one, Edith, who’d been in Anna’s dressing room. He passed the mirror in the hall and remembered how she’d told him that she thought he was handsome. He pictured her now, standing by the door, that sly smile on her face, and how it had made him feel completely topsy-turvy.

  He’d been back to the club to find her, once Anna had given him the slip, but the police had arrived to shut down the Zip Club and he hadn’t been able to get inside. But the blonde must know where his sister had gone. Or know someone else who would know. Yes, Edith Montgomery: she was his key. He’d find the first excuse he could and go back to London to look her up and establish what she knew.

  He found his mother in the conservatory, standing by the open doors, her face to the sunshine. Clement walked towards her and then noticed that the aviary doors were open and the cage was empty.

  ‘What have you done?’ he asked in alarm.

  ‘Don’t speak to me,’ Theresa Darton said.

  ‘Mother?’ Clement felt an unexpected flush rise in him. She’d never used that tone with him before.

  ‘That came,’ she said, not turning round, but gesturing to a letter open on the small table.

  Clement picked it up:

  Dear Mother

  I am sorry not to have written before, but I have been making a new life for myself in London. I write this in haste, but I needed to tell you a few things. It was Clement who made me run away. He threatened me, as he has done all my life. Well . . . you know. You know the kind of man he is. I thought Dante had killed him and it was my fault, so I ran. But I was already on my way. Did you know that Clement and Father want me to marry Malcolm Arkwright? Well, I shan’t. When I marry, I will marry for love. I will not come home and have Father and Clement bend me to their will. You always told me that my independent spirit would get me into trouble. And it has, Mother. Glorious, wonderful, life-changing trouble. And I wouldn’t have missed a second of it.

  It may surprise you to learn that I have found a passion. A new business that I intend to make successful. I am going to live abroad, so please do not waste your time trying to find me. I do not need anything from you. I am coping splendidly well by myself.

  Clement felt fury pulse through him, making his cheeks burn. How had Anna known about Arkwright? Who had told her of the plan? Not Arkwright, surely? How dare she blame him for running away. How dare she . . . defy him, like this. Her tone – the sheer independence of it – drove him to distraction. He thought of Rawlings and how he’d said that finding Anna would depend on whether Clement’s need to find her was stronger than her need to hide. Clement had been so sure he would win. And he almost had, but she’d got away and now she was going abroad. Where on earth would he start to look for her now? And how, without Rawlings?

  Growling, he crushed the paper in his fist. At the sound, his mother turned and he stared at her, expecting her upset and outrage at Anna’s letter to match his own. But instead her eyes were blazing.

  ‘Mother?’ he said, aghast at the look on her face.

  ‘One of us is free, Clement,’ she said. ‘Now let her go.’

  Author’s Note

  I hope I have evoked an era, although it must be said that this is entirely a work of fiction. I’ve tried to be historically accurate where possible, but have taken a large dollop of artistic licence as well. I have used some lyrics from songs of the era in the text: ‘You got the cutest little baby face’ (from ‘Baby Face’) in chapter 61, ‘Isn’t she cute, isn’t she sweet’ (from ‘The Girlfriend’) in chapter 67 and ‘When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbin’ along’ in chapter 81.

  I found some books very helpful in my research, in particular Judith Mackrell’s brilliant Flappers, D. J. Taylor’s Bright Young People, Stella Margetson’s The Long Party and Barbara Cartland’s memoir, We Danced All Night.

  Joanna Rees 2019

  Acknowledgements

  Firstly, for the opportunity to write this book, I’d like to thank my wonderful publisher, Wayne Brookes, who is quite simply the best. Thanks to Jeremy Trevathan, Stuart Dwyer, Alex Saunders, Mel Four and the whole team at Pan Mac – all of you make being one of your authors a true privilege. A very big thanks, too, to Susan Opie who made this book so much better with her insight and encouragement.

  Thanks to everyone at Curtis Brown – including Alice Lutyens and my amazing agent, Felicity Blunt, and thanks, as ever, to my publishing fairy godmother, Vivienne Schuster.

  There are several people I’d like to thank who have helped me along the way with my research: theatre historian Alan Strachan, dress designer Harriet Gubbins and journalist Shan Lancaster – for both her pearls of wisdom and her moral support.

  My guilty pleasure has been West End musicals and seeing so many of them in the name of ‘research’ with my lovely sister has been brilliant. The glitter of Dreamgirls, the tap dancing of 42nd Street – keep ’em coming, Catherine.

  There are many people who have helped me during the process of writing this book: my girlfriends – you know who you are, I love you all; my family – in particular my very own sparkling showgirls, Tallulah, Roxie and Minty. But most of all, my love and thanks to my leading man, Emlyn, the person who keeps the whole show on the road. And lastly, Ziggy, my beautiful boy, who has sat in my study with me, keeping vigil, before demanding I take him out to see the sea. No dog could be a better writer’s companion.

  The Runaway Daughter

  Joanna Rees, aka Josie Lloyd and Jo Rees, is a bestselling writer of fourteen novels, including rom-coms, blockbusters and big-hearted adventures such as Come Together, The Tides of Change and A Twist of Fate. With nearly twenty years’ writing experience, Joanna regularly teaches creative writing in schools and libraries and she also contributes regularly to online station Radio Gorgeous. Based in Brighton, Joanna is married to the author Emlyn Rees, with whom she has three daughters. They have co-written seven novels, including the Sunday Times number one bestseller Come Together, which was translated into twenty-seven languages and made into a film. They have written several bestselling parodies of their favourite children’s books, including We’re Going on a Bar Hunt and The Teenager Who Came to Tea, as well as ’Twas the Fight Before Christmas and Shabby: The Jolly Good British Guide to Stress-free Living. Joanna is always delighted to hear from readers, so please visit her website www.joannareesbooks.com. She’s also on Twitter @joannareesbooks

  BY JOANNA REES

  As Josie Lloyd

  It Could Be You

  As Josie Lloyd, with Emlyn Rees

  Come Together

  Come Again

  The Boy Next Door

  Love Lives

  We Are Family

  The Three Day Rule

  The Seven Year Itch


  We’re Going on a Bar Hunt

  The Very Hungover Caterpillar

  The Teenager Who Came to Tea

  Switch It Off

  ’Twas the Fight Before Christmas

  The Joy of Socks

  Shabby: The Jolly Good British Guide to Stress-free Living

  As Joanna Rees

  A Twist of Fate

  The Key to It All

  The Girl from Lace Island

  In the Shade of the Blossom Tree

  (previously published as Forbidden Pleasures)

  The Tides of Change (previously published as Platinum)

  The Runaway Daughter

  First published 2019 by Macmillan

  This electronic edition first published 2019 by Macmillan

  an imprint of Pan Macmillan

  20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR

  Associated companies throughout the world

  www.panmacmillan.com

  ISBN 978-1-4472-6675-4

  Copyright © Joanna Rees 2019

  Cover images: girl © Elizabeth Ansley/Trevillion Images; background © London Express/Getty Images

  The right of Joanna Rees to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Visit www.panmacmillan.com to read more about all our books and to buy them. You will also find features, author interviews and news of any author events, and you can sign up for e-newsletters so that you’re always first to hear about our new releases.