The Fault

by Kitty Sewell

  She rubbed her cheek on the velvety surface on which she lay. It smelled of some musky spice, like sandalwood. She wanted that smell forever against her cheek. After a while, she rolled over and looked down under the bed. Perhaps there’d be another living being – perhaps a mouse – she could look at. Lined up ever so neatly under the bed were a pair of sandals, a pair of Moroccan leather slippers and the dear yellow trainers. She reached down and touched them. Still, she stayed on the bed. It was all she needed for the moment. It was safe. Another raft in an unpredictable sea.

  She was in a deep sleep in which a simple word, deliverance, hovered over her forehead. Then another word: her name. Eva’s gentle voice woke her and she gave a wail of joy. Eva leaned over her and they held on to one another for a few seconds. Eva looked so different, and now she remembered that she herself had cut off her hair. It seemed that years had passed since that day.

  ‘I thought you were on some mission to confront your husband.’

  ‘I found out I don’t have a husband anymore, so I came straight back.’

  ‘Thank God,’ Mimi said and hugged her again. ‘Thank God you’re here.’

  Dawn was lighting up the empty streets when the three of them walked to the police station in Irish Town, a quirky old building which looked as though it belonged in Dr. Who. Mimi stopped outside the long row of arches and turned to Mohammed. ‘What am I like! This is not a good idea for you.’

  He frowned and looked at his shoes for a moment. ‘They will need a statement from me, no doubt.’

  ‘Not!’ said Mimi decisively. ‘I am not going to risk them dumping you at the frontier as an illegal alien.’

  Mohammed glanced at the entrance and said bitterly, ‘I was in there yesterday morning and told them I thought the missing girl was in a chamber inside the Rock, but they seemed to think I was a crazy man. They wouldn’t listen. And when I mentioned that Mr. Montegriffo might be the kidnapper, they practically threw me out.’

  ‘I’ll tell them I broke out of the chamber and found my way back on my own.’

  ‘It’s a bit unlikely. If you knew how complex—’

  ‘I don’t care. They’ll have to believe me,’ said Mimi. ‘Go home and sleep, Mohammed. ‘You’ve saved my life, and I refuse to have them deport you.’

  Eva put a hand on his arm. ‘She’s right. Go on. We can handle it.’

  Mimi kissed him on both cheeks, as did Eva, and they watched his slight figure striding down Irish Town towards the safety of Tuckey’s Lane.

  Mimi turned to Eva. ‘Must we tell them it was Sebastian?’ Can’t I just say I went walkabout for a couple of days?’ As she was saying the words, she knew it was impossible. She couldn’t go on protecting Sebastian. There was no telling what he might do if he found her missing from the chamber.

  ‘Mimi honey,’ said Eva, reaching out to smooth her flopping fringe off her face. ‘I think it’s best not to lie. I’m sure the police will be more inclined to be sympathetic if we tell them about Sebastian’s…condition. Besides, we need their help to find him.’

  At reception, they explained who they were and why they’d come, and as it happened, PC Marianne Peralta was on the early-morning shift. She came into the lobby to see them. After taking one look at the pair of them, she had the sense to lead them to a private interview room.

  ‘So this is the missing Imogen Luna,’ she said kindly when they’d sat down at a table.

  ‘I was kidnapped,’ Mimi said. ‘My brother Sebastian is ill, you see. He’s been all right for years, but for some reason he must have stopped taking his medication, and I guess all the stress of his work here has…got to him.’

  PC Peralta nodded as if she weren’t very surprised. ‘So it was him, then. Where did he take you?’

  Mimi felt her face twitch slightly. ‘Down very deep into the tunnel system…to a chamber… He wasn’t trying to harm me or anything; just the opposite. He only wanted me to be safe from Carlo Montegriffo. He imagined we were having an affair.’

  Mimi knew that Sebastian’s motivations were deeper, but she preferred not to think about that right now, even less talk about it. If she let herself really remember what he’d proposed – his true plans for her future – she feared she would break down and have some kind of screaming fit from which she might never recover.

  ‘A chamber inside the Rock?’ said PC Peralta, her eyes widening slightly. ‘And how did you get out of there? Did he come to his senses and let you out?’

  ‘No. I broke out; it took me hours and hours to find my way. In fact, I think it was just sheer luck that I did. It was very deep down the tunnel system, that’s all I can say.’

  ‘Ay, cariño!’ Marianne Peralta murmured, looking at her with genuine concern. ‘You look ever so worn-down. I think you should be seen by a doctor.’

  ‘No, I’m all right, really. I don’t want a doctor.’

  ‘We’ll talk about that in a minute. So, your brother accused Carlo Montegriffo of harbouring you, when he himself had done the kidnapping. Have I got that right?’

  ‘That’s because he’s ill, like I explained,’ Mimi said sharply. ‘It’s called projection or something like that. He was breaking down and probably got his part in it muddled. Lost the plot, if you know what I mean?’

  Peralta nodded again, then looked at Eva. ‘Would you say he’s a danger to himself or others?’

  ‘I wouldn’t take any chances after what he put Imogen through,’ Eva said emphatically. ‘When he finds her gone from the chamber, he’ll no doubt assume it’s Montegriffo’s doing…and go after him. For all we know the man might be in jeopardy.’

  ‘He’s been antagonistic to Sebastian since we arrived and I’ve not been much help,’ said Mimi. ‘Basically, all this is my fault. We should try to find Sebastian a.s.a.p. He needs to be sectioned.’

  Eva turned to her with a frown. ‘Sectioned?’

  ‘It means being hospitalised under Section Three of the Mental Health Act, against his will if necessary,’ Mimi said.

  ‘You’ve done this before, then?’

  ‘Dad did, a number of times when Sebastian was in his teens. Since then, Sebastian has volunteered to be hospitalised, once or twice. He’s been good for ages, especially since the last combination of drugs. They really suited him.’

  Eva looked as though she were close to tears. ‘Why did you never tell me all this? Why didn’t he? I think I deserved to know.’

  Mimi tried not to look annoyed. ‘You know the answer to that. He was desperate to leave his past behind, to hide it from everyone, and he was scared you’d leave him. Can you blame him? I tried to force him to tell you, but it wasn’t my business to blabber. I kept hoping you two would start talking to each other.’

  ‘Look!’ Peralta said to get their attention. ‘Where do you think Sebastian might be?’

  ‘Neither of us has any idea where he is,’ said Eva. ‘He disappeared yesterday, late afternoon, and he didn’t come back all night.’

  Peralta looked troubled. ‘Well, we’ll do our best to find him.’

  ‘Someone should be in the apartment to wait for him,’ said Mimi. ‘He might be there right now for all we know. But I kind of doubt it.’

  ‘All right,’ said PC Peralta briskly. ‘We’ll go up there now. I just need to take some details to close your missing persons file. Can you describe the place where your brother took you?’

  ‘Absolutely no way. And I refuse to set foot in a tunnel as long as I live.’

  ‘How did your brother know about this chamber? Did you get a feeling your abduction was pre-planned?’

  ‘The chamber was there already, if that’s what you mean, and stocked with food to last seven years. Dried and canned stuff. There was water, batteries, and toilet…facilities.’

  PC Peralta shook her head, her professionalism finally slipping. ‘Unbelievable!’

  ‘He did it for my own protection,’ said Mimi defensively. ‘He’s a very good and caring person. He’s just…you know, mentally ill.’


  ‘Of course,’ Peralta said, chastened. She turned to Eva. ‘We’ll send an officer or two to wait for him in your apartment. Would one of you – or both – like to be there as well, or do you have somewhere to go in the meantime?’

  Eva

  They sat in the back of the police car and were driven up as far into Upper Town as it was possible to go. Having parked up on the curb of the narrow street, Eva and Mimi, plus PC Steven Gonzalez and PC Nigel Goldsworthy, walked briskly up the steps.

  DiMoretti’s Ramp was deserted, not even a pair of Y-fronts hanging from Mrs. Amirah’s window. When they entered the darkened hallway and were about to climb the stairs, again Eva thought she could hear that awful howling.

  ‘Stop,’ she said. ‘You hear that?’

  They all stopped at once. Yes, there it still was.

  ‘What is it?’ said PC Gonzalez. The young man – probably a recent recruit – looked spooked.

  ‘Oh, no,’ said Mimi. ‘That’s got to be Raven. It sounds as if he’s trapped somewhere.’

  In single file, they hurried up the steps. Outside Montegriffo’s door, they stopped and listened to the haunting cries of the cat. Mimi’s face had paled, looking as though she could not endure any further trauma.

  ‘Mimi, honey. Shall you and I just go?’ said Eva. ‘You don’t have to come back here, you know. We can let the officers deal with all this.’

  Mimi ignored her and rapped her knuckles hard on the door. ‘Carlo,’ she shouted. ‘Open the door.’ She bent down on one knee and shouted again through the letter flap. ‘Carlo, for fuck’s sake! Open this door.’

  The two officers looked at each other.

  ‘I take it this isn’t your own apartment,’ said PC Goldsworthy. ‘Shouldn’t we be checking if Mr. Luna has returned home?’

  Eva took her keys out of her bag and handed them to PC Gonzalez. ‘Our place is upstairs,’ she said hurriedly. ‘Why don’t you go and check if he’s back?’

  Mimi was still banging on Montegriffo’s door and shouting for Raven though the letter flap. The cat had gone quiet. Mimi turned to PC Goldsworthy and said, ‘I’ve got a terrible feeling about this. Something’s wrong in there. You’ve got to open this door, somehow.’

  The officer nodded. Peralta had given him a brief outline of the situation and he clearly saw the need to act. ‘I’ll call for a locksmith,’ he said and took out his mobile.

  ‘Fuck that,’ Mimi cried. ‘Kick the door in.’

  PC Goldworthy said nothing but began to look around. He passed his hand along the top of the door frame. He checked under a pot with a dead plant. He felt under the treads, at the side of the stairs. Eva and Mimi watched this strange routine until they heard him say, ‘Ah,’ and prised a key from a lump of Blu Tack under the wooden bannister. He put the key to Montegriffo’s keyhole and it turned and clicked open.

  ‘I’ll have a look inside,’ he said. ‘You ladies wait here.’

  As soon as he opened the door, Raven shot out as though his tail were on fire. Mimi was just as quick and grabbed him. A moment later they heard Goldsworthy talking on his intercom. His voice was quiet but urgent. ‘Yes, Carlo Montegriffo…no…looks like homicide…send the team up.’

  Eva shivered. Sebastian, my love…what have you done?

  She put an arm around Mimi. The girl stared through the door as if hoping for a miracle. The cat had gone quiet in her arms.

  She put Mimi in the police car with the cat and PC Gonzalez, while she ran up to the apartment, gathering some clothes and personal items from her own and Mimi’s rooms, and packing them into her suitcase. There was a violin on Mimi’s bed, and she realised at once it was not Carlo or Mrs. Amirah she’d heard playing late at night. She put the violin and the bow into a carrier bag. Hearing the wail of a police siren, she quickened her step. In the kitchen, she stopped briefly to look at the disorder on the table and the floor beneath it. There lay all Sebastian’s papers and drawings in a jumble. His cup of decaffeinated coffee stood half-full beside his stand of pens and pencils. One of his sandals lay on the floor by his chair. The very air vibrated with his presence. But that was the sort of man he was. His aura was so strong, so dominant, he’d left an imprint on every space he’d occupied. He’d left an imprint on her, his lover of a mere eight months.

  Where was he? It was hard to imagine him escaping without taking Luna’s Crossing with him. All those drawings. He’d spent months creating his fantasy-masterpiece.

  She thought to write a note and leave it for him in case he came home, just to say she loved him despite what he’d done. But it was best not to. The police would be here, waiting for him.

  She passed Montegriffo’s door on the way down. It was open and people were arriving. A homicide! She hoped with all her heart that Sebastian wasn’t the man responsible for the killing, but the hope was a feeble one. She didn’t want to see anything and hurried past, down the stairs, down the ramp, through the lanes and into the waiting police car.

  Mimi was sitting in the back, sobbing.

  ‘Mimi…?’ Eva murmured. ‘Come on, sweetie. It has been awful…’

  PC Gonzalez turned to her. ‘I would have waited until you got here, but Miss Luna overheard my call from the station.’

  Eva felt the blood drain from her face. ‘What about? What’s happened?’

  ‘They’ve just heard from the Police Marine Unit, Miss Eriksson. I’m sorry to tell you that Mr. Luna has disappeared at sea.’

  Mimi covered her face with her hands and let escape a terrible howl. Eva put her arm around her shoulder and held her fast.

  ‘How do you mean, disappeared at sea?’ she asked in a shaky voice. ‘What was he doing at sea? He’s a very good swimmer and diver. Surely—’ her voice closed up in a sob.

  ‘Last night a man called Jonny Risso took him out on the east side for some night diving. Risso wasn’t happy about it, but Mr. Luna was very insistent, and Risso knew he’d been diving there on many occasions.’

  ‘What happened?’ Eva whispered.

  ‘He never emerged. The tide turned and it seems he got pulled under. The tides are treacherous, but I needn’t tell you, Miss Eriksson. Miss Luna just told me you’re a professional diver yourself.’

  Tears blurred her vision, her throat tight. ‘Did Sebastian say anything to Risso? Did Risso wait long enough? I mean, perhaps—’ Her voice broke again.

  ‘Mr. Risso didn’t find anything unusual about him or his state of mind, and yes, he stayed out there for several hours, searching up and down the coast, but there was no sign of Mr. Luna whatsoever. Then he called the Unit. Mr. Risso provided them with your home number and they tried to reach you during the early hours, but there was no answer.’ He paused for a moment, clearly quite traumatised himself. ‘I’m so sorry to have to give you such distressing news.’

  Mimi reached out and grabbed her hand, and they looked at each other in silence.

  *

  She woke at dawn and looked out of a set of huge glass doors. The peak of Jebel Musa on the coast of Morocco rose out of a low-lying sea mist. The ever-present gulls shrieked hauntingly above the Rock. Eva sat up with a start. She jumped out of bed and into a walk-in shower, then rummaged in her suitcase for clean clothes.

  It was their third morning in a Moroccan style house in the South District, owned by a friend of Brian. Gerard, based in Zurich, was more than happy to loan his pad to two civilised ladies (the cat was not mentioned), liking the security of having it occupied.

  After the noisy and over-crowded Upper Town, the South District was a haven. The house was at the end of a cul-de-sac, had a pool, and was surrounded by towering Washingtonia palm trees.

  Flinging open the patio doors, Eva walked out on the balcony and looked at Jebel Musa; it was so beautiful, so dramatic. She tried in vain to stem the tears. As always when the sun rose, the mountain began to fade in sharpness, an illusion that would soon dissolve. Sebastian’s strong definitions had begun to fade and crumble too, and she struggled to hold
on to them…she couldn’t bear to lose the man she’d believed him to be. Her brilliant, passionate and captivating lover…had she not read it somewhere? Genius and madness were two sides of the same coin.

  She’d not noticed, never mind paid attention to cracks as they’d appeared, then begun to widen: his egomania and grandiose beliefs, his obsessiveness and paranoia, his migraines and sleeplessness. The silent phone calls… The breather had been impatient – exasperated even – wanting something from her; reassurance, perhaps. If only she’d told her phantom caller she loved Sebastian, but she’d never even mentioned him by name. Would the outcome have been different if she had? In the end, the belief that Adrian was on her heels had transformed her. His persecution of her from beyond the grave had made her uncover the seat of her fear and conquer it. Alive or dead, Adrian would have continued to wield power over her, but threatened by what she perceived as his wrath, she’d at last found the strength to fight back.