Intimate Strangers

by Susan Lewis

  ‘Rhona threatened me with physical violence if I didn’t come,’ she told him later, while dancing in his arms, ‘but I feel as though I’m using you to hide from the pain, and that’s not fair to you, or to Sherry.’

  ‘I admit, I feel bad about Sherry too,’ he responded, ‘but if the feelings aren’t there what am I supposed to do?’

  Wondering if that was how Elliot talked about her, she said, ‘Hurt her as little as possible,’ and her eyes went down as she realized the hypocrisy of what she was saying.

  Tilting her face to his, he kissed her gently on the mouth. She wasn’t sure she wanted it to continue, but she made no attempt to pull away. She was thinking of Elliot and what he might be doing now. It hurt, unbearably, but though it felt wrong, being in the arms of another man, she pushed herself in closer to Nick and felt his desire. She imagined him making love to her the way he had before, and became torn between longing and despair. Then she thought of Sherry, and was again racked with guilt. She started to pull away, but asked herself, what purpose would it serve to turn back now? The damage was already done and she really didn’t want to be alone tonight.

  Barry was sitting in his parked Fiesta shouting into the phone. ‘Sherry! Where are you?’ he cried. ‘I’ve got to talk to you. Please pick up if you’re there.’

  He waited, sniffing and banging a fist against the gearstick.

  ‘Sherry,’ he said. ‘There’s been an accident. Suzy and Danny …’

  ‘I’m here,’ she said, coming on the line. ‘What about Suzy and Danny?’

  As the horror of what had happened swept over him again he ducked his head and dropped it against the wheel. ‘They’ve been killed, Sherry,’ he said. ‘I just had a call. Danny’s car was totalled. They’re both dead.’

  He waited for her to respond, but there was no sound from the other end of the line.

  ‘Did you hear me?’ he demanded. ‘Are you still there?’

  ‘Yes, I heard you. What happened? Do you know?’

  ‘They said it was a lorry. The driver fell asleep at the wheel, is what they’re saying. He’s in hospital now, all cut up, but the point is, Sherry, I told Eddie Cribbs that Danny was poking his girlfriend and now Danny’s dead.’

  ‘Why did you tell him that?’ Sherry cried.

  ‘I had to. He was threatening my mum. He wanted information on you, so I had to give him something.’

  ‘What did you tell him about me?’

  ‘Nothing. Just stuff he already knew, but he was having none of it. So I ended up telling him about Danny and Suzy.’

  Sherry took a breath. ‘Look, Barry, I’m really sorry about what’s happened, but it sounds like an accident. If the driver’s in hospital too …’

  ‘It’s my fault,’ Barry sobbed. ‘Don’t you understand that?’

  ‘No, I don’t. And I’m afraid I don’t have time for this now. I have to go. Sorry,’ and the line went dead.

  Barry stared at the phone in disbelief. ‘Bitch!’ he seethed, as he clicked it off. ‘Cold, stuck-up fucking bitch.’

  Dropping his head against the window, he stared helplessly up at the sky and wondered what fucking good came out of trying to do right in the world, because as far as he could see none ever did.

  *

  Cheryl’s mother drew back from her net curtains, where she’d been clocking the new people moving in opposite. More Asians, but they was generally a lot politer than the bloody crack-head whites you got around here, so she weren’t complaining.

  ‘Mum! Are you listening?’ Cheryl wailed. ‘What am I gonna do?’

  ‘You stay on the right side of the press, that’s what you do,’ her mother answered, lighting a cigarette. ‘You always get on the right side of them whenever you can, and here’s your chance.’

  ‘But Danny’s dead, Mum. They might come after me next.’

  ‘That’s why you’ve got to forget about him now, girl, and look after yourself. Eddie’s already in Spain with his wife, so he ain’t thinking about you, is he? And no-one need ever know it was you what tipped off the press. You don’t have to give your name. Just tell ’em what you know and hang up.’

  ‘Well that’s clever, innit? How am I supposed to get on the right side of them if they don’t even know who I am?’

  ‘You wait and see what happens,’ her mother responded through her teeth. ‘If it all works out right for the press girl, Laurie What’s-her-name, you let them know it was you who tipped ’em off and saved the day. They’ll be eating out of your hand, my girl, you mark my words.’

  ‘But I still don’t know who to call. We already tried her programme, and no-one’s answering.’

  ‘What was the bloke’s name?’ her mother demanded. ‘The one she was supposed to be marrying?’

  ‘I don’t know. Russell something, I think.’

  ‘Elliot Russell! That’s him. That’s who you’ve got to speak to. He’s really big. Get on the right side of him …’

  ‘But he just chucked her, Mum! What’s he going to care that someone’s going to try and off her?’

  ‘Try not to be stupid all your life. Just pass me that directory. If we can’t find anything in there, I’ll call Jim, up the newsagents, he’ll know how to get hold of the bloke.’

  Elliot looked at the phone, not at all sure he’d just heard correctly. ‘Run that by me again,’ he said to Murray, his office manager.

  ‘I don’t know who she was,’ Murray told him, ‘she wouldn’t give her name, but she’s claiming Eddie Cribbs has put a contract out on Laurie and it’s going to happen on a Greek island. Those were her exact words, then she hung up. I’ve tried calling Laurie, and Rhona, but their mobiles are out of range. That’s why I’m calling you, to get the number at the villa.’

  ‘I don’t have it, but Sherry will.’ He could feel the blood draining from his face, the tightness of his hand as he held the phone.

  ‘I’ve tried Sherry. No answer, but I’ve left messages all over. And for Rose. Their flight was delayed so they didn’t get back until the early hours …’

  ‘Send someone round there to wake her up,’ Elliot barked.

  ‘Someone’s already on the way.’

  Elliot was thinking fast, too fast. ‘They must have found those women,’ he said. ‘Shit, where the hell is Sherry? Is there a contract on her? There must be.’

  ‘Someone’s on the way over there too,’ Murray told him. ‘I’m ringing round trying to get word on Cribbs’s whereabouts. I just thought I should let you know, and find out if you had a number for the villa.’

  ‘You’re damned right you should have let me know,’ Elliot raged. ‘I should have been the first person you called.’

  ‘You would have been once,’ Murray reminded him.

  Only too aware that today should have been his wedding day, and how dimly even his own staff viewed his break-up with Laurie, Elliot snapped, ‘Get me on a flight to Athens. I’m going over there.’

  ‘From New York it’s going to take …’

  ‘I’m still here, in London,’ Elliot cut in, not bothering to explain that their departure had been delayed. ‘Call me back with the flight details,’ he said, and hung up just as Andraya came twirling into the bedroom.

  ‘What do you think?’ she crooned, her arms spread wide for him to get a full view of the extraordinary black dress she’d just had fitted by the designer in the sitting room. He’d never seen anything like it. It was quite possibly one of the sexiest garments ever created, but not for the first time lately, he was failing to rise to the occasion.

  ‘Isn’t it divine?’ she purred, coming towards him. ‘Don’t you just love it?’

  ‘I’m afraid something’s come up,’ he responded tersely, grabbing her hands as she started to embrace him. ‘I’m taking the next flight to Athens.’

  Her eyes opened wide with shock. ‘What can possibly be so important …’ Then it registered. ‘It’s her, isn’t it?’ she hissed. ‘She’s in Greece. Well, over my dead body are you …’
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  ‘I don’t have time for this,’ he told her, attempting to push past.

  Her eyes flashed with outrage as she spun him back. ‘You’re coming to New York with me!’ she spat.

  He stared down at her. ‘I’m not going anywhere with you,’ he said and easing her firmly aside he moved on into the bedroom.

  Fury contorted her features as she stormed after him. ‘How dare you speak to me that way!’ she seethed. ‘You are with me now, not her! She is nothing, nothing.’

  He was hauling a bag from an overhead cupboard and didn’t bother to reply.

  ‘We are going to New York tomorrow,’ she shouted. ‘You are coming to New York.’

  Still he said nothing as he began gathering things from the bathroom and stuffing them into the bag. He was just zipping it when something extremely hard hit him on the side of the head.

  ‘Don’t you dare ignore me!’ she screamed, throwing the painting down. ‘You are not walking out on me, do you understand? I am not letting you go.’

  ‘Andraya, please, just get out of the way,’ he said, forcing himself to remain calm.

  ‘You are not going anywhere,’ she raged. ‘You are staying here …’

  He moved towards her.

  ‘You are staying here,’ she growled, banging her fists into him as he tried to pass by.

  Grabbing her wrists, he pulled her round behind him then pushed her down on the bed.

  ‘Aaaaagh!’ she screamed, throwing herself at him as he made to pick up his bag. ‘You are not walking out on me! No-one ever walks out on me …’ She gasped as he pushed her on to the bed again. She glared up him, her eyes flashing demonically, then thrusting her hips forward she locked his waist with her legs and started to pull him on top of her.

  Grabbing her ankles, he wrenched himself free, and shoved with all his might, so that she back-ward-somersaulted off the edge of the bed to land upside down with her legs over her shoulders and naked bottom jutting up in the air.

  ‘You bastard,’ she screamed, her voice muffled by her own chest and hair. ‘You lousy, fucking bastard.’

  Seconds later he was descending the stairs to the gallery. ‘Rachel!’ he shouted, throwing open the door.

  ‘What is it?’ she cried, appearing from the office. ‘What on earth was going on upstairs?’

  ‘It doesn’t matter. Do you have the number of Rhona’s villa?’

  ‘No. Why? What’s happened?’

  ‘Nothing. I don’t know. Have you spoken to Sherry?’

  ‘Not in the last few days. Elliot! What’s going on?’

  ‘I’m going over to Hydra,’ he told her. ‘I won’t be coming to New York …’

  ‘Elliot, for God’s sake! Has something happened to Laurie?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ he answered. ‘Just keep trying Sherry, will you? And we need the number of that villa.’

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  NICK WAS SITTING on the villa wall, gazing out at the spectacular view that was so clear today it made the distant hills of the Peloponnese, over on the mainland, appear much closer than they actually were. The sea between shimmered like crystals in the sunlight, the rocks that towered either side of the port and rose up behind the villa like avenging gods seemed almost as though they would melt in the heat.

  Looking round as he heard someone coming outside, he shifted along the wall to make room for Laurie to sit down. ‘How are you feeling?’ he said.

  ‘Strange. A bit hung-over and a bit disoriented. Time differences help, I’m finding.’

  He smiled.

  ‘Did you get hold of Julia?’ she asked.

  ‘She’s gone sailing with Adam.’

  ‘Did she mind that you didn’t go back last night?’

  ‘I don’t think so. She’s too wrapped up in her own crush to concern herself with mine.’

  Laurie flushed and looked down at her hands. ‘Nick, I …’

  ‘It’s OK,’ he told her gently. ‘I know it’s too soon. I shouldn’t have said that.’

  Forcing a smile, she brought her eyes to his. ‘You’re a wonderful man,’ she told him. ‘Whatever happens in the future, I’ll always remember you for this.’

  His eyebrows went up, but he said nothing, as he turned to look back at the view.

  Following his gaze she found herself thinking of how he’d come to Sherry’s rescue in her time of greatest need. It was no wonder Sherry had fallen so hard, if he’d been as sensitive and caring as this – she could easily fall herself, were she not so incapable of detaching herself from Elliot. Earlier she’d remembered a funny little cartoon she’d seen once, that had depicted a woman sitting on a train, while her heart, still attached to her by a spring, was on another train waiting alongside it. As the two journeys began the trains moved along parallel tracks so the heart was always in the woman’s view and always at the same distance from her. But after a while the tracks started to move away from each other, and the further apart they went, the more the spring stretched – until finally, unable to resist the woman’s need of it, the heart allowed the spring to carry it back to her, leaving the other train to go on its way. Maybe it was saying that the woman had finally reined in her heart, rescuing it from a journey it had stubbornly insisted on going on even though it had been told it wasn’t wanted. Whatever, the message was still the same – the woman and her heart couldn’t live without each other.

  It saddened her greatly that the cartoon had come back to her on what should have been her wedding day. It seemed to be telling her that she and Elliot were on separate tracks now and she should take back her heart because it was hers, not his. She couldn’t help wondering again, as she had all day, what he was doing now, if he was thinking of her at all, or blocking her totally from his mind.

  ‘Rhona still sleeping?’ Nick asked.

  ‘Mm. Too much wine at lunchtime again.’

  He smiled and batted away a fly. ‘Feel like taking a walk?’

  It was too hot, but she was restless enough to want to do something rather than just sit here.

  ‘There’s a beautiful cemetery up at the top,’ she said. ‘I’ll show it to you, if you like.’

  ‘A cemetery,’ he said, with no small irony. ‘What better to cheer us up?’

  Laughing, Laurie said, ‘I’ll leave a note for Rhona, or she’ll be sure to worry.’

  Karima Ghosh was standing at one of the boarded-up windows, staring at the chinks in the wood as though she could see through the dazzling cuts of light. She had been here for almost twenty-four hours, tricked into this prison by a guard who had pushed her inside and locked the door. She knew exactly what it was about. The Italians had been arrested, no-one knew what might come of it, so all the evidence had to be destroyed. And she was part of the evidence.

  There was no comfort to be gained in standing here planning her revenge on a man she’d only ever shown loyalty to. He was long gone. He cared nothing for her. To him she was no different to the pig-women she was locked up with – in his eyes they were all dark-skinned, foreign, and disposable.

  She’d always known this day would dawn, which was why she was finding it so hard to forgive herself for not realizing before they came that it was here. She’d spent years preparing for it, planning an escape route, banking money offshore, arranging a new identity for herself and purchasing an insignificant home in a remote part of India. But instead she was here. There was no escape. This was how it was all going to end, not in her beloved homeland where she might finally have found a sanctuary for her troubled soul, but here, in the way she’d always dreaded. Ever since she was a child, and had watched her mother throw herself on her father’s funeral pyre, she had lived in morbid terror of fire. Suttee was outlawed, her mother should never have done it, but she had and Karima had never forgotten it. It was when she had started to hate the world.

  Turning round, she found the Neela girl’s eyes on her again. That child saw too much. She understood what was going on here, even if the others didn’t. Karima hated her.
She couldn’t wait for the flames to devour those hideously knowing eyes.

  The others were all talking about suffocation, because they still thought the men were going to come. There were moments, though, when they believed they might be rescued. What difference did it make? They were all going to die anyway, so let them suffocate each other. She’d take pleasure in watching them, and never would she stoop low enough to ask them to suffocate her too – not even when the flames came. Her glance flicked to the Neela girl again, and in those unnervingly watchful eyes she saw her own lie.

  Elliot was on the point of telling the cab driver to speed up when his mobile rang. Seeing who it was he clicked on immediately. ‘Rose. Thank God.’

  ‘Where are you?’ she said.

  ‘In a taxi, on my way to Heathrow. Do you have the number?’

  ‘Yes. I’ve just spoken to Rhona …’

  At last someone had made contact. ‘Is Laurie OK?’ he barked.

  ‘The last Rhona knew she was fine. She’s out for a walk at the moment, with Nick van Zant.’

  Elliot was thunderstruck. ‘What’s he doing there?’ he demanded, an image of the two of them outside Davey’s suddenly flashing in his mind, and shocking him even further.

  ‘I really wouldn’t know,’ Rose responded smoothly, ‘but since Rhona’s informing the police, and Nick’s with Laurie, I think we can presume she’s in safe hands. So it seems there’s no need to postpone your trip to New York, after all,’ and with that she rang off.

  The tall iron gate in the wall creaked into the hilltop silence as Laurie pushed it open and stepped into the cemetery garden. Nick was behind her, moving equally slowly in the heat after their climb up through the meandering lanes and gleaming whitewashed houses. There was no-one about, the air was quite still, and the sky stretched in an endless swathe of blue out to the far hills of the Peloponnese.

  ‘It’s so peaceful here,’ she whispered, as they wandered over the gravel towards the nearest white marble tombstones.

  ‘Beautiful,’ he replied. Then after a beat, ‘Why are we whispering?’