“Are you sure he did not rape you?”
“No, he was too drunk. He surely wanted to but he could not get it up. That is what made him even more furious but that was also what helped me get away from him,” I sob.
“It does not matter that he did not succeed at raping you. He is not getting away with this. He is going to pay.”
“Please, Thomas. It is over. Nothing really happened. He was so drunk, he was out of his mind and all I suffered was a concussion and a few bruises. If everything had to come out everybody will know that I had an affair with a married man. Even if it was not my intention because I did not know he was married, who do you think is going to believe me? It will ruin my reputation and probably destroy his family.”
“Are you seriously covering for him? Anna, are you serious? What the fuck?”
He grabs his keys.
“Where are you going?”
“I am going to deal with him in my own way. I am telling you, he is not getting away with this. No man treats a woman that way and goes on with his life like nothing has ever happened.”
I hear him slam the front door just as Trudy walks in with the tea tray.
**********
It is hours later when Thomas comes back. I did not know what to do. I wanted to go home but Trudy would not let me. I spent half the day with the kind housekeeper, telling her about Anton and everything that had happened with him.
“I saw the bruise on your back that first morning while I fixed your pillows and I knew you did not just fall. But I did not say anything to Thomas. I thought you might have already told him everything and he was just not telling me the whole story. My dear, you have nothing to feel ashamed about.”
She gave me a motherly hug.
“Leave it to Thomas. He will fix it. Maybe, in a way, it will be healing to him as well. Maybe somehow this will help him put Katrina in his past forever.”
“Thomas has mentioned Katrina to me only once and he never spoke of her again. What happened between them and where is she now?”
Trudy is quiet for a long while.
“I am not surprised that he hasn’t told you everything about her. I don’t think he has ever discussed it with anyone. The wound in his soul was too deep. But I hoped it would be different with you.”
She looks at me and I can see she means it when she says: “The day Thomas tells you everything about Katrina, you will know that you have his whole heart.”
With that she leaves me alone with my own thoughts.
Why is everybody so secretive about Thomas’ ex-wife? What could be so terrible? She must have hurt him terribly in some way; even more than I first thought. But unless he opens up to me, I will never know what happened between them.
TRUTH BE TOLD
I have no idea where Thomas is or what he is doing. Somehow I cannot imagine that he just went to work and is continuing his day as if nothing had happened.
My day is a nightmare. Even though I am in Thomas’ house, surrounded by all his things, I have never felt further from him than today. I now know that I love him like I have never loved any man in my life. But in fact he is nothing more than a stranger I had made love to. He had said so many times that he loves me but still he cannot share the whole him with me. I might have his body and even his thoughts, but his heart will probably always belong to Katrina.
Knowing that is the way Thomas feels I cannot stay in his house any longer. Trudy told me not to leave but she does not understand. I cannot be surrounded by his things, sleep in his bed, knowing his heart is not mine.
My bag is packed and I walk out onto the balcony. Should I wait until Thomas comes back? It has been hours since he left. I haven’t been able to reach him on his cell phone and his secretary said that he will be unavailable for the rest of the day. Trudy does not want me to leave, but I cannot just sit here and wait.
I call a cab and go downstairs to wait for it. When Trudy sees me with my packed bag, she just shakes her head and leaves the room, muttering something about “the young people of today not listening to their hearts”.
When I hear the car outside, I take my bag and walk out on the front porch. It is not the taxi. It is Thomas and while he gets out of his car, two other cars pull up behind him.
“Where do you think you are going?”
“I already called a cab. I am going to my place.”
Two men join us on the porch as Thomas takes my bag from my hand. Trudy appears in the doorway and Thomas tells her to cancel the taxi. Then he turns to me.
“Anna, meet Officer Lindley, a detective from the local police department and Edgar Williams, private investigator. They both want a few words with you.”
“Why? I did not do anything? And I don’t want to lay charges against anyone. Thomas, you are taking this too far.”
“Miss Lemar,” Officer Lindley says, “please, can we talk inside? I think you need to have a seat. We are going to be a while.”
I turn around and walk inside. What did Thomas tell him? Why did he go to the police in the first place? I feel anger towards Thomas and this whole absurd situation build inside me.
As soon as we are all seated, Trudy comes in to say that she was able to cancel my cab. I want to protest when she picks up my bag from where Thomas put it down and starts walking upstairs with it.
“Miss Lemar,” Officer Lindley continues, “can you tell me when you saw Anton Brouchard the last time?”
“It was on Tuesday night. I presented some sessions at a teacher’s conference in Los Angeles that day and I had dinner with him and a group of other teachers.”
“Miss, we know that Brouchard had been in your hotel room after that dinner. We have him on the surveillance footage the hotel provided us with. You really need to tell us everything that happened.”
“It does not matter. I am not pressing charges. I don’t want anything further to do with Anton or this whole mess.”
“Miss Lemar, Anton Brouchard is dead. We had been looking for you but nobody knew where you were. You seemed to disappear into Los Angeles somewhere. The taxi driver who picked you up at the hotel, said he left you at the airport. Footage showed that you left the airport without making a reservation but then you just disappeared off all cameras.”
“Dead? Anton is dead? How can that be? I did not kill him! Do you think I killed him?”
I feel hysterical.
“No. We know you did not kill him. The surveillance footage from the hotel shows him leaving your room. It was clear that he was drunk. It also shows you leaving the hotel not long after that. Unfortunately the cameras on his floor of the hotel were out of order, so nobody knows what happened after he got off the elevator on his floor. His body was found in his room. Unfortunately I cannot give you any more information than that. But you must please tell us everything you know about that night. Thomas has already told us some of it but you have to tell us everything in your own words. You are not a suspect at this stage but if you do not co-operate with us, we will have to start looking at you more closely. What do you have to hide?”
“Anna? May I call you Anna?” the private investigator speaks for the first time.
I nod my head and he continues.
“Everybody here knows that you probably did not kill Anton Brouchard. When Thomas called me this morning, asking what could be done about Brouchard’s attack on you, I contacted Lindley here and when he heard that you were here, he immediately wanted to talk to you. The Los Angeles police had been looking for you since Wednesday. They knew you probably came home but when you weren’t home and the school did not know where you could be found, some red lights started flashing. Even your children did not know where you were and you had not used your cell phone or one of your credit cards since leaving Los Angeles. According to the footage you must have been one of the last people to see him alive. Whatever you can tell us about the night he came to your hotel room, may help in the investigation. We understand that you are not going to lay any charges. It would be a f
utile exercise anyway, seeing that he is dead. But please, tell us your version of Tuesday night’s events.”
I look at Thomas and he nods. I know it is time for the whole truth to come out. All I can hope for is that my past relationship with Anton does not get dragged into court.
**********
Two hours later I feel empty and as tired as I have ever felt in my life. I have told them everything there is to know about Anton since the first time I laid eyes on him right through to that night when I shoved him out of the door of my hotel room.
When the two men leave, Thomas comes to me. He looks into my eyes for a second and then folds his arms around me.
“Don’t worry. You will probably not have to tell anyone that whole story ever again. I just wish you had trusted me enough to confide in me the moment it happened. Please, never hide anything from me again.”
I just hold him tighter and say: “I know I should have. But we all have our secrets. I need to lie down for a bit.”
He walks upstairs with me. Trudy had left my bag in the hallway. After everything that had transpired, she must have been unsure whether to put my bag in Thomas’ room or the guest room.
“Will you stay in my room again or will you feel more at ease in the guest room? I want you with me but it is really up to you.”
“I want to be with you. I want you to hold me while I sleep. I never feel safer than when I am in your arms.”
With that thought, I later lie in his arms and fall asleep almost immediately.
**********
When I wake up it is almost dark outside. Thomas is not in the room and I hear voices coming from the kitchen. I go downstairs and find Trudy and Thomas sitting on opposite sides of the kitchen table, each with a cup of coffee in hand. It is clear that the two of them had been having a serious conversation.
When she sees me, Trudy gets up and rinses her mug.
“I have to get going. It is getting late. Will you two be okay without me for the night?”
Thomas laughs: “Yes, old worrywart. We will be fine. Thank you for everything. We will see you on Monday. And yes, I will not forget what you told me. I will have a serious think about it. I promise.”
When she passes me, Trudy gives me a quick hug.
“Look after yourself. And don’t run away before Monday. I want to see you here when I get back. Dinner is in the oven. Make sure that you eat something. You both look like you need it.”
Their comments are making me feel a bit confused. They must have had a very serious conversation.
While Thomas sees Trudy off, I open the oven door and the smell of homemade beef casserole makes me realize how hungry I am. I get two plates from the shelf and decide to open a bottle of wine as well.
Thomas and I eat in silence. The silence is not uncomfortable. After dinner we watch some television. When the late news opens with footage of Anton’s hotel room, Thomas switches the television set off.
“Excuse me for just a second. I am going to get us some more wine.”
He comes back with a glass of wine in each hand. In his left hand he is also holding a picture. When I take my wine, he motions to me to take the picture as well.
It is a picture taken at what seems to be a carnival. A beautiful girl with long blond hair and a heart-shaped face smiles at the camera. Next to her is a much younger looking Thomas. He looks so happy and carefree that it is hard to believe it is really him.
“Katrina?” I ask.
He nods.
When I look up at him, I see the pain engraved in the lines on the side of his mouth. He looks like he has grown ten years older since entering the room with the picture. He takes a seat across from me.
“Katrina was my childhood sweetheart. We grew up together. Our parents were best friends. Her parents both died in a plane crash when she was sixteen and in accordance to her parents’ wishes she came to stay with us. She was an only child.”
“I was only a year older than Katrina. When I finished school I went travelling overseas while she was in her final year. Before I left, we promised each other that I would come back and that she would wait for me until I did. The one year became two. Katrina had gone to college to study interior design and while she was there she met someone else.”
“One day while I was working the vineyards outside of Versailles, I got a phone call from my father. He wanted me to come home immediately. Katrina needed me.”
“I had not forgotten her in all the time I had been away. I took the first flight home. When I got there, it was clear why my dad had called: Katrina was in hospital. Her boyfriend, Frank St James, had beaten her to a pulp. She was not on the ventilator anymore but her head was covered in bandages. Apparently he had seen her talking to one of her professors after class and decided to teach her not to talk to another man.”
“When she came to, she asked that the charges against him be dropped. She did not want to live through the trauma again during a trial.”
“When the new semester started I enrolled for my business degree. We did not want to wait any longer to be together. Our parents were so happy that we were back together and with their blessing Katrina and I got married on a cold winter’s night in December. It was a beautiful ceremony. We were so happy. We were still young and although we did not have it easy, being together more than made up for it. During the day we were both in class and a few evenings a week we worked odd jobs to pay the rent. My parents paid for my studies and hers were paid for by a trust fund from her parents’ estate.”
“One night she was off but I had to go to the library to do some research for a paper that was due the following week. When I got home, I was greeted by an eerie silence and a strange smell. I found Katrina in the bathroom. The whole place was full of blood. Her open eyes seemed to stare at the wall and her long hair and face were covered in blood.”
I just stare at Thomas. They did not get a divorce. She was dead. I was too stunned to utter a word.
“The autopsy showed that she had been raped, beaten up, cut with a hunter’s knife, strangled and even drowned. The official cause of death had been strangulation. According to the coroner she had a lot of water in her lungs. The bath was filled with water and her blood turned it a sickly, pinkish colour. But it seemed like he dragged her from the water before she lost consciousness completely and then strangled her.”
He was quiet for so long that I thought he had forgotten about me being there. But he continued.
“Of course I was a suspect. But the evidence quickly revealed that it was Frank St James.”
“Is he in prison?” I talk for the first time.
“No. He fled the country. That is how Edgar started working for me. I hired him to find St James. Every time Edgar finds him, he flees to another country. He always chooses a country that would not extradite a rapist and murderer. He had changed his identity as well as his appearance numerous times over the years. But Edgar is good at what he does and always manages to find him.”
“Thomas, how did you manage to get over it?”
“I didn’t. The worst thing was that he did not only take my wife from me. My parents adored Katrina and losing her in such a manner devastated them. To top it off, my brother died about two months after her. My father’s health had already started deteriorating after Katrina’s death. He died less than a year after Bobby. He had a heart attack. I still believe my mother could not handle all the tragedy. She died before they could erect my father’s headstone and we buried her next to him. The official cause of death was kidney failure. But in my heart I believe she died from a broken heart.”
“What did you do?”
He looks around the room and with a gesture of his hand, he says: “This.”
“I finished my degree. Then I started the business. I threw myself into my work so I could forget. I bought this house and set up my life in such a way that I did not have need of a wife or anyone else. I hired the best personal assistant and the best housekeeper money could buy. I thought
I had my heart safely locked away. But then came Anna,” he smiles but the hurt and the heartache are still visible in his eyes.
I kneel in front of his chair and take his head in my hands. I draw his lips closer to me and kiss him with all the love I feel for him in my heart.
AND THEN CAME ANNA
I come walking into the dimly lit room. The only light in the room emanates from a few candles in one corner. The scent of my perfume lies heavy in the air.
Thomas is lying on his back on the bed, with his hands behind his head. He seems different somehow. After everything he told me this evening, I thought he would be upset and emotional; but quite the opposite. He seems more at peace than he ever has since that day he knocked on my front door.
He watches me and his eyes remain engaged with mine as I slip out of my clothes and only keep my black lace bra and panties on. I see the longing in his eyes and it makes me want him with everything within me that is woman. I straighten myself out on the bed next to him and feel his strong, masculine heat. I smell him and the only thought in my mind is that I want to please this man with everything in me - with every inch of me. I love him and somewhere deep inside me I know that I am able to heal the wounds that have made him lock his heart to love for so long.
I feel his strong, warm hands on me as he caresses me. He starts kissing me softly, but soon there is an urgency to his kiss that tells me he wants to make love to me; he wants to own me.
He presses my breast, but soon the bra starts feeling obsolete and he unhooks it to lay bear my milky white breasts with the rosy nipples. He kisses my breasts and I feel my nipples stiffen. I want him so much that I almost immediately start feeling the wetness between my legs.
In a gruff voice I hear him say: “I need something from you tonight. I need you to be in absolute control.”
Looking at him, I know there is nothing I won’t do for this man. It feels like all the emotions of the day and the night have been rolled together in a ball that is now enveloping both of us and the only way to escape it is to be together, to make love like we have never done before.
The Coming of Anna (The Manhattan Series) Page 8