Wicked Beauty

by Susan Lewis

  ‘Hi,’ he said, when he was close enough to be heard. ‘I saw Beanie in the village. She sent this, in case you were getting cold.’

  She took the shawl, and wished she could get up, for she felt disadvantaged down on the ground, but since getting up was an undignified manoeuvre these days, she bore it out where she was. ‘Thanks,’ she said, putting an arm round Romie as she snuggled up next to her.

  ‘It’s a lovely day,’ he said, turning to gaze out at the view.

  She looked up at him, standing tall and slightly dishevelled in the breeze, and thought there was something different about him. Then she realized that his natural, easygoing manner had been replaced by a kind of distance, or anxiety, and she wondered if he was thinking about the fight with his wife last night, or her, or something much darker.

  He looked down at her, and his deep, almost soulful eyes seemed to look right into hers. ‘How are you?’ he said.

  She nodded. ‘Fine.’

  He was still searching her face, as though to make sure. ‘I’m sorry about what happened … I should have called sooner, it just … It was difficult.’

  She looked away, and he dropped down beside her, snapping off a blade of grass.

  ‘I probably owe you more explanations than I know,’ he said, resting his elbows on his knees, ‘and frankly I’m not sure where to start, but the fact I didn’t tell you I was married –’

  ‘Actually,’ she interrupted, ‘I’d rather we started with a phone call I received, at the villa, after you left. It was another of the anonymous variety, this time warning me to stay away from Katherine Sumner. Laurie and I have been trying to work out how the caller knew where to find me.’

  The accusation was clear in her tone, and a long, almost painful silence ensued, as his eyes remained focused out to sea.

  ‘Did you tell anyone?’ she prompted, unease stirring hard in her heart, for his silence was obviously answer enough, and for one awful moment she just wanted to cover her ears rather than have to face where this was going.

  After a beat he threw down the blade of grass then picked another. ‘It was Franz Koehler who made the call,’ he stated flatly.

  Her heart jerked a response, though the only real surprise was learning that it was Franz Koehler himself – and hearing him announce it like that almost made her feel sick. For a second or two she could only stare blankly down at the grass, while the dreadful reality of more betrayal and lies began to engulf her like a tide. ‘How do you know that?’ she finally asked, her voice slightly hoarse.

  ‘Because he told me.’

  She took a breath. ‘You have to explain this,’ she said, putting a hand to her head. ‘How do you …’ She cleared her throat. ‘How do you know him? And why have you never told me before?’

  His tone remained neutral as he said, ‘I acquired a valuable painting for him, several years ago. It was a Modigliani nude, though that’s only relevant insofar as a Modigliani painting features in The Magus. What’s more relevant, is the fact that it was the start of what’s been a three and a half year association between us, the last eight to ten months of which have become increasingly …’ He stopped and snapped off another blade of grass. ‘Increasingly demanding,’ he ended.

  ‘In what way?’

  ‘In a way I can’t go into,’ he replied.

  ‘Can’t or won’t?’

  ‘Both.’ He inhaled deeply, then still not looking at her, he said, ‘Please, just take his advice and stop looking for Katherine. Let him and the police do it, and if she does approach you, don’t, for God’s sake, do anything without at least calling me first.’

  Her eyes stayed on his profile. ‘Why should I call you when I don’t even know who you are?’ she responded.

  He glanced at her, then away again. ‘You’ve probably drawn some conclusions,’ he replied.

  ‘Aren’t you interested to know what they are?’

  ‘I think I can guess.’

  Struggling to hold on to her impatience she said, ‘OK, if you won’t address that, then at least tell me why I shouldn’t see Katherine. Do I have something to fear from her?’

  ‘Yes, you probably do.’

  She waited for him to expand, but he didn’t. ‘Oh, no,’ she said harshly. ‘I won’t let you get away with this. You have to tell me –’

  ‘Please. Just trust me …’ he broke in.

  ‘And why should I trust you when you’ve lied to me from the start?’ she threw back acidly.

  ‘Then trust your instincts. Are they telling you you should see her?’

  She was about to answer when she felt suddenly unsure. ‘You’re making it impossible for me to know,’ she cried, ‘so why don’t you explain why I should be afraid of her, when any sane person would think she had more to fear from me.’

  He nodded, as though agreeing with her. ‘It could be a Koehler feint to stop you from seeing her,’ he said, ‘or it could be serious. I’m afraid I don’t know.’

  ‘So why don’t you ask him?’

  ‘It’s not as simple as that.’

  More anger flashed in her eyes, but forcing herself to try and stay calm, she said, ‘Then let’s go back to who you really are, and what the hell you’re doing in my life.’

  He lowered his head, letting his breath go slowly, almost cautiously.

  ‘I want to know,’ she said through her teeth. ‘And for God’s sake, don’t lie.’

  ‘I’m here, because it makes more sense for me to be than anyone else,’ he finally answered. ‘We’re neighbours, I’ve met your sister a couple of times, your husband too …’

  ‘But you’re here at Franz Koehler’s behest,’ she broke in bluntly.

  It took a while, but eventually he nodded.

  Her heart turned over. That wasn’t the answer she’d hoped for and now she felt right back at square one. ‘To keep me away from Katherine Sumner?’ she said.

  Again he nodded.

  Adrenalin was pounding through her veins now, almost making her dizzy. ‘And to persuade me to give back four million dollars?’

  This time he didn’t respond.

  ‘So what was the money for?’ she challenged, shaking with outrage. ‘If you know, then I have a right to know too.’

  He was shaking his head. ‘Obviously it was some kind of pay-off,’ he said. ‘But Franz Koehler has never confided the details to me. I’m sure Katherine Sumner knows them,’ he looked at her, ‘which would be at least one of the reasons he doesn’t want you to meet her.’

  ‘And what would the others be?’

  ‘I don’t think he much wants your blood on his hands,’ he answered frankly. ‘But I’m afraid he might feel he has no choice if Katherine manages to tell you what she knows.’

  Her breath felt suddenly short and ragged and she looked away, giving herself a moment to assimilate that. ‘And all this,’ she said bitterly, ‘so a few very rich men can get even richer.’

  He didn’t answer.

  ‘Do you have shares in Phraxos?’

  He nodded.

  She was about to ask what kind of role he played in the hellacious trading Elliot had witnessed, when suddenly she wasn’t sure it would be wise to let on that she knew so much. ‘Did you know Elliot Russell’s apartment was broken into?’ she challenged. ‘And that Laurie was there?’

  ‘Anna told me, last night.’

  ‘You didn’t know before?’

  ‘I knew that the apartment would be broken into,’ he answered. ‘But you should tell Laurie that it was Elliot’s computer they were after. Not hers.’

  ‘And you know that because Franz Koehler was behind the break-in?’

  ‘Yes. But no one was given any orders to harm her. They had no idea she was going to be there.’

  ‘And you think that makes it all right?’

  ‘No, of course not.’

  ‘So what about Elliot? Do you know where he is?’

  ‘No. But when it was discovered he was a reporter … I’m told that Patrice Bombola took
care of things.’

  ‘What the hell does that mean?’ she murmured in horror.

  ‘I’m repeating what I was told,’ he said. ‘And I can’t go any further. I’ve trusted you with far too much already.’

  Her eyes were glittering with angry confusion. ‘And if you do go any further, what then? You’ll be in danger yourself?’

  His laugh sounded strangled as he said, ‘Being around Franz Koehler you can never be anything else.’

  ‘Especially,’ she said, her heart starting to pound, ‘if he were to find out you’d been planted in his life as some kind of informer.’ She knew it was a desperate bid for him to be who she wanted him to be, but she was making it anyway. ‘I’m right, aren’t I?’ she pressed, when there was no reaction from him at all.

  Still he neither admitted nor denied it.

  ‘We know about your father,’ she said.

  He glanced at her, then merely nodded, which she knew was probably as close to an admission as she was likely to get.

  ‘OK. I know you can’t discuss it,’ she said, ‘and I should know better than to ask. But just tell me this, did you have anything to do with Tim’s murder?’

  He turned to look at her as though shocked she might think so, then turning away again, he said, ‘No, I didn’t. In fact I probably don’t know any more about it than you do, except that Franz Koehler was involved somehow, and that he’s desperate to find Katherine Sumner.’

  She waited for him to say more, but he didn’t.

  ‘Chris, please,’ she implored. ‘You’ve got to understand how difficult this is for me, so whatever you know …’

  ‘Koehler has never told me how your husband fits into the picture,’ he said earnestly, ‘and I’m afraid I’m not in a position to ask.’

  ‘But you are in a position to pass on whatever I tell you,’ she said bitterly.

  He didn’t respond.

  ‘For God’s sake, my husband’s been murdered, don’t you think I have a right to know what’s going on?’

  ‘Of course you have,’ he responded, ‘but I don’t have the answers. I only have theories, which on the whole are the same as yours: that he got involved with Phraxos and something went wrong … It’s that something we’re trying to work out.’

  ‘We being?’

  He took a breath. ‘You know the answer to that.’

  Yes, she did, and maybe she should stop pushing him on it now, for as oblique as the admissions had been, she couldn’t deny that he’d gone at least some way towards giving her the reassurance she needed. ‘So it’s generally believed that Katherine murdered him. Or set him up to be murdered?’ she said.

  ‘That’s how it’s looking, but since no one has spoken to Katherine, it’s impossible to say for sure.’

  ‘So what happens if you find her?’

  ‘If Koehler finds her, I’m pretty sure he’ll kill her.’

  ‘But what about you? What if you find her?’

  ‘I’m not looking. I just went with you to the Caribbean because I needed to know what you found out.’

  ‘So you could pass it on to Koehler?’

  He nodded.

  ‘So you are his snoop?’ This was like being in a house of crazy mirrors.

  ‘On that occasion.’

  ‘What about on others?’

  Again he turned to look at her, and she was unsettled by how dense his eyes seemed. ‘There’s a lot I just can’t tell you,’ he said quietly. ‘I wish to God I could, but I don’t know what the consequences would be, so I can’t take the risk.’

  Feeling unsteady, she looked down at Romie slumbering peacefully in the midst of this madness. Then she lifted her head to watch the sun glinting on the sea, while shapeless white clouds scudded through the sky. When at last she turned back to look at him he was making Romie’s ears twitch with a buttercup. ‘You know, I can be trusted,’ she said quietly.

  ‘Yes, but it’s not as simple as that.’

  Her eyes fell to her hands as his words made her feel strangely bereft, shut out, and still resentful. ‘Does your wife know about any of it?’ she said shortly. ‘Who you are? What you do? Whatever the hell that really is.’

  ‘She knows some.’

  She took a breath, not sure now how she was feeling, or what she was really believing. ‘I saw the newspaper this morning,’ she said.

  He was gazing out to sea.

  ‘My sister’s very nervous about you and your wife breaking up.’

  ‘I’m sure she is,’ he said, ‘but it’s not going to happen.’

  Unable to stop the pang of disappointment she felt, she turned her face away. ‘So your marriage isn’t “on the rocks”,’ she said, already wishing she hadn’t.

  ‘No, it’s not, though right at this moment there’s a good chance Stacey actually thinks I’ve left her.’

  Her surprise showed. ‘Why would she think that, if it’s not true?’

  ‘Because I’m here, with you.’ His eyes remained straight ahead. ‘She thinks I’ve … She thinks there’s something between us.’

  Rachel’s face felt suddenly hot. ‘But you told her there isn’t?’ she said.

  ‘Of course, but she doesn’t believe me.’ He turned to look at her, and she had to lower her eyes for fear of betraying her own feelings. It was a while before he spoke, and when he did his voice was the gentlest it had been since he’d arrived. ‘I really didn’t expect this to happen,’ he told her. ‘I thought I was …’ He tried again. ‘I’m happily married.’

  ‘Yes, you are,’ she replied quietly, looking at her wedding ring, ‘because nothing’s happening. You wouldn’t let it, remember?’

  His eyes were still on her, and for one long, excruciating minute she was afraid he might touch her. Then, as though it might in some way stop her wanting him to, she picked up the shawl.

  ‘Are you cold?’ he said.

  ‘No. Really, I’m fine.’

  A few more seconds ticked by. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said.

  ‘No, don’t be,’ she said. ‘There’s nothing to be sorry for.’ She looked up at him and smiled. ‘Stacey’s a lucky woman that you love her enough to turn another woman down.’

  ‘Maybe I’m the lucky one,’ he said, ‘that you came into my life and showed me certain things I don’t think I’d realized before. Or perhaps not well enough.’

  She looked surprised.

  He swallowed. ‘If circumstances were different,’ he whispered. ‘If I … Well, I think you know what I’m saying.’

  She continued to look at him, thinking she probably did, and thinking too of what an extraordinary way the world sometimes had of bringing people into each other’s lives, and how very capricious, or even cruel, the timing could be.

  After a while he said, ‘I should probably walk you back now.’

  As he got to his feet she rolled her eyes up at him, and saw the familiar light of amusement spark in his own as he realized she needed some help.

  ‘Thank you,’ she said, as he pulled her up. Then she gasped as the baby delivered a ferocious kick. ‘It’s a monster,’ she laughed, clutching her belly.

  He looked down at her hands. ‘Can I?’ he asked.

  Surprised, she parted her hands, then felt an unsteady beat in her heart as she watched him cover the mound that seemed to be getting livelier by the minute. ‘OK. OK. He’s showing off now,’ she said as a series of somersaults started up inside her.

  ‘So it is a boy?’ he said, his tone taking on the tease they’d started in the Caribbean.

  ‘She. I meant to say she,’ she corrected, and putting her head to one side, she gazed up into his face. ‘I’m sorry I’ve caused a problem between you and Stacey,’ she said.

  ‘We’ll work it out,’ he replied.

  She smiled, then without really thinking, she reached up to put her arms round his neck and kissed him softly on the mouth. The feel of him kissing her back spread a warmth all the way through her. Then she pulled away and they stood gazing into each other’s eye
s, him still holding her belly, her with her arms linked behind his neck, until finally he took her hand and began walking her back across the meadow.

  ‘We can talk more, if you like,’ he said, ‘but you understand how limited my answers have to be.’

  ‘That’s OK, I never did like garrulous men,’ she quipped.

  He smiled. Then as they reached the stile he said, ‘Would it be acceptable to ask if you’re free for dinner tonight?’

  ‘Oh, I think so,’ she answered. ‘Though we should probably invite Beanie too, just to make sure we don’t get out of control.’

  Laughing, he vaulted over the stile then turned to help her. She shrieked and laughed as he swung her down, but as they continued walking back towards the village, with Romie trotting along beside them, the conversation became serious again as she returned to the subject of Elliot.

  He wished there was more he could tell her, but there wasn’t, for that was truly all Franz Koehler had told him, though right now he was much more troubled by the figure on horseback he’d spotted, at the far side of the meadow, when he’d swung her down from the stile. Though at this distance it was impossible to say for certain, he felt sure it was his wife’s loyal servant, Elwyn, and if Elwyn had been there as long as he feared, then what he had to report back to Stacey was definitely not going to be anything Stacey wanted to hear.

  Anna was upstairs getting the girls ready to go out for the evening when Cecily shouted up to let her know that Stacey Greene was on the line.

  Anna’s heart went into free fall. Robert had said he was going to see his agent, then might pop into the cutting rooms for an hour, so was she now going to discover she’d been wrong to trust him? Oh please God, don’t let him have gone to Ernesto’s to find out how the portraits were coming along. The party night run-in with Stacey had been bad enough, another this soon could prove disastrous. Her eyes closed as the night of the rape scene flashed through her mind, though if anything like that had happened, Stacey would surely be calling the police, not her.