There was a visitor at the villa D’Este when we returned.
“David!” Danielle squealed as we stepped out onto the terrace, racing across to where her parents sat beneath the shade of a magnolia tree. “David!”
A large, handsome African turned his head, smiling broadly as she hurtled into his outstretched arms. Laughing, he swung her into the air.
“You’ve grown, little Danny! You’re nearly as big as me!”
“Silly,” she gasped. “No-one could be as big as you, David. You’re bigger than everyone.”
No-one seemed to notice me. John Van de Naude was in swimming trunks, his body still glistening with water. Helena had a short towelling robe over her costume, her hair wound carelessly into a knot on the top of her head, her long legs curled beneath her in her chair as she laughed across at her visitor. I turned to go to my room, but as I did so, Helena Van de Naude called out gaily: “Lucy! Please come and join us.”
I walked over to them and John Van de Naude rose to his feet, saying: “ Lucy, I’d like you to meet an old friend of ours, David Katjavivi.”
My hand was crushed in a giant handshake. Close to, David Katjavivi was even bigger, broader and blacker, his head the magnificent leonine of the African portraits in the villa, the lines of forehead and jaw, powerful and strong.
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” he said, and as he smiled I knew that I had seen him before. Not only in the portraits, but in the flesh … or was it on film?”
Reading my thoughts, Helena said: “You’ve probably seen David’s picture in the papers or seen him on the news. He’s the leader of APFO, the organisation that I work for and which keeps Leonie so busy.”
“APFO?”
“African Peoples Freedom Organisation,” she said with a smile.
“Is the paperwork finished?” David Katjavivi asked, turning to Helena again.
“All but John’s final speech. It’s in its second draft. Do you want to see it now or after dinner?”
“Now I think,” David Katjavivi said, putting his glass down.
“Oh,” Danielle said disappointed. “ What about my stories? You haven’t told me any for ages.”
“Later,” he said gently. “When you are in bed, then I will come and tell you stories.”
Her eyes glowed. “Promise?”
“Promise.”
“It’s time for your bath, Danny,” her mother said practically.
She slipped off his knee, saying resignedly: “I’m always having baths. I have one every night!”
“Yes Danny, and you’re going to have one tonight.”
“It’s not fair. When I grow up I’m not going to have baths. Not ever!”
She took hold of my hand and skipped across the terrace, telling me all about David’s wonderful stories, the ordeal of the bath forgotten: “He knows all about lions and warriors and all sorts of exciting things, and he never gets tired of telling me them. I hope he’s staying a long time. Then we can really have fun!”
Peggy met us at the foot of the stairs.
“Did you have a nice time?”
“Super, Peggy,” Danielle said enthusiastically. “We had our picnic and then we went to visit some caves, absolutely enormous. There was one that even had a lake in it, and we went in a boat and there was a man singing and it was fabulous!”
“Well, I’m glad you enjoyed yourselves,” Peggy said comfortably.
“I was beginning to get worried. You were gone an awful long time.”
“Everyone is worried about us,” Danielle said with a world weary sigh. “Even Mr Lyall came to make sure we were all right.”
Peggy looked at me. “I thought you’d gone by yourselves?”
“We had. For reasons I don’t yet understand, Ian followed us as far as Valldemossa. Keeping an eye on us was the expression he used when I asked him what he was doing.”
“Dear me, what a strange thing to do. Though of course, Mrs Van de Naude might have asked him to, after the car accident you know.”
“Perhaps, but I think she would have told me.”
“She’s a lot on her mind at the moment,” Peggy said confidingly. “What with Mr Katjavivi coming and all.”
Danielle had gone on up the stairs. I said: “Is he a regular visitor, Peggy?”
“Oh yes. Always here he is. He’s the leader of Mrs Van de Naude’s organisation.”
“So Mrs Van de Naude just said. What organisation is it?”
Peggy looked slightly flustered. “To be truthful I don’t rightly know. Something to do with Africa. Mrs Van de Naude is African herself though you wouldn’t think it to look at her. She looks more Spanish to me. She does a lot of work though and people are always coming to stay for a few days. We had two Anglican ministers not long ago. Nice gentlemen they were. Black, you know, but nice.” She glanced over her shoulder to make sure no-one was approaching and lowered her voice: “ You won’t credit this, but when she married Mr Van de Naude they had to leave South Africa on account of how he was white and she was coloured. Shame I call it, but there you are. That’s their law and laws is laws when all said and done. Not everyone thinks alike or ever will.” She shrugged philosophically. “ They’re happy and that’s what matters. Not that it didn’t make things difficult for Mr Bradley, because it did. He was over here not long ago. A very nice young man he is. He stayed on in South Africa to finish his education when his father re-married. Not that he’s a schoolboy now. Twenty-two or three he must be. A nicer, more well-spoken young man you couldn’t wish to meet. I took to him straight away. I said to Mario.…”
There came the sound of chairs scraping back on the terrace and she said hurriedly: “What am I thinking of? Chattering here and the dinner still to do.…” She bustled back towards the kitchen and I followed Danielle up the stairs. The mystery of Mrs Van de Naude’s need for a secretary finally solved.
Leonie drifted into the bathroom as I was shampooing Danielle’s hair. I glanced round, surprised. Visits from Leonie were unheard of.
“We have a visitor, or did you know?”
“I know.”
“Yes, he’s not exactly easy to miss, is he?” She leaned against the door as I towelled Danielle’s hair. “ The Saviour of the African race. Dinner will be just one long bore … and I hate being bored.”
“So do I,” a little voice said clearly from beneath the towel.
Leonie’s green eyes flickered dangerously, but she said merely: “There’s going to be a party in honour of our visitor tomorrow night. I imagine you will be asked to bring the devastating Mr Patterson.”
I ignored the sarcasm on the word devastating, and said only: “Will we be invited?”
She raised her eyebrows, saying mockingly: “ But of course! No class distinctions at the villa D’Este, darling. Haven’t you learned that yet?” and she left the room, leaving the door open and a draught blowing on the naked Danielle. I closed it after her and as I helped Danielle into her nightdress, she said: “ She smiles a lot, but it isn’t like when other people smile, is it?”
“Into bed, or you’ll have no time for a story.”
“I haven’t had my medicine yet or my hot chocolate.”
“Do you really need your medicine, Danielle?”
“I’ll have bad dreams if I don’t,” she said blackmailingly.
I laughed. “All right. Get into bed and I’ll bring it in to you.”
“And my hot chocolate.…”
“Your hot chocolate is by your bed, cooling.”
“Goody,” she said, scampering quickly into her room. I picked up her clothes and the medicine bottle and followed her. My head was beginning to ache and when I had finished the first chapter I said: “No more tonight, Danny. David Katjavivi will be up to tell you a story soon. Be careful with your drink. You won’t spill it, will you?”
“Silly,” said Danielle affectionately. “I’m not a baby. I’m six.”
I kissed her cheek. “Goodnight, pet lamb. Pleasant dreams.”
I left the light on and closed the door quietly behind me. On the threshold I fell over Ian Lyall.
He steadied me saying: “ Is David in there?”
“No, why?”
“He said he was going to tell Danielle a story and I’m looking for him.”
I began to move away and he stepped in front of me.
“Did you enjoy your trip to the caves this afternoon?”
“Yes. You didn’t follow us, did you?”
He grinned, looking disarmingly boyish. “Suspicious little devil, aren’t you? No, I didn’t follow you and I’m sorry if I offended. Somewhere I got off on the wrong foot with you. It isn’t just this afternoon’s incident, is it? You’ve been unfriendly with me ever since you arrived. Why?”
I was in no mood for a heart to heart talk with Ian Lyall.
“I have a headache and all I want to do is lie down in a dark room. Would you make my apologies at dinner please?”
“Sure. Would you like a disprin bringing up?”
“I have some in my room. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” he said, and I knew that he was watching me as I walked away, but what his expression was I neither knew nor cared.
It had been a long day. The longest of my life. And there was no way I could survive it any longer. Instinct told me that Leonie would mention Max’s marriage at the dinner table and there was no way I could handle it. Not tonight.
I closed my bedroom door behind me, then pulled the blinds, plunging the room into merciful darkness.
Chapter Eight
Two o’clock found me restless and awake. Wearily I reached for my dressing-gown and padded over to the open window.
In the distance I could hear the sea whispering round the base of the cliff and from the direction of the pines there came the thin, high squeaking of a bat.
I still have no idea what prompted me to look in on Danielle. But instead of returning to bed and the vain hope of sleep, I walked quietly across to Danielle’s room and opened the door.
I knew the instant I entered the bedroom that something was wrong. The curtains were pulled back, the moonlight streaming across her as she lay with her arms around her teddy-bear. I walked across to her, putting my hand on her forehead. It was clammy and damp, her breathing unnaturally shallow. I said anxiously: “Danielle! Danielle!”
There was no responding flicker of the eyelids. I reached for the light switch, plunging the room into garish brilliance, and then I saw the medicine bottle. It was on the bedside table, standing stickily on top of the book I had been reading to her. The cork was missing. The contents drained.
My heart began to slam. I shouted: “ Peggy! Peggy!” at the top of my voice as I dragged Danielle upright in bed, slapping her face, frantically trying to remember how much medicine had been left in the bottle, what time she must have taken it, and what to do. Dear God, what to do!
She stirred feebly, making a little groaning sound. I picked her up in my arms and ran into the bathroom with her. I was still shouting for Peggy, and dimly I registered the sound of opening doors and the thud of nearing footsteps. Her head rolled on my shoulders as the door burst open and Ian Lyall hurtled into the room with Peggy at his heels.
“What the hell.…”
“She’s drunk the medicine! Get some salt, Peggy. Quick!”
Peggy took one look at the inert Danielle and raced for the kitchen. Ian Lyall was on his knees beside me, lifting her eyelids.
“We’ve got to make her sick!” I said desperately.
Her eyes were flickering open now, glazed and bewildered, and then Peggy was squeezing into the tiny bathroom with a packet of salt. Ian poured some into a tumbler of water, and as I held her, poured it down her throat. She was struggling now, trying to twist her head away as he held it in a vice-like grip, the water spilling down her nightdress and over my hands. Seconds later I could feel her stomach heave and then she vomited, her tiny body shuddering, the tears streaming down her face. Ian leant back on his heels, his face ashen.
“Go for her mother,” he said to Peggy. “She can’t hear a damn thing from her room.”
Dumbly Peggy handed me a towel and did as she was told. I wiped Danielle’s face, cradling her in my arms as we sat on the tiled floor. Her hands clung around my neck, small and defenceless.
“I don’t like being sick.”
I rocked her gently. “We didn’t like making you sick, darling. But we had to, you drank all your medicine and if we hadn’t made you sick you would have been very ill.”
She stirred against me. “I didn’t. I didn’t drink my medicine.”
Ian reached across to take her from my arms, but she clung closer, her hands tightening around my neck.
“I want to stay with Miss Matthews.”
I carried her out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. The empty bottle remained on the table, untouched.
“I didn’t drink it, really I didn’t.…” I kissed her forehead.
“Let me get you back into bed, my love.” It was no time to start cross examining her. Flying footsteps hurtled down the corridor and Helena and John Van de Naude burst into the room.
“What’s happened? Danny! Are you all right, baby?”
Danielle smiled waveringly as her mother took her in her arms.
“Sweetheart, you have been sick, haven’t you? Do you feel better now? Would you like a drink of water?”
Danielle, remembering the salt water, shuddered. “ It’s horrible.…”
“It will make your mouth feel better, darling. Just have a little sip.”
Ian rinsed the tumbler out, half filling it with tap water. Peggy began to clean the bathroom up and Ian said curtly: “How did she get hold of the medicine?”
“I don’t know … she couldn’t have.…”
“She did,” he said, his face grim.
Helena Van de Naude turned towards us and John Van de Naude said sharply: “What medicine?”
“The medicine she takes on a night to help her to sleep. I gave her a spoonful tonight and put it away.” I pointed to the bottle. “It was there when I came in the room.”
“Dear God,” Helena Van de Naude said, “she’s drunk the lot.…”
John Van de Naude said bewildered: “But how? You didn’t leave it there, did you, Lucy?”
“No,” I said unhappily. “It’s kept in the medicine chest in the bathroom and that’s where I put it tonight.”
“But she couldn’t reach.…” John Van de Naude said, staring at the medicine chest high on the bathroom wall.
“She must have. If I had been careless and left it on the table I would tell you so. Honestly, I would. But I didn’t. I put it back in the medicine chest.”
“Do you remember putting it in the medicine chest?” John Van de Naude asked.
“Yes.…”
Helena Van de Naude said tiredly: “ Let’s leave the inquest till the morning. I’ll stay in here and play cards with her to keep her awake for a while and make sure she really is all right. Goodnight Ian. Goodnight Lucy.”
Peggy, her voice breaking, said reproachfully: “ How could you, Lucy! How could you?”
“But I didn’t, Peggy. I put it back in the medicine chest. I know I did.”
Her eyes veered from mine. “Oh, Lucy.…” she said unbelievingly, walking heavy footed out of the bedroom and down the corridor. Limply I went back into my own room and sat on the bed, reaction setting in. I was trembling violently, shivering with sudden cold. If I hadn’t gone in when I had.… But I had gone in. Danielle was all right. Unhappily I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.
The next morning at breakfast, Ian said: “ Have you seen Danielle yet?”
“I went in to her earlier but she was still asleep.”
“Shouldn’t you have woken her?” Leonie asked carelessly.
“She was sleeping quite normally, after last night she needs her rest.”
“Well, I wouldn’t blame yourself too much,” Leonie said with unexpected generosity.
“ How were you to know the silly child would drink it. Putting bottles on bedside tables is a habit, after all.”
“Danielle is not a silly child,” I said angrily, “ and I did not leave the bottle on the bedside table.”
“Really?” Leonie’s eyebrows were raised, a half smile on her lips. “ How strange.…”
“It isn’t strange at all. Simply the truth.”
“Then how did she reach it?”
“I don’t know. But when she wakes up she will no doubt tell us. Would you pass the toast please?”
“Are you quite sure your memory isn’t at fault,” Ian asked, looking at me keenly. “You had a splitting headache last night.”
My temper snapped completely. “I don’t expect you to believe me, whatever I say! I’m quite well aware that you never wanted me to come here and that you’ll do your best to make me seem incompetent and careless. Well, I’m not. You thought the car accident was my fault as well, didn’t you? It wasn’t, and neither was last night! I care very much about Danielle. I enjoy looking after her and I intend to stay looking after her!” and I swung out of the room, leaving him with his mouth wide open and a startled expression in his eyes.
Danielle was getting dressed when I went in to her. She smiled sleepily.
“Do you feel all right this morning, Danielle?”
“Yes thank you. Did I really play cards with Mummy in the middle of the night?”
“You certainly did.”
“Right in the very middle of the night?”
“Yes.”
“Gosh, do you think Mummy will let me do it again?”
“I don’t think so. It was because you had been sick.”
“It wasn’t very nice. I always cry when I’m sick.”
I picked up the empty medicine bottle. “How did you get it out of the medicine chest, Danielle?”
She looked at me, puzzled. “I didn’t get it from anywhere.”
“But you drank it, didn’t you?” I asked gently.
She shook her head. “I had my chocolate, that’s all.”
“Danielle, you were ill last night because you drank all your medicine. Look, there’s none left now.”
The grey-green eyes were wide and innocent. “I didn’t. Honestly I didn’t.”
Vengeance in the Sun Page 5