In the Shade of the Blossom Tree

by Joanna Rees

  He turned to face her, his hands on the waist of his midnight-blue shirt. ‘Have you forgotten what he did? Last time I noticed, he’d broken your heart and sent you into a downward spiral that – believe you me – was bloody difficult to rescue you from. Where was Luc Devereaux then? But all of a sudden, now you’re successful and rich, he’s back on the scene—’

  ‘Stop it,’ Savvy gasped, feeling a deep flush inside her. ‘Take that back. You have no idea what it’s like.’

  ‘Then enlighten me. Because all I can see is you making another huge mistake.’

  ‘I love him,’ she said.

  Marcus threw his hands up in despair and groaned, as if she were being delusional.

  ‘Not that I’d expect you to understand,’ Savvy snapped. ‘What do you know about love?’

  ‘Plenty.’ Marcus glared at her. His eyes bored into hers. It was the first time he’d shouted at her and she stepped away, fighting back tears.

  She should never have presumed to be friends with Marcus. She should have left him in her past, where he belonged. It was impossible to truly be friends with someone with whom she’d had such murky history.

  And now she had nowhere to go. They couldn’t be friends any more, but he still worked for her. She couldn’t exactly fire him, just because he had doubts about her marriage to Luc.

  ‘I’m sorry you feel that way,’ she said. She fought to keep her voice level. ‘But since you do, I suggest that we don’t discuss it again. I think we should try and keep things professional between us.’

  ‘Fine,’ he said, in a tone that made her think there was a whole tonne of stuff he hadn’t said. She felt a pang of sadness that it had come to this. He wouldn’t be coming to the wedding now, that was for sure.

  Marcus squeezed his lips together. He seemed to be composing himself. He coughed. She guessed their row had hurt his feelings too.

  ‘As it happens, it’s a professional matter I wanted to see you about,’ he said.

  ‘Which is?’ Savvy tensed.

  This was it then, he was going to quit.

  Marcus sighed. ‘I’ve got some information. About your father,’ he said.

  Savvy felt tension spreading like a spider’s web across her back.

  ‘Go on,’ she said, steeling herself for what she might be about to hear, thinking of all the lies written about Hud already.

  ‘I found the madam who used to supply girls for Hud. Like you asked me to. And let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. She’s called Peaches Gold, but she’s retired now. It took me ages to get her to talk.’

  Savvy felt a stab of fear.

  ‘And?’

  ‘And the latest kiss-and-tell is from a girl who Hud last saw years ago. And I mean years. It’s not a recent story. But what she’s saying is true. He made them all wear blonde wigs and he filmed them. That’s why Peaches stopped supplying him.’ Peaches reckoned Hud had given up the whole call girl thing entirely anyway just after that. Over five years ago now. After he’d first got ill. She’d been as surprised as anyone by the manner of his death.

  Savvy knew she’d asked for it. This was the information she’d wanted Marcus to track down and now she had to deal with it, but it was still hard. Every time she thought about Hud’s last night – about what he’d done, right here in this house – she felt totally conflicted.

  If what Marcus had found out was true, it was only a matter of time before some greedy journalist with a grudge to bear tracked down one of those tapes. And what then? That kind of sleazy press could ruin all her carefully laid plans and scupper the launch of El Palazzo and her wedding.

  Was this how Hud had felt about her? Savvy wondered now. When her name had been dragged through the press? When her antics, or her loud mouth, had brought shame on the Hudson name? Well, maybe he was getting his own back from beyond the grave, she thought grimly.

  ‘Thank you, Marcus,’ she said.

  He nodded. ‘OK. I’m going to go now.’

  He wouldn’t look her in the eye. ‘Marcus,’ she said. He turned in the doorway. ‘I still need you to find that girl. If you can . . .’

  ‘I’ll try,’ he said. But as the door closed, she had no way of knowing whether he would or not.

  She was still standing there, fiddling with her engagement ring, as she heard Marcus’s Ferrari spin up the gravel outside the front door and speed away into the night.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

  Lois stood next to Aidan on the steps of Banyan’s Boatyard, as the water taxi containing Mike and Jeanie Hannan and three DEA operatives sped away.

  Then they turned back towards the French doors. A lawn stretched out before them, broken only by the hoops and stumps of a croquet set. Pink bougainvillea trailed over the doorway and a hedge of rhododendrons buzzed with bees. In the afternoon heat, the quiet calm of the colonial surroundings somehow made what had happened here seem even more monumental and permanent.

  ‘You think he’ll play ball?’ Lois asked Aidan.

  ‘He’s got no choice.’

  ‘You’re going to have a tough time explaining this one to Fernandez,’ she told Aidan, as they reached the worn stone steps. ‘He’ll want his head.’

  Aidan shook his head and whistled. ‘Don’t I know it.’

  But that was nothing compared to how Roberto Enzo was going to react when he found out that Jai Shijai’s drugs money had been behind the consortium which had funded the Good Fortune.

  One of Aidan’s team, a Chinese guy called Jet, approached, removing an earpiece from his ear.

  ‘Well?’ Aidan asked.

  Jet was the liaison with the Chinese government. ‘We’re good to go,’ he said. ‘Once we’ve got the conclusive evidence on Jai Shijai locked down, then they’ll have to go public.’ He glanced at Lois. ‘Very public. They’ll want a big arrest. Show that they’re not going to tolerate corruption. They’re gonna hang Jai Shijai out to dry.’

  Aidan glanced at Lois. ‘Then it’ll have to be at the baccarat championship. That’s the next time that we know for sure we’ve got him cornered. And it’s the most public place he’s likely to be. You’re going to have to do that sweet-talking we discussed and get him back.’

  Lois felt shaky. Terrified of what the operation involved, she thought how tactfully and skilfully she’d have to play it to get back in Jai Shijai’s favour.

  They walked through to the lounge area.

  ‘So what will happen now?’ she asked Aidan.

  ‘I’m afraid you’ll have to go back to Shangri-La and act like nothing has changed. And I’ll have to quietly gather all the evidence I can from Mike, and then it’ll all be over.’

  Lois laughed, without pleasure. ‘You make it sound so easy. But it’s going to be hell.’

  Six weeks of keeping her mouth shut. Of deceiving everyone in the Good Fortune. Six weeks when she knew that she couldn’t be in contact with Aidan. That she’d have no way of knowing if he had everything he needed. Six weeks . . .

  Aidan squeezed her arm. ‘You know, you did good today. Real good. You impressed the hell out of my team.’

  ‘Did I?’ Lois turned on him. His compliment couldn’t make up for the turmoil she was feeling.

  ‘I know what you’ve done. What you’ve sacrificed, Lois.’

  ‘Do you? If Jai Shijai goes down, then the Good Fortune will go down with him. I can’t bear for that to happen. All my team . . . all they’ve sacrificed. All their hard work. And Roberto . . . he’s part of the syndicate that built it too. I know he raised finance on the Enzo Vegas, so that’ll be on the line. Not to mention his reputation.’

  She hadn’t yet had to look Roberto in the face, but already she felt like a traitor. Aidan had sworn her to secrecy. She couldn’t tell anyone what was happening, not even the man to whom she owed her whole career.

  Because if word leaked out about what was going down, then the chances were it would result in Mike and Jeanie Hannan’s death. And Jai Shijai would get away.

  ‘I’ll do what I can,�
�� Aidan said, but they both knew that he couldn’t make any promises. ‘I’ll talk to Fernandez.’ He put his hand on Lois’s arm and turned her to face him. ‘Listen to me,’ he went on. ‘One of the first things you ever told me was that you wanted to make the world a better place for the little guy. To make it safe. Well, this is your chance.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘Doing the right thing is never the easiest option,’ Aidan said.

  She nodded. ‘But how do I know I’ve done the right thing?’

  ‘Because you have. Morally, you’ve made the right call. You’ll have to trust me on that one.’ He raised her face so that she could meet his eyes. His lovely, honest, kind eyes. The eyes that melted her, every time she looked into them. ‘You’re going to have to trust a man one day, Lois. And I really want that man to be me.’

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

  Savvy couldn’t sleep. In Hud’s old bedroom at the White House, she sat on the window seat and looked out at the view of the lake and the lawns stretching in all directions to the high walls. She’d always hated the White House in the past, but recently she’d grown fond of the place. For all the bright lights of Vegas beyond the walls, Hud had created this oasis of peace. But she wondered now, as she listened to the silence of the house, whether he’d ever got lonely here by himself.

  Luc and Paige had left hours ago to go back to Shangri-La and now that Savvy was all alone, she felt unaccountably emotional. Perhaps it was the argument with Marcus that was bugging her.

  She felt angry that he had been so dismissive of her and Luc. And now she pined for Luc, for him to make Marcus’s cruel words go away.

  She should be feeling happy, she knew. She had everything she wanted. Her business empire was about to flourish in Shangri-La, she was rich and she was engaged. To Luc. The man she’d loved from the first moment she’d laid eyes on him. The happy-ever-after she’d always wanted was just around the corner. She just had to get the wedding over with. Then she had a real chance of making a new future – a new family even – with Luc. A chance to build a wall of privacy around them, away from the prying eyes of the world.

  But somehow . . . somehow, she felt a sense of melancholy that she couldn’t shake. With Paige so excited about the wedding, Savvy had no one to talk to about her doubts. About how she’d been left reeling by the sheer speed of everything. About how she no longer felt truly in control of her own destiny.

  She looked down and realized that she’d been unconsciously fiddling with the friendship bracelet on her wrist. Now she stared at it in the moonlight. It would have to come off, she realized. She couldn’t try on couture wedding gowns in the morning while wearing something so tatty and old.

  And yet the thought of it made her feel even sadder. As if cutting it off would be casting a part of herself adrift too.

  She sighed, thinking of Red on his island in Scotland.

  Was he happy? Was he in love too? Was he engaged? The thought made her heart beat faster. Was he staring at someone else with those wolf-like eyes? Those eyes that had once made her feel so safe. So grounded. So true to the person she’d nearly become.

  But she pushed the thought away. Red was in the past. Whatever he did with his life was none of her business. Why should it bother her, if he’d found love? He deserved it, didn’t he? Just like she did.

  She should get out of here, she thought, getting off the window seat. Being in Hud’s room was just making her feel maudlin.

  But as she walked towards the door, she stopped.

  He liked to film the girls . . .

  Suddenly, the conversation she’d had earlier with Marcus echoed through Savvy’s mind. It was like her subconscious had been quietly working away on a problem and had at last come up with a solution.

  And now she realized why she couldn’t sleep and why she was here.

  At the foot of Hud’s bed was a large walnut-veneered cabinet. Savvy strode towards it and opened the doors. Inside was a giant television. She opened the drawer underneath and the front flicked down, revealing an old video player.

  She knelt down and searched in and around the TV cabinet.

  Think, she told herself. If she were Hud, where would she hide the tapes?

  She thought for a moment, then walked over and opened the closet. Her father’s clothes had been taken away. Only a few empty shoe boxes remained and a load of wooden hangers, which rattled as she moved them aside.

  She stood inside the closet, feeling the side wall of it, knocking and tapping at the panels.

  She jumped as one of them sprang open.

  The hidden compartment housed around twenty digital tapes on a shelf, each of them labelled with a date and a different girl’s name.

  Savvy’s hand was trembling as she put the most recent digital tape in the player. She sat on the edge of her father’s bed with the remote in her hand and pressed play. The TV flickered into life.

  An empty room. This room. Savvy stared down at the case. The date was from five years ago.

  Five years . . .

  All that time ago, and yet Savvy and Elodie had been around then. Grown-ups. And they’d had no idea of Hud’s secret life.

  She jumped as her father walked into shot. He was naked.

  She froze the picture. Cut the sound.

  ‘Oh Hud,’ she breathed.

  She squeezed her eyes shut. This was all a big mistake. She shouldn’t be here. Doing this. It was wrong. All wrong.

  But at the same time, she knew that if she was ever going to get any closer to understanding what had happened to Hud, she had to finish what she’d started.

  Steeling herself, she pressed play again. Hud continued to walk. He turned and smiled at a woman who now came into shot.

  She started to strip at the head of the bed Savvy was sitting on now.

  Savvy went cold.

  Then she turned and looked at the screen and then back at the bed. The angle meant that the camera must have been positioned in the top corner of the room.

  She played more of the tape and paused it again, seeing the woman on the screen in colour this time. She had dark skin and large nipples which made the blonde wig on her head even more ridiculous. She was half lying on the bed, her knees spread open to reveal herself.

  Savvy looked at the picture, then looked around the room.

  So where was the camera?

  She sat in the same position as the woman. Then she stood up and dragged the bedside table over to the bookcase on the opposite wall.

  She climbed up. She could only just reach the top shelf. A book fell off, just missing her head and landing with a thump on the thick carpet.

  Her fingertips patted along the dusty shelf. And then they hit something. A book that felt too wide.

  She’d never have seen it from the bed, she thought, but as she lifted off the book casing, she saw what she’d suspected. A hidden camera. It was hooked up to a power cable. She stretched, pulling the cable free and grabbing the camera.

  She yelped as she fell away from the bookcase, breaking her fall on the bedside table. She landed in a crumpled heap on the carpet and swore.

  She limped over to her father’s bed and turned the small video camera over in her hands.

  Inside there was still a tape.

  Savvy was shaking as she set up the digital tape to play through the TV. Hud had been as meticulous as with the other tapes. He’d labelled it before he’d set it to record. The date on it was the night he’d died. All that was missing was the woman’s name.

  A woman came into shot with her back to the camera. She had a shoulder-length blonde bob. Was it a wig? It was impossible to tell.

  Savvy watched as the woman took a small package from her pocket. She unfolded the paper and poured the powder – a lot of it – from the slim package into the glass of wine by the bed. Then she wiped her finger over the paper and rubbed it around her gums.

  Cocaine. It had to be. Several grams. Enough to explain the amount found in Hud’s blood. More than enough t
o trigger a heart attack in a man in his condition.

  Murder. The word lodged itself in Savvy’s mind.

  She held her breath, leaning right forward now, staring at the television, as she let the tape run on. The woman undressed, her robe slipping to the floor. She was wearing a black bra, a thong and suspenders with black stockings.

  And now Hud came into shot.

  He was dressed in one of his business suits, as if this were the end of the day. The woman still had her back to the camera, watching as Hud undressed. He seemed to be chatting to her.

  The woman strutted towards him. She was holding the wine glass which she now passed to Hud, encouraging him to drink. He downed it nearly in one.

  But he’d been teetotal. The doctors had banned him from drinking . . .

  Before he’d even finished undressing, the woman pushed him back on the bed, straddling him. Savvy could see that Hud was half expecting this and he laughed. But when he tried to move to finish taking off his shoes and socks, the woman forced him back down.

  The woman pulled two silk ties from under the pillow. Hud shuffled up the bed and submitted to being tied up. This had clearly happened before. He still seemed to be talking to the woman, who quieted him, kissing him lingeringly.

  Savvy closed her eyes briefly as the woman ripped away Hudson’s pants and took him in her mouth. Savvy concentrated on watching Hud’s face. His brow creased as the woman’s head bobbed up and down.

  The woman then stood on the bed, peeling off her thong. She squatted down on Hud, impaling herself on him.

  Savvy felt bile rise in her throat as the woman started to ride him. There was something so confident about the way she moved, so assured, but alarming too.

  Her movements became more aggressive. Angry. Clinical. It was like she was thrusting. Stabbing.

  That was when Hud started to struggle. His expression twisted, became contorted. He was trying to get out from under her, but his hands were still tied.

  He looked like he was shouting, but the woman struck him hard across the face. Hud strained against the ties, but the woman stuffed her thong in his mouth.

  Now Hud’s legs began spasmodically twitching beneath the woman, who was leaning down now, talking into his ear. She unhooked her leg, easing herself off him, to sit on the edge of the bed. Her back was to the camera.