Diana could hardly speak once she got into the car. She was completely out of breath. She had no idea what had happened to her suitcase. A man dressed in a grey uniform, who she thought was one of the security men, had taken it from her in the rush to get to the car, and that was the last she had seen of it. She had to just hope that it was now safely in the boot of the car.
Diana turned to look at the red haired woman sitting next to her on the back seat. She was very well dressed in a red suit, the long skirt of which had a very high split. Her legs were crossed, and the split in her skirt hung open, revealing light red stockings and a glimpse of one suspender.
Diana was suddenly conscious of her own appearance. She had been in a rush that morning. She had packed hurriedly, and she hadn’t had a chance to change before she caught the flight. She wore a pair of black trousers, a short white top, and her battered black leather jacket. She was wearing no make-up, and after the scuffle at the airport, she probably looked like she had been pulled through a hedge backwards, and then run over by a number 53 bus. Somehow she had the feeling that she was at a disadvantage.
“My name is Helen Worthington,” the red haired woman said in a silky tone. She smiled at Diana as she continued, “I’m your father’s solicitor. He thought that it might be a good idea for you to be met at the airport. I’m sorry to see that he was right. However, I did warn him that this might happen. I think my driver got your bag. Apart from the arrival, did you have a pleasant flight?”
“Yes, er, it was fine,” Diana replied, trying to brush her dishevelled hair back into some semblance of order. “Thank you for picking me up. I was a bit worried there for a while. What’s happening? As soon as I heard that Sarah had died, I called dad. He told me to get on the next plane.”
Helen looked at Diana closely. She had already learned all there was to know about her. Diana was Alex’s daughter from his first wife. She had grown up with her mother, who was still very bitter towards her former husband, so there had been no contact between father and daughter throughout her childhood. But at fifteen Diana had become a model, and by eighteen she had left home to live in London. That was when she had first started to visit her father again. Sometimes she brought a friend with her. And soon the friend was visiting Alex more often than she was. That friend was Sarah. And soon after that they were married. Now Diana lived in Milan, but her accent was still pure Mancunian.
She was sort of beautiful, Helen thought, as she eyed Diana’s small waist and exposed midriff. If you liked that sort of face and shape, that is. Now aged twenty-two, Diana was five foot ten inches tall and rather thin. Her face was angular, and she had Alex’s nose and brown eyes. Her hair was long and black, reaching down to the small of her back. But for a fashion model who was supposed to be used to being centre stage, Helen didn’t think she had much sense of the occasion.
“Your father’s having a difficult time at the moment,” Helen began. “It’s not just Sarah’s death, you understand. It’s what happened to her afterwards.”
“Yes, I read something about it in the Italian newspapers,” Diana said quickly. “But it seemed so ridiculous! How could he be asking for her heart back? It’s crazy! They must have got it wrong! It can’t be true!”
“Oh, it’s true, alright,” Helen said, casually, uncrossing her legs and crossing them the other way. “Your father is suing the hospital responsible for removing your stepmother’s heart without permission for a million pounds. And he’s suing the woman who received the heart in a transplant for its return.”
Diana stared at Helen in shock. “But why?” she asked.
“Because he wants to.”
“But this is horrible! We’ve got to stop him!”
“No!” Helen’s expression was momentarily fierce. But then the smile returned. “Your father is already under a lot of pressure to drop his case. Everybody is treating him as the villain in this drama. You and I know that isn’t true.”
“But asking for her heart back, it’s just not right!” Diana protested.
“You know how much he loved Sarah,” Helen pressed on. “What happened to her afterwards has upset him dearly. He’s asked you to come here because he needs someone on his side, someone to stand by him, and help him through this. What he doesn’t need right now is somebody questioning his motives.”
“But it’s not right!”
“Taking Sarah’s heart without permission wasn’t right,” Helen said forcefully. “They shouldn’t have done it. And they shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it.”
“But it was a mistake!”
“And what happens if there’s another mistake? And another? And there will be others if nobody punishes them for this one. Don’t you understand how important this case is? This isn’t just about what happened to Sarah, if we win –and we are going to win– this is going to affect everybody who’s facing a transplant!”
“But people are more important,” Diana insisted. “You could kill this woman, the one who now has the heart. Winning this case can’t be more important to dad than that.”
“I assure you it is!” Helen was adamant. “As I am sure you will find out when you see him.”
Diana grew thoughtful. She stared out of the window watching the scenery go by, and was suddenly aware that she didn’t recognise the route they were taking.
“Where are we going?” she asked in alarm. “Where are you taking me?”
“There’s nothing to worry about,” Helen replied, casually. “It’s just that the press is camped outside the house. Your father thought it better for you to stay at a hotel, at least for tonight. That way the press won’t know where you are. It’s just a precaution. You saw what it was like at the airport.”
Diana didn’t reply. She just sat in the car and stared at Helen Worthington. Diana had suddenly realised that this woman was going to be a major problem. It was obvious that she was trying to keep her away from her father, and that she had other motives for fighting this case. Sooner or later, she would have to be got out of the way.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Good News
“Are you sure?” Eric Barrett asked. He and John Stanley were back in the Chief Executive’s office at Wythenshawe hospital.
“Positive!” Dr Jones confirmed. “He definitely said that it was in her back pocket.”
“You can understand now why we asked you both to this meeting,” Andrea Walker said. “As far as we are aware, Dr Askwith is still in Albania. But he called Dr Jones again this morning from the capital, Tirana. And with luck he should be on a plane home this afternoon.”
“Then it’s over,” Barrett said with a sigh. “Thank God for that.”
“Not necessarily,” John Stanley said. “After all, without the card as evidence, we’ve only got his word that it ever existed at all.” There was a long pause while everyone digested his words. Stanley realised quickly that he had ruined everyone’s happy mood.
“Did Dr Askwith say what he did with the donor card after he found it?” he asked hopefully.
Dr Jones nodded. “He said he put it back in her pocket.”
“Oh, no!” Barrett moaned. “All her belongings were returned to her husband days ago!”
“Then Williams must already have it,” Dr Jones said.
“So why is he taking us all to court if he knows that it wasn’t a mistake?” Andrea Walker asked.
“He might not know that he has it,” John Stanley pointed out. “But the problem is, do we tell him?”
“Of course we tell him!” Barrett said. “We have to tell him, so that this whole silly business can be put brought to an end!”
“But what if Williams destroys the card?” Stanley said to their amazement. “He could be only interested in the money.”
“Nonsense! The Carter’s are suing us for more money than he is,” Barrett pointed out.
“Then maybe he just doesn’t care about truth, and just wants to get back at everyone,” Stanley replied. “Who knows? He might alrea
dy have the card in his possession. The point is, so long as he has it, we lose!”
“Wait a minute,” Andrea Walker said at last. “Whatever Williams is, or is not thinking, we are obliged, through legal channels, to inform him of what we know and to ask him if he has the card. This case is now not as extreme as we once thought. Rather than carrying out a transplant without the previous, written authorisation of the donor, it seems we have now merely lost that authorisation. This has to be made known to all.”
John Stanley shook his head. “If Williams denies that he has it, that donor card might as well have never existed. In fact in law, unless someone else other than Dr Askwith saw it, it doesn’t exist.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
The Hidden Gem
It was mid morning when Robert McCord received the telephone call. He was sitting in his office going through his notes when he picked up the phone and heard an excited voice.
“I don’t believe it, Robert!” Brian Morgan said brightly. “They’ve all paid up! Every one of them! My desk is covered in cheques and letters of apology! I don’t believe it!” He sounded both surprised and happy.
“And what don’t you believe, Brian?” McCord said with a sly grin on his lips. “That all people are basically honest? Or that they just don’t like anyone finding out that they’re not?”
“I didn’t believe that a few words to the press could have had so much effect!”
“Media coverage is power, Brian. And if I remember correctly, we had a little deal.”
“Okay, you win! From now on, it’s no fee!”
“I’m glad to hear it. Now get back to work, Brian. We’re in court tomorrow, so I’ll see you this afternoon. We’ve got a lot to get through, especially as now everyone knows about the donor card.”
“Alright, but I hope you know what you’re doing, Robert, because it seems a little unconventional to me!”
“Just trust me, okay?”
“Okay. I’ll see you later –oh, and lunch is on me today!”
Robert smiled as he put the phone down. It rang again almost immediately. This time there was a familiar voice on the line.
“Meet me at The Hidden Gem in half an hour,” it said, and then the line went dead.
The smile died on Robert’s face. He held on to the phone while he leaned his chin on his hand, thoughtful for a moment, before slowly putting the phone down and going back to reading his notes.
Although it sounded more like the name of a pub, The Hidden Gem was a delightful little church, completely hemmed in by other buildings down a back street in the centre of Manchester. It was said that people passed very close to it every day without ever noticing it was there. Hence it’s name.
When Robert McCord entered the church thirty minutes later, there was only one other person there, sitting alone in one of the pews. Robert walked slowly down the aisle and sat next to the person, who was wearing a long black coat with a hood.
Diana Williams threw back the hood and turned to face him. “Why the hell didn’t you meet me in Chicago?” she demanded in a harsh and angry whisper. “What’s going on, Robert?”
“The small matter of Sarah’s death–” Robert began, but Diana interrupted him.
“Does he know?”
Robert gave her a wry smile. “Do you mean does he know about the money, or does he know about the affair?”
“The affair!” Diana almost snarled. “Does he know that Sarah was leaving him for you?”
Robert nodded. “Yes, you’ll be pleased to know that it all came out on that last fateful night. The affair, the money, everything.”
“Then what the hell’s going on? Why are you both fighting this ridiculous case over Sarah’s heart? What are you doing, Robert? What’s the matter with you?”
Robert glanced around the church, slightly alarmed by Diana’s angry and now raised voice. But there was no one else to hear. He shrugged his shoulders. “He wants it back, and I guess I don’t think he has the right to have it anymore.”
There was a long pause while Diana stared at him, watching him closely. Suddenly, she laughed. A short, almost hysterical laugh. Diana sat back in the pew and shook her head. She smiled at him, but the humour in her voice was hollow and filled with sarcasm.
“Oh God, Robert! I don’t believe it! You of all people! Who’d have thought that shallow, brainless Sarah would have had two men fighting over her! Even after she was dead! It’s ridiculous! No, it’s a joke! That’s what it is! A very bad joke!”
“You don’t understand–”
“Oh, yes I do! And only too well!” Diana interrupted again. She had lost her false humour and was now merely angry. “You were supposed to get her to fall in love with you! You were supposed to get her to cheat him, and steal from him! You were supposed to destroy their marriage! Make them hate each other! Not fall in love with her yourself! What were you thinking?”
Robert couldn’t look at her. “Their marriage was already breaking up before I came on the scene. Alex was making a real fine job of doing that himself. It’s just that…” He hesitated, and turning to face Diana he continued, “It’s just that, the more I got to know her, the more I realised that Alex didn’t deserve her, and that she needed someone better.”
“Like you?” Diana said sarcastically. Her expression was filled with disgust. Disgust and anger. “Don’t make me sick! My mother was right! You can’t trust men! They’re all idiots!” Suddenly her expression changed and she laughed and shook her head again.
“Tell me Robert, what would you have done if Sarah hadn’t been killed? How would you have explained things to her? Or maybe you were thinking that I would just simply melt into the background?”
“She would have understood.”
“Understood? Understood what? That you were bedding Alex’s daughter as well as his wife? Maybe you were thinking she might like a threesome–”
“Alright! Enough!” Robert almost shouted, his voice far too loud in the small church. He stood up, looking quickly around, but as before, there was no one else in the church. He turned back to Diana.
“You’re right!” he said to her in a harsh whisper. “I’m a real son of a bitch! What I did makes me feel real bad, but not half as bad as I would have felt if I’d gone through with it! But I wasn’t going to go through with it! I’d already decided that I was going to tell her! I was going to tell her everything! But now I guess I’ll never know whether she would have believed me or not! But just for the record, keep the money, Diana! Spend it yourself! You’re going to need it to buy yourself some friends, because as of now, you’re on your own.”
Robert turned and walked quickly down the aisle towards the door, Diana’s parting words ringing in his ears.
“Rot in hell, McCord!” she shouted after him, all pretence at secrecy now gone. “You and that bastard father of mine! You’re both going to pay! Do you hear me? I’m going to make you both pay!”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Getting Stronger
Gina watched anxiously as Rachel began to walk faster on the treadmill. There were various leads attached to her daughter’s chest that all went back to the machine Dr Jones and another doctor were busy fussing over.
“We’re going to get you going a little bit faster,” Dr Jones was saying.
“You’ll be having her running the marathon next,” Gina protested.
“It’s...alright, Mum,” Rachel said, panting as she increased her pace on the treadmill to a brisk walk. “I feel...alright, honestly...I do.”
Gina was not convinced. “How long is this going to go on for?” she demanded, poking Dr Jones in the shoulder with her finger.
“This is important, Gina,” Dr Jones tried to explain.
“Not as important as my Rachel! She should be in bed, resting, not practising for the Olympics!” She kept poking him with her finger, and finally, Dr Jones gave in.
“Alright, alright!” he said grabbing hold of her hand, and he turned to his colleague, saying, “Slo
w it down again will you, Adam.”
The treadmill began to slow down as Dr Jones put his arm around Gina and began to guide her towards the door. “Let’s go and get a cold drink for Rachel,” he said, smiling at her.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” she said resisting him. “You just want me out of here so that you can torture my daughter!”
“How could you think such a thing? We’ll go and get Rachel a drink like I said, and at the same time, you and I can have a little chat, that’s all.” Gina continued to resist, but then she saw the meaningful look Dr Jones gave her. “I need to talk to you, Gina,” he said again, and this time she understood.
“I’ll be back in a minute, darling,” Gina said to Rachel. “What would you like?”
“Get me a Coke. I haven’t had one in ages.”
“Alright. And don’t let him turn up that machine while I’m gone, do you hear me?”
“Okay, Mum!”
Gina went out the door followed by Dr Jones. As he closed the door behind them, Dr Jones stuck his hand back into view giving a thumbs up sign.
Rachel laughed. “He’s cruel,” she said.
Dr Adam Cornwall smiled at her. “It’s the only way, sometimes,” he replied. “Now, for this to be of any use, you have to get a bit of a sweat on. Okay? I’m not going to push you too hard, and with this machine monitoring your heart, I’ll know if there’s anything wrong before you do, so don’t worry.”
“It’s alright! I feel fine, Doctor! I really do!” Rachel insisted, pushing her glasses higher up her nose.
“Okay, then.” Dr Cornwall began to increase the speed of the treadmill again.
Outside, Gina wanted to know what was so important for Dr Jones to drag her away from her daughter’s side. “Come on! Out with it!” she demanded. “Or I’m going right back inside!”
An Affair of the Heart Page 7