“Sarah Williams had a donor card,” Dr Jones said in a low voice. “Come on, we can talk in here.” He quickly led the dumbstruck Gina into an empty treatment room that was nearby.
“But, how did you find this out?” she asked him, still not quite sure what it meant. “Is the court case off? Have we won?”
“Not quite,” Dr Jones replied. “Look, I’m telling you this because your solicitor should be hearing it about now as well, and I didn’t see any point in you having to wait.” Dr Jones then told her about Dr Askwith, how he had been off on a walking holiday in Eastern Europe, how he had been unreachable, and how he had suddenly turned up. “As far as I know,” he continued. “Sarah Williams had a donor card. Dr Askwith, who I know very well, says she had one, and I believe him. The problem is, without proof, the courts might not.”
“What happened to the card,” Gina asked, still trying to take it all in.
“We think Williams has it, but the problem is, when our people spoke to his solicitor this morning, she denied it.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Persuasion
“Oh, Daddy! I’ve missed you so much!” Diana said, hugging Alex in the doorway of her suite at the Copthorne Hotel. “I came as soon as I heard about poor Sarah! You must be so upset!”
Alex embraced his daughter and kissed her on the forehead. “I’m fine,” he said waving aside her concern. “Really, Diana, I am. Considering what’s happened.”
They stayed like that for a moment or two, embracing in the open doorway. Slowly they moved apart, and Diana said, “Please, Daddy, come in and sit down and talk to me!” and she quickly closed the door and led him towards the sofa in the sitting room area of her suite, keeping her arms around him all the time. “How are you feeling? You look haggard! Are you eating alright?” she asked him, her deep concern for her father evident in her expression. “You know you have to keep your strength up.”
“I told you, I’m fine,” Alex replied, sitting down beside her on the sofa. He managed a weak smile. He was obviously pleased to see her, and at the way she was fussing over him.
“Then why didn’t you let me come to the house?” she asked him.
“There were too many reporters hanging around. They were all waiting for you. It was for the best really, at least for one more night.”
“Alright,” Diana smiled at him. “But I’m not staying away any longer! I was beginning to think that red haired solicitor of yours was trying to keep us apart!”
“I think you might be right,” Alex replied. “If you hadn’t phoned, I don’t think she would have told me which hotel you were in. And she doesn’t know that I’m here now.”
“Good!” Diana paused, looking at him closely. “I had thought, you know,” she said rather cautiously, “That you didn’t want me at the house because...Well, because it was Sarah’s.” She went on quickly as Alex began to protest. “You only came back to Manchester because of Sarah, and you did build it for her! I just thought that you might want to be on your own, that’s all.”
Alex reached out and took her head in his hands. He looked at her with such obvious affection. “You don’t know how much pleasure you brought back into my life when you came to see me, Diana,” he said as he caressed her face. “I love you so much. You and Sarah were the best things to happen to me in my life. How could you imagine that I would ever want to keep you away?”
Diana looked embarrassed. She took his hands in hers and looked at him closely for a moment. “You must be still in shock,” she said abruptly. “Have you had a good cry yet? Don’t be ashamed, it’s best to get it out. And it’s only me here with you; so if you want to, just let it all out. I cried when I heard what happened, I cried buckets. Poor Sarah.”
Alex sighed. “I can’t cry,” he said. “Not yet. I’m too angry. Angry about the way we parted that night. Angry about what they did to Sarah after she died. I can’t grieve, I feel so… So frustrated! It’s like I want to put something straight, you know? To try and make it right. But no matter how I try, I just can’t do it. And it hurts inside, and I can’t think straight. I can’t get it out of my mind. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
She saw the look in his eyes, how they seemed to plead to her to understand. She nodded slowly. “I think I do,” she said softly. “You said you were angry about the way you and Sarah parted. Did you argue?” Alex lowered his head and nodded. “Was it a bad argument?” Again the nod. Diana squeezed his hands. “Oh, Daddy! You shouldn’t think like that! It wasn’t your fault that she crashed!”
“It was, I tell you!” Alex looked up, the pain showing clearly in his tortured expression.
“No! It was an accident! You have to believe that!”
“But she wouldn’t have been out that night if we didn’t have the argument! I drove her out, Diana! It was my fault! I killed her!”
Alex stood up. Diana stood up with him. “But you didn’t know that was going to happen!” she said. “We can’t second guess everything we do in life just in case something terrible might happen! It’s impossible! You had an argument, that’s all. It got a bit heated and Sarah went out to cool off. It was just an accident! It happens!”
They stood together, hand in hand, staring into one another’s eyes. Alex’s eyes looked wet. He was ready to cry, to bawl it all out. He looked up at the ceiling and slowly closed his eyes tightly. “You don’t know the whole of it yet,” he said in a weak voice. “She wasn’t just going out to cool off. She was leaving me. Sarah was leaving me for another man. Sarah was having an affair.”
Diana looked shocked. “Sarah?” she exclaimed. “Having an affair? I don’t believe it! You were both so much in love! She would never have looked at another man! You must be wrong!”
“No!” Alex said sternly, looking her straight in the eye again. “It’s true, I tell you!”
Diana paused. She looked so sad. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “The last time I saw you both you were so happy. What happened, Daddy? What went wrong?”
Alex shook his head slowly. “It was my fault,” he said. They both sat down again. “We were having problems for a little while, I know it was my fault. I loved her so much, Diana! But I could never seem to get it right! I never dreamt that I would find someone like Sarah, but when you brought her home with you that time, I just knew! As soon as I saw her! I knew! But I’m so damned weak and stupid that I could never believe that she loved me as much as I loved her!”
“But she did, Daddy! I know she did!”
“Yes, at first. I do believe that. But my lack of trust in her finally destroyed everything. I couldn’t help it! I knew as soon as I said things to her that I was wrong, but I just couldn’t stop myself! I drove her away, Diana. I drove her away. But you’re right, she wouldn’t have looked for another man, I’m sure of that. What ever she did, it was because I drove her to it. But because of that, I know that I could have got her back. It was me that was at fault, it was me that needed to change. And I’m sure that if I could have only stopped myself from being so stupid, if I could have just learned to trust her and not been so ridiculously possessive, she would have come back to me. She would, I’m sure of it! All I had to do was talk to her!”
Diana reached out and pulled her father’s head down onto her shoulder. She hugged him and stroked his hair. “I believe you, Daddy,” she said softly, her expression changing to one of evil delight at her father’s distress. “I believe you could have won her back from this other man. Did you know who it was?”
“Yes,” Alex’s voice sounded slightly muffled. He raised his head, and Diana’s expression returned to one of deep concern. “It was Robert McCord.”
Diana looked totally surprised. “Your American solicitor?” she asked. She quickly became angry. “The cheat!” she said. “The evil back-stabber! How could he do such a thing? How dare he? He was supposed to be someone you could trust! And after you gave him a start in this country, helping him set up his office! I even remember Sarah and I choosing th
e furniture! That’s terrible, Daddy! You’re tormenting yourself for nothing!” Diana became more and more outraged as she spoke. “This will all have been his fault!” she suddenly exclaimed. “He must have been filling her head with lies all the time! Putting you down behind your back! Sarah wouldn’t leave you, Daddy! I know her too well! It was him! He was stealing her away from you! It was his fault that Sarah ran away that night, Daddy! Not yours!”
“Do you think I haven’t already thought about all that?” Alex replied angrily. “Every minute of the day I think about what must have been going on between them. Where they went, what they did together.”
“Is that why you’re fighting this case against the hospitals? And that girl? The one who has Sarah’s heart?”
“I wondered when you would mention that. Do you think I’m being foolish? Do you think I should give it up?”
Diana looked thoughtful, as if she was considering her answer carefully. “It depends on why you’re doing it, Daddy,” she finally replied. “Is it because you think they made a mistake, or is it because he’s fighting against you?”
Alex shook his head. “I don’t even think I know anymore.”
“Even if you win, it won’t bring Sarah back.”
“I know. But do you think I should give it up?”
Diana developed the same thoughtful look as before, and as before, she didn’t reply for several seconds. She knew this was the moment, the moment when she could change everything. She had to get it just right.
“No,” she said at last. “He doesn’t deserve to win. Fight him, Daddy! Fight him and beat him! For Sarah!”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Dead Giveaway
When Nurse Kaye came into Rachel’s room, she found Gavin Smedley and his trolley already there. “What? Another early visit?” she said as she walked towards the bed. “You haven’t finished all those books and magazines already, have you Rachel?”
“I’m quite a fast reader–” Rachel began to say, when Nurse Kaye suddenly stuck her hand under the bedclothes and whipped out the rolled up newspaper Gavin had just brought for her.
Nurse Kaye looked at Gavin and Rachel one after another, her eyebrows raised.
“Time I was going!” Gavin suddenly said, and he began to wheel his trolley quickly towards the door.
“Yes, I think it is!” Nurse Kaye replied as she watched him hurrying out of the room. She waited until he was nearly out before calling after him, “And I’ll deal with you later!”
“It wasn’t his fault,” Rachel said quickly as the nurse turned towards her. “I made him do it! Really, I did! He won’t get into trouble, will he?”
“No one is going to get into trouble,” Nurse Kaye said, and she smacked Rachel lightly on the head with the rolled up newspaper. “Just tell your mother that you know, that’s all. And don’t read any more of this rubbish. Talk to your mother instead. She could do with someone to talk to about it all, and I think that would normally be you. So tell her, or I will. Okay?”
“Okay,” Rachel replied. Nurse Kaye gave her the newspaper and headed for the door. “Wait a minute!” Rachel called to her. “Nurse Kaye–” then a sudden thought, “what’s your first name?”
“Julia,” Nurse Kaye said with a smile.
“Julia,” Rachel repeated, sitting up straighter in her bed. “Okay, Julia. How did you know? That it was Gavin, I mean. What gave us away?”
Julia Kaye’s smile broadened. “Everybody knows that Gavin always has a newspaper in his back pocket,” she said. “He buys it on his way to work every morning. And because he sticks it in his back pocket, it always makes a bulge in his jacket. Every morning, when he came to see you, the bulge was there when he went in, but it was gone when he came out. It was a dead giveaway really.”
Nurse Kaye went out and closed the door. Rachel collapsed back in her bed with a sigh. “Typical!” she announced to the ceiling. And she and Gavin had thought they were being so clever. They had obviously not considered Nurse Kaye, super-sleuth.
She sat up in bed again, sitting cross-legged, making herself comfortable with the newspaper laid out on the bed in front of her. Now that the monitor was no longer attached to her chest, she felt much more mobile. In fact, she had enjoyed getting out of her room yesterday. Even the physiotherapy was fun. Other people might think she was daft, but for her, being able to run and walk fast was fun. It was marvellous! She felt so fit!
Rachel thought about what Nurse Kaye had said as she looked at the newspaper. The story was all over the front page. ‘MRI CLAIMS DEAD WOMAN HAD DONOR CARD,’ the headline said. There were pictures, too. First there were several pictures of Diana Williams being mobbed at the airport, followed by one of her father, and that red-haired solicitor of his. And there was also a picture of Dr Jones with some other people she didn’t recognise. She read the names. ‘John Stanley, legal advisor to the MRI, Eric Barrett, the General Manager, and Dr David Askwith, the doctor who claims to have seen the donor card.’ He wasn’t dressed like a doctor at all. In fact he looked very tired and untidy. Rachel couldn’t help herself. She had to read it all.
When Gina came in at her usual time, Rachel was still sitting on the bed, reading the paper. She made no effort to hide it. Instead, she just looked up with a sheepish expression and shrugged her shoulders.
Gina looked at the newspaper and then at her daughter, and the tears welled up in her eyes and she rushed forwards, arms outstretched. Rachel could not resist. As soon as she saw her mother’s tears, she burst into tears as well.
“I’m sorry, Rachel! I didn’t mean to hide it from you!” Gina wailed as they both embraced on the bed and the newspaper got squashed and crumpled. “I just thought it was for the best! I didn’t want it to upset you!”
“I know, Mum! I know!” Rachel replied just as emotionally. “It’s me that should be apologising! I found out a couple of days ago, and I didn’t tell you. I thought you would worry more if you knew that I’d found out!”
Gina kissed Rachel and squeezed her tight. “Oh, we are a pair of silly buggers, aren’t we?” she said. “I’m glad that you know! I hated having to pretend all the time! But it doesn’t matter now! It will all be over soon!”
“I know! It says so in here!” Rachel replied, reaching for the crumpled newspaper.
“Never mind that!” Gina said, snatching the paper away from her. “I’ll tell you what’s going on!”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Anticipation
“But I want to go!” Rachel insisted.
“Well, you can’t! And that’s that!” Gina said. “And don’t pout! You’re too old!”
“It’s not fair! After all, I’ve got the heart they’re all fighting about! I should be there!”
“That’s not this case,” Dr Jones said. “This is your case against the MRI, and hopefully you’ll lose. Sorry, Gina, but I have no regrets at taking sides.”
“Think nothing of it,” Gina said. “According to Robert, we want to lose too. It’s all so silly and complicated, I can’t wait for all this nonsense to be finally over and done with.”
Rachel continued to moan. “My one claim to fame, and all I’ve got to show for it in the papers is an old university picture –and it made me look fat and ugly!”
“You’re not coming! And that’s final!” Gina said, her voice sounding harsh. But then she smiled at her daughter. “Don’t worry,” she went on reassuringly. “You won’t miss anything, darling. It’ll all be very boring in court; I wish I didn’t have to go. You know what barristers and judges are like. They put those silly wigs on and immediately start to talk gobbledy-gook!”
Rachel was still not convinced. “I still feel like I’m missing it all,” she said, miserably.
Gina hugged and kissed her. “I promise I’ll come straight back here and tell you all about what happened,” she said.
“Alright, then.” Rachel smiled half-heartedly, and then she had a sudden thought. “Mum, will you bring them both back with you? M
r McCord and Mr Morgan?”
“Well, I don’t know if they will have the time,” Gina said, not really sure about whether she wanted her daughter to meet her solicitor. Gina was still not quite sure about Robert McCord, or his motives, herself.
“But they’re supposed to be my solicitor and barrister!” Rachel protested. “And I haven’t even met them yet! It’s not fair!”
Gina relented. “Alright, I’ll ask them both. But it’s not my fault if they’re too busy. Okay?”
Rachel nodded, content at last. “Okay!”
“Well, I’m glad that’s sorted out, then,” Dr Jones said, putting his hand on Gina’s shoulder. “Come on, Gina. It’s time to go. We don’t want to be late on the first day, now, do we?”
“I’m not looking forward to this,” Gina said to Dr Jones. And turning to her daughter, she said, “And you don’t know how lucky you are! I’m as nervous as hell!”
“I’ll swap with you if you like!” Rachel said, rather too hopefully.
“I think we had better go before we have this conversation all over again!” Dr Jones said.
Gina kissed and hugged Rachel one more time before she and Dr Jones left. After they had said their goodbyes, Rachel took her glasses off and snuggled down in her bed. She was full of excitement. She was going to meet him at last! The man that still caused Sarah Williams’s heart to jump even when it was in the body of another woman.
It was silly really. If she had spoken about it to anyone they would have moved her to a psychiatric ward in no seconds flat. But she couldn’t help it. She had always been a very down to earth sort of person. She had never believed in ghosts, or anything paranormal. As for religion, well, she was brought up as a Catholic, but she was not too sure about all that, either. She hoped that it was true, and that there was a God. Quite often in her life there had been times when she thought she was going to find out, one way or the other. But then she would wake up, and find herself back in the hospital again. She had never remembered any strange lights or experiences. Somehow it was a disappointment. But this was different.
An Affair of the Heart Page 8