Compromised
Page 6
“If you thought Boris knew about his sister, you must have had suspicions who was responsible for Ileana’s death. Yet you carried on seeing Roz. That wasn't very fair on her.”
Guy sighed. “We….were in love….I….couldn't stop.”
“She’s retired you know.”
“What?”
“Taken early retirement. It was likely otherwise she was going to be disciplined. Because of you.”
Guy was speechless. The meeting ended. Guy was bailed to return in a month’s time and he walked out of the station.
GUY TOOK A TAXI to the oh so familiar house and knocked at the door. Only then did he realise that he was still in his wedding suit. While he waited, he undid his tie and opened the top button of his shirt. But there was no answer. Disappointed, he walked past the garage to the rear and his heart lifted as he caught sight of her in the dusk raking up leaves at the bottom of the garden.
He went over to her.
“Roz,” was all he could say, looking down at her upturned face.
“What a surprise,” she said. “Well we’d better go in.” Dark was quickly descending and it was getting misty.
Was she pleased to see him? Guy couldn't tell. She looked, if anything, worried.
Roz poured them both a generous slug of her best Scotch and he gulped down most of his.
“I needed that! Roz. They said you’d retired. And I’ve just been arrested and interviewed for smuggling Boris into England as a small child. So has Liz. And she’s been arrested for conspiracy to murder Ileana.”
“I dare say. Maybe you won't be charged with any immigration offence.”
“Maybe. They barged in during Andrea’s wedding reception of all things.” He told her what had happened and briefly about the events twenty three years ago. “But I can't understand how this all came about. Obviously I know I brought Boris into the country illegally and that he must’ve been visiting his Romanian sister, but that’s about it.”
Roz looked at him for a long moment.
“Why don't you sit down Guy,” she said.
“Do you mind me coming here? I’ll leave if you like.”
“No, I don't mind. Don't leave.”
Despite her words, he was still finding it difficult to work out whether he was welcome or not. It made him feel nervous. But more than that. He wanted her to want him, as he so longed for her. Did she want him? Would she see him again?
He sat as asked and she sat down in a chair opposite. In agitation, he rubbed his forehead with his free hand.
“I just don't understand,” he said.
“Guy. If I tell you, you must promise not to pass the information on or use it in any way. I’m still under a confidentiality clause. I could lose my pension.”
“Roz. You know I wouldn't do anything to hurt you. No, I won't breathe a word. I just would very much like to know.”
“Well. The weekend I came up to Oxford, we’d been told about an Englishman who bought a Romanian boy in 1993 for cash who was the twin brother of Ileana. There was speculation that this man might have organised the murder. I already suspected you were involved somehow. After that, I was ninety nine percent certain. You’d disappeared for a year in 1993/1994. Boris looked like Ileana. Boris was near the scene the night of the murder and late meeting Idris. You were defensive when I spoke to you about the murder and Boris. He’d tried to frighten me into telling him about the investigation and at that time I thought he might even have been the murderer. I knew I had to stop seeing you.”
Guy sighed. He’d been such a fool, compromising her as he had.
“Then Boris came to see us. He couldn't stand the pressure of knowing any longer. We had him DNA tested and it matched the brother we knew had been at the flat. So fairly obviously he wasn't your son. He told us that Ileana and her family had known about you from the outset. A letter to you from a firm of Solicitors had been dropped at the time in or about the family's house. Or maybe one of the children had gone to your car and taken it without you knowing. However they got it, they kept it all that time.
“Last year they found out about your family through your ex-wife Liz’s charitable foundation and how rich she was. It seems to have been really simple. They googled your name and came up with Liz’s Wikipedia entry because you were in it. They decided to make something of it. Ileana spoke the best English so she came over here.”
“OK. But how did she find Boris? He doesn't live with Liz and Desmond any more.”
“Boris said he was at one of his mother’s events helping out and Ileana approached him.”
“I hope Boris wasn't seriously suspected as the murderer. He wouldn't hurt anyone.”
“A second PM showed that the hispanic man definitely committed the murder and that Boris didn't. Boris caught a glimpse of the man as he rushed out but that’s it.”
“Poor Boris. He’s had to carry that about with him. His sister’s murder. On top of knowing his whole life had been a lie. We should have told him.”
“Yes, he was aggrieved. But he seems very attached to his English family, you especially. We weren’t sure how much he knew about the blackmail or whether Liz knew Boris was seeing Ileana.”
“Poor Boris,” Guy said again. “I must see him soon. But what about Liz? When I dared think about it at all, I imagined it must have been Desmond who masterminded the murder.”
“Well, Liz sacked any staff who knew anything or she suspected of knowing something. Not a good move. A nosy housekeeper told us quite a lot. Then there was this man Paul who used to act as their driver and do everything for them. He apparently worshipped her. Very upset to be chucked out like that. We’re not sure where he is now. South America possibly. He’s been in touch with us by skype and email. He kept recordings of telephone conversations, all the records of the money withdrawn from her offshore accounts and told us how he arranged through intermediaries he won't name for the cash to be taken to the Romanian family.”
“Hell hath no fury like a chauffeur scorned.”
“Clearly not. At Liz’s behest, he personally anonymously threatened the girl Ileana in various ways. When that didn't work and she kept demanding more money from Liz to keep quiet about Boris, through his East End contacts Paul brought in this thug to rough her up and frighten her. But Boris turned up in the building before he could do very much and this man must have panicked and strangled her. That’s it really. It doesn't seem like Liz wanted her killed but she set it all up.”
“It’s incredible she went to those lengths just to keep secret what we did, paying money for Boris and bringing him here illegally. OK it wasn't the most sensible thing to do in retrospect but we were off our heads with grief over the death of our real baby son. And as you suggest, we might never be charged.”
Roz shrugged. “Perhaps with her fame and fortune, she couldn't bear to have any scandal attaching to her.”
“Why arrest us today though?”
“I can't say Guy. I’m not there am I. That’s what it’s like. They decide if they’ve got enough evidence and make a move.”
“I suppose so.” Guy looked down at his clasped hands. “Anyway how’s retirement going?”
“So so.”
“I understand,” he said, “you were going to be disciplined because of me. I’m so sorry.”
“Yes I was. Just for having a life,” she said rather bitterly.
“Roz. I’ve been bereft without you.” He got up and walked over to her. He went down on one knee before her and took her hand. “About your life. I don't suppose you’d consider spending the rest of it with me?”
Tears fell onto Guy's hand. Relief coursed through him. Emotion at last.
“Guy. Oh Guy, do you really mean it?"
"Absolutely," he said reaching with his other hand into the breast pocket of his wedding suit and yanking out the formally precision folded, pressed and starched, largely ornamental hankie. He dabbed fairly ineffectually at her wet face. He stopped and regarded the hopeless piece of finery with a shake of the he
ad. Roz started to laugh through her tears. She put her arms out to be held and he complied.
“Is that a yes, then?” he asked.
She pulled back slightly. Her nod, her smile and her hand squeezing his arm were answer enough.