She sees Linda often enough and still draws some comfort from the mutual support of that friendship. She watches Linda’s slow recovery and she saw before the Pilars themselves did that the marriage could not, and should not, survive. It had become an unhealthy place for Linda and it could only become an unhealthy place for the kids. And her opinion of Ken diminishes. She liked him once but she came to hate him for his silent, surly punishment of Linda and his use of the kids to get at her. She has no qualms about saying to Linda that she should divorce him. When Ken told Linda that he was divorcing her and after the children’s future was settled, Susan was relieved for her friend.
She keeps in touch for lunches with Jane and she gives Jane every encouragement to hold on. She does not tell Jane about the pending divorce – that would be interference, she concludes. But she more than encourages Linda that when the time is right she should contact Jane. Susan presumes that Jane is still waiting, even if Linda does fear this Hector chap. As far as Susan is concerned, what does it matter if Jane is having a fling with Hector? Surely, she argues to Linda, she could not expect the woman to just sit at home and knit? Linda keeps her own counsel but Susan knows that what she said to her did not fall on deaf ears. She emphasises what she says - she is sure in her own mind that Linda should go to Jane when the time is right.
She likes Jane more and more and although she will never understand two women’s sexual relationship - what could they do? - she can quite see, sense even, the emotional tie that exists between the two. They should have a good future. She will do what she can to help Kenny and Angela to accept Jane. The kids have lost out but there can be gains too, provided that the adults keep hate out of the whole thing.
It comes out, as these things do, that Ken consulted Bill Nicolson about his divorce and the grounds for them. This feels to Susan like the two men against the two women. Between Bill finding out who Alberto was and agreeing to give Ken advice, she is less than impressed with his behaviour. She consciously decides to have her pound of flesh over Bill and his ditching her. She uses the TV programme for that.
She makes a point of making a very thorough exploration of the justice system and its inbuilt delays, for her ‘Live Tonight’ programme. Using a few examples of how the system could be improved, she goes on to challenge the plans of the judiciary to merge solicitors and advocates. She argues, with the assistance of expert opinion, that the existing separation of functions is necessary to maintain the independence of advocates from other than pure issues of law and legal argument. The merge could lead to disproportionate power going to a few and thereby to the potential for conflict and possible corruption. That was too great a price to pay even for a speeding up of the overall system.
She chooses the Thursday night before Bill’s wedding for this particular production. She has a leaked report that states that the government are already looking for a more significant delay in implementation - more significant than Bill understood - and that there is a swell of opinion against the proposals. This plays into her hands. She puts the right spin on to the programme for the public to conclude that vested interests are at play. Bill Nicolson’s name is mentioned, not in terms of vested interest but in terms of his leading role. The public can draw their own conclusions from that. She interviews him at length. He cannot complain that his views are not well represented. But she puts them into the context of the unpopular position. The public can deduce what they like from that. ‘Live Tonight’ takes the credit for exposing a flawed set of proposals.
Questions start to be asked in the press about self-seeking solicitors and she hears and reads that the forthcoming annual conference of the legal profession is looking for an uncontroversial presidency - Alistair Berry’s name is mentioned and a few others. Bill’s name is not. Bill is on honeymoon by this time and will hear nothing of it until his return. Susan has had more than her pound of flesh at Bill’s expense. She can put him out of her head now. Bill Nicolson is history. She has had her revenge.
The Ramseys’ final plaguing of her comes when their divorce is granted. Both parties cite her name. The divorce is uncontested and attracts little excitement except that Sarah King reminds the public, yet again, about the ‘Sex Romp’ on Mull. But that is the end of it - the story has run its course. In the ‘dog eat dog’ world of the press, Susan has come to hate this young journalist. But she turns the other way and does nothing. To attack the young journalist would be folly. Susan is still caught in the glare of publicity. There is no sense in doing something that could only sharpen the spotlight on her. She will find her opportunity in time.
Inspector Peter Philips keeps in touch with her. She realizes that he could easily be one of her conquests, but she resists, and he behaves properly. He likes her though, and personally seeks her out to keep her up to date on the enquiry. But the police are nowhere near solving the crime. They are determined to solve the case and are continuing the enquiries. They are currently analysing the TV programme that Susan was preparing on the week of the attack and they are looking at the possibility that the assault was revenge for a drugs story. Brenda Ramsey’s statement about the large car and the well-dressed man give credence to the possibility that money could be involved. The police have ruled out youth crime and stolen cars. No stolen cars at the time match the description that Brenda gave. By Christmas the trail has gone cold.
Her comfort is in Alberto. He is a wealthy and sophisticated man. The difference in their ages brings a parent child dimension that she falls into with remarkable ease - something she has not felt before. And she is sexually satisfied - there is no question about that.
He says something one night that stays with her,
“I know you, Susan.”
She realizes what he means.
He stays in her life, of course. This is a new kind of relationship, one that will play itself out in all its dimensions – the dominant woman, the submissive woman, the powerful man, parent and child, the nurturing father. Outside the bedroom and over breakfast, they are equal, able to talk and she is able to think. There is one thing in her head. She is in this relationship. It is a relationship in the fullest sense. To hell with the press, she concludes. She needed this.
He is divorced with two grown up daughters, who are barely ten years younger than she is. He does not see his ex-wife but the girls visit him regularly. He is a loving father. He has not remarried - there was plenty of other opportunity for satisfaction. His house is in the hills above Rome. He is well off. She likes everything that she hears about his circumstances.
She accepted his invitation to go to Rome for Christmas. Alberto and she were in his local church on Christmas Eve. The Roman Catholic service mesmerised even her agnostic senses. They ate at his golf club on Christmas Day. They drove to Assisi and spent a few nights in the Umbrian hill towns in the days that followed.
He said it again in Italy. He knew about her. He had made enquiries. He wanted to marry her. Would she agree to an open marriage?
What did he mean by an open marriage? He replied in a quiet and logical way. They each had careers to follow. They both had histories. They enjoyed their time together. Neither of them should ask questions about the time they spent apart. If they were faithful and could say so, fine. If they could not, that would still be fine. They liked each other and might satisfy each other - time would tell.
She accepted. They would marry in the spring, back in Italy. He introduced her to his daughters. They were happy for their Papa - they were both engaged to well off men and did not need the inheritance. And they liked Susan. Their father would not be lonely.
She was happy - stunned, but happy. It had been so quick, so clear and straightforward. The solutions to intransigent problems are always simple - she had read that somewhere. She did not know what the marriage would hold but she knew that the marriage would hold her.
She told only Linda. It was too brittle to tell anyone else. No. It was not that the marriage was brittle. It was she who was brittle. Her di
scovery of herself had happened. She had worked out who she was, and she could be that person in the context of this marriage. It was good and for now, private.
She sees Alberto for several weekends, back in the city in the first weeks of the year. He stays in the flat now and keeps the hotel suite for his business work. They plan a future in which he will be in Britain to develop the hotel chain and she will continue to work for the TV Company, provided they come up with a contract. She will commute to Rome as often as possible.
Back at work, the reality of the job uncertainty keeps her grounded and she works every bit as hard. In fact she works harder than usual and she is more energised. When early March comes and she still has not heard about a new contract she decides to broach the subject with Jonathon Whitney. At first he is non-committal and clearly embarrassed. She decides to push him.
“Come on, Jonathon. Let’s have it straight. I’ve worked for the Company now for the best part of five years. And I’ve done a bloody good job. They must want me to go on working for them.”
Jonathon always comes clean with his staff, to the best of his ability.
“Susan, I’m doing the best I can. But this ‘Sex Romp’ business is costing you dear. It’s not just because it happened. It’s because it was you. You were always seen to be on the high moral ground. The Chief thinks it won’t wash any more.”
Jonathon says the next words quietly.
“They will not continue your contract.”
She is blazing. She storms out of the office and slams the door. She regrets that within seconds. She would ask to see the Martin Braithwaite herself but she should calm down first. She will confront the Chief personally.
She does so a couple of days later. The Chief is charming, as always, but Susan knows a closing door when she sees one. Her talents are excellent, Martin assures her, but the Company has nothing in prospect immediately. Perhaps there will be something next year when the public have built up a demand again for her form of investigative journalism. Too much exposure could blunt the edge.
It is almost theatrical - ‘Don’t call us; we’ll call you’.
Before she flies out to Rome she puts out as many feelers as possible. If push comes to shove, there is a new woman’s magazine starting and its offices are in the city. She would be a welcome member of the editorial team, she is told. It is not a brilliant prospect but it would give her a continuing income and it would allow her planned lifestyle with Alberto to continue.
She goes round to Linda’s to talk with her about her forthcoming marriage. But the Pilar family are preoccupied with their own troubles. She does not stay long. Ken has moved out and the children are coping, but just. Despite her sadness, though, and her own trouble, Linda is glad for her visit. She says just one thing – “Be faithful to him, Susan”.
Susan nods silently, believing in this moment that she will be. After that visit Susan decides that since she is marrying abroad there is no reason why anyone else should know or find out.
She is no fairy tale bride but it is a romantic wedding, small by Italian standards, but still a smart and warm occasion. It is a civil ceremony and the wedding breakfast is in a fashionable hotel looking out on to classic wine growing country. She is happy and Alberto is clearly proud of her. She is not told where the honeymoon will be and is impressed by his choice of the leading hotel on the island of Capri. It is a week that she will not forget, of sea and spring scents and of bright colour. She comes to like him very much, and enjoys the sexual exploration of their relationship. They will be friends as well as lovers. He is strong but she feels free as well.
She contemplates the prospect that this marriage could be fully encompassing. She can see no reason at all to have any more sexual encounters. She begins to understand the notion of commitment. She says so to Alberto on their last night together on the island and she sees pleasure and hope in his eyes.
It is more than hard to go back to the city and to face the uncertain career ahead but Alberto will come over as frequently as he can and more than he needs to.
The TV programme is running to its end. Her energy for it is low, even though she knows that the quality of her work has to be kept as high as usual right to the end of the series. She cannot give the Company any excuse not to continue her contract.
Other than for her job, Susan’s life is settling and she is feeling all the joy of the promise of early summer that she has only read about before, rather than known. She decides that when the programme series finishes, she will take a break no matter what happens work wise and that she and Alberto will drive down through France and into Spain.
In mid March the Chief asks to see her.
“My dear Susan. Come in. Come in.” Martin Braithwaite’s tone could not be friendlier as she enters his office. Jonathon Whitney is already here, a smile for Susan on his face. Her hopes rise and she is not disappointed.
She is not offered the plum job she hoped for. But this is beyond her wildest hopes - would she be interested in becoming the Company’s political correspondent on international issues and with particular reference to the government’s performance on European and foreign matters? Susan would. The contract will be handsome. The work will start after the summer. It will involve a great deal of travelling. Can she cope with that? She can. She decides to tell them of her recent marriage. They like it.
Outside the meeting, Jonathon fills her in as to how all this came about. Very senior members of government were coming to dislike her influence. When the government had a few judicious words with the TV Company about removing her from the media, the media did not like that. Asked to remove her, the Chiefs decided instead to promote her, thereby making her a bigger thorn in the flesh to the government. People in government circles will think twice before they interfere with the media like this again.
And Jonathon reassures her. There would have been no such decision if there were any doubt about her ability to do the new job. She can call it a victory in every sense. She and Jonathon break with their usual self-imposed office protocol and have glasses of champagne in a local bar before Susan heads off to pack and to fly to Paris to meet Alberto. Jonathon has been a loyal boss and she will miss the bond that has built up between them when she is no longer working to him.
She is home by eight and has the evening to sort out her clothes. The doorbell rings and Peter Philips announces himself. The Ramsey business seems hardly important anymore but she is friendly to the Inspector and offers him coffee.
He apologises for calling unannounced but there has been a development whilst he was on leave and he thought she would want to know. Yes, of course she would - it was good of him to call.
“Well, Susan, we have found the culprit and the reason for the car accident. It seems as if it was in fact a simple accident - serious enough, of course. It was someone who got into a car he was not used to driving and it was an automatic. He used too much acceleration and the car shot forward. He panicked because he had had a drink and he did not report it. He says now that he had not had too much. They all say that, of course.”
She feels a wave of relief after so many months of carrying the thought at the back of her head that someone was still out there waiting to get her or Linda.
“That’s good news, Peter. But how did you find all this out now, after so long?”
“It was pure chance, really, as so often happens with these things. It was a company car, apparently, and it was in a separate incident just the other day. The incident was reported and the patrolman on duty remembered from the forensic mock-up what an indentation would look like from your accident. This time the car had been hit in the rear, so the evidence was still there. There was no forensic material to analyse after all this time, of course, but we traced the company records to see who had used the car that night and, sure enough, it had been lent out. The guy confessed right away. There will be charges but they’ll be relatively light. It should bring the matter to a close. The guy was very upset, apparently. It wa
s not deliberate - we are quite satisfied on that count.”
They chat for a while, Susan expressing her relief that the matter is concluded. Peter Philips is about to go off duty and he is not in a hurry. He asks her, of course,
“Susan. Now that we have finished the case, I wondered whether you would like to go out for a meal or a drink. I’d, well, I’d like to get to know you better.”
She smiles, said that that would have been good but that she is just about to go off abroad. She watches his evident disappointment and offers him more coffee. But he needs to go now and says maybe they could have a meal when she gets back. In other circumstances, before Alberto, she would have said maybe.
“Anyway,” Peter said, standing up as Susan just smiles in reply, “I’m glad it’s all over. You and Linda can put it behind you. It’s been quite a time. Still, I felt sorry for the guy - he was just not used to driving an automatic and to driving in this country.”
“A foreigner?”
“Yes. He works for some hotel chain.”
She looks at him.
“A hotel chain? Peter, what’s his name?”
“I’m not sure. Wait. I have it here.” He took out his notes. “He’s Italian, I think. Yes, Paccini. Alberto Paccini.”
She does not flinch. She does not let the policeman know that she knows Alberto. She sees Peter out. She lets the buzzing of her head ease as she sits and gathers her thoughts.
She makes what sense of it she can on the flight out to Paris. She confronts Alberto straight away at the airport as he will know by now that she knows herself. He grovels.
He was trying to find her in the city on that evening last autumn and he traced her to the One-to-One. He had only a drink or two but he over-accelerated as he drew over to talk to her and Linda and to offer them a lift home. He panicked when he struck Linda and he drove off. He thought that if he said anything Susan would not see him again. He loves her. He should have confessed to her long since. Can she forgive him?
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