by Susan Lewis
‘Hi,’ Sarah called out from the kitchen as Danny walked onto the terrace. ‘Erik’s been calling you all day.’
‘Did he say where he was?’ Danny asked, throwing her bag on the table and going to the fridge for some wine.
‘At his apartment.’ Sarah turned from the salad she was preparing and treated Danny to a quick appraisal. ‘Well, you’re looking extremely pleased with yourself,’ she commented. ‘Where have you been?’
‘At Consuela’s,’ Danny grinned, taking two glasses from the shelf and filling them with a pale rosé wine. ‘Any olives?’
‘In the cupboard behind you,’ Sarah answered pouring a thick, yellowy oil over the lettuce.
‘Where’s Louisa?’ Danny asked, sprawling out across two chairs at the kitchen table.
‘I don’t know. Her car’s still there so I thought she must be out somewhere with you, but obviously not.’
‘Then maybe we can take it she’s somewhere with Jake,’ Danny said, chirpily.
Sarah didn’t turn round. ‘What makes you think that?’ she said guardedly.
‘Oh come on, Sarah,’ Danny laughed. ‘I’m not stupid. I know she’s seeing him. And, quite frankly, under any other circumstances I’d wish her good luck of him.’
Sarah turned slowly to face her, her blue eyes narrowed suspiciously. ‘What do you mean?’ she said.
‘I mean that she’s won. It’s her he wants, so she can have him – or at least she could have him – with my blessing.’
‘I don’t get this,’ Sarah said.
‘No, I know you don’t,’ Danny laughed. ‘But you will once I’ve told you all that Consuela’s just told me. Where’s Morandi, by the way?’
‘With Aphrodite’s relatives. They’re taking the body home tomorrow. He felt he should spend some time with them.’
‘Mmm,’ Danny grunted. She’d forgotten about Aphrodite, maybe that was something she should bring up the next time she saw Consuela. In fact, she thought with a sudden dizzying flash of inspiration, if Jake and Morandi were responsible for Aphrodite’s murder, which they probably were, then it would be a simply brilliant stroke of genius if she were to die the same way – in water, with a knife sticking from her back. Oh God, this was getting better all the time. ‘Anyway,’ she said, reining in her excitement, ‘you’d better sit down, because what I’ve got to tell you is going to knock you off your feet.’
Pulling out a chair Sarah sat down and fixed Danny with sceptical eyes. But her expression soon started to change as Danny told her what Jake had done to his wife and her mounting incredulity and alarm as the whole story unfolded was, Danny considered, extremely gratifying.
Danny held nothing back, not even the brief glimpse she had taken of her mother’s indiscretion on video. The only thing she didn’t divulge was the way she and Consuela were now planning to stage her murder. Consuela had been all for involving Sarah and Louisa if Danny felt she could trust them, but Danny had said no. It had nothing to do with trust, it was simply that she knew Sarah would never approve and she hadn’t wanted to tell Consuela that Louisa was seeing Jake. If she had then Consuela would very likely have wanted to speak to Louisa herself and this was Danny’s show, not Louisa’s. So she had given as her excuse the fact that though they would almost certainly be willing to do something to help Consuela out of her terrible situation, they had no skills as actresses and would be highly likely to give the game away and end up putting themselves in danger. Consuela had immediately seen the sense of that and agreed that it was better to keep it between themselves and the handful of others who were going to support them. This was another little triumph of manipulation for Danny, which only went to prove how utterly brilliant she was at getting people to say and do, even think, exactly what she wanted them to – and, of course, it illustrated perfectly how right she was for this role.
However, by the time she finished telling Sarah what she wanted her to know, her elation was starting to fade, for the look on Sarah’s face was at last serving to remind her of how very serious all this was.
Sarah was on her feet, getting more wine. ‘That’s a pretty gruesome tale,’ she said soberly as she refilled their glasses. ‘And it’s not that I don’t believe it. In Jake’s case I find it only too easy to believe, mainly because Morandi suspects him of being behind what’s going on too. But I’m afraid I just can’t accept that Morandi is willingly working with Jake. I’ve been with Morandi a lot this past fortnight, I’ve listened to him, I’ve seen the way all this is affecting him, so nothing you say is going to persuade me that he’s involved the way you say he is.’
‘It’s not me saying it,’ Danny pointed out. ‘It’s Consuela. And if you like, I’m sure she’ll agree to speak to you herself because I don’t have any evidence to prove that Morandi is a liar. I’m just taking her word for it, but if you spoke to her, if you saw the way all this is affecting her, you might change your mind.’
Sarah was shaking her head. ‘I won’t,’ she said, ‘because he’s not lying.’ Her heart suddenly turned cold then as she heard herself sounding exactly like Louisa when Louisa defended Jake to her. Both of them, she realized, were only going on gut instinct and though it was hard to believe that they could both be wrong, there was, if she were being totally honest with herself, a chance they might be. But no, she only had to picture Morandi’s face in her mind’s eye, his fear that Aphrodite’s murder had been carried out as some kind of warning to him, and she just knew that he was as helpless a victim of this as Consuela claimed to be. However, it wouldn’t do any harm to talk to Consuela, she thought, feeling horribly disloyal, if nothing else she might be able to shed some light on things for Morandi.
But what about Louisa? How were they going to persuade her that Jake was all that Consuela said he was? Maybe she should speak to Consuela too?
‘Yes, I’m sure Consuela would agree to that,’ Danny said when Sarah put it to her. It wasn’t a case now, she realized, of whose show it was, it was a case of getting Louisa as far from Jake as they could. One woman was dead already, two including Aphrodite, and no matter how much Danny wanted to steal the limelight in all this, Louisa’s life was infinitely more important than her own glory. And, should Louisa die, there would of course be no glory, there’d be only tragedy and heartbreak and an insufferable guilt that she, Danny, had stood in the way of Louisa finding out the truth for such trivial, self-seeking ends.
‘Do you think she’s with Jake now?’ Danny said quietly.
‘She could be,’ Sarah answered. ‘But Jean-Claude has been out all day, she might have gone somewhere with him. You know, Danny,’ she went on, ‘I don’t think Jake does mean her any harm. He’s always been honest with her about the fact that there would be no future for …’ She stopped and stared at Danny, horrified at the way her heart was flooding with dread as the ‘no future’ suddenly took on a whole new meaning.
‘Maybe you’d better tell me just what Jake has been saying to her,’ Danny said.
‘Is that Jean-Claude coming back?’ Sarah said hearing a car outside.
It was, but Louisa wasn’t with him.
‘I think, before we go any further,’ Sarah said as they walked back into the house, ‘that we should contact Consuela to see if she knows how we might get hold of Jake so that we can try to get Louisa back here.’
‘Good idea,’ Danny said, going to get the phone. Then suddenly remembering that it was after Consuela had hidden Martina from Jake that he had beaten Martina to death, she wondered if it was such a good idea. If Jake thought they were about to take Louisa away from him then God only knew what he might do.
‘Maybe I should call Erik,’ she said. ‘He’ll know how to get in touch with Jake and maybe he’ll go and get Louisa himself.’
‘No, I don’t think we should do that,’ Sarah said. ‘He could be just as likely to warn Jake of what we’re doing.’
‘But Erik’s not involved in any of this,’ Danny protested. ‘OK, he and Jake are friends, but …’
‘What are you saying?’ Danny said bristling. ‘That Erik killed her? You’ve got to be out of your mind if you think that. Erik wouldn’t hurt a fly. For God’s sake, he’s known all over the world, if there was anything shady about him don’t you think we’d know about it?’
‘Not necessarily,’ Sarah answered, thinking with a disheartening degree of despondency of how Danny was now doing the same as herself and Louisa in blinding herself to the possibility that the man she had fallen for could be as guilty as the others. ‘Two women are dead,’ she said flatly. ‘We know that Jake killed one and the chances are Erik killed the other.’
‘You don’t honestly think that if Erik killed Aphrodite he’d dump her body right outside his own front door, do you?’ Danny cried.
No, Sarah had to agree, that put like that it didn’t seem very likely. But if Erik didn’t do it, then who did? Which also begged the question that was whoever really had done it trying to make Erik the scapegoat?
‘My money’s on Morandi,’ Danny said, casting Sarah into further turmoil as she voiced the unthinkable suspicion that had just entered Sarah’s head. ‘He’s the one who’s here all the time, working with Jake,’ Danny went on. ‘He’s the one who puts those videos together, he’s the one who’s hiding behind a false identity and he’s the one Aphrodite accused of being a blackmailer.’
Sarah looked so crestfallen and beaten that Danny reached out for her hand to give it a comforting squeeze. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said softly. ‘I didn’t mean to sound so brutal.’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ Sarah said bleakly. ‘It’s better that we thrash these things out now before any of us go in any deeper. But even if you’re right about Morandi, I still don’t see that that puts Erik in the clear, because he was the one who asked Jean-Claude to look after a quarter of a million dollars worth of pesos for Jake, so he’s got to know what’s going on.’
It was Danny’s turn to look shaken now for this was the first she’d heard about Erik asking Jean-Claude to look after money. And as Sarah saw her face blanch she tightened the grip on Danny’s hand. ‘The most important thing now,’ she said, ‘is Louisa. We’ve got to find out where she is and get her to come home.’
19
LOUISA WAS SITTING between Jake’s legs on the blue cushioned pads of the Valhalla’s steering station, the binnacle nestled comfortably between her knees, her hands under Jake’s on the helm, her head resting back on his shoulder.
‘Tell me what you see,’ he said, his breath warm on her ear as he turned to whisper.
‘I see,’ she began, looking at the horizon, ‘the most beautiful sunset ever. I see land. Corsica?’ she said, turning to look up at his strong, dusk-shadowed face.
He nodded.
‘And I see yachts in the bay. And I see the moon, very pale and silvery. And I see the sea turning scarlet. And I see … What else do I see?’
He pointed towards a rock jutting out of the side of the bay like a giant paw.
‘I see a rock,’ she said.
‘And on the rock?’
‘I see a house.’
He laughed. ‘A hotel. It’s where we’re heading. You and I.’
‘Oh,’ Louisa said, a ripple of desire coasting warmly through her.
He tilted her mouth to his and kissed her softly, but with an intimacy that held no regard for the crew, and as the warmth eddied and rushed inside her she felt herself melting against him.
‘Are you happy?’ he murmured, gazing down into her eyes.
‘Mmm,’ she nodded. ‘Very.’
He smiled, stroking his fingers down the side of her face and over her neck. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I know I should have called you sooner, but …’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said, putting her fingers over his lips. He kissed them, drew them into his mouth and lightly bit them. Then hearing the breath catch in her throat and seeing the way her beautiful, velvety eyes darkened, he took her fingers away and pressed his mouth hard over hers.
‘We have to talk first, you know that,’ he said gruffly.
‘I know,’ she murmured, her lips touching his as she spoke. ‘But I want you so much that whatever you tell me isn’t going to make a difference. So why do we have to wait?’
‘Oh, Louisa,’ he moaned as she pressed herself back against his hardness. ‘Don’t do this, please.’
‘Then don’t make me wait,’ she whispered.
‘You won’t thank me if I don’t.’
‘I told you nothing you say is going to make a difference,’ she said, keeping her voice low. ‘I want you inside me, Jake. I want to feel you close, pushing all the way into me.’
‘Oh Jesus,’ he groaned and then his lips were crushing hers, his tongue pushing deep into her mouth as he pulled her fiercely against him.
‘If you two lovebirds are gonna continue like that then you’d best let me take her in,’ Bob said gruffly.
Laughing, Jake let Louisa go. ‘It’s OK, I’ll do it,’ he told Bob, grinning at Louisa’s narrow-eyed scowl as she very astutely realized that he was using the docking of the Valhalla as an excuse to put a little distance between them for a while and therefore get himself back under control.
Wandering towards the bowsprit to sit down and watch the approach into the small, picturesque bay, which was at that moment ablaze in the sunset, Louisa curled her legs under her and listened to Jake’s commands as the sails were brought down and all the many preparations for coming into shore were made. She barely understood what he was saying, for sailing jargon was totally unfamiliar to her, but in this instance it was the sound of his voice that she loved, not what he was saying.
It had been the most wonderful, memorable day so far, which had started early that morning when Marianne had come for her. She almost laughed to herself now as she recalled the way she’d tried to put up a fight, of how she’d told Marianne to tell him that she wasn’t available. It hadn’t taken much persuading on Marianne’s part to get her to change her mind however, and neither had it taken her very long to pack the overnight bag Marianne had told her she would need. In fact, she’d done it in such haste that she’d forgotten to leave Sarah a note. But it wasn’t important, Sarah would be sure to guess where she was – if, indeed, Sarah actually went back to the villa today.
During the hour’s drive over to St Tropez, where the Valhalla was moored, Louisa had played out in her mind all she was going to say to Jake when she arrived. It started out with a heated and serious objection to the way he always expected her to drop everything when it suited him and a demand to know why he hadn’t called since he got back, and ended up with an apology for the way they had fought before he’d gone. Somewhere in between was something to do with what Morandi had told Sarah, but Louisa couldn’t quite remember what now, and in any event, as it turned out she hadn’t actually got around to saying any of it. Not because she’d lost courage, or melted like some tragic heroine into his arms the moment she saw him, but because when she and Marianne had arrived at the Valhalla he hadn’t actually been there. And when he had turned up, a few minutes later, he’d been so busy giving instructions to set sail and had been surrounded at all times by the crew that the opportunity hadn’t arisen until they were out at sea, by which time he’d taken the sting out of her indignation by saying, ‘Stop frightening me, looking at me that way. I know I’m in the shit, but could you please just smile a moment ’cos you’re scaring the crew.’
That had made not only Louisa laugh, but everyone else in earshot, and deciding that the very fact that she was there on board was evidence enough that she forgave him, she let her umbrage go. What was the point in going over what had happened the last time, or the reasons why he hadn’t called, when all that really mattered was
that they should enjoy every minute of what time they had together?
After that, as the Valhalla rose and dipped gently through the waves with a glorious sea breeze filling her vast, white sails, Jake had handed the wheel over to Bob and shown her round. It was during their brief excursion below deck to the astonishingly luxurious cabins and state-of-the-art galley, that he had given her her first kiss of the day.
‘Do you have any idea how much I love kissing you?’ he’d smiled, running his fingers through her soft, caramel hair and gazing ironically into the depths of her huge, brown eyes.
‘I think I might be getting the drift,’ she’d laughed as he’d lowered his head to kiss her again.
They hadn’t stayed long below since one of the crew was still working on a fault in the air-conditioning and without it the cabins were suffocatingly hot. By contrast, however, the spacious aft-deck, where they whiled away most of the afternoon, was blissfully shaded by an awning and wonderfully aired by the steady summer breeze coming in from the east.
Louisa had watched Jake come alive during those hours in a way she’d never seen before. It wasn’t really anything that he said, or anything that he did, it went much deeper than that. And that was when she realized what it was that was making him look the way he did – it was his great and consuming love of the sea. He was so attuned to it it was as though he breathed with it. He seemed to know its every nuance, its every vagary and vice, was so receptive to its inconstancy and bewitched by its sorcery, it was as though the strength and contentment within him were a part of the power and serenity of this great expanse of blue.