Junior heard the phone ring but ignored it.
He turned to his visitor and looked her up and down. He had never paid attention to his father’s staff, why should he? Now Janice Elliot was in his room, dressed in a cheap party dress and offering him God knows what in return for cheating her husband out of some money. “What do you want me to do? Give you Dennis’s share of the bonus? Why?”
She looked at Junior. She was frustrated and less sure of herself. The plan to offer herself to the lawyer was one thing because William Bird was polite and passably attractive. Junior might help achieve her goal, but he made her nervous. She wasn’t even sure he liked women. She flicked her hair and stood as tall in her heels as she could. She was pleased the heels made her a little taller than Junior.
“I want you to give me the bonus money. Cut Dennis out of it. He doesn’t know about it, and it needs to stay that way. I’m leaving him, and I need that money.”
Junior rubbed his chin, his eyes cold and calculating. “You could leave him anyway, why take more than you deserve?”
She closed her eyes, he was toying with her. “Mr. Thurwell, I have put up with Dennis’s incompetence and gambling. I want the money because if he gets it, it’ll go to bookies. It will be wasted on him.”
She looked into his eyes and suppressed a shudder as she tried to close the deal. “I’m willing to be grateful. If you give me what I want, I can give you something in return.” She traced a finger along the soft curves of her cleavage and felt his eyes follow it. She felt exposed as he watched and rocked back and forth on his heels. His eyes on her skin felt like a burn and she suddenly wanted to run, but the thought of the money made her stay.
Junior didn’t care about Dennis any more than he did Janice. It would be easy enough to do what she wanted. Beth wouldn’t understand, but since the cost remained the same, he didn’t think she’d make a fuss.
As for Janice, she was offering herself to him. He leered as his heart raced. It had been a long time since he’d been with a woman. Most society girls wouldn’t go near him once their little gossip circle heard about his tastes. He grunted agreement and Janice’s heart skipped with excitement as she realized she’d get her fortune. But when she looked into Junior’s eyes, her happiness died. Janice reached for the drink he offered and was surprised when instead of handing it to her, he grabbed her wrist. She looked up, frightened by his tight grip. He was hurting her.
Junior saw fear spark in her eyes and laughed as she began to struggle.
$
William tried again, but Junior didn’t pick up the call. He thought about going to Junior’s room, but reconsidered. If he was wrong about Janice, he’d have to make some excuse about his visit and he preferred to avoid seeing the family until morning. If he was right about her, it was already too late. He had wasted too much time deciding what to do.
He sighed. Tomorrow morning would be a mess, and he needed some rest. He clicked off his desk lamp, checked everything was secure and left his office. He didn’t look into the library as he walked to his room and even if he had, he would not have seen Larry MacLean watching from the shadows.
$
MacLean watched Bird lock his office door. He looked tired and was probably heading for bed. Larry waited a full five minutes before he dared to move. His legs were stiff after sitting for too long. He screwed the light bulbs back into the lamp and walked out of the library, deep in thought about what he had witnessed.
He was startled by a voice and turned to see Jeremy, the major-domo. Larry wondered how the man always simply appeared, did he never rest? “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
Jeremy smiled as he repeated the question. “I wondered if you might care for a drink or a snack, it’s been some time since supper.”
Larry looked at Jeremy again. Did he know what he had been doing? He politely refused the offer and headed toward the stairs. He turned to say something to Jeremy, but the man had disappeared. He moves like a cat, Larry thought, you never hear him coming or going.
$
Janice slipped into her room a few minutes before three in the morning. Dennis was in the same position she had left him in, unaware that she had been gone for hours. She felt rage at his somnolent figure. He didn’t care about her and hadn’t cared for years. She walked unsteadily to the bathroom and closed the door.
She turned on the shower and sank to the floor. Quiet sobs escaped from her lips. Her body was sore and abused. She sat on the floor as steam from the hot shower filled the room. She tore the cocktail dress off. She’d never wear it again. Janice saw a ghost of herself in the fogged mirror and was glad of the obscured reflection. She was sure she could not look herself in the eye right now.
Janice stepped under the scalding shower and prayed it could make her feel clean again, but she knew no amount of hot water would wash away the memory of the past hours. The extra money had not been worth the price Junior exacted from her. She hugged herself under the hot water and cried until she had no tears left, then scrubbed at her body until the skin was raw.
Eventually Janice stepped out, dried herself and crawled into bed next to her snoring husband. The clock showed it was almost five-thirty, but sleep would not rescue her from the horrors of the night, and she watched the minutes tick away until the alarm sounded at seven.
Dennis woke and rolled off the bed and went to the bathroom to urinate. Janice closed her eyes as she heard Dennis pee and fart loudly. He’d never learned to close the bathroom door before he went in. She hated it, it was another constant irritation, but this morning it didn’t seem like such a big deal, so she rolled over and pulled a pillow over her ears. She lay in a world of muffled sound and darkness and wished she were dead.
$
Larry sat at the desk in his suite with a pencil poised over a blank sheet of paper. He was thinking about 1952, when he had been seventeen years old. He had promised to help Winnie discover how his friend had known her, so he ignored his distraction over what he’d seen in the library and creased his brow in concentration.
He would run through the chronology of his life with Johnston Thurwell to find the time his friend could have encountered Winnie. He listed every year from 1952 to present and filled in the details of where he and Thurwell had been. He worked without a break for two hours before he was finished.
His heart was heavy with melancholy, and he regretted his decision to extend his winter sailing trip and skip Christmas with Johnston. His shipmate had wanted to stay on the boat and had been persuasive, so he had called and cancelled. She was a waitress MacLean met in a Bahamas yacht club who had achieved the high but fleeting status of essential crew on his boat.
Larry fell in love with every woman he slept with and was always sincere in his devotion. His problem was that his attention span was limited to a few months. Inevitably, his roving blue eyes would settle upon a new beauty that would instantly steal his heart, and he’d replace the old girlfriend without a second thought. Larry’s attention span had spared him from any marriage and the divorce that would surely have followed.
He and Johnston had laughed about that the last time they spoke. Larry realized now that his friend had been dying, but had said nothing about his condition. Larry had spent Christmas on a waitress instead of with his dying friend, and that guilt would haunt him forever.
Returning to the present, he leaned back in his chair and reviewed his work. There were only a few gaps on his list that would have allowed enough time for Thurwell to go to England. There was a three-month gap in 1957 after graduation when MacLean had gone to Mexico and lost himself on a tequila bender. The next was three years later, a ten month gap in 1960 when Larry went to Australia to follow a yacht race and enjoy the hospitality of the local ladies.
The only other viable gap was 1965. Larry paused as he remembered the lowest time of his life. He had just turned 30 when the police hauled him from the family home and charged him with dealing drugs. He’d been partying hard the previous weekend and h
ad shared his generous stash of pot and pills with a couple of girls. One girl turned out to be a local councilman’s daughter, and when her father found his daughter shirtless and passed out on his front lawn one Sunday morning, he had demanded to know who gave her the drugs.
The charges against Larry had been reduced to possession, but he still spent three weeks in the county jail. He’d been ashamed to tell his old friend and only admitted what happened years later. He hated the memories of 1965.
There were no times when Johnston could have met Winnie after the mid-sixties. Johnston entered the business world and his time was no longer his own. Johnston worked for a while as an analyst in an investment bank before he decided he could do better on his own and formed Thurwell Industries.
It was an arrogant name for a one-man start-up, but Johnston C. Thurwell II had vision. He started with $3,000 of his own money and persuaded a few others, including Larry, to invest a few thousand dollars each.
Thurwell Industries opened in 1966 with sixteen clients and $50,000. Forty years later Thurwell Industries was a global enterprise managing $300 billion in assets with an unparalleled record of success. In the early seventies, Johnston had diversified into the information business, going head to head with another entrepreneur, Freddie Hagood. They had been bitter rivals for decades, which made Freddie’s presence at the mansion all the more confusing.
Larry looked at the dates on his page again, he was certain if his friend had ever met Winnie Tremethick, it had been in 1957, 1960 or 1965. He folded the paper and put it next to his watch on the desk. He’d give it to Winnie in the morning.
Chapter Fifteen
The residents of the mansion awoke to a clear day. The storm had broken in the night, and the dark clouds of yesterday were replaced by bright sunshine. The vast house looked like a cheerful Christmas card, but there was little goodwill within its walls.
Ron Freeman lay in bed and thought the sunshine was a good omen. His second chance at sharing in Thurwell’s fortune began with the sun warming his face through the window. This day he would make sure he was not humiliated. He’d get his share of the Thurwell fortune and the family would pay for the trouble they had visited into his life. They would pay dearly. He padded to the shower with a spring in his step, a determined smile and a cold heart.
$
Bethany watched the sun rise, happy the storm was over. She loved the way the world looked after a snowfall. She watched the sky turn from a deep red glow in the East until golden light spilled over the snow-covered forest that surrounded the mansion.
Her heart soared when a deer appeared at the tree line. It sniffed the air, ears moving in quick twitches as it listened for danger. But the woods were silent, all sound muffled by the fresh snow. Bethany watched the deer step into the clearing and gingerly push its nose into the deep snow to find some grass. She watched the graceful animal feed and felt it was a good way to start a new day and a new chapter in her life. A life without her father.
The ugly business would be over today. William only had to divide the money and she would be free to grieve her father, and try to understand why he had shunned her. The deer looked up and met Bethany’s eyes before it launched itself into the trees and was gone. Bethany smiled and took it as a hint to get moving herself.
$
Dennis Elliot was shaving and called his wife for the third time to get out of bed. The silly bitch would miss breakfast if she didn’t move. He had a headache. He’d finished a whole bottle of wine last night and had passed out on the bed. He’d woken in the clothes he’d been wearing at supper and was stiff from sleeping at an awkward angle.
Janice had been awake when he got up, he was sure of it. Her breathing was different when she slept. He knew the difference, but went along with the pretence to eke out a few more moments of peace before she started on him again. He scraped at his face, dipped the razor in the hot water and called for her to get her ass out of bed. He sighed when she didn’t move, today was the day they would become rich and yet she wanted to sleep in. He toweled his face dry, pulled the drain plug and watched the water swirl away, leaving dark bristles on the white porcelain sink. He didn’t bother to wash them away. He was done with menial chores.
Dennis went to the bedroom and poked the covers over his wife’s huddled shape. She grunted and pulled a pillow around her ears. He had enough and grabbed her arm to pull her out of bed, just like he’d done a thousand times before. She hated mornings and often needed a physical tug to get her moving.
He was shocked by her scream as she threw the pillow aside and fought his hand away. Her eyes were almost feral as she screamed for him to get away from her. He stepped back, alarmed by her reaction as he held out his hands to show he meant no harm. She stopped screaming but glared at him, breathing hard. “Don’t touch me. Don’t you come near me.”
He backed off. There was something in her eyes he did not like. What the hell just happened? He opened his mouth to say something, but she shot out of the bed, slapped his face hard and ran into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. Dennis looked after his wife and rubbed his cheek where she had struck him. He knocked on the door, but she screamed again and he decided it was better to leave her alone until she calmed down.
He dressed quickly and left the room. If his crazy wife didn’t want breakfast, so be it. He’d get his share of the money soon, and then he’d be rid of Janice for good. Her behavior this morning would make the break-up easier.
$
William Bird finished his eggs and toast before the first guests drifted into the dining room. He nodded to Camille and Bethany as they arrived together. They made to join him, but he stood and indicated he was leaving, he preferred to avoid any conversation. He made his apologies and left, taking a fresh coffee with him to his office.
The two daughters chatted amicably. After the meeting yesterday Bethany and Camille had enjoyed their first real conversation and Bethany discovered she might enjoy having a sister. Camille was still guarded, but had also been surprised by how well she and Bethany got along. They had nothing but their father in common, but were close in age and found that fashion, men and gossip crossed oceans both geographic and cultural.
$
Winnie Tremethick entered the dining room with Larry MacLean. They had met in the hallway on the way to breakfast, and he had gallantly offered his arm to escort her. He looked around for either William or Janice, still wondering what the scene he witnessed last night meant.
Winnie was as animated as he’d ever seen her and chatted excitedly about returning home. He noticed she never mentioned the fortune she’d take with her. He wanted to know her story before it was too late. He was intrigued to know how his old friend had ever come to meet such an unlikely woman.
$
Junior strode into the room with lightness in his step and a satisfied smirk. He was hungry and snapped his fingers at one of the staff to bring him some coffee. He looked around the room, his sisters were sitting together, and Larry was chatting to the old English woman. He was disappointed not to see Janice, he wanted to look her in the eye to complete his dominance over her.
He remembered he had to talk with Bethany about the new arrangement for the Elliot’s payment, but he’d have time, it was not urgent. He grinned when he saw Dennis enter the room, but it faded when he realized Janice was not with him. Perhaps she’s lost her appetite he thought, and stifled a giggle with a discreet cough.
$
The genial hum of excited conversation ended suddenly, as if someone pressed a mute button. Everyone stared at the door where an immaculately dressed Ron Freeman stood. He shot a hostile look at the assembled people before he took a seat and made a big show of shaking out his napkin as he ordered a large breakfast.
Bethany and Camille looked at one another, surprised that the Judge possessed enough nerve to appear. Why would he subject himself to embarrassment when he could have taken breakfast in his room? Unless it was an act of pure bravado, there was n
o need for him to appear in public.
The Judge’s presence killed the atmosphere and people finished their breakfasts and left quickly. There was a half-hour wait before the meeting would begin, and the spoils would be divided. Most of the guests went back to their suites to freshen up. Dennis decided not to return to his room to receive more abuse from his wife and instead wandered around the lobby. He shot anxious glances up the stairs and hoped Janice would not be late.
$
Freddie Hagood sipped hot coffee in his room. He would wait until the last minute to arrive at the meeting. He wanted to make an entrance and see the family react to his return. They did not know he had been set to receive a generous payment and had lost it when Freeman tried to blackmail William. Freddie’s new goal was to secure more than he had lost. He plotted how he might manipulate the group to his advantage, he knew more about each of them now, and he would not make the same mistakes he’d made yesterday. Freddie Hagood was used to winning, and he was damned well going to win now he had been handed a second chance.
$
Caroline Smith was excited. Her anger at being humiliated had passed. She looked at herself in the mirror with pride. She was no weakling that could be kicked around. The selfish Thurwells would cough up a fair share of the Old Man’s money today. She’d make sure of it.
Her mouth twisted as she thought about how to handle the backstabbing Janice Elliot. She needed to exact a revenge for the housekeeper’s betrayal. No one lied to Caroline Smith and got away with it. She’d find something. She would make it her life’s work to destroy Janice if she had to. Caroline checked her wristwatch, a few more moments, and she would head out. She wanted to be in a position to watch the other’s reactions when they saw her at the negotiating table again.
$
Janice still trembled from Dennis’s effort to get her out of bed. She knew she had over-reacted, but his touch had brought the memory of long hours in Junior’s suite back and she had lost control. She forced herself to dress and sat in front of the mirror and tried to summon the courage to look at her reflection. When she finally met her own eyes, she felt the shame burn and looked away quickly. She had to pull herself together and endure being in the room with the others, with him, until the money was hers.
The Philanthropist's Danse Page 14