by Lucy Gordon
‘The vet’s very good,’ Faye said. ‘Barker might come through it.’
The ambulance arrived and two attendants moved the dog gently onto a stretcher. Cindy walked beside him, stroking his head and fighting back her tears in case he should see them and be dismayed. She never doubted that he understood human reactions.
‘I’m going with him,’ she said, preparing to climb into the ambulance.
‘No, darling, they’ve got things to do for him in there,’ Faye said. ‘We’ll follow right behind in the car.’
On the journey Cindy’s tears flowed unrestrained. Faye saw Adrian put his arms around her. His own face was pale and set.
‘You did this!’ Faye said to Garth in her mind. ‘You broke their hearts and I’ll never forgive you for it.’
At the hospital the intensive care room was all ready for them. Miss McGeorge examined Barker carefully, listening to his chest, pulling back the lids of his eyes, which had closed.
‘X-ray his chest,’ she told Andy, her assistant. ‘As soon as that’s done give him an injection of painkiller, and put him on a drip.’
‘Is he going to be all right?’ Adrian asked tensely.
Miss McGeorge hesitated. ‘He’s old,’ she said, ‘and I think it’s bad. We’ll do our best, but…’
It seemed an age while they waited for the results of Barker’s X-rays. The children were unusually quiet, but their tight grip on their mother’s hand revealed their distress and their need of her.
At last Miss McGeorge emerged and her heavy face told the whole story. ‘I’m afraid it was a massive heart attack,’ she said. ‘There’s really no chance for him. It might be kinder to put him to sleep now.’
‘No!’ Cindy’s cry of agony was like a sword cutting through the words. ‘He’s got to stay alive. He’s got to.’
‘Darling—’ Faye put her arms about the child ‘—he’s suffering now—’
‘But he wouldn’t if they made him well,’ she sobbed. ‘I love him, Mummy. He can’t die, not if I love him. Make them save him.’
‘I don’t know how,’ she said helplessly.
‘But Daddy will.’ The tears were still rolling down Cindy’s face, but suddenly it was illuminated by hope. ‘Daddy will know what to do, because he gave me Barker. Please, Mummy, call him.’
‘Cindy—’ Adrian put his arms protectively around his sister ‘—Daddy isn’t a vet. He can’t make Barker well.’
‘He can!’ Cindy shouted. ‘Daddy can do anything in the whole world. He can, he can!’
‘Try to keep Barker alive,’ Faye told Miss McGeorge. She pulled out her mobile and dialled Garth’s mobile. But it had been switched off. Desperately she dialled the office where he’d said he would be. The operator put her through to Lysandra.
‘I need to speak to my husband urgently.’
‘I’m afraid Mr Clayton is out at the moment.’ Lysandra’s tone was sweet with satisfaction at being able to refuse Faye.
‘Please ask him to call me on my mobile the moment he returns. Tell him we’re all at the vet; Barker is very ill and Cindy is relying on him.’
She stressed the urgency again and hung up. ‘Daddy’s going to call back soon,’ she promised.
An hour passed. Still the phone didn’t ring.
‘He’s not going to call, is he?’ Adrian asked in a toneless voice.
‘He is,’ Cindy told him fiercely. ‘He’s going to call any moment now.’
‘He might not have come back yet,’ Faye said. Inwardly she was filled with dread. Garth had been elated at the thought of pulling off this coup. To get it, he would do anything. But would that mean reverting to his old ways, and putting his daughter last?
‘There’s a drinks machine just down the corridor,’ she said. ‘I’m going to get us something.’
When Faye had gone, Cindy’s attention became riveted on the bag she’d left on the floor. Adrian frowned as he saw his sister reach inside and pull out the mobile phone.
‘What are you doing?’ he asked.
‘I’m going to call Daddy.’
‘But you don’t know his number.’
‘It was the last thing Mummy dialled,’ Cindy said, triumphantly pressing the redial button.
While Adrian regarded her with a kind of awe, she listened to the ringing tone from the other end.
‘Blow your nose,’ Adrian advised, holding out his own, clean handkerchief. ‘You don’t want them to think you’re just a little kid.’
She gave him a look of gratitude and did so, just before someone answered.
‘My name is Cindy Clayton,’ she said with dignity. ‘And I want to talk to Daddy.’
‘Just one moment.’ The operator sounded confused.
A moment later Cindy heard another voice on the line. It was softly implacable and she hated it on instinct. ‘I’m afraid Mr Clayton is too busy to talk now.’
‘But it’s Cindy. I know he’ll talk to me.’
‘I’m sorry, he has some very important men to see. I’ve given him your message and he says he’s sure you’ll understand why he can’t talk to you now.’
Cindy began to tremble. ‘But it’s Barker,’ she said in a stammering voice.
‘I’m sure it is, and he’ll call you just as soon as he’s free. But he really can’t spare the time just now.’
Faye returned from the machine with her hands full to find Cindy staring ahead, her face a ghastly colour.
‘It’s Daddy,’ Adrian said in a hard voice. ‘She called him. He wouldn’t even talk to her.’
Cindy’s tears had dried now. The father in whom she’d pinned her faith had simply brushed her aside. There were no tears for such a devastating betrayal. Only silent despair.
‘He said—’ she choked at last’—that—he was sure— I’d understand wh-why he couldn’t talk to me.’
‘Oh, did he?’ Faye said ominously. ‘Well, I don’t understand and I’m going to tell him so.’
She called again, hoping against hope that she might be answered by someone other than Lysandra. But the fates were against her.
‘I wish to be put through to my husband, at once,’ she said firmly.
Lysandra’s voice was equally firm. ‘I’m very sorry, but Mr Clayton’s orders were explicit. He’s engaged in serious negotiations and must not be disturbed.’
‘Tell him it’s an emergency and I have to speak to him. Do it right now.’
‘Mrs Clayton, I’m sorry but you force me to be blunt. I take my orders from Garth, not from you.’ The phone went dead.
The children were watching her anxiously, but their faces had changed. Instead of the blind trust that had been there only a short time ago, now they looked ready to endure even more disappointment. How much more of this could they take? she wondered.
‘All right,’ she said with sudden determination. ‘Time to take the gloves off.’
They watched her, puzzled, as she called Mary. ‘I need to get to Newcastle as fast as possible, and that means by plane. How can I reach Garth’s pilot?’
She heard the little gasp before Mary assumed her well-trained voice. ‘Bill should be at home. Garth gave him a few days off.’
‘I’d like his number, please.’
‘You’re going to ask him to fly you there? But Bill only takes orders from Garth himself. Wouldn’t it be better if I called Garth—?’
‘Fine! If you can get through to him, get him to call me,’ Faye said, suddenly hopeful.
But in two minutes Mary was back on the line, seething.
‘That woman,’ she said in tones of deep loathing. ‘She said she’d get him to call me back, “when he could spare a moment”. Garth’s never refused to talk to me before. OK. Here’s Bill’s mobile number. And good luck.’
‘Thanks. I’m going to need it.’
Bill was a good-natured, lazy young man who preferred sleeping to any other activity except flying. Faye roused him from a nap, but when he heard what she wanted he was fully alert.
‘I can’t take the plane out unless Garth orders me,’ he said aghast.
Faye took a deep breath and crossed her fingers before saying, ‘But he has ordered you. I’m acting with his blessing. He wants you to fly me there at once. I can’t tell you details, but it’s a real emergency. Believe me, if Garth misses out on this, and then finds it was because you disobeyed his orders to help me, well—I just don’t know what he’ll do.’
It was barefaced blackmail, the sort of action that once she would never have dared, and her heart was beating hard at her own temerity. But all that mattered now was that Garth should put Cindy and Adrian first. If he couldn’t save Barker, at least he could save his children’s faith in him.
Bill was nervous. ‘Couldn’t you get Garth to confirm—?’
‘No, I couldn’t,’ she said firmly. ‘This is a matter of life and death and I’ve no time to waste.’
‘All right, Mrs Clayton, but you won’t mind if I call him first—’
‘You won’t get through. He’s not talking to anyone. Besides,’ she added with a casualness she was far from feeling, ‘I just wish I could be a fly on the wall if you manage to haul him out of a big meeting to ask him if his wife’s a liar.’ She even managed a laugh. ‘Still, it’s your head on the block.’
‘Yes, it is,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘Oh, well, I suppose if you tell me it’s all right—’
‘I do. The responsibility is all mine. I’ll be there in half an hour. Please have the engine running.’ She hung up and leaned against the wall, drained and shaking from tension. That had been her speaking, gauche, shy Faye who’d once looked out at the world from under Garth’s shadow. Now that seemed a very long time ago.
A suggestion that the children should go home was instantly vetoed. Neither of them would leave their friend. Faye called Nancy and told her to come to the surgery.
‘It’s not Daddy’s fault,’ she told the children. ‘There’s been a misunderstanding and I’m going up there to sort it out.’
She only wished she felt as confident as she sounded.
She left the moment Nancy arrived and began the drive to the airport. Her stomach was churning with nerves. She had no idea what was waiting for her in Newcastle. Garth had tried to block out his family again, and when she gatecrashed his meeting he would be furious. If only she didn’t fail! If only she could keep her nerve long enough to confront him!
An efficient machine took over as soon as she arrived. Someone took her car to park it. Someone else told her Bill was ready to leave at once. The engine was running just as she’d said, and in a few minutes they were airborne.
‘There’ll be a car waiting the moment we land,’ Bill said.
‘Thank you, Bill. You’re very efficient.’
‘That’s what Mr Clayton says,’ Bill said gloomily. ‘What he’ll say to me after today I don’t like to think.’
‘But I told you this was with his blessing.’
‘That’s right, you did,’ he said in a voice of deep gloom.
‘You just stick to it that you believed me. I’ll take the flak.’
As he’d promised, the car was there and in a few moments she was delivered at the headquarters of Garth’s clients. A man on the front desk politely enquired her business.
‘I have to see Mr Clayton. I’m his wife, and it’s extremely urgent.’
The confident way she spoke had its effect. The man showed her the lift and said, ‘Top floor, madam.’
One hurdle over.
On the top floor there was a young woman at a reception desk who rose and tried to block her way.
‘I’m sorry, but my instructions are to let nobody through,’ she said, smiling but implacable.
Faye also smiled. ‘If you don’t let me through I shall scream the place down,’ she said.
‘Then I should have to call Security,’ the receptionist said.
‘Do so,’ Faye said almost amiably. She felt cool and in control. To call anyone, the receptionist would have to move out of her way.
Too late the young woman realized this and for a split second she hesitated between the desk and Faye. That instant was enough. Faye moved her aside and swept on. Over her shoulder she could hear the receptionist telephoning someone and hurried lest security guards should appear.
But it was Lysandra who came out and stood in her path. She was holding a file across her chest, as though in defence, and she looked very much in command. But then Faye’s heightened senses made her acutely aware of the other woman’s pallor and unease. Suddenly Lysandra wasn’t confident any more. Her knuckles were white where they grasped the file and she was angry and afraid.
‘Let me pass,’ Faye told her quietly.
‘Absolutely not! Garth says he doesn’t want to be bothered by disturbances now—’
‘Well he’s going to be whether he wants to or not. Now, I’ll tell you for the last time, get out of my way.’
Lysandra seemed to take root in the ground and for a moment Faye’s new-found courage almost failed. Then she remembered Cindy’s frantic sobs and Adrian’s white-faced tension and knew that nothing was going to stop her.
Moving so fast that she almost couldn’t follow it herself, she seized the file Lysandra was holding and sent it whirling across the floor. Lysandra gasped with outrage, made a small lunge then thought better of it. But it was too late. Faye took hold of her shoulders, swung her around and marched on.
A set of double doors loomed before her. Faye took a deep breath and was through them before she had time to think. She found herself in a large room, dominated by a long table, around which sat a dozen men. At the far end, deep in paperwork, sat Garth, so engrossed that he knew nothing until a silence fell. The other men stared, nonplussed, as the pale, distraught-looking woman strode into the room and walked to the head of the table.
At last Garth looked up, astonishment on his face as he saw his wife. ‘Faye? What are you doing here?’
‘Are you really surprised to see me, after the message you sent?’
‘What message?’
‘Don’t pretend not to know what I mean,’ she said angrily. ‘I came to talk to you, and that’s what I’m going to do.’
‘Then we’ll go next door,’ he said calmly. ‘Excuse me a moment, gentlemen.’
He took her arm and drew her through a side door into a little room. When they were alone his urbane manner fell away and she could see that he was coldly angry.
‘Now, perhaps you’ll tell me what you mean by bursting in and speaking to me like that in front of my colleagues,’ he said in a tight voice.
‘I wouldn’t have needed to if you’d deigned to speak to me on the phone,’ Faye said fiercely. ‘Why don’t you tell me what you mean by sending your daughter a message by Lysandra Bates that you were too busy to talk to her.’
‘What the devil are you talking about?’
‘Oh, please, Garth! Don’t pretend ignorance. It’s all been an act, hasn’t it? Letting Cindy think she meant something to you, then brushing her aside when she needs you most. You’ve broken her heart, but why should you care as long as business isn’t disturbed?’
‘What do you mean?’ he interrupted. ‘Why does she need me? What’s happened?’
‘Barker’s had a massive heart attack. He’s dying!’
He closed his eyes. ‘Oh, dear God! No!’
‘I told you he was very ill when I called.’
‘When did you call? This is the first I’ve heard of it. Who did you speak to?’
‘Lysandra. She said you were out and I left a message for you, saying Barker was ill and please call me back urgently, but you never did. So Cindy called, and that woman said she was sure Cindy’d understand why you couldn’t talk to her. But she doesn’t. She was sure you could cure him. She thought you could do anything in the world—always assuming she can get in touch to ask you.’
‘Faye, I’m telling you I knew nothing of this. Lysandra never passed any message on to me and I’m damned well going to
find out why.’
He wrenched open the door. Lysandra was just outside, a nervous smile on her face. Now Faye understood why the other woman had been so alarmed at her appearance.
‘What’s this about a message from my wife that never reached me?’ Garth demanded.
‘I knew you didn’t want to be interrupted,’ Lysandra said smoothly.
‘I never gave you authority to block out my wife,’ he snapped.
‘I’m sorry if I misunderstood your instructions, Mr Clayton. I thought I was acting for the best.’
‘Were you acting for the best when you told Cindy that her father wouldn’t speak to her?’ Faye demanded. ‘That wasn’t a misunderstanding. It was a lie.’
‘I agree,’ Garth said, regarding Lysandra coldly. ‘I gather that my eight-year-old daughter telephoned, herself, and you actually refused to put her on to me. How dared you do such a thing?’
Under the black look he was giving her, even the super-cool Lysandra quailed.
‘I’m—I’m sorry,’ she stammered. ‘I assure you such a thing will never happen again.’
‘It certainly won’t, because you don’t work for me any more,’ Garth said flatly. ‘Don’t even set foot in the office again. I’ll have your things sent on to you.’
Lysandra gasped. ‘Garth—you can’t mean that.’
‘I can and I do. Get out of my sight.’
She placed a hand on his arm. ‘Please, can we discuss this—alone?’ She glanced significantly at Faye.
He shook her off. ‘We have nothing to discuss alone. We never did, but I couldn’t make you realize that. You were efficient at your job. That was my sole interest in you.’
Lysandra’s face became distorted. ‘You’ll regret this,’ she spat. ‘How are you going to manage that meeting in there without my support?’
Garth eyed her narrowly. ‘Don’t ever fool yourself that I can’t do without you, Lysandra. Nobody is indispensable to me. Anyway, that meeting is closing down because I’m leaving.’
‘You can’t,’ Lysandra gasped. ‘They’ll never give you the contract—’
‘Then they can give it to someone else. Now get out of my sight. I don’t want to see you again.’