The Ex-Husband

by Hamilton, Karen

  ‘Why are you here?’ I ask. ‘I’ve tried to get in touch with you.’

  ‘I heard what happened to Sam.’

  ‘I still can’t believe it. The funeral is in a fortnight and I can’t decide whether to fly back just for that, or not. I did love him.’

  The luxury of money is the options it affords. Stay here, go there. I can do whatever I please.

  ‘I’m only here now because Sam’s gone,’ Alexandra says. ‘There was no way I could trust you before. He had his claws into you too deep.’

  ‘I didn’t take your necklace. Or anything else. It’s important to me that you know that. Sam planted it there. I feared you thought I had betrayed you. I didn’t. I tried to find you, but you had already vacated your cabin.’

  ‘I think we’ve got our wires crossed. Let’s start from the beginning. The moment I realised I had been conned, I felt such a fool. I was so angry. It shouldn’t have happened to someone like me. I wasn’t going to let you and Sam get away with it. I thought if I reported the theft to the ship’s security, you would both get caught and it would teach you a much-needed lesson.’

  ‘Sam was tipped off by one of his mates,’ I say. ‘He knew in advance that we were going to be searched.’

  ‘When I realised he had gotten away with it, I had him followed,’ Alexandra says. ‘There was no way I was letting him off the hook after what he had done.’

  ‘I thought at first that you and he had double-crossed me,’ I say. ‘But you saved me. They gave the necklace back to me. Thank you. How did you know that Sam had set me up?’

  ‘I suspected, but wasn’t one hundred per cent sure. I wanted to see you both punished. Because you had been left to face the music on your own I said that I’d made an error. That I had gifted you the necklace and forgotten all about it. I explained that I was very embarrassed at the fuss I had caused, and so on. I wasn’t going to let you take all the blame while he disappeared off into the sunset. I used to listen when you were telling me stories about your marriage, wondering if you were ever going to come clean about what you two were really up to. I gradually realised how much he had sucked you into his schemes.’

  ‘I doubt I would’ve even been stopped if it hadn’t been for Sam. When he was pulled over by customs, he must’ve made a point to suggest it was me they were after.’

  ‘He was a right slippery eel, that man,’ she said. ‘He gave the private detective the slip in Mexico even though I had more than one person following him. I had to shut down several of my bank accounts because of the details he had stolen. I had no doubt that he would follow through with his thefts.’

  ‘I tried to contact you many times. You’re not so un-slippery yourself.’

  ‘Timing is everything. It really is,’ she says. ‘I needed to be sure that you wouldn’t reunite with Sam.’

  ‘I thought you wanted revenge. Either you, or Sam.’

  ‘I can see why.’

  We sip our cocktails in reflective silence.

  ‘Do you want your necklace back?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘It needs mending. The clasp broke. Sorry.’

  I open my bag and hand it to her. She takes it, looks at it, then hands it back to me.

  ‘On second thoughts, you can keep it. It was never mine in the first place.’

  ‘Oh? What do you mean?’

  ‘I have a proposition,’ she says.

  ‘I’m listening . . .’

  ‘I started out just like you, only in the South of France. I progressed from there. I told myself that I would stop one day, but it snowballed, business was good. I wasn’t like Sam – or you – because I genuinely believed in wealth redistribution. I wasn’t an angel, of course not, but I worked hard. I donated to hospices, carers and the elderly. I wanted – and still do – to give “the voiceless” their voice back.’

  Well, I never.

  ‘Oh my God. It takes one to know one,’ I say. ‘You had me and Sam sussed right from the beginning. I did try to talk him out of it, you know. I told him you weren’t suitable. But he took you out to lunch, showered you with attention and you cancelled your plans with me.’

  ‘I know. But I wanted to see what Sam was like in action. I wanted to get the measure of you. Were you good? Were you bad? Were you just like him or highly influenced? I did feel betrayed and stupid that he had targeted me. I, of all people, should’ve known better. Initially I trusted you, I didn’t trust many people – still don’t – and I thought, at first, when Sam started smarming around, that you were encouraging it.’

  ‘No,’ I say. ‘Quite the opposite. What is the proposition you mentioned?’

  ‘Society may call me a criminal, but real criminals walk among us, Charlotte, and they are the people who make decisions to worsen lives, not improve them. And they don’t care. So many decisions, it seems, are made by people with wealth and power, who can’t, or won’t, understand what life is like for those without. We will not be real criminals, Charlotte. You and me, we could give something back to people who really need it by redistributing the wealth of people who don’t deserve it.’

  ‘Where do I fit in?’

  ‘I think we would make a good team,’ she says. ‘I have a new home in Monaco. You could be my daughter who has come to visit, if you like. Or my niece, or my god-daughter. We could mix the stories up for variety.’

  It sounds ideal. I don’t even have to think about it.

  ‘There is someone I’d want to invite,’ I say.

  ‘Oh?’

  I tell her about Lucy.

  ‘I want to entice her to a job or a lifestyle in a similar way that she lured me.’

  ‘It sounds as if it will be simple enough,’ she says. ‘Her ill-gotten gains won’t last for long now that she’s developed a greed for easy money.’

  ‘A once in a lifetime opportunity,’ I say. ‘For an experienced, dedicated beauty therapist who is free to travel at short notice. Competitive rates, lots of time off, that kind of thing. Obviously, for it to properly work, I will flower it up to make it irresistible.’

  It will make the hunt more interesting and varied, make it feel even sweeter when I have tracked her down and when she realises that she messed with the wrong person.

  ‘And what will you do if she bites?’

  ‘Make her pay,’ I say. ‘I haven’t decided exactly how yet, but I’ll think of a way.’

  Since I found out that Sam is no longer alive, I’ve been dreaming about him more than ever. On occasion, I experience with him the cold shock as he hits the water. Hypothermia takes hold, or the worst one, the eerie sensation of being alone at sea. In my dreams, fishing boats or ships pass by him. So near, yet so far. As Sam’s hand reaches out, the lights fade into the distance, swallowed up by clouds.

  Alexandra stands up.

  ‘Which way is the bathroom?’ she asks.

  ‘You don’t really own this villa, do you?’

  ‘No,’ she laughs. ‘But I have spoken to the real owner and paid for you to stay here for another week. I may join you too. We can take some time to figure things out, mull over the details.’

  I like the sound of that.

  Alone, I bend down and take off my anklet. I walk the few steps down to the garden, stepping on the lush, green grass and along to the end of the lawn. I cross the road and throw the anklet as far as I can into the sea.

  ‘Goodbye, Sam.’

  A great weight lifts.

  Alexandra is back on the veranda when I return.

  The butler comes out and asks if we would like our cocktails topped up.

  ‘Champagne,’ we both say.

  This is a celebration, after all. I know exactly who I am now and in what direction my life is headed.

  Lucy won’t bite immediately, I appreciate that, but Sam taught me patience and Alexandra taught me to trust myself.

  Sam paid for what he did to Colin. Lucy must pay for what she did to Sam, one way or another. Sam would approve.

  As Alexandra and I
sit opposite each other, in matching wicker chairs, it feels like old times. I take a deep breath of the rose-scented, balmy air and a large sip of icy champagne as I survey my new, flowered-up version of paradise.

  If you loved this, don’t miss Karen Hamilton’s second novel, THE LAST WIFE. Who would YOU trust to carry out your final wish?

  Get your copy here.