A Place in the Country (22 page)

“James told me finally, he couldn't take it,” Melanie went on. “He couldn't stand her threats, her demands, the emotional drain, the lies and cheating. When we met he told me he'd been finished romantically with her for years but he was still in business with her and couldn't get out. But he loved me, and what with Asia and our life together he had to get out. He told me he was through.

“He went to Hong Kong to see Mark. He was going to confess everything, tell him he would get out of their business, out of Mark's way, that he was sorry. Then he was going to the police, tell them about Ms. Chen and what he had done and that it was finally finished. At least, that's what he told me.”

Melanie poured more vodka into her glass. Caroline replenished the ice. She made another pot of tea they probably wouldn't drink, poured a cup anyway. She was nervous and it gave her something to do. She wasn't sure she wanted to hear the rest of this story. It was becoming too real.

Melanie said, “James wanted to buy Gayle Lee a parting gift, to ‘sweeten the blow,' he said, even though he hated her for all the destruction she'd wrought. He even asked me what he should get. I told him Hermès, of course, for a woman like that. A scarf, nothing too extravagant, especially since he was broke. I drove him to Changi Airport. Asia was with me. They were already calling the Hong Kong flight, we were late, hardly had time to say goodbye.”

Caroline's head was filled with the tragic image of the little girl waving goodbye to the father she would never see again.

“I have no idea of what really happened after that,” Melanie said. “I heard the details from the police, read it in the newspapers. They said it was suicide. Of course, I knew they were wrong but there was nothing I could do. And then Gayle Lee Chen found me, at our apartment in Singapore. She didn't phone, she just showed up, said she was James's partner, she demanded all his papers from his office, the details of where the secret bank accounts were.

“She mowed me down like a steamroller. I was wounded, dazed, didn't know what to say, except there was no money, no secret bank accounts. She didn't believe me, said she would haunt me 'til my dying day until she found the truth. And that day would come sooner than I thought. ‘Take care of your child,' she warned me, standing at the door of the apartment I'd shared with James. ‘Children are always vulnerable.'”

Melanie stopped. The silence of the country night settled around them, not a bird, not an insect, not even the kettle boiling on the hob.

“And that's when I knew I had to get away,” Melanie said finally. “I had to protect Asia. That woman is a killer and she will kill me to get her hands on James's money.”

“Money he didn't have,” Caroline said.

“Money she said she had given him, that he had stolen.”

“Poor James.” Caroline reached out and patted Melanie's hand. It was very cold, she'd been clutching the iced vodka for so long.

“Poor me,” Melanie replied.

“Poor Asia,” Caroline said, then realized in fact they were all in trouble. Gayle Lee was a loose cannon. She sipped the now cold tea, thinking about what to do. She wondered how early she could call her mother.

“But you must have the money,” Melanie said. “James told me so.”

*   *   *

It was eight
A.M.
when Cassandra got the call. Caroline knew her mother well enough not to wake her earlier.

Cassandra heard the story to the end. To her credit she did not tell her daughter one more time that she had married the wrong man. Instead, she said they'd be there later that day, they would bring Issy home and sort things out.

Then she went to find her husband who was buzzing around on his tractor, told him to shut that noise off for just a minute so she could hear herself speak and they were off to England to meet Issy's new sister. “And decide whether Caroline is about to be murdered for money she doesn't have,” she added.

 

chapter 52

Jim was on his computer
drawing a set of library shelves to scale, intended for a real live castle up in Northumbria. The “library” would take up three walls, continuing over the top of the double doors leading into the room with shelves of different heights and levels, to keep it visually interesting. The job was an expensive and meticulous one, a slight error could ruin the whole thing, which was why he was concentrating, calculating and recalculating to the merest millimeter. He had already ordered the woods, expensive, Brazilian zebra-wood, with rare tulip and Macassar ebony for the facings.

His client who was in his eighties and had so far lived his life without a “library” was now going the whole hog. It was nothing but the best, though Jim had told him at his age he would be better off installing good central heating and taking a world cruise and using the local library for all the reading he did nowadays.

Still, there was no deterring him though Jim guessed his heirs, who no doubt were waiting in the wings, would rather have inherited the money than a library.

His concentration was broken intermittently by thoughts of Caroline. Why had she not replied to his e-mail? His texts? His phone calls? Could she be avoiding him? If so, she couldn't keep it up for long. Upper Amberley was a tough village to avoid anyone in. Like it or not you bumped into people on the high street or in the post office, or the bakers'—actually the “bakers” preferred to be known as “confectioners,” because of their fancy cakes, particularly the éclairs which had the habit of melting all too quickly in the mouth, compelling Jim to buy another at once. He did not have a sweet tooth but he loved those éclairs.

He put down his slide rule and his calculator, switched off the computer and sat staring into space, his mind on the éclairs and Caroline; thinking perhaps she might enjoy one, or even two with her morning cup of coffee, which he was sure she must have around elevenish. And that if he went to the confectioners and bought them then simply showed up she couldn't possibly turn him away. Good manners would force her to invite him in and then she'd have to explain why she was avoiding him when what he wanted was a repeat of the evening they had spent together. It wasn't that he was obsessed with Caroline, it was that he simply could not get her out of his mind.

Ten minutes later, spruced up a little, which meant he had changed his shirt and combed his hair, he was saying good morning to Belinda Wright who he had known since childhood, and who was behind the counter in Wright's Bakers and Confectioners and ordering a dozen éclairs.

“My, a dozen,” Belinda marveled, eyes widening behind her specs. “You having a party tonight?”

“Just a craving,” Jim said, and it was true, but the craving was not for sweets; it was for the woman.

With the paper bag oozing chocolaty-custard-cream on the seat beside him, he sped down the lanes, grumbling when he had to follow a flock of loudly bleating sheep the farmer was relocating to the field next to the barn, where the cows used to graze. Time now for the hard-nibblers who would mow the grass down to the earth with their gnawing little teeth, instead of the ruminants who curled great swathes of it into their mouths, and produced milk and cow pats in equal quantities at the other end.

Finally, the sheep were all in, the gate closed, the farmer, who of course Jim knew, waved his thanks. Gravel spurted under his wheels as he drove up to the barn, stopped the truck and picked up his bag of éclairs.

A small girl was sitting on the doorstep, staring at him. She was wearing a crumpled pink cotton dress and a scared expression. Grabbing his bag of oozing éclairs he jumped out of the truck and waved hello.

“No need to be frightened,” he called, walking toward her. “I'm a friend of Caroline's. I've brought you some éclairs.”

He held out the bag to show her. She turned her head away.

Caroline appeared in the doorway. “She hasn't spoken a word since she arrived,” she said.

“Oh? And when was that?”

“Last night. At the pub. In the thunderstorm.”

Their eyes met over the top of the child, who continued to sit there as though nothing would ever persuade her to get out of the way, so Caroline was forced to lift her up, tuck her under her arm and carry her back into the kitchen.

“Let me introduce you.” She set the child down on her own two feet. “This is my ex-husband's child. Her name is Asia.”

The thought had crossed Jim's mind that this must be another of Caroline's daughters, but was quickly removed when he considered the way she had introduced her. “My ex-husband's child,” she had said. Not “
my
” child.

“The mother's taking a shower,” Caroline explained. “It's a long story,” she added.

“I brought éclairs.”

“Just what I feel like.” She grabbed the bag, took a yellow plate from the sideboard and arranged the éclairs on it. “A dozen,” she exclaimed. “How extravagant.”

“What's extravagant?”

Jim glanced up and saw a sexy vision with long yellow hair still wet from the shower. The vision had huge round blue eyes and storklike legs that went on forever under the very creased skirt she was wearing, and that also looked, when he thought about it, as if she had worn it for at least a week.

“I'm Melanie, Asia's mother,” the vision introduced herself, and Jim shook her hand and was given another, but a very different kind of dazzling smile. Flirty, if he was not mistaken, and he rarely was. He pointed out the éclairs.

“They go well with double vodkas,” Melanie said, darting her eyes maliciously at Caroline. “Sugar is what a girl needs right now.”

Caroline tore off a piece of paper towel, wrapped an éclair in it and handed it to Asia, who bit eagerly into it.

Jim sat back in his chair. They all looked wrecked, he decided.

Caroline caught his eye as she took a second éclair. “It's a long story,” she said again.

Jim shrugged. “Go ahead. I've got all day.”

 

chapter 53

All the éclairs
had been eaten with a second batch of hot coffee by the time Caroline and Melanie finished their story, just as Jesus, Maggie, and Sam arrived in the black pickup.

“What's going on?” Jesus nodded hello to Jim and gave Melanie a hard stare.

“Oh, just the usual drama,” Caroline said. “Sorry, Sam,” she added, getting up and hugging the girl. “We ate all the éclairs.”

“Wow.” Samantha went and sat next to Asia, who shriveled in her seat, hands squashed between her knees, head down. “Too bad. I love éclairs. Were they from Wright's?” Jim nodded and she said, “They're the best ever.” She glanced sideways at Asia who was obviously trying not to look at her, or have any physical contact. “Did you have one?” she asked, but the child still said nothing.

“She's scared,” Melanie told Maggie, when she looked at her for an explanation, since in Maggie's experience children did not normally behave like that.

“Did Asia ever meet that Chen woman?” Maggie asked, and Melanie nodded.

“Once. She came to the apartment, after James … after…”

“Let's not go there.” Jesus jutted his chin in the children's direction. “It is not appropriate.”

“Right,” Melanie agreed.

“So, now we all know the story, where do we stand?” Jesus asked.

He took the chair next to Caroline, who poured coffee, then put up another pot while she was at it, thinking this was a coffee day if ever there was one, and to hell with the caffeine count.

“There's cookies,” she told Sam, who shook her head, looking again at Asia, who this time sneaked a look back.

“There, I knew we'd get to know each other,” Sam cried, delighted.

Asia put her head down, but her tight hands had unraveled and she smoothed her pink dress and sneaked a second look.

“To answer your question,” Caroline said to Jesus, “my parents are arriving this evening. They're bringing Issy—Isabel back. They're going to sort everything out.”

“Right,” Maggie said, already recalculating accommodations. “Issy—sorry I can't remember to call her Isabel—can bunk in with Sam. Melanie and Asia can have Caroline's old room at the pub, and the grandparents can stay here, with you, Caroline.” She did not add “for safety's sake,” but that was what she was thinking. She did not trust Melanie one inch. “Bring them for dinner,” she added. “I'll get Sarah to cook tonight. We'll have a meeting, decide what to do.”

“Does anybody really have a clue?” Jim asked. “I mean, are we talking
for real
here, you think there's a killer on the loose?”

“It's serious.” Melanie fixed him with a glare. “I was there. I know.”

“I believe it,” Caroline said.

Nobody wanted to put into words that the Chinese woman had murdered James, not in front of the children, but everybody got the implication. Including now, Jim.

“I'm there for you,” he said to Caroline. “I'll bring Georgki, we can stand guard in case she shows up.”

They all laughed and Caroline said there was no need to go that far, and anyhow a glamorous Chinese woman like Ms. Chen would stand out in Upper Amberley like a Hollywood movie star.

“A cat amongst the pigeons,” Sam said, and they all looked at her and laughed.

She hadn't quite got the correct simile, but she was right.

“Anyhow,” Maggie, ever practical, said, “however are we going to tell Issy she has a new sister?”

 

chapter 54

If it were not
for the brown eyes, Caroline thought, that child could be
anybody's.
And anyhow, they were not the same brown as James's. This child had dark eyes, Spanish eyes, Caroline would call them. And come to think about it, she also had that lovely Mediterranean-color skin. Almost
olive,
whereas James had very white skin under the year-round tan he'd maintained.