Beaumont Brides Collection (80 page)

‘No.’ He dragged his hand through his hair. ‘You’re right.’ Then he looked at him more closely. ‘If you don’t mind my saying so, you look as if you could do with a bed yourself.’

‘Mr Singleton?’ A young nurse looked at the two men and waited for one of them to own up. Tony stepped forward. ‘Your wife is getting impatient. I wouldn’t keep her waiting if you want to see your baby make its entrance into the world.’

Mac watched him go. Then he sank onto a padded bench that lined the wall and tried very hard not to think how it could have been for him, if he hadn’t made the mistake of marrying a woman who put herself before everything.

He’d so admired Jenny’s single-mindedness when he had first met her. Her lack of fear. Her determination to succeed.

It hadn’t taken him long to discover how much blind selfishness it took to fuel that kind of ambition. And to discover the only reason she’d married him was because she thought he had money. He’d just inherited Pinkneys Abbey and she had assumed, quite wrongly, that he would be able to finance any and all expeditions she cared to pick. Expeditions of which she would be the leader so that all the glory would be hers.

If she’d bothered to ask he would have explained what three lots of death duties in ten years did to an estate like Pinkneys. That inheriting it was a burden and not the bottomless piggy bank she had anticipated. It would have saved them both a lot of heartache.

‘Hey, Mac.’ A touch on his shoulder brought him awake and Tony was grinning down at him idiotically. ‘It’s a boy. He’s... Oh God, Mac, it was amazing. I mean I was there.’

‘I take it you didn’t faint. How’s Adele?’

‘Happy.’ Tony’s state of mind was not in question. ‘Come and see them. ‘

‘Just try and stop me,’ Mac said, easing himself up off the bench. He felt like hell and probably looked it, he thought, as he rubbed his hand over his face and realised he hadn’t shaved. ‘Tony,’ he said, as his brother-in-law turned away eager to get back to his wife. He looked back. ‘Congratulations.’

Adele was sitting up in bed, holding her baby and grinning from ear to ear. ‘Good grief, Mac,’ she exclaimed, on seeing him. ‘Don’t come any closer or you’ll frighten my poor baby out of his wits.’ She handed the infant over to his father. ‘What on earth did that woman do to you last night?’ she demanded.

‘Last night?’ Mac repeated, blankly.

‘Last night. You’re keeping a close watch on her, right? So I don’t imagine you left her in London while you spent the night at the cottage?’

‘You’re too clever for me, Adele. I don’t know what I’ll do without you until you come back to work.’

‘Come back to work? You must be joking. I’m a mother.’ She beamed as if no one else in the entire world had managed the feat. ‘That’s a full time job. Why don’t you ask Miss Beaumont to give you hand? It might keep her out of trouble.’

Mac wasn’t prepared to celebrate his unexpected victory just yet. He knew his sister too well. ‘Be careful. I might do that.’ His forehead creased in concentration. He had been dreaming about Claudia when Tony woke him. She had been explaining something to him. Something important.

Adele touched his arm. ‘Mac? Are you all right?’

He patted her hand. ‘Sure. I just need a few hours sleep.’ He bent over her and kissed her. ‘Well done, sweetheart. You’ve earned straight sixes for both technical merit and artistic achievement.’ He turned to his nephew and touched his downy head. ‘Right, then young Harry. Let’s have a look at you.’ He took the baby from Tony, cradled him for a moment.

Tony and Adele exchanged a glance. ‘Actually, we thought of calling him James,’ Adele said.

‘He’s the first boy of the new generation. He should be named for his grandfather.’ He looked up, met Adele’s eyes and smiled. ‘He’s beautiful.’ He handed the baby back to his mother and then turned to Tony, laying a heavy hand on his shoulder. ‘I hate to break up the party, but hadn’t you better give some thought as to how you’re going to get that plane back from Cardiff?’

‘What plane?’ Tony asked, still grinning idiotically.

Mac laughed. ‘I’m kidding. No one in their right mind would let you loose with an aircraft right now. I’ll send someone else to do the job.’

Someone else to do the job. A stand-in. Like Joanna Gray. That’s what Claudia had been telling him in his dream.
“I telephoned her yesterday evening.”
Why was that so important? He dragged his hand over his face as he headed for the car park. Half an hour’s nap on a hospital bench hadn’t exactly set him up to think straight.

He climbed into the Landcruiser, slid the key into the ignition. Telephoned. Why was that so important? He hadn’t stopped to listen to the telephone tapes last night. Now he wished he had. It would save him having to waste time going back to the airfield.

While he sifted through them, trying them each in turn in the transcriber and he found Claudia’s at the third attempt. She’d called Fizz. It was just a friendly, how are you, how’s the bump coming along, call. She’d called her father to tell him that she needed a few days off and suggesting Joanna Gray as a stand-in. Then she’d called Joanna.

“I telephoned her yesterday evening.”

He sat there and began to go through what had happened right from the beginning, from the moment he had noticed the envelope sticking out of Claudia’s parachute pack until Joanna threw the can of paint over her. And then he knew what had been bothering him. He knew he had to speak to Joanna Gray. Sleep would have to wait.

*****

By the time Claudia had organised a crew of decorators, she was asleep on her feet. But there was no point in returning to the flat. She’d get no peace there with workman all over the place, making a noise, wanting to use her kitchen to make their tea.

Melanie didn’t look surprised to see her, she didn’t even ask any questions. She simply steered Claudia into her bedroom, found her a clean nightdress and tucked her up in bed.

‘I’ll give you a call in plenty of time for curtain up,’ she promised. ‘Don’t worry about a thing.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

JOANNA Gray was sitting up, staring blankly at a magazine. For a moment Mac watched her through the glass. Then he tapped on the door. She jumped nervously and when she looked up he saw from her eyes that she recognised him but he introduced himself anyway.

‘My name is Gabriel MacIntyre. I’m a friend of Claudia Beaumont’s. Can I talk to you, Miss Gray?’

‘Why? What do want?’ She edged up the bed away from him.

‘I believe that Claudia may still be in some danger,’ he explained, ‘but I don’t want to frighten her unnecessarily. Can I ask you some questions?’

‘I’m not going to do anything else,’ she declared. ‘I promise you. I promised her-’

‘And she believed you,’ he said, reassuringly. ‘So do I. May I?’ He didn’t wait for her permission before lowering himself onto the edge of the bed.

‘Then why are you here?’ Joanna asked, nervously.

‘Because I want you to tell me exactly what you did to Claudia and how you did it.’

‘But I told her-’

‘Tell me.’

Joanna shivered. Mac had spoken softly, but there was no mistaking the determination in his voice.

‘That’s all?’ she asked.

‘That’s all.’

‘What about anyone who helped me? Will you want to know who-’

He hid his impatience. He needed to know the truth, but losing his temper wouldn’t get him anywhere.

‘I just want to know everything that you did. I’m not interested in names and it won’t be taken any further. You have my word.’ She still looked anxious. ‘Claudia wouldn’t allow it.’

‘Only, the photograph... Someone else put that in the parachute. A friend, one of the film crew. He didn’t know what it was. I told him it was a good luck message. I told Claudia that this morning.’

In Mac’s opinion, Joanna Gray’s friendship was not something to be eagerly pursued, but his smile remained friendly, his voice reassuring. ‘I thought that was probably it. Tell me about the letters.’

‘Oh, God.’ She covered her face with her hands. ‘I can’t believe I did that. She put the idea into my head you know. She said if she hurt herself I would have to step in as Amanda. I thought if she was really nervous she might be tense.’

And it had worked. Claudia had been nervous and she had hurt her ankle. But she hadn’t made a fuss, she’s just had it strapped and carried on. He put his hand on her shoulder. ‘We all do things we regret, Joanna. The important thing is learn from our mistakes. Come on now, tell me about it. Tell me about the letters.’

‘I just pushed the first one through her front door. Someone was going out and he held the door for me. After the first one the others just seemed to happen.’

‘And the dress?’

She balked. ‘Look, I’ve admitted all this. I don’t want to talk about it.’

‘But you slashed the dress.’

‘Yes!’

A nurse looked in. ‘Is everything all right, here? Joanna?’

For a moment she looked as if she would complain, but Mac held her gaze. ‘I’m fine,’ she muttered. ‘No problem.’ She looked sullenly at Mac. ‘I slashed the dress, I sent her nasty little notes, I cut up her photograph and had it put in the parachute. Now will you go away and leave me alone? Or do you want a confession in blood.’

‘What about the car, Joanna?’

‘The car?’

‘Claudia’s pretty new car. The brakes were tampered with. Did your friend in the film crew handle that? Or was that another friend?’

She stared at him. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘And the man watching her flat. The man in the delivery van. Was that another friend?’

She was staring at him as if he were mad. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she repeated.

‘And the paint. Tell me about the paint.’

‘What paint?’ Her shocked expression was convincing. She’d come clean quickly enough about the letters and photograph but she appeared to be totally unaware of the nastier elements of Claudia’s ordeal. But she was an actress; it was her job to be convincing. It was his job to be certain.

‘Didn’t you wonder why Claudia had her head covered up this morning?’ he asked. ‘Why she was wearing so much makeup? She doesn’t normally as I’m sure you know, since you’re such a friend.’ The woman in the bed visibly flinched but she didn’t answer. ‘Someone flung a litre of scarlet paint over her two nights ago. She reacted badly to it and her skin came out in great blotches. And they had to cut her hair off in the hospital. She could have been blinded, Joanna.’

For a moment Joanna Gray stared at him. ‘Do you really think I’d do something like that? That I’d want to really hurt her?’ she asked in a disbelieving whisper. He didn’t answer. ‘Oh, no,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Oh no, you can’t really believe that.’

‘Why? Because you’re her friend? Tell me Joanna, would you have stopped at nasty letters if Claudia hadn’t handed you her role on a plate when the strain got too much for her?’

‘I wouldn’t have done anything else. Please.’ She clutched at his hand. ‘You’ve got to believe that. I felt so ashamed of myself. I was going to call her, confess what a bitch I’d been, then out of the blue she phoned me, asked me if I’d take over from her for a week or so. As a favour to her. I thought... I knew if I’d told her what I’d done she wouldn’t let me near the theatre.’ She covered her face and began to sob quietly. ‘Oh, God. She was my friend, my very best friend and I’ve ruined everything.’

Mac stared down at the girl. He’d given her a hard time because he’d had to. She’d been a fool, but she hadn’t hurt Claudia, not physically.

‘I’ll tell you something about friendship,’ he said, quietly. ‘When Claudia came to see you this morning, rushing to comfort you, reassure you, offer you the sanctuary of her own home, she believed you had done every one of the things I’ve told you about. But she was more concerned about how you were feeling than with what you had done to her.’

‘But I didn’t!’ She clutched at his arm, looking up at him with her tear-stained face. ‘You’ve got to believe me. I didn’t touch her car, or throw paint at her.’ She gave a little groan. ‘And if I didn’t, someone else must have. You were right, she is still in danger. For pity’s sake-’

But Mac hadn’t waited to hear any more.

*****

‘I have to go home, Mel. I need some fresh underwear and much as I love you I have no wish to borrow yours. You’re just too damned skinny.’

‘Do you want me to come with you?’

‘To hold my hand?’ Claudia knew Melanie meant well, but she would have to face it sooner or later and she needed to begin to reclaim her life. Make some decisions about her future now that the horrors were behind her.

The first hurdle would be facing her flat on her own. This morning hadn’t counted. It had all been too frantic. And Gabriel had been there.

‘No, honestly. I just needed a couple of hours sleep that’s all. I’m fine now.’

Maybe that was an exaggeration, but she would make it the truth.

Gabriel was no longer a physical presence for her to lean on, but he would always be with her in spirit. He had cared for her, looked after her, put her first. Discovering that she loved him, was capable of falling in love with him, had taught her so much about herself. She felt as if she had taken a step forward out of the black hole of the past.