Exposure (33 page)

And then he could deal William Western his death blow. And pay back the debt he had thought paid in full. Until ten years ago.

Gloria shifted against him. They had fallen asleep, exhausted, and when he woke he sent Gloria to the kitchen to make coffee. She had obeyed meekly. She liked being ordered about, waiting on him was part of their foreplay.

She said, ‘Leo – what am I going to tell them?'

‘I don't know,' he answered. ‘What have you said before when you were out all night?'

‘I never stayed away all night, I always came home.' She looked at him over the coffee cup. ‘They never knew I'd been with anyone. I just said I was out with friends.'

He flicked her cheek with his finger. ‘Girlfriends,' he mocked. ‘But it's better with me, isn't it?'

‘You know it is.' She lay back against the tumbled pillows. ‘I always hated the idea of doing it with a man. But not with you. I love it with you. Daddy would kill me …'

‘How about Mummy?'

‘She wouldn't care,' Gloria said. ‘She's dying to get rid of me, so she can have Daddy to herself. She'd love it if I had a boyfriend … or I got married and was out of the way. I never will,' she added.

Leo didn't say anything. Marriage. The thought had never occurred to him. All that money, all that power at his disposal. She liked to talk in a little-girl voice sometimes. She simpered at him. ‘Shall I get you more coffee? Anything else you want?'

Leo said, ‘I want you. Come here …'

‘Darling,' Ben Harris said. ‘We can't prove it's King.'

‘Western can,' Julia insisted. ‘I'm going to face him with it.'

‘Now?' he asked her. She looked at him.

‘Now,' she said. ‘Are you coming with me, Ben? I don't understand why you're hesitating? I thought you'd be thrilled, over the moon … What's wrong? What is it?'

‘Sit down for a minute,' he said. ‘Look, of course I'm excited. You brought it off, you did a marvellous job. All your instincts were right. But, we've no proof!'

She stared at him. ‘We have!' she exploded. ‘And it's on the top floor of this building – I'm going upstairs and see him now!'

‘If you do,' Ben said quietly, ‘he'll take you off the job. Just as he did with me. And for the same reason.'

‘He can't,' she retorted. ‘You didn't know the truth. I do. He can't stop me now.'

‘He can and he will. Exposing Harold King means exposing him. He'll never let it happen. You haven't thought this through,' he went on. ‘Don't fool yourself. Western is no pussy cat. He'll protect himself by any means he can. Think of this – if you're right, then he knew King shot down those prisoners. Why didn't he say anything when you told him? Why did he lie and let you go on looking for proof when
he
was the proof … the only witness? J, for Christ's sake, there's something missing in the whole scenario. I don't know what it is, and you don't either. You can't run bull headed into a situation like this. Western was ready to stick a bayonet into an unarmed prisoner. You're going to face him with that. OK. And he knew what happened when he and the others were captured and separated from their officers. He said they were killed in crossfire and he was lucky to survive. So he covered up the whole bloody massacre. Why?'

‘That's what I'm going to ask him,' Julia said angrily.

‘Wait a minute. Let's take it step by step. We're
supposing
King came on Richard Watson, just like we did, when he was trying to find some dirt on Western, heard the same story and blackmailed him. So what's changed?' he asked her. ‘Something has, or Western wouldn't be out to get Harold King now. He'd lie down and let him walk over him, take everything. But he decided to fight back. He brought you and me in on it. He's encouraged and backed us every inch of the way. Didn't he say he'd fire you if you didn't have a result and put King in the December issue of “Exposure”?'

‘He's gambling,' Julia said. ‘Gambling that I can pin the war crime on King without involving him. It's simple; he's got everything to lose to King and he's not going to let it happen.'

‘And have King show him up? No, it doesn't add up.'

‘Well,' Julia said and got to her feet. ‘There's only one way to find out. And that's ask him. Which I'm going to do right now.'

‘Lord Western is in Rio de Janeiro on business,' the secretary said, conveying disapproval of the way Miss Hamilton had marched into her office without an appointment.

‘I am in contact with him every day, so perhaps you'd like me to give him a message?'

‘No, no thanks,' Julia said. ‘When is he due back?'

‘I couldn't say. He didn't indicate a date to me. Before Christmas, I expect.' She favoured Julia with a condescending smile. ‘I expect too,' Julia snapped and turned away.

Rio de Janeiro. No return date. She felt like bursting into tears. She hadn't realized how wrought up she had become. Fighting Ben Harris hadn't helped. The anticlimax, the frustration, just when she had put the last piece into the jigsaw puzzle … only Ben said she hadn't …

She went into her office, gave instructions that she wasn't taking any calls and tried to calm herself. Think it through. But she had, surely to God she'd got the answers at last. Harold King had murdered the British prisoners, in reprisal for Western's plan to kill him. Western had escaped, somehow, wounded, but not dead. Lied about it to cover his own conduct. Been discovered and blackmailed by the German who'd killed his companions. She raised her head suddenly. No. No, that wasn't right, that didn't hold up … She got up from her desk, began to pace the office. He wouldn't have feared exposure by the man who stood to be accused of cold-blooded murder … Neither one could risk a collision with the other if that was the scenario.

‘Oh God,' she said aloud. ‘God! Ben was right … there is something missing … But where do I look for it? Where do I start?'

‘Don't lie to me, Gloria. Don't even try and lie to me.'

He wasn't shouting at her. He was so calm that she was wrong-footed and she stumbled over her explanation. ‘You came in at six this morning,' King said. ‘I was up and I heard you. I saw you sneaking up the stairs into your room. You were with that little creep, weren't you?' He came close to her and Gloria shrank back. He gripped her by the upper arm and put his strength into it. She cried out.

‘Don't, Daddy. You're hurting me—'

‘Tell me,' he said and squeezed harder. ‘You spent the night with Leo Derwent, didn't you?'

She burst into tears of pain. ‘Yes … Yes, I did.'

He let go of her. ‘You slept with that creep?' he asked her. His voice hadn't been raised. Gloria clasped her arm and wept. ‘Why shouldn't I? You have women—' He slapped her across the face.

‘Sit down,' he commanded and she collapsed onto her bed. He watched her for a moment. He loved her; she was the only person in the world he cared about and she had betrayed him and lied to him. She heard him sigh heavily, and ventured to look at him.

‘He's the first,' she mumbled. ‘The first man … I like him. He likes me.'

King came and sat down beside her. She cringed a little and then he put his arm around her. ‘Don't cry,' he said. ‘I shouldn't have hit you.' Gloria melted; pain for him joined her pain for herself. ‘I deserved it. I shouldn't have said that to you. I shouldn't have lied.'

‘He's using you,' he said.

She stiffened. ‘Don't say that! Don't say that to me. You think I'm ugly, nobody would ever want me … just because I'm not like my mother. And what is she? What is she to you, Daddy? All tits and no brains! That's what you say about women. I've heard you … Leo
does
like me and we get on together.'

She knew that her father was wrong about her and Leo. Maybe for the only time in his life, but he was wrong about Leo. She said in a very low voice, her head leaning against King's shoulder, ‘Don't spoil this for me, Daddy. I'll always love you the best. But don't spoil this for me. Please?' King held her and didn't answer. Leo Derwent. Gloria wanted him. Shared his tastes in sex … He shied away from that. He couldn't contemplate it. He ran up a mental shutter on what his daughter did with a man like that.

‘You're not ugly, sweetheart,' he said. ‘You're my girl. We're doing everything together. We're going to New York. He's not
good
enough for you … He's a nothing. For Christ's sake, Gloria, you're my daughter. You could have any man you wanted!'

She said, ‘I want to go to the States with you, Daddy, you know I do. How long will we be gone?'

He was too shrewd not to see the significance of that question. She had never queried the length of a trip before. ‘About ten days,' he said. ‘Then we go to Gstaad for Christmas.' He stood up. Her swollen tear-stained face reproached him. ‘Come here and kiss me,' he said. ‘We never fight. We're not going to fight now. Let's put this thing on ice, shall we? You see him if you want to.'

Her arms went up and clasped him tightly round the neck. ‘Oh Daddy, thank you! He doesn't mean anything to me really … I hated deceiving you. I really hated it …'

But you did, he thought, embracing her. He meant that much to you. Again the unthinkable came to mind. Like to like. He swallowed bile at the idea.

‘Go wash your face,' he said kindly. ‘And have lunch with your old father today to show him he's forgiven.'

‘I'd love to,' Gloria said, and kissed him warmly on the cheek. King went to his own room. His wife was at her dressing table, starting the long ritual of making-up for the day's engagements. She looked briefly at him. He'd left their room in a fury to confront his daughter. She thought she had heard Gloria cry out. ‘Is she all right?'

‘Yes. I talked with her. I got too heavy but it's OK now.'

‘Did she say where she was?' she asked him. He glared at her. ‘Leave it, Marilyn. We'll sort it out between us.' He went off to his dressing room. He'd sort it out. He wasn't having Gloria thrown away on any third-rate little ass licker like Leo Derwent. If she wanted that kind of sex, she could get it with someone in a bigger league. He realized, as he lowered himself into his steaming bath, that he had to accept that his daughter was a woman with her own sexual needs. His girl had grown up. But Leo Derwent wouldn't be difficult to send running. So long as Gloria didn't know he was responsible.

‘They've gone to the States,' Leo said. He met Julia in his office at the House of Commons.

‘For how long?'

‘Ten days. Then they're taking off for Gstaad for Christmas.' He glanced at Julia. ‘She wants me to fly out there so we can meet.'

‘You have made an impression, haven't you?'

Julia disliked him so much she found it difficult to look him in the eye.

He was aware of her feelings and he wasn't bothered. ‘Yes, I have,' he agreed. ‘We're growing very close.' He grinned. ‘Daddy's not been too pleased about it, but she's talked him round.'

Julia watched him sharply. Something was up, she could sense a smugness that made her uneasy. ‘The purpose of the trip to New York?' she reminded him. She wasn't sitting there with him to listen to him boasting about his prowess with King's daughter. No doubt they made a lovely couple.

‘To tie up the big financial deal. Then he fires the first shots at Western International when he gets back in January. She was very excited. She tells me everything. I don't even have to ask.'

‘Did she tell you any details?'

‘Oh, yes. First there'll be some well-placed rumours in the financial press. Rumours about Western and some pending financial crisis due to over-expansion in South America. He's got big interests over there, hasn't he? And he's bought a Portuguese-language publishing company with two newspapers in Brazil. All authentic stuff. But what won't be authentic will be the implications that he's mortgaged his UK interests to support the new ventures. And once that sort of thing starts, one or two bent journalists letting hints drop … there'll be a run on the shares. People are so panicky, so are the institutions. They were caught with their pants down by Maxwell, and they're not taking any chances. So King starts heavy buying. With the money he's got, Western won't be able to fight him off. So –' He grinned his foxy grin at Julia. ‘You'll be out of a job. Unless you can dig up this dirt you told me about and stop him in time. How's your end going?'

‘We're very close,' she admitted.

His eyes gleamed. ‘That bastard,' he said softly. ‘The way he set me up. Any other way I can help?'

‘Not unless you can get him drunk,' Julia said bitterly.

‘He's teetotal, lifelong, everyone knows that,' Leo said. ‘Why, why do you say that?'

‘Because he got drunk once,' Julia answered. ‘Everyone who knew what he said has died since. Except me,' she added.

He stared at her. ‘You're not serious?'

‘I'm very serious. I mentioned a criminal charge the first time we met, didn't I?'

He nodded.

‘It's murder,' Julia said quietly. ‘The murder of unarmed British prisoners in 1942 in the Western Desert. So you see what we're dealing with. I'd be a bit careful with that daughter if I were you. Get ready to back off. If he wasn't happy about you in the first place, he's not going to change his mind, whatever he tells her.'

‘Thanks,' he said briefly. ‘You shouldn't be giving me advice like that.'

‘I've got enough on my conscience,' Julia told him. ‘There isn't room for you.' She got up. ‘I'd better go. You'll be seeing her when she gets back from the States?'

‘The same evening,' Leo answered. ‘I've planned a cosy reunion. If this is true … what you've said … shouldn't you have a minder?'