Underbelly (45 page)

“
We all take advantage of our assets, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Making a profitable career out of your talents isn’t unethical.”

While Grey considered Conrad’s advice Germaine came across to them and asked them to return to their table when they were ready to order, Dora having calmed down. She was introduced to Conrad who talked about himself and was a very smooth talker and helped her forget her problems. While they waited for their orders to arrive Dora explained the reason for her tears.

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I know you’re thinking I’m crying over not getting a part,” she said to Grey, “and I don’t get like this over that. It’s my own fault, going to an evening casting. He tried it on.” She had been slow on the uptake, as usual, and had readily stripped down to her underwear so that he could take her measurements, before things degenerated further.

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Don’t blame yourself. Are you all right?” Grey asked.

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Yes, thanks to a janitor.”

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Write down his name and the theatre he works at,” Conrad commanded.

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I’d rather just forget it,” Dora said, touched and flattered that he wanted to do something about it.

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There’ll be no scandal. Write down that for me and I’ll talk to some people and get it sorted. You want to keep working in this town, don’t you?”

Conrad’s words and tone quickly persuaded her and she wrote down the details on a napkin which Conrad pocketed and he said, “That’s my responsibility now so you can forget about it and enjoy the rest of the evening, which means I don’t want to see any more tears.”

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Deal,” Dora said, her spirits uplifted. The conversation flowed between the four of them, Germaine the quietest though still involved, and it was arranged that Conrad and the Greys would go to watch Dora perform on Saturday. Conrad sent his driver to pick up Grey and Germaine and their two cases from their apartment the next morning and he took them to the Overton hotel where Conrad was waiting and showed them to their suite, which they were pleased to see had a kitchen. They had a four poster bed, a large bath, designed to accommodate two, and shower, and a wonderful view of the city. Grey couldn’t believe that he’d nearly turned it down and told Germaine that she’d have been justified in ripping his head off if he had.

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I love you wherever we live, James, but I could get used to this,” she said, beaming as she stood by the large windows looking down at the city.

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You can. Conrad says we can stay here for as long as we want, and I want to turn you into a lady of luxury.” He stared at her lustfully and lifted her onto the bed, pulling the veils across and telling her to undress while he undressed outside the veiled bed. She was pleased that he still desired her despite her tummy starting to protrude, and his words had aroused her as much as his actions did. Her goal when they had married was to be his partner, working side by side with him, ideally carrying the load as his health was suspect. In practice, however, he had worked for both of them with the exception of her brief job waitressing, which she had intensely disliked, and which he had loathed her doing. She was always viewed as the pretty sister and poor Carol was thought of as the strong one, less impressionable, and Carol was the one who would likely have inherited the farm, more likely to make a go of it. Her parents never said it but they suspected, probably correctly, that she lacked Carol’s determination and fortitude, the desire and grit to run a farm. She wanted to be a strong woman for James, to help him, yet the idea of her being a lady of luxury was appealing to both of them. It was fine for him to want to put her in this role, generous, but for her to desire it so felt shallow and parasitic once their coitus was over.

Grey was happy to lay with her and relax while Germaine sat up and said, “Shall we put some of those minerals we bought into the bath to see if it’s good for your legs?”

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Later.”

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I’ll go and try it out now myself and tell you what I think,” she said, slipping into her silk bathrobe. Before she left him she said, “James, when you do tour other places and have to stay in small apartments with cockroaches and mildew, I want to come with you. I don’t want to stay here without you.”

“
I know that, Gem,” he said, sitting up to show his interest. “I worry about a lot of things, and because I love you so strongly I do worry about you, but I never worry about the depth of your love or the pureness of your heart. And don’t worry, I won’t have you staying in a place with cockroaches and mildew; it’ll be one or the other.”

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Mildew, please,” she said with a flourishing smile, induced by his understanding of her, as he looked at her with adoration, like she was something special. She knew that she was pretty, especially now that she had lightened her hair and dressed well, but he viewed her as beautiful in her entirety, while she was prone to judging herself harshly (prior to her cowardice that led to the deaths of her mother and sister she had been far less critical of herself).

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I’ll try my best to plan it so that we can afford to stay somewhere nice. Obviously one or two things have gone wrong, but I’ve loved almost every minute of our tour so far. Having said that I do think that it’s time we had a little luxury – I think we’re both ready for this, and we should definitely enjoy it.”

Laura Spencer had been Grey’s benefactor in France and Scotland, Conrad Overton foisting himself into her role in New York, and, as Grey quickly learned, Conrad wasn’t used to taking no for an answer. At Conrad’s recommendation Grey gained access to three exclusive gentlemen’s clubs, places where he felt like a fish out of water and wasn’t keen to intrude upon but Conrad stuck by him, telling him that the clubs could make or break a man or business.

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I feel like an phony here,” Grey said as he sat drinking with Conrad, looking down at his clothes self-consciously, his suit and shoes looking scruffier than the attire of others in casual clothes. “Even though I’m a member now I don’t see myself coming here very often in future.”

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James Grey, you annoy me sometimes,” Conrad said, clicking his fingers to attract an attendant’s attention for some cigars. “Look around this room. I don’t recognise that party over there, but the rest of them, to a man, are filthy rich, as am I, yet you’ve got the most power in here and you’re the one who’s trying to hide your scuffed shoes in shame. If it’s just the clothes that’s making you feel out of place then I have a tailor you could see tomorrow. I’ll call him later, and if you don’t go and see him I’ll just estimate your size and have him make you some suits and have them sent to your suite, non-refundable.”

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You won’t be a member of this club forever if you keep throwing away money on me.”

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One of my good friends bought me a small plane when I came back home. Not a toy one, a proper plane. I know it had set him back a fair sum, and I could have declined, but that would have been like spitting in his face. I was grateful, I knew that he could afford it, and I accepted it graciously. You need to learn how to accept gifts.”

Grey changed the subject, asking, “So where do you keep your plane?”

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I’ll take you out for a flight soon, if you want, if you can accept a free ride,” he said, needling him.

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I accept free lodgings, don’t I? I was wanting to talk to you about that…”

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Give me strength! You’re not going to turn that down now so that you and your wife can go and live in some underground tunnels, surely?” he said in exasperation.

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Come on, I’m not that bad. I wanted to ask you if there were any jobs in the kitchen.”

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If you want one there is. I can understand your pride but sometimes it comes across like martyrdom.”

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I can see that it could wind people up,” Grey said, accepting his point. “What you have to understand is that there’s a history of people with my gift, or those who falsely profess to have it, fleecing people, making a living from their marks, and I want to distance myself from that. I enjoy treating my wife – I really enjoy treating my wife,” he said emphatically, “and perhaps that might be my first chink, an opening…”

Grey rubbed his brow, unsure if he was making himself understood. Conrad looked at him unflinchingly, patiently waiting for him to continue. Conrad was a good person to confide in as he was unshockable and with his chequered past he wouldn’t pass judgement, though Grey sensed that he wouldn’t anyway, Conrad not at all moralistic. He was also phenomenally good at detecting bullshit, which encouraged Grey to tell him the truth, as he’d know if he didn’t.

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There’s room for exploitation, that’s what I’m trying to say, and I have to be able to sleep at night in good conscience. I’m not incorruptible.”

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And you see that as a problem? To me it proves that you’re the same as the rest of us – don’t beat yourself up about that.”

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I won’t. I’ll go to the tailor, and if you know any ladies outfitters I could take Germaine to that would be much appreciated.”

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I’ll arrange something when we leave.”

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Thank you. Please don’t take umbrage if I refuse other gifts from you in the future and understand that it’s not about the giver, it’s about me, and what I’m striving to be and what I’m desperate not to become.”

Conrad’s expression was very solemn as he considered this and he shook Grey’s hand and said, “I can respect that, and because I now know where you’re coming from I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll be less bullish about making you accept favours or whatever, if you promise to make considered decisions rather than just declining automatically as a reflex action.”

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Okay. Maybe I’ll fit in here better than I thought – I’m already making deals half an hour into my membership.”

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That’s slow for here, Grey. Life’s fast in these climes.”

Conrad’s life was faster than Grey’s and over the coming weeks they saw quite a lot of each other, mostly at Conrad’s behest, as he showed Grey what the city had to offer. The casinos (illegal yet run in a highly professional manner) and clubs were pricey, Grey aware that he wouldn’t be able to even glimpse the lifestyle without Conrad and he let him treat him, but he found he preferred going to the sports club that was owned by the Overtons and competing against Conrad in various sports over the night life. Conrad was fiercely competitive and boastful when he won, as Grey suspected he would be, which made him more determined to beat him, both of them bickering and indulging in sledging, their words sounding heated to others who heard them but they both knew their feuding was harmless and largely in jest. When one of Conrad’s friends, sick of hearing them quarrel, suggested they square up in the boxing ring at the complex, neither of them was interested in the idea.

With the resources available to him Conrad was able to make enquiries that would prove more difficult for Grey, Conrad happy to do this for him, filling him in on Ollie Seddon as they lunched out.

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That guy, Oliver Seddon, the one you thought might have opened up a store outside Keokuk. I found out that he didn’t open a store, he held up one. At Christmas he held up a small convenience store and killed the family who lived there and himself.”

Grey shook his head gravely in disbelief before eventually saying, “He didn’t hold it up.”

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That’s what the police records say, that it was a robbery that went wrong. Are your powers telling you different?”

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I don’t need my powers to know that. Thanks anyway, Conrad,” Grey said as he went away to be by himself. There was no way that he could have known that by talking Ollie down from the bridge he was dooming a family, no sane grounds for guilt, and yet he felt partly responsible and kept the story’s conclusion from Germaine. The next time he saw Conrad, Conrad tried to cheer him up, sensing that the news brought him down.

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I gather you met Seddon in a similar manner to how you met me and the result went wrong. You can’t win them all, and I’m glad to say you did win for me. Look to your successes instead of your failures.”

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I met Ollie Seddon trying to end it all by jumping off a bridge and I talked him down.”

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I can see how that’s a bummer for you. The thing is, you don’t know that he wouldn’t have chickened out anyway and gone to kill that family same as he did.”