15

AS THE CAR came to a stop at the end of the lane Danny picked up her holdall, turned her scarlet lips to kiss Jake on the mouth and got out. She didn’t wait to watch him pull away, but continued on up the lane towards the villa, humming tunelessly to herself and smiling like the cat that just got the cream and knows there’s more to come. She was at the point of turning in through the gates when she heard a car coming up behind her, radio blaring through the wide open windows.

‘Hi!’ Louisa cried, the genuine pleasure in her greeting telling Danny that she clearly hadn’t seen Jake.

‘Hi yourself,’ Danny grinned back. ‘Where have you been?’

‘More to the point where have you been?’ Louisa laughed, turning the radio down.

‘All over,’ Danny answered, swinging the passenger door open and getting in for the short ride up the drive.

‘Oh come on,’ Louisa protested. ‘Stop being so mysterious. Where did he whisk you off to?’

‘Who, Erik? Nowhere. As a matter of fact, I’ve hardly seen him since last Sunday when he came here to pick me up.’

The warmth started to seep from Louisa’s smile. ‘Then where have you been all this time?’ she asked.

‘Actually, I went back to London to see my parents for a couple of days and the rest of the time I was staying at Consuela’s. She and my mother are old friends it would seem.’

‘Really?’ Louisa said, brightening again. ‘Did your mother tell you anything juicy about her?’

‘Not particularly. Where’s Sarah?’

‘As far as I knew she was spending the afternoon with Erik learning the tricks of the trade. In fact she thought you were going to be there too, but something must have gone wrong because you’re here, her car’s back and there’s no sign of Erik. How did you get here, by the way?’

‘Louisa! Louisa! You’ve just got to come and see these,’ Sarah cried, throwing open the front door. ‘Danny!’ she squealed as she saw Danny getting out of the car and ran over to hug her. ‘Where did you find her?’ she said to Louisa.

‘Down at the gates,’ Louisa answered, closing the car door and trying not to think how tarty Danny looked in her short vermilion dress and black high-heeled sandals.

‘Where have you been?’ Sarah demanded.

‘I’ll tell you later,’ Danny laughed. ‘Now what was it you wanted Louisa to see?’

‘Oh, just you wait!’ Sarah gushed. ‘They’re simply out of this world even if I do say so myself. Come on, come and see for yourself.’

As Sarah bounded excitedly into the house Louisa and Danny looked at each other, intrigued.

‘Da-daah,’ Sarah cried throwing out her arms as they came in the door behind her. ‘Aren’t they fantastic!’

‘Wow! They’re stunning,’ Danny declared, obviously genuinely impressed by the huge silver-framed photographs of the Valhalla that Sarah had propped up against the wall.

‘Aren’t they?’ Sarah beamed. ‘I just popped in on the off-chance to see if they were ready and voilà! I can hardly wait for Jake to see them.’

Louisa’s eyes immediately darted to Danny, but Danny was lifting one of the photographs to take a closer look.

‘I thought you were spending the afternoon with Erik,’ Louisa said.

‘He wasn’t there,’ Sarah answered still watching Danny and clearly eager for more praise.

‘Aren’t they wonderful?’ Danny said to Louisa. ‘She’s obviously even more talented than we realized. In fact,’ she added, as Sarah swelled with pride, ‘I’d like to buy one to hang in my house in London.’

‘Oh, don’t be silly,’ Sarah laughed. ‘I’ll give you one. These are all for Jake, but I can easily get more blown up and you can choose your own frame.’

‘You mean Jake’s already seen them?’ Danny said, surprised.

‘Not like this no,’ Sarah answered, still radiating excitement. ‘He saw the ten by eights and asked Louisa to ask me to get them blown up for him.’

As Louisa’s eyes closed in dismay Danny turned to look at her. It was only then, as Sarah saw the expressions on both their faces, that she realized what she’d done. Danny wasn’t supposed to know that Louisa had seen Jake again.

‘Oh God,’ she groaned. ‘I’m …’

‘You fool!’ Danny cut across her. ‘You bloody fool, Louisa. Don’t you ever learn?’

Louisa started to turn away, but thrusting the photograph at Sarah Danny grabbed her by the arm and jerked her back. ‘What’s the matter with you?’ she snapped. ‘Don’t you ever listen to anything anyone tells you? How much longer are you going to go on deluding yourself over that man?’

‘To be frank, Danny,’ Louisa responded icily, ‘I don’t see that it’s any of your business.’

‘Look, come on, you two,’ Sarah said as Danny’s eyes blazed into Louisa’s, ‘we haven’t seen each other for over a week, so let’s just …’

‘You’re sick, do you know that?’ Danny spat. ‘You’ve got something seriously wrong with you the way you throw yourself at a man who’s just laughing at you behind your back. I tried to warn you, I told you he was no good, but you always think you know best, don’t you?’

Louisa’s face was pale with rage as she glared back. ‘I think it’s you who’s sick, Danny,’ she said scathingly. ‘I don’t know what you’re hoping to prove by trying to come between Jake and me, but it isn’t going to work. He’s told me all the lies you’ve made up …’

‘Lies!’ Danny shouted. ‘What lies? Come on, tell me, what am I supposed to have said that you can’t allow yourself to believe?’

‘He’s only ever slept with you once,’ Louisa yelled, ‘and that was the night before he met me. He told me that himself. He told me that he was the only one you weren’t screwing.’

‘And you believed him! Jesus Christ Almighty, when the hell are you ever going to wise up? Where do you think I was last night? Who do you think just brought me home? If you’d arrived two minutes earlier you’d have seen him with your own eyes.’

As Louisa’s heart twisted she glanced at Sarah as though Sarah could somehow refute it.

‘Well, for your information I’m not seeing him,’ Louisa said, turning back to Danny. ‘He came here the night after you’d left with Erik and I haven’t seen him since.’ It was a lie, she’d seen him several times this past week. OK, only for snatched half hours here and there, but they had been precious, idyllic moments, filled with laughter and blessedly untouched by the strains of his life. She’d seen another Jake during those times, a Jake who appeared as carefree and loving as she could wish, a Jake who held her hand as they strolled in the forests, who fed her ice-cream in out of the way cafés, who constantly pulled her into his arms to kiss her and gaze deeply, wonderingly into her eyes.

‘You know what your trouble is?’ Danny said, fury and resentment making her face tremble. ‘You always want what you can’t have. No! I take that back. You always want what I have. You’ve always been the same, I can’t do anything without you copying me or trying to take it away from me. And I’ve let you, because I felt sorry for you. You don’t have any friends except Sarah and me, you don’t have any family, and because of your background you’re totally fucked up where men are concerned. I’ve tried to understand all that, I’ve made God only knows how many allowances … Jesus Christ, if you knew the lengths I’ve been to to try and stop you from hurting yourself and still you won’t listen to me! Still you want what’s mine just because it’s mine. Well this time you’re not getting it. This time I’m not backing down and letting you waltz off with Jake Mallory.’

Louisa’s eyes were big with confusion at the unexpected brutality of Danny’s attack. ‘Didn’t you hear me?’ she said tightly. ‘I said, I’m not seeing him any more. But maybe you’d like to ask yourself why it was he got Erik to get you out of the way the other night so he could come here and see me? And while we’re at it, perhaps you’d like to explain why you won’t ever let him speak to me on the phone.’

‘Because he never fucking asks to speak to you,’ Danny cried, throwing her hands up in frustration. ‘He’s only seeing you to try and make me jealous! He can’t stand the fact that I’m sleeping with Erik so he’s using you to get back at me. It’s a game we’re playing, both of us, and I don’t want you involved, because one of these days he’s going to make the commitment to me that I want and when he does he’s going to leave you high and dry.’

‘Why can’t he make the commitment now?’ Sarah wanted to know.

‘Why?’ Danny said, rounding on her. ‘You want to know why? OK, I’ll tell you. He’s already married, that’s why!’

‘You’re a liar!’ Louisa yelled.

‘Am I?’ Danny yelled back. ‘Then ask Consuela, she’ll tell you. Ask my mother … Better still, ask him and see what he says. He’s married all right and shall I tell you about his wife? Do you want to know about her, about how he treats her? You’ll like this, Louisa, you’ll really get off on this! He beats her, he keeps her locked up and won’t let her out for days on end. He screws around with other women, takes them home, flaunts them in front of her. He keeps her short of money, never takes her out … He can’t, because she’s always covered in bruises …’

‘If that’s true,’ Sarah said, ‘then why the hell are you bothering with him?’

‘Because we’re two of a kind. We recognized it in each other the moment we met. I can handle him and he knows it. He hates me for it, but he can’t resist me either. Now tell me, is that the sort of man you want her eating her heart out over?’

Sarah looked uneasily at Louisa. Louisa’s face was pale with shock, but nevertheless there was a flicker of doubt in her eyes.

‘So where’s his wife now?’ she said, still sounding angry, but obviously shaken.

‘How the hell do I know? Ask him!’

‘Why haven’t you asked him?’

‘Because I don’t care where she is. I don’t get myself all screwed up over things that don’t matter the way you do.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Sarah interrupted, ‘but none of this is making any sense. To begin with why would Jake be bothering with Louisa if, as you say, he’s already got a wife and on top of that he’s got you too?’

‘Is he sleeping with her?’ Danny demanded, her livid eyes blazing the challenge. ‘Tell me, is he screwing her?’

Both Louisa and Sarah were silent.

‘You see!’ Danny cried triumphantly. ‘And why would he when he’s getting all he wants from me?’

‘But if he’s the kind of man you say he is I don’t understand why you …’

‘That’s just it! Neither of you understands what kind of man he is. But I do. And that’s why I’m telling you to back off, Louisa. Just leave him alone.’

‘But it’s him who won’t leave her alone!’ Sarah cried.

‘Jesus Christ!’ Danny seethed. ‘How many times do I have to tell you? He’s playing us off against each other. He’s using her to make me jealous.’

‘I’m sorry, but it still doesn’t make any sense,’ Sarah said. ‘Why use Louisa when he’s got a wife he can make you jealous with? And why should he want to make you jealous, anyway?’

‘I told you, because of Erik!’ Danny seethed as though speaking to an idiot.

Sarah still looked baffled.

‘You’re lying, Danny,’ Louisa said quietly. ‘Why don’t you just come clean and admit that Jake doesn’t want you and that’s what you can’t stand – not that he wants me, but that he doesn’t want you.’

For one fleeting moment Danny looked as if she might lash out with her fists. ‘If that were true, then why is he sleeping with me and not with you?’ she spat.

‘Is he sleeping with you?’ Louisa said, her eyes boring into Danny’s. ‘He says it only happened that once.’

‘And you believe him because that’s what you want to believe. Because in that sick, fucked-up brain of yours you know he’s a bastard and that’s what you want, isn’t it? Someone to hurt you, someone to punish you for something you haven’t even done. Well, if it were anyone else I’d tell you to get on with it, I’d tell you to go right ahead and get yourself abused, because I’m sick to death of bailing you out, of having to lay myself on the line for you just to save you from yourself. But no more, Louisa! No more. This time I’m not going to just stand by and watch you walk off with Jake the way I let you walk off with Simon.’

‘What!’ Louisa hissed. ‘What the hell has Simon got to do with this?’

‘You know damned well that I was sleeping with Simon before you came along.’

Louisa looked at Sarah, and to her horror saw that Sarah couldn’t meet her eyes.

‘I never knew you were sleeping with Simon,’ Louisa said hoarsely.

‘Of course you knew,’ Danny sneered. ‘Everyone knew, but you needed a shoulder to cry on, needed someone who could treat you halfway decently after that moron you’d got yourself mixed up with, so I bowed out and let you have Simon. It was all the same to me, he never really meant anything to me, so why not let you have him? But it’s not going to happen this time, Louisa. Believe you me, you’re not going to have Jake.’

‘I don’t want Jake,’ Louisa said through clenched teeth. ‘You can have him and his wife and whatever else he’s hiding. And shall I tell you why? Because I don’t want anything that’s been touched by you.’

‘Now come on, let’s calm things down here before they really get out of hand,’ Sarah interceded. ‘I think I’ve got the measure of what’s going on now and Danny, you’re out of order. Well out of order.’

‘Me!’ Danny screamed. ‘How can you say that when you know yourself what she’s like. You’ve seen the way she always tries to steal the limelight from me. She struts around like Miss High and Mighty the successful writer when we both know she’d still be nobody if it weren’t for me. It was my name that took that series to the top and it was me who got her where she is now.’

Louisa gasped.

‘Danny, it was the series that made your name,’ Sarah said in a low, angry voice.

‘Christ, will you listen to yourself, Sarah!’ Danny yelled. ‘She’s got you believing it now. She’s come between us so many times in the past and she’s doing it again. She puts on that Little Orphan Annie look and everyone feels sorry for her and rushes to her defence. I thought you were brighter than that, Sarah, I thought you of all people could see straight through it.’

‘Danny, this kind of jealousy just isn’t healthy,’ Sarah warned.

‘Jealousy! You’re accusing me of jealousy, when it’s her who’s so damned eaten up with it …’

‘Danny stop it!’ Sarah snapped. ‘Stop right now because I’ve had about as much as I can take. Louisa’s told you that she’s not seeing Jake any more, so he’s yours to do with as you please. But I’m telling you, here and now, if I find out you’re lying about any of this then it’ll be me you have to answer to and, I promise you, it won’t be pleasant.’

‘Sarah! For God’s sake, why are you letting her do this? Why are you letting her come between us the way she’s trying to with me and Jake? Can’t you see what she’s doing? She’s trying to take you away from me too.’

‘You’re wrong, Danny,’ Louisa cried, her voice shaking with fury. ‘I don’t want anything that’s yours, do you hear me? Nothing at all. It’s you who wants what’s mine.’

‘Oh, and you think Jake’s yours, do you? You really believe that it’s you he wants. Well then maybe you should invite yourself onto the Valhalla one of these nights and hear the way he laughs about you. The way he pokes fun at you and tells us all how pathetic you are the way you look at him with those puppy dog eyes while falling for all his lies. You’re a laughing stock, Louisa …’

‘Danny, five minutes ago you didn’t even know Jake had been seeing Louisa,’ Sarah pointed out.

‘Maybe not, but I should have realized it when I heard them all laughing about her. I assumed he was talking about the couple of times he brought her home, but I should have realized there was more to it than that. And maybe I would have if I’d remembered how damned stupid she is when it comes to men.’

‘Just give me one good reason why he should turn her into a laughing stock,’ Sarah challenged. ‘Because I’m afraid it simply doesn’t ring true to me. Not with a man like Jake Mallory.’

‘And what would you know about a man like Jake Mallory?’ Danny threw back. ‘A man like him has never crossed your path before so how would you know what makes a man like him tick?’

‘OK, then tell me.’

‘Tell you why he ridicules her? OK, I will. He does it because he knows she fell for him the minute she set eyes on him and it amuses him to encourage her. That’s the kind of man he is. I’ve tried to protect her from it, I tried to tell her what he’s like, but she wouldn’t listen. He’s not the man for her, no matter how much she might like to fool herself he is. He’s just screwing around with her head and she doesn’t have what it takes to handle someone like that. All she can do is write about it!’

‘How dare you belittle her talent like that when it’s what made you who you are?’ Sarah cried.

‘I’m not taking the responsibility for turning her into a fucking monster,’ Louisa shouted. ‘And if Jake’s screwing up anyone’s head around here it seems to me it’s yours, Danny! And why do you have to have him when you’ve got Erik? When you’ve got any other man you lay eyes on? Why does it have to be the man who wants me?’

‘There she goes again!’ Danny screamed in frustration. ‘Can’t you get it into your thick head that he doesn’t want you?’

‘Then what are you so afraid of?’ Sarah demanded.

Danny stared at her breathlessly, her exquisite face taut with rage. ‘I can see there’s no getting through to you two,’ she said bitterly. ‘She’s got you on her side and you’re just not prepared to listen to what I’m telling you.’

‘If it made any sense we would,’ Louisa said, biting out the words.

‘OK,’ Danny said, forcing herself to calm down. ‘OK, let’s try it again. I’ll concede that he might find you attractive, that one of these days when he’s got you to the point of begging for it, he’ll probably screw you and you, just like I did the first time, will think it’s the screw of the century. But after that it changes, believe you me, it changes and that’s what I’ve been trying to protect you from. I can stand the violence, but you can’t. I’ve got Erik to put me back together, but you haven’t. And even if, in his own sick way, he did fall for you, Louisa, he’s still married. He’s got a wife, do you hear me? So it’s no good going on thinking that one of these days he’s going to sweep you off your feet and run with you to the nearest church, because it isn’t going to happen.’

‘I know that,’ Louisa said, her voice still clipped. ‘He’s told me himself that there can’t be any future between us.’

‘But you don’t believe him, do you?’

‘Yes, I believe him.’

Danny was shaking her head. ‘No, I don’t think you do.’

‘I don’t give a damn what you think,’ Louisa bristled.

‘I know you don’t, you’ve more than proved that.’

‘Look, come on, let’s try to be grown up and rational about this,’ Sarah said. ‘It seems perfectly obvious to me that he’s lying to you both …’

‘To her! Not to me!’ Danny interrupted. ‘Everyone’s lying to her and why shouldn’t they when she lies to herself the way she does?’

‘She doesn’t,’ Sarah countered. ‘She’s as aware as you are that there’s more to Jake Mallory than meets the eye. She knows how likely she is to be hurt, she’s the one who’s faced that and …’

‘Let’s just drop it!’ Louisa said, cutting Sarah short.

‘Yes, let’s just push it under the carpet, pretend it’s not happening, shall we?’ Danny said sarcastically. ‘Let’s not face the truth because the truth doesn’t fit into your story, does it? You want us all to play by your rules, you want to write our lives and have us all behave the way you want us to. Well, this is real life, Louisa. We’re none of us a part of your fantasy world, not me, not Sarah, not Jake. We’re real. We …’

‘I told you the last time we talked, there’s not even a role for you in what I’m writing now,’ Louisa snapped. ‘So it’s you who’s in a fantasy world, not me. In fact, I can see quite plainly what’s going on here, even if you can’t.’

‘Then tell me!’ Danny demanded savagely. ‘Tell me what’s going on, because I’d really like to know.’

‘OK, I’ll tell you,’ Louisa said, her dark eyes once again glittering with rage. ‘You’re accusing me of everything you’re guilty of yourself. You’re the one who’s making things up. You’re the one who’s lying to herself. And you’re the one who’s lying to me to try to keep me away from the one man in the world who doesn’t want you. Your ego is so damned big, Danielle Spencer, that quite frankly I’m surprised there’s enough room for you all in the bed.’

‘For Christ’s sake, let’s just stop this!’ Sarah shouted. ‘You don’t mean what you’re saying, either of you, so shut up before I knock your damned heads together.’

‘Then tell her to sort herself out and keep her fucking hands off what’s mine,’ Danny spat.

‘How can he be yours if he’s married?’ Louisa shot back.

‘Is he married?’ Sarah demanded, glaring at Danny.

‘Yes. I told you, ask Consuela, ask my mother. Ask Erik, they’ll all tell you, Jake is married. His wife’s name is Martina. OK? Do you believe me now?’

Sarah looked at Louisa.

‘Yes, I believe her,’ Louisa said grudgingly but still angry. ‘It makes sense of some of the things he’s told me.’

‘And do you believe that I’m sleeping with him? That I slept with him last night? That he brought me back here this afternoon?’

‘I can’t think of any reason why you would lie, except to try and come between us. But if he’s married then you don’t really have to bother, do you?’

‘At last I seem to be getting through to you,’ Danny sighed in exasperation.

‘I think we all need a drink,’ Sarah declared, turning towards the kitchen.

Louisa and Danny eyed each other, hostility still crackling the air between them. Danny was the first to back down and as the rancour melted in her eyes and her face started to soften she stepped forward to put her arms around Louisa. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I shouldn’t have said all those awful things. I didn’t mean them, honestly I didn’t. I don’t know what comes over me sometimes, it’s like it’s not me talking. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had and we shouldn’t let a man come between us like this. He’s just not worth it.’

‘No,’ Louisa said, standing woodenly in the embrace. It was going to take more than an apology to heal the hurt of the past twenty minutes though, she knew that, but for now she would go along with the charade of forgiveness. If she didn’t, it would mean going back to London and despising herself for it as she did, she just couldn’t go without seeing Jake again. She had to find out the truth for herself. She had to confront him with his marriage, with the cruelty of his ridicule, with his continuing relationship with Danny.

‘So what’s happening with you and Erik?’ she asked stiltedly as she and Danny followed Sarah into the kitchen.

‘I don’t know,’ Danny answered. ‘I haven’t seen him since Tuesday. Maybe I should give him a call.’

‘If you do, then tell him from me I don’t much appreciate being stood up,’ Sarah retorted. Then smiling as she handed them a glass of wine, she said, ‘Are we all friends again now?’

‘Yes, I think so,’ Danny said, looking at Louisa for confirmation.

‘Yes,’ Louisa nodded, tears of angry betrayal burning the backs of her eyes as she thought of the wonderful moments she and Jake had shared this past week that had now been tainted beyond standing by Danny’s outburst. They had laughed so easily together, he had seemed to treasure every minute of what little time they could spend together and even now she could almost hear the way his voice seemed to deepen when he called her to tell her he was missing her. He couldn’t be lying, he just couldn’t be, but so much of what Danny had said rang true. Like how he would get her to the point of begging him to sleep with her, like how he wouldn’t make a commitment to Danny the way he wouldn’t with her, and like both Danny’s mother and Consuela telling Danny he was married. She just couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t have told her that himself, but there again, if he really was treating his wife the way Danny said he was he wouldn’t have considered her even worth mentioning. But this wasn’t the man she was getting to know, this was a stranger, a monster, a pathological liar and in her heart she just couldn’t believe that Jake was any of those things.

‘So what were you doing over at Consuela’s?’ Sarah said as they strolled out onto the terrace with their drinks. ‘Availing yourself of the pleasures of the bathhouse, no doubt.’ As casual as she sounded, she was extremely interested to hear the answer after what had happened earlier in the day when Aphrodite had hissed her accusations of blackmail. That all seemed such a long time ago now after the drama of the past half hour, but she was going to wait until she and Louisa were alone before tackling that.

‘Actually, no,’ Danny laughed. ‘I was just relaxing by the pool most of the time, being waited on hand, foot and finger and trying to eavesdrop on the rows she was having with Jake.’

Sarah’s eyebrows rose in surprise as Louisa flinched at the mention of Jake’s name. ‘Did you hear anything?’ Sarah asked, tearing her eyes from Louisa.

‘Not much. Except I did hear her trying to warn him away from me once. She’s not at all keen on my getting involved with him, neither is my mother. Well, considering the way he treats his wife I don’t suppose you can blame them. The trouble is, the more they try to turn us against each other the more determined they’re making us to be together. Which is what I meant earlier, about he and I being two of a kind. But still, we don’t want to get into that again, do we?’ she said, closing her eyes and letting her head fall back against the chair as Louisa’s lips tightened. ‘Anyway, I think the main gist of what Consuela and Jake were rowing about has something to do with Mexico, but I couldn’t quite catch what. I would imagine though, it was why Jake went there recently, but he won’t tell me anything about it. I don’t suppose he’s told you, has he Louisa?’

‘Why would he tell me when he’s so much closer to you?’ Louisa answered tartly. Then catching Sarah’s admonishing look she said, ‘No, he hasn’t said anything to me and quite frankly I don’t think I want to know what it’s about anyway. How did you get on with Morandi this morning, Sarah?’

Sarah had just taken breath to answer when Danny said, ‘Oh yes, Morandi. That reminds me. I know I’ve only ever seen him the once, but I’d swear it was him I saw driving into Consuela’s as Jake and I were leaving this afternoon. He wasn’t driving that beaten up old Renault then though. Oh, no, he was driving a dirty great big Mercedes saloon. You’ll have to talk to him about that, Sarah, tell him you’d rather go out in style if it’s all the same to him.’

Louisa turned to Sarah whose cheery face had turned stony, but with a quick flash of her eyes Sarah told Louisa to say nothing.

‘I’ll do that,’ Sarah said, topping up their glasses. Then after a pause. ‘Tell me, Danny, it must have occurred to you, what with these rows between Jake and Consuela and everything you’ve heard about him, that there’s something not quite right going on in that house.’

‘In what kind of way are you thinking?’ Danny asked, her eyes still closed.

‘In a kind of blackmail way,’ Sarah answered, feeling the curiosity burning from Louisa’s eyes. She lifted a hand as though to say, I’ll tell you later, and continued to wait for Danny’s response.

‘Well,’ Danny said thoughtfully, ‘it’s funny that you mention it, because it has crossed my mind that something like that might be going on. Which was why,’ she went on, sitting forward and picking up her wine, ‘I took it upon myself to take a look around that bathhouse when no one was about. There’s no sign of any cameras or anything like that though, no sign at all.’

‘But what made you think that something like that might be going on?’ Sarah pressed.

‘Actually, it was something I overheard Erik saying to Jake,’ she answered, screwing up her face as she tried to remember what. ‘He said, “there’s more money coming out of that bathhouse than ever goes into it,” or something like that. And Jake said, “it can’t go on much longer, we’re going to get found out.” Or he might have said, “she’s going to get found out.” I can’t be sure. But anyway, when you come to weigh it up that sounds pretty much like some kind of blackmail to me, doesn’t it to you?’

Sarah was nodding. ‘Did you mention what you’d overheard to Consuela?’

‘Yes I did as a matter of fact.’

‘Well what did she say?’ Louisa urged when Danny didn’t continue.

‘She said that yes, there was something going on which was why she didn’t want me getting involved with Jake. And that was when she told me she knew my mother and felt sure that my mother would expect her to do all she could to keep me away from him. I couldn’t get any more out of her than that, except that he was married, so when I went back to England I asked my mother what she knew about him. All she said was that she didn’t want me getting involved with married men, and that she was glad to think that Consuela was keeping an eye on me.’

‘Did your mother know anything about the bathhouse?’ Sarah asked.

‘No. And now, given that there was no sign of cameras or anything, I’m wondering, this is assuming someone is blackmailing someone, if it’s got anything to do with the bathhouse at all. My guess is it’s just between Jake and Consuela, ’cos she gets pretty upset every time he goes there and neither of them ever goes anywhere near the bathhouse. Or not that I saw. But they did disappear into her bedroom once or twice and I saw him stroking her legs once out by the pool, just like they were lovers. It turned into a row pretty quickly and he actually belted her one, but before that, well, like I said, to see them you’d have thought they were lovers.’

Louisa’s head was pounding. Her emotions were too embroiled in this for her to be able to see anything clearly or rationally. She so desperately wanted to believe Jake, but things were becoming so confused now and so horribly unpalatable with this talk of blackmail, wife-beating and some kind of bizarre relationship with Consuela and with Danny that she could feel herself recoiling from the blind trust she had placed in him.

‘Did your mother tell you anything, well anything untoward, about Consuela?’ Sarah asked, seeing the anguish on Louisa’s face and wanting somehow, if she could, to ease it by casting the shadow of suspicion in another direction. But she wasn’t only doing it for Louisa, she was doing it for herself too, for whatever Jake was implicated in here, so too was Morandi.

‘She didn’t tell me anything we don’t know already,’ Danny answered. ‘That Consuela’s husband died a couple of years ago leaving her squillions and she’s been a virtual recluse ever since. She really seems to like Consuela though, said most people do. She was one of the great hostesses of her day apparently. Had time for everyone, did all kinds of wonderful things for charities and the like. She’s still quite a legend in Argentina, by all accounts.’

‘Argentina?’

‘That’s where she’s from.’

‘Not Mexico?’

‘Why Mexico?’

‘Just a thought, since that’s where Jake was.’

Danny shrugged. ‘My mother seemed pretty certain she was Argentinian. So apparently was her husband.’

‘Weird, isn’t it?’ Sarah remarked later to Louisa, when Danny had gone off to take a shower. ‘Nothing seems to add up at all. There are no nice neat little coincidences that are taking us any further down the line, if anything I’m more confused than ever.’

‘You and me both,’ Louisa sighed. ‘But then, how do we know we can believe anything Danny says?’

‘I suppose we don’t, and I have to confess the way she went for you just now has made me extremely suspicious about this so-called relationship she’s supposed to be having with Jake. It all happened so fast that it’s only now, when I really think about it, that I can see how many questions she managed to avoid. She turned it all around to say what she wanted, but even then she was contradicting herself. Like suddenly deciding to concede that he might find you attractive, when up to that moment she’d been telling you he was turning you into a laughing stock. And why is she so afraid that you’re going to waltz off with him if, as she claims, he’s only using you to make her jealous? It doesn’t make sense.’ She stopped for a moment and looked into Louisa’s bewildered eyes, wondering whether she should continue. In the end she decided to. ‘You’re not going to want to hear this,’ she said, making what she knew was a futile attempt to soften it, ‘but all that doesn’t mean that I don’t believe she’s sleeping with him, because unfortunately I do. It could just be that she’s like Everest, he’s mounting her because she’s there. But even though there are obviously bigger things at issue here, for what it’s worth, I reckon Jake really has fallen for you. Not only because of Danny’s behaviour this afternoon, but because if he hasn’t then he’s not only got you fooled he’s got me fooled too. OK, I know I only saw you together for a few minutes the other day, but I’d have had to be blind not to have noticed the way he was looking at you and, take it from me, if that wasn’t genuine then my name’s Trev Trubshaw.’

Louisa giggled. ‘Trev Trubshaw, father of many?’

‘Seven including the steps,’ Sarah smiled wryly, then sighed and shook her head. ‘I know I saw the pictures, but quite honestly they could as easily have been his nieces and nephews. Though why he’d lie about having so many kids beats the hell out of me. But why do you suppose he changed his name when he came here? I know Trev is a handle any of us would be glad to shed, but there’s nothing wrong with Deighton. And there’s nothing wrong with being British either, is there? Or am I missing the point somewhere?’

‘Search me,’ Louisa responded. ‘It’s all so way beyond me that I’m almost inclined to give up on it and never see any of them again.’

‘Common sense tells me that’s exactly what we should do,’ Sarah said, contemplatively. ‘There’s no question that Danny’s in it right up to her eyes even if she doesn’t know it herself, but she’ll just breeze through and come out the other end completely unscathed, the way she always does. It’s a bit different for you and me though. We’re the monogamous types who like the same thing from our men. We don’t thrive on mistrust and intrigue the way Danny does, we’re just plain and simple women who like to know what we’ve got and make the most of it.’

‘God, don’t make us sound too exciting, will you?’ Louisa commented, making Sarah laugh.

‘The thing is,’ Sarah went on, ‘this all started out as a bit of a lark, really. I mean, I don’t know if you did, but I didn’t take it all that seriously to begin with, you know the amateur sleuth bit. And let’s face it, we’re not exactly Holmes and Watson are we, ’cos we’re just getting more and more confused as time goes on. The trouble is though that I don’t think I could bear to give up now, if for no other reason than once it’s all over, or solved, or whatever it’s going to be, I just couldn’t stand to look back on it and still not know what the hell it was all about. On the other hand, we’re not only woefully inexperienced when it comes to playing detective, we’re both of us too emotionally involved with the main players to be able to take an objective look at it all.’

‘You feel that strongly about Morandi?’ Louisa said.

‘Yes, I think I do. I mean, I could wish that he wasn’t mixed up in anything sordid and criminal, but there seems little doubt now that he is, that they both are, wouldn’t you agree? The strange thing is that it doesn’t seem to be putting me off him at all. And don’t tell me it’s making you change your mind about Jake, because I know for a fact it isn’t.’

‘You’re right, it’s not. I wish it were, but if anything it’s making me want him all the more. And do you know why? Because in my mind I’ve cast him as the hero in all this. That somehow, in some corny, sixpenny novel way, he’s going to turn out to be the dashingly handsome victor of all that’s being levelled against him and that’s got to make me about as blind and as stupid and as far from reality as Danny accused me of.’

‘Oh, don’t take any notice of her. Why shouldn’t you have your fantasies? Everyone else does, including her. Especially her! And besides, I don’t think you believe that at all. I think, if the truth be told, you’re just as appalled as I am to think that there’s every chance we’ve both managed to fall for, to put it as mildly as possible, a pair of confidence tricksters.’

It seemed such an incongruous label to hang on someone like Jake that Louisa just couldn’t take it in and they were both quiet for a while as they contemplated the extraordinariness of the situation. It was a situation that neither one of them would ever have dreamt of finding themselves in when coming to what they had assumed was a little pocket of paradise, except, as Sarah remarked curiously, ‘Nothing seems quite right down here, does it? I don’t know if it’s something in the air, or because we don’t speak the language and therefore can’t help feeling as though we’re not part of real life, or if there’s just something odd about the whole place. I mean, I honestly don’t know if we’d be taking the same view of all this if we were in London, though somehow I don’t think we would. Because, to my mind, the entire Côte d’Azur is like one great big film set and I sometimes get the feeling that one of these days someone is going to shout “cut” and a thousand technicians will rush in and fold up the sky, uproot the trees, carry off the mountains and pull the plug on the sea.’

‘I wouldn’t mind the sound recordist turning off the cicadas,’ Louisa remarked. ‘But anyway, as intangible and weird as it all seems, it is real and we are going to have to decide where we go from here.’

‘Well, if we’re going to try and get to the bottom of it then we’re going to have to reassess our tactics. It’s my guess that we’re asking the wrong questions, or maybe we’re asking the wrong people, probably both. The trouble is though, who else is there to ask? Danny’s not interested enough in anything or anyone beyond herself to want to get to the bottom of it and everyone else, it seems to me, is a part of the cover-up.’

‘She can’t be that wrapped up in herself not to be just a little bit curious,’ Louisa said. ‘And she did go snooping around the bathhouse.’

‘So what are you saying, Detective Kramer, that we should include her in the investigation?’

Louisa laughed. ‘I don’t know. Right at this moment I’m still too furious with her to want to include her in anything.’

‘I don’t blame you. And since we’re back on that subject I’m going to tell you what I really think. I think it’s you who’s the challenge here, not Jake. It’s you she wants to beat, not him. Don’t ask me why I think that, I just do. You’re probably right when you say that she can’t stand it because he wants you and not her, but I reckon it’s the fact that it’s you that’s really bugging her. She’s always seen herself as your great protector, you know, picking up the poor little matchgirl and making the world all bright and wonderful for her. She saved you from Bill and gave you Simon …’

‘Yes, what was that about Simon? I never knew she was involved with him.’

‘Yes, she was. Only superficially, well you know Danny, nothing ever goes much deeper than the surface. But yes, she was sleeping with him.’

‘Then why didn’t he ever tell me?’

‘Probably because it was no big deal to him either. Or because he assumed you knew and never thought it was important enough to bring up.’

‘And now she’s convinced herself that she got me to the top by agreeing to do Private Essays when you and I both know that the budgets were already in place and the time slots had been allocated long before she was cast, and she was second choice.’

‘Third,’ Sarah corrected. ‘But for God’s sake don’t ever tell her that. And besides, it’s all water under the bridge now, because she did a fantastic job as we both well know. But I reckon this is where all the resentment comes from, in that she sees herself as your Svengali and you’re showing your appreciation by snatching, as she so eloquently puts it, the screw of the century, right from under her nose.’

‘Well at least she’s slept with him, because even he admits to that. And how, I ask myself, does she know I haven’t if he didn’t tell her himself?’

‘Lucky guess?’

‘Or he really is making sport of me and going back to the Valhalla to entertain his crew with tales of my puppy dog eyes and pathetic determination to get him into bed.’

‘Does he strike you as that type?’ Sarah said sceptically. ‘Because he certainly doesn’t me. Even if he does turn out to be married, a blackmailer, a charlatan, a liar, a God only knows what else, I still don’t see him as someone who’d entertain his crew like that.’

‘Then why would Danny say it?’

‘Why does Danny say anything?’ Sarah responded unhelpfully, taking a mouthful of wine. ‘Anyway, if I were in your shoes I’d be inclined to give Jake the benefit of the doubt. You can always reassess the situation later if we find out he really is lying, but in the meantime there’s no logical reason in this world why he would be wasting his time trying to mess up your head and get you panting for his body just to entertain his bloody crew, for God’s sake!’

‘What do you think of what Danny said about his relationship with Consuela?’

‘Mmm, that’s a tricky one. There’s obviously a lot more to Consuela than meets the eye. In fact, she’s so whiter than white with all this charity stuff and grieving widow bit that it wouldn’t surprise me at all to discover that she’s the villain of the piece here and that Jake and Morandi and, for all we know, Erik, are the ones being blackmailed rather than doing the blackmailing.’

Louisa gave a wry grin.

‘Yes, I thought you’d like that scenario,’ Sarah laughed. ‘So you see, you’re not the only one with sixpenny novel fantasies.’

‘But even if it is they who are being blackmailed it still means they have something to hide,’ Louisa pointed out.

‘Mmm, yes well, sadly I didn’t major in sleuthing so that’s the best I can come up with.’

‘Which, if I’m reading you correctly, is giving us the green light to get ourselves involved with two men who are highly likely heading straight for jail and for all we know could end up taking us with them.’

‘I’m glad you can see the positive side of this,’ Sarah remarked cheerfully. ‘For a minute there it was looking all gloom and doom.’

‘Anyway,’ Louisa laughed, ‘let’s not forget that Aphrodite actually accused Morandi of being a blackmailer.’

‘Oh yes, I’d forgotten about her,’ Sarah said, suddenly depressed again. ‘And I have to confess that the thought of Morandi’s fluctuating personality is making me dizzier than his God-awful paintings. Did I tell you about them?’

‘No.’

‘They’re absolutely, categorically, without any exaggeration whatsoever, terrible. So, where do we go from here? You make the decision, because since I’ve never yet managed to win a game of Cluedo … What’s the matter? Who are you looking at?’ she said, craning her neck to look in the same direction as Louisa.

‘What I’m looking at,’ Louisa said, ‘is an extremely expensive, wonderfully chic, silver Jaguar pulling into Jean-Claude’s drive.’

‘Erik?’

‘Who else? And what was that you were saying just now about having no one else to ask?’

‘Of course,’ Sarah cried. ‘Jean-Claude.’

‘And where are we going for dinner tonight?’

‘Jean-Claude’s. Brilliant. Except, we can’t ask him anything while Erik’s there, can we?’

‘No, but you could always ask Erik where he was this afternoon when he was supposed to be meeting you.’

‘I stand about as much chance of getting a straight answer to that as Morandi does of selling his paintings,’ Sarah responded.

‘But you can always try.’

As it turned out Erik had already left by the time Sarah and Louisa had showered and changed and got themselves across the road for dinner in Jean-Claude’s wonderful garden overlooking the staggered, red roof tops of Valanjou – or Happy Valley, as Sarah had now taken to calling it. Danny had gone with Erik, having once again apologized to Louisa for all she’d said that afternoon. She’d promised to make it up to her by taking her out later in the week for a slap-up meal somewhere. Since Louisa couldn’t afford the really expensive restaurants, she’d said, it would be nice for her to have a treat. That had annoyed Louisa every bit as much as what Jean-Claude was telling them now was making her uncomfortable.

‘… and so I told Erik,’ he said, his gentle brown eyes as grave and as meaningful as the throaty timbre of his voice, ‘that I don’t want to become involved with what ’e is doing. ’e came ’ere tonight to ask me to keep money for ’im, and I said I would not unless ’e told me what it was for or where it was from. ’e wouldn’t do that, so I told ’im to take it away again and go to a bank.’

‘How much money was it?’ Sarah asked, her eyes flicking towards Didier and back again.

‘I don’t know, but it was a lot. I saw it. It wasn’t francs, but in any currency the caseful ’e ’ad was a lot of money.’

‘You didn’t see what the currency was though?’

‘No. And I also told ’im that I thought ’e should not be involving either of you in whatever is going on with ’im and Jake Mallory.’

‘What did he say?’ Louisa asked, the succulent gambas before her for the moment forgotten.

‘That Jake was a rule for himself and that ’e couldn’t tell Jake what to do. ’e also said, by the way, that ’e was going to ask Danny to marry ’im.’

‘Who? Erik or Jake?’ Louisa breathed, her face starting to drain.

‘Erik is going to ask ’er. ’e says ’e loves ’er, but Erik ’e is a fool for a pretty face. Always ’e ’as been that way.’

To Louisa and Sarah’s frustration Jean-Claude very skilfully managed to steer the conversation in another direction after that, and before they could get around to their dessert they had to move inside, for the storm that had been threatening to break all day suddenly boomed its arrival with a great, deafening crash of thunder and a downpour that was so fierce and so dense it wasn’t possible to see even as far as the end of the garden.

It was just as they were leaving that the topic was touched upon again as Jean-Claude hugged Louisa warmly and told her that if ever she or Sarah needed a friend in this country that wasn’t their own, then he would be there for them and would try to help them in any way he could. And when Louisa tried to take the edge from his unsettling concern by laughing and asking why on earth he should think they would need help, he told her that he knew she was seeing Jake, that he’d seen the Mercedes several times during the past week.

‘I know I’ve had too much to drink,’ Louisa said, taking a towel from Sarah to dry herself off after their quick sprint through the rain, ‘because right now all I want to do is call the number Jake gave me and talk to him.’

‘Then do it.’

‘No.’

‘Why?’

‘Because he told me not to unless it was an emergency. And besides, what am I going to say? Jake, I think Danny’s got some weird obsession with me and that’s why she’s telling people she’s sleeping with you. Oh yes, and by the way, my neighbour is making me paranoid by telling me that he’ll be there to help me in any way he can because he knows I’m seeing you.’

‘You could always try asking him why Erik turned up at Jean-Claude’s with a case full of dosh this afternoon,’ Sarah suggested helpfully.

‘Very funny.’

‘OK, why not try asking him how, what did Danny say her name was? Martina? How Martina is these days? Or maybe more to the point, where Martina is.’

Louisa jumped as a sudden bolt of thunder crashed overhead. ‘I wonder what all that money was for, or where it was from?’ she said, pensively. ‘He won’t have got it from a bank, will he, not on a Saturday. Although some are open Saturday mornings, aren’t they?’

‘Then surely that would have been the safest place to leave it,’ Sarah responded. ‘And do you know what I’m thinking now? I’m thinking about Morandi driving into Consuela’s this afternoon as Danny was leaving.’

Louisa’s eyes opened wide. ‘You mean you think he was going to pick it up?’

‘It makes sense to me, doesn’t it to you?’

Louisa nodded.

‘When are you seeing Jake again?’

‘I don’t know. He said he’d call today, but he hasn’t.’

‘Mmm, well I reckon it’s time we went into action and stopped shilly-shallying around trying to guess at what’s going on and letting them off the hook every time we ask a question they don’t want to answer. So, the very next time we see either of them I think we should confront them with what we’ve heard and see what they have to say about it. And if we don’t get any straight answers, if they start messing us around with stuff like it’s not safe for us to know and all that garbage, then we’ve got to tell them that in that case we don’t think it’s safe for us to carry on seeing them.’

‘Yes, you’re right,’ Louisa said. ‘You’re definitely right, because I don’t know what the statistics are for blackmail leading to murder, but my guess is they’re pretty high. And I just can’t forget what Jake said about some people being likely to lose their lives before all this was over.’

Both of them suddenly swung round as another deafening crash of thunder blasted overhead at the same time as flashing forks of lightning daggered over the pool.

Sarah turned to Louisa who was staring blindly out of the window and looking as shaken by the storm as Sarah felt. But what Louisa couldn’t hear that Sarah could, was the echo of a crazed and portentous organ booming its baleful din from the portals of a neo-Romanesque cathedral in Monaco.

As Louisa’s eyes came slowly round to Sarah’s they both started to laugh, each knowing what the other was thinking, that this really was like a film set, a film set with everything, right down to the immaculate timing of the special effects.