18

OUTSIDE THE AIR was soggy. Ancient American cars rumbled and clanked wearily through the streets, high-pitched sirens wailed their urgency, but inside the Los Mochis hotel room the air was crisp and cool and cut through with danger.

Jake was sitting in a low-backed armchair, elbows resting on his knees, hands linked loosely together. His face was taut, but for the moment devoid of expression. In front of him, seated on a hard chair and flanked by two solid Mexicans was Pedro, the scrawny old man who had led Jake the last time he was there to an out of the way hotel.

‘You did well,’ Jake remarked to Fernando who was sitting at a round table in front of the window, his legs stretched out in front of him and one arm resting on the other as he smoked a cigarette.

Fernando merely expelled two lungs full of smoke through his nose and followed Jake’s eyes back to Pedro whose jutting bottom jaw was quivering as he looked back at the gringo with the patch over one eye and murder in the other.

Jake fixed him with his unshielded eye for some time, then lowered his gaze to the dingy pink carpet. ‘Where is she?’ he said, the mildness of his tone making it all the more ominous.

‘I don’ta know,’ Pedro answered.

‘Where is she?’

‘I don’ta know, they don’ta tell me.’

Jake lifted his head. ‘When did you last see her?’

‘Five weeks ago.’

‘Where?’

‘Like I say before, near Chihuahua.’

‘Who was she with?’

‘Two men, another woman and a child.’

Fernando’s head came up and an icy fist clenched his gut when he saw Jake’s expression.

‘Who were these people?’ Jake said.

‘I don’ta know.’

‘How do you know it was her?’

‘I know her.’

‘How?’

‘I have seen pictures.’

‘Who showed them to you?’

‘I don’ta know.’

‘Who showed them to you?’

‘I don’ta know.’

Jake’s eyes flicked towards the man standing on Pedro’s right. Pedro squealed as the blow to his face brought blood spurting from his nose.

Jake was on his feet now, his back to Pedro. ‘Who showed them to you?’ he repeated.

‘A man.’

‘What was his name?’

‘I don’ta know.’

Jake turned as Pedro’s head jerked to one side under the force of the next blow. ‘His name,’ Jake demanded.

‘I don’ta know. Please, señor, really I don’ta know.’

Jake nodded to the other man who picked up Pedro’s hand and wrenched his forefinger back. Pedro screamed, drowning the sickening crunch of the finger breaking.

‘His name,’ Jake repeated.

‘Juan.’

Jake nodded at the man again.

‘No, no, I beg you, señor,’ Pedro sobbed as his middle finger was bent to the point of snapping. ‘His name is Juan Morales. Please no break my hand no more.’

‘Was this man with her when you saw her?’ Jake said.

‘Yes, he was there.’

‘Where are they now?’

‘I don’ta know.’

Jake’s eyes moved back to the man.

‘No! No!’ Pedro screamed. ‘Really I not know. Last week they here in Los Mochis, now I not know where they are.’

‘You said just now you hadn’t seen them for five weeks,’ Jake reminded him.

‘The woman, no. The men, they were here, but she no with them.’

‘Where did they go?’

‘They no tell me.’

All eyes were on Jake as he rested his forehead on his fist. ‘What about the child?’ he said.

‘I not know about the child. I just see her.’

‘How old is the child?’ Jake said.

‘Two, maybe three years old. It is hard to know with children.’

Jake stayed silent and Fernando moved across the room to put a hand on his shoulder.

Shrugging him off Jake looked at the other two. ‘Get him out of here,’ he said. ‘Get him out of here and make him tell you where they’ve gone.’

As Pedro was hauled from the room Fernando moved back to the table and picked up a bottle of whisky.

‘The question still remains the same,’ Jake said waiting for the door to close. ‘Is Consuela paying them to lie or is Martina really alive?’

Fernando shook his head and handing Jake a drink sat down on the chair Pedro had just vacated. ‘I don’t know, my friend,’ he said. ‘But we will find out.’

The days since Jake had gone seemed to drag endlessly for Louisa and not knowing exactly when he would be back was only making it worse. It didn’t help either that Sarah was spending so much time with Morandi, not that she begrudged Morandi Sarah’s support for she of all people knew how unswerving and comforting it was, but she longed to discuss all that Sarah had told her in more detail. However, she just had to make do with Sarah’s rushed visits and updates on the police investigation into Aphrodite’s murder. So far they hadn’t come up with much that was new, except that the time of her death had been put before the burglary and arson so she was no longer a suspect.

In a snatched moment with Erik Louisa had asked him about the video of Danny’s mother and whether or not they should tell Danny. Erik had been adamant that they shouldn’t say a word. They needed to find out what Consuela intended to do with it, he’d said, and telling Danny was tantamount to alerting Consuela that they were waiting for her to move.

Nothing was making any sense any more, Louisa thought to herself as she climbed out of the pool, and she wished to God that she and Jake hadn’t argued the way they had just before he’d gone.

Hearing a car coming up the lane she moved quickly to the sunbed to pick up a towel to cover herself. She needn’t have bothered, it was only Sarah and seeing her Louisa felt her spirits take a much needed lift.

‘Hi,’ she called out, waving as Sarah pulled up at the side of the house, then started to laugh as Sarah, with a disgusting amount of energy in such heat, came bounding towards her with joy oozing out of her every step. ‘No need to ask you how things are going?’ Louisa remarked as Sarah gave her a resounding kiss on each cheek.

‘They are blissful and traumatic, wonderful and problematic and I’m as excited and in love as I am laid back and phlegmatic.’

‘You’ve been rehearsing that,’ Louisa laughed.

‘How did you guess? Anyway, how are you? How’s the writing?’

‘Don’t ask. Are you staying long? Shall we at least have a drink together?’

‘Absolutely. Where’s Danny?’

‘Where do you think?’

‘With Erik,’ they chorused.

‘Come on,’ Louisa said, linking her arm through Sarah’s, ‘let’s crack open a bottle of that Saumur, I feel in need of something sparkly.’

While Louisa went into the kitchen Sarah sat on the edge of the terrace, hugging her knees and allowing her mind to drift back over the past week that had been one of the most eventful and one of the happiest of her life. She and Morandi were now lovers, had become so the night they had heard of Aphrodite’s murder. It had, she supposed though she couldn’t be sure, been the last thing on either of their minds when she had collected Morandi from the police station and driven him home. He had been so exhausted and so totally worn down by all that had happened he had been more in need of sleep than anything else. But it was probably seeing him so vulnerable and so bewildered by it all that had given her the confidence to slip into the bed beside him and hold him.

She smiled dreamily to herself as she thought about it now, of how he had apologized for becoming aroused, how he had clung to her nevertheless and tried to pretend that it would go away. It was she who had ended up making the first move, but, she guessed, it was his vulnerability and need of her that had overcome her fears for there was nothing to be ashamed of in comforting someone you cared about and at the time that’s what she’d told herself she was doing. It hadn’t taken her long, however, to realize how profoundly she was fooling herself, for any fears of a latent frigidity or a return of the sickening shame she’d felt since Colin had so cruelly belittled her, were quickly expelled by the burning heat of her desire and the compelling, primeval need to feel Morandi as close to her as it was possible for two people to get.

What had surprised her most about that night though, looking back on it, was the incredible way that even at the height of his passion and considering how exhausted he was after all that had happened, he had still not only managed to make her come first, something Colin had never achieved whether first, last or together, but had actually, at the peak of her frenzy, made her, an erstwhile silent and on the whole passive partner, cry out for him never to stop while meeting each pounding thrust of his hips with her own. And what was more, she had then proceeded to roll him on to his back and sat astride him so that she could take over and bring him to his climax. So if anything was going to make her ashamed the next day it was that brazen act, but far from feeling ashamed she had felt proud enough of it and the amazing effect it had had on him to do it again in the morning. Of course, he was a much more experienced lover than she was, but not once had he made her feel inadequate or awkward, to the contrary he had made her feel like the raunchiest, sexiest and most precious lover he’d ever had. And he was still making her feel like that now, several times a day.

‘Oh, how easy life is when you just meet the right man,’ she sighed, taking the frosted glass Louisa was handing her. ‘No hang-ups, no inhibitions, no fears of making a fool of yourself, just bliss. He’s a wonderful man, Louisa, truly, truly wonderful. And you really should see his paintings, they’re … they’re … quite simply brilliant,’ she finished in a rapturous burst.

‘I’m surprised you could tear yourself away,’ Louisa laughed.

‘He’s coming here later,’ Sarah said, taking a mouthful of the deliciously dry sparkling wine. ‘We thought you might like to come out with us tonight.’

‘Well as a matter of fact I would,’ Louisa said, delighted to be asked. ‘I’m getting a bit fed up sitting around here on my own with all this romance going on. But you’ve got to promise me you won’t keep staring into each other’s eyes and coming over all gooey on each other the way Danny and Erik do, because I just couldn’t stand it.’

‘I promise,’ Sarah laughed and then was serious for a moment as she said, ‘Any word from Jake yet?’

‘No, nothing,’ Louisa said, shaking her head. ‘He’s been gone for nine days now, but he didn’t say when he was coming back so …’

‘Actually,’ Sarah said, pulling the corners of her mouth down in awkwardness, ‘he’s back. He came back the day before yesterday.’

Louisa looked away as the words wrenched at her heart. ‘How do you know?’ she whispered.

‘Morandi told me. I thought maybe he would have called you by now.’

Again Louisa shook her head.

‘Then why don’t you call him?’

‘No.’

‘But why?’

‘I just can’t. Besides, if he wanted to see me he’d have called, wouldn’t he?’ Dear God, she was thinking as the pain dragged through her heart, I had no idea it would hurt this much.

‘He’s probably got a lot on his mind,’ Sarah said, making an attempt to comfort her.

‘Well I don’t think we can be in any doubt of that, can we?’ Louisa remarked with a bitterness she instantly regretted. ‘Oh God, Sarah, why did we have to have that row before he went? Why did I have to make him think I don’t trust him when I do? Deep down in my heart I know he’s not lying to me. OK, I know what Morandi said, but even he’s not sure whether it’s Jake or Consuela and it’s Consuela, Sarah, I’m telling you, it’s she who’s behind all that’s going on, I just know it.’

‘I’m sure you’re right,’ Sarah said softly, not necessarily because she believed it, but because right at that moment it was what Louisa needed to hear.

‘Thank you,’ Danny said, crossing one smooth, bronzed leg over the other as she helped herself to ice from the silver dish Consuela was offering. ‘So let me get this straight,’ she said as Consuela moved back to her own chair and sat down again. ‘You’re not talking to me now because my parents have asked you to, more because you think they would like you to. Have I got that right?’

‘Absolutely,’ Consuela laughed, ‘and so much more succinctly put. But it’s also because I feel a certain friendship has developed between us these past few weeks that allows me to take you into my confidence.’

Danny smiled and sipped her gin and tonic. She didn’t usually drink this early in the day, but when it was so hot and so unbearably sticky a gin and tonic, with lots of ice and a thick juicy wedge of lemon, slipped down rather well, she found. Consuela, as usual, was drinking fruit punch. Danny had never known her to drink anything else, neither had she ever known her to look anything other than perfect, as she did now, with her thick, blonde hair held in a navy velvet slide at the nape of her neck and a plain, pale violet short-sleeved cotton dress with matching pumps.

Danny turned to make an idle study of the sloping gardens and the small, private beach at the end, allowing Consuela to look at her, unabashed. They were in Consuela’s private sitting room where the cool, refreshing air coming in from the sea and the pastel colours were as serene and relaxing as Consuela herself.

‘You really are quite exceptionally beautiful,’ Consuela murmured after a while.

Danny’s head came round in surprise for she was certain there had been a catch in Consuela’s voice that suggested she was very near to tears.

‘I’m sorry,’ Consuela said, moving a hand to her hair, which she didn’t quite touch, then lowering it back to her lap. ‘It’s just … No, it’s nothing, please, forgive me.’

Danny watched, fascinated, as Consuela composed herself then gave her a bright, generous smile.

‘We have talked before about Jake,’ Consuela said, seeming to Danny’s mind to be a lot more nervous than she sounded. ‘And I think, my dear, that it is time we spoke of him again. No, no,’ she said, lifting a hand as Danny made to interrupt, ‘I am not going to try to persuade you to stop seeing him, but what I am going to do is tell you the whole truth about him and then you must make up your mind whether you wish your association with him to continue.’

‘OK,’ Danny said, feeling gloriously smug that she was going to have this handed to her on a plate when Sarah and Louisa were tying themselves up in knots trying to work out was what going on.

‘As I’m sure you know,’ Consuela said, ‘Jake arrived back in this country five days ago from Mexico, so I think we should begin with why he was there.’ For a moment it seemed that she was going to lose it again, but after taking a deep breath and forcing her wide mouth into a shaky smile, she said, ‘He was there looking for his wife.’

‘Why, has he lost her?’ Danny quipped, and could have instantly bitten out her tongue on seeing the pain that crossed Consuela’s face.

‘Yes, you could say that,’ Consuela said, then after a pause, she added, ‘Jake’s wife, Martina, is my daughter. I’m sorry, was my daughter. She is dead now, she died three years ago. Jake killed her.’

Danny’s eyes were wide. ‘He killed her,’ she repeated on an incredulous breath.

‘Yes,’ Consuela said, lifting a trembling hand to her face. As she closed her eyes a single tear rolled down her cheek and she used her fingers to wipe it away. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, her voice high-pitched with emotion. ‘It is still very hard for me to speak of. But yes, Jake killed her. He murdered my baby. He took her out in his boat and he … She drowned, but he had beaten her so badly they tell me that she was dead before she went into the sea.’

‘Oh my God,’ Danny murmured, unable to think of anything else to say.

‘But it is even worse than that,’ Consuela said, and Danny could see what a very real effort she was putting into making herself go on. ‘When Martina went into the sea she was carrying Jake’s baby. She had only two months to go and he killed them both. His wife and his own child.’

‘Oh no,’ Danny breathed, even more bereft of words than before. ‘But why?’ she said pulling herself out of the soporific shock. ‘Why would he do that to his own wife?’

Consuela’s answering smile was the saddest Danny had ever seen. ‘You have not lived in America,’ she said. ‘You will not have heard about Jake before you met him here. But always there have been rumours about him and his cruelty to women. He is a sadist of the very worst kind. I begged Martina not to marry him, but she wouldn’t believe what she’d heard. He was so kind to her then, so gentle and loving and she adored him. When it started, when the real violence began, I took her away from him. It wasn’t easy, because he used to keep her locked up, but we managed it, eventually, and I had her taken to Argentina where my friends looked after her. But he found her and then … Then he took her onto his boat and he beat her until she was … dead.’

By now Danny could feel tears starting in her own eyes.

‘And now,’ Consuela continued, ‘I am punishing him. I know it is a wicked thing to do, but I have to avenge the life of my only child. So I have arranged for rumours to reach him that Martina is still alive, that she is hiding somewhere in Mexico and now he goes there to look for her. He is afraid, if she is alive, that she will tell everyone what he did to her, how he tried to kill her and then he will go to prison. So he only looks for her now to kill her, to make certain she is dead. He has heard recently of a woman with a small child. It is I who pay people to tell him these things. I want him to suffer, I want him to know what it is like to be so afraid, the way Martina was so afraid. He should be in jail for what he has done. He was arrested, but his father paid a great deal of money to hush it all up and buy his son’s freedom. They all say it was an accident now, but I know it was not.’ Reaching for the box of tissues beside her she pulled one free and quietly blew her nose. ‘So maybe now, Danny, you understand why it is that I fear for you and for whatever relationship you have with him. He is a wicked, evil man and you are as innocent and beautiful as Martina.’

‘But I don’t understand why you still let him come here,’ Danny said, frowning her confusion.

Consuela’s slim hand was clenched at her throat, her distress showing in the way she was rubbing her thumb between her fingers. ‘I have no choice,’ she said. ‘There are things in my life that I have done that I am not proud of, things that were the foolishness of a young woman, but are now being used to torment me. I have no idea how Jake found out about them, but that isn’t really important, what is is the fact that he knows. And now, if I do not allow him to use the bathhouse for his extortion, he threatens to expose what I have done. It is not such a great thing, but Jake, he will make certain that it ruins me. I don’t care for myself, but I care for Martina. If I am not in the position I am now in then there will be nothing I can do to avenge her death.’ Taking a deep breath she sipped shakily on her punch. ‘You understand,’ she continued, ‘it is why I so rarely leave the house now. I do not wish to make any new friends only for Jake to exploit them. And with the friends that I still have from when my husband was alive I do all that I can to try to warn them of what is happening. It isn’t easy, for if Jake were ever to learn of the way that I try to inform them he would expose everything that goes on here and very likely, with the cleverness of his lawyers and the influence of his father, I would be the one to finish up in jail.’

‘My God,’ Danny said in a hushed voice. ‘It’s so horrible I just don’t know what to say.’

‘There is nothing to say,’ Consuela smiled. ‘It is a burden I must carry, but I am hoping that very soon now it will all be over. I am receiving a lot of help from lawyers that Jake knows nothing about, but …’ Her voice trembled on a sudden surge of emotion and she bit her lips as she twisted the pendant around her neck. Danny saw the way her large, gentle eyes filled with desperation. ‘I need so much help,’ she said, hardly able to get her voice through the choking anguish in her throat, ‘and I know I have no right to ask you this,’ she went on, swallowing hard, ‘and please, if you wish to walk out of this house and never come here again you must feel free to do so for I, of all people, will understand … But I was thinking, that with your skills as an actress, that maybe there is something we could do that would see him in jail where he belongs.’

Danny’s curiosity was piqued, but more importantly she was thinking of Louisa and how there was no question that she must do whatever it took to get him out of Louisa’s life. This was no longer a contest between two friends as to who won the man, this was, as Consuela had just put herself through great pain to illustrate, a matter of life and death.

‘Just tell me what you want me to do,’ Danny said.

Consuela smiled as tears of relief and gratitude flooded her eyes. ‘It is not a good thing I am asking of you,’ she said, ‘and if you wish to say no then please say no. I would not hold it against you, I would never do that, because what I am asking you to do is stage your own murder.’

Danny’s mouth dropped open even as a tremendous thrill of excitement reverberated through her. ‘Are you serious?’ she said. ‘You mean stage my own murder and make it look like Jake did it?’

Consuela nodded. ‘That is what I mean.’

‘But how on earth would we get away with it, given that I’m not really going to die?’

‘I have friends who would help us,’ Consuela answered. ‘Friends who have known what it is to have Jake Mallory try to ruin them. Together they have a great deal of influence, especially here in Europe, and though it is doubtful we will see him in jail, if I could just make sure that he never came to Europe again then maybe I could pick up the pieces of my life and start over.’

Danny’s mind was racing. ‘But it’s going to take one heck of a lot of setting up,’ she said.

Consuela smiled. ‘The technicalities of it are much simpler to organize than you might think. But so much is dependent on you and your ability to manipulate the people around you, especially him.’

She was watching Danny closely, sensing that the enormity of what she was asking her to do was going to take some time to sink in. But it would, sooner or later, and Consuela was prepared for the barrage of questions when they finally came. In the meantime, she smiled fondly. ‘Sadly there is no script for you to follow,’ she said, ‘and it is I, mainly, who will direct you, but I’m sure that between us we can make this work.’

‘I’ve had a great deal more experience working without a script than you might imagine,’ Danny said, eyebrows raised as she smiled back at Consuela. For the moment she really couldn’t see how they could possibly pull this off, but she certainly didn’t want Consuela to doubt her skills as an actress.

‘Good,’ Consuela said getting to her feet. ‘And now, before we start going into the details of how to carry this out I have something for you.’

Intrigued, Danny’s eyes followed her across the room to where she stopped in front of a painting and pulled it out from the wall like a cupboard door to reveal a small safe behind it. ‘This,’ she said, handing a small package to Danny, ‘is a video of your mother and one of the boys in the bathhouse.’

‘What!’ Danny gasped. ‘My mother! But she said she knew nothing about the bathhouse.’

‘Of course she did,’ Consuela smiled. ‘You’re her daughter, she wouldn’t want you to know that she’d ever slept with anyone other than your father.’

‘No, I suppose not,’ Danny muttered, taking the video and looking at it as though it were something completely alien.

‘But why are you giving it to me?’

‘Because I had it on good authority that Jake was about to put it to use, which was why I arranged for Morandi’s office to be burgled. I knew I had to get that video out of there, but then it occurred to me that there might be more copies, which was why the person who carried out the burglary went back and set fire to the place. It is yours now to do with as you wish. Maybe you would like to keep it to remind yourself, should you ever need reminding, what kind of man Jake is, but if I were you I would destroy it.’

‘Can I take a quick look?’ Danny said, suddenly strangely excited by the idea of watching her mother have sex.

‘By all means,’ Consuela answered, obviously surprised, but waving her towards the TV nevertheless.

Danny only watched the first two minutes before feeling horribly ashamed at the way she was prying into her mother’s life. ‘That’s enough,’ she said, pushing the stop button. ‘I won’t need any reminding, let’s burn it.’

Consuela took the video from her and carried it over to the hearth where she began screwing up a newspaper to build a fire. ‘When this is done,’ she said, ‘perhaps it would be a good idea for us to refresh our drinks and sit down to discuss how we are going to put this plan into motion. And Danny,’ she said, stopping to look up at her with eyes steeped in gratitude, ‘I just don’t know how to thank you for agreeing so readily to help. I have come so close to asking other friends so many times but I have never quite had the courage. Of course, they are prepared to do things that don’t involve them personally, they are happy to use what influence they have to help me, but until I met you there was no one I could ask to do such a terrible thing as we are going to do. I pray that God in His mercy will forgive me for taking vengeance into my own hands, but please, if at any time you wish to stop, if you feel that things are moving beyond your control and you are afraid, then you must tell me and we will call it all to a halt. Jake is a very clever and a very suspicious man. He won’t be easy to fool and you must be aware of the danger you face should he ever learn of what we are doing.’

Danny nodded soberly.

‘There is just one other thing,’ Consuela added. ‘Jake has no idea that I am aware of who Morandi really is and probably it’s better it stays that way.’

‘Oh God, yes, Morandi,’ Danny murmured to herself. Sarah had been seeing a lot of him lately and, if Danny had overheard correctly, he’d spun Sarah some sob story about his little brother which Sarah had swallowed. God, women could be so gullible when it came to men. Not that Danny judged herself to be an exception, because, God knows, she’d made her share of mistakes. Take her infatuation with Jake for example. She’d always known he was rotten, that he had sides to him that were as well concealed and insidious as the many sides to her own character. But never, not ever, would she kill any one, least of all her own child the way Jake had. And really she was surprised at Sarah, for anyone could see that Morandi was a fraud with that phoney Italian accent and little boy lost look he’d so cleverly cultivated. However, she didn’t imagine that Sarah was in the kind of danger Louisa was in, which was why Danny had to make Louisa her priority.

‘Hi,’ Sarah called out from the kitchen as Danny walked onto the terrace. ‘Erik’s been calling you all day.’

‘Did he say where he was?’ Danny asked, throwing her bag on the table and going to the fridge for some wine.

‘At his apartment.’ Sarah turned from the salad she was preparing and treated Danny to a quick appraisal. ‘Well, you’re looking extremely pleased with yourself,’ she commented. ‘Where have you been?’

‘At Consuela’s,’ Danny grinned, taking two glasses from the shelf and filling them with a pale rosé wine. ‘Any olives?’

‘In the cupboard behind you,’ Sarah answered pouring a thick, yellowy oil over the lettuce.

‘Where’s Louisa?’ Danny asked, sprawling out across two chairs at the kitchen table.

‘I don’t know. Her car’s still there so I thought she must be out somewhere with you, but obviously not.’

‘Then maybe we can take it she’s somewhere with Jake,’ Danny said, chirpily.

Sarah didn’t turn round. ‘What makes you think that?’ she said guardedly.

‘Oh come on, Sarah,’ Danny laughed. ‘I’m not stupid. I know she’s seeing him. And, quite frankly, under any other circumstances I’d wish her good luck of him.’

Sarah turned slowly to face her, her blue eyes narrowed suspiciously. ‘What do you mean?’ she said.

‘I mean that she’s won. It’s her he wants, so she can have him – or at least she could have him – with my blessing.’

‘I don’t get this,’ Sarah said.

‘No, I know you don’t,’ Danny laughed. ‘But you will once I’ve told you all that Consuela’s just told me. Where’s Morandi, by the way?’

‘With Aphrodite’s relatives. They’re taking the body home tomorrow. He felt he should spend some time with them.’

‘Mmm,’ Danny grunted. She’d forgotten about Aphrodite, maybe that was something she should bring up the next time she saw Consuela. In fact, she thought with a sudden dizzying flash of inspiration, if Jake and Morandi were responsible for Aphrodite’s murder, which they probably were, then it would be a simply brilliant stroke of genius if she were to die the same way – in water, with a knife sticking from her back. Oh God, this was getting better all the time. ‘Anyway,’ she said, reining in her excitement, ‘you’d better sit down, because what I’ve got to tell you is going to knock you off your feet.’

Pulling out a chair Sarah sat down and fixed Danny with sceptical eyes. But her expression soon started to change as Danny told her what Jake had done to his wife and her mounting incredulity and alarm as the whole story unfolded was, Danny considered, extremely gratifying.

Danny held nothing back, not even the brief glimpse she had taken of her mother’s indiscretion on video. The only thing she didn’t divulge was the way she and Consuela were now planning to stage her murder. Consuela had been all for involving Sarah and Louisa if Danny felt she could trust them, but Danny had said no. It had nothing to do with trust, it was simply that she knew Sarah would never approve and she hadn’t wanted to tell Consuela that Louisa was seeing Jake. If she had then Consuela would very likely have wanted to speak to Louisa herself and this was Danny’s show, not Louisa’s. So she had given as her excuse the fact that though they would almost certainly be willing to do something to help Consuela out of her terrible situation, they had no skills as actresses and would be highly likely to give the game away and end up putting themselves in danger. Consuela had immediately seen the sense of that and agreed that it was better to keep it between themselves and the handful of others who were going to support them. This was another little triumph of manipulation for Danny, which only went to prove how utterly brilliant she was at getting people to say and do, even think, exactly what she wanted them to – and, of course, it illustrated perfectly how right she was for this role.

However, by the time she finished telling Sarah what she wanted her to know, her elation was starting to fade, for the look on Sarah’s face was at last serving to remind her of how very serious all this was.

Sarah was on her feet, getting more wine. ‘That’s a pretty gruesome tale,’ she said soberly as she refilled their glasses. ‘And it’s not that I don’t believe it. In Jake’s case I find it only too easy to believe, mainly because Morandi suspects him of being behind what’s going on too. But I’m afraid I just can’t accept that Morandi is willingly working with Jake. I’ve been with Morandi a lot this past fortnight, I’ve listened to him, I’ve seen the way all this is affecting him, so nothing you say is going to persuade me that he’s involved the way you say he is.’

‘It’s not me saying it,’ Danny pointed out. ‘It’s Consuela. And if you like, I’m sure she’ll agree to speak to you herself because I don’t have any evidence to prove that Morandi is a liar. I’m just taking her word for it, but if you spoke to her, if you saw the way all this is affecting her, you might change your mind.’

Sarah was shaking her head. ‘I won’t,’ she said, ‘because he’s not lying.’ Her heart suddenly turned cold then as she heard herself sounding exactly like Louisa when Louisa defended Jake to her. Both of them, she realized, were only going on gut instinct and though it was hard to believe that they could both be wrong, there was, if she were being totally honest with herself, a chance they might be. But no, she only had to picture Morandi’s face in her mind’s eye, his fear that Aphrodite’s murder had been carried out as some kind of warning to him, and she just knew that he was as helpless a victim of this as Consuela claimed to be. However, it wouldn’t do any harm to talk to Consuela, she thought, feeling horribly disloyal, if nothing else she might be able to shed some light on things for Morandi.

But what about Louisa? How were they going to persuade her that Jake was all that Consuela said he was? Maybe she should speak to Consuela too?

‘Yes, I’m sure Consuela would agree to that,’ Danny said when Sarah put it to her. It wasn’t a case now, she realized, of whose show it was, it was a case of getting Louisa as far from Jake as they could. One woman was dead already, two including Aphrodite, and no matter how much Danny wanted to steal the limelight in all this, Louisa’s life was infinitely more important than her own glory. And, should Louisa die, there would of course be no glory, there’d be only tragedy and heartbreak and an insufferable guilt that she, Danny, had stood in the way of Louisa finding out the truth for such trivial, self-seeking ends.

‘Do you think she’s with Jake now?’ Danny said quietly.

‘She could be,’ Sarah answered. ‘But Jean-Claude has been out all day, she might have gone somewhere with him. You know, Danny,’ she went on, ‘I don’t think Jake does mean her any harm. He’s always been honest with her about the fact that there would be no future for …’ She stopped and stared at Danny, horrified at the way her heart was flooding with dread as the ‘no future’ suddenly took on a whole new meaning.

‘Maybe you’d better tell me just what Jake has been saying to her,’ Danny said.

‘Is that Jean-Claude coming back?’ Sarah said hearing a car outside.

It was, but Louisa wasn’t with him.

‘I think, before we go any further,’ Sarah said as they walked back into the house, ‘that we should contact Consuela to see if she knows how we might get hold of Jake so that we can try to get Louisa back here.’

‘Good idea,’ Danny said, going to get the phone. Then suddenly remembering that it was after Consuela had hidden Martina from Jake that he had beaten Martina to death, she wondered if it was such a good idea. If Jake thought they were about to take Louisa away from him then God only knew what he might do.

‘Maybe I should call Erik,’ she said. ‘He’ll know how to get in touch with Jake and maybe he’ll go and get Louisa himself.’

‘No, I don’t think we should do that,’ Sarah said. ‘He could be just as likely to warn Jake of what we’re doing.’

‘But Erik’s not involved in any of this,’ Danny protested. ‘OK, he and Jake are friends, but …’

‘Oh Danny,’ Sarah groaned. ‘How can you say that when you know how close they are? And I’m sorry that I’m the one who has to point this out to you, but remember Aphrodite’s body was found in the Port de Fontvieille, right underneath Erik’s apartment.’

‘What are you saying?’ Danny said bristling. ‘That Erik killed her? You’ve got to be out of your mind if you think that. Erik wouldn’t hurt a fly. For God’s sake, he’s known all over the world, if there was anything shady about him don’t you think we’d know about it?’

‘Not necessarily,’ Sarah answered, thinking with a disheartening degree of despondency of how Danny was now doing the same as herself and Louisa in blinding herself to the possibility that the man she had fallen for could be as guilty as the others. ‘Two women are dead,’ she said flatly. ‘We know that Jake killed one and the chances are Erik killed the other.’

‘You don’t honestly think that if Erik killed Aphrodite he’d dump her body right outside his own front door, do you?’ Danny cried.

No, Sarah had to agree, that put like that it didn’t seem very likely. But if Erik didn’t do it, then who did? Which also begged the question that was whoever really had done it trying to make Erik the scapegoat?

‘My money’s on Morandi,’ Danny said, casting Sarah into further turmoil as she voiced the unthinkable suspicion that had just entered Sarah’s head. ‘He’s the one who’s here all the time, working with Jake,’ Danny went on. ‘He’s the one who puts those videos together, he’s the one who’s hiding behind a false identity and he’s the one Aphrodite accused of being a blackmailer.’

Sarah looked so crestfallen and beaten that Danny reached out for her hand to give it a comforting squeeze. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said softly. ‘I didn’t mean to sound so brutal.’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Sarah said bleakly. ‘It’s better that we thrash these things out now before any of us go in any deeper. But even if you’re right about Morandi, I still don’t see that that puts Erik in the clear, because he was the one who asked Jean-Claude to look after a quarter of a million dollars worth of pesos for Jake, so he’s got to know what’s going on.’

It was Danny’s turn to look shaken now for this was the first she’d heard about Erik asking Jean-Claude to look after money. And as Sarah saw her face blanch she tightened the grip on Danny’s hand. ‘The most important thing now,’ she said, ‘is Louisa. We’ve got to find out where she is and get her to come home.’