“Least of all Arthur and Holly,” said Alicia.
“In any case, Niles sounds enormously relieved that she’s shown up in one piece, even if it does mean he doesn’t get her inheritance. Maybe he’s not as bad as I thought. Oh and he swears black and blue that he had no idea his car was used to run you down, Missy. His sister borrowed it under false pretences and he never suspected a thing. Reckons he didn’t even notice the dents for a day or two, so just assumed it had happened at the café car park.”
She rolled her eyes. “Sure, I believe him. Not!”
“Speaking of cars, was there any significance to the book that Barbara left in her Mercedes when she disappeared?” asked Claire. “You know, there was that Poirot novel The Mystery of The Blue Train. Was that deliberate?”
“Oh I know!” said Missy, referring back to the book she had been scanning while they talked. “I’d actually picked up on this days ago but didn’t think anything of it. That was the book Agatha had started writing around the time she disappeared. She usually dashed books off in a matter of months, but she really struggled with that one, and now we know why—she was going through marital problems at the time. Barbara obviously left it as a clue for us, but we didn’t connect the dots.”
“I feel like a bit of a dunce to be honest,” said Alicia. “It seems so obvious now.”
Anders scoffed. “Not at all. I mean, it was a huge stretch for her to think that we would know all the intimate details of Agatha Christie’s own disappearance some 90 years ago. That we’d somehow put the two together. I’m stunned that you eventually did. I never would have twigged. Never.”
“We are the Agatha Christie Book Club, Anders,” said Missy and still he shook his head. “I’m just kicking myself I didn’t look up her library file earlier.”
“In any case, it didn’t really matter,” said Alicia, “because she honestly expected her brother to get her letter after a few days and the whole ordeal would be over. All she really wanted was for us to alert the police that she was missing and put Arthur under suspicion. That’s why she acted so nervously around him and gave us the idea that he was beating her up—wearing the scarf around her neck, acting all jittery. She knew we were the types to notice these things and would go to the police. And you have to give her credit for that. She was right. If it wasn’t for us, Arthur probably never would have said anything, he wouldn’t have gone to the cops, the story might never have broken and his reputation never would have got trashed.”
“He’d also probably still be alive,” said Claire, her head to one side.
“We don’t know that, Claire,” said Lynette. “Maybe Barbara’s disappearance only accelerated what would have happened anyway. Rosa Lopez is a nasty piece of work and there’s no way Arthur was going to hide his affair with Wanda forever. She might have found out eventually and still attacked him.”
Alicia shuddered. “Guess we’ll never know but I can tell you one thing, Barbara swears black and blue that she did not want Arthur dead. That was not her intention. Says she just wanted to teach him a lesson.”
“Tell that to the judge!” said Perry, rolling his eyes as he handed around a platter of cheeses and olives.
Anders scoffed, too. “Yeah sounds like justification to me. She led every one of us, including her family and the police force on a wild goose chase, and she should be punished for it.”
“Oh I think she will be,” said Alicia. “Roger tells me Ward’s considering laying charges of wasting valuable police time.”
“And what about our valuable time?” demanded Perry, holding the platter towards her now.
“We didn’t have to look into it,” Alicia reminded him, helping herself to a marinated olive. “It’s our own fault for being so bloody nosey.”
Claire stood up and poured herself a punch. “I make no apologies for trying to look out for Barbara. I mean, for all we knew, she was a sad, battered woman who could have been kidnapped.”
“I wish she had been! Preferably with a bit of torture thrown in,” hissed Perry who was clearly going to take some time to get over this one. “So tell me, how is little Miss Holly?”
Alicia scrunched her lips to the side. “Not sure. I called her house yesterday to see how she was doing but she was out with friends. I spoke to her aunt Harriet—Arthur’s sister has been staying there. Anyway she tells me Holly is relieved her mum’s alive, but furious at the same time. Currently not talking to her, and I can’t say I blame her.”
“Poor kid,” said Perry. He clapped his hands suddenly. “Okay gang, Barbara Parlour has taken up more than enough of our time already. Let’s get on with the next book club. It’s time to get lost in storyland again!”
“Hear, hear!” said Anders.
“Well before we do,” said Alicia, “I have one very important question to ask.” They all looked at her. “How are we all feeling about this book club?”
Uncertainty crossed their faces.
“I mean, you’re all here and I really appreciate that, but if anyone feels that it’s all been a bit much and wants to opt out of the club, well, I wouldn’t hold it against you.”
Several members laughed and Perry slapped her gently across the shoulder.
“Don’t be silly, sweetie!” he said. “I know I’ve been bitching about Barbara but I haven’t had so much excitement since Kylie Minogue came out for Mardi Gras! Of course we want to continue it, or at least I do. Well, sans bloody Barbara of course. After her disgraceful behaviour, she’s banned for life!”
They all nodded enthusiastically and each one gave Alicia a warm smile. When it was Anders’ turn to smile she could feel her heart thump through her cotton blouse.
She tried to hide her blush as she retrieved her book from her handbag. “Okay, in that case, I have just one new rule to add to the list.”
Again they all looked at her, puzzled.
“Rule #7: Everybody must show up promptly to each book club. I don’t want any more mysteries for a while!”
They laughed as they opened Murder on the Orient Express and began to discuss...
Three hours later, as the club members gathered their books and bid their farewells out near the front gate, Perry pulled Alicia and Lynette back inside.
“Should I say something to Claire?” he asked and Lynette stared at him, a look of mild panic on her face.
Alicia glanced from her sister to Perry, not quite getting it. Then it dawned on her. “You mean about her fiancé?” He nodded. “No way! No, no, no! Not here,” she hissed, “not like this, she’ll be mortified. And she’ll never want to see you again. Or any of us for that matter. She’ll hate us!”
“What? For telling her the truth and saving her from a fate worse than marriage?” Perry snorted. “Charlie’s behaviour is putting her health in danger too, you know. I have to say something.”
“You’re one to talk,” she spat and both Perry and Lynette looked at her confused. “Well, it takes two to tango, Perry. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.”
“What are you on about?” asked Lynette.
“Perry and Charlie,” she said.
“Perry and Charlie what?” asked Perry. He frowned. “You don’t think that I... that Charlie and I...?” The frown turned to a look of horror. “I may be desperate these days, darls, but I don’t play around with other people’s fiancés, and certainly not pseudo straight ones who can’t find their way out of the closet. What do you take me for? I have my standards, puh-lease!”
He sat down on the sofa with a humff and Lynette turned on her sister.
“Jesus, Alicia, you’ve got this one all wrong. Perry hasn’t been having an affair with Charlie. His flatmate, Jonathan, has.”
“Jonathan?”
“Yes, Jonathan Grayson, the author. The one Charlie’s been working on the manuscript with.”
Alicia sat down with a clunk, too. “Oh my God,” she said. “Sorry, Perry, I got it all wrong—”
“Got what all wrong?” asked Claire who had an unca
nny ability to walk in at the most inopportune times. She had a silk Hermes scarf wrapped around her glossy black locks now, a clutch purse under one arm and a look of pitiful calm on her face. “Come on you lot, we’re all out the front, waiting to say goodbye. What’s the hold up?”
Alicia looked at her, unsure what to say, but she didn’t have to say anything. Perry had already jumped up, taken Claire’s hands in his and was drawing her back down to the sofa.
“I have some grim news, my sweet, and I think it’s about time you heard it.”
She looked at him blankly, then up at Alicia and Lynette. They both tried to give her a reassuring smile, but they had a hunch nothing was going to help this news go down any easier. Perry gripped her hands tighter and forced her to look back at him.
“It’s about your fiancé.”
“Charlie? What about him?”
He took a deep breath. “I say this as a friend, nothing more.” Another deep breath. “He’s not who you think he is.”
She blinked several times then laughed. “Oooh, sounds like another Christie plot. Don’t tell me, he’s CIA, a spy!”
Perry shook his head sadly. “Oh if only he was. It’s much worse than that, or at least it is for you, I’m afraid.” He paused again then said very simply, “He’s gay.”
At first Claire didn’t seem to register what Perry had said, still watching him as though happily waiting for more. Then it must have hit her like a slap across the face because she jumped up and held a hand to her cheek, her eyes flashing with anger.
“What did you just say?!”
“I’m sorry, Claire, but I know for a fact that Charlie is gay.”
Her jaw dropped. “You are unbelievable!” she snapped. “First you try and turn Anders—the way you’ve been flirting with him is outrageous! Now Charlie?! Will you stop at no one?” She placed the hand on her hip. “Not everyone bats for your side you know! Some men love women I’ll have you know!”
Perry sighed. “I do not doubt that he loves you, Claire, but he loves my flatmate too, I’m afraid, or at least he does whenever he gets a chance.” He winced, hadn’t meant to sound so crass. “I’m only telling you this because you have a right to know. Your fiancé is a fraud.”
He sat back in his chair and sighed again. Lynette stepped towards Claire.
“I’m so sorry, Claire, but he’s right, or at least, half right. Charlie is obviously bi-sexual, but maybe you already knew that?”
“How dare you?” she said, now turning on Lynette. “Charlie is my fiancé. My fiancé!” She stopped, gulped hard. “He’s my soul mate, we’re perfect for each other. Perfect...”
She backed towards the door as if about to flee, so Alicia stepped in this time and held her arm, pulling her back in. “Hear Perry out, Claire. You might not want to hear this, but it’s vital that you do.”
The anger in her eyes was palpable, but there was a glimmer of a doubt there, too, and the doubt eventually won out. She stepped back into the room and took a seat across from Perry, her hands neatly entwined in her lap, her beautiful feline eyes not meeting anyone’s. Alicia gave Perry the nod. He cleared his throat and began.
“When I first met you, Claire, at the Finlay house for that first Book Club get-together, you quoted your fiancé, Charlie. It was a quote I’d heard from another Charlie only recently: ‘You can be the rose between two thorns’.”
“So?” she scoffed, staring at the ceiling now. “There must be loads of Charlies who use the same quotes, this is ridiculous.”
“Let him finish,” whispered Alicia and Claire glanced at her and away.
“Then, later that day, you said your Charlie worked in publishing, and well, that’s when I began to wonder. You see, the Charlie I know, the one who uses that exact quote, he works in publishing, too.” He held up a hand before she could say anything. “The Charlie I know has been seeing my flatmate, a budding novelist called Jonathan Grayson. They’ve been lovers for a few months now.” He stopped and let the news settle in while he watched her for signs of distress. Claire did not flinch, her expression now vacant.
“I hoped I was wrong, Claire, honestly I did. I’d only met my flatmate’s handsome Eurasion lover once, when he said that quote jokingly as he was running out my front door very early one morning. He was talking about a meeting between himself, Jonathan and a book editor called Miller. Ring a bell?”
A look of comprehension crossed Claire’s brow but she still couldn’t meet his eyes, so he continued. “I met Charlie just one other time, Claire. At your boutique, the evening you introduced us all to your fiancé. And he recognised me, too, of that I am certain. He broke up with Jonathan that same night, just before my flatmate was due to fly to England to check out cover designs for his new book. He didn’t explain why. He didn’t have to, at least not to me. But Jonno’s cut up. He didn’t know, either. He fooled you both.”
Finally, unable to hold it together any longer, Claire burst into tears and both Alicia and Lynette ran to her, trying to comfort, knowing it would never be enough. Perry produced a box of tissues but Claire was already reaching into her handbag for a cotton handkerchief. It was fringed with lace and monogrammed with her initials.
At this point Missy and Anders strode in, clearly impatient with waiting out front, but before they could say anything Lynette had jumped up and was shooing them back outside, leaving Alicia and Perry to sooth the distressed woman.
“My life was so perfect,” she said between sobs. “I had my beautiful boutique, my beautiful boy. My mother even approved of him, and she doesn’t approve of anyone. We were going to buy an apartment in Elizabeth Bay, one of those beautiful art deco places, you know the ones?”
They both nodded and she continued staring at them wistfully.
“I first met him at the shop, you know. He came in looking for a fedora and I thought he was the bees knees. He didn’t flirt with me like so many men do... God, how could I not have seen it?”
Alicia shook her head. “Just because he doesn’t flirt and dresses well, doesn’t mean he has to be gay,” she said but Perry rolled his eyes at her, not quite agreeing.
“He was just so polite and chivalrous and...”
“And all the things we women expect from a man because we read too much bloody fiction,” Alicia said. “He looked like the man of your dreams, Claire. But he wasn’t. He’s not.”
Claire nodded and, after a few minutes, blew her nose delicately and wiped the tears from her eyes. “You know, I ought to thank you, Perry.” She gave him a sideways glare. “I suspected, of course. How could I not? I just wasn’t ready to face it, yet. That’s all.” She sniffed. “All those late nights at work ‘correcting proofs’, all those long dinners ‘discussing the marketing campaign’. Ha! I did suspect, of course I suspected...” She gulped hard. “But it’s hard to accept an affair with another woman... let alone a man. It’s just... it’s disgusting!” She stopped and looked at Perry, mortified. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean that you, that being gay is disgusting... I... I just mean that the betrayal is so much worse.”
He squeezed her hand. “Of course it is, sweetie. I understand that. He lied to you, he lied to Jonathan, and he lied to himself. I’m not sure which one is worse but he’s not worth these tears, Claire, you do know that?”
She sniffed again, dabbing at her nose gently with her hanky. She nodded. Then, oddly, she laughed, a kind of giggly girlie laugh. “Missy was right,” she said when she’d recovered. “Four years is a ridiculously long time to be engaged. I should’ve twigged after two!” She giggled again. “She knows more about human nature than we give her credit for, that woman.”
Of this they could all agree.
“You going to be okay?” Alicia asked as she helped her to her feet.
“Oh yes,” said Claire, placing her hanky in her bag and straightening the scarf on her head. “No mere mortal is going to destroy me. Not even Charlie what’s-his-name!”
And with that she strode out of the room, head hel
d high, her future no longer on hold, waiting for a man she could never have. Claire’s life was back in her own hands again, and there was a certain freedom in that, at least there was for Claire Hargreaves.
Alicia watched her go and then turned to give Perry a hug. “Good work,” she said. “That was brave.”
“And apologies, perhaps?” he said, pouting.
She laughed. “And yes I am very, very sorry for suspecting you of something so hideous. Looks like Charlie Szeto and Barbara Parlour would make a good match. They’re both experts at fooling everyone around them.”
“Not quite everyone,” he said, locking his elbow through hers and leading her back outside. “Thank God for you and me, my darling. The world would be in such a muddle without us!”
*****
Later that night as they made their way to bed, Lynette stopped Alicia on the stairs and asked, “Are you okay? You’ve had such a huge couple of weeks. And I’m not just talking about Barbara Parlour.”
Alicia nodded. “I’m fine, thanks, Lynny. Exhausted but so glad it’s all over. Barbara might be vile, but I’m also glad she’s still alive, if only for Holly’s sake. As for Charlie Szeto—good riddance!” She sighed. “It’s horrible what’s happened to Claire but, like she said, she’ll survive and she’ll be stronger for it, too.”
“And what about the dishy doc?” Lynette raised her eyebrows a few times, teasingly.
“What about him?”
“Well, what’s happening, woman? It’s pretty bloody obvious the guy likes you. Are you finally going to connect, or you going to keep playing coy until you’re middle-aged?!”
Alicia laughed. “I honestly don’t know what’s happening with Anders,” she said. “I’m open to it and I’ve told him that. I think it’s another case of not rushing things, seeing what happens down the track. He’s coming out of a pretty horrible marriage breakdown.”
She hadn’t told Lynette all the ugly details. It was hard keeping secrets from her sister but Anders had begged her to keep it private, so she had honoured that.
The Agatha Christie Book Club Page 25
