Poison in the Water

by Marissa de Luna

  Celeste shrugged. The look on Bonnie’s face betrayed her words, and Celeste felt a little resentment for having told her. She could be so righteous sometimes. She decided not to tell her friends that with just a single punch Alex had knocked the man out cold. She didn’t want them to judge him before they met him. So she dropped the subject and asked Bonnie what shade of lipstick she was wearing. She didn’t listen to the answer. All this talk of money, the wandering eye of Warwick Renshaw and this dark side of Alex was making her feel quite uneasy.

  8

  5th December 2007

  Mayfair, London

  ‘Rachel, you made it. How divine. Come and sit next to me.’ Sophia patted the purple velvet sofa next to where she was seated. ‘How’ve you been? Is that Fendi?’ She asked pointing to Rachel’s handbag. She didn’t wait for an answer. ‘You must tell me about Positano. Is it worth a visit? I haven’t been to Italy in ages.’

  Rachel scanned the room and then sat down. ‘It was beautiful. I could have spent another couple of nights there.’

  ‘Oh, then you should have luvvie, you should have. You stayed in Luca’s villa?’

  ‘It was fantastic.’

  ‘I was just saying to a friend that he must go there too…’

  ‘You talking about me, Soph?’ A tall man in a navy suit and crisp white shirt, clutching a glass of champagne walked up to where they were seated.

  ‘William?’ Sophia asked, raising her eyebrows.

  ‘Of course, darling,’ he replied.

  She stood up and kissed him on both cheeks. ‘You must meet my dear friend Rach. She’s one of us,’ Sophia said with a wink. ‘Willy’s been on a long holiday too.’

  ‘Let’s get you a drink then.’ He clicked his fingers in the air and a waiter arrived to take his order of champagne, which arrived moments later. Sophia took a glass, made her excuses and stepped away. Rachel nervously leaned back on the plush sofa and accepted the drink, clinking glasses with the handsome man. She had heard that The Emerald Rooms was the place to meet someone. She didn’t realise it would happen so soon though. She took a sip of the champagne, letting the bubbles effervesce at the back of her mouth. It was presumptuous of him ordering her a drink without even asking what she had wanted, but she liked it. She ran her fingers through her hair and leaned in closer to hear what he was saying.

  ‘This club’s pretty exclusive. Best in London. I’ve lived here for a good part of my life. I’ve seen the inside of some of these so-called exclusive clubs. Bloody hell some of them are no better than a glorified Butlins, and some are so far up themselves it’s untrue. But The Emerald Rooms, this club has the right amount of everything.’ He placed his hand on her shoulder making the hairs on her arms stand on end. As she knocked back her drink she noticed Sophia looking over at them from the bar. Her cheeks coloured and her friend looked away. Sophia was a mysterious woman she had met through a work colleague. She had immediately taken her under her wing, even though they didn’t know each other well. Sophia had got her into this club straight away, bypassing the six month waiting list and Rachel supposed she had to be thankful to her for that, but there was something almost sinister in the way that Sophia looked at her sometimes. She had broached the subject with Alicia, but Alicia accused her of watching too many episodes of Gossip Girl – typical of Alicia, ever the diplomat.

  She caught Sophia’s eye and then looked away feeling a pang of guilt. Sophia had been kind enough to get her into the club. Plus, she was one of the only single friends she had left. She looked around the room. William was right. The Emerald Rooms was a perfect members’ club. It was glamorous yet comfortable and only a little pretentious. And it was cosy. The room they were in was only small, with space for about fifty people. The dim light from the chandeliers ensured privacy for people at the edge of the room. She could understand why so many celebrities were members.

  ‘Where do all these doors lead?’ Rachel asked. She had only been to the club a handful of times and they had never strayed from the main bar.

  ‘That door there leads to the stairs to the bathrooms and the restaurant,’ William said, pointing towards the door directly in front of her. ‘The room over there is the Onyx bar. It’s a decent sort of place. Good for a drink after work, before this room really gets going.’

  ‘What’s through that door there?’ Rachel turned and pointed to a silver door at the back of the room.

  ‘Ah, that door,’ William squeezed her shoulder. ‘I’m sure we’ll come to that later. There’s another bar upstairs, a library and a day room, done up like your nan’s living room. Not worth the trip. This is the room you need to be in.’

  Rachel took a sip of her drink. The champagne was good, but she really needed something to take the edge off. The women in this club were all dripping in diamonds, sipping champagne and dressed in varying lengths of black. They stood about laughing with men Rachel could only imagine were not their husbands. The men wore suits with white shirts. Their top shirt buttons open signifying the end of the day. Rachel smiled. Diamonds and white shirts – the uniform of the wealthy. ‘I don’t suppose you have something a little stronger?’ Rachel asked briefly touching her finger to her nose. She took another sip of the pale liquid in her glass and looked at William out of the corner of her eye.

  William grinned. ‘Know our Soph well?’

  ‘She got me my membership here.’

  ‘Well, I’m sure we can get something for you then. After all she did say you were one of us.’

  ‘You’re not joining me?’

  William stood up and Rachel followed. Placing his hand on the small of her back he guided her towards the silver door. She felt her spine tingle as his hand moved up her back.

  He stopped at the door and turned to her. ‘You’re terribly sexy,’ he whispered.

  She felt her face flush. William punched in a code and turned the handle. ‘Welcome to paradise.’

  9

  Barnet, North London

  ‘I moved in with Alex. It was a mews in Mayfair. A house the Renshaws happened to have lying empty. I think a member of staff was staying there before Alex booted him out. He blindfolded me when he took me to see the place. Wouldn’t let me open my eyes till he put the key in my hand outside. The house was perfect.’

  ‘Did you have fun decorating it together?’

  Celeste narrowed her eyes at Elaine. ‘What have they been telling you?’

  Elaine held up her hands, then she dropped them and picked up her pen.

  ‘I don’t want you to write this down.’

  ‘I’m only making notes for myself, Celeste. No one else will see them.’

  Celeste crossed her arms over her chest. She looked away. ‘I didn’t decorate the house. Alex’s father, Warwick, had a personal assistant, Kealana, who used to do things like that. She decorated the house before we moved in. She was always flitting in and out of our lives. I knew when she had been in our house because she always left a vase of fresh white lilies on the console table and removed pictures of Alex and I, placing them in our bedroom – something or the other about Feng Shui. I once told Alex it was ludicrous. But he said that since Kealana had been about Renshaw had been going from strength to strength. You couldn’t argue with that. She had a thing about keeping the entrances of each house clutter free as well. I found it odd that she had the freedom to do as she pleased. She had keys to all the Renshaw properties around the world. She flew around the globe like she was a Renshaw herself. It unnerved me a little. But I soon learned I had to get used to staff being around all the time.’

  ‘Perhaps Kealana was the mother figure the Renshaws were missing. And by having a key, she made their lives easier.’

  Celeste looked into the distance. ‘Hmm, I suppose. I misjudged her though. But then I misjudged a lot of things.’ She looked back to Elaine and smiled.

  ‘So you were living your dream?’

  ‘Thought I had it all. I had come from nothing and things just kept getting better and better. I di
dn’t question anything for fear of losing it, and I really had no reason to.’

  ‘You believe that you came from nothing?’

  ‘Back then I did.’

  ‘Did you ever talk about your up-bringing with Alex?’

  She shook her head. ‘Not then.’

  ‘How did you feel about having come from the East Row council estate?’

  ‘There was a time in my life when I couldn’t bear to think about it. Someone only had to ask me what my favourite cereal was as a child and I would break out into a cold sweat. As if when I told them they would be able to glimpse into my past. But I finally got over that at university. I realised we all come from different walks of life. I’m proud of where I’ve come from. Plus, it gave me the drive to make me achieve. I wanted success and I made it happen. I’m determined.’

  ‘Do you always get what you want?’

  Celeste uncrossed her arms. She fiddled with the hem of her cardigan. ‘I studied hard. Well, I can’t say I was great with academic subjects, but I knew I had a talent for design so I put all my effort into that. I wanted a well-paid job in London and I knew I’d have to work hard to get it. Once I got it, though, I wasn’t satisfied. My dream shifted. I wanted to see the world – eat street food in Bangkok, climb a glacier in New Zealand, dance till dawn at a beach party in Fiji. And I did just that. I remember sitting on that aeroplane flying out of London thinking I was the luckiest girl in the world. Then when I had done all that, I wanted my job back. I wanted to buy fancy things. Alex called it passion for life – perhaps it was just greed.’

  Elaine made a note in her book. ‘Over time our dreams change. Wanting to give up the travelling lifestyle after a year of living that way is more natural than living a nomadic lifestyle. You wanted routine.’

  ‘At this point I knew Alex and I were going to be together. I – ’ Celeste stopped herself. Had she said too much? She eyed Elaine who was busy scribbling something. What was she writing? She had hoped that the feeling, the unhealthy feeling would have passed. But those feelings were still there, bubbling underneath. When she closed her eyes at night and when she opened them in the morning those feelings made themselves known, nagging at her, bringing her down. She looked at the clock. Did they have enough time? Celeste waited for Elaine to say something – something to excuse how she had felt about Alex.

  Eventually, she nodded.

  How had she lost the ability to read people without a physical nod or shake of the head? She could do it so well before. Before what? No, she didn’t want to think of that right now. The blood loss had been so severe, the trauma intense. But it wasn’t that one incident that had changed the way her mind functioned. It had been a slow process. Orchestrated perfectly over years and years, and he had been behind it.

  ‘Celeste?’

  ‘I was tired of living out of a backpack on a meagre existence, sponging off Alex. Although that didn’t change when we got back to London. I insisted on paying the bills because he wouldn’t let me pay him any rent. Don’t get me wrong, the gas bill alone did some damage. Heating a house with single pane sash windows doesn’t come cheap. But it was nowhere near the rent I should have been paying. Alex said he could afford it, and after a while I stopped complaining. I couldn’t complain. My time with him, in London, was perfect. Like I said, things just got better and better. You could say it was the rise before the fall.’

  10

  5th December 2007

  Mayfair, London

  Rachel stepped out of the room and closed the silver door behind her.

  ‘There you are,’ Sophia said.

  ‘Oh, I was just…’

  Sophia narrowed her eyes and smiled. ‘I can see what you were doing, Rach.’

  ‘Ladies,’ William said, with a grin as he opened the door Rachel had just closed. He disappeared down the corridor.

  ‘I don’t know what to…’ Rachel looked at the floor hoping Sophia wouldn’t notice her flushed cheeks. She touched the underside of her nose worried that some residue was left behind. She felt foolish carrying on with William in The Emerald Rooms like a teenager. Somehow he had managed to bring out a side to her that she didn’t know existed.

  ‘There’s no need to be embarrassed. We’re all adults here. Although most of the members here don’t act like it,’ William had said to her just over an hour ago. But she was anxious. She had heard rumours that Sophia and William had been lovers. She knew no more than that. The uncertainty of why their affair ended made her feel uneasy, but at least she could understand why Sophia was here sniffing around, wanting to know how things were going between her and William. She didn’t really want to think of Sophia and William together. But supposedly, the club members of Emerald Rooms all seemed to have some kind of history with one another.

  Did all rich people behave like this? Rachel was a member, but her bank balance made her feel like an imposter. She earned well, with a banking job in the city, but her salary was incomparable to… well to whom? William certainly had money. Most of the men at The Emerald Rooms did, or so it appeared from their frivolous lifestyles. They came from wealth you could just tell – the way they addressed their female acquaintances with over-the-top cries of ‘darrrling’, and their limitless tabs behind the bar. But Rachel wondered where Sophia’s money came from? She never talked about a job. Had she married money at some point in her life? Or was she born into it? Then again, did it matter? The women were all there for the same reason as Rachel – they were all just trying to get a boyfriend in a city where single women outnumbered men.

  ‘No need to be apologetic,’ Sophia said, waking Rachel from her thoughts. But Sophia’s face betrayed her words. ‘I can see Willy has a soft spot for you, and I can hardly mind that.’

  11

  10th December 2007

  Mayfair, London

  ‘London’s changed since you left, fashions have changed. You have the East producing higher quality garments and new designers are opening boutiques left, right and centre. And the department stores, oof! Don’t get me started. They’re going to be the end of us.’ Maryanne fixed her eyes on Celeste. ‘But I must be crazy because I still want to expand. I don’t have children. My shops are my babies and I want to open that final store in Hong Kong. That’s where people are shopping these days. Look at the figures.’ Maryanne pulled a folder out of her drawer and placed it on the table in front of her.

  Celeste perused the contents. She didn’t have a head for numbers, but she could tell the market in Hong Kong was more buoyant than the retail market in London just by looking at the colourful pie chart.

  ‘I need an investor to make Hong Kong a reality. I have a couple of bigwigs in the retail world lined up to view our next collection. But I need a designer. Someone who can make sure Cross stays ahead of the game. Your replacement was a waste of time. Cost me more money than she was worth – designed a terrible spring collection.’

  Celeste supressed a smile. Maryanne was a tough boss to please and she didn’t put up with second best.

  ‘Tell me, kid, do you still have an eye for what’s going to be in fashion three seasons before it actually happens?’

  ‘I can tell you that Marc Jacobs will re-launch tweed for his next fall collection and bags are going to be structured. Low waist jeans are not here to stay and the colour of the season will be plum – a deep purple. Chunky knits will also be making a comeback and I have a beautiful design in mind for a classic cashmere wrap, which is guaranteed to be a wardrobe staple – perhaps part of a capsule collection.’

  ‘You remind me so much of myself when I was your age. You want it all don’t you? Life better make way for you. I don’t blame you, kid. And if things go well, we can talk about you investing into Cross – being part of it. God knows there’s no one else to carry on my legacy. Maryanne leaned back in her chair. ‘Truth be told, I rather you have your own money than marry into it. That causes all sorts of problems.’

  ‘How did…’

  ‘London’s not as
big as you think darlin’. You can’t be dating one of London’s most eligible bachelors and expect it to stay under wraps.’

  ‘I’ve only been back a week or so.’

  ‘I expected you to meet someone. You’re a good-looking gal, striking even, with that new hair of yours. Plus, you’ve got determination and a bit of oomph. That’s attractive in itself. But a Renshaw! Who would have guessed?’

  Was Maryanne implying that she was punching above her weight?

  ‘You be careful. The rich like to play games. And the Renshaws, they certainly know how to play the game.’

  ‘You know them?’ Last night she had cancelled plans to meet Alicia’s new friends, Rachel and Sophia, to meet Alex’s father. She had heard so much about Rachel and Sophia, she was worried they were taking her place in Alicia’s life. Sophia sounded like a bitch, but Rachel sounded like someone she would get along with. She was keen to meet them, but she couldn’t resist Alex’s offer when he said he wanted to introduce her to his dad.

  Warwick Renshaw had been charming but sharp. He had questioned her in depth about Cross and spoke to her with a keen fascination in the retail industry. A sector he said was far too risky for Renshaw to ever dabble in. She had laughed, a nervous laugh, not knowing whether he was joking or being serious.

  ‘I knew Warwick once,’ Maryanne said with distant look that said it all.

  So Alicia was right, Celeste mused. Warwick had been a player in his time. Was he already married when he had met Maryanne? Or had it been just a passing fling? Celeste could see the attraction of the older man. His neat attire and Tom Selleck deep-set eyes. He exuded charisma, wealth and power.

  ‘I could use your help with this, kid. If you thought I worked you hard before you went off on your trip well that was nothing. I need 110% from you.’

  Celeste had forgotten just how demanding Maryanne could be. But at the same time this offer had lit a fire inside her. She leaned back in her chair and bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from smiling. Alex’s parting words as she left him this morning came back to her. ‘Poker face,’ he had said. ‘Don’t give away your hand too soon.’