by Susan Lewis
Chapter Twenty-Six
THOUGH LAURIE HAD known of the letter’s existence since yesterday, after she and Rose contacted the lawyer, it was only a few minutes ago that Detective Inspector James, who was leading the hunt for Sherry, had called to inform her that he was about to fax it over.
‘Is anyone with you?’ he’d asked.
‘Yes, Rose. My partner.’
‘Then I suggest you let her read it at the same time,’ he’d cautioned.
Now, as the fax came through, Rose picked it up from the machine, made a copy and passed it to Laurie who was sitting at her desk.
They read in silence, first about the note Suzy had left at Sherry’s flat, then about the videotaping of the women, then about Sherry’s call to Karima Ghosh to set up a meeting with Eddie Cribbs. As she reached the part that concerned her, Laurie’s heart began a hard, dull thud.
‘… I am now about to go and meet Eddie Cribbs at Cinnabar Wharf,’ Sherry had written. ‘It is my intention to ask him to arrange Laurie Forbes’s death in return for the videotape I have made of the women he is forcing into prostitution. The videotape and address for the women is enclosed with this letter. Should Laurie Forbes already be dead by the time this letter is opened, and it is my hope that she will be, I wish it to be absolutely clear that it was at my request that Eddie Cribbs, or one of his contacts, carried out the murder. I want her to die as a punishment for her betrayal. It is also my hope that Eddie Cribbs and others will be arrested for their part in her murder, as well as for the imprisonment and inhuman treatment of the women they have trafficked into this country.
‘Lastly I would like it to be fully understood that my mother did not kill my father. I am one hundred per cent responsible for his death, and my mother knows this. She has suffered long enough for a crime she did not commit, and now, in doing what I have, I hope that I will be able to set her free and pay for his murder myself, even though it might turn out that it is Laurie’s death that ensures this …’
At that point Laurie stopped reading. She couldn’t focus any more, the words were too blurred by the force of the shock.
Rose looked up, her face almost as white as Laurie’s.
Neither of them spoke as Laurie left her chair and went to look out of the window. At the end of the street was the smart mustard façade of Dunbar Wharf, where Sherry’s flat was on the second floor, next door to Rhona’s. She’d spent a lot of time at that flat, especially lately. She’d come to know Sherry well, or thought she had. Her fondness had grown along with her respect, for Sherry’s kindness and loyalty, her humour and unfailing support. Throughout all this dreadful time with Elliot Sherry had been there for her, had never once let her down …
‘Are you all right?’ Rose asked.
After a beat Laurie nodded and swallowed hard. ‘I think so,’ she answered. ‘I just … I was just thinking of what a good friend she’s always been to me. We didn’t know her long, eight months maybe, but in that time she proved over and over just how much she cared. And how do I repay her? By sleeping with the only man she ever loved. This is what I pushed her into doing.’
‘Laurie, for heaven’s sake, I hope you’re not going to start blaming yourself,’ Rose scolded. ‘No matter what went on between you and Nick, nothing can excuse what she tried to do … What she’s already done, because by her own admission she killed her father.’ Rose looked at the letter again, as though to make sure that was what she’d read, for it still hardly seemed credible.
Laurie seemed to be only half listening. ‘She was so lonely,’ she said. ‘I don’t think I ever realized that quite as much as I do now.’
‘You welcomed her into your life. You opened doors for her …’
‘I betrayed her,’ Laurie interrupted. ‘That’s what she says in the letter, and she’s right. She’d never have done this if I hadn’t slept with Nick.’
Understanding that she needed to take a firm line, Rose said, ‘Laurie, I’ll remind you again, there’s still her father, and the fact that she could actually go to Eddie Cribbs and ask him to have anyone killed, never mind you, shows that in some fundamental way she is flawed. You can’t be responsible for that. You just can’t.’
Laurie turned round, her eyes still showing how shocked and guilty she was feeling.
‘Did you hear what I said?’ Rose demanded.
Laurie nodded, but her gaze was drifting again. ‘I wonder where she is,’ she said. ‘Has Eddie Cribbs done away with her, in spite of their bargain? He’s fled the country now, so he won’t be concerned about the videotape. Or is she going to turn up in California, the way the police think?’
‘We won’t know until they call,’ Rose replied, looking at the phone as it started to ring.
Laurie watched and listened as Rose answered. ‘Oh hi, Elliot,’ she said, her eyes going to Laurie. ‘I’m fine thank you. Yes, she’s here …’
Laurie shook her head and held up a hand, in a blocking gesture.
‘… but I’m afraid she doesn’t want to speak to you.’ She paused, then said, ‘Yes, I’ll tell her. I don’t think she’ll come though. We’ve just had a bit of a shock, about Sherry.’
‘Rose, no,’ Laurie protested.
Rose continued to tell Elliot about the letter. When she’d finished she looked at Laurie again. ‘He wants to come over,’ she said.
Laurie shook her head. How could she deal with him now, when she barely even knew how to deal with herself?
‘She doesn’t want you to,’ Rose told him.
As Rose rang off Laurie’s heart was twisting with longing to see him, and with anger and so much confusion that she had no clear idea how she really felt.
It was late in the afternoon when Detective Inspector James called again, this time to inform them that the Beverly Hills police had just escorted Sherry to Los Angeles airport, where she would soon be boarding a flight to Heathrow.
‘We’ll be there to pick her up when she arrives tomorrow,’ he told Laurie.
‘Had she been to visit her mother?’ she asked.
‘Apparently, yes.’
Laurie put a hand to her head, unable even to imagine how difficult and painful it must have been. ‘Is there any chance I’ll be able to see her?’ she asked.
‘Frankly, after that letter, I’m surprised you’d want to, but no, at least not right away. She’ll be up in front of the magistrates in a couple of days. There’s not much doubt she’ll be remanded in custody, but if you still want to, you might be able to grab a few minutes with her then, presuming she’s willing. Other than that, it’ll be a prison visit.’
As Laurie put the phone down she covered her face with her hands and wondered whether she felt more like crying, or just slipping away to another existence. ‘I wish there was something I could do to help her,’ she said, after telling Rose what the inspector had said.
‘Come on,’ Rose said, going to put an arm around her. ‘Let’s go and get ourselves a stiff drink. We could more than do with one. Then, instead of worrying about Sherry, I think you should decide what you’re going to do about Elliot, because you can’t keep on avoiding him.’
*
Two days later Laurie and Anita were shown into a small, soulless room at the back of Tower Bridge Magistrates Court, where Sherry was already sitting at an empty table. Her lawyer was standing to one side, talking quietly into the phone, apparently informing the person at the other end that Sherry had been remanded in custody and would be transferred in the next few minutes to Holloway Prison.
Sherry’s face was pale and tight, though it showed little of the fear Laurie had been expecting. There was more a hint of wariness, and perhaps a slight confusion. During the short proceedings she’d kept her head lowered, looking at no-one in the court, not even the magistrate when he had pronounced his finding. Yet now she didn’t seem to be balking at eye contact at all, as she looked first at Laurie, then to Anita.
‘I’ve told them I’d like you to do the psychiatric assessment,’ she sai
d, almost curtly.
Anita looked uneasy. ‘I’m afraid I’m not qualified,’ she responded, sounding as wretched as she felt. ‘But I can definitely refer you.’
‘OK. Whoever you judge best.’ She moved her gaze back to Laurie. For what seemed an eternity she merely stared at her, saying nothing, only seeming to find her presence curious, or perhaps even intrusive. ‘They said you wanted to see me,’ she eventually stated.
Laurie nodded, but now she was here, faced with a Sherry she barely recognized, her friend’s warm, familiar self seemingly possessed by a hard, cold stranger, she was no longer sure what she wanted to say.
Sherry waited, giving her no help at all.
‘I just want you to know,’ Laurie finally managed, ‘that I’m sorry.’
Sherry blinked once or twice, then looked away. ‘Are you still seeing him?’ she asked bluntly.
‘No. It was never … It was a mistake. It shouldn’t have happened.’
‘But it did, and you knew how much he meant to me.’
Laurie’s eyes were wide as she looked at her.
‘Is it forgiveness you’re waiting for now?’ Sherry asked.
Laurie shook her head.
‘Then what?’
‘Nothing. Except … I forgive what you tried to do to me.’
Sherry’s expression remained stony. ‘Does Nick hate me now?’ she asked, her eyes flicking to Anita, then back again.
‘I don’t think so.’
‘What does he say about me?’
‘He’s concerned. We all are.’
‘Where is he now?’
‘I’m not sure,’ Laurie lied, not wanting to admit that as far as she was aware he was still on Hydra, for she had no idea if Sherry even knew he’d been there.
Sherry turned to Anita. ‘I want to stay in touch with him,’ she told her. ‘As a therapist, would you say that was a good idea?’
Anita looked taken aback. ‘I’m not sure,’ she answered cautiously. ‘We’d need to discuss it, and, I suppose, find out if he’s willing.’
‘Would you do that for me?’
‘Of course.’
‘Tell him I forgive his betrayal. He’s a man, so he’s weak. My father was the same. I always forgave him too, until the end.’ She turned back to Laurie. ‘My only regret in all this,’ she said, ‘is that I didn’t kill the woman he was going to leave my mother for. If I’d done that, he’d still be with my mother and she would never have spent seven years in prison paying for my crime.’
Understanding what she was saying, that she’d chosen to punish Laurie, not Nick, so that she could continue to love Nick, and maybe even keep him in her life, Laurie made no response.
They all looked up a moment later as the door opened and a court official came in, followed by a uniformed prison officer.
‘Time to go,’ Sherry’s lawyer said, ending his phone call.
Sherry stood up.
Anita started to cry and put her arms around her. ‘I’ll come to see you,’ she promised. ‘As soon as I can.’
As Sherry embraced her, her eyes stayed on Laurie, but she said nothing as she let Anita go and turned to walk ahead of her lawyer and the others, out of the door.
Laurie and Anita travelled in silence back to Laurie’s office.
‘Do you have time to come in?’ Laurie said, as the cab pulled up outside. ‘For some reason it feels wrong for us just to part now, as though none of it mattered.’
Appearing relieved that Laurie felt the same way she did, Anita climbed out after her and tried to insist on paying the fare.
‘It’s already done,’ Laurie said, and telling the driver to keep the change, she stood aside as he drove away. ‘I wonder if she’s at the prison yet,’ she said, staring down the street towards Dunbar Wharf, where Sherry’s flat was on the second floor.
‘She was so different,’ Anita remarked. ‘So unlike her normal self.’
Laurie looked down at her, and on impulse gave her a hug. ‘I’m glad we went,’ she said. ‘I don’t know if she is, but I think it was good that we did.’
‘Will you keep in touch with her?’ Anita asked.
‘I’m not sure. It’s too soon to tell, and if today was anything to go by, I don’t think she wants me to. Will you?’
‘Yes. I’m sure I will.’
Laurie smiled. ‘Come on, let’s go inside,’ she said.
As she pushed open the door she was about to start introducing Anita to Rose when she suddenly stopped. The last person she’d expected to see, perched on the edge of a desk, was Nick.
‘I didn’t realize you were back,’ she said, collecting herself quickly.
‘I flew back last night,’ he replied, coming to embrace her. ‘How did it go at the court?’
Laurie turned to Anita. ‘Have you two met?’
Anita shook her head and held out her hand. ‘I’m guessing you’re Nick,’ she said.
‘This is Anita, a good friend of Sherry’s,’ Laurie informed him. ‘And this is Rose, my partner. Sherry’s been remanded in custody, as we expected,’ she told them.
‘How was she?’ Nick asked. ‘Did you manage to talk to her?’
‘Yes. It’s hard to say how she was. She seems very … detached.’
‘She wants to stay in touch with you,’ Anita told him.
He looked surprised, and uncertain.
‘You don’t have to decide now,’ she said.
‘What else did she say?’ Rose asked.
As Laurie started to fill her in, she could feel a slow exhaustion creeping over her. These past six days, since the bogus priest on Hydra had tried to kill her, had passed in what felt like a fog of unreality. Even now, as she struggled with the inner weight of guilt and sorrow, she could still barely make herself accept it, nor was she seeming to connect with all the pain that had come before. It was as though it had happened to someone else, in some other world that was only tangential to her own. She thought of Elliot, the turning upside down of her life, the devastation of her dreams, the sheer awfulness of cancelling her wedding. Yet, in spite of his betrayal, there was no denying, in her weakened, vulnerable state, it was to him she longed to turn, his strength she wanted to carry her, his love she needed to see her through.
As the others continued to talk, she glanced at the phone and fought the urge to call him. Now wasn’t the time. There was too much that needed to be said, too much to try to understand, and far too much to forgive. She still wasn’t sure she could do it, and being as drained as she felt now, it would be pointless even to try.
‘One of Detective Inspector James’s people called while you were gone,’ she heard Rose saying. ‘They think they know who the old woman and priest are who tried to shoot you.’
Laurie blinked, and gave a vague sort of smile at the bizarreness of what was being said, as though it were merely some kind of joke.
‘Apparently they’re mother and son from some gangster-type family on the Greek mainland,’ Rose continued. ‘They can’t prove anything yet, but according to the Greek authorities it’s not the first time they’ve staged this kind of double act.’
Aware of Nick watching her, as though concerned to see how she would respond to this reference to what had happened, Laurie merely shrugged. Right now none of it seemed real, so there was nothing for her to feel.
Nick rose to his feet. ‘I should be getting off to the airport to meet Julia,’ he said, glancing at his watch. ‘She’s flying in complete with the devastating Adam, I’m told, so love’s young dream comes to London where Dad can pick up the bills.’
Laurie got up and walked to the door with him. ‘Does it sound weird to say I actually miss her?’ she said, as they stepped outside and looked down the road towards Sherry’s apartment. ‘I just can’t seem to get my head round the fact that she’s not going to be there any more.’
‘What’s happening to the flat? Do you know?’ he asked.
‘Not yet. Rhona’s taking care of the plants and everything else right now
. It seemed a shame to let them die. All her belongings are still there, it’s like she’s just popped out and will be back any minute.’ Sighing, she leaned against the wall and shook her head in confusion. ‘I wish I knew what to feel,’ she said. ‘On the one hand I’m appalled by what she tried to do to me, but with everything that’s happened to her, and still is happening to her … It’s hard not to feel sorry for her.’
‘I know,’ he replied, still staring at the distant entryway, where he’d pressed the bell to Sherry’s flat many times, never dreaming any of this was in store. ‘I wish I’d handled things a bit better when we broke up,’ he said. ‘Both times.’
‘There’s never an easy or even a right way to end a relationship,’ Laurie said softly.
For a moment he seemed to want to respond to that, until his expression relaxed into a quirky sort of smile that she guessed was covering a question about Elliot. ‘I should be going,’ he told her. ‘I’ll talk to you later. Will you be here, or at home?’
‘Probably still here,’ she answered, accepting his brief kiss on the mouth, and after watching him get into his car she walked back into the office to find Rose holding out the phone.
Knowing instinctively who it was, Laurie almost stepped back. Then, realizing that she didn’t want to go on avoiding him now, she took the phone. Going into the small screening room next to the kitchen, she said, ‘Hi. How are you?’
‘That’s what I want to ask you,’ he replied.
‘I’m OK. Still a bit shell-shocked.’
‘I’d like to see you.’
Her eyes closed as she thought of how many times she’d said that these past weeks, though nowhere near as calmly. ‘Yes, we need to sort things out,’ she responded. ‘Why don’t you come here, tomorrow? We can take a walk down to the river?’
