Shifting Sands

by Anthea Fraser

  ‘We struggled for a moment or two.’ Cameron’s voice was ragged. ‘Then . . . I’m still not sure what happened, though God knows I’ve gone over it often enough. One moment we were struggling, the next, one or other of us lost our balance and we fell together. The knife—’ He broke off again, this time covering his face with one hand.

  Lewis cleared his throat. ‘I think we can skip the next bit,’ he said, ‘but I assume it was you who sent the text?’

  His son nodded. ‘God, if I could only turn the clock back! I never meant her to get hurt!’

  Anna stared from one Masters to the other, unable to take it in. Lewis’s son had killed that girl? Numbed by the enormity of it, above all fearful for Lewis, she pressed closer and, disengaging his hand, he put his arm round her and pulled her against him.

  Jonathan, having expected to be the one to support his mother, realized, with mixed feelings, that he’d been superseded and, even in the macabre circumstances, found he was glad of it. As Cameron appeared to have come to the end of his account, he took up the story.

  ‘Elise texted me to say she’d prefer not to meet in public,’ he began, ‘so I sent back my room number. Cameron would have seen that, and my name in her list of contacts; he phoned my number later, to check. But she was telling the truth, Cameron: our connection was strictly business.’

  Cameron gazed at him with bloodshot eyes. ‘So why the hell did she meet you?’

  ‘To discuss the memory stick.’

  Both Masters stared at him in disbelief.

  ‘Elise had the memory stick?’ Lewis demanded incredulously.

  ‘Yes; she copied the files because she was convinced one of your products was responsible for some deaths. She’d tried to talk to Cameron about it, but he threatened her with court proceedings, so she contacted me, knowing I did investigative work. But I have to say it took three or four attempts before she could bring herself to tell me. She’d meant to bring the evidence, as she saw it, to my hotel that evening, but you were late back and she hadn’t time to go to her room and collect it.’

  Jonathan hesitated, realizing thankfully there was no need to mention his own visit the following day. ‘So she posted it to me the next morning. She must have been coming back from doing so, when she met Cameron.’

  ‘Which explains the open safe,’ Cameron said dully. ‘The police kept harping on about that.’

  ‘You shopped me to the police, didn’t you?’ Jonathan accused. ‘But why wait over a week after you’d phoned to check on me?’

  Cameron shrugged wearily. ‘It was an attempt to deflect them. Once they had the memory stick, they redoubled their efforts at Mandelyns, questioning everyone all over again. I was . . . afraid the truth might come out.’

  ‘Well, luckily for me I had an alibi for the time of death.’

  ‘But Elise wasn’t . . . You weren’t . . .?’

  ‘No, I swear it.’

  Slowly, very slowly, Cameron bent forward until his forehead was resting on the desk in front of him.

  Lewis gazed at him for a minute, then, the father in him making way for the businessman, turned to Jonathan and said tightly, ‘I trust you realize there was no truth whatsoever in her allegations?’

  ‘I do now.’ Jonathan paused. ‘The only death the product caused was her own.’

  Silence stretched into every corner of the room, broken suddenly by Cameron’s harsh sobs.

  Gently, Lewis removed his arm from Anna. ‘Excuse me, I must speak to my PA.’

  He moved across the room, taking out his mobile. ‘Yvonne? I must ask you to make my apologies; Cameron and I have been called away urgently, so we won’t be returning to the drawing room, nor will we be on hand to see people off tomorrow.’

  The PA must have expressed concern, because he continued, ‘No, no, we can manage. But I’d be grateful if you’d put a notice on the board outside the restaurant, so everyone will see it when they go in for breakfast. Something to the effect that we apologize for our unavoidable absence, but hope everyone enjoyed their stay and that we’ll soon have the pleasure of seeing them again at Mandelyns.’

  Her protesting voice reached them in the seconds it took him to switch off.

  ‘Is there anything I can do?’ Jonathan asked awkwardly.

  Lewis looked down at his son, sprawled across the desk. ‘Thank you, no. I’ll drive him to the police station. It’s quite safe, I’ve had nothing to drink.’ A grotesque smile. ‘Too busy keeping an eye on the festivities!’

  The sands had shifted again, Anna thought despairingly, and for Lewis, they could well be quicksand. She went to him and put a hand on his arm. ‘Shall I come with you?’

  Briefly, the hard lines of his face softened. ‘No, darling; this is something I must do alone.’

  ‘But you’ll . . . phone me?’

  ‘Of course.’ He straightened his shoulders and looked from one to the other. ‘I know it’ll be difficult, but I’d be most grateful if you’d keep this quiet for the moment. It will be public knowledge soon enough, but I’d prefer it not to mar the weekend.’

  ‘Of course,’ Jonathan said, for both of them.

  ‘And though this is neither the time nor the place to say so, I want you to know, Jonathan, that I care very deeply for your mother, and if she’ll have me, I’ll do all in my power to make her happy.’

  ‘Thank you.’ It seemed an inadequate reply, but was all he could manage.

  Lewis nodded and turned to his son. ‘Better get this over,’ he said.

  Cameron sat back, rubbed his hands over his face, and stumbled to his feet. Then, with his father’s hand on his arm, they left the room.

  Anna and Jonathan looked at each other.

  ‘It’s . . . unbelievable,’ she said unsteadily. ‘A heartbreaking story. So tragic and so unnecessary.’

  ‘I know.’ Jonathan helped her back to her chair, sat down next to her, and took her hand.

  ‘But you knew a lot more about it, all along.’ She turned to him, frowning. ‘What was that about shopping you to the police?’

  ‘It was a shot in the dark, but it had to be him. As I guessed, he got my name from her mobile, which he must have taken so he could send the text Lewis mentioned. But then he’d have seen my text to Elise, which gave him my name and room number, and he passed them, together with the name of the hotel, to the police. Diversionary tactics, as he said. So, of course, they came round, demanding to know what I was doing with Elise in my hotel room, the night before she died.’

  Anna clutched his hand. ‘My God!’

  ‘Fortunately, I was in Manchester on business and had an alibi for the time she died, so it came to nothing.’

  ‘What must Lewis be going through?’ Anna whispered. ‘I wish there was something I could do.’

  ‘There will be, later. He’ll need you in the months ahead.’

  She nodded, and for several minutes mother and son sat in silence, deep in their thoughts.

  Then Jonathan roused himself. ‘The family will be wondering where we are.’

  ‘Yes; we must go back and give nothing away. Quite a tall order!’

  ‘We’ll say I had a nosebleed, and you stayed with me till it stopped.’

  ‘You’ve never had a nosebleed in your life!’

  ‘Seems a good time to start!’ He helped her up and put an arm round her. ‘It’s been one hell of a shock. Are you all right?’

  ‘No,’ she answered, ‘but I shall be. Once the sands have settled.’

  ‘The sands?’

  She gave a small, sad smile. ‘No matter. Let’s join the family at the bar. I’m more than ready for that drink you mentioned.’

  Jonathan bent and kissed her. ‘I’m proud of you,’ he said. ‘And just for the record, when the sands or whatever have settled, I think you two will be very good for each other.’

  ‘Thank you, darling,’ she replied. ‘So do I!’

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