Guilty Pleasures

by Tasmina Perry

  ‘Not tonight, Josh. I have to go back in there and talk to your Mummy and Daddy. And they’ll be very cross if they know you’re not in bed yet.’

  ‘First come and see my car. It’s a BMW.’

  She rolled her eyes. ‘O K, but just for two minutes, OK?’

  She carefully removed his sticky hand from the fabric of her Balenciaga pencil skirt and allowed herself to be pulled upstairs. They were met at the top of the stairs by Helen, Josh’s nanny.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Cassandra,’ she said with an anxious expression. ‘The television was on in my room. He was asleep twenty minutes ago and I didn’t hear him.’

  ‘Well, perhaps you shouldn’t be watching the television when you should be watching Joshua?’ said Cassandra tartly.

  ‘Car! Car! Car!’ shouted Josh, bouncing up and down.

  Helen guided Josh towards his room.

  ‘OK, let’s show Cassandra your car quickly and then you must go back to sleep, deal?’

  ‘OK!’ said Josh, dashing off. The boy’s room was like a fantasy playhouse created by interior designers. His bed was in the shape of a fort, but there was a Hockney over the fireplace next to colourful drawings by Josh. Josh got inside a miniature black BMW and began pedalling furiously around the room.

  ‘Astrid tells me that you went to school with Rebecca Milford,’ said Cassandra to the nanny. Helen nodded and then smiled gratefully once she realized that Cassandra was just making polite conversation.

  ‘Yes, it seems a lifetime ago. We were in the same year actually, although I know you wouldn’t think it to look at us,’ she said.

  Cassandra almost nodded in agreement. Helen looked as if she hadn’t been to the hairdressers in years. Her hair was flecked with grey and the undersides of her eyes were puffy.

  ‘Rebecca was always a beauty, though. You could tell she was always going to do well for herself. You know: marry well.’

  Cassandra smiled, thinking it was all relative. She wouldn’t be happy with someone twenty years older than herself unless he was one of Forbes 400 wealthiest. But for a poor girl from the village, she supposed Roger would have to do.

  ‘Funny she ended up being Ruan McCormack’s boss though,’ said Helen.

  ‘What do you mean?’ asked Cassandra, intrigued.

  ‘Oh, she went out with Ruan for about two years when we were at school. He was a couple of years below us but he was very good-looking even then. Funny how she owns the company Ruan works for. Although it’s not surprising she ended up with Roger. Our PE teacher would take us running past the hall and she’d always stop and say, “I’m going to live there one day”.’

  But Cassandra wasn’t listening. Suddenly something that had been staring her in the face seemed all too obvious. It was just as if bright stadium lights had gone on inside her head.

  ‘Helen, does Astrid keep her old magazines?’

  ‘You mean like Rive and Vogue? I don’t think so. But I do, what do you want?’

  ‘Do you have Tatler? About three issues ago. I want party pictures from the Milford launch party.’

  ‘Oh yes, I’ve definitely got that one,’ said Helen, leading Cassandra down the corridor to her room. ‘It’s not often I actually know people at a party in a magazine. And Jude Law was there, wasn’t he?’

  ‘Yes, yes,’ said Cassandra distractedly, as Helen rifled through a pile of magazines and found the right issue.

  ‘There,’ said Helen, flipping to the well-thumbed party section. ‘Is that what you wanted?’

  Cassandra scanned the pages and, finding the picture she wanted, carefully tore it out and handed the magazine back to Helen.

  ‘Now I think you’d better get Joshua back to bed before he has a mini pile-up,’ she said, scooting back towards the party as Helen stared after her with a look of total confusion.

  Back at the party, Cassandra found Molly glassy-eyed and talkative, a trace of white powder around her nose, but when she showed the party pictures to Molly, she instantly confirmed that Ruan McCormack was the man she had seen Rebecca with at the Chelsea restaurant.

  ‘I wouldn’t forget those eyes anywhere,’ she smiled. ‘Just gorgeous, very rugged and intense.’

  The dinner guests adjourned into the library, but despite the convivial atmosphere Cassandra could not shake her feeling of disquiet.

  ‘Got somewhere else to go?’ asked Molly sipping an expensive Chateau D’Yquem. ‘If it’s another party, I’m coming with you. There’s not one single man here tonight. With the exception of you and me it’s all bloody couples. I’m not surprised. Astrid must be feeling frightfully insecure.’

  Cassandra looked at her but didn’t take in a word Molly Sinclair was saying. Her mind had been mulling over what an affair between Ruan and Rebecca could mean. After Emma’s arrest Ruan had been made acting CEO of Milford. If she had been charged and convicted he would have got the job permanently. Rebecca was having an affair with Ruan; would she leave Roger and achieve her dream of living in the ‘big house’? Was burning down the Stables with herself in it some plan for Ruan and Rebecca to run Milford together too? Cassandra tried to look at every angle of it, secretly hoping that the driver who had forced Emma off the road in Gstaad would turn out to be Ruan or Rebecca and not her mother. But then Mother confessed, didn’t she? She reminded herself. It was all too much: she felt a sudden urge to speak to Emma.

  She excused herself from Molly and went over to Astrid who was sitting on a sofa on her husband’s knee, her arm wrapped proprietorially around his neck.

  ‘Sorry darling, I have to go,’ said Cassandra, bending to kiss her on both cheeks.

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous, sit down,’ demanded Astrid, ‘I want to tell you all about Frégate.’

  ‘Sorry. Can I call a cab?’ said Cassandra firmly.

  ‘To get back to London?’ asked Astrid.

  ‘No, I’m going to Chilcot.’

  ‘In that case my driver can take you. Just let me give my husband a big snog and then I’ll get him.’

  Emma looked at her desk clock. It was 10 p.m. and she was alone in the office. In fact, the whole factory was dark and silent. Emma couldn’t sit still at home though, not when there was so much to do. She knew she had promised Rob that she would ease herself back into work gently, but these days she found herself driven by some sort of strange nervous energy. It was as if her mind was struggling to work something out. Regain authority at work? Fix her relationship worries? Deal with the whole Julia situation? God knows there’s enough to sort out, she thought. She turned back to her computer and clicked through complicated spreadsheets – profit and loss, cash flow, product orders and production schedules – none of it seemed to be able to hold her attention.

  She heard footsteps in the corridor and looked up in surprise to see Rebecca. Her hair looked freshly blow-dried; she was wearing jeans and an expensive looking cashmere overcoat.

  ‘Hello Rebecca,’ she said curiously. ‘What are you doing here? Looking for Roger?’

  Cassandra had asked Astrid’s driver to make the twelve-mile journey to Chilcot. Before descending on Winterfold, she had wanted to call ahead to Emma, but realizing she didn’t have her cousin’s number in her phone phoned Rob Holland instead.

  ‘Cassandra?’ he said as he answered. ‘Listen I’m a bit busy …’

  ‘I was just wondering if Emma was with you?’ she interrupted.

  ‘No, I’m just on my way back to Winterfold. I spoke to her half an hour ago. I think she’s still at the office. Why? Is everything all right?’

  ‘Rebecca and Ruan are having an affair. Is it me or is it too bloody suspicious?’

  ‘Suspicious?’

  ‘I have a theory,’ said Cassandra flatly. ‘I’ll meet you both at Winterfold and do me a favour and hear me out.’

  Rob felt a sudden fear and didn’t want Emma to be alone.

  ‘How about I meet you at the Milford offices?’

  ‘Very well,’ said Cassandra. ‘I should be there in ten minutes.
’

  Rebecca looked at Emma and there was something in her eyes that instantly put her on edge. Rebecca moved into Emma’s office and carefully closed the door behind her.

  ‘Rebecca?’ asked Emma, now unnerved.

  ‘I heard all about Julia,’ said Rebecca, walking slowly towards Emma, ‘and it’s all worked out nicely for you, hasn’t it? You’ve managed to wriggle off the hook yet again.’

  Emma just stared at her, unsure what she expected her to say.

  ‘Rebecca, what are you saying?’ she said, all her instincts telling her something was wrong.

  ‘I suppose this means you’ll be CEO again,’ said Rebecca, staring straight at Emma. ‘Putting Ruan to one side yet again. You do know that without him this company would have been bankrupt under Saul?’ Her expression turned to a sneer. ‘And without him, you wouldn’t have had a clue where to begin, would you?’

  ‘We all value Ruan in this company,’ said Emma slowly, moving to one side of her desk, but Rebecca closed her exit off.

  Ruan? she thought desperately. What does Rebecca have to do with Ruan?

  ‘We tried to make it easy for you, you know,’ she said. ‘We didn’t want you dead. At least, he didn’t.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘I actually think Ruan cares for you in some small way. That’s why I have had to come here alone tonight, to finish this. But he doesn’t care for you as much as he loves me – how could he? He has been head over heels in love with me since he was fourteen. He’ll do anything for me, you know.’

  Emma’s heart was beginning to race now. The offices were empty. She knew Ruan had still been in the adjoining factory an hour ago and usually said goodnight before he went home. But like he’d help her.

  She looked around her, desperate to find a way out. Finding none, she lunged forward, trying to barge past Rebecca.

  ‘Sit back down!’ commanded Rebecca. She had pulled a gun from her coat and was pointing it at Emma’s chest. It looked old, but sleek and definitely lethal.

  ‘Rebecca, don’t be so stupid,’ said Emma, her voice tight.

  Rebecca laughed coldly. ‘Yes – this is one of Saul’s old guns and yes, it works.’

  Emma stared at the gun, her heart hammering. She glanced at the telephone, but Rebecca saw her and smiled, shaking her head.

  ‘Shame you couldn’t stay in prison really,’ said Rebecca conversationally, perching on the edge of the desk only feet away from Emma. ‘Then Ruan would be CEO plus you’d be under terrible pressure to off-load your shareholding as well. I mean, it doesn’t look good for a luxury goods company to have a dangerous criminal as its majority shareholder does it?’

  ‘So what then?’ said Emma, suddenly realizing that she had to keep Rebecca talking. ‘So I sell my shares? Neither you or Ruan has the money to buy them.’

  Rebecca laughed. It was mocking laughter that sounded empty and brittle.

  ‘You gave him a 1 per cent shareholding, remember? He can now buy at the price of a shareholder’s valuation and the banks love him. He’s solid, experienced, reliable. Plus I’m about to take Roger for half of everything he’s got.’

  ‘So Roger knows nothing of this?’ asked Emma, genuinely curious. All that time I suspected Roger and it was his innocent little wife!

  ‘You’re the first to know,’ said Rebecca, giggling. ‘I’m actually doing Roger a favour with the divorce. He’s about to lose everything anyway, investing in Ricardo Perez’s hare-brained hotel venture. Do you know Ricardo?’

  Emma shook her head slowly.

  ‘Terrible coke-head. I did my homework because Roger wouldn’t bother. Ricardo’s father has side-lined him in the business because everything he touches turns to shit, just like Roger.’

  Emma suddenly remembered the night of the Christmas party. The last woman I fell for was married, Ruan had said.

  ‘So you set fire to the Stables. You wanted to frame me for the fire and for almost killing Cassandra,’ said Emma working everything out.

  ‘No, darling. I didn’t do the actual torching. As I said, Ruan will do anything for me.’

  Boastfully, she continued. ‘Ruan and I had been talking about getting rid of you for ages. But I was the one who saw the opportunity. On the night of the party, Ruan knew you were staying at Winterfold. You told your mother that Cassandra was at the Stables. We got a taxi into Chilcot with her and she told us in the taxi. I then phoned Ruan with a plan. That simple. It was easy for Ruan to slip off to the Stables, siphon some petrol from his car and pour it through the letterbox.’ She laughed a cold brittle laugh and her beauty took on a cruel, hard edge.

  ‘And I’d left my black shawl in the library,’ said Emma.

  ‘Yes, you did. After the fire, we all went back to the house and I found it on the sofa. Wiping some petrol on it and throwing it near the Stables when we all went to watch the blaze was easy.’

  Emma felt beads of sweat run down her temple. She glanced over to the door but Rebecca saw her.

  ‘Anyway, storytime’s over,’ she said, standing up and pointing the gun towards the door. ‘We’re going upstairs now. I think we’ll take the stairs. Move it.’

  Rob’s Range Rover pulled up outside the Milford offices only seconds after Cassandra had climbed from Astrid’s car.

  ‘She must be here,’ he said, seeing Emma’s Audi. ‘Still working at ten o’clock. I tell her not to work so hard but she doesn’t listen,’ he said grimly.

  ‘Has she answered her phone?’ asked Cassandra, concerned.

  ‘No, which is strange,’ replied Rob.

  ‘And whose car is that?’ asked Cassandra, pointing to a soft-top BMW.

  ‘Rebecca’s,’ said Rob. ‘Oh, shit.’

  Rebecca marched Emma up the stairs to the studio floor, pushing the muzzle of the gun into her back as she did so.

  ‘Over to the fire escape there,’ she ordered.

  ‘The roof?’ said Emma, trying to turn to look at Rebecca. She knew she was strong enough to overpower Rebecca – but when she was holding a gun there was no way she could risk it – not yet anyway. Rebecca jabbed her cruelly with the gun.

  ‘There’s been a change of plan,’ she whispered in Emma’s ear. ‘If you’re not going to jail, then I’m afraid you’re better off dead.’

  The cold, detached way Rebecca spoke made Emma’s stomach turn over. She really is crazy.

  ‘I can give you money, my shareholding, just tell me what you want,’ babbled Emma, panicking as Rebecca pushed her through the fire escape door, onto the flat area of roof.

  ‘Get out,’ she snapped.

  As her feet scuffed on the roof’s surface, for a split second Emma thought of happier times when she and Stella had sunbathed out there one really hot July afternoon. Then she thought of Rob on the night of her birthday, smiling at her with love, holding her hands. And for a moment, despite the very real threat of death, it made Emma feel warm.

  ‘Now, here’s what you’re going to do,’ said Rebecca matter-of-factly. ‘You’re going to jump off this roof. The newspapers will report how you were depressed. Everyone knows how weird you’ve been since the fire. And now having to testify against your aunt, well, people will understand why you did it, Emma. Your shares will pass to your mother. Your mother will sell them cut-price to Ruan. And well, we all live happily ever after. Except you, of course.’

  ‘You’re mad,’ whispered Emma, her mind whirling. She had to think of something, she had to catch Rebecca off guard.

  ‘No, not mad. Just as ambitious as you are. Except I didn’t get the breaks, did I? The fancy schools and the high-flying jobs,’ she snarled.

  ‘Why are you doing this?’

  ‘Why? Because ever since I was a little girl I looked at Winterfold and knew my life would be better if I lived in it. Winterfold was supposed to be mine. Now walk.’

  There was a noise behind Rebecca and she spun round to see what it was.

  Emma felt a split second of hope before she could make ou
t that it was Ruan standing in the doorway of the fire exit.

  ‘Rebecca. What the hell is going on?’ he said, his voice raised and panicked.

  ‘Run along, darling,’ she said in a flat, emotionless voice. ‘I’m trying to finish something off here.’

  Ruan took a cautious step towards her, reaching out towards her.

  ‘Rebecca. Stop it.’

  Even in the darkness, Emma could see fear in his face.

  ‘Give me the gun. This has fucking got out of control.’

  ‘Don’t be a coward, Ruan,’ she screamed. ‘We have to get the job done. For both of us.’

  Ruan and Emma exchanged a brief, frantic look. At that moment she knew that no matter what he had done at the Stables he did not want to see her killed.

  ‘Hand me the gun, Rebecca,’ he replied, his tone now pleading. ‘Think about what you’re doing. Thing about what’s going to happen.’

  ‘Rebecca. Listen to Ruan,’ said Emma, trying to keep her voice calm and steady. ‘He cares about you. This has gone too far but we can stop it right now.’

  ‘Emma. Walk. Now!’ screamed Rebecca pointing the gun at Emma’s head.

  ‘Rebecca, don’t,’ shouted Ruan surging forward to try and grab the gun.

  Without time to think, Emma flung her body away from them. There was a loud crack; it was the sound of a bullet being fired.

  Rob and Cassandra ran through the fire escape onto the roof. Rob saw a gun lying on the asphalt and kicked it off the building with his foot. It was only then that he noticed there was a body slumped on the floor.

  For the second time in a fortnight Detective Michael Sheldon had to make a late-night visit to Chilcot.

  Two ambulances were outside Byron House by the time his Ford Mondeo pulled up to the Milford headquarters. Ruan McCormack was in one of them; a gun-shot wound in his right shoulder had caused considerable loss of blood but, according to the paramedics, he’d live. Rebecca Milford was having her makeshift handcuffs transferred over to the real thing. Rob had been quite impressed with his handiwork. After restraining Rebecca on the rooftop he’d used yards of fabric from Stella’s studio to bind her wrists together until the squad cars had arrived. According to Cassandra the fabric felt like India’s finest silk and had never been put to a better purpose.