“Cats can usually look after themselves. It still doesn’t explain why she…why not someone else? Why not Martyn, for instance? Wasn’t he with her?”
“The cat got its collar caught. It was slowly being strangled. I don’t know all the details.” Faye wailed as her voice went up an octave. “Oh Moya, it’s awful. Poor Kate. I have to go up and see her. Simon’s come down with the ‘flu and can’t travel, and Mum and Dad are away in Spain. Will you come with me? Please? I know you’ve been ill and we haven’t…you know…”
“Don’t be daft, of course I’ll come.” She hadn’t answered my question so I repeated it. “But why did Kate go up a ladder? Where was Martyn?” I guessed the answer before she opened her mouth. He was a wizard in being somewhere else at the right time.
“He went for a walk down by the loch and was on the far side of the house where they were staying. He didn’t know what was going on. It’s a bed and breakfast. Martyn wandered down to the water’s edge, and the house owner, who was already down there in his boat, offered to take him out. His wife had gone shopping, and there was no one else who could help the kitten down. Apparently, Kate must have recalled there was a ladder lying around because the owner had been painting the upstairs windows the day before. It seems she put the ladder in position and climbed the damn thing to get it down. It must have slipped on the icy patio tiles. It’s still cold and frosty up in Scotland at night.”
“Really?” I couldn’t look Faye in the eye. It all sounded too contrived, too convenient. A cat stuck on a tile? Ice on the path? No one else around? Both men conveniently off fishing? Yeah, right.
Faye started to sob again. “Kate’s so stupid at times. She’s always had a soft touch for animals. Look where it’s landed her. Oh I hope she’ll be all right.” She raised a tear-streaked face to me. “What if we’re too late?”
“We won’t be. We all love animals and often do daft things. Come on, be positive. Kate took herself off to Scotland. There was nothing to stop her. Do you know which hospital and everything?”
She hiccupped and nodded. “Edinburgh.”
“That’s handy—we can fly up. We’ll be there in a couple of hours. Thank goodness I haven’t got Jon’s dog to worry about. As soon as I felt the ‘flu coming on, I got Mum and Darcy to have him. I thought he’d be good for Darcy…give her something to do instead of being miserable.”
“But I hate asking you to come. You’ve not been well. You look awful.”
“Thanks for that. Give me five minutes to change into something smarter than these old jogging pants and put a lick of make-up on. Then you can’t accuse me of frightening the other passengers. You phone the airline and book two seats and we’ll be off. Stop looking so worried. She’s in the best possible place. The doctors will do everything they can.”
***
Faye and I reached Edinburgh in good time and caught a taxi to the infirmary. On arrival, we were directed to the ICU unit and shown inside by a nurse dressed in theatre scrubs. Martyn knew we were coming and was seated in her cubicle by her bedside, holding Kate’s hand between both of his. He raised his head at our entrance and uttered a cry of despair. Something sour rose in my throat at the sight of him. He never missed a trick.
We exchanged a long guarded look, but I told myself this wasn’t about me or Evie or Martyn. This was about Kate and I had to hold my tongue. Now wasn’t the time to voice or even think about Martyn’s part in Kate’s accident.
We exchanged greetings. Martyn held out his arms to both of us, and for once, for Faye’s sake, I allowed him to hug and kiss me. I used the time to stare at Kate over his shoulder and was horrified to see traces of blood still clinging to her nostrils and left ear, some sort of splint around her neck. I was no nurse. I should have expected the worst with a head injury. Even so, seeing her linked up to IV tubing, a ventilator and heaven knew what else was a tremendous shock.
Faye kept close to Martyn as tears coursed down her face. “Kate,” she whimpered.
“If only I’d never left her alone. Never gone off in the boat that morning. I could have climbed the blessed ladder, rescued the damn cat and she’d be okay,” he said in a voice choked with grief, tears glittering on his dark eyelashes. “I never dreamt she’d do something so silly and it being icy too. It’s all my fault.”
“Hush. You mustn’t blame yourself,” Faye whispered, clinging to his hand as if she could draw strength from it. “Kate always did what she wanted and usually without any thought. You weren’t to know. What have the surgeons said?”
He shook his head and more tears welled up. Closing his eyes, he looked away and hunched forward as if in pain. “When she first arrived, they assessed her with a GCS score of nine, but in the last hour it’s slipped to five when they reassessed her condition. I’m sorry, Faye, but the prognosis isn’t good. They’ve done a tomography and said she has what’s known as a traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage. I’ve been waiting for the neurological team to report back and say what they can and can’t do.”
Faye let out a cry, and I went over to comfort her. Martyn carried on as if nothing had happened. “Apparently, Kate’s brain has suffered severe twisting and torsion when she fell and landed on her head. This caused the haemorrhage and swelling as well as putting pressure on her brain and obstructing the flow of cerebrospinal fluid.”
“It sounds awful, Martyn, but Faye and I aren’t nurses, so keep it simple.”
He stared at me, as if annoyed that I had interrupted his flow. “No, you’re not, but it’s relatively straightforward stuff, and it’s best you know. When the flow of fluid is obstructed, there’s increased fluid in the brain ventricles. Have you heard of hydrocephalus? As the pressure has increased in Kate’s brain, her brain structures have compressed. This is why she’s in a coma. After car accidents, falls are the most common cause of her condition.”
After a couple of hours, Faye and I left the unit to find a place to have a drink and stay that night. Neither of us wanted any food, but I insisted we eat something, so we forced ourselves to share a pizza.
As Kate’s nearest relative, Martyn was allowed to stay with her. It was on hearing his words that we both learnt with shock that Kate Dunlop nee Ellis was now Kate Cousins. Fay looked shocked and said how disappointed their mum and dad would be at not being told. I held my tongue, for once. I had suspected all along. This was a repetition of what Amanda had gone through with her cousin, Sally, and my own sister had barely been in the grave four months. Someone had to listen to me now, surely?
That day was the last time we saw Kate alive. By night-time, her condition had worsened and just before midnight, she slipped away.
***
I couldn’t believe the scene before me. It was almost identical to another that had taken place not long before. Was it really just over four months since Evie had died?
As I sweated inside my black woollen jacket, I realised there was a major difference: the weather. It had been so cold when Evie was laid to rest, and that day, the soaring temperatures made a mockery of everyone gathered in their long coats. Spring had arrived in all her boldness, creating a fragrant and colourful churchyard, and I wondered whether there was something irreverent in thinking it had happened just for Kate. She would have laughed at that.
I remembered Kate as she had been: a vital and beautiful woman, not the battered and broken creature who lay so still and ashen upon her white sheet in the Royal Edinburgh Infirmary in Little France Crescent.
I stopped thinking about what had occurred. I needed to concentrate and support Faye. As I slipped into the back of the church, I stared at the people already gathered there for Kate’s service. I heard a voice intoning from the front, and I realised the vicar had already begun. I spied Faye’s dark head of hair; she stood poised between her parents, and I wondered what those two dear old people would make of their youngest daughter’s death.
The vicar droned on and I caught snatches of his sermon. I remembered Faye and Kate’s parents were happ
y, regular churchgoers, but this service couldn’t have hoped to give them any joy. As with Evie’s funeral, he mentioned ‘a young woman cruelly taken from the bosom of her family’ and ‘an unfortunate accident, too hard to bear’. Evie all over again.
I felt a familiar lump rise in my throat and swallowed hard. Not here. Not among all these strangers. If I started to cry, I knew I would find it hard to stop. I wished Jon had managed to get back from San Francisco. He had offered, but at the last minute, he had to cry off. I was so pissed off with him, we had our first harsh words. Why was nothing going right?
The vicar continued and talked about Kate’s mother and father, and her new husband, Martyn.
At the first mention of his name, I peered harder at the congregation, and then I saw him. A dizzy feeling stole over me. It was exactly like before: Martyn standing looking almost regal in his blue-black Jaeger coat, head bowed, fighting to keep back those scalding tears. He raised a hand to his cheek and lifted his head. A forlorn look dashed across his face, a sense of bewilderment, as if he couldn’t believe this was happening to him, yet again. If it hadn’t been so horrific, it would have been laughable. He had missed his true vocation; he really should have been on the stage. The women would have loved him.
I fought to stay quiet inside the church, when all I wanted to do was throw myself down and scream at the world. He did it! He did it! But like before, you’re not listening!
I joined in with everyone when we sang a hymn and then mumbled a prayer. Finally an older uncle said a short piece about Kate when she was a chubby toddler. Kate chubby? Never. Then after a final prayer, the coffin disappeared and we were free to go outside, into the gorgeous, almost improper sunlight. Wasn’t a day of mourning meant to be grey and overcast?
I hung back until Faye and her parents stepped outside on the church steps. Faye looked gaunt, haunted, and as our eyes met across the heads in front of us, I knew how ghastly she was feeling. For once, after weeks of acrimony, we were in accord.
Chapter 31
Faye muttered to her parents and then walked across to me.
“Poor Mum and Dad, they’re still devastated. I’m doing my best, but I need a few minutes away from them.”
I looked round. “Where’s Simon?”
“He’s in the church, talking to Wayne and the vicar.”
I frowned. “Wayne?”
“Of course, you haven’t met him. Wayne. He was Kate’s boss back in New York. He’s as shocked as the rest of us. And you know what? From what he said, he and Kate were more than mere employee and employer.”
I raised my eyebrows. “I did wonder because she seemed so coy about her leaving him. She hardly said a word. Now we know.”
A movement on the steps caught my attention, and I saw that Martyn had appeared with Simon and a tall, blond, middle-aged man. By the cut of his classy-looking suit, I guessed it had to be Wayne. Martyn stood apart, casting his miserable gaze over everyone standing around in small groups and chatting. I wondered if he was looking for someone or simply making a show. Like at Evie’s service, he was a one-man act. A show of bravado and pain. Grief and passion flitted across his handsome chiselled face as if he was saying, ‘See how I’m suffering?’ I felt like applauding. Bravo! Worthy of an Oscar at the very least.
His gaze settled on me at that moment, and I watched, mesmerised, as his face took on a look of scorching intensity; his eyes seemed to burn into mine. I almost started from the force of it. What did he want with me?
I realised Faye was saying something and switching my stare from Martyn, I turned towards her mumbling. “Sorry. Say again.”
“I said are you coming back to Mum and Dad’s? I’d like you there. I don’t think I can bear watching Martyn. He’s in so much distress.” I held back my sigh.
Faye’s parents lived in a nice middle-class area of town. An older house built in the nineteen thirties, with large rooms and double bay windows in the front. All the same, the house felt crowded and hot, and I was thankful the weather was good enough for us to decamp outside. Faye and I grabbed a glass of wine and a plate of food each and sat down on a garden bench at the far end of the garden well away from the crowd.
“Do you know what I learnt yesterday?” she said without preamble.
In the middle of taking a sip of wine, I merely shook my head.
“Kate’s first husband gave her a substantial settlement on their divorce. Because she went through one split-up, she wanted her estate to be all settled if and when she died. So, Kate had a new will drawn up before she married Martyn.” She stopped and glanced round before lowering her voice. “Of course, she could have changed it any time, and I’m guessing she made the new will because it was such a whirlwind romance. Perhaps she wasn’t as dizzy as we imagined. Anyway, the short and long of it is, she made me her sole heir. I am completely gobsmacked.” She drew out the ‘I am’ for effect.
“Wow! I’m not surprised.”
“It doesn’t go anywhere near helping me come to terms with her accident and losing my sister, but even so, Kate’s been enormously generous.”
“You are her only sister, and she and Martyn were married for only a short while. Kate probably thought he didn’t need the money and wanted you to benefit. I think it’s a lovely gesture. She must have loved you very much.”
“Yes, well,” she sniffed, and her eyes shone overly bright with tears. “I do feel a bit guilty. I wondered if I should give Martyn—”
“No, don’t do anything.” I said in a rush. “Kate made her decision. She loved you. Leave it as it stands. What I mean is, don’t do anything in hurry…you can always do something later if you change your mind.”
“I suppose so.” She stared into the distance. “Martyn’s being so brave. I don’t know how he can cope after losing Evie and now Kate. What an awful time he’s having. Poor love.”
“He’s not having that bad a time if you ask me,” I said sourly. “He’s put his and Evie’s house on the market. It’s valued at over a million pounds. Think about what he stands to make out of that sale when it’s sold even after the mortgage is paid off.” I didn’t need to tell her that my mum had put up some of the money as a wedding present; it still rankled with me. Even with failing to secure either Evie’s shares or Kate’s fortune, Martyn still stood to be comfortably off when the house did sell.
She looked offended. “Don’t be mean, Moya. I thought you were over all that. Martyn is hurting.”
I couldn’t believe it. What hold did Martyn have over women? He could click his fingers and they came running. Oh yes, he was gorgeous, fine-mannered, charming and everything else in between, but he was such a fraud, and quite evil with it. Yes, evil. I realised it might be considered an old-fashioned word, top-heavy with history and theology. But it fitted Martyn, and considering what he had done, I believed the word described him to a tee. Evil.
How could I make Faye see sense? Kate may have had an inkling of how he really was, but she still went ahead and married him. My friend, I saw with dismay, remained under his spell. I flicked a look in the direction of the house, and to my relief, noticed Simon and Wayne making their way over to us. Hopefully, Simon would take Faye’s mind off Martyn and away from his influence. I shuddered as I contemplated the consequences if Martyn made a move towards her. Over my dead body. Thankfully, Simon was always around. He would never let Martyn get too close. The idea was preposterous.
Wasn’t it?
***
“But I never understood why she stayed here. Kate promised me she needed just a couple of weeks with her family in England and then she’d return to New York. She felt she’d been neglecting everyone back here. I let her go gladly…I didn’t want to come between her and her folks. Sure, I knew we’d miss each other, but I had a week planned to go fishing with some buddies. I thought the time would fly.”
Wayne and I were sitting on a swing hammock, sharing a bottle of wine. Simon had claimed Faye and taken her indoors to help her mother with the food, le
aving me and Wayne on our own. This tall, handsome, middle-aged American with an earnest expression on his face interested me. I wondered why Kate had told such fibs about her departure from the States.
“We were engaged. Did she mention that? She must have…she seemed so excited when I asked her. We’d agreed on the ring and everything. I was in the process of having it altered to fit. It was my grandmother’s—an antique setting. A three-carat diamond set in white gold. Why did she do what she did? Nothing makes sense.”
I glanced at Wayne’s profile and saw true misery in his face. He came across as a really nice guy, and I wondered if Kate had exaggerated his high-handed attempt at controlling her. When I tentatively suggested something along those lines, he stared at me as if I was insane.
“You gotta be kidding me? Me control Kate. Ha! That was one lady who knew she could do what she liked with me and my money. She could twist me every which way, and I loved her all the more for it.” He shook his head mournfully and raised his hands before letting them drop back down into his lap. “No, there’s got to be some other reason. And now, she’s not here to tell us.”
I found myself talking about Evie and her death, and then because he seemed such a good listener, I mentioned me and Martyn. I knew I probably talked too much and he might have thought me a trifle barmy, but I didn’t care. I used the opportunity as much as a cathartic exercise, and besides, being a comparative stranger, I would never see him again once he returned to the States.
“So you see, I’m stuck with these ideas, and no one will take me seriously.”
He flashed me a sceptical look. “You’ve sure either got a great imagination or—no, strange as it is, Kate suffered a fatal accident. She could be very rash sometimes, and rescuing a kitten sounds just like her. Moya, I don’t know you, and I’m afraid as persuasive and pretty as you are, I can’t get involved. The British police no doubt know what they’re doing.”
“You’re probably right.” Meaning no, you’re not. I had a sudden idea. “Did Kate take anything?”
Behind A Twisted Smile (Dark Minds Book 2) Page 17
