by Susan Lewis
The scene that followed was so staggering in its suddenness that Corrie simply sat rooted in horrified fascination. The true ugliness of Octavia’s face was seeping through its mask of surgery. Corrie had never heard such invective, nor such venom in her life. It wasn’t until Octavia suddenly started to strike Phillip that she finally came to her senses and jumped to her feet to defend him.
‘Get your hands off me, you slut!’ Octavia snarled, as Corrie started to drag her away. ‘Get your filthy hands off of me. This is a whore!’ she cried to an approaching waiter. ‘A whore in the Ritz! What are you doing letting scum like her in the door? Get her out of here! Get the bitch …’
‘Shut up!’ Corrie hissed. ‘Just shut up before I slap your face!’
‘She’s threatening me!’ Octavia screamed to anyone who was listening, and everyone was. ‘She’s threatening me with violence, and that’s my husband sitting there! She’s got the audacity to threaten me while she’s trying to procure money from my husband …’
Phillip was on his feet. ‘Octavia!’ he barked. ‘Pull yourself together, now!’ And to Corrie’s amazement, he wrenched Octavia from her and started to march her out of the hotel.
Totally dumbfounded Corrie stood and watched them go, as stunned now by the sudden assertiveness in Phillip as she was by Octavia’s outburst. It was only when the waiter touched her lightly on the arm to enquire if he could get her anything else that Corrie remembered where she was. She looked around to see that all eyes were still on her, and recalling all too vividly what Octavia had called her she hastily settled the bill and left.
But the degradation of Octavia’s words that seemed to crawl out into the street after her was sufferable, if only for the fact that she had managed to get through to Phillip. To what degree she wasn’t yet sure, but right at that moment she felt a strong desire to congratulate him for the way he had taken Octavia in hand. Corrie would lay odds that he had never done it before, she only hoped he had it in him to carry on doing it. Or better still, to leave Octavia altogether. But more pressing than that was what he was going to do about Annalise. Corrie already knew she’d have to decide that for him, but whatever she concluded he’d do it, of that she was certain. The question was, what could he do when neither of them had any idea what they were up against?
Phillip himself however, believed he had the answer, for early the next morning, unbeknownst to Corrie, he went to the police and told them everything he’d been holding back from them about Luke.
He was extremely pleased with himself when he left the station, but had he only known it, he’d made such a mess of what he’d told them, that after he’d left DI Radcliffe and DC Archer were of the opinion that somehow the father had now become embroiled in the love problems concerning his two daughters and Luke Fitzpatrick. However, with a certain weariness they did call Fitzpatrick back to the station.
‘I don’t believe this!’ Luke stormed, when they repeated what Phillip Denby had disclosed to them. ‘I told you before, I don’t know anything about Bobby McIver or about those murdered women except what you’ve told me yourselves! And the reason I didn’t come to you before about Denby was precisely because he is the father of the woman I’m in love with …’
‘Who is?’ Radcliffe enquired.
‘Annalise Kapsakis.’
‘But if you had suspicions, Luke,’ Radcliffe pointed out, ‘then you shouldn’t have kept them to yourself. That’s an offence, you know, withholding information.’
‘But I tried everything I could to make the man come forward himself. And he did, didn’t he? Surely you can give me credit for that.’
Radclife waited.
‘Look,’ Luke said, dashing a hand through his hair. ‘I didn’t want to tell you this, but it looks like I’ll have to. That family is really screwed up. I mean seriously screwed up. If it weren’t for Annalise I’d pull out right now. Shit, they’re nearly taking me round the bend with them. If you only knew the half of it …’
‘We’ve got time,’ Radcliffe said.
‘OK. Then here it is.’ And Luke then told the police not only what Octavia was like, but that Phillip was trying to hide the fact that he had another daughter whom neither his wife nor Annalise knew about. ‘On top of which,’ he added, ‘the bastard beats Annalise half out of her senses, has done all her life, which is why she spends as much time as she can with me. I’m the only one she has to protect her, and I’m trying to keep Corrie away from him now before he starts on her. So if you want to question anyone around here, I suggest you start over again with him.’
‘But we only have your word for this, Luke,’ Radcliffe reminded him.
‘Then it’s up to you whose word you take,’ Luke said, ‘because quite frankly I’ve had it up to here. And until somebody does something about that bastard then I’m quite prepared to accept that I’m on my own.’
‘You’re asking us to help?’ Archer asked.
‘Help, intervene, whatever you want to call it.’ He laughed suddenly and bitterly. ‘Oh, I know what you call it, you call it a domestic. You don’t want to get involved, do you?’
‘Don’t we?’ Radcliffe said. ‘If he’s beating up on either one of those girls then we want to know about that.’
‘Well I’ve told you, so it’s up to you now to do the rest,’ Luke stated, only just able to disguise his triumph. They’d never find any evidence against Denby, and Denby could point the finger all he liked at him, he’d never get anywhere without Annalise to back him up. Which was something Annalise would never do, just so long as Luke asked her to marry him. He wouldn’t marry her of course, he couldn’t, he was going to marry Corrie – but it was vital that for now he kept Annalise on his side.
That wasn’t going to be easy though, he was thinking to himself as he walked back down the street. Corrie was proving almost impossible to control, but damn it, he’d work it out. Didn’t he work everything out in the end. In fact, now he came to think of it, he knew precisely how he was going to handle Corrie, but he’d have to be exceptionally careful how he went about it, for Corrie was nobody’s fool. In fact, on second thoughts, he wasn’t too sure he should risk it. No, keeping Corrie occupied with Bennati wasn’t such a good idea, since the last thing he wanted was for Bennati to whisk her out from under his nose. He wanted Corrie himself, he needed her, and the more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that, despite everything, he must do all he could to keep her and Bennati apart. Which might not be a problem at all were Bennati not right here in England, and just to think of that caused the demon of rage to heave to his throat. He was only sorry that he couldn’t be taking Corrie, right now, but with the police breathing down his neck the way they were that just wasn’t possible. But he’d be having her in the end, to be sure he would. But first there was Annalise to be dealing with … Annalise, his darling Annalise, who was so like Siobhan it tore his heart apart just to look at her. And all the bastard had done to Siobhan he, Luke Fitzpatrick, was going to inflict on Annalise … It was the only way, he knew that now – he only wondered why he’d never seen it before. All this time he’d been fighting to stop himself, but he knew he no longer could, or should. Because only then, once this devil inside him was exorcised, could he turn to Corrie. Corrie, his everlasting salvation, the perfect mother for his children, the only one of them he would never hurt … Unless Bennati got in his way.
For now though, he must wait until this untimely business with the police cooled down. But all the time he would be watching Corrie, his Corrie, because she would be his in the end, of that he was in no doubt at all.
It was while Luke was on his way back from the police station that the telephone call Corrie had been dreading came through to the edit suite where she was viewing rushes with Annalise.
‘Mummy! Mummy!’ Annalise cried after only a few moments. ‘You’re not making any sense. No, no, listen! I’ll go to a private office and call you back. Just hang on there.’ She put the phone down and turned immediately to Cor
rie. ‘Mummy sounds terribly upset about something,’ she said. ‘Do you mind carrying on without me for a while?’
Not knowing what else she could say, Corrie simply shook her head and turned back to the monitors. It was pointless even to pray that Octavia wouldn’t tell Annalise anything about what had happened at the Ritz, it was quite obviously why she had called. And exactly what Octavia was going to tell Annalise was anyone’s guess, though all that concerned Corrie right now was what excuse she was going to give for being there with Phillip in the first place.
It was some time before Annalise returned to the edit suite, and the minute the door opened Corrie started to brace herself. She turned round, and seeing Annalise’s face her insides seemed to collapse. It was more than obvious that Octavia had done her very worst. Not that Corrie had thought for one minute that she wouldn’t, nor that this was going to be easy, but without her father’s permission to tell Annalise who she really was, she knew now that this was going to be impossible.
‘Annalise,’ she started, but Annalise immediately interrupted.
‘Colin,’ she said to the editor, ‘would you mind leaving us alone for a while?’
Colin shrugged, hit a couple of buttons then got up to leave the room. Already the atmosphere was so tense he had no desire to stay.
Annalise waited only until the door had closed behind him before rounding on Corrie. ‘You two-faced, conniving, little bitch!’ she spat. ‘I know …’
‘Annalise, please, just listen …’
‘I don’t want to hear anything you’ve got to say. Not one fucking word! I got you this job, Corrie Browne, without me you’d still be out there in the gutter grubbing around like the little scrubber you are! And how do you repay me? What do …’
‘For God’s sake, Annalise …’
‘Shut up! Just shut the fuck up! I can’t believe how stupid I’ve been all this time. I thought you were my friend, I trusted you, you bitch, and all the time you’ve been scheming behind my back. Not only have you tried to steal my job, you’ve tried everything you could to come between me and Luke, and now you’re using my father to help you! What won’t you stop at? Just what lengths …’
‘Annalise, you’ve got it all wrong …’
‘I don’t know how you’ve got the fucking audacity to come in here and face me every morning when you’re not only sleeping with my boyfriend, you’re sleeping with my father too. Is there nothing you’ll stop at to get what you want?’
‘I’m not sleeping with your father, don’t be so damned ridiculous. And neither am I sleeping with Luke!’
‘You surely don’t expect me to believe that,’ Annalise yelled, ‘when my own mother saw you parading yourself about the Ritz like the little …’
‘It wasn’t like that! I was there because …’
‘I know why you were there, you whore! Holding his hands, canoodling with him …’
‘For Christ’s sake!’ Corrie screamed. ‘Is there no getting through to you? I was not canoodling with him, I was merely talking to …’
‘About me! About how you want this company! Oh, I know all about your ideas to dramatize our documentaries, how you’re trying to win everyone over to your side so that you can get rid of me and take over. Well it won’t work, do you hear me? It just won’t work!’ And before Corrie could utter another word she turned and slammed out of the room.
As she stormed back up the corridor Luke was coming in through the door. Without saying a word Annalise walked straight into his office, waited for him to follow, then slammed the door.
‘If you’re in cahoots with Corrie Browne to get rid of me,’ she hissed, ‘then I want to know now.’
‘What? What the hell are you talking about?’ Luke laughed in amazement.
‘I’m talking about her affair with you, and with my father. I’m talking about the way she’s always …’
‘Hang on! Hang on!’ Luke said holding up a hand to stop her. ‘Did you say her affair with your father?’
‘Yes, with my father! And I notice you don’t deny she’s having one with you! So just what the hell is going on, Luke?’
‘She’s not having an affair with me,’ Luke said. ‘Hand on my heart, she’s not. But your father …’
‘Mummy caught them last night at the Ritz.’
‘What in flagrante delicto! I don’t believe it!’
‘Then ask Mummy! She’ll tell you. That bitch is trying to get my father to give her this company. She’s using him to get to the top and get me out. We’ve got to stop her, Luke!’
Luke was still dazed. He was trying to think! To sort out what all this could mean. ‘Yes,’ he murmured, absently, ‘yes, we’ve got to stop her. Shit! She’s sleeping with your father?’
‘I told you!’ Annalise yelled. ‘Mummy caught them!’
Luke shook his head in amazement. So the bastard was doing it again! But Corrie, he’d never have dreamt it of Corrie.
‘I want you to fire her!’ Annalise demanded.
Luke simply looked at her.
‘I said, fire her!’ Annalise screamed.
Luke shrugged. ‘All right, Annalise,’ he said, ‘if that’s what you want, then leave it with me.’
‘All right, Jeannie, you guessed it,’ Cristos said, throwing down his pencil and getting up from the drawing board where he’d been studying the designer’s plans of Hyde Park.
Jeannie was barely able to disguise her grin. She’d been badgering him for ten minutes now and still he hadn’t got mad. This was a good sign.
‘Yeah, you’re right, she got to me,’ Cristos almost shouted when he saw the way Jeannie was looking at him, ‘and, yeah, you’re right again, I don’t like it. But I’m not calling her … No! Save it, Jeannie I’m not doing it! I got a movie to shoot here, I got a star breathing down my neck, and we both know I don’t mean Easton. The last thing I want right now is to upset Paige Spencer.’
‘But it’s OK to upset yourself?’
‘That doesn’t even come into it. All right, I know I’ve been kind of ticked lately, but …’
‘Kind of!’ Jeannie cried. ‘You’ve been a regular pain in the butt, is what you’ve been. But we’re here in England now, so why not just give her a call. She’ll probably tell you where to get off anyway, but if she matters that much, and I reckon she does, you’ll handle it.’
‘And how is Paige gonna handle that? Jesus Christ, Jeannie, you know what she’s like, she’s more insecure than a man hanging from a cliff with one finger. She needs everything I can give her right now, and she’s gonna get it.’
‘You take those actors too damned serious,’ Jeannie told him frankly. ‘They’re adults, not kids, let them take some responsibility for themselves.’
‘The responsibility is mine!’ Cristos snapped.
‘Not twenty-four hours a day!’
‘Yes, twenty-four hours a day.’
‘Why, you gonna marry her or something?’
‘I’m not gonna marry anyone, and you know it. After that business with Angelique … Jesus Christ, I don’t believe we’re having this conversation! I knew the girl for one night …’
‘But she got to you?’
‘Yeah, I said, she got to me. But there are other things more important right now.’
‘But she got to you?’
‘Will you just let up on that, Jeannie! I told you what you wanted to hear, now let’s forget it! I’m seeing Paige in half an hour and I just don’t need this.’
‘OK,’ Jeannie said. ‘You go right ahead and screw up your life for the sake of your art. I won’t stop you.’
Cristos eyed her threateningly and suddenly Jeannie fell backwards clutching her hands to her heart.
‘Don’t do that,’ she gasped, ‘I’m a married woman.’
Despite himself Cristos laughed, but as he left the room he said, ‘Would it help if I promised to lay off the guys?’
‘Sure, it would help them,’ Jeannie told him. ‘But will it help you?’
Her answer was the door closing behind him.
She waited a few minutes, wanting to make certain he’d gone, then digging into her pocket for her mobile phone and the scrap of paper with TW’s number on it, she started to dial. She was half through when the door suddenly opened.
‘Oh, it’s you,’ she said as Richard walked in, and pulling the phone out from behind her back she dialled again.
‘These the plans of the park?’ Richard asked, leaning over the drawing board.
‘Mmm, yeah,’ Jeannie answered. ‘Oh, hi there, can I speak to Corrie Browne please?’
As Richard spun round Jeannie glared back at him, but as he made to wrest the phone from her she pushed him out of the way saying, ‘Sorry. Could you repeat that please?’ As she listened to the voice at the other end Richard watched her eyes grow wider by the second. ‘Oh, she has,’ Jeannie said in the end. ‘When did this happen?’ She nodded. ‘Sure, I got you. OK, thanks for your help,’ and she rang off.
‘Jeannie, will you give the guy a break,’ Richard barked. ‘He’s got enough on his mind right now without you stirring up his private life.’
‘Mmm, yeah,’ Jeannie said engrossed in thought.
Richard looked at her, then rolling his eyes, he said, ‘OK, what you planning now?’
‘Nothing,’ Jeannie said. ‘Nothing at all. You know, I could swear that was Luke Fitzpatrick I just spoke to, but he didn’t say it was him. Now why do you reckon that was?’
‘Don’t ask me. But just leave it now, Jeannie. If Cristos wants to get in touch with her he’ll do it himself.’
Jeannie shook her head. ‘He can’t. Or not so’s I can see, unless he knows where she lives.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘She’s not working there any more. She’s been fired.’
As Luke replaced the phone after speaking to Jeannie he picked up a London directory and started to search for a number. Not finding it, he checked his watch, then after slotting several programme files into his briefcase, walked out into the main office. It was past seven o’clock and only three people were left working: Perkin, Cindy Thompson – and Corrie. He watched her for a minute or two, a smile hovering around his lips, then saying a general good-night he left the office.
