Summer Madness

by Susan Lewis

  ‘While you were over on Corsica getting your pretty little ass screwed off by Jake Mallory,’ she said, ‘I was on the Cap d’Antibes at Consuela’s talking to Jake’s father.’

  ‘What!’ Sarah gasped as Louisa’s face paled. ‘You never told me.’

  ‘I’m telling you now,’ Danny smiled, superciliously. ‘Maybe you’d like to meet him, Louisa,’ she offered, turning back to Louisa.

  ‘No, thank you,’ Louisa said, pushing back her chair and standing up.

  ‘Louisa, for heaven’s sake!’ Sarah cried. ‘If Jake’s father was with Consuela then …’

  ‘How do you know it was Jake’s father?’ Louisa snapped. ‘Have you ever met Jake’s father before, Danny? Have you ever seen a picture of him?’

  ‘Oh come on, she’s not going to lie about something like that,’ Sarah said.

  ‘Maybe not, but Consuela would. And let me ask you this, Danny, if you’re so convinced that Consuela’s telling you the truth then why are you still seeing Erik? After all, he’s supposed to be in on it all with Jake, isn’t he?’

  ‘That’s because he believes what Jake’s told him,’ Danny said. ‘He hasn’t spoken to Consuela, he hasn’t heard her side of things.’

  ‘Then why don’t you ask him to?’

  ‘OK, I will. But my guess is I’ll come up against as much stubbornness and misguided loyalty with him as I’m coming up against with you. Which only goes to prove how persuasive Jake can be and I’m perfectly prepared to accept that if he’d told me all he’s told you I’d probably have believed him too. Except for one thing. I know he’s a liar. I recognized it in him the first time I met him, which was why I didn’t want you to have anything to do with him. And do you know how I knew he was a liar, because I’m a liar too. You know I’m a liar, I’ve lied to you a lot these past few weeks, but I’m nothing like as expert at it as Jake is and I swear to you on my own mother’s life, Louisa, I’m not lying to you now. I’ve met his father, I’ve listened to him tell me virtually everything Consuela’s told me and I’ve listened to how he cut Jake off from the family right after he’d got Jake out of that Mexican jail. So Jake has no money and that’s why he’s doing what he is at the bathhouse.’

  ‘Oh, do me a favour,’ Louisa cried. ‘If that were true then why is Consuela letting him do it?’

  ‘She won’t tell me why, all she’ll say is that she hasn’t always been completely above board herself and Jake knows about whatever it is she did. And now he’s using it and the threat to ruin her completely if she doesn’t let him use the bathhouse, which incidently Consuela has documentary proof was paid for with Mallory funds.’

  ‘I just told you that myself,’ Louisa responded angrily.

  Danny gave a sigh of exasperation. ‘OK, look, we’re all agreed that this is a vicious battle Jake and Consuela have got going between them, the gloves are off, no holds barred and all that, she’s telling him his wife is still alive …’

  ‘And for all you know she is!’ Louisa interrupted. ‘Now we might as well end this conversation here and now before we three end up falling out over something that’s not even our fight.’

  ‘But it will be if Jake does to you what he did to his wife,’ Danny pointed out. ‘And that’s what we’re trying to protect you from.’

  ‘Jake didn’t do anything to his wife,’ Louisa seethed. ‘All he did was love her and make her pregnant and then that fucking monster of a woman sitting there festering like some deadly spider on the Cap d’Antibes blew his whole life apart.’

  Sarah was looking very undecided now, was feeling so torn by the two of them that she didn’t know if she had the courage to tell them what she was going to do, never mind coping with the guilt of actually doing it. In the end, glancing at her watch, she decided to keep it under her hat a while longer.

  ‘Look, Louisa,’ Danny said, trying to inject into her voice all the concern she really felt, ‘we both know how you’ve made mistakes about men in the past …’

  ‘One man!’ Louisa shouted. ‘One man and that was a mistake anyone could have made.’

  ‘That’s precisely my point,’ Danny said. ‘Anyone can make a mistake, anyone can fall for the charm, and God knows Jake’s got enough of that to attract himself a whole harem of women. Sound familiar? The bathhouse? Who do you think gets the women there in the first place? He does, Louisa. He brings them in, he pays Morandi to get them on camera, and then he extorts the money from them. There are records of his abuses of women all over the United States, his father told me that himself. He’s managed to cover most of them up, but he’s not prepared to do it any longer. And that’s why he’s here. Jake’s his son, he doesn’t want to see him go to jail for murder, but he will see him in jail for blackmail.’

  At last, Danny thought, as she took time out to notice how shaken Louisa really was, I seem to be getting through to her. ‘Look, kiddo,’ she said, reaching out for Louisa’s hand, ‘Sarah and I, we’re with you all the way on this. We’re behind you in everything you do, but you have to admit that there are times when you can be your own worst enemy.’

  Louisa was shaking her head. ‘No,’ she said, taking her hand away. ‘He’s not lying to me, I know he’s not and nothing you throw at me from my past is going to convince me he is.’

  ‘OK, but you’ve been warned, Louisa. This isn’t just the odd burst of violence we’re talking about here, though God knows that would be sickening enough, it’s murder we’re talking about. Murder. Do you hear me?’

  ‘Yes, I hear you loud and clear. Go and shout it outside Consuela’s!’

  Danny’s eyes moved hopelessly back to Sarah. ‘Explain to her, will you,’ she said, ‘how men like Jake operate.’

  ‘How the hell do I know?’ Sarah cried.

  Danny turned patiently back to Louisa. ‘Men like Jake can’t help themselves,’ she said, ‘they need expert counselling or, in some cases, locking away all together. I’d say Jake is one of the latter, well obviously he is if he’s gone so far as to kill his own wife. Anyway, the main point of it is that a misogynist, a man who pathologically hates women …’

  ‘I know what the word means,’ Louisa snapped.

  ‘… doesn’t come with the label stamped on his forehead,’ Danny continued unperturbed. ‘So how are any of us supposed to recognize them? More to the point, how do we stop ourselves becoming attracted to them? On the whole, if we find out beforehand what they’re like, or if we sense it the way I did, we back off, as I have done. But with someone like you, Louisa, someone who has known violence from childhood …’

  ‘Oh for God’s sake!’ Louisa cried. ‘What is it with you and my bloody childhood? It’s got nothing to do with you …’

  ‘But you still have nightmares about it, I know, because you’ve told me yourself. And what’s really frightening me here, Louisa, is that there’s something in you, something I don’t think you’re even aware of, that attracts violence to you. Almost as though you want it to happen.’

  ‘Danny, for God’s sake,’ Sarah said darkly. ‘You’re making it sound like she’s some kind of nut.’

  ‘No, I’m not,’ Danny objected. ‘I’m just trying to make her face up to the fact that she’s been damaged by her childhood.’

  ‘When you’ve finished discussing me as though I’m not here,’ Louisa said bitingly, ‘then perhaps, Sarah, you’d like to tell Danny what you told me about the way people used to talk about Danny’s peculiar behaviour towards me? Because from where I’m standing we’re witnessing a perfect example of it right now.’

  Danny was wide-eyed as Sarah seemed to shrink in her chair and Danny looked from her to Louisa and back again. ‘There’s nothing peculiar in my behaviour towards you, Louisa,’ Danny said, tearing her eyes from Sarah. ‘Unless caring about a friend’s welfare, a friend’s life, is peculiar.’

  ‘But why do you care so much?’ Louisa challenged. ‘Why do you always think that you’ve got to save me from something …’

  ‘Because you so often d
o need saving. And wouldn’t you do the same for me if you saw me screwing myself up?’

  ‘Oh God,’ Louisa groaned, putting a hand to her head, ‘this is getting us nowhere. Why don’t we all just stop the amateur analysis and the mystery solving and go and get ourselves a drink in the village?’

  ‘Good idea,’ Danny said cheerfully slapping the table. As long as Louisa was with her she knew that Louisa was all right, so wherever Louisa wanted to go was OK by her.

  ‘I’m afraid I can’t,’ Sarah said, already wincing as she prepared herself to break her news.

  ‘Why not?’ Danny retorted grandly. ‘You can always give Morandi a call to tell him where we’ll be, or leave him a note if he’s already on his way.’

  ‘As a matter of fact he is already on his way,’ Sarah said, looking at her watch. ‘He should be here any minute and then …’ She looked at Louisa, her bottom lip pulled down at the corner as she felt the unpalatable taste of disloyalty, ‘and then we’re driving back to England,’ she finished lamely.

  ‘You’re what!’ Danny hissed, as Louisa stared at her aghast. The idea of staying here on her own with Danny was about as welcome at that moment as a sojourn in a funny farm. Come to think of it, it was much the same thing.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Sarah said. ‘He wants to go. He wants to get away from all this before …’

  ‘Before what?’ Louisa said, the skin of her face feeling as though it was being stretched over her bones.

  ‘Before Consuela or Jake or whoever it was who killed Aphrodite, does the same to him.’

  ‘I don’t believe this,’ Louisa cried, throwing up her hands. ‘Why the hell should anyone want to kill him?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Sarah cried defensively. ‘Why the hell should anyone want to kill Aphrodite? He just thinks that he’s better off away from here and he wants me to go with him.’

  ‘So you’re going, just like that? Deserting the sinking ship,’ Danny trilled dramatically.

  ‘Yes, I’m going and quite frankly I think you should come with me. Both of you. This has all got too big now. We’re in over our heads and I think we should get out while the going’s good.’

  ‘Oh, honestly Sarah, you’re always making mountains out of molehills,’ Danny said.

  ‘There are no molehills where murder is concerned,’ Sarah answered gravely. ‘And I think all of us have been treating this far too lightly for long enough. If there was a murder on our doorsteps in London we wouldn’t be sitting around like fucking Charlie’s Angels trying to solve the puzzle, we’d let the police get on with it. I don’t know whether we’ve all been drunk on the sun or what, but in my opinion it’s time now to sober up and let those who are paid to solve crimes solve them.’

  Danny was frowning. She didn’t know what to think about Sarah’s departure, because though on the one hand she would have no competition for the glory of rescuing Louisa, they sorely needed Sarah’s common sense to act as some kind of filter between them.

  ‘Will you come?’ Sarah said, looking at Louisa.

  ‘No,’ Louisa said shaking her head. ‘I’ve only got this short time left with Jake …’

  ‘What about me? Why aren’t you asking me?’ Danny objected as Louisa walked over to answer the phone.

  ‘I already have asked you,’ Sarah said. ‘But if you like, I’ll ask you again? Will you come?’

  ‘No.’

  Sarah rolled her eyes.

  ‘It’s Morandi for you, Sarah,’ Louisa said, bringing the phone over.

  ‘Hi,’ Sarah said into the receiver. ‘I thought you’d be …’ She stopped as Morandi interrupted her, then Louisa and Danny looked at each other as Sarah’s face started to turn horribly white.

  ‘OK, OK, it’s all right, just calm down. I’ll be right there,’ she said in the end and rang off.

  ‘What is it?’ Louisa asked.

  Sarah’s eyes were darting around the room. ‘It was Morandi,’ she said.

  ‘Well we know that,’ Danny snapped. ‘What did he say?’

  ‘He said … He said …’ Her eyes came to a stop as she looked first at Danny then at Louisa. ‘He’s at the police station in Nice,’ she said. ‘He’s been arrested for Aphrodite’s murder.’

  When Sarah returned from the police station later that evening Danny and Louisa were waiting for her. During the time she was away Louisa had tried calling the number Jake had given her, but the mobile phone, as the message repeatedly told her, was out of operation at this time. Erik couldn’t be found either and Danny had wanted to drive down to the Valhalla to see if they were there. Louisa had talked her out of it, not only because she strongly doubted Jake and Erik were there, but because the Valhalla, as far as she knew, was still in St Tropez which was too far to go tonight when they both should be there when Sarah got back.

  ‘What’s happening? How is he? What did he say?’ Danny fired at Sarah before she was even half out of her car.

  ‘I only spoke to him for a couple of minutes,’ Sarah answered, ‘the rest of the time I was just sitting around waiting, not understanding one damned thing that was going on.’

  ‘But did he do it?’ Danny demanded.

  The look Sarah gave her brought a flush of bridling offence and embarrassment to Danny’s cheeks. ‘Of course he didn’t do it,’ Sarah seethed.

  ‘Then why have they arrested him?’

  ‘Because obviously they think he did it!’

  ‘Come on, let’s get you inside,’ Louisa said, seeing how very unnerved Sarah was by it all. For her part she had spent the past three hours trying extremely hard to stop herself jumping to conclusions, which hadn’t been easy considering Danny’s enthusiasm for the bizarre. However, she thought guiltily to herself, if one good thing had come out of this it was that Sarah would be staying – at least for the time being.

  ‘Has he managed to contact Jake?’ Louisa said as she handed Sarah a drink and sat down beside her on the sofa.

  ‘No,’ she said shaking her head.

  ‘Well of course he hasn’t,’ Danny cried exultantly. ‘Jake’s not going to make himself available to a man he’s just framed for murder, is he?’

  ‘Danny!’ Louisa snapped. ‘One more comment like that and I’m going to slap your face.’

  Danny shrugged and slumped into the sofa opposite.

  ‘He wonders,’ Sarah said to Louisa, ‘if you could try contacting Jake. He needs a lawyer and I just don’t know where to start.’

  ‘But surely he must know someone himself,’ Danny said. ‘Or better still, why doesn’t he ask Consuela to recommend one? I’ll call her now …’

  ‘He was with Consuela when Aphrodite was killed,’ Sarah seethed. ‘And Consuela is denying it.’

  Danny’s mouth formed a perfect O as she tried to think of something to say and failed.

  ‘Wasn’t anyone else around while he was there?’ Louisa asked gently. ‘Someone who can corroborate it?’

  ‘Apparently not. Or no one he saw, anyway.’

  ‘Well then, it seems to me that he wasn’t there at all,’ Danny remarked. Sarah and Louisa glared at her. ‘Oh come on,’ she cried, ‘that house is swarming with boys, if Morandi was there then someone would have seen him. And if Consuela’s saying he wasn’t there, then I would say she’s telling the truth.’

  ‘Yes, well you would,’ Louisa retorted.

  ‘Why would she say he wasn’t if he was?’ Danny demanded.

  ‘Because, you idiot,’ Louisa snapped, ‘she could be the one setting him up for this.’

  ‘If she was setting him up then she wouldn’t have invited him to her house at the precise time Aphrodite departed this world, would she?’ Danny pointed out in a very superior manner.

  ‘God, are you really that thick, or are you just pretending to be?’ Louisa groaned. ‘She had to know where he was to make sure he didn’t have an alibi, so where better than at her house where she could later swear he wasn’t?’

  ‘Or,’ Danny said, ‘he might have done it.’
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  ‘Danny, it’ll be me who swings at you in a minute if you don’t shut up,’ Sarah barked.

  Danny nursed her drink in the crook of her arm and gazed thoughtfully up at the ceiling.

  ‘So what happens next?’ Louisa asked, turning back to Sarah.

  ‘I don’t know. I’ll go back there again tomorrow, I suppose, though God knows if they’ll let me see him.’ She sighed heavily. ‘If only I spoke the damned language, at least then I might have some clue as to what was going on.’ She buried her head in her arms and started to cry softly. ‘You don’t think he did it, Louisa, do you?’ she choked.

  ‘No, of course I don’t,’ Louisa said, putting an arm around her, but as her eyes came up to Danny’s she knew that even if Sarah hadn’t detected the lack of conviction in her voice, Danny had.

  Danny gave a rueful smile and going to sit the other side of Sarah, put an arm around her, saying, ‘Come on now, it’ll be all right. It’ll all work for the best in the end.’ Again she and Louisa’s exchanged glances and Louisa suddenly realized that despite the way Danny appeared to be treating all this as some kind of game, in her heart she really did care about what was happening; in fact, in those brief few moments she seemed as bewildered and as afraid as Louisa and Sarah.

  ‘I just don’t understand it,’ Consuela said, raising an agitated hand to her head as she paced her bedroom. ‘Why on earth would Morandi have said he was here when he must have known that I would say he wasn’t.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Marianne said, equally at a loss as she watched the tail lights of the police car disappearing down the drive.

  ‘I mean, if he was looking for an alibi,’ Consuela continued, her normally serene face pinched and pale, ‘then why on earth didn’t he choose someone who he’d at least set up for it? Why choose me when he knows he wasn’t even here that day? And he didn’t even warn me he was going to use me, not that I’d have given him his alibi, but how can he think he can get away with telling the police something that they can find out so easily isn’t true? It doesn’t make …’ She stopped suddenly and turned to Marianne.