Rachel Lindsay - Moonlight and Magic

by Rachel Lindsay

  'Watch out!' He jumped up, but it was too late. A large stain was spreading over his jacket.

  'I'm sorry,' she gasped. 'But I had such a pain… I couldn't see.' She stood up and with her handkerchief tried to rub away the mark.

  'Don't, Jane, you're making it worse.' He stared down at himself. 'What a sight I look!'

  'I'm afraid you'll have to go back to the boat and change.'

  'I can't go back to the boat. My things are already packed.'

  'Packed? Why, are you leaving the ship?'

  "Yes.' He sat down again and motioned her to do the same. 'I only decided on the spur of the moment - last night, in fact.'

  'I wish you'd told me.' She tried to look pathetic. 'I'll hate staying on board without you.'

  'You needn't worry about Stephen. I heard he's leaving the ship too.'

  'I still don't see why you've kept it such a secret,' she murmured.

  'It isn't a secret.' Colin's control was beginning to fray. 'I was going to tell you at the Acropolis, but you were taken ill.'

  'I see.' She was aware of the other man looking at his watch and knew he was impatient to leave.

  'Where's your luggage, then?' she asked. 'If you'd like to go and change I can stay here and wait for you.'

  'I haven't checked in at a hotel yet. It's at - it's at the station.'

  He stopped speaking as the waiter came over and removed the tea-tray, watching with ill-concealed impatience as he wiped the table.

  'I honestly think it would be best for you to go to a room and lie down until your headache's gone. If you don't like being by yourself I'll - I'll follow you up in a few minutes.'

  She could not think of any other way to delay things and slowly stood up.

  'Won't you come with me, Colin? I won't know where to go-'

  The fullness left his mouth, and it became a thin, hard line.

  'For goodness' sake stop acting like a baby. You're not the Belton heiress now! Have a word with the manager and I'll come and see you a little later.'

  With dragging steps she walked across the carpeted lounge, and as she reached the door saw four men enter the lobby; three of them were tall and heavily built, unmistakably bearing the stamp of plain-clothes detectives; the fourth was small and grey-haired, and Jane ran towards him.

  'Mr. Aristophanes?'

  'At your service. Miss Berry?'

  She nodded and glanced quickly behind her. 'They're having tea together. I tried to delay things. I was afraid they were going to part.'

  Mr. Aristophanes nodded to the henchmen behind him. 'Wait here a moment, Miss Berry. This won't take long.'

  Light-footed, hardly seeming to touch the carpet, he ran to the lounge, and Jane, her overwhelming feeling one of relief, walked to the far corner of the lobby and sat down in a high-backed chair. From the lounge came the sound of a crashing table, a yell of anger and a shot.

  The three policemen came from the lounge, two of them holding the man in the crumpled suit, who was shouting at them in Greek, the third handcuffed to Colin. He looked as imperturbable as ever, his face pale and pink, his mouth slightly smiling. Jane crouched back in her chair, willing herself not to be seen. But she had reckoned without Mr. Aristophanes, for he looked in her direction and called her name. Colin stopped walking, and Jane, wishing she were a million miles away, came slowly towards him.

  The silver-blond head turned inquiringly from the Greek to Jane and back again.

  'You two know one another?"

  'Miss Berry's father is well acquainted with me,' the man said.

  Colin looked at Jane. 'So you were more than just a reporter posing as an heiress?'

  'Yes.'

  "When did you find out about me?'

  "When you dropped the gold coin in my cabin.'

  'How careless of me.' His eyelids drooped over his eyes and then slowly lifted. 'When you write up the story, Jane, try not to make it too lurid. I mean, I'm not the only man to have been fooled by a pretty blonde, am I?'

  She half smiled. 'Don't worry, Colin. This is one story I don't intend writing.'

  'Thanks, my dear. I appreciate that.'

  Mr. Aristophanes interrupted them. 'Will you be coming to the station with us, Miss Berry?'

  'Not unless I have to. I'd really like to return to England today.'

  'I will see if I can arrange it. I'll leave a message with Reception and if I can get you a seat I'll send a car to take you to the airport.'

  At midday Jane returned to the hotel and the reception clerk told her that Mr. Aristophanes had managed to procure a seat for her on the afternoon plane to London. For the next few hours she wandered round Athens, aware of the city yet not really appreciating it; pausing only to look at the long line of flower shops opposite the main square, where she smelled the heady fragrance of roses and carnations. She was glad when it was time to leave for the airport and a large limousine came to collect her. Her surprise was great to find Mr. Aristophanes in the back seat, a box of chocolates in his hand which he presented to her as she took her place beside him.

  'You were a very brave girl,' he said. 'I'm sure the insurance company will reward you.'

  'I wouldn't want anything. It was a horrible feeling, Mr. Aristophanes. I knew Colin quite well and—'

  'Ah yes. It is always bad when one knows them. Myself I have had experience of it many times. Still, it will be a great relief to your father to have Waterman in custody.'

  'What will happen to him?'

  'He will be sent back to London for trial.'

  Jane looked at the houses flashing past and sighed.

  'It was the gold coin that gave him away,' she said. 'It seemed so pointless to carry it around.'

  'It was their means of identification. Waterman did not work alone, as you know, and there are many other men we have yet to find. It is not only jewellery that they steal, but also paintings, and we are pretty sure they organized the recent Paris theft. It is for the disposing of these sort of things that an organization is needed. Jewellery is not so difficult to get rid of. Waterman worked on his own when he took the Lorenz Diamond and the cross, but I am certain he worked with other men too. And these are the ones we must still search for.'

  'You'll have to count me out.' Jane shivered. 'I'm never going to do anything like this again.'

  Mr. Aristophanes patted her hand. 'Have a chocolate,' he said. 'They are very sweet and will take away the taste of bitterness.'

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Rain was glistening on the tarmac as Jane arrived at Heathrow, and as she came out of the Customs and into the terminal, her father rose from an armchair and enveloped her in an unusually demonstrative hug.

  Driving home, she told him everything that had happened, only leaving out the one fact she could not bear to remember - her love for Stephen Drake. Her father had already spoken to Mr. Aristophanes on the telephone, but he was eager to have a first-hand account of everything, and by the time she had finished they had drawn up outside their house.

  'I was glad Mr. Aristophanes didn't ask me to bring the diamond back,' she said, walking up to the front door.

  'Old Arry isn't as casual as he appears,' Tom Berry laughed, and stepped aside for Jane to enter the hall.

  She did so and gave a sigh of pleasure. The carpet might be threadbare, the walls in need of a coat of paint, but it was home, the place where she belonged. Never again would she try to enter an alien world or be foolish enough to believe that love could bridge any gulf.

  'A nice cup of English tea,' her father said, and propelled her into the kitchen. 'Sit down, and I'll make it for you.'

  He was as good as his word, and within a few moments they were sitting either side of the table drinking strong tea and munching biscuits.

  'Not like the Cambrian, eh?' he grinned. 'I hear there's a waiter for every passenger.'

  'They're welcome to it. It's not the sort of life for me.'

  'No millionaires in tow? I was anticipating you'd come back with a diamond of you
r own!'

  'Millionaires don't become engaged so quickly,' she said lightly. 'Anyway, money marries money.'

  'Not according to the Morning Star! They're always discovering Cinderella stories. If I remember rightly, you discovered a few of them yourself.'

  'Well, I won't be doing that any more. I've resigned.'

  'Why?'

  'Stephen Drake -1 told you he was on board - objected to my not telling him of my identity. We had a row and - and gave in my notice.'

  She could tell from his expression that her father knew there was more to the story than she told him, and she was glad that he did not question her.

  'Anyway,' she went on, I'm tired of reporting. I want to find a job where I needn't snoop into people's lives and make up lies when truth isn't stranger than fiction!'

  'Why not forget about work for the time being? The Metropolitan are delighted with the job I did - or rather the job you did for me - and they've renewed my contract and upped my salary. The least I can do is to give you the benefit of it, and I don't see why you can't take a long holiday. Even go on the next Cambrian cruise as yourself!'

  'Never. I don't want to see any of those people again.' She poured herself another cup of tea. 'What will happen to Colin? Will he be held responsible for Hawton's death?'

  'I'm afraid we won't be holding him responsible for anything,' Tom Berry said slowly. 'He's facing someone more fitted than any of us to decide on responsibility.'

  There was no mistaking the portentousness of the words, and Jane put down her cup.

  'What's happened to him?'

  'I didn't tell you before because I knew you'd be upset… But Arry told me on the telephone - the reason he rang, in fact - that they were taking Waterman to the airport to put him on the plane after yours when he opened the car door and jumped out. Another car was overtaking them at the time and—' he spread out his hands - 'it was all over in seconds.'

  Jane's eyes filled with tears and she did not bother to wipe them away. 'I'm glad he didn't have to stand trial. It would have been horrible. I know I shouldn't feel sympathy for him, but—'

  'You didn't feel sympathy, my dear - you felt pity, and I can't blame you for that.' Her father reached for his pipe and put it between his lips. 'Go to bed, Jane. Have a good night's sleep and put the whole thing from your mind.'

  Jane stood up. 'Claire will be pleased it's ended this way. A trial might have given her some unwelcome publicity - especially if she'd been called as a witness.'

  'She certainly would have been, and damned lucky not to be charged as an accessory too. Still, women of that type always have things made easy for them. Luck, I suppose you'd call it'

  Jane decided not to see Frank Preston immediately. He did not know of her return and she was anxious to wait until the excitement of Colin Waterman's death had died down. But the main reason - one which she did not even want to admit to herself - was that she was waiting to hear from Stephen, and every time the telephone rang, every time there was a knock at the door, her heart leapt in her throat.

  But the week drew to a close without any word from him and she was forced to accept the fact that he did not. intend to get in touch with her.

  'I didn't expect him to tell me he still loved me,' she admitted to herself on the Sunday night, when she had finally give up all hope of hearing from him. 'I just hoped he'd have the decency to apologize for the things he'd said, for the way he behaved when I came out of Colin's cabin.' She buried her head in her hands: would she ever forget the humiliation of his kisses, the callous touch of his hands

  First thing on Monday morning she went to see Frank Preston, and her belief that he would try and persuade her not to resign was shattered almost by his first words.

  'What a rocket I got from Drake. If I'd any idea he was going to be on board, I'd never have asked you to go.'

  'I didn't go because you asked me,' she said firmly, determined to clear up this point once and for all. 'I went because of my father. It had nothing to do with your threatening to fire me.'

  'I realized that as soon as the news of Waterman broke. You were a pretty brave girl.'

  'Thank you.' She half smiled. 'I'm glad you didn't ask me to tell you the "story in my own words".'

  He gave a surly grunt. 'Don't remind me of the scoop we missed. I can tell you right now I was planning on running it - full page spread and—'

  'I wouldn't have written it,' she interrupted quickly.

  'You would by the time I'd finished with you!' He swivelled in his chair. 'But Drake was so precise in what he said about you that I didn't have the nerve to use your name in the paper.'

  She moistened her lips. 'What do you - what do you mean?'

  Preston leaned forward. 'I don't know what happened between the two of you, and I'm not asking. But he made it pretty plain that you're never to do anything for the Star again. That's why I wasn't surprised when you told me you weren't going to come back here.'

  'I see. When did Stephen - when did Mr. Drake tell you this?'

  'We got a cable from him when he was in Athens.'

  The shock of hearing this was so great that Jane could not move. All the questions that had seethed in her mind for the past week were now answered, completing the final and ultimate humiliation of knowing that Stephen thought so little of her that he did not care even to pretend to the courtesy of an apology.

  'I'm sorry things had to end this way,' Frank Preston broke into her thoughts. 'I've been told to give you a cheque for six months' salary and—'

  'I don't want it.' She stood up and without another word walked out.

  The same day she applied for and was offered the job of copywriter at Foster's Advertising Agency, using her friendship with one of the publicists there to obtain an interview with Robert Foster himself, a dynamic Anglo-American in his late thirties. She liked him on sight and instinctively felt that he liked her. Indeed, she was almost certain his liking prompted him to give her the job, for the copy test she did was no better than average.

  A week after she had joined the Agency, Robert Foster called her into his office and asked her to dine with him. Reluctant though she was to antagonize him, the thought of making conversation with another man, and pretending to a gaiety she did not feel, was more than she could bear, and even though she knew it might lose her the job, she had to refuse him.

  But in this she had done him an injustice, for he accepted her rebuff with a smile and there was no outward change in his demeanour. If anything he became friendlier, including her in some of the interviews he had with less important clients.

  'You've a good brain and you're a quick thinker,' he said on one occasion. 'All you lack is experience in this work, but I'm pretty sure in a few months you'll be way ahead of any of the other copywriters here.'

  'I wish I could get excited about that,' she admitted truthfully. 'But after reporting, this seems so dull. I mean, there's a limit to what one can say about boot polish or shaving cream!'

  'Don't you believe it,' he said dryly. 'Genius comes in your ability to ring the changes, to say the same thing in a different way. Besides, I've other plans for you - but I'm prepared to wait a while on those!'

  There had also been no word from Janey Belton, and reluctant to presume on their acquaintance - since Janey's silence implied that she wanted to forget it - Jane only penned her a short note when she returned the key of the jewel-case, saying that she hoped Dinky Howard had by now sent it back to her, together with all the clothes which she had left packed in the stateroom. There was no reply from Janey, merely a typewritten acknowledgment from Cedric Belton's secretary saying that the letter and its enclosure had been received.

  She was therefore surprised when, returning home the following Friday, she found a Rolls parked outside the house and Janey Belton standing beside it.

  'I'd almost given you up,' the girl cried. 'I've been here hours!'

  'If you'd let me know you were coming—'

  'I couldn't. I got back from the St
ates this morning and came straight over. Dad's secretary told me you'd returned the key of my jewel-case and gave me your letter.'

  'She should have told me you were away,' Jane said as she opened the front door and led the way into the sitting-room. 'When you didn't reply yourself I assumed you didn't want to see me again.'

  'Why ever not?' Janey's head tilted imperiously, the blonde hair glinting in the light. 'I meant to write to you when I was in New York, but I'd forgotten your address and Dad wouldn't let me write to you c/o your Features Editor in case he opened it. You know what newspapermen are like.'

  Jane shook her head. Frank Preston's integrity was negligible if he felt there was a good story to be had, but she doubted whether even he would resort to opening letters not addressed to him.

  'It doesn't matter,' she said. 'The main thing is that you're here. But tell me, did my taking your place help you at all? When I was in Venice I learned that your father had found out the truth.'

  Janey made a face. 'I'm surprised you didn't hear him as well! Lord, the way he shouted! Still, it's all over now - and I've won.'

  'Won?'

  'Yes' Janey held out her hand on which shone an engagement ring, the diamonds so small as to be almost indiscernible. 'Dad's agreed to my marrying Ted,' she giggled. 'I told him that though the cruise idea hadn't worked, I had lots more ideas up my sleeve. I think I frightened him to death - he began to imagine the sort of escapades I'd get up to - so he had a long talk with Ted and finally said yes. Oh, Jane, I'm so happy I think I'm going to burst. And it's all because of you. If you hadn't gone on the cruise instead of me, none of this would have happened.'

  'I'm glad something's turned out right.'

  Egoist though she was, Janey sensed the irony in the words. 'Didn't you enjoy yourself? I thought you'd have had a wonderful time.'

  'I did.'

  'You're lying. I can tell from your voice.' Janey was not her father's daughter for nothing. 'Come on, tell me the truth. What went wrong?'

  'Nothing. I tell you I had a wonderful time.'

  'Even when you nabbed Colin Waterman?'