The Butler

by Danielle Steel

  And coming back to her apartment was depressing. It looked so sad and gray and faded now. She hadn’t realized how bad it looked when she left. It didn’t feel like home anymore. It reminded her of all the bad times and sad times of watching her mother deteriorate and her magazine go under slowly. She missed the pretty, happy apartment in Paris. It was fresh and new, and felt more like home now. She suddenly couldn’t imagine coming back to her dreary New York apartment after a year in Paris. Now she had the chateau to do, but she didn’t want to think about that either. She just wanted to go to bed and try to forget what had happened at the airport with Joachim.

  She’d been gone for months, so there was nothing in the fridge, and she wasn’t hungry anyway. She didn’t even unpack. She went straight to bed in her clothes, and tossed and turned all night, and had nightmares about going to jail.

  In the morning she met her realtor at her lawyer’s office and signed the papers to sell her mother’s apartment. It took them an hour to sign everything, and then she sat and talked to her lawyer, Eric Parks, for a few minutes. She had known him for many years and trusted his advice. She told him what had happened at the airport and said that she believed Joachim was an honest man. But this was not a small incident like Alphonsine stealing her mother’s jewelry, when she suspected him. He had a twin brother who was seriously involved in the Colombian drug trade. What if he showed up in Paris and tried to kill Joachim? Or her? Or took her hostage? Or if one of his dangerous cohorts mistook Joachim for Javier one day and killed him, or assassinated everyone around him, including her? These were highly dangerous people. And by blood, Joachim was at risk. His entire family was, and Olivia didn’t want to be in the wrong place at the wrong time with him. The scene at the airport had been terrifying enough.

  She explained the whole situation to her attorney, and he didn’t disagree with her. Hiring the identical twin of a dangerous Colombian drug lord didn’t sound like a good plan to him, even on a short-term basis. She told him that Joachim was only going to work for her for a few months.

  “You need to run a criminal investigation on the twin who works for you. You know about the other one now, but you need to be sure that this one isn’t working underground for the same organization, or that he’s not a terrorist, or has a criminal history. The truth is you don’t know enough about him.” She realized that now too. She liked him, and he was a terrific employee, but she wanted to know more than that now, about his background. The Homeland Security agents at the airport had checked and said that Joachim had no criminal history, but she wanted confirmation of that.

  Eric offered to contact a detective agency he had used before. They had international contacts, and he promised to get a report for her as soon as he could. She didn’t want to fire Joachim before that. Maybe he was totally clean. But she needed to know and then decide if she wanted to keep him or not. If there was anything smoky at all in his history, she was going to let him go. She couldn’t afford to do otherwise. She was a woman alone, his brother was a dangerous criminal, and she couldn’t take the risk. She had no one to protect her, and she didn’t want to be looking over her shoulder all the time, wondering if she was going to be killed.

  She met Joachim at the storage company, after her meeting with the lawyer. They were both subdued. He looked like he’d had a bad night too, and he was mortified seeing Olivia again. They kept the conversation to the items she wanted to send to France for her apartment there. He had taken the measurements she’d asked for, and said they’d fit in the Paris apartment. They had a quick sandwich together afterward, and neither of them mentioned the incident at the airport. It was too painful for either of them to discuss. Joachim felt terrible for putting her at risk with the authorities. She felt guilty about the criminal investigation of him that she had just authorized, although it was the sensible thing to do, in the circumstances. They only talked about the furniture she was shipping, and then she let him go to explore New York on his own. She wanted to pack some more things at her apartment, but she told him she didn’t need his help. It wasn’t entirely true, but she wanted to be alone, and think about what to do.

  She picked him up at his hotel on the way to the airport the next day. She had thought they might have some fun together in New York, or a meal at least. But she didn’t want to see him after the incident at the airport, except for work. She didn’t want to call any of her work contacts or friends either. She was still smarting from the blow of losing her business. So she kept to herself. And they said very little to each other on the way to the airport. She was worried now that they would have a problem when they checked in at Air France, but they didn’t.

  Joachim felt like a criminal himself when he boarded the plane and was panicked that they’d stop him again. He was sure that there would be something about him now in the computers. The authorities were aware of his existence now, and his relationship to Javier. Being the identical twin of a man on the No Fly List was not a good thing, and he thought there might be repercussions again, but there weren’t. Everything went smoothly when they checked in and boarded the plane.

  Olivia slept most of the way back to Paris. She was exhausted by the trauma of the trip. And seeing her apartment had been sad. She had never realized how dreary her life was there, and how bad her apartment looked. And selling her mother’s apartment was emotional for her. She felt drained.

  Joachim dropped her off at her apartment in Paris and went home. His mother was waiting for him, to hear all about the fun he’d had in New York. The minute he came through the door, she could see that something was wrong. He had burst into tears when he got to his hotel room in New York, and he almost did now. The humiliation of the four-and-a-half-hour interrogation had been a nightmare, particularly since he was with Olivia. He told his mother about it and she looked shocked.

  “They thought you were Javier?” The whole story sounded awful to her.

  Joachim nodded. “Yes, they did. Thank God they finally produced a photograph of him and you could see the mole we both have, on opposite sides, and the birthmark on his shoulder. Otherwise I’d probably be in prison by now, as a drug dealer, and he’d be scot-free.” He had loved being an identical twin as a boy, and they had played tricks on everyone, their teachers, their friends. The only one who could always tell them apart instantly was their mother. But it was not fun being the twin of a criminal like Javier. The federal agent said he had killed several American agents, and probably a number of other people as well. He had become a very dangerous man.

  “At least we know he’s still alive,” Joachim said with a sigh, sitting next to his mother on the couch. It felt good to be home. “That’s some small consolation.”

  “It’s no consolation at all,” she said with a ravaged look. “He’s no longer the man we knew. The Javier we loved is gone. He might as well be dead,” but she was glad he wasn’t too. He was still her son, no matter how bad he was.

  “I should probably quit my job.” He’d been thinking that for two days. “I’m an embarrassment to Olivia. I’m surprised she didn’t fire me in New York.”

  “She needs you,” his mother said simply. “And walking out on her and quitting is cowardly. You’re better than that. You embarrassed her, and probably terrified her. Now you have to stick it out until it calms down. You don’t walk away when things get hard,” she admonished him.

  “I never have before. But she doesn’t need the headache I represent.”

  “No, she doesn’t. But she does need your help. You owe it to her to stick around. If she wants to fire you, she will. Then you can go. Not before.” His mother was very firm about it, and in the end, he promised her he wouldn’t quit for now, and went to bed.

  The atmosphere between Joachim and Olivia was still tense the next day, on their first day back. They had returned to real life and were together all the time. And he knew his mother was right. It would take a while to settle down again
. He thought Olivia still looked scared and maybe she was. It had terrified him too. He didn’t know how his brother could live like that, always on the wrong side of the law, wanted all over South America, and in the United States, with criminals just like him who wanted to kill him and maybe his family. He was amazed his brother was still alive.

  Olivia was as uncomfortable with Joachim as he was with her. She thought she would probably fire him before anything else happened, but she wanted to wait for the results of the criminal investigation to come back. Maybe he was as innocent as a lamb. She wanted to be fair, which was one of the things he liked most about her. He could sense how torn she was, but knew nothing of the investigation she had launched. He just thought she was jumpy. And he didn’t blame her. It had unnerved him too. It was the undiscussed elephant in the room whenever they were together.

  They both felt a little more normal when they had the distraction of the chateau to keep them busy. They were sifting through assorted estimates from subcontractors that week, and other workmen they were hiring. They consulted with each other constantly and went out to the chateau three times. It was a relief to have a project to focus on, and little by little, they began to feel normal with each other again. He even made her laugh once or twice, which broke the tension.

  Olivia finally said something to him about it at the end of the week. It took her that long to be able to talk about it. They were sharing a sandwich at the chateau, and she looked at him calmly. “Are you okay?” she asked him, and he looked surprised. They’d had a nice morning, working together, with no trace of the malaise that had plagued them since New York.

  “Yes. Why?”

  “I was scared to death in New York. You must have been even more terrified than I was. I thought they were going to put you in jail.”

  “So did I.” It was a relief to talk about it, and he was glad she had. “I felt so awful putting you through that.”

  “I’m sorry about your brother. It must be terrible for you and your mother.” He nodded agreement and looked at her.

  “I thought you were going to fire me in New York. I wouldn’t have blamed you. You were incredibly decent about it.”

  “It’s not your fault. It must be a heavy burden for you to carry.”

  “I’ve never been accused of being him before. That was a little too much reality for me.” He still looked shaken.

  “I’ve never heard of mirror twins before. Lucky for you.”

  “It’s the only way our mother could tell us apart. I think it’s pretty rare.”

  “It must have been fun being twins,” she commented.

  “It was, as kids. Not anymore. Once we were teenagers, he was always tougher than I was, and meaner. He used to beat the shit out of me sometimes. My mother says now that he was always different, that he has no heart. I loved him anyway. I think that’s how twins are, it’s a special bond. I would have died for him then. But not anymore. I have no intention of taking the rap for him. I hope that’s the last time that anyone ever gets us confused.”

  “It’s a little bit like Cain and Abel, isn’t it?” she said pensively.

  “Yeah. A little too much so.” They turned to other subjects then and went back to work. By the end of the following week, things felt normal between them again, except that Olivia was still waiting for the report on him.

  She was surprised to hear from Jean Beaulieu that week, Audrey Wellington’s decorator friend who had come to tea. He was giving a dinner party on Saturday and invited Olivia. She was grateful for the invitation. She still wanted to meet people in Paris and hadn’t yet. He said he was having twelve people over for dinner.

  “It won’t be as elegant as your place, with your fancy butler,” he teased her. “But I have a pretty good cook I hire for parties.” She wanted to find one too that she could have cook for dinner parties, once she met some people. She accepted Jean’s invitation with pleasure. It was her first step into a Parisian social life.

  She wore a simple but sexy black dress when she went to his dinner party. He had a very fancy apartment on the avenue Montaigne, with a view of the Eiffel Tower. His apartment looked like a yacht since that was most of what he did. But the people were interesting and pleasant. She was seated next to a very charming architect, Charles de Prex. He spoke excellent English and was mesmerized by her. Jean told him about the chateau she was renovating and decorating and he was impressed. He appeared to be at the dinner on his own. And just before the party ended, he asked her if she would have dinner with him sometime. She had enjoyed his company all evening.

  “I’d like that very much,” she said, and meant it. She’d had a very good time talking to him, and he was clearly very taken with her. He hadn’t left her side all night. It was only when they collected their coats that a very pretty redhead in a short black dress sidled over to him, and told him to stop misbehaving, it was time to go home. She was his wife. He looked mildly embarrassed but not very, and Jean told her after they left that he was a bit of a player, but a great guy. His wife was a very successful attorney and they had four children. Olivia was incensed by how misleading he had been. He had never once said he was married or mentioned his wife. And what was he going to do about the dinner invitation he extended? Just take her out and cheat on his wife?

  She took a cab home, which was how she’d arrived. And Charles, the infamous cheater, called her ten minutes after she got home. She had given him her number when he invited her to dinner.

  “I’m sorry about that little unpleasantness when we left the dinner,” he said smoothly. “Normally she’s quite good about these things. We have an agreement. She has the occasional fling too.”

  “How nice for her,” Olivia said icily, furious that she had fallen for it and been duped all evening. “I’m afraid I’m a little more straightforward than that. I don’t get involved in other people’s ‘arrangements.’ I’m not interested in that.”

  “You sound so charming when you’re angry, Olivia. I would kiss you if I was there. Americans are so funny about these things. This is Paris. The city of love.”

  “Actually, if you were here, you wouldn’t kiss me because I wouldn’t let you. I think cheaters are disgusting. You’ll have to find someone else to play with,” she said and hung up. He called two more times and she didn’t answer. She was furious at herself for getting fooled, even for the length of a dinner party. And his wife was gorgeous. Why cheat on her? All she could think of with men like that was George Lawrence and how he had ruined her mother’s life. Olivia had never gone out with a married man, and she didn’t intend to start now. She knew where that path led. She had seen it firsthand. She would have preferred to be alone forever than to date a married man. But it was disappointing. He had been so handsome and intelligent and seemed so nice. She’d enjoyed meeting him and been excited about dinner with him.

  She was still angry about it on Sunday, when she got an email from Eric Parks, her lawyer in New York, with a large attachment. It was the criminal report on Joachim that she’d been waiting for, and she could see that it was long. She didn’t know what to expect and was almost afraid to read it. But she couldn’t avoid it any longer. She climbed into bed with her laptop, opened the attachment, and began reading.

  It began at the beginning and said that his father was the heir of an aristocratic family in Buenos Aires, and had been a banker at a respected financial institution owned by his family. His mother, Liese, was born in Germany. Her mother, Joachim’s maternal grandmother, was killed in the Allied bombings of Germany, and Liese’s aristocratic father had moved from Berlin to Buenos Aires with Joachim’s mother after the war. She was five years old at the time. She had grown up in high social circles, married, and gave birth to twin boys at the age of thirty-nine. Joachim and Javier were mentioned by name.

  It then went on to say that Joachim’s maternal grandfather, who had enjoyed high social standing
in Buenos Aires for thirty-four years, and had a considerable fortune, was exposed four months after Joachim’s birth as a Nazi war criminal. Further investigation had revealed that in exchange for secrets, information, and documents relating to other war criminals of the German High Command, he had made a very lucrative deal with both the Americans and the British, who had paid him a very large sum, and allowed him to leave Germany on the condition he never return to Europe or the United States. And he had been allowed to take several very valuable paintings as his personal spoils of war. The agreement had been top secret, and he was discovered and exposed by a well-known hunter of Nazi war criminals. His agreement with the Allies was disavowed and rendered null and void, and he was extradited to Germany at the age of seventy-three, where he was convicted, served eight years of his fifty-year sentence, and died in prison. Joachim and Javier were four months old at the time their grandfather was extradited. Their grandfather’s fortune and art collection were reclaimed and sent back to Germany. Within weeks afterward, Joachim’s mother had been abandoned by her husband, Alejandro Canal. He gave up all legal rights to their twin sons. They were divorced within a year, with no financial support for her or the twins. Joachim’s mother had been left penniless, with no remaining family, other than her father in a German prison, where he died several years later. Joachim’s father remarried a year later, another local socialite, and he was subsequently killed in a polo accident when Joachim and Javier were three years old. And according to their sources, Joachim and his brother had never known or seen their father after the age of four months.