Promises After Dark (After Dark Book 3) (34 page)

Caroline greets me as I come in. She looks awful, not at all like her usual pink-faced self, but she is composed and happy to see me. She directs me to one of the sidesmen for a services sheet and I realise that the tall man in the gold-rimmed spectacles is James.

‘Hello, dear girl,’ he says quietly as I come up. ‘I was hoping to see you today. How are you?’

‘All right,’ I say, managing a smile. The sight of Mark’s polished coffin at the top of the aisle surrounded by flowers is like a stab to my innards. I’m feeling shaky and grief-stricken all over again.

‘Bear up, old thing,’ he say sympathetically and puts a steadying hand on my arm. ‘It’s a bad business. Poor Mark. He went much more quickly than any of us expected.’

‘Do you think it was bound to happen?’ I ask, staring up at him beseechingly.

‘From what I understand, the cancer was much further advanced than they suspected at first. He would have had a miserable time undergoing radiotherapy and goodness knows what else, and the result would have been much the same. Perhaps it was kinder to go quickly without enduring all of that.’

‘But wouldn’t he have wanted more time?’

James looks grave. ‘You know Mark. He loved elegance and beauty. He wouldn’t have liked what he was reduced to at all. Not one bit.’

‘Perhaps you’re right.’

James pats my arm comfortingly and then hands me an order of service. ‘Here you are. Sit anywhere you like. Is Dominic with you?’

I nod. ‘He’s taking a call outside. He’ll be here in a minute.’

‘He never stops. I’ll come and find you afterwards at the wake. I want to talk to you when I’ve got all this out of the way.’

‘Of course.’ I make my way to an empty pew and take my place. I hope I look as elegant as Mark would have wanted. I’m wearing a black suit, high heels and a small cloche hat with a diamond arrow pinned on it. I think Mark would have liked the arrow in particular. While I’m waiting for Dominic, I read over the order of service. It’s a lovely, old-fashioned service and I know all the hymns.

The choir is about to come in when Dominic slips into the pew beside me. ‘Sorry,’ he murmurs. ‘That was Tom. I had to take it. Amazingly enough, several obstacles in the way of my purchase of the Siberian iron ore mine have disappeared.’ He shoots me an amused look. ‘Funny that.’

‘Shhh,’ I say, frowning. Then the organ strikes up and the choir enters as the congregation rises to its feet and begins to sing.

It’s a beautiful service. When the choir sings ‘The Lord’s My Shepherd’ I feel the hot sting of tears in my eyes, but mostly it’s a celebration of Mark’s life and work. His friends stand up to give a joint address that is funny and poignant at the same time. Caroline gives a short speech about Mark’s life and how much she is going to miss him. There are prayers and then another hymn. After the blessing and dismissal, we watch the coffin being taken back down the aisle to the hearse that’s waiting outside. The family goes with it to the crematorium and the rest of us walk a short distance to the wake, which is held in a small but beautiful and polished pub, as only pubs in Chelsea can be.

‘That was a very moving service,’ Dominic says as we follow the rest of the congregation along the road, our black clothes and hats drawing looks from passers-by. ‘Dear old Mark. I’m glad he had a send-off like that.’

‘It’s a testament to a person that so many people wanted to be there and say such nice things,’ I reply. ‘I was lucky to know Mark.’

‘He was a big fan of yours,’ says Dominic. ‘And with good cause.’

At the pub, Bloody Marys and Bull Shots are being offered to the guests along with wine or soft drinks. I take a Bloody Mary and sip at its spicy warmth as I look around for James. I spot him over by the fireplace chatting to Erland, and when he sees me, he beckons me over. I leave Dominic talking to a fellow guest and make my way across the room to him.

‘Well, hello there,’ he says. ‘I’m glad I’ve got you to myself at last. Erland, go and get me another drink, there’s a love.’

When Erland has gone, James says, ‘Has Caroline had a word with you?’

I shake my head. ‘Not yet. I’ve been to the office since I got back but she said she didn’t want anything done until after the funeral. I suppose that we’ll be starting work again on Monday. Has she spoken to you?’

James nods. ‘She has. Mark has appointed her and me as executors of his will and he’s left instructions that we are to continue running the business as we see fit in the event of his death.’

‘Oh,’ I say, puzzled. ‘So what does that mean?’

‘Well, we’ve still got to thrash it out but Caroline has indicated that she wants to keep the business going, and she wants me to help do that.’

‘Can you do that? On top of running the gallery?’

He fixes me with a beady gaze. ‘If you help me, I can. Caroline showed me your notes of what you did in New York. It looks as though you did an excellent job of networking and finding pieces of interest. The finances are in a very healthy state too – Mark was certainly good at buying cheap and selling high. I think that between us, we can make a decent fist of keeping Mark’s legacy going. And if Caroline wants to in the future, she’ll have a healthy business to sell. But . . .’ James looks solemn. ‘There’s a catch. Mark always spent a good deal of time in New York, and the American side of things was very important to him. I can’t do all that, I have to be here where I can keep an eye on the gallery. Can’t go jaunting off all the time. So you’ll need to be prepared to spend a bit of time Stateside. Can you do that?’

I stare at him, my eyes lighting up as the implications sink in. ‘I’d love to do that!’

James smiles. ‘Good.’

My own smile fades a little as I remember what Dominic and I still have to decide – whether or not we are going to turn Andrei over to the police. If we do, that means my rosy future running Mark’s business with James may not come to pass after all.

‘Everything all right?’ asks James.

‘Yes, fine,’ I say. Now is not the time to start going into all that with James. Erland comes back clutching two glasses of champagne and hands one to James.

‘Hello, Beth,’ he says in his lilting Norwegian accent. ‘How are you? Wasn’t the service lovely?’

‘It was. Really lovely.’ I smile at him. ‘It’s exactly what Mark would have wanted.’

Erland’s eyes suddenly move towards the door. ‘Wow,’ he mutters. ‘Who’s that? I didn’t notice her at the church!’

I turn to look. There is Anna, stunning in a clinging black dress and a hat with a veil that covers her face to the nose, drawing attention to her bright red lips. She’s looking around for someone and when she spots Dominic, she begins to walk over to him.

‘Excuse me,’ I say, and leave James and Erland as I go over to intercept her. ‘Hello, Anna.’

She gazes at me with a look of sardonic amusement. ‘Ah, Beth. How nice to see you. If you don’t mind, I need to speak to Dominic.’

‘Of course. Let’s find him together.’

As soon as Dominic sees us approaching, he moves away from the man he’s talking to and leads us into a small room off the main bar.

‘Hello, Anna,’ he says politely. ‘You’ve decided to join us.’

‘Yes. I wanted to raise a glass to Mark, a man who was always most civil to me. But I also wanted to let you know something rather important. According to my contacts, Andrei is in the process of winding up his presence both here and in America.’

‘What?’ Dominic stares at her, astonished.

Anna nods her head, her dark veil bobbing and her eyes glittering underneath it. ‘That’s right. For some reason, he appears to be retrenching, and removing himself from this country, and from the States.’

‘I see,’ mutters Dominic. He shoots me a look. ‘Clever of him. He’s getting out of the way so that even if we go to the police, there’s nothing they can do about it.’

‘You mean, he’s leaving?’

‘Exactly. He’ll have people cleaning up after him right now.’ Dominic frowns. ‘Thanks for letting us know, Anna. This changes quite a few things. If you’ll excuse me, ladies, I’ve just got to go outside and make a call.’

He strides out, reaching for his phone and leaving Anna and me together. She watches him go and then turns to me, a smile playing around her red lips.

‘It looks as though you two are very happy together,’ she says.

‘Yes, we are – thank you,’ I say, sounding stiff even though I don’t want to.

‘Good, good. And I’m very happy with Giovanni. In fact, we please each other so much, he’s going to leave the monastery, just for me. Isn’t that nice? So you’re quite safe from me now. I’ve lost interest in Dominic – and to be honest, he was beginning to bore me anyway.’ She leans closer to me, her eyes sparkling. ‘By the way, did you ever find out what happened in the caves, Beth?’

‘I found out you drugged me,’ I retort, angered by the memory despite my relief that she has decided to give up pursuing Dominic. ‘And I also found out that I didn’t make love to Andrei, so my conscience is clear.’

‘Then if it wasn’t Andrei,’ she says, her low voice playful and rather dangerous, ‘who was it?’

‘It was Dominic, of course,’ I say coolly.

‘Was it?’ She laughs.

‘Of course it was.’ I feel a stab of cold fear. Is she trying to imply that it was another man altogether? She once tried to make me believe that it was she herself who had made love to me but that was impossible.

‘You told Dominic you made love to him in the caves.’ She laughs again.

‘What’s so funny?’ I demand.

‘Then he must really love you. Because, you see, he knows that he didn’t make love to you.’

‘He didn’t?’ Clammy shock dampens my palms.

She shakes her head, giving me a pitying look from behind her veil. ‘No. But he thinks you made love to someone. And he’s never said a word about it. So you see . . . he must really love you.’

My head is in a whirl as I try to process this. ‘Then . . . who?’ I cry. Anna turns to go and I stop her with a hand on her arm. ‘Please, Anna – who? You’ve got to tell me.’

She stares at me for a moment and then she says in a cold voice: ‘It was no one. You didn’t make love to anyone.’

I can’t believe it. I remember that night, those sensations, the cold wall, the hot skin against mine, the blissful feeling of being taken hard by the man whose face I couldn’t see . . .

‘No one?’ I whisper.

She tilts her head close to mine and says quietly, ‘I gave you a very powerful sexual stimulant. I’ve used it successfully on many people and on those with a particularly lubricious character, it can have a surprising effect. It is possible to hallucinate sexual encounters and to experience them almost as if they were real. Like a dream in which you come, but a thousand times more vivid. I’m sure you have those, don’t you, Beth? I know you do.’ She drops her voice to a whisper. ‘I saw you.’

She gives me a brilliant smile and turns on her heel, walking out with a swing of her hips and leaving me gaping after her.

Dominic finds me there a few minutes later when he returns.

‘Are you all right? Where’s Anna?’ He looks at me more closely. ‘You look like you’ve been hit over the head. Are you okay?’

‘Yes . . . yes . . . I’m fine.’ I’m still slotting everything in place and working it out. I realise suddenly that Dominic has never accused me of anything or demanded to know the truth about what happened in the catacombs. He must have realised that in my drugged state I couldn’t be held accountable for my actions. He might believe I fucked someone in the caves thinking it was him, and he’s decided to let it go. Anna is right. He must love me.

I hug him close, treasuring him more than ever.

‘Hey,’ he says, ‘are you sure you’re all right?’

I nod. One day I’ll tell him the truth. Not now – but one day soon.

‘I’ve been talking to my lawyer in the States,’ Dominic says. ‘He doesn’t think there’s much point in us pursuing Dubrovski right now. As long as he’s clearing up his operation and getting out, we’ll be making trouble for ourselves without a hope of getting him. So his advice is to let sleeping dogs lie.’

‘So Andrei gets away with it,’ I say, suddenly furious.

‘Not really. He’s lost more than he gained. And . . .’ Dominic brushes his lips against mine. ‘. . . He doesn’t get the thing he wanted most of all. You.’

I relax into his arms and let him hold me for a moment.

Then I look him straight in the eye. ‘You’re sure you want me, aren’t you, Dominic? After everything?’

He picks up my hand and we both look at the hoop of diamonds sparkling on my finger. ‘There’s my promise,’ he says softly. ‘You’re still wearing it. As long as it’s on your finger, it holds good. Of course I want you. I love you. I adore you.’ He kisses me and I revel in the sweetness and passion in his kiss.

‘And Rosa?’ I say wickedly, pressing my lips to his ear.

‘I’ll always love Rosa too,’ he murmurs throatily. ‘She’s so sweet and always so naughty! I don’t know if she’ll ever learn her lesson . . . but most of all, I love Beth. My gorgeous, clever, funny, talented, sexy Beth.’

I laugh. ‘I love you too.’ Then, with a gentle kiss to his jawline, I whisper, ‘Sir . . .’