Betrayal (45 page)

The betrayal was only fleeting but instantly she felt ashamed, and she hated Neal for what he'd done to her. Night after night he was trying to educate her in the ways of some peculiar world of his own where she had no desire to go, and night after night she failed him. Sometimes she thought he'd carry on with his bizarre behaviour until one or the other of them dropped dead. If she could be granted one wish it would be for the ability to respond as he wanted and put an end to the nights that had long since ceased to have anything to do with love.

She held Alexi tightly against her and he squealed with surprise before beginning to laugh. 'It's all your fault!' she whispered, but he was such a happy, well-behaved child that she knew she would never be without him. 'What would Daddy say if he could see you up this late?' she laughed.

'He'd say that his son was up far too late!'

Lisa stood still and looked up the hallway to where her husband and Bishop were standing. 'I didn't hear your key,' she murmured. 'Obviously! Let's have a look at him since I'm here.' Bishop remained by the door, unusually silent even for him. Alexi smiled and snuggled against his father's shoulder while Neal glanced at his wife. 'You look tired. Why not take a bath and read for half an hour? I won't be long.' She hoped her expression didn't reveal her feelings. 'Bishop's had a nasty accident today,' he continued. 'He was crossing Harcourt Terrace when some stupid van driver drew away from the curb and sent him flying. He's dislocated his shoulder. I brought him back here to recuperate. His head's had a nasty bang and if he should need a doctor in the night… '

'Do you mean here and not in the annexe?' 'Yes.'

'Hadn't he better let Louise know? She is going to be his wife. If anyone's going to tend his fevered brow it ought to be her.'

'I'm not having that stupid bitch fussing over me,' said Bishop coldly.

'Same old Bishop. It seems the bang on the head wasn't severe enough!' snapped Lisa, horribly aware that he must have been hit during the bullion robbery and wishing he were lying dead in the quiet Surrey lane instead of sleeping under the same roof as her and her children.

'Lisa!'

'I'm going to bed, Neal. You can deal with Bishop.'

Neal handed over Alexi, his eyes thoughtful. 'Has something happened to annoy you?'

'I'm just tired.'

'Of course! Nine forty-five is very late! Please don't go to sleep yet.'

She turned on her heel and walked away from the men. The very thought of her husband's hands on her body made her flesh creep. It was one thing to suspect him of being less than a hundred percent law-abiding but quite another to discover that he was involved in multi-million pound robberies that involved bludgeoning innocent men round the head and face. As for Bellini, she couldn't let herself take in the full implications of his loss. He was an intelligent man, he must have had suspicions about Neal from the start. How would he react to this second attack on his bank?

'My, we're late,' said Nanny Thompson reproachfully.

'I wanted him to see his father,' lied Lisa, and the nanny's face cleared. Yes, she thought, his staff think he's wonderful. He only has to show himself in the nursery once a month and he's the perfect father. But then she too had been taken in by him, and there could no longer be any doubt that he was a very accomplished actor.

It was ten-thirty before he joined her in the bedroom and eleven-thirty when he finally rolled away from her with an exclamation of disgust. 'I'm not continuing with this farce! It's obvious you're totally frigid, and since I'm not into necrophilia don't blame me if I start taking my pleasure elsewhere.'

'As long as I don’t know about it, you can do what you like,' she muttered.

Neal turned her to face him 'What sort of wife gives her husband that kind of freedom?' he shouted, his face darkening.

Lisa knew that if she didn't speak now she never would. For a second she hesitated. If she kept silent her life might continue along what many women would consider an acceptable path. She'd still have the money and position that marriage to Neal brought, and Jessica could continue with her treatment, but her husband would be away more and more and people would pity her as they'd once pitied Naomi. Suddenly she knew that she couldn't live like that. 'You're right,' she said slowly. 'I didn't mean it.'

'Good!'

'Because if you did start sleeping around, I might start discussing some of your business colleagues. Like the man with grey hair and a small scar on his face. You do remember him?'

'No.'

'But you must do. He's stayed here in the annexe at least twice.' 'A friend of Bishop's.'

'He told me most distinctly that he was your guest. That was the first time we met. The second time, I was in the pool and we didn't have an opportunity to speak. He seemed in a hurry to get away.'

'Why should you think he's of any importance, whoever he is?' 'He was on the news tonight.'

'Really? '

'That man is in charge of the Express Delivery security arrangements.' 'And?'

'They happen to have had one of their vans hijacked today with the resulting loss of five million pounds' worth of gold bullion.'

'I fail to see why this should interest either of us.' 'Most of that gold came from the Bellini bank!'

Neal laughed. 'That's why you're so incensed! Don't worry, he won't lose out. He probably only keeps his pocket money in that bank!'

'You were behind the robbery, Neal. You had that man here to gain inside information, and no doubt Bishop's injuries came from fighting one of the guards and not from any careless van driver in London.'

'You ought to write thrillers!' He smiled, putting out a hand to stroke back her hair.

Lisa flinched and moved out of his reach. 'Don't bloody patronise me!' she shouted. 'You know I'm right, why don't you admit it? I'm not stupid, and I'm not blind. It's screamingly obvious to anyone with any intelligence, and my brain works reasonably well.'

The amusement was gone from his face. 'Yes, indeed it does,' he commented softly. 'It's unfortunate I didn't realise what a hazard that would be when I began pursuing you. But what's done is done, and a wife can't testify against her husband however much she may want to!'

'You admit I'm right? '

'As you pointed out, I'd be sadly under-rating you if I continued denying it.'

'I don't know how you could do it!' 'I didn't use my own fair hands.'

'But you're in line for a knighthood! People think you're… ' 'Most people are either equally crooked, gullible or greedy. Providing I keep donating money to charity and have a legitimate business front, do you honestly think that many people are all that interested in this kind of crime? '

'Yes! Property counts for more than people in this country. Think of the train robbers. They got enormous sentences. The police… ' 'The police? My dear girl, if you've got sufficient money the police don't present any great threat. Most of them live way beyond their income.'

'I don't believe that . And what about those men today?'

'They're alive, aren't they? They'll get a pension and compensation if they can't return to work.'

'I can't believe this! How can you lie there talking so calmly about… '

'I can't believe it either. In fact , I think it's rather important that I make your position very clear to you before you say anything you'll regret. Put on your robe, we're going to take a little walk.

'Where are we going?' She was suddenly acutely aware that having ceased to please him either in bed or out of it, he had very little to lose by killing her. Despite herself her teeth began to chatter.

'Don't worry, my dear. For some unknown reason I still like having you as my wife. You're quite safe. This is just a visit we have to make so that you realise how important it is to keep all this exciting new knowledge to yourself.'

He bundled her into the ivory satin robe she'd received from him for her last birthday, a beautiful Bruce Oldfield creation she'd admired during the summer show, and then pushed her gently in front of him out on to the first landing and up the stairs. Up to the rooms where he never willingly went. The rooms where Jessica and Janice lived.

At the door of her daughter's bedroom, Lisa twisted free and tried to bar his way. 'Please, don't touch Jessica,' she begged. 'She's responding to the treatment now. Today she sat on my lap and watched television like any normal little girl. She's doing so well but she's very fragile.'

'I'm only here to show you how equally fragile my temper is when I'm blackmailed,' he snarled. 'I intend to remind you how much you gained by marrying me, and how quickly you can lose it all. Everything: my money, your social position, and—of course—your precious daughter. And I promise you this,' he added. 'If you were stupid enough to take your middle-class conscience to the police, Jessica would be killed long before they even got near me.'

'She hasn't got anything to do with this!' Lisa was frantic. 'I won 't tell anyone, I promise, but don't go in there, Neal. She doesn't know you, she'll be petrified.'

Pushing her to one side he strode into the room and snatched the sleeping Jessica from her bed. Her eyes flew open and when she saw a strange face looming above her she turned into a scratching, screaming animal. With an exclamation of disgust, Neal caught hold of the back of her nightdress, walked to the beautiful bow window and flung it open.

'Look , Jessica!' he shouted in her ear. 'Look down there. It's a long way, isn't it? A long way for a little girl to fall.'

'Stop it!' sobbed Lisa, but she didn't dare approach him in case he accidentally dropped Jessica. Her daughter, reacting as usual quite inappropriately to the situation, began to giggle. Unaware that her laughter was meaningless, Neal's temper snapped and he held her further out, letting her dangle precariously above the thirty foot drop to the graveled drive below.

'Don't!' Lisa's scream rang round the rooms and woke Janice who came sleepily in and then froze into terrified silence. Suddenly both women heard a ripping sound as Jessica's nightdress began to tear.

'Neal, please put her down,' pleaded Lisa.

'She's enjoying it!' he sneered. 'Listen to her, she can't stop laughing. Perhaps she wants to try and fly. Would you like to fly, Jessica?' Lisa glanced at the nurse and signalled for her to leave the room.

Once alone with her husband she took a deep breath and tried to speak calmly. 'Neal, I promise I'll never mention a word of what was said tonight to anyone.'

'You won't complain if I find myself a more interesting bed partner?'

'That's not fair! That's… '

He leant further out of the window.

'All right, I promise I won't complain. You can do what you like with anyone you choose, but please, please bring her back inside. I'll do anything you want but don't take it out on Jessica.'

Turning he dropped the child to the floor. 'How very generous of you, my dear. May I suggest that we now go back to bed and let Nurse Anthony cope with the brat?'

Jessica's eyes were wild as she began to whimper and shake, once again darting glances round the room, searching for a place of safety. 'Let me give her one cuddle. It's so important that she doesn't regress.'

'I don't think you heard me properly. I said, come back to bed.'

Lisa began to cry aloud. She cried for her daughter, and she cried because she knew that she was now totally under Neal's control and that the scene she'd witnessed tonight was his secret weapon. A weapon he wouldn't hesitate to use and against which she was helpless. She cried for herself, for her daughter, and for what she now knew was going to be a bleak and terrifying future.

As she left she glanced back into the bedroom. Janice was already trying to hold Jessica, but the little girl was stiff and her eyes were fixed on the nightlight over her bed. All the hours of therapy and progress had obviously been wiped out by this one terrifying half hour in which Lisa's life too had totally changed.

'I didn't realise you could still cry so well,' commented Neal. 'You've become quite hard lately.'

She wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. 'It won't happen again.'

'Why not? Perhaps you should play the weak little woman more often. It can be surprisingly effective.'

'It didn't get Naomi very far.'

'It kept her alive,' he said shortly as he climbed back into bed and snapped out his bedside light.

'There is such a thing as quality of life,' she muttered, keeping herself as far away from him as she could and trying to shut out the sounds of screaming from the top floor.

'I'm glad you realise it. Goodnight, my dear.'

In his first floor bedroom, Bishop, awake from the pain in his shoulder, had heard the child and the raised voices of the adults. Later on he'd picked out Lisa's sobbing and now he smiled to himself in the dark and wondered how much longer she would be allowed to live. Not too long if he had his way, and once he was Neal's son-in-law he would hold more influence in family affairs than he did at present. He was probably the only person to sleep well for the rest of the night. When Lisa woke the next morning, Neal was gone. He hadn't left any word of when he'd return and Bishop, still convalescing, took blatant delight in her confusion as she tried to plan meals with the cook.

Louise, thrilled by Bishop's temporary inability to escape her attentions, hovered round him with cups of coffee, excited plans for their future and an excess of unwanted sympathy.

For three days Lisa waited nervously to hear from her husband. In the middle of the fourth afternoon he suddenly returned, kissed her warmly, congratulated Rebekah on her excellent school exam results and then linked his arm through Lisa's and went to the nursery to see their son.

Taut with tension she watched as he gently held Alexi in his hands, the same hands that had dangled her daughter out of the window, and knew that she hated him. She was afraid of him and she hated him but there was no possibility of escape.

'Coming along well, isn't he?' he said pleasantly. 'He'll soon be running around. Before I forget, we've got twelve people to dinner tomorrow night. Make sure you're looking your best. I don't want people to think there's any trouble between us. It could cost me my knighthood. Naturally you won't let me down?'