Dishonored (25 page)

Suddenly the phone rang.

The sharp, shrill bell shattered the night and Jane started with fright. She had had a telephone extension fitted into her
bedroom while Phillip was away and cursed that fact now. She took a breath to calm herself and reached for the receiver. It
could only be bad news, she thought, switching on the light, who else would telephone at this time of the night? Phillip rolled
over and opened his eyes as Jane answered the call.

“Hello?” Her voice was unsteady. “Hello? Jane Mills speaking. Who is it?” She looked at Phillip. “It’s silent,” she said,
“there’s no one there!”

“Hold on for a while,” he answered her, sitting up. “It sometimes takes a minute or so to connect.”

Jane did as he said; they waited in silence.

“Here, give me the phone.” Phillip was unnerved. He took the receiver. “Hello? Who’s there?” He held it close to his ear.
“Hello?” Then he heard her. A soft, heavy breath, a sob, so quiet he almost missed it and he knew. His heart plummeted, he
held on for a moment longer, then he reached across Jane and replaced the receiver. “God knows who it was,” he said, “but
if it’s urgent they’ll ring back.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood. “You go back to sleep, darling.”
He pulled on his dressing-gown. “I’ll stay up for half an hour in the sitting-room, see if anyone calls back.” He walked around
the bed, kissed her lightly on the cheek. “I’ll finish the night in my room,” he said.

Jane nodded. She waited for him to leave the room and, relieved, she plumped up her pillow, switched off the light and settled
down for the rest of the night.

But Suzanna didn’t ring back. She dropped the receiver into its cradle after hearing Phillip’s voice and stood, walking through
to the sitting-room of the suite. She found the small pink pill that Charles had given her and popped it into her mouth, swallowing
it down. Then she returned to the bedroom, laid down on the bed and curled herself into a ball, hugging her knees in tight,
squeezing her eyes shut. Jane means nothing to him, she kept saying over and over again, Jane means nothing to him. But the
image of Jane and Phillip in bed was locked in her mind, it plagued her, sickened her and tortured her. And it did so until
the pill took effect, her body finally relaxed and she at last fell into a deep, black and heavily drugged sleep.

Twelve hours later when Suzanna woke, the sun was high in the sky, directly overhead and as she drew back the curtains, shielding
her eyes from the bright white light, she realized that the morning had gone and that for the first time in months she hadn’t
woken with a terrible feeling of fatigue. She sat down on the edge of the bed and stared out at the sky, a perfect clear blue
and sighed heavily. She felt tired but a different tired from what she knew, a relaxed feeling that made her limbs heavier,
her whole body looser. She felt better too, she was hungry, had an appetite without any vodka inside her.

Standing, she went to the telephone and dialled room service to order some lunch but, glancing down, she saw her diary open
and remembered the call last night. She hung up, her appetite suddenly gone. She dropped her head into her hands and wished
she could sleep some more, blank it all out, sleep away the pain and give her body, give her mind a chance to recover. She
slumped on to the bed and lay there for a while, her eyes closed, trying to shut her mind off. Then suddenly she sat up, picked
up the phone and called reception.

“Room one-fourteen please,” she said and waited for the ringing tone.

Mick sat on his balcony and watched the poolside down below; he wasn’t moving from his room until he saw Mrs. Harvey. He reckoned
that she’d probably call him but if she didn’t then he wanted to be on hand when she appeared. Either way, he’d got it covered.

Relaxing back on his sunlounger, he moved on to his side to tan under his arms and made sure the pool was still in view. Closing
his eyes for a couple of moments, he imagined what lay ahead and, unable to help himself, he felt the stirring of a magnificent
erection.

The phone by his bed rang.

Jumping up from his sunlounger, he hurried in from the balcony and took a breath before he answered; he didn’t want to sound
rushed. He held the receiver and said, “Yup. Charles Swan speaking.” Then he clenched his fist in a gesture of triumph. “Hi
there,” he said, smiling. “Hey, glad to hear it. I told you, didn’t I? Those pills are magic!” He laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure
I can, just one of the little babies? Yup, no problem at all, Suzy. What d’ya wanna do, come up here and get it, or will I
bring it down for you?” He reached across the bed for his shirt. “Right! No probs, Suzy. I’ll be right there!” And he hung
up, threw his shirt over his head, pulled on his shorts and took the pill he had already prepared from a small dish in the
bathroom. He winked at himself in the mirror and walked out of the room, along the corridor and down to the lifts. Within
minutes he was knocking at the door of Suzanna Harvey’s suite with a ready smile and a measured drop of the highest quality
LSD in the small pink capsule he held in his hand.

Suzanna stood. She went to pour Charles another cup of coffee but the pot moved on the table. She screwed up her eyes and
saw the table move, the rug under it lifting it up into the air like a magic carpet.

“Jesus!” She sat down and put her hands up to her head. “What’s happening? I…” She shook her head from side to side,
trying to clear her vision but the room started to move, the walls buckled, bulging in the middle, great chunks of plaster
coming off and falling heavily to the floor. She coughed on the dust. “My God!” she cried. “There’s an earthquake! Quick!
The whole place is…” She jumped up but her legs gave out and she stumbled, hitting herself hard on the table. She fell
forward and slumped down against the sofa. She couldn’t see Charles. Was it Charles? Who was it? She wasn’t sure if anyone
had been there, she didn’t know what she was doing there. She began to panic. “Where am I?” she called out from the floor.
Nothing looked right, the room was a mess, it was moving, the floor rolled and she felt sick, she thought she was going to
vomit and turned her head to the side. Suddenly it stopped. It changed color, the whole room changed color and beautiful shapes
of red and gold, orange and turquoise floated up from the rugs, drifting across the walls.

“Phillip?” She tried to look for Phillip, he’d been there only a few moments ago, they’d been having coffee, she had taken
a pill to help her sleep. Was it Phillip? Had she taken a pill? She laid back and stared up at the ceiling. The colors had
moved on to the ceiling and they looked so amazing she could hardly breathe. “Phillip?” she called out again. “Phillip?” Then
she closed her eyes and let the shapes dance in the air and the room twirl her round and round.

Mick stood up as Suzanna closed her eyes and walked through into the bedroom. He always used LSD, it was a mind-bender and
by the end of the day she wouldn’t know what the hell had happened, let alone who Charles Swan was and what he looked like.
He opened the bedside drawer and took out the velvet bag Suzy had placed there. He dropped it into a plastic bag he carried
in his pocket and started on the rest of the room. He was systematic, a professional and there wasn’t much that escaped his
attention. He went through the entire suite in a matter of minutes and when he was sure he had everything, he walked across
to the door, glanced back at Suzanna Harvey, smiled, and stepped out into the corridor. He went back to his own room, finished
his packing, adding the money and the bag of jewelry to his case, then he showered, dressed and went down to reception to
check out. Exactly half an hour later he had gone.

Suzanna saw the last color drift out through the window and opened her eyes, standing to follow it on to the balcony. Outside
the sun had moved lower in the sky and it suffused the world with a warm, golden light. Suzy smiled; it was so beautiful she
wanted to cry. As she made her way out toward the gold, she glanced sideways at the mirror above the side-board, expecting
to see her face, tanned, drenched in the same wonderful light. She smiled at her reflection, gazing for a moment at her own
beauty. Then suddenly, she screamed.

Her face changed, it changed right in front of her eyes. The light died and her cheeks sagged, great hollows in her face appeared,
the skin around them wrinkled and bagged. She put her hands up and clawed at the flesh, her eyes sank down into the black
shadows below them and her face started to bleed. She screamed again. Her mouth twisted and her teeth were black. She clawed
harder, frantically trying to drag the skin away from her face, her fingers covered in blood.

“No!” she screamed, yanking the mirror from the wall and smashing it down on to the ground, shattering the glass into a thousand
tiny pieces. She sank to her knees and began to sob. “No, please God, no,” she cried, biting the inside of her mouth to stop
it twisting, not feeling the pain. “Oh God, no…” She covered her head with her hands and curled herself up. “Oh God…” she moaned, over and over again. “Oh God, no…”

When she came around all she could feel was pain. It was dark and she was lying on the floor, her knees curled up tight, her
body cold and stiff. She opened her eyes and moved, the metallic taste of blood in her mouth making her feel sick, the pain
of her face knocking her dizzy. Disoriented and frightened, she staggered across to the wall and felt for the light switch.
Clicking it on, she gasped. The room flooded with light and she saw where she had been lying, the carpet littered with glass
and stained with blood. She held on to the wall and made it into the bathroom. She had no idea what had happened, her mind
was blank.

Turning on the light over the sink, Suzy had to grip the edge of the unit as she saw her face. It was horrific. Gently, she
touched her eyes, swollen and bruised, then she leaned forward and ran the cold tap. She fumbled in her washbag for some cotton
wool and, dipping it in the cold water, she held her breath and put her trembling hand up to swab the cuts on her cheeks.
She felt sick, she couldn’t stop shaking, and the pain was making her wince. Moments later, she realized what had happened.

Dropping the cotton wool, she ran into the bedroom and pulled open the drawer. It was empty, the velvet bag had gone. At the
wardrobe, she ripped the door open and frantically rummaged through the piles of clothes, flinging them on to the floor. The
money wasn’t there. Fifty thousand pounds in cash had gone. She held on to the wall and started to cry, pathetic, wailing
sobs. She had been robbed; the jewels and the money had gone. She had been robbed and Suzanna had nothing left.

Several hours later, she sat in the concierge’s office in silence and waited for his phone to ring. He sat opposite her, avoided
her eye and drummed his fingers on the desk. He had no idea what to make of the incident.

“Mrs. Harvey, I must be asking you a final time if you will consider giving a statement to the police,” he said. “It is most
essential that they know what was stolen from you.”

Suzanna looked up. “I have no idea what was stolen,” she said blankly, “and I have no wish to make a statement.”

The concierge sighed heavily. “But there must be someone who you would like me to contact for assistance, Mrs. Harvey?”

Suzanna shook her head. “All I would like, please, Mr. Kapoor, is a good price for my ring and my earrings.”

“Yes, that is taken care of, Mrs. Harvey, but I am just thinking that…”

Suzanna held her hand up to silence him. She wanted nothing except the money for the earrings and ring she had found in her
wash bag, the only things the thief had missed. “Please, Mr. Kapoor, no more questions.” She couldn’t take the risk of being
on police files, of Mitchell finding her. “I am tired, I would just like to get this settled and check out.”

The concierge nodded, just as his phone rang. He picked it up, spoke quickly and smiled across at his guest. His conversation
took a couple of minutes, then he replaced the receiver and said, “I have a good price from my brother-in-law, Mrs. Harvey,
he will be here with the money in half an hour.”

Suzanna nodded. She almost broke at this point, she felt relief swamp her and tears sprang to her eyes. She looked away. “Thank
you,” she said quietly, and she rose, nodded at the concierge and went up to the suite to pack.

J
ANE FINISHED HER DINNER AND RANG THE SMALL BELL ON THE
table for the bearer to come and clear. She was tired tonight, Phillip was out and all she wanted to do now was have a bath
and go to bed. She patted her mouth with her napkin and rang the bell again, calling, “DhaniRam? I have finished.” Then she
scraped her chair back and stood, taking her cardigan off the back of it and draping it over her shoulders. She could hear
voices inside the house and, ringing her bell a third time, she walked in from the terrace and followed the noise through
to the hall. There she stopped short.

“Oh!” She walked toward a woman slumped on the chair in the hall. “It’s all right, DhaniRam,” she said to the bearer, “I’ll
take care of this.” He dropped his fingers away from the woman’s arm and stepped back, muttering in Hindi.

“Hello, may I help you?” Jane couldn’t see the woman’s face; her head was covered with a shawl, and she looked away, toward
the darkness outside. She was wearing European clothes, though, expensive ones by the look of it, and Jane could tell by the
skin on her arms that she wasn’t Indian. Jane moved closer and touched the woman’s arm.

“Are you all right? Is there something I can do for you?”

The woman turned.

“Oh my dear! Your face! What on earth…?” Jane glanced over her shoulder. “DhaniRam? Can you send for the doctor? Now
please!” She knelt down to the woman’s level. “Are you all right?” The woman stared blankly at her. “Will you come inside
for a while, let my doctor have a look at your face?” Jane stood and gently helped the woman to her feet. “Come on,” she said
kindly, “it’s all right, you’re among friends now.” And leading the way inside, Jane held the woman’s hand while she quietly
began to sob.