Follow Your Star (3 page)

He picked up Nanette’s suitcase.

‘You haven’t been to this apartment before, have you?’

Nanette shook her head. ‘No, Mathieu had a place up in Monte Carlo itself the last time I was here. It was a lot smaller than this one.’

‘Come on then, I’ll show you around.’

The apartment with its five bedrooms, numerous bathrooms, large sitting-room with doors opening out on to the balcony was as sumptuous as any Nanette had ever been in. Fleetingly she wondered how Mathieu could afford such luxury, but maybe Jean-Claude, who she knew ran a successful business, had helped him out.

Her own room was charming – a mixture of French Provençal furnishings and modern pieces; it had its own balcony with a sea view and an en suite bathroom in marble.

‘It’s a very grand apartment,’ she said slowly.

Jean-Claude smiled. ‘I have a feeling having the twins living here for a few months will turn it into more of a home. Now, I’m sure Florence will have tea and biscuits ready on the balcony. Shall we join the twins?’

‘Who is Florence?’ Nanette asked, as they made their way back to the sitting-room.

‘Mathieu’s housekeeper.’

Nanette turned and looked at Jean-Claude in surprise.

‘But that’s partly what I thought
I
was here to be. Mathieu doesn’t really need me if he’s already got someone.’

‘You’re here simply to look after the twins – organize them when they are not at school.’

‘But that’s going to leave me with an awful lot of time on my hands,’ Nanette protested. ‘With nothing to do.’

Jean-Claude didn’t answer. He simply raised his eyebrows at her quizzically.

‘I’m sure you’ll find plenty to do once you’re settled in. Thank you, Florence, we’ll manage now.’

Absentmindedly, Nanette accepted the cup of tea Jean-Claude handed her.

‘I take it Vanessa and Ralph got away all right yesterday?’ Jean-Claude asked.

Nanette nodded, forcing herself to concentrate.

‘The twins and I went to Heathrow to wave them goodbye at the crack of dawn. They should be sleeping off their jet lag right now. Vanessa said she’d phone tonight to make sure everything was OK this end.’

‘Nanette, Pierre wants to play with his computer game and I want to watch television in my room,’ Olivia said. ‘Can we?’

‘Half an hour then it’s bedtime,’ Nanette agreed, and smiled as the twins dashed away.

‘I have to talk to you,’ Jean-Claude said.

Nanette looked at him in surprise as he hesitated.

‘Nanette, can I be honest with you? I obviously didn’t want to say anything in front of the twins, but I think you have a right to know. It’s extremely unlikely that Mathieu will be here tonight.’

Nanette waited as a clearly agitated Jean-Claude ran his hands through his hair.

‘I’ve spent most of this afternoon with my lawyers,’ he said, ‘trying to sort things out, but.…’ and Jean-Claude shrugged unhappily as he looked at her.

There was a pause before he added, ‘You see, Nanette, Mathieu hasn’t been delayed by business: he’s been arrested.’

Nanette was enjoying a coffee and a croissant early on Saturday morning at one of the cafés that edged the small Monaco flower and vegetable market, when her mobile rang.

‘Hi, Patsy. Everything all right?’ she asked quickly, seeing her sister’s name on the screen.

‘Yes. Just wondering how you are, as I haven’t heard from you and I was worried,’ her sister said.

‘Everything’s fine here now,’ Nanette said.

‘What do you mean
now
?’ Patsy demanded. ‘What’s happened? Are the twins all right? Are you?’

Nanette hesitated. ‘Mathieu wasn’t here when I arrived. He’d been arrested.’

Quickly, before Patsy could draw breath, Nanette continued, ‘He’s out now. They kept him in for twenty-four hours before releasing him on bail. He has to report back once a week.’

‘What’s he done?’

‘I don’t know exactly. Something to do with his business,’ Nanette said. ‘Apparently all he said to Jean-Claude was, it’s nothing to worry about and that he’d get it sorted.’

She didn’t add that Jean-Claude was furious with his son for not asking him to put up the bail money. Instead an unnamed foreign business associate had stood surety.

‘I’m sorry I haven’t rung you before, but as you can imagine, trying to occupy the twins and keep the news of their father’s arrest from them hasn’t left a lot of time for anything else. Thankfully, Mathieu has taken them to Marineland today to give me a couple of free hours. And Jean-Claude is organizing a computer for them so they’ll be able to follow Vanessa and Ralph’s progress from this weekend.’

‘Have you heard from them?’

‘Only that they arrived safely in Brazil and are enjoying themselves. Their honeymoon will be over next weekend when they meet up with the documentary team and they begin work.’

‘When do the twins start school?’

‘Monday, so that’s something else we’ve been busy doing: sorting clothes, buying books and stationery and back-packs big enough to carry everything. Honestly the amount of stuff they have to carry on a daily basis is unbelievable.’

‘And you?’ Patsy asked. ‘How are you coping with being back in Monaco? Met up with anyone from your past yet?’

‘If you mean, have I seen Zac the answer is no,’ Nanette said. ‘How’s your morning sickness?’

‘Slowing down, thank goodness,’ Patsy said. ‘I’d better go – Helen is about to arrive and if she realizes I’m on the phone to you I shall get a lecture about wasting Bryan’s hard-earned money on foreign phone calls!’

‘I’ll ring you at the weekend,’ Nanette said laughing. ‘Take care.’

Thoughtfully she put the phone in her bag and looked around her at the colourful scene. Local housewives and Filipino servants with raffia baskets were busy doing their daily fresh vegetable shop and even at this early hour the walkway up to the palace was crowded with tourists.

It was hard to believe she’d been back in Monaco for nearly a week. If someone had told her last year that she would once again be living here, her immediate reaction would have been outright disbelief. The scars were still too sore to even contemplate returning.

But, having settled in, and despite the problems of the last few days, Nanette was beginning to enjoy being back.

She hadn’t told Patsy, but last night Mathieu had taken her out to dinner, partly to apologize for not being there when she arrived and also because, ‘I’d like to,’ he’d said, with a disarming smile when suggesting it.…

The Italian restaurant he’d taken her to was hidden away in one of the back streets away from the tourist haunts.

‘I’m so glad you decided you’d come with the twins,’ Mathieu said, as they waited for their first course to arrive.

‘Can’t understand why you wanted me here really,’ Nanette said. ‘Florence lives in, and Jean-Claude seems more than happy to help look after the twins.’

‘I thought it was important for Pierre and Olivia to have some sort of continuity in their lives. They are used to you looking after them when Vanessa is away – I just thought it would make things easier for them.’

He smiled at her and added, ‘It certainly made things easier for me earlier in the week knowing that you were here with them when I had my spot of bother.’

There was a slight pause before he said quietly, ‘I have to
confess to an ulterior motive too. I also hoped we could get to know each other better. That perhaps you could stop thinking of me as the twins’ father and we could become better friends.’

The waiter had arrived with their starters at that moment and spared a surprised Nanette from responding. Afterwards Mathieu changed the conversation to more general things.

‘It’s the Tennis Masters Series soon,’ he said. ‘I remember you and Zac used to play a lot. I’ve been offered a pair of tickets for the opening day, would you like to come with me?’

‘Oh please,’ Nanette said, ignoring the flicker of pain at the mention of Zac. They had been passionate about tennis, both playing and watching.

‘Good. I’ll confirm the tickets before I go away next week.’

‘Business trip, or pleasure?’ she asked.

‘A trip to Switzerland on business,’ he said quietly. ‘So long as the authorities don’t prevent me leaving.’

‘Are they likely to?’

He shrugged. ‘I’m hoping they’ll realize they’ve made a mistake in the next couple of days and everything will be sorted out. I’m not the man they want.’

‘Do you know who is?’ Nanette asked quietly.

Mathieu had nodded. ‘Oh yes.’

As they finished their meal and prepared to leave, the restaurant door opened and a couple entered.

The man, a burly figure in an expensive black coat and wearing a trilby immediately came over to Mathieu. The two shook hands and chatted briefly, but it wasn’t until the man said, ‘Mathieu who is your charming companion?’ that Mathieu, reluctantly it seemed to Nanette, introduced her.

‘Boris, this is my children’s nanny. Netty, this is Boris, a
business acquaintance.’

‘Aw come now, Mathieu, more than a business acquaintance since last week. Remember how I help you with your little difficulty?’

Boris turned to Nanette, briefly acknowledged her with an abrupt ‘
Bonjour, mademoiselle
’, and turned his attention back to Mathieu.

Knowing the way society in Monaco worked Nanette was not surprised that once he’d learnt she was a mere nanny, Boris ignored her. As far as he was concerned she was just a servant and not important enough for him to bother with.

She wondered why Mathieu had introduced her as the nanny complete with the childish name the twins called her, when earlier he’d intimated he wanted them to get to know each other better. He must have realized he’d effectively precluded her from mixing with him and this particular business associate in the future.

Turning to take her coat from the waiter, Nanette had heard Boris say quietly, ‘Tell Zac I need to talk to him urgently.’

Now, as she drank her coffee and watched the morning activity around her, she wondered what the connection between Zac and Boris was and how long Mathieu had known Boris.

The oft-quoted phrase about Monaco being ‘a sunny place for shady people’ came into her mind. What were Zac and Mathieu up to, doing business with a Russian whom she personally wouldn’t trust an inch?

Thoughtfully, Nanette finished her coffee, left enough euros in the saucer to cover the bill and began to make her way down to the old port.

So much had changed since she lived here and yet some
things were still reassuringly familiar. From her bedroom balcony she’d struggled to remember the lines of the old port. To her eyes the new harbour extension, already crowded with the floating gin palaces belonging to the rich and famous, had blended in seamlessly.

Walking slowly along the quay, Nanette recognized some of the yachts, but to her relief there was no sign of
Pole Position
the boat Zac had treated himself to after winning the US Grand Prix in Indianapolis.

Knowing that he liked to have the yacht moored in Monaco and use it for parties both before and after the Grand Prix, Nanette knew that once
Pole Position
reappeared on its mooring, it wouldn’t be long before Zac too was back in town.

Glancing up to the familiar skyline behind the Hotel de Paris as she walked up the hill, something jarred in her memory. It was a second or two before Nanette realized that the nineteenth-century villa where she’d had a tiny two-room apartment, had been replaced by a large ultra modern concrete building.

Shame; the old building had emitted a
belle époque
atmosphere of the Riviera in its heyday, which she’d loved. Zac though, had always complained about its lack of modern conveniences and had rarely visited her there.

His own large apartment had been in one of the ultramodern blocks a street or two away from Casino Square. Idly Nanette wondered if he still lived there or whether, like Mathieu, he had moved on to an even grander place. Whatever, she had no intention of walking anywhere near that particular area this morning.

Instead she took the Avenue Monte Carlo turning and strolled along, happily indulging in a spot of wishful window
shopping in the expensive boutiques that lined the small street.

Dodging a string of excitable Japanese tourists, Nanette crossed the road and ran down a flight of steps into the Casino gardens. Last night Mathieu had mentioned an exhibition of sculpture being shown there by a little known Frenchwoman and she was looking forward to an hour or two wandering around the exhibits.

Sitting on the bed in her air-conditioned hotel bedroom, Vanessa pressed the ‘save’ key on Ralph’s laptop before shutting the computer down and sliding it into the travel bag.

In a few minutes they would be on their way to the airport and the adventure would really begin. Their honeymoon had been wonderful, but now she was looking forward to spending the next few months with her new husband in one of the world’s most exotic places. They would no longer be alone but part of a team. She hadn’t yet met Harry and Nick, the cameramen, but Ralph had assured her they’d all get on. He’d worked with them both before.

‘They’re both passionate about the environment and I know they’ll do all they possibly can to make sure the documentary shows the jungle as it is.’

Vanessa knew Ralph was determined his documentary was going to record the lives of the ‘real’ native Indians as they struggled to survive in a changing forest and it was one of the reasons he’d refused a sponsorship offer from a large multinational company.

‘Staying independent, I can show the truth,’ he’d said to Vanessa when he was outlining his plans. ‘No-one can tell me what to film or say.’

Deciding she had time for one last shower before Ralph returned and they left for the airport, Vanessa quickly undressed and stepped under the warm water. Wrapping herself in the hotel’s large bath towel afterwards, she crossed to the window and glanced out at the bustling street scene below.

Tomorrow this room would be a memory, and the chaotic scenes outside would have been replaced by forest and vegetation inhabited by strange sounding animals.

Their first few days in the Amazon jungle were going to be spent in the comfort of an ‘eco tourist’ camp before they and the crew moved off to explore more inaccessible areas with a native guide. Harry and Nick had flown up earlier with all their supplies and would have organized the next stage of the journey by the time she and Ralph arrived.

Vanessa turned to smile at Ralph as he closed the door behind him.

‘Everything packed? Good’ Ralph said. ‘Ten minutes and we’re off. Think I’ll have a quick shower too. Might be sometime before we get the luxury of hot water again.’

Once they were both dressed, they picked up the backpacks Ralph had insisted were far more practical than suitcases in the jungle, and went to find their taxi for the trip out to the airport.

The office of the company that operated the small Cessna plane Ralph had chartered to fly them up to an outpost on the Amazon River, was situated at the edge of the airfield. Only internal flights operated from this rundown airstrip and walking towards the shabby hut where they had to check-in, Vanessa found herself worrying about the safety of the plane she was about to board.

‘They do have regular maintenance and safety checks, don’t they?’ she asked Ralph.

‘Of course. Don’t worry. José and Carlos are very proud of their planes. Carlos told me they are the best in Brazil. Ah here’s José,’

‘Senhor Ralph and
a senhora
. We are ready for you. We go and—’ The shrill ring of a telephone interrupted him and he glanced towards the desk. ‘
Bom-dia
,’ he answered before immediately falling silent. When after several moments he replaced the receiver his eyes were bright with tears as he turned to face Ralph and Vanessa.

‘That was another pilot telling me that a mutual friend has been shot down near Manaus.’

José swore angrily. ‘The authorities apparently mistake it for a drug-running plane. The fools! But this time it is a big mistake – an American missionary and her family were on board. Now we shall have an investigation.’

Vanessa gazed at him horror struck. Manaus was a place on Ralph’s itinerary. They were due to camp near there in a few weeks. She moved closer to Ralph, who placed a comforting arm around her shoulders.

‘Do they often shoot planes out of the sky?’ she asked.

José nodded vehemently. ‘It happens,’ he said shortly.

Vanessa shivered. Of course she’d known they were going into a drug-smuggling area, but she didn’t do drugs, no-one she knew did drugs and she hadn’t expected the drug trade to impinge on her life.

Images of the twins came into her mind. What if she and Ralph had been …
no
! She couldn’t, wouldn’t, follow that thought. Ralph had warned her about the dangers of this trip, from mosquitoes to alligators, but the shooting down of
planes had never been mentioned.

Ralph glanced at José.

‘I need to have a private word with my wife. Give us a couple of minutes, will you, please?’

José nodded. ‘I’ll wait by the plane. We need to take off in the next quarter of an hour so don’t take too long for this private word.’