Sinners (21 page)

Charlie gritted his teeth. He decided funerals were unnecessary. People should be allowed the dignity of dying in private and peace. He made a decision to write in his will that he was to be cremated immediately and that there was to be no funeral.

Lorna stayed by his side, both in the church and at the grave. They held on to a child each. She squeezed his arm once, and he squeezed her back. He had never felt so close to anyone in his life.

After the funeral there was the disturbing business of entertaining all the relatives back at the house.

They came in their Morris Oxfords, and Mini Minors, and battered old Fords.

They descended on the table of refreshments like locusts.

They oohed and they aahed. Three children fell into the swimming pool. One of Serafina’s brothers started telling dirty jokes. Lily asked Charlie what was going to happen to all Serafina’s things. Family gossip was rife. Serafina was forgotten.

The last Mini Minor was finally on its way at five o’clock.

‘What a joke!’ Charlie exclaimed. ‘What a bloody horrible joke. Serafina would have had a fit if she’d been here.’

‘What are you going to do now?’ Lorna asked with concern, as she found the children’s coats and prepared to go.

‘Don’t worry about me, love. Archie and I will have a bite together.’

‘Are you
sure
you wouldn’t like to come to dinner?’ Shyly she added, ‘I’d like you to see the baby. She’s sweet. We call her Gemma.’

‘I’m sorry. I haven’t even asked about your baby.’

‘There’s nothing to ask really. A baby is a baby, and everyone thinks theirs is the most beautiful. Actually she looks a little like Cindy.’

Charlie debated whether this was a dig at him, but decided it wasn’t. Then because he wanted to please her he said, ‘I’ve decided to fly back to Hollywood tomorrow. Maybe next time I’m here I will come over.’

‘My goodness, flying everywhere without a second thought nowadays.’

‘I suppose you get over everything in time, love.’

George cooked bacon and eggs for Charlie and Archie. They sat in the kitchen and Charlie noticed how shrivelled Archie had become since Serafina’s death.

There but for the grace of success go I, Charlie thought – a shabby little stand-up knock-down comic, who Charlie saw now had really cared for Serafina.

‘I’ll be out of here tomorrow before you leave,’ Archie said, his eyes red-rimmed and sad.

‘Where will you go?’

‘I don’t know. I’ll travel around a bit. There’s a club up in Manchester wants me back.’

‘Look, Archie,’ Charlie said impulsively, ‘you don’t have to go, you were good to my mother. I want you to have this house.
She
would have wanted you to have it.’

‘No, Charlie, no.’ Archie shook his head slowly. ‘You don’t have to give me a house because I looked after Serafina. Besides, I couldn’t live here without her.’

‘But I want you to have it. Sell it, do what you like with it, it’s yours.’

Archie rose from the kitchen table with dignity. ‘No. I said no and I mean no. I’ll be going to bed now, see you in the morning.’

The little man departed, leaving Charlie alone. Depressed, he too went up to bed, Serafina’s bed. He slept badly dreaming of plane crashes. He awoke in a cold sweat at 4 a.m. and was unable to get back to sleep.

In the morning Archie was gone. No forwarding address, nothing – he had packed his one suitcase and left quietly.

Charlie was upset. He had wanted to give him some money at least.

George helped him pack all of Serafina’s personal things, which were sent off to storage.

Agents were instructed to put the house on the market.

By 4 p.m., fortified with Mexican Gold, and protected from prying reporters by George, Charlie was on a plane back to L.A.

The morning after the engagement party, Sunday awoke to the sound of the telephone. It was Carey phoning from the airport.

‘I’m sorry I have to dash off like this, but you and Steve don’t need me around anyway and I’m expecting some important contracts.’

‘Couldn’t you stay at least a couple of days? I’ve hardly seen you.’

‘I know, but work calls. Now, when are you naming the big day? Don’t forget, I want to be the first to know.’

‘Don’t worry. I’ll call you at once if we decide before we come back. By the way, if things work out tonight I expect I’ll move into his house.’

Carey chuckled. ‘With Steve Magnum at the wheel and you in the driver’s seat, I’d like to take a little bet that things will
definitely work
out.’

Sunday smiled. She hoped so. She needed a man so badly now. She needed Steve.

It was a beautiful morning. A clear hot balmy day. Steve had promised to telephone her when he woke up. That probably wouldn’t be until late, for the party had still been going strong when she had left at 4 a.m. with Marisa and Woody.

There had been so many people. Steve had many friends. She had found him playing craps with a bunch of men. Quietly she kissed him and whispered, ‘I want to have dinner in tomorrow night, just the two of us.’

He was drunk. He laughed and shouted, ‘Say goodnight to my princess.’ Then he fished in his pocket and pulled out a small package. ‘Open this when you’re in bed.’

She had done as he said. The package contained the figures of a man and woman, their hands joined. They were about two inches high, exquisitely made in solid gold. The female figure had two bright round diamonds for breasts and another pear-shaped diamond strategically placed. The male figure was practically all diamond.

A note was enclosed. All it said was, ‘I don’t want to boast but . . .’

Sunday laughed. It was the most vulgar gift she had ever received.

*    *    *

Breakfast was a mango and some peaches by her small private pool. Then she swam, cleaning away the slight hangover. Next she did her daily exercises underwater.

‘My God, aren’t we the energetic one!’ It was Dindi, hidden from the world by a huge cowboy hat, tinted sunglasses, and a yellow pant suit. ‘I was sure you’d be up, so I thought I’d drop by before leaving.’

Sunday climbed out of the pool, shaking water out of her hair and hitching up the bottom of her bikini. ‘Are you going too? What a pity. Carey just called me from the airport. I suppose you have to get back to Charlie.’

Dindi hooted with laughter. ‘You’re kidding, aren’t you? I have to get back for work, darling, hard work. Did I tell you I’m starring in
All the World Loves a Stripper?
My reviews for
Roundabout
say I steal the whole film.’

‘That’s great. Can’t wait to see it.’

‘I’ll have it run for you,’ she said airily. ‘When are you coming back?’

Sunday shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Whatever Steve wants.’

Dindi took off her hat and threw her face back to catch the sun. ‘I think I should tell you, after all we are friends and I’m not one for keeping secrets. Anyway if it was me I would want to know.’

‘Know what?’

‘Well, I guess it was my fault too,’ she admitted, ‘but I
was
sort of stoned, and you know what I’m like when a guy comes on strong, and I
was
curious.’

‘What
are you
talking about?’

‘Sunday, I don’t want to hurt you. I know how uptight you are about sex, and Gods knows you had a bad enough time with that freaked-out first husband of yours. But I must be honest, and I do think you would be better off knowing.’

Coldly Sunday said, ‘Please don’t call my first husband names. He was sick, that’s all, sick. Why, you hardly even knew him.’

Dindi sighed. ‘I suppose I should have told you before. I knew him very well. As a matter of fact, Benno used to make me have scenes with the two of them. I was mad about Benno. I rather fancied myself as a Roman princess. He was, like all men though, a first-class shit, and after Paulo died he was so miserable he kicked me out. You know, of course, that Benno and Paulo were making it?’

White-faced, Sunday said, ‘You must be out of your mind.’

Dindi shrugged. ‘Believe me or don’t believe me, it doesn’t make any difference. Fly to beautiful Roma and ask Benno yourself. I thought you must have known, everybody else did. All those tall blond Roman counts and princes swing both ways, it’s in their blood. Listen, the three of us were holed up in a hotel for three days the week before he died.’

Very quietly Sunday said, ‘I think you had better go.’

‘Oh shit,’ Dindi exclaimed, ‘I’m doing you a
favour
, telling you the truth. I think you live in a little ivory tower or something. Anyway, that’s not even what I came to say. I thought you knew all that. What I
wanted
to tell you was about your new boyfriend, Mister Magnum.’

‘I don’t want to hear anything else you have to say, Dindi. Can’t you understand that I—’

‘Yeah – I can understand that you’re trying to shut yourself off from life. Well, whether you like hearing it or not, the fact is I screwed your big movie-star boyfriend last night. They’re all bastards, baby, and Steve Magnum ain’t no different. He screwed me at
your
party while you were chatting politely to
his
guests.’ She sighed. ‘In this life you have to look out for number one, you’re always alone in the end. You may think I’m a bitch, but I like you, and I figure you’re better off knowing what kind of guy you’re marrying.’ She stood up. ‘Well, there it is, I’m sorry if you’re upset, but that’s show biz.’ She put on her hat. ‘By the way, he’s a fantastic lay!’

For a while Sunday sat in silence. Instinctively she knew that Dindi had spoken the truth. She pushed the information about Paulo to the back of her mind to be dealt with later.

Steve Magnum.

Goodbye.

She didn’t want to listen to his lies.

Quickly she hurried into the bungalow, packed, and ordered a limousine. Then she called Carey’s secretary in Los Angeles and dictated a brief statement to be given to the press.

‘I’m going away for a week or so,’ she told the girl.

‘Tell Miss St Martin that I’m fine. I don’t want to be disturbed, and I’ll call her in a couple of days.’ She took the two gold figures Steve had given her and replaced them in their box. Then she wrote a short note saying, ‘I understand you’re fantastic’ Next she enclosed her large diamond engagement ring.

The Mexican driver arrived and began to load her suitcases into the car. She handed him the package and note. ‘After you have taken me to the airport please deliver this to Señor Magnum.’

The driver nodded, his eyes fixed firmly on her bosom.

‘You’re a real friend. With friends like you I have no need of enemies.’ Charlie sat in his Beverly Hills hotel bungalow and stared Clay down. ‘I mean what the hell was all that bit about you met her with her mother? You laid her, didn’t you? Her mother – what a load of crap. And the horrible thing is I’m sitting here like a right schmuck, believing you!’ He shook his head. ‘Thanks a lot,
friend.
’

Clay gulped his scotch down quickly. ‘What did you want me to say, for Christ’s sake? Oh yes, I
have
met your wife, I fucked her with a drunken Italian in Rome. After all by the time I saw her again you were
married
to her.’

‘Bullshit! We’ve been friends long enough. You could have told me.’

‘What good would telling you have done? I thought maybe she had reformed. After all, if I’d told you then, you might have ended up hating
me
!’

‘That’s great, you weren’t concerned about me having made a right berk of myself marrying some ding-dong, you were just concerned about yourself. You’re a selfish bastard.’

Clay helped himself to another scotch from the bottle on the table. ‘Come on, Charlie. Let’s forget about it. Everyone’s allowed one mistake in life. Why did you marry her anyway?’

‘Who knows? I was stoned, getting over Lorna. She looked like some pretty innocent little angel, and she gave great head.’

‘So do half the hookers in Hollywood,’ Clay remarked wisely.

It was 10 p.m. Charlie had been back in Los Angeles a week, and he and Clay had just been to see a special rough cut of
Roundabout.
Natalie was at home.

‘She has a bad attack of morning sickness all day and all night,’ Clay remarked with a laugh. ‘It’s going to be a boy this time, I can feel it in my balls!’

After viewing the film, they returned to Charlie’s bungalow, chatting and drinking. It was the first time Charlie had been out since getting back. He had holed up in the hotel, working on a script, and playing with his tape-recorders and cameras.

Dindi had derived the maximum amount of publicity out of their forthcoming divorce, giving forth with several conflicting statements and posing for innumerable pictures until her lawyer had forced her to be silent.

Charlie merely produced that well-worn quote: ‘No comment.’

Along with the Sunday Simmons/Steve Magnum engagement breaking up, Dindi and Charlie were the show-business talk of the week.

‘What do you say we go out and have some fun?’ Clay suggested. ‘It’s not often I get a night off.’

‘Where do you want to go?’

‘Cruising. We could cruise a bit and pull two lovely little darlings.’

Charlie laughed. ‘You haven’t changed much, have you? Remember the first time we ever met?’

‘Could I ever forget!’ Clay exclaimed. ‘Vietary Studios. I was banging a real hot one in the dressing room and you barged in. She pulled up her knickers so quick, I thought she had taken my cock with her!’

‘You always were a randy old bastard,’ Charlie said with an admiring chuckle.

‘You came in calm as you like and said in that camp faggot accent you were using then – “Oh, did I come at the wrong time?” I could have killed you! The bird scampered off, and I ended up with nothing!’

‘The start of a beautiful friendship.’

‘Yes. Well, we’ve both come a long way from those days, haven’t we? Of course, you’re in the best position. Famous film star. You can pull more or less anyone you want. When you were having that fling with Michelle Lomas, I don’t mind telling you I was goddam jealous.’