Underbelly (80 page)

“
What’s her name?”

With the number of aliases Laura used, Grey found the question difficult to answer and evaded it and said, “She’s English.”

His furtive answer (or lack thereof) was enough for Kuruk to know that he was here connected to either Laura or Jemima in some form and he said, “You can talk freely without fear of being ridiculed for talking of crazy things. We know of the people of power that walked the earth in days gone by and the few individuals who continue to do so. Do you mean Laura or Jemima?”

“
Jemima? She’s been here?” Grey said, getting a very bad feeling in his gut at this news.

“
Yes, for a few weeks. I gather Laura was your friend. Come inside,” Kuruk said, his consolatory manner, and the fact that he talked of Laura in the past tense, enough to make Grey suspect the very worst, the impossible. He went inside and sat down at the kitchen table as Kuruk did the same. “Were you close?”

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Yeah,” Grey nodded. “What happened?”

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She came here once before and her appearance unsettled Chesmu. He’d had no contact with any of her kind in centuries, and he didn’t want us exposed to such people. He knew that he was going to be drawn into something, which proved true when Jemima turned up. He gave her a hostile reception too, but her argument won him over. We all heard of what your friend did in her past. Her crimes are indefensible.”

“
Tell me and give me a chance to put her side forward,” Grey said, protective of her reputation.

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Murdering innocents for money, hundreds in total, and performing human sacrifices.”

Defending Laura against the charges levelled against her was hard, especially as he knew that they were true. “She’s a survivor, and she’s done what she’s had to to survive. She has changed and she accepts that she made mistakes. Is she dead?”

Kuruk nodded. “If you find that hard to believe I can understand that. She didn’t fall easily, and she felled Chesmu in the battle, which proved to all of us that she was formidable.”

Grey thumped the kitchen table hard at this news and said angrily, “Why? She wouldn’t have craved the fight.” He sucked the anger in and said levelly, “From what I’ve heard Chesmu wasn’t without sin in his past. Why this rush to judgement?”

“
Chesmu and Jemima both believed that she sought dominion. She didn’t ask him to fight Laura, she just told him that she would be back and warned him of what was to come if she wasn’t stopped.”

“
So she didn’t fight herself, she just watched?”

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We all watched. She did get involved until Chesmu told her that he wanted a fair fight. Laura was still alive after Chesmu passed on, but she was dying from his killing blow when Jemima and her family finished her off.”

“
Bitch,” Grey said, feeling pure hate for Jemima Harding.

“
I understand that Laura was important to you. What you have to realise is how important Chesmu was to us. He was a father figure, an old sage who everyone could talk to, our brave forefather who protected us. He was a god who lived amongst us humbly – he knew we revered him and asked for no tokens, no proof. Defeating your friend gave him the release he’d been waiting for and earned.”

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We all lost, apart from Jemima Harding.”

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We lost Chesmu, but he will become a bigger legend now.”

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Is it worth your friend – ancestor even, becoming a legend if it means losing him?”

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What matters is that it was what he wanted.”

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I know Laura didn’t want to die. That makes it harder. It was bad enough losing my wife, but at least her passing was painless. She died instantly – I know it wasn’t like that for Laura. She’d have hung onto life with all of her strength.”

He nodded. “Like a tigress, a very worthy opponent. Tougher than Octavius – obviously I didn’t see the man, but that’s the consensus from what we saw and what we heard of him. Chesmu was no longer at his peak – at his peak no one would have touched him – but I’m sure he felt the same.”

“
Where have you put her body?”

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It’s burnt, both were. Her corpse wasn’t desecrated by us.”

The anger rose up in him again and repressing it was a challenge, Grey screwing up his face, blocking his malevolent expression with his hands. He felt no enmity towards Kuruk Chesmu, and felt that Kuruk harboured no grudge against him, both lucky enough to have been close to extraordinary people who they had expected to outlive them. He would smash something up later to feel better, probably his bike as even in his fury he wouldn’t destroy someone else’s property, not unless he could find something of Jemima Harding’s.

Grey exhaled deeply before speaking again, saying, “I don’t even know if she had a will. I don’t know who I should tell, who’ll inherit her land.”

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From what I’ve heard she had no family. That was another reason why Chesmu sided with Jemima. Both of them acted as their family’s protector and he could relate to her.”

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She had a husband once, she was capable of love. Killing her like they did – that’s like saying that no one is capable of redemption.”

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Her past wasn’t the only factor. Her future deeds were a consideration.”

“
What exactly happened? I want to know everything.”

Kuruk told Grey every detail of the battle, including the state Laura’s body was in before they cremated it. He left with no bad blood between them, Kuruk telling him that he would be welcomed if he returned, something Grey couldn’t contemplate. His wife and unborn child, and now his best friend. His world was getting smaller.

Grey returned to New York, where a considerable amount of mail had amassed for him. He opened the letter from France first, a tirade of abuse from Tristan Cremont, who blamed him for not informing him with sufficient notice of Germaine’s funeral. Grey accepted the criticism until he read further and saw that the letter was not from a grieving uncle but was from a materialistic bastard who wanted the farm. He wrote of promises Yves had made to him, claims that Grey knew to be complete fiction and the opposite of what Yves Cremont would have wanted. Grey was angry with him for using Germaine’s death as an angle to profit from and he decided to give the matter some thought before making a final decision. There were arguments for giving him the farm and plenty for keeping it out of his hands. Grey talked about it with Conrad, whose advice was unequivocal and seemed sensible, Conrad telling Grey to leave all future contact in the hands of his lawyer. Conrad had used his lawyer to help Grey out with another matter while he was away, which he told him about as they lunched in the city after a round of golf.

“
He’s filed off a letter to Stratt warning him that if any of his employees lay a finger on you or try and prevent you from going about your business, he’ll be sued for that incident and your assault in Canada. He sent a letter back through his lawyer denying everything, but his lawyer is piss poor compared to ours so I’m sure Stratt and his lawyer are both shitting themselves. Maxwell could have them both for breakfast – he can turn anyone’s words against them.”

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I don’t think I’d want me as a client if I was him. Thank you for arranging that.”

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It’s no problem, it’s something I should have done as soon as you told me about the bastard. I saw that Lotus one again – never again, the bitch gave me fucking lice – but I let it slip about Germaine. I wasn’t saying anything behind your back, just saying what a shame it was,” Conrad said, hoping Grey wouldn’t take his indiscretion the wrong way.

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That’s fine, Conrad, don’t worry about it. I know that you’re on my side and I’m not going to fall out with you whatever’s been said. I can’t afford to, friends are few and far between for me at the moment.”

“
Laura thinks a hell of a lot of you.”

Grey coughed and said, “I need to talk to you about her, but carry on with what you were saying first.”

“
Lotus told Dora, who rang me up in tears because she wasn’t told, being a proper little actress, wanting the attention even though you’re the one who lost your wife and kid. I thought I should warn you that she might moan at you. I told her some home truths that might stop her.”

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What did you say to her?” Grey said, concerned at the damage Conrad might have wrought.

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Not much. What did you want to tell me about Laura?”

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Let’s finish lunch and I’ll tell you back at my room.”

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No. I’ve got an appointment this afternoon. You can tell me here.”

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I’d sooner not.”

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Why not? Look, I know that you weren’t keen on us getting together, but I didn’t take advantage of her. We both wanted it, and she wouldn’t be bothered about me sleeping with Lotus. We’ve got an arrangement that works for us. I don’t see why that should bother you, James – Laura isn’t going to end up crying in a pool of tears over me. You know her, you know that…”

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She’s dead,” Grey said, cutting him off in mid-flow.

“
What?”

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She’s dead, and I had no problem with what you two did. Life’s too short not to take your fun where you can get it. The funeral’s been and gone.”

Conrad wanted details, which Grey wasn’t prepared to give (he didn’t want to get him involved in the whole affair, and he respected Laura’s privacy in death as he did in life), which greatly aggrieved Conrad who stormed out and left him with the bill. Grey went round to see Dora, expecting an earful of abuse and instead she tearfully embraced him, taking Conrad’s words to heart and saving her sympathy for Grey, asking him how he was coping.

“
If you were annoyed I understand. You were friends and I should have told you. I should have given you the opportunity to go to her funeral,” Grey said, trying to let her know that she didn’t have to be so agreeable. If she was angry with him he could take it.

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I would have come with you. I’m replaceable in the show. If I was off it probably wouldn’t even be noticed.” Dora began to cry again as she said, “When I told Dad he was very upset.”

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I might go back and see him sometime soon,” Grey said, fond of him and of Del, his friend who he had completely ignored, shutting himself off for too long after Germaine’s death, and who he wanted to make amends to.

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He’d like that. And the doctors couldn’t even tell you why?” Dora said, finding this incredible.

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Her heart stopped beating is all that I’ve ever had by way of medical explanation. They can’t tell me why.”

They talked for a while longer about Germaine before Grey changed tack and seemed cheerful as he said, “I know that you talked about this sort of thing with Germaine more, but obviously now…what’s all this about you and this lighting guy? Is it a ploy to get the spotlight on you, because if it is it’s a good one?”

Dora blushed at first and answered coyly, but after a little more teasing she began to talk about him (revealing a lot that Grey already knew from Germaine but pretended not to), feeling unable to joke back with him so soon after his loss but able to laugh a little. Having lost her mother and brother she understood why he acted so. Time couldn’t stand still.

When Grey returned back to the hotel there was another letter for him, another from John Shepherd, a stranger to him who was apparently his biggest fan, Grey finding five of his letters waiting for him when he first returned to New York. The first few letters had been praising him and asking when he was going to next perform, while the last three had enquired into how much he charged for a private show. The new letter offered him $500 to perform for him and a few of his friends. Grey considered it, thinking that the $500 would pay back half of the money he borrowed from Laura, and he shook his head, trying to shake some sense into himself. She was dead and it was pointless repaying the debt and the fact that he even entertained the notion of effectively burying money while people starved was crazy. He would not touch the rest of the money or sell off Laura’s assets, but he would not return money, pointlessly taking it out of circulation.