Broken Waves Read online

  Thinking of the body at the bottom of a cliff and of James’ suffering, Lee asked, “Isn’t that a little bit harsh?”

  Her lunch companion shrugged. “It’s harsh that she died, but it doesn’t change what she was. I saw what she did to James.”

  “And what did she do?”

  “Made him miserable. A woman like that wouldn’t get anywhere with me, because I’m callous. James isn’t. James is tremendously decent.”

  “A woman like what?”

  “One who is cunning. Calculating.”

  “It’s not how people describe her.”

  Once more, he shrugged. “They’re afraid to speak ill of the dead. She was passive-aggressive, you see? She waited for people to do what she wanted, and when that didn’t work, she blackmailed them emotionally.”

  Mia had had a lover, had been expecting a child and had ended up smashed against rocks. Did Attie seem so full of contempt because he knew what she had been up to?

  “She was a type.” He tilted his head. “Can’t fathom you. Don’t think you’re a type.”

  “Either we’re all types or no one is.”

  Attie shook his head. “Doesn’t work like that. You could give the Saint a run for his money, I’ll bet.”

  “He has a lot of money, so that would be a lot of running.”

  “And it’s not his money you’re after either, I don’t think.” He peered at her. “Heavens, you just blushed. This is fun!”

  “For you, maybe.”

  Attie laughed with gusto. “All right, I’ll stop. I need to talk less, anyway, and learn more about you.”

  “Investigating on behalf of your friend?”

  “No.” Again he gave a true laugh. “I’ve been all intense, what a bore. And now James will kill me. Or Caitlin will.”

  Lee also laughed. “You seem more scared of her.”

  “Cat is a force to be reckoned with. She’ll make a much more ruthless investor than me. Top of her class.”

  They left aside intense subjects and talked more generally. Attie turned out to be fun, and he drove her to her salon appointment when they were done. “See you at the old house, then!”

  As Lee waited for her turn, another message arrived from James: Has he left you alone?

  Yes.

  Good. When will you be home?

  Home…

  I think not before ten.

  You’ve been gone far too long. Isn’t that a song?

  Lee smiled. I don’t know it.

  Hurry back. Is that a song?

  I’ll Be Seeing You. That’s a song.

  I’ll Be Seeing You Soon. Is that a song?

  She laughed out loud. Why did he make her feel so silly? An attendant came to get her, and she put the phone in her bag. As she sat down and let the hairdresser look at her color, Lee thought of all that Attie had said. The Saint is a romantic. He’s waiting for something absolute.

  She thought of Attie’s cold eyes as he talked of Mia, the woman who hadn’t been good enough for James. Had Attie known that Mia was having an affair? He hadn’t spoken about the child. Wouldn’t he at least mention it, unless he knew nothing of it? Or could he know whose it was?

  Mia had been having an affair, and Attie either knew or suspected it. Could she have been sleeping with him?

  Would it be impossible for a man to sleep with his friend’s wife and still love his friend — and still despise the woman for being dishonest? No, it wasn’t impossible. Human beings did all sorts of things.

  Had Attie slept with Mia? Had she met him on the cliff to say that she was with child, to somehow blackmail him emotionally — and had he pushed her? She was cunning … passive-aggressive … He didn’t seem the least bit sorry that she was gone. He was, by his own admission, callous.

  If Attie were Mia’s lover, James didn’t even suspect it. He wouldn’t joke about his friend being a cad. No, James would have shaken him by the throat and tossed him aside.

  For heaven’s sake! Attie is the first friend of James’ you meet, and you assume he’s a murderer.

  James must have few friends, but the mysterious lover could also have been in Mia’s circle.

  Still, when Lee left the hairdresser and got her car at the hotel, ready to return to Deerholt, she couldn’t help glancing at the hour. Neither could she help driving fast, as fast as the law allowed and sometimes faster.

  To have killed Mia, James needed to have made it to Deerholt in less than three hours. Lee made it in two hours forty-three minutes.

  TWENTY-SIX

  Caitlin had run to the window at least five times while getting her hair done, to make sure the weather wasn’t changing.

  “It’s a solid blue day,” Lee told her after the hairdressers left.

  “It changes so fast here,” Caitlin said, her hands together in prayer as she took another look.

  “Don’t you want me to do your eyes?”

  The girl ran back to the chair on tip toes and sat down. They wore nets over their hair, which had to be kept in rollers until the party was about to begin.

  It must be well-nigh impossible to dislike Caitlin. James' sister still had the beauty of a child, with creamy skin, soft eyebrows and light brown hair that turned golden near her temples. And, like Cora, she had a happy and generous disposition, for all that she would make a ruthless hedge-fund manager one day.

  Lee gave the birthday girl discreet cat eyes with brown eyeliner and emphasized her lashes with mascara. A bit of lipstick, and she was beyond perfect.

  There was a decisive knock on the door, and they screamed as the knob rattled.

  “Go away!” Lee said.

  “How long will you be in there?” James asked from the other side.

  “Go away!” Caitlin repeated.

  There was silence as the two women smiled at each other, but the door rattled again, and they screamed.

  “Christ, I’m not bloody Count Dracula,” James protested.

  “Go away, you can’t see us before the party,” Lee said.

  “Well, the party is about to start. People tend to show up on time here, you know? As in less than one hour?”

  They screamed again, rushing about the room.

  “Why … are … you … screaming?”

  “Go away! It's a girl thing."

  They waited a little. Caitlin said, “He’s gone.”

  But there was another shrill scream from her as she went to the window and found James outside, pointing at her rollers and laughing. She grabbed Lee by the waist and fell on the sofa with her. “Oh, you don’t know how happy I am that you’re here!”

  “You are?”

  Caitlin took her hand. “It has been a long, long time since I’ve seen James like this. I think he’s happier than I’ve ever seen him, and it’s because of you.”

  Although Lee wanted to say that she might not have that much to do with it, Caitlin had already stood up and run to her dress. “I hope I don’t tear this!”

  Lee helped her get into a very expensive silver evening gown that sparkled in a few choice places. Carefully unwrapping the hair net, Lee took each pin out slowly, letting Caitlin's waves descend to her back.

  “You are a vision,” Lee pronounced.

  Caitlin turned to look at herself, and it wasn’t vanity but joy that made her smile and sigh. “Oh, it’s going to be just as I imagined it!”

  “Why do you like the 1940s so much? It’s a long time ago for you.”

  “It’s so elegant: the hair, the gowns, the music. I guess I watched too many old movies with Aunt Im.” She suddenly looked worried. “I hope people like the party and don’t get bored.”

  “I don’t think you have to worry about that.”

  “Viv,” Caitlin said, taking her hand. “James told me I should ask you something, but you can say no, I’ll understand.”

  “What?”

  “He said I should ask you to sing, at least one song. He said it will be very special.”

  “He’s exaggerating,” Lee sai
d. “But if it gives you pleasure, of course I’ll sing.”

  “Thank you! Now let me help you into your gown. People will be arriving soon.”

  “No, you go. I can do this on my own.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive.”

  Caitlin kissed her and ran to the door, and for a moment Lee could imagine a girl just like her, a hundred years ago, getting ready for her birthday party in that very room.

  Remembering that James might try to get in to see her, Lee locked the door behind Caitlin. She stepped gingerly into her dress, pulling it over her body, and smoothed the silk, arranging the folds. Her make-up was done. She had painted her lips red and applied some mascara to her lashes; the mouth should be the star of the show in a 1940s look — the mouth and the hair, which she now freed slowly from the pins.

  Caitlin was about to get an exquisite diamond bracelet from her brother. It had given Lee goose pimples, though not in a million years would she dream of stealing from them now. Her own white gold chain had become strangely precious to her, but it had been left in a box in the bedroom for the night.

  Time to go.

  She descended slowly to make sure that she wasn’t stepping on her gown, but she hadn’t expected James to be at the foot of the stairs, looking dashing in a black tuxedo but tamer than usual with his hair neatly brushed. The house was brightly lit, and the strains of brass instruments playing big-band jazz floated through the open door.

  The white silk fell to the ground almost like water. Lee’s shoulders were bare, and the dress was held around her neck by asymmetrical strands of silk. Wispy feathers at her shoulder moved with her breaths.

  There was desire in James’ eyes, and something more elusive — was it pride in her?

  "I want everyone to see you and I don’t want anyone to see you,” he said as she reached him.

  “Which one will it be?”

  “Everyone. No one.”

  He took her hand and kissed her wrist.

  “Will there be a fight?”

  He smiled angelically. “What fight? All you have to do is dance only with me.”

  “And if someone else asks me, what should I say?”

  “In England you’d say fuck off.”

  She laughed. “That will sound appropriate in the ballroom. Did you know that you are slightly possessive?”

  “No, I’m actually very possessive.”

  “Then you shouldn’t dance with anyone either.”

  “I won’t. Apart from Caitlin and Aunt Im, who don’t count.”

  “You’re old-fashioned.”

  “Absolutely. Which makes me think we might reach a compromise on a certain issue.” He took a small case out of his pocket and raised an eyebrow. “Throw it in the sea tomorrow but wear it for me today.”

  James opened the case, displaying a brooch so beautiful that Lee gasped. Delicate diamond drops of different sizes cascaded down, shimmering. She understood that they represented rain.

  “The storm …” she whispered.

  “Hmm.”

  “The diamonds—”

  The diamonds were so pure, they must have cost a fortune.

  “A brooch doesn’t go around your neck or wrist or ears, so you won't be showing off, and you can even hide it behind the feathers. I’d like to know you have it on you, that’s all.”

  Lee nodded, and James found a place for it on her shoulder. He gently pulled a few feathers over it.

  “It’s not my secret this time," he said, alluding to the guilt he had felt over Mia's diamonds.

  Perhaps she had liberated him from terrible heartache by listening to the truth without judging him. And he had lessened her pain by never asking her anything — by just letting her exist next to him.

  Tonight, in any case, they were in another time, when they could be different people. He could be a man dazzled by a woman in a white silk dress, and she could be a woman dazzled by a man and his gift to her.

  Outside, Caitlin laughed. “Do you feel how warm it is? It’s just perfect.”

  “Jinxer!” James cried.

  “Oh, no! Where’s wood?”

  He knocked on the door three times for her sake and they ran down the steps to meet her. Caitlin took her brother’s arm. “James, it’s exactly as I imagined it. No, it’s better!”

  The stone terrace around the corner held an orchestra of men clad in white jackets playing Moonlight Serenade. The ballroom’s great doors were open. People would have the choice to dance under the stars outside, or inside under chandeliers that sparkled.

  Lee hummed, almost swaying to the music.

  “Oh, well. Let the games begin,” James muttered.

  People were starting to arrive. They exclaimed over the beauty of the night, of the house, of the flowers and arrangements — and over the birthday girl, who flitted between guests like a fairy.

  Lee observed their movement as she stood next to James. Soon Attie arrived, but he wasn’t yet in a tux. He swept his eyes over Lee. “Did you go back in time to Hollywood to get Vivien?” he asked his friend.

  “Something like that,” James said, putting his arm around her waist.

  Attie held up his hands. “Oh, the gesture of ownership! I get it! Not even one dance, huh?”

  “Not even one,” James confirmed.

  “It’s so attractive of you to be this primitive. Which room am I in?” Attie asked. “The usual?”

  “Yes, your room.”

  “Will run up and change,” Attie said, grabbing a glass of champagne from the table.

  Lee watched him walk away: callous, ruthless but very charming Attie. Could he smile, and smile and be a villain?

  Robert and Imogen appeared shortly after. He looked well turned out in his tuxedo, which he called a dinner jacket. Imogen clutched a shawl, apparently uncomfortable in her off-the shoulder dress.

  “You look like a dream,” Imogen told Lee. “And Caitlin, good heavens, I’m going to be unoriginal and say: how she has grown! One doesn’t realize, seeing her in jeans all the time, but she is so stunning.”

  James kissed her. “She is beautiful, kind and happy, and it’s all thanks to you.”

  Soon there were over a hundred guests on the grounds, and Deerholt accommodated them generously. There was food, served in the garden on long tables. There were, it seemed to Lee, rivers of champagne.

  It was time for dancing, and Caitlin laughed among admirers, choosing a young, blond man as her partner. They danced alone for a few moments, until the guests joined them.

  “If you want to dance with me, you’ll have to pick me up,” Lee told James.

  He frowned. “You mean lift you?"

  “No, I mean pick me up.”

  “Do that work again?”

  “I don’t remember you doing it in the first place.”

  “No, I’m very smooth.”

  “Well, I’ll give you … three bids.”

  James scoffed. “I don’t need three!”

  She smiled, challenging him, and turned away.

  “Hey,” he said after a while in an American accent. “I’m the owner of this joint. Wanna see my room?”

  Lee froze him with a deadly look. “Excuse me.”

  “Unfair,” he called after her. “That would work every time.”

  She presented an uninterested back to him as she sipped champagne.

  “Say,” he tried again. “You look like you have a body for sin, and I have a mind for it.”

  Lee looked him up and down, full of disdain. “Just be grateful I wouldn’t waste good champagne by throwing it in your face!”

  “Mine was a good line!” he protested as she moved away.

  He pretended to pout when she looked at him again, and she was already laughing at what he would say next. Caitlin, however, caught her eye as the orchestra finished The Very Thought of You and Lee went over to the vintage radio microphone. James had thought of every detail, although he hadn’t appeared to be doing much.

  The firs
t notes to Melancholy Baby began playing, and the dancers stopped to see why Lee was standing there. The music carried her away, and her voice was smoky as she started slowly,

  Come to me, my melancholy baby

  Cuddle up and don’t be blue

  All your fears are foolish fancies maybe

  You know, dear, that I’m in love with you…

  Lee only half noticed that the dancers had stood still to hear her better as she went on,

  Every cloud must have a silver lining

  Wait until the sun shines through

  So smile, my honey dear, while I kiss away each tear

  Or else I shall be melancholy too.

  There was a moment of silence after she finished with a flourish, and then loud applause. She nodded, ready to leave, but Caitlin ran up to the microphone, “Please, one more, just one more!”

  James watched Lee without saying anything, but the guests clapped, not leaving her a choice.

  She knew what she wanted to sing, with a slight alteration, and began a cappella,

  O my love is like a white, white rose

  That’s newly sprung in June

  The piano and the violin softly accompanied her.

  As fair art thou, my bonnie lad,

  So deep in love am I

  And I will love thee still, my dear,

  Until all the seas run dry

  As if drawn by an invisible string, James stepped into the light. Lee couldn’t help showing emotion as she continued,

  Until till the seas run dry, my dear

  And the rocks melt in the sun

  And I will love you still, my dear

  Though the sands of time may run.

  But fare thee well, my only love,

  O, fare thee well awhile

  And I will come again, my love,

  Though it were ten thousand miles …

  Once more there was silence as she ended, but this time she felt anchored by James’ eyes. Some of the people there, full of repressed emotion, wiped tears, and then the applause came. Lee was free, and James was waiting for her.