I looked at Val who was still staring down at her hands, then I looked at Dyer. His eyes shifted from mine and muttering something, he got up and walked stiffly out of the room.
I sat still. The noise of the hurricane still continued to hammer against the house.
‘Val!’
She didn’t look up.
‘Tell me he was lying, Val, and I will believe you,’ I said, my hands gripping the arms of my chair as I stared at her in sick despair.
Still she didn’t move nor look at me.
‘Val! Please! He must be lying! You couldn’t do such a thing to me! I’ve loved you every minute of the six years we have been parted. I love you still! Tell me he is lying!’ Still she said nothing. ‘For God’s sake, Val!’
Suddenly she shook her head. In a low, hard voice, she said, ‘He wasn’t lying.’
Well she had said it. I drew in a long, shuddering breath.
‘Val, darling, please listen to me. He is going to divorce you. At last you will be free of him. We can go away together. We can’t get married because of Rhoda, but we can find work together. Darling, I don’t care what you did. I don’t care about Dyer. I love you! We can make a new life together.’
She looked up then, the bitter contempt in her eyes shrivelled me.
‘A new life with you?’ She started to her feet. ‘With you, you weak, gutless jerk! I’ve never loved you! You have always been a stupid joke to me.’ She was screaming at me now, her face contorted with spite and rage. ‘Who wants your gutless love? I hope to God I never see you again!’
She left me, my head in my hands with the nightmare that had now become reality.
Thunder shook the house while the wind screamed against the boarded up windows.
I stared down at the rich carpet, hearing again those cruel words she had flung at me before leaving the room. I have never loved you! How it hurt to realise after so many years that I had been idolising a woman who only existed in my besotted imagination! I sat there, hearing the hurricane, feeling my life had come to an end.
‘Hey, buster! Wake up!’
Gesetti’s gravel voice made me lift my head. He was standing by me, his mouth twisted into a sneering grin.
I reared back.
‘Get away from me!’
‘Come on, buster, up on your feet. Beddy-byes now. I want you where I know where to find you. Move!’
The threat in his voice forced me to my feet. I couldn’t bear the thought of him touching me, but he did touch me. His fingers closed around my arm: fingers like a steel claw and he led me from the room, out into the hall and up the stairs and I went without resistance. When we reached the upper landing, I saw Vidal standing in the doorway of his room. He held a torch in his hand, the beam directed on the floor. The reflection of the light showed me his set, hard face.
I paused to stare at him.
A violent clap of thunder rocked the house as he stepped back into his room and closed the door. There had been something in his small, glittering eyes — something sinister that chilled me.
‘Move buster,’ Gesetti said and nudged me on.
I had a sudden feeling of danger. I was now facing the door into my room and Gesetti pushed the door open. A presentiment that something terrible was about to happen brought me. to a standstill. I spun around.
I felt a compulsive urge to rush down the stairs, fling open the front door and face the violent night — anything than stay a moment longer in this house.
Steel fingers gripped my arm and Gesetti’s shoulder, as solid as a block of concrete, slammed against my chest. I went reeling back into the darkness of my room and the door slammed shut.
I groped around until I found the foot of the bed. The darkness was stifling. The noise of the hurricane hammered at me as I sank on the bed.
I began to shiver. Something was going to happen: something I was powerless to stop. I sat there, my fingers digging into the mattress, my heart slamming against my ribs while the hurricane banged and tore at the house.
Then I heard a faint scream. It was immediately blotted out by the roar of the hurricane, but I was sure it had been a scream.
I blundered to my feet and groped my way to the door. My sweating hand slid up and down the panel until I found the door handle. I turned the handle but the door remained immovable. I was locked in!