‘What does he look like?’
‘He’s early forties, six feet odd, dark-haired, well-spoken,’ Susie told her. ‘He’s got a scar on his forehead. That’s all I remember about him.’
‘The streets are full of ’em, but I can’t say that name’s familiar. Ask Jo next time you see her; if he’s been around here, she’ll know. Did he do you wrong?’
‘A couple of million wrong, and no, I’m not talking pesetas, or even euros; real money.’
‘My God,’ said Shirley, after a mouthful of souffle. ‘What are you going to do when you catch him?’
‘Oz is going to have him killed,’ she answered, with a grin. ‘Aren’t you, Oz? You know people who do that sort of thing.’ It was a chilling thing for her to say, given recent history, but Shirl didn’t know any of that, so she took it as a joke.
‘Worse than that,’ I retorted. ‘I’m going to make him watch my new movie.’
We finished dinner, drank a couple of shots of chilled peach schnapps, then said ‘thanks’ and ‘good night’ to Shirley.
‘See you at the do tomorrow?’ she asked as we were leaving.
‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘Why not? We’ll give you a lift down in the new bus.’
Back at Casa Nou Camp, I checked the alarm settings and bolted the doors. When I came out of the kitchen, Susie was nowhere to be seen. I didn’t have to search for her, though. I knew where she’d be. I didn’t even think about telling her to go back to her own room. I was as horny as hell, and I wanted her. I undressed and slipped under the duvet. She was smiling at me again.
‘You’re a master of deviousness, all right,’ she said. ‘You’re way beyond my league. The way you got all that stuff about Prim out of her, without her even knowing she was being questioned, or that any of it was news to you.’
‘And was it news to you?’
‘No, of course not. Prim told me the whole story a while back. I guessed she hadn’t told you that much, though; if she didn’t tell you the way it really was with the policeman, she was hardly going to confess to all the rest of it. What’s this guy Miller like, really?’
I felt my teeth clench. ‘A twerp. A real wee twerp. Shirl was right, I detest him.’
‘Yeah,’ Susie whispered, laying the palm of her hand on my belly, and sliding it downwards. ‘That’s what she told me too. She said that every time she did it with him, all she could feel was her hatred for you. He was your penance; that’s how she put it.’
What she was telling me was cutting into me like a knife. I didn’t want to hear any more.
‘Hey,’ I said, rolling over and into her in a single smooth movement, drawing a great deep gasp from her. ‘Enough about her. This one’s for you, and no one else.’
24
Susie was demanding but I gave her everything she wanted, everything she asked for. We made love until we fell asleep. Then, in the morning we wakened, and we had some more.
I was lying face down, my left cheek buried in the pillow, looking at her out of my right eye alone, when she ran a nail gently down my spine. ‘I’ll promise you something, Oz,’ she murmured. ‘Even though you haven’t asked me.
‘After I go, that’ll be it. I’m not going to hold anything over you, or threaten your marriage.’
‘What if that isn’t the way I want it?’
‘Don’t make me laugh.’ She did, nevertheless. ‘You’re too smart for that,’ she chuckled. ‘You’re not going to dump Dawn Grayson’s sister, or your movie career will be over almost as soon as it’s started. You’ll work it out with Prim; at least you will for as long as it takes you to become established. And isn’t this the man who told me twenty-four hours ago that he loved his wife dearly?’
‘A lot of things can change in twenty-four hours. I feel like I don’t know her any more.’
‘So get to know her. Maybe you’ll find that, inside, she’s even better than the woman you thought you knew. Did you really think that she was just a little innocent who’d forsworn men for ever after you dumped her? Are you that naive? No, I don’t believe that for a minute.’
‘Yeah, but I chose to believe what she told me. If she’d told me the truth … Ah, I don’t know. But come on. Answer my question. What if, just suppose, out of all this, I want you?’
‘You can’t have me. Simple as that. I’m going to be no one’s second string. I’m going to run my business for a few more years, then either sell it or take it public and become incredibly rich in the process. Somewhere along the line I’ll find a suitable husband, with a title, preferably, who’ll give me a couple of nice kids then bugger off.
‘I’ve just had one narrow escape; I nearly became Mrs Mike Dylan. No way would I get myself tied up with somebody as volatile. . and as easy to seduce. . as you.’ She jumped out of bed and stood there, red hair tousled and tangled. ‘I will do one thing for you. I’ll make you breakfast. Fancy some freshly squeezed orange juice, scrambled eggs and coffee?’ She took my robe from behind the door and put it on.
‘Yeah, okay. You do that, I’ll have a shower.’ I tossed her the remote alarm control and told her to press the ‘disable’ button from the top of the stairs, so that she didn’t set the thing off.
I was towelling myself down when I heard the front door bell ring. I had no idea who it could be. Shirley would have phoned, and I couldn’t think of anyone who’d be calling on me at quarter to ten on a Saturday morning, apart from Fortunato, perhaps. Automatically I headed for my robe, then saw the empty hook on the door.
Faint sounds came from downstairs, the clop of wooden-soled sandals. . Susie had borrowed Prim’s. . the squeak of a rusty hinge as the door opened. I strained to hear, but couldn’t pick up any conversation. Then I heard footsteps trotting upstairs and drawing closer.
She appeared in the doorway and looked at me, frowning. ‘Oz,’ she said, severely, ‘there’s a prostitute at the door. Go and deal with her.’
‘How do you know she’s a prostitute?’
‘I’ve lived in Glasgow for long enough to know what a prostitute looks like.’
‘So can’t you deal with her?’
‘She doesn’t seem to speak any English; nothing but Spanish. Now go on; see what she wants.’
I finished drying, and dressed quickly.
Susie had closed the front door on our caller, reasonably so, I suppose. If a mysterious prostitute presented herself at your premises, you’d hardly ask her in then go off and leave her alone, would you?
She was still there when I opened it again: a tiny girl, as bizarrely turned out for the first Saturday in January as anyone I’ve ever seen. Her oily black hair was piled up on top of her head and lacquered stiff, she had blusher on her cheeks and her eyelashes buckled under what must have been a whole thingy of mascara. She was wearing a yellow gypsy-styled top, trimmed with red and showing most of what little chest she had, a short, fluffed-out white skirt, white tights with gold spangles and red shoes with dangerously high heels.
It was a cold, grey morning, and a light skin of rain was falling. She stood there, a black umbrella clutched in her right hand, with goose pimples standing out on her damp shoulders. In her left hand she carried a small suitcase.
‘Si?’ I began.
‘Tu es el hombre?’
‘No,’ I answered, in Spanish, more than a bit cagily. ‘I am a man, not The Man. Step in out of the rain and tell me what it is you want.’
She did as she had been invited. ‘I was told to come here,’ she said.
This was something I had heard before. I took a closer look at the girl. She wasn’t the same one who had called a few weeks earlier but, if I had to guess, she was of the same nationality. Beneath the pancake make-up she was brown-skinned, and her eyes said Oriental. Given that Spanish seemed to be her native language, I guessed that she was Filipina. She was also very young, sixteen at most.
‘Who told you?’ I asked her. As I spoke I heard, from behind me, Susie clopping downstairs, still wearing Prim’s shoes and my robe. Whether that frightened the girl in any way, I wasn’t sure, but her eyes went from me to the floor and she clammed up.