A Deeper Dimension (19 page)

Alex hissed, sucking in his breath sharply. His eyes narrowed in anger, then swivelled to take in her expression. “And might I ask the outcome of the little talk?” he enquired quietly.

Diana felt a surge of hurt and anger. Her eyes flashed as she retorted. “Good lord, Alex, do you even have to ask?” She then pivoted on her heel and jerked away quickly, intent on putting as much distance between herself and Alex as possible. He started to follow, but jerked to a momentary halt as Alicia announced to the room in general that the buffet dinner would be starting in the next room and for everyone to help themselves.

Diana had turned at her announcement, as had everyone else in the room, and she was just in time to see Alicia put her hand on Alex’s arm and say something sweetly up into his face. Alex looked at Diana frowningly, but she had already looked away by then, a nagging pain in her chest at the sight of Alicia and Alex together. She smiled with a great deal of warmth at a young man whom she had vaguely recognised earlier, but couldn’t put a name to, and he came towards her with a wide smile.

Alex watched Diana for a moment as she talked with the young man with every sign of enthusiasm, then turned to Alicia. He offered Alicia his arm and she took it promptly. There was a secret smile of satisfaction that hovered around her lips, but Alex didn’t notice.

The dinner was long and leisurely as guests wandered in and out of the three tables at random, selecting their food and carrying their plates to the other side of the large room and taking their pick of seats at the several tables set up. Diana looked at the wide choice of foods laid out before her and felt slightly sick at the thought of eating. There was a large crash of thunder outside, louder than any previously, making people jump. The sky was pitch black and the wind furious as it whipped around the house, whistling eerily. There was some nervous laughter as the different people who had jumped looked around with some degree of embarrassment.

Diana, moving to the nearest window and looking out, thought to herself, This is really getting bad. It looks dangerous out tonight.

Alex started to move after her, but Alicia said something else to him, her lips pouting prettily. He turned back, and Diana looked away from the window, searching for him with her eyes only to see an apparently unconcerned Alex laughing down at Alicia as she led him to the first table laden with delicacies.

Diana found the young man (she was too embarrassed to ask his name) right beside her, eyes admiring and apparently ready to devote his time to her, and she shrugged. Why not? It was better than eating alone and she was sure as hell not going to sit with Alex if it meant sitting with that bitch.

The young man carried Diana’s plate to a seat a little distance away from Alicia and Alex and set it down carefully. He asked her charmingly, “Would you like something to drink?”

Diana smiled. It was a pity she couldn’t remember his name, for he seemed like a nice young man. “That really would be nice, yes.”

He grinned at her. “I’ll be right back.”

She spent most of the dinner watching Alex and Alicia and trying to come up with suitable replies for the young man’s chatter, which afterwards she couldn’t remember a thing about. Time seemed to drag on for an eternity, almost as if it were standing still. Diana puzzled this over vaguely, shaking herself out of her daydreams when the young man spoke her name.

“What? I’m sorry, I was miles away,” she said apologetically. He was wearing a very patient look on his face and she got the uncomfortable feeling that he had spoken her name more than once.

“I asked you if you’d like some more punch. There’s some intriguing red stuff over in that punch bowl on the second table, and I’d be glad to get you some,” he repeated. Diana got the impression that he was as anxious for the night to end as she was.

“That would be fine,” she replied. He got up from the seat with alacrity, grabbed her half-empty glass of punch and headed for the table. Diana had to smile wryly.

There was a minor commotion over at the other table and her eyes travelled to it. Her eyes sharpened as she saw Alex leap to his feet and start to dab at his front while Alicia stood wringing her hands and alternately wiping at her dress front and then at his white shirt and black coat. A red stain was oozing rapidly on the shirt, showing up like blood vivid against what little white was left. Diana’s eyebrows twitched. Alicia seemed to be talking very fast, but Diana couldn’t hear her. She was looking up into Alex’s face with a pleading look and he made a dismissive gesture while dabbing at his shirt with a sodden and stained napkin.

The young man came back, grinning from ear to ear.

“Looks like Alicia slipped up,” he stated with every sign of satisfaction.

Diana laughed. “Is she the one that spilled the punch?” she chuckled.

“Yes, although it’s unlike her to go and get punch for herself,” he replied maliciously. “She must have spilled it because she’s out of practice. She usually has someone else get it for her.”

She fumbled for her napkin to dab at her mouth and try to hide her face. The young man’s voice had a slight note of pique in it, if she was not mistaken. Once upon a time, he must have been one to fetch and carry for Alicia. She looked down at the punch that she didn’t want, her eyes dancing. He certainly seemed to have a talent for it!

Across the room, Alicia and Alex were headed for the door that led to the stairs in the hall. Diana saw Alicia motion Alex on ahead, then stop to whisper something to a maid who was standing by the door. Then she disappeared out of the room as well.

Diana guessed they were going to clean up and went back to her meal. A crash of thunder echoed as a flash of lightning sent everyone blinking. The young man exclaimed with a large grin (Diana wished he would stop smiling so much; it was getting on her nerves), “Golly, that was close!”

“I’ll say!” Derrick moved to the window, his face furious. “It hit in the back yard and probably killed that big old oak over there!” People moved to the window to murmur and exclaim, the young man moving with them. Diana laid down her napkin, hearing someone farther down the room ask plaintively, “What does an oak tree look like?” There was a general round of laughter at this remark.

Diana sensed someone at her elbow and she looked around in surprise to see the maid that Alicia had spoken to before going upstairs to change.

She smiled up at the young girl as she began to speak. “Miss Carrington?”

“Yes?” Diana replied.

The girl hesitated. Then she said, “I’m to tell you that Mr. Mason is in the room three doors to your left as you climb the front staircase, if you would like to go and talk with him about leaving early because of the accident.”

She frowned. “How stupid of me! I never thought of that. Of course he would want to leave early since he has nothing to change into.” She looked up at the girl in puzzlement. “Did he send you down here?”

“No, ma’am, Miss Payne did just before she went upstairs to change too,” the girl replied politely.

Diana hesitated, sensing something but not really understanding. She said finally, “Thank you. Maybe I should go up to talk to him.”

The maid murmured something and backed away to go and start picking up abandoned and empty plates and glasses. Diana looked around to see if she could locate the young man that she had spent the dinner with and saw him over in a small group of people by the windows, still staring outside and chattering. He didn’t appear to be in a hurry to come back, so Diana shrugged her shoulders and didn’t take the trouble to go over and make her excuses.

She picked up her half-empty plate and carried it over to where the servants were gathered, beside two serving carts, and gave one of them her plate with a thanks. She stood by the maid who had delivered the message and asked, “It was the third room on the left?”

She turned and nodded. “Yes, ma’am. You’re to go on in.”

Diana’s brow wrinkled in perplexity. What a strange thing to say! She turned and left the room, crossing over to the stairs.

The sounds of the storm were louder as she moved away from the noise and the laughter of the crowded room and made her way up the staircase. The howling fury had increased. Diana thought it was a good thing that they were leaving soon anyway. She thought back on the route they had travelled earlier and shuddered. There were a few winding roads that would be hairy to negotiate in this kind of weather, and she was glad it was Alex who had driven and not her. He was the better driver.

The second floor hall was carpeted with a luxurious thick mat of heavy shag, and Diana made no noise as she walked down its length. She looked about her; a fortune had gone into the carpeting alone, not counting the antique pieces filling the house. Then, counting the doors on her left, she stopped in front of the third door.

She tapped lightly. “Alex?” she called as she turned the doorknob and opened the door. “They told me to come on in—” There she stopped short, hanging on to the doorknob as if it were a lifeline. A blow seemed to come from nowhere and strike at her stomach as she took in the scene meeting her eyes. She closed them, gasping harshly, the sound loud in the sudden quiet. Then a very bright lightning flash made her open them on reflex as it lit the room into a cruel clarity.

Alex and Alicia were in the room. Alex’s chest was bare and so was Alicia’s. Alicia’s little black dress was about halfway to her waist and her hair tumbled down her back in a cascade of curls. Her hands were in the arrested action of caressing Alex’s bare chest.

They both had turned their heads sharply at Diana’s entrance, Alex sucking in his breath and Alicia jerking her hands to cover her breasts, an obscure look on her face. Diana’s eyes took in an open door at the other side of the room that led to another room, but she didn’t comprehend any more anything that she saw.

A sudden fit of violent trembling hit her as she closed her mouth and covered its vulnerability with one hand. She raised the other hand, visibly shaking, as if to ward off the sight of the two together. There was a moment of stunned silence, then she whispered behind her hand and shook her head, mumbling, “I’m sorry—my mistake.”

Then she was away from the door, pulling it shut behind her and running down the hall to the stairs, tears coursing down her face. She didn’t notice them fall; she didn’t notice anything but Alex’s shout behind her and her own churning stomach.

“Diana! Damn it, Diana!” he roared after throwing the door open and standing in the doorway. Diana, however, didn’t look back as she stumbled at the top of the stairs and hurried down. She heard a sound she was never to forget. It came from behind her, incredibly horribly echoing in her mind long after she had got away and out of range. It was the sound of Alicia’s laughter, light and amused, as she chortled her triumph and satisfaction. Diana shook her head numbly. It was impossible to feel any more pain.

A maid was in the hall, her startled face swivelling to the sounds of Diana’s erratic footsteps on the stairs and taking in her obvious distress.

Diana whispered urgently, “Bathroom?” Nausea was hitting her in waves.

The girl pointed to the other side of the hall and to her left, saying something that Diana didn’t take in as she rushed past.

She opened a door and saw the small interior of a half-bath, slamming the door and locking it behind her, cursing furiously at her trembling and ineffective hands, then she was violently, painfully sick, retching long after her stomach was empty and crying helplessly. Afterwards, she sat on the floor in an exhausted heap, leaning her head against the wall with closed eyes.

Footsteps sounded just outside the bathroom door, but Diana didn’t hear them and she jumped, moving back against the wall in a gesture of fear as she heard Alex’s voice.

“Diana?” he asked quietly. The doorknob moved as he tested it and found it locked. She watched the movement with a horrified fascination. She couldn’t remember locking it. “Diana, are you in there?”

Now she could remember locking the door. She wrinkled her brow as she tried to make her mind think. It was as if the whole world was in cotton, and she couldn’t seem to function. It was upsetting her very much, for her mind was one thing she prided herself on, and the ability to think. This must be what shock does to one, she thought. Her hands were shaking very violently, and had been, as she recalled, when she had tried to grasp the latch. She raised them and looked at the veins. “Diana!” Alex called. His knuckles rapped the door and his voice was sharp with worry. Her hands blurred in front of her as her eyes filled. She tried to clasp them together. Concentrate on survival, she whispered, hugging herself. That’s all that’s important, the only thing that’s important. Survive. She felt a great jolt as she realised that she hadn’t whispered the words after all. “Are you in there?” Alex’s voice was raised and he shouted, “Damn it, Diana, are you all right?”

Her head turned at that. Am I all right? she thought, her lips twisted in what was supposed to be a smile. Oh, God, he asks if I’m all right! She dragged herself to her feet and lurched to the basin and the mirror behind it on the wall. She ignored the pounding and shouts coming from the other side of the door and looked at the pale wreck of a human being in the mirror. “So,” she whispered, and this time was pleased to hear a sound coming from the lips of the person looking out at her. “You heard the man. Are you all right?” The girl in the mirror blurred as her hands had done, and she cried out silently, Be all right, damn it! You must! You must!