Gemini Rain (31 page)

David returned close to
6pm, he didn’t have a good meeting with e
ither parties and was exhausted
he needed to talk to Lauren. Looking around he could hear voices in the kitchen and entered but it was just Claude annoying Helene by attempting to help with preparations for dinner.

‘Where’s Lauren?’ he asked them as he kissed Helene on the cheeks.

Claude shrugged, ‘g
one shopping since this afternoon, she left a short note.’

David was surprised
as Lauren
didn’t tell him she
had
planned a shopping trip today, saying he was going to have a showe
r, he casually left but then quickened his pace
to
wards
the bedroom. Opening the wardrobe his heart was beating fast but then it stopped, the ward
robe was empty
he swung around, his eyes searching the room. Letting out a gasp of relief as he spotted her suitcase lying opened and packed in the corner.
‘
Why did he doubt her?
’
After his shower his mind started to race again, thinking of his earlier meetings and worrying about Lauren being so long but then he heard her voice, he smiled and waited for her to come into the bedroom.

‘Well hello there mister!’ Lauren gave her familiar greeting as she struggled with her bags and the bedroom door, ‘I’ve been doing a small bit of shopping,’ she collapsed onto the bed beside him, dropping all the bags around her feet. Kicking her shoes off she placed her legs across his lap begging for a massage, David kindly obliged.

‘How did your meetings go,’ she asked.

‘Why didn’t you tell me you were going shopping?’ he ignored her question.

‘That bad eh,’ she said sympathetically, ‘I wanted to surprise you.’

David looked over to the wardrobe wh
ich still had its doors ajar, ‘y
ou did.’

Realising what he was saying, Lauren sat up putting her arms around him whispering
, ‘d
o you think I’d leave without a goodbye, without telling you?’

David
put his head on her shoulder admitting his foolish doubts and his rotten day. Lauren just listened occasionally kissing him, reassuringly hugging him.

David told his manager and agent that he was retiring and they in turn tried their damnest to change his mind. An argument ensued with threats of libel action, etc. and David stormed out of their office, ‘My contract
with them
ends in four months, they can’t sue.’ Quickly relating his meeting with Jacques, he deliberately forgot to mention their conversation about Lauren’s predicament.

‘And I thought I had a bad day shopping!’ Lauren tried to
lighten his mood.

“What did you buy?”

‘Oh, just a few bits and pieces and of course your birthday present,’ she teased.

‘A few?’ he looked at the heap of bags lying on the floor then realised what she said, ‘and my what?’

Lauren laughed and reached down nearly falling off the bed, ‘It’s here somewhere, Aha!’ she exclaimed taking a small black box out.

David looked at her cu
riously as she handed it to him
opening it he saw a gold ring, an Irish Claddagh ring. Lauren recited the history behind that band of gold;

‘You wear it with the point of the heart turned in towards your own to let the world know your heart belongs to another.’

‘It’s magnificent,’ he said softly immediately placed it on his wedding finger, ‘How did you know my ring size?’

‘Oh no, not on that hand that’s not until we’re married,’ she explained.

David grinned, ‘Are you proposing to me, Mme. Connolly?’

Lauren got embarrassed, ‘I didn’t mean it that way, stop teasing.’

‘I’m wearing it on this finger,’ he held his hand up, ‘Proposal or not we’re together forever. But how did you know my ring size?’

Lauren blushed again, ‘I found your wedding ring on the dresser and brought it with me you don’t mind, do you?’ she attempted her childlike approach again.

David just laughed the earlier events of the day now forgotten. As they kissed, David commenced removing her clothes, ignoring the telephone ringing in the background,
‘
Claude will get it,
’
he thought.

But just as things were starting to
become
intense Claude knocked on the door, they sighed.
David called out
to him
as Lauren headed for the bathroom.

‘Sorry for the interruption, but I think you
better take this call David it
s Francoise.’

Lauren stopped at the bathroom door turning to Claud
e his tanned face was now waxen
David said he didn’t want to talk to her.

‘No, I didn’t mean it that way,’ Claude shakily corrected h
imself, ‘it’
s Francoise’s brother, Andre. David…’ Claude hesitated as David continued staring at him, ‘David, Francoise been in a car crash, she’s dead.’

David jumped up from the bed grabbing the phone from Claude, ‘Hallo,’ as he listened his face contorted from panic to pain to anxiety, ‘and the children….’ Relief swept through his features, Lauren cam
e over supportively holding him.
Claude just stood there like a wax dummy she
put her hand on his shoulder, ‘g
o to Helene, Claude,’ she said
softly, he numbly nodded and left.

David was still listening to Andre, ‘Okay, I’ll try to get to Barcelona as soon as possible, I’ll phone with the flight times the minute I have them confirmed.’

Finishing the call
he immediately clung onto Lauren, she could feel him breathing heavily into her neck then he broke down, falling to his knees his head nestling into her breasts, deep wails of grief and sorrow for what was lost.

It reminded Lauren of when they first met at their rock, the memory of his grief and desolation then; it brought her close to tears now. She cradled his head in her hands then bending over softly brought her arms around his shoulders, kissing his head.

David clutched at her ti
ghtly, ‘Why?’ he kept asking, ‘s
he didn’t deserve that. Why?’

Lauren sat in the sitting room alone it was the following morning, her eyes studied the room, she checked her watch again, one more hour before the taxi arrived. Feeling weary from the previous night and the early morning, she rubbed her eyes and went to make another tea. ‘I’ll be peeing tea all the way to Ireland if I drink anymore,’ she said aloud knowing there was nobody around to hear her. Everybody was gone and she was alone in the apartment. With her work connections Helene was able to get a 5am flight to Barcelon
a for David and Claude
she left 30 minutes ago for her own flight to Marseille, leaving Lauren alone with her own thoughts. Everything was etching away at her brain. Why did this happen? Why did Peter leave such a mess? Why can’t things run smoothly for David and me?’ What was her week in Dublin going to be like? Should she keep the file secret from Paul? Would she have the strength to face her mother if they met?

After David finally admitted his conversation with his solicitor she was scared and couldn’t think straight, grabbing the cigarette packet she bought after David left. Five out of twenty left, Christ was she smoking that heavy as she lit her sixteenth of the morning. She walked to the window and opened it, the noise and heat of Paris hit her as she took a deep breath. The elegant sights of the city lay before her, apart from Wednesday evening and last night it had been a magical time, she closed her eyes feeling the tears start to well up again. Staying there until the taxi arrived, Lauren jumped when he beeped the car horn.

Chapter 31

‘Mrs. Connolly.’ 

Lauren froze; she was heading for the car hire desk in Dublin Airport, with everybody rushing around her she was afraid to turn and face the voice behind her. 

‘Mrs. Connolly,’ a hand touched her shoulder then a casually dressed young man in his mid thirties stood in front of her, he took his hand away when she showed her disapproval.

‘Yes, that’s me,’ she
sounded cooler than she felt, ‘d
o I know you?’

He smiled, it was a friendly reassuring smile, ‘I’m Marc, Paul asked me to pick you up.’

He looked different than the photo Paul showed her, his hair was now cropped tighter, understanding her line of thought, ‘It’s gone,’ pretending to shake his now missing ponytail.

‘Pick me up? But why I’m going to hire a car, I don’t need to be picked up?’ she snapped.

‘So have we,’ he replied as he poi
nted over to one of the bars, ‘l
isten come over here and I’ll explain all, if you don’t believe me you can phone Paul, he’s at home or I’ll show some identity. But please come with me.’

As he ben
t down to take her suitcase, Lauren
looked around searching for any faces she might recognise or any police uniforms, after what David told her was she being paranoid she thought.

‘Please
Mrs
Connolly,’ Marc was getting concerned she was hesitating too much.

‘It’s Lauren, I hate my married name at the moment,’ Lauren decided to follow her gut instinct and trust him, she handed him the suitcase.

Marc expressed
a relieved
‘thank you’ as
she followed him to the bar. 

As the waiter placed two soda waters and lime in front of them, Marc commenced with updating her on what had happened since Paul last spoke to her. Yes, Paul got a nasty slap on the wrist but survived, the case was not out of his hands but Dec. Insp. O’Reilly would be waiting for her when the plane from Marseille arrived tonight. ‘It was just pure chance and good sources that I found out what flight you were actually arriving on.’

Lauren was silent, t
aking in every word Marc said. He advised
not to rent the car under her own name
so
he
arranged to rent one for her. ‘W
ere you trying
to sneak in, Paul’s having
doubts
when I told him you were on an earlier flight
’

Lauren ignored the question de
ciding to ask one of her own, ‘a
nd where do you fit into this fantastic storyline?’ 

Marc cautiously looked around checking no-one was watching, he lifted the front of his jacket and Lauren saw a police badge clipped onto his inside pocket also noticing the gun he was carrying under his arm.

‘Christ, I don’t believe this, it’s too much!’ she nervously laughed.

‘I work with our amazing Dec. Insp. O’Reilly, except I’m undercover.’

‘Under cover, is definitely the right word for it,’ she mused relaxing a little bit.

Neither had touched their drinks
throughout the conversation, when they left
Marc
then
showed her to the hired car, saying his good-bye he reminded her not to contact Paul, to wait for him to contact her.

Lauren started the car but decided
to ask him one more question, ‘are
you
not
nervous you’ll be spotted on the security cameras when it’s discovered I haven’t arrived on the Marseille flight?’ 

He leaned into th
e window with a quirky smile, ‘a
nd who do you think will be checking the videos and flig
ht schedules?’

They both laughed
; Lauren thanked him and drove away.

Debbie
and Pat couldn’t believe their eyes when she arrived on their doorstep, then over the exciting screams of
Emma
and Keith, she tried to explain why her flights were changed, ‘I didn’t tell you because I wanted to surprise everybody.’

Over tea, she told them about Paris and the events of last night, deliberately skipping Paul’s phone call on Wednesday and the ensuing argument with David. They
even had a good laugh about Jacqueline
Orliac and her announcement that she was to work with David on his next film. With Lauren’s exaggerated description she sounded like an extremely
poor version of Katie Price
.

‘Hey, Katie
is gorgeous!’ Pat protested.

Lauren agreed just to keep him happy but emphasized this was like a bad copy God mistakenly created. They burst out laughing again, but
Debbie
added that she felt a bit of jealousy coming from Lauren.

‘Believe me when I say,’ Lauren stated in her grandest superior tone, ‘there isn’t the remotest possibility of me being envious of that woman.’

But soon the mood reversed when Lauren told them of Francoise and how David took the news, thankfully the children weren’t in the car when the truck crashed into it; she was on her way to collect them from a birthday party.