HIS OTHER SON (10 page)

           
Ray
had developed a strategy that had held him in good stead. Hit first and hit
hard.

           
He
launched himself at the woman to his right. She wasn’t expecting an attack and
she stumbled backwards. She was close to the edge of the pool from where she
had recently risen. Her footing was fragile and the tiles were wet. Ray took
hold of her robe, pulled then pushed, and the woman was falling into the water,
arms flailing in a futile attempt to stop.

           
When
she hit the surface and disappeared beneath the clear water, Ray had already
turned to face the second woman. She had hold of Paula’s dress.

           
“Let
her go,” Ray said, as menacingly as he could muster.

           
“I
have my instructions. I’m taking her to her grandfather.”

           
Ray
closed the gap between them in four long strides.

           
“She’s
my niece. This is her birthday party. She owes me a dance.”

           
Before
anyone could act, Paula whirled round, punched the woman hard in the face and
pulled herself from her grasp. The woman held her hands to her nose, from which
blood was gushing. “I think it’s broken.”

           
“This
dress cost more than you’d make in a year, so hands off.” Paula was indignant,
and sounded tough, but Ray could see the fear in her eyes.

           
“Who
sent you?” Ray said to the woman. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the
other woman had climbed out of the pool and was standing quite still, as if
waiting instructions.

           
“They’re
sisters from the Church,” Paula said.
“Ripping granddad off
with fake medicines for grandma.”

           
“Dr
Romodon
is acting for Mr. Stock, senior, in the medical
care of his wife.”

           
“For
now,” Ray said.

           
As if a signal had been given both women ran at Ray.
One
leapt at his face, while the other aimed for his legs.

           
Ray
was strong. The one at his legs tried to bring him down, but he moved his legs
apart and held firm. He managed to bring a knee up and connect squarely with
her jaw. She crumpled like a spent paper tissue.

           
The
one at his face was tenacious. She hooked her nails into his cheek and drew
blood. Ray put both hands on her waist, lifted her effortlessly into the air
and offered her to Paula. She seemed to consider what to do, then hit the woman
with a solid left hook in the kidneys. The woman exhaled air with the pain, and
at the same time Ray let her go. She fell like damp towel to the tiled floor.

           
Ray
took Paula’s hand. “Come on. Time to visit my father I think and find out
what’s really going on.”

Phil
Ryker
met Caroline on
the first floor landing outside Marlene Stock’s room.

           
“What
are you doing here?” Caroline demanded.

           
Ryker
shrugged. “I came looking for Anders, one of my
security men.”

           
“Him,”
Caroline said. “I caught him trying to look down my dress earlier.”

           
Ryker
smiled. “And who can blame him?”

           
Caroline
looked as if she was going to explode with fury. “Are you going to stand there
insulting me or are you going to kiss me?”

           
Ryker
took a step forwards, put one arm round her waist,
and drew her to him. The kiss was long and practiced. When it was over,
Caroline said. “That’s better. I’ve wanted to do that all evening.”

           
“Not
quite what your fancy guests would approve of?”

           
“Who
cares? Did you find Anders?”

           
Ryker
looked concerned. “No.”

           
He
had searched the whole part of the house where Anders had been sent. There were
three bathrooms that weren’t part of a bedroom suite, and
Ryker
had looked in all of them. They were all empty and although one of them looked
as if it had been cleaned and tidied very recently there was no sign Anders, or
anyone, had been in there.

           
Anders
wasn’t answering his cell, which was unusual. All
Ryker’s
men had identical cell phones, each of them with the key numbers programmed in
as speed dials. Anders was paranoid about making sure his had a full battery
and he was always deleting old message threads and call logs, to “keep the
phone fresh.”

           
Once
he had looked everywhere obvious,
Ryker
began to
search for Anders in the less obvious places. Anders wasn’t a man that would go
off with a female guest, not while on duty. And he wasn’t the type of man to
miss out on flexing his muscle to throw out people of the house when he had
been given instructions.

           
Ryker
was at a loss, and he didn’t like it. He needed to be
in control. It was what made him so good at his job, and what gave his life
order and purpose.

           
“He’s
probably sneaked out for a smoke,” Caroline said.

           
Ryker
shook his head. “No, he’s been gone too long. Anyway,
he may be a pain in the butt, but he’s professional. He wouldn’t just slope
off.”

“You’re worried aren’t you?”
Caroline couldn’t keep the surprise out of her voice.

           
Ryker
hesitated.

           
“Go
on,” Caroline said. “Nothing you say will shock me after a life in this
family.”

           
“I’m
loyal to your father, you know that.”

           
“Of course, insanely loyal.”

           
“I
don’t like seeing him get set up like he is.”

           
Caroline
sounded excited. “You think they’re frauds too?”

           
“Don’t
mention it to Mr. Stock, but I did some undercover work when he started to
bring those people into the house. The Church doesn’t exist, at least not as a
physical building or organization that anyone can join. From what I’ve found
out, it’s more a kind of secret society.”

           
“You’re
scaring me. You make it sound sinister.”

           
“And Dr
Romodon
?
There’s no
history of him. Sure,
there’s people
with similar
names on
FaceBook
and LinkedIn, and other social
media sites, but no doctor, of whatever type he claims to be.
None that has qualified to practice medicine, even the West Coast
quackery types.”

“I don’t see why father
places so much trust in him.”

           
“Desperate
to see your mother get better I suppose.
Willing to try
anything.”

           
Caroline
snorted. “God knows why, he’s led
her a
merry dance
most of their married life.”

           
Ryker
checked his cell phone.
Still
nothing from Anders.
“I told you why I was up here. What are you doing?”

           
“Checking on my mother.
Come with me?”

           
“Sure.”

Ray led Paula across the lawns and they entered the house
through the open doors that brought them into the main hall, the ballroom,
where earlier guests had danced to the band. The music was over now; the party
was all but finished. Just a few stragglers, reluctant to leave the free food
and drink, and anxious not to leave and pass up a social climbing opportunity.

           
“Where
are we going?” Paula said. She wasn’t keen on running into her parents.

           
“Unless
his habits have changed since I last saw him,” Ray said. “Randolph Stock will
be in his study working out ways to add to his already considerable fortune.”

           
“He’s
not all bad.”

           
Ray
looked at her but didn’t say anything. He could just about remember what it was
like to be eighteen, and think everything in life was still possible. Paula was
a little on the wild side, but deep down she was kind and vulnerable. Anyone
who had Martin and Caroline as parents deserved to be given a break.

           
 
He hadn’t thought about what he would say to
his father. The opinion he had shared with
Caroline, that
it was none of his business what his father did, held true. But after the
encounter with two of the white robed sisters at the pool, he didn’t for one
moment believe they were here for altruistic reasons. Whether his father was
being scammed for money he doubted, but there was something going on. Though he
often resented being a part of the family, when it was threatened, Ray Stock
came out fighting.

           
They
made their way through the ground floor rooms to a back staircase that would
lead them to the first floor landing, and the bedrooms and bathrooms there; and
to Randolph Stock’s lair.

           
At
one point they saw Martin, and he saw them, but he was tied up saying goodnight
to yet another important guest, and although he made ‘come here’ gestures to
Paula she chose to act dumb and ignore him.

           
“This
is one birthday I won’t forget,” she said.

           
“It’s
supposed to be special, coming of age and all that.”

           
“Uncle
Ray, this is the twenty first century, who comes of age these days?”

           
“Are
you coming with me to see my father?”

           
“Sure.
For one, he gave me a generous check as a birthday present. I’d like to thank
him.”

Caroline opened the door to her mother’s room and
gasped in surprise.

           
Ryker
gently suggested her into the room and closed the
door behind them.

           
Laid
out on the bed, white sheets covering her clearly skeletal body, was Marlene
Stock. Three white robed women fluttered around her, like moths to a flame.

           
Cancer
robs the body of much of its goodness, and weight loss is a primary symptom.
Marlene wasn’t just
thin,
she was bones veiled in
flesh. Flesh so thin it was translucent. Her face was like a skull, the eyes
dull and lifeless, and the cheeks hollowed and sunken. The skin was yellowed
like an old parchment manuscript.

           
One
of the women turned to stare as the door opened. She was slim, and blonde. The
look on her face was one of frank aggression.

           
The
others were in the act of pouring grey dust from a small glass vial into the
open mouth of Marlene. One held her jaw, so that the lips were parted, while
the other was ensuring the dust entered the mouth. She dabbed delicately at the
corners of the mouth if a small particle escaped.

           
When
the phial was empty she placed it on the bedside cabinet, and between them the
two women closed the mouth, and massaged the throat so that the dust was
swallowed.

           
“What
are you doing?” Caroline said.

           
One
of the women stood and came over to stand between Caroline,
Ryker
and the bed. “We are sisters of the Church. We are caring for your mother.”

           
“What
are you giving her? She looks awful.”

           
“We
don’t have to explain our methods to you. We are employed by Mr. Stock.”

           
“Oh,
I know you’ve wormed your way into my father’s checking account with your lies
and tricks, but he hasn’t seen his wife looking as ill as this has he?”

           
One
of the two women at the bedside stood. She was dark haired and dark skinned.
“Ill? For someone with terminal cancer I think she looks remarkably well, don’t
you?”

           
Caroline
and
Ryker
moved closer to the bed. What they saw was
something different to what had been there a moment ago.