In Denial (35 page)

Lolita put her fork down on the plate. ‘No, but I hear lots,’ she said quietly.

‘
You heard them talking?’

Lolita nodded. ‘More than talking, there plenty shouting.’

‘
What, Mr and Mrs Yong shouting?’

‘
Yes, Miss.’

‘
Can you tell me when and what they were shouting about?’

Lolita looked straight at Gabrielle. ‘They shout all time, argue, shout, and Mrs Yong, she scream.’

Gabrielle shook her head. ‘And this has been going on for a long time?’

‘
Yes, Miss.’

‘
Can you tell me when it started? Was it anything to do with the terrible murders?’

‘
Yes. After Miss Lucinda and the children killed, they start shouting.’ Lolita started to clear the plates away. ‘How long you know Mr and Mrs Yong?’ she asked.

‘
I don’t know them. I came to meet them today.’

Lolita narrowed her eyes and put the plates back on the table. ‘Then how you know about Lucinda?’

‘
It’s Adam I know,’ Gabrielle said. ‘It’s Adam I’m trying to find.’

‘
Master Adam? But he gone Hong Kong.’

‘
Yes, I know.’ She put her hand on Lolita’s arm. ‘Tell me what you heard Mr and Mrs Yong shouting about.’

*  *  *

It was still dark outside but Leila knew from the clock on the television that dawn was not far away, maybe an hour or so.

It was just after five o’clock.

Next to her she felt Adam Harrison stir. He had slept but fitfully. She had only dozed. He had muttered a few unintelligible words under his breath but each time she looked at him he was asleep.

He rolled onto his side and his hand touched her hip.

Leila smiled.

Taking his hand she moved it up to her breast. There was no reaction at first but then his fingers moved lightly against her skin. Gently she pulled the single sheet away from their bodies, turned towards him and rolled him onto his back. Sitting astride him she looked down at his face. His eyes were still closed, his lips slightly parted and his breathing steady. She caressed his face, feeling the stubble against her fingers and moving one fingertip across his dry lips, but still his eyes remained closed. She bent forward and let the tip of her tongue to glide over his mouth. At the same time she reached down between her thighs.

Moving her hands to his shoulders she stared down at him again.

This time his eyes were open.

Looking up Adam could see Leila’s silhouette framed in the glow behind her. He could feel her moving gently on top of him. He could feel her hands on his chest, her nails caressing his skin. He could see her slender shoulders and neck, he could see her mane of black hair, he could feel her thighs holding him.

But in Leila’s silhouette he could only see Lucinda.

*  *  *

Although Lolita was not able to tell her very much, Gabrielle listened intently, trying to read between the lines. She wanted to know more, she needed to know more. Maybe she would hear something that would add some credibility to what she intended doing.

From the moment Gabrielle had seen Adam on the shores at Loch Lomond her world had changed. Up to that point she had led such an innocent and untroubled - perhaps unreal - existence. Some of the people in her parish and some not of her parish came to her with stories that at times bordered on the unbelievable. She would sit and listen and then offer advice, if it were needed. She stepped into the middle of marital disputes and attempted to calm the situation. She had visited nearly every house in her parish, been accepted with open arms by some and turned away, sometimes with accompanying verbal abuse, by others. But nothing she had experienced could have prepared her for what she was involved in now.

And her involvement was becoming inextricably greater as each hour went by.

When she visited Ashbourne she did so with an open mind and a readiness to reassess what she was doing. She had almost believed everything she was told but accepted that on occasions she was not being told the whole truth, and at others perhaps the truth was embellished. However, she did not understand how those she spoke to, including the police, could not have acted on the information she was now privy to. On hearing from Jeremy Jacobs how Adam had more than likely gone to Hong Kong, she left Ashbourne with the firm intention of seeing and talking to the Yongs. Before she did anything else she wanted to understand, she wanted to be told both sides of the story and where better to start than with the two people who took Adam into the inner sanctum of their lives and called him their own.

Being delayed on the M5 gave her time to reflect on what she had heard so far, but there was nothing, absolutely nothing that could have prepared her for what she was hearing now.

‘
Miss,’ Lolita added, shaking her head. ‘I hear but I not understand.’

Gabrielle reassured her. ‘Can you remember anything else they said?’

‘
No, Miss. But Mrs Yong, she blame Mr Yong.’

Gabrielle frowned. ‘Have you any idea why?’

‘
There so much shouting and I not like listen. I sometimes hide in kitchen so I not hear noise.’

‘
I understand, so there is nothing else?’

‘
Not from what I hear, Miss, but before we come England, when Miss Lucinda young, I see something.’

*  *  *

Adam’s eyes were closed.

He did not want to open them because if he opened them he knew what he would see.

He convinced himself it had been Lucinda.

But Lucinda in all the times they had made love had never made him feel so totally fulfilled. He felt as though every last ounce of energy had been drained from him. If he were destined to die soon then let him die now.

He could feel her thighs either side of his, her hands still resting gently against his chest. He could feel her warmth as she still engulfed him.

He knew Leila was watching him.

He knew if he opened his eyes he would see a meaningful smile on her lips. No woman could do what she had just done and not know it.

She had taken his strength.

Leila was indeed looking down at him and she was definitely smiling.

But behind the smile was confusion.

What she did not understand was that in the past sex was no more than what she used to get her information. She used her body to obtain what the Master wanted to know and she believed she had never failed him. But on this occasion the Master was the last person on her mind. She had actually wanted to satisfy this man she was now looking at. He was her priority and she had dismissed all else to the back of her mind. She could not remember the last time she did that.

Why now?

The man who was lying exhausted between her thighs was still a stranger yet it mattered. It mattered that she had been able to give him what he so obviously needed. If he were to tell her now what she ought to have already found out, then all well and good. But at this very moment she could not care less whether she found out anything or not.

Why?

She had done no more than she’d done many times before. She had looked down at so many other faces. There were times when she felt disgusted but more often than not there was no emotion in her whatsoever.

It wasn’t just a job, it was her duty.

It was her duty to the Master.

But on this occasion she did not just want to do it but also needed to do whatever she could to give this man some pleasure.

Why, she asked herself again.

What was so special about Adam Harrison?

*  *  *

‘
How much you know?’

‘
About what, Lolita?’

‘
About why Master Adam come England when young.’

‘
I know what led to Adam being sent to England and I know that visits to him in England were infrequent. I know that at his graduation he saw Lucinda for the first time since he was banished from Hong Kong.’

‘
Banished?’

‘
Sent away. After it was discovered their relationship had become physical at such a young age, he was sent away.’

Lolita nodded. ‘Yes, I think that what start everything. Mr Yong dead and Mrs Yong in hospital because of what happened then.’

‘
But that was nearly twenty years ago, Lolita. Surely ..-’

‘
Twenty years a very short time, Miss.’

‘
Can you tell me? Can you tell me what happened? I need to understand. If I’m going to go to Hong Kong to find Adam and bring him home, I need to understand.’

*  *  *

Finally Adam opened his eyes.

And Leila was still looking down at him.

Her eyes were smiling, her mouth was smiling, her whole face was smiling. Her hands still rested against his chest, her fingernails just brushing his skin.

‘
So, Mr Harrison, can you explain?’

Adam let his gaze move from Leila’s face, down the length of her body to her thighs and then back to her face. ‘Explain what?’ he asked a little huskily.

‘
Just a few hours ago you were full of guilt and now you are as you are. Why?’

‘
And how am I?’

‘
Different.’

He put his hands on Leila’s smooth thighs. ‘I think you may have had something to do with that.’

Leila bent forward and kissed him on the forehead. ‘You’re learning,’ she said smiling once again. ‘Do you know what time it is?’

‘
Does it matter?’

‘
No.’

‘
Then perhaps this time we should both go and have a shower.’

*  *  *

Lolita made them both another cup of coffee. ‘You know they have brother?’

‘
Yes, Patrick?’

‘
Yes, Master Patrick. He not come England with Mr and Mrs Yong. He stay Hong Kong. When he young and before Master Adam come England for school, Master Patrick not like brother.’

‘
Yes, but I was led to believe it was more resentment than anything.’

‘
Sorry, resentment?’

‘
Er, he felt that Adam had pushed his way into the Yong family.’

‘
But he only five when he adopted.’

Gabrielle shrugged. ‘I agree but these things happen.’

Lolita took a deep breath. ‘When Master Adam sent back England, Miss Lucinda, she change. She very angry. She angry with Mr and Mrs Yong, she angry with Master Adam and she angry with herself. She angry with everybody.’

Gabrielle saw the fire in Lolita’s eyes and suppressed a puzzled smile.

‘
Master Patrick he not like Master Adam and he did learn hate when he find out Master Adam and Miss Lucinda …’ Lolita’s voice trailed away.

‘
Were having sex?’ Gabrielle volunteered.

Lolita looked embarrassed. ‘Yes, Miss.’

Gabrielle covered Lolita’s hand and this time she did smile. ‘I may be a minister of the church but I do know about sex,’ she said reassuringly.

Lolita’s eyes widened and she was about to comment but appeared to think better of it. ‘Miss ... Miss Lucinda, she become bad girl. I with Mr and Mrs Yong for only few days when I meet Miss Lucinda first time. She just sixteen but she wear short skirt, low top and too much make-up. I see in Mr and Mrs Yong’s eyes their worry. Miss Lucinda, she not care, she treat her mother and father with great disrespect and then I see him.’

‘
What do you mean?’

‘
I see him and Miss Lucinda.’

Gabrielle shook her head, not understanding. ‘What do you mean?’

‘
Mr and Mrs Yong they away and it my day off. I visit my sister, she also in Hong Kong, but she not well so I go back to house early. I go upstairs to collect towels from bathroom and I hear noise but think Master Patrick and Miss Lucinda both out, so I go to Master Patrick’s room and open the door.’

Lolita stopped for a few seconds. She closed her eyes. ‘They both got no clothes on. Miss Lucinda she kneeling on the floor and she got blood all over her body.’

*  *  *

‘
Shall we go down for breakfast or do you want to use room service?’ Leila asked as she slipped on the cheongsam she had worn last night.