Secrets After Dark (34 page)

I take out Andrei’s black credit card. ‘I don’t expect you to. Now, here’s what I’m going to pay you for the painting.’ I name my sum.        

Mark laughs when I recount the story to him that afternoon over cups of fragrant Earl Grey tea.

‘What did the old rogue say?’ he asks, sitting back in his armchair, his eyes gleaming with amusement.

‘He didn’t know what to say. He was speechless.’ I laugh too, remembering the utter astonishment on the gallery owner’s face. ‘But once I mentioned your name and Dubrovski’s, he understood that I was serious. After that nothing was too much trouble. He was delighted to sell it for so much money and without having to pay commission to an auction house.’

‘And you put it all on a credit card?’ Mark’s disbelieving.

I shook my head. ‘It was a little more complicated than that. It took a little while to sort out authorisation and movement of funds and so on, but we eventually did a fast transfer. The painting belonged to me within a few hours.’

‘You mean, to Andrei.’

‘Of course. To Andrei.’ I smile at him. We’re sitting in his drawing room, close to the fire that’s burning hard in the grate. It’s a chilly autumn day outside, just a grey murkiness that eventually fades into night. Mark is well wrapped up in cashmere sweaters and scarves, a pair of fingerless gloves on his hands, sitting as close to the fire as he can. He must feel the cold badly. It’s not surprising, there’s not an inch of fat on him to keep him warm. In fact, he’s thinner than ever, almost gaunt.
He needs to eat a little more. He’s fading away.

‘And where’s the painting now?’ Mark asks, wrapping his fingers around his teacup.

‘Hanging in Andrei’s bathroom, just as he wanted. I hope it will be a marvellous surprise. He hasn’t seen any of the work yet, so I have no idea how he feels about it, but I’m happy with it.’

‘That’s good.’ Mark nods. ‘Confidence in your own work is vital. You must trust your instincts.’

‘So that’s it.’ I sigh happily and take a sip of my tea. ‘I’ve finished my job now. The Fragonard is my final flourish, my sign off. Now I can come back and work for you. Won’t that be nice?’

‘It will be wonderful, Beth.’ Mark looks thoughtfully at his highly polished chestnut leather brogues, and then back at me. ‘I need you now, more than ever. I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news. That’s why I asked you here today. You might have guessed from looking at me that I’m not exactly at my peak. I’ve been feeling unwell and generally off colour for months and lately it’s got even worse. They sent me for various tests, and now, at last, they know for sure what it is.’

I go still, a feeling of dread crawling over me.
Of course he’s not well. I should have guessed. It’s obvious from the way he looks.
But somehow I haven’t seen it, I’ve been too wrapped up in myself and my own feelings to pay much attention to him. I feel fearful for Mark. ‘What is it?’ I whisper.

He shrugs lightly. ‘One of those awful things where the cure threatens to be worse than the disease. I shall have to go into hospital to have something nasty cut out of me, and then for radiation treatments and perhaps chemotherapy. They’re hopeful I can be put right, I believe. But you know what doctors are like, they only tell you bad news when it’s completely unavoidable. So, for now, my chances are good and the prognosis could be worse. We shall see.’

I feel terrible for him, and desperately sad to know he has this battle ahead. He looks so frail already. ‘What can I do? How can I help? Do you need me to be here with you? I’ll do anything, you know that.’

‘You’re very sweet,’ he says with a smile. ‘I do know that. But it’s not necessary. My sister is coming to stay with me, to help me through the treatment. She’ll be taking me to hospital and generally looking after me, you don’t have to worry about that.’ He pauses and says, ‘But there is something you can do for me.’

‘Anything,’ I say eagerly, keen to help in any way. ‘Just name it.’

‘I’m glad that this job with Dubrovski has come to an end now, a little earlier than we anticipated. If you’re willing, then I’ll need you to help with the business. If you take it on, you’ll have to take over a great deal of my work. You can turn to me for advice, of course, but I won’t always be there from day to day. You’ll have to manage on your own, although Jane will help. Do you think you can do that?’

‘Of course I can.’ I’m delighted that there’s a way I can lighten his burden while he tackles the illness. ‘I’ve learned a lot from you and I’ll look after everything very carefully, I promise.’

Mark smiles at me. ‘Thank you. Your salary will be adjusted to be commensurate with your new responsibilities. But I’m afraid there’s something else that may not appeal to you quite as much.’

I look at him enquiringly. ‘What is it?’ Then I add, ‘I don’t mind, I’ll do anything that will help you, you know that.’

He gazes back at me, his expression apologetic. ‘I’m afraid you’ll have to go St Petersburg with Dubrovski to have the Fra Angelico assessed at the Hermitage. There’s no way I can make such a trip. Can you do that for me, Beth? I know it’s a lot to ask.’

I can only stare back at him and stutter, ‘Of course, it’s no problem,’ but inside my heart is sinking.

Just when I thought I was free of him.

Chapter Nineteen

Laura senses my misery that evening, but I can’t begin to tell her about the situation with Dominic, or that I still haven’t heard from him. Instead, I explain about Mark’s illness.

‘Oh, Beth, that’s terrible, poor Mark! No wonder you’re so upset. That’s just awful,’ she says. Her sympathy makes everything worse, and I end up weeping it all out again on her shoulder.

‘You just need to be strong for Mark,’ she says, hugging me. ‘I know you will be – you can let it all out when you’re with me. He said his chances were good, you’ve got to hang on to that.’

I nod, and dry my eyes. ‘He wants to me to go to St Petersburg for him at the end of this week.’

‘Well, that’s good, isn’t it? You’ve never been to Russia, it sounds like an amazing opportunity.’ Laura’s expression is hopeful. She really wants to cheer me up.

‘I’ll be with Andrei, that’s all,’ I say dully. ‘We’re not getting on very well.’

‘Why not?’

I gaze into her candid eyes and feel rotten at not coming completely clean. I really want to confide in her about everything that’s happened but I don’t know where to start. Besides, it could lead to me having to explain things I’m really not ready to share. I shrug. ‘I don’t know. He’s busy. This deal...’

‘Have you had a chance to talk to Dominic?’

I shake my head and feel the weight of depression falling on me again. ‘He’s busy too.’

Laura frowns. ‘Now, come on, Beth, this isn’t like you. Where’s your fighting spirit? So Andrei’s being off with you? Charm him when you travel with him to Russia and win him back on your side. And if Dominic’s busy, well... tell him to make time for you, or else!’

I laugh despite myself. She makes it all sound so simple. ‘I’ll try,’ I say.

‘You can do better than that. I know Mark’s illness is a blow but it’s something to deal with. That’s what life is, right?’

‘Right.’ I feel better listening to her.

‘So go out and get ’em!’

Laura’s pep talk is what I need. I’m still tormented by the situation with Dominic but now I feel that when I do see him, I’m going to demand answers. He’s going to tell me the truth, the whole truth, once and for all. If he turns out to be a liar and a cheat, I’ll handle that and walk away with my pride intact. If he isn’t, he still has some explaining to do.

I hope with all my heart that he’s not sleeping with Anna – not just because of the pain of betrayal but because I’m beginning to understand quite how devious and unpleasant she is. It’s a puzzle though – why is she set on wrecking my relationship with Dominic when she’s happily loved up with Andrei? Or, if she’s sleeping with Dominic, why is he happy for her to sleep with Andrei too? Possible answers and what-ifs float through my mind and soon I’m envisaging so many strange scenarios that I can’t begin to grapple with them all.

Rein in your imagination,
I instruct myself.
Stick to the facts, like James does, and be logical. That’s the only way out of this unholy mess.

Somehow I manage to get to sleep, but I’m woken in the night by a text message coming through to my phone. I pick it up and click on it so that the screen illuminates, glowing bright in the darkness. It’s Dominic, at last.

Sorry, honey, it’s been so crazy here. We’re still going at 3 a.m.! But this thing is going to be finished in the next two hours, one way or the other. It looks like it’s going our way though. I’m going to get some sleep afterwards but I want to see you tonight, okay? I’ll text again later. Dx

Another text follows almost at once:

Hey, I hope I didn’t wake you! Forgot you would probably be asleep. Sleep tight, honey, see you tomorrow. x

I stare at the message for ages. He sounds completely normal, as though he has nothing to hide. And the moment I’ve been longing for is finally almost here, when Dominic will be free of this Gordian knot of a deal, and then free of Andrei.
And Anna...

But rather than feeling happy, I’m apprehensive. So it’ll be tonight, then – the moment when I find out the truth.

In the morning, my eyes are dry and I feel groggy from my broken night. It took over an hour to get back to sleep after Dominic’s messages. I’d better warn him not to text me in the middle of the night again unless it’s a real emergency. Another message is waiting on my phone when I get back from my shower.

Success!!! We’re done!!! I’m heading home to sleep, I’ll see you later. Can’t wait. x

I close it.
So that’s it. Dominic’s a rich man, Andrei’s even wealthier. He can start making his dreams come true.

But at the moment, I have no idea if I want to be a part of those dreams, or not.

I’m on my way to Mark’s house when I get a message from Andrei asking me to call in at Albany, so I change my route. I guess he’s back from the all-night session and has seen the results of my work. He either loves it or hates it.

Surely he can’t hate it
,
I think as I climb on a bus headed up Piccadilly. A cold chill makes me shiver lightly despite the dark coat I’m wearing.
Unless he hates the Fragonard. I might have got that badly wrong. Oh well, I guess I’m about to find out.

I’d thought that the end of this hanging commission would mean the end of my relationship with Dubrovski but I see that isn’t the case – at least, not yet. While Mark is ill, I’m going to be working directly for him. As long as he knows he can’t push me around, I suppose we’ll manage to get along for as long as we have to.

I walk back into Albany. I thought I’d left for good but here I am again, going along the covered walkway, looking at the huge lanterns suspended from the ceiling. The bodyguard, still silent and stony-faced, answers my knock on the front door and lets me in. I go through to the drawing room, struck again by the transformation that the hanging of the pictures has wrought. They bring soul and character to the apartment.

Napoleon is still there, hanging where I first found him, glamorous and warlike on his charger. I wish for a moment my little reader was opposite him as I once imagined but I’m happy with the choices I’ve made. A series of Impressionist oils of gardens, in tones of green, orange, gold and lavender, bring the note of serenity I’d looked for, to balance the fury and violence opposite.

I’m still considering the effect, when Andrei walks in, his hair still wet from a shower.

‘Beth!’ he says when he sees me, a huge smile on his face. He walks towards me and takes my hand, shaking it hard, and before I know what’s happening, he’s pressed two strong kisses on to my cheeks. ‘I want to thank you. I’ve just taken a shower with the most beautiful girl you can imagine.’

Anna?
I think, then suddenly realise what he means. ‘The Fragonard—’

His blue eyes are almost warm as he smiles down at me. ‘She’s gorgeous. What an inspired choice. I love her.’

‘I’m delighted,’ I say sincerely. I really am thrilled he likes the painting. Then he adopts a solemn expression.

‘Did she cost a very great deal?’ he asks seriously.

‘Yes,’ I say simply.

‘Good!’ He roars with laughter. ‘And as from today, we can afford plenty more. Mark can choose them, and you can hang them for me.’ He gazes at me for a moment, and says, ‘I know things have been difficult between us, but I hope we can continue to work together.’

‘Andrei, like I said, I want to be your friend,’ I say quickly, ‘and that’s the point – being your friend is
all
I want to be. Nothing more.’

‘I understand and accept, naturally. It would be dishonourable to do anything else.’ His expression is grave and I can’t help believing him. Then something occurs to me.

‘But Andrei, has Mark been in touch with you?’

He shakes his head.

‘Let’s sit down. I’ve got something to tell you.’

We sit together on the sofa and Andrei listens as I explain the new situation. At once he is on his feet, striding about, reaching for his phone. ‘I’ll find the best specialists in the world,’ he says. ‘We’ll have Mark flown wherever he can get the best treatment. I’ll take care of the bills.’