Written in the Stars (24 page)

Vince looked up as he walked into the office.

‘See anything you liked?’

‘No, but there’s no great hurry,’ Steve said, picking up a drawing of a new pump design. ‘Are we ready to move on this?’ When his father nodded he carried the drawing across to his desk and checked the figures.

Steve wondered how things were going with Caxton Manor, and decided it was high time that he really did something about settling the whole business once and for all. I’ll ring my solicitor first thing tomorrow, he thought. Then he remembered tomorrow was Saturday; it would have to wait until Monday.

*

One of the men half turned in her direction as Suzi walked into the restaurant. He paused for a brief moment and then picked up a chair and swung it at the nearest hanging lamp. As the fitting shattered he threw the chair across the room. When he picked up another, Suzi lunged at him.

‘Stop,’ she screamed.

His companion stepped in front of her and held up his hand as if to strike her in the face.

‘Leave it be lady, or you’ll be next.’ Then he called to the other man. ‘That’ll do, Bernie.’ He jerked a thumb at Mark. ‘He said you’d gone to get the rest of the money.’

Suzi nodded her head dumbly and fumbled for her purse.

‘Yes, I did.’ But before she could open the clasp the man snatched it out of her hand and removed the money. He rifled through the wad of notes before stuffing them into his jacket and then pushed her out of the way. When Mark protested, the man shoved him against Suzi knocking her off balance. She tried to save herself by clutching at a nearby table, but it gave way and she fell heavily to the floor.

One of the men poked Mark in the chest.

‘Don’t do anything stupid, like going to the police.’ His voice was thick with menace. ‘If you do we’ll come back and sort you out quick smart.’

As the door closed behind them, Mark rushed to Suzi’s side. Almost at once he saw that one arm was twisted awkwardly beneath her body. She moaned as he tried to turn her over and then lost consciousness. He eased her back onto the floor and dialled the emergency number.

The siren whined into silence as the ambulance ground to a halt outside the restaurant. The officer questioned Mark about what had happened, and gave him an odd look when he explained that Suzi had stumbled and fallen. Although the man made no comment about the smashed lamp, Mark knew he had noticed the debris on the floor and the broken chair against the wall. The two ambulance officers eased Suzi onto a stretcher and loaded it into the back of the vehicle. Minutes later it roared off towards the hospital.

Mark’s stomach turned over as he watched the ambulance disappear around the corner. He slammed the door shut and climbed into his car, and then hurried back to the restaurant, and hastily posted a note on the front door: ‘Closed due to illness.’ Then he rang Narelle.

‘Suzi’s had an accident,’ he blurted out, when the woman answered. ‘Can you ring the other girls and tell them we’ll be closed for the rest of the day.’

‘What happened?’

‘I haven’t got time to tell you at the moment,’ he replied, testily. ‘I’ve got to get to the hospital. I’ll let you know as soon as I can.’

It seemed that every car and every traffic light conspired to make the journey to the hospital as awkward as possible. When he finally found a parking spot, Mark hurried into the building, identified himself, and asked about Suzi. The nurse directed him to a nearby waiting room.

‘Someone will see you directly,’ she said, in an officious tone of voice.

Chapter Twenty Eight

The light appeared to come from a long way away and seemed to bore right through her eye to the very recesses of her brain. Suzi made a half-hearted attempt block it out by lifting her arm, but the pain was so severe that she almost passed out. As the light was extinguished, she focused on the face of the man hovering over her. He raised his hand.

‘Can you see my fingers?’ When she whispered yes, he nodded. ‘Okay, it’s probably nothing more than concussion.’ Then he called to an aid. ‘Take this woman down to X-ray.’

It was quite some time before Suzi found herself tucked up in bed with her arm in plaster. The X-ray had pinpointed two fractures of the left forearm, but fortunately there was no damage to her skull or backbone, even though she was conscious of a back pain. As she recalled what had happened at the restaurant, she saw Mark hesitantly approaching the bedside.

‘How are you feeling Suzi?’ He spoke in a subdued voice. ‘The doctor says you’re going to be all right.’ Then he added, ‘Thank goodness.’

‘I don’t know that I want to talk to you, Mark.’

‘Is there anything I can do? Can I get you anything?’

Suzi looked at him in silence for a long time before answering. She didn’t want him anywhere near her at the moment, but if she was to remain in hospital for more than a night she had to rely on his help. With great restraint, she asked him to contact Narelle.

Mark pulled out his mobile phone and was about to punch in the woman’s telephone number when a nurse grabbed his arm.

‘Can’t you read? There are signs all over the hospital telling people to switch off their mobiles.’ She glared at him. ‘Turn it off immediately.’

‘Sorry, I forgot. I’ll go outside and ring her.’ He was back within minutes. ‘She’s on her way.’ He fidgeted with his car keys, and then said, ‘I’ll get back to the restaurant and tidy things up.’ When she waved her hand dismissively, he added, ‘I’ll pop in later, okay.’

Suzi watched him walk away with a sense of relief. She closed her eyes needing to blot out her surroundings while she considered what to do next.

Narelle arrived fifteen minutes later.

‘Oh dear, what happened,’ she cried grasping Suzi’s free hand. ‘Mark told me you had an accident. Did it happen on the way to work?’

‘It’s a bit complicated, I’m afraid. I’ll explain it all to you later, if you don’t mind.’

‘Of course. What do you want me to do?’

‘I need some things from home. Can you get them for me?’ She explained where to find what she wanted. ‘My keys are in my handbag and that’s at the restaurant. Mark should be there, but if he’s not you’ll have to phone him and tell him to open up for you.’

‘But I can’t tell…’

‘Don’t worry, he’ll give you no trouble.’

Narelle made a list of the things Suzi wanted from Caxton Manor and then painstakingly wrote down her instructions about resetting the burglar alarm. She gave a deep sigh and stood up. ‘I thought something was terribly wrong as soon as…’ She stopped and sighed again. ‘I’ll be back as soon as I can, dear.’

After the woman had gone Suzi leaned back against the pillow and closed her eyes again. She would probably be incapacitated for several weeks, even if the plaster was removed before then. So any thought of running the restaurant was out of the question. As things stood at the moment, she had no desire to go near the place at all. Narelle could take over as hostess in the short term, but she could not be expected to do it for more than a week or two at the most. So the only long-term solution was to hire someone until she was fit enough to resume the role.

Tears welled up into her eyes as she realised that someone who should have known better had compromised all she had worked for. Mark’s actions of the past few weeks had whittled away her respect for him, and now their business relationship was under threat too. ‘I just don’t trust him anymore,’ she murmured. Then she asked herself if she would ever feel comfortable working with him again. ‘Probably not,’ she murmured, as she closed her eyes.

Unfortunately they both had too much invested in the restaurant just to close it up and walk away, and neither could continue to operate without the help of other. If she bought Mark’s share of the business she would have to employ another chef, and that would be a problem, because it was his style of cooking which attracted people. And she might end up with someone like Gary, who had trouble keeping his hands off the staff. The real stumbling block was her lack of finance. She was solvent, but only just, since sorting out Mark’s gambling debt.

She had just drifted off to sleep when she heard a discreet cough. She opened her eyes to see Narelle peering at her from the bottom of the bed.

‘Hello dear. Are you feeling any better?’

‘Not really. I feel pretty rotten,’ Suzi replied. ‘My head is still fuzzy and every joint and muscle aches.’

‘I managed to find all you need.’ She placed an overnight bag on the chair beside the bed, and then gave a little nervous laugh. ‘I hope I’ve locked up the place securely.’

‘I’m sure it’ll be fine.’

‘I asked Mark what happened and he said that you’d surprised a burglar.’ She shook her head knowingly. ‘You were lucky he came in just at the right time and frightened the man away.’

Suzi smiled wanly, but made no comment. At least Mark had the presence of mind to think of a likely reason to explain the damage to the restaurant. It made sense to blame the injuries on a non-existent burglar, because the police would be unlikely to investigate.

‘How are you going to manage in that big house by yourself?’ Narelle asked, interrupting her train of thought. ‘You won’t be able to look after yourself with a broken arm.’

‘I have a woman in to do the cleaning,’ Suzi replied, ‘and maybe she’ll be able to do a bit extra.’

‘Well, if she can’t manage, my sister, Eileen could probably help you out,’ Narelle said. ‘She’s on her own now and she’s always looking for something to do.’ She looked enquiringly at Suzi. ‘Shall I ask her to come and see you?’

‘I’ll think about it, and let you know.’

After Narelle left, Suzi drifted off to sleep again until the evening meal was being served. As it was cleared away, Mark arrived.

‘Hello, Suzi, how are you now?’ His voice was ragged. ‘I thought I’d better come and tell you what’s happened.’ He explained that he had contacted the police and told them that they had surprised a burglar. ‘They didn’t bother to come near the place,’ he muttered. ‘They seemed to lose interest when I told them the guy was wearing a motor cycle helmet, and they said there was nothing they could do unless I could identify the person.’

‘You went to a lot of trouble to concoct a story.’

‘Well, I thought I should have some excuse for the smashed furniture.’ He gave a hard bitter laugh. ‘I broke the back window to make it look more authentic.’

Suzi stared at him.

‘There’s no end to your duplicity is there? It’s just as well Narelle told me the story you gave the police, otherwise I could have made a complete fool of myself if they had called on me to verify your statement.’

‘Sorry, Suzi, but I had to think of something quickly.’ He coughed nervously. ‘I phoned Prudential and had a talk to Malcolm Stewart. He’ll drop by in the next few days, and fill out all the forms.’ He shuffled his feet nervously. ‘Did you ask Narelle to take over the hostess job?’

‘No, you can do that,’ Suzi replied, frostily. ‘In fact you can take care of all the arrangements. It was your stupidity that got us into this mess.’ She was tempted to close her eyes to shut him out. ‘I’m too tired to be bothered with you now, Mark.’

‘Sorry, Suzi,’ Mark murmured, ‘I really am.’

‘Please don’t come here to see me again. I’ll phone you when I get out, and then we can discuss what we are going to do.’ As he turned to go she called out, ‘You had better find someone to drive my car back to Caxton Manor.’

‘Okay.’ He hesitated and then reached into his pocket. ‘I nearly forgot. I found your mobile on the floor. It must have fallen out of your handbag.’

After he had gone she looked furtively towards the door to see there was no one around, and then turned it on. The battery was low, but it had recorded three messages, all from Charlize. She opened the first one. ‘Where r u. Please ring.’ The other two messages were of a similar nature. Charlize had apparently rung the restaurant, left a message on the answer phone at Caxton Manor, and then started sending text messages.

Suzi switched if off and sighed. In all the upheaval she had completely forgotten that Charlize and Lloyd were about to be married. About to be married? No, they would be on their honeymoon now, she reminded herself.

The next time a nurse came into the room she enquired if it was all right to send an urgent message to her friend in New Zealand. The young woman shook her head, but offered to take the mobile phone outside the building and do it for her.

‘Thanks, you’re a sweetie,’ Suzi said. She keyed in the words: ‘I’m okay. Will phone soon,’ and handed it to the young woman. ‘Just press ‘Send’.’

*

Mark walked out to his car and threw himself behind the wheel. He remained sitting there for a long time thinking about what he should do. Suzi had made it quite obvious that she wanted as little to do with him as possible, and under the circumstances he couldn’t blame her. She had every right to be upset. He had to admit she was right—he had been stupid, and of course there was no way she would consider marriage now. He started the car and drove back to The Stow Restaurant.

‘It’s not too bad,’ he said, aloud as he surveyed the damage. Most of it could be repaired in time to open for lunch tomorrow, he surmised. And there shouldn’t be any problems about insurance—Malcolm should be able to take care of that situation.

He sat down on the nearest chair and sighed. What should he do now? Mark was convinced that Suzi would want to end the partnership, and once again he felt she was justified. He knew that he could probably operate all right without her, but she would be hard to replace. Maybe Judith could step in temporarily; she had worked in a restaurant to augment her income some years ago. But the long-term situation had to be addressed. Where would he get the money to buy Suzi out?

Rather than explore all his options right now, he began clearing up the mess. He picked up all the broken glass, vacuumed the floor and replaced the light fitting before rearranging the tables. Finally, he dumped the broken chair out at the back of the building. Then he did a quick check to see if he had covered everything. As he closed the front door, a feeling of abject sadness swept over him, threatening to drain all his remaining energy. That evening he rang his father.

‘How much money do you need?’ Ben asked cautiously. ‘And why does Suzi want to sell out? I thought you two were thinking of getting married. What’s happened to that idea?’

Mark tried to explain that he and Suzi had not been seeing eye to eye lately, and they felt it would be better to terminate the partnership. When his father questioned him further, Mark blamed the break-up on Suzi’s trip to Australia, even though he knew he was lying. Then he reminded Ben that Charlize had recently migrated to New Zealand and suggested that Suzi might like to do the same. After he had repeated the whole story to his mother, he asked Judith if she could help him out in the restaurant for a few weeks.

She hesitated for a minute, and then agreed, but reluctantly. Then she spoke to someone else in the room before resuming their conversation.

‘Dad just said to tell you he’ll come to see you next weekend,’ Judith said. ‘And if it’s okay with you, I’ll wait until I can get a lift up. It’ll be easier than travelling by bus.’

‘What about Jonathan? Will he mind if you take off for a couple of weeks?’

‘He’ll be all right. Don’t worry.’

After he hung up Mark gave a sigh of relief. He was well aware that Ben was bitterly opposed to gambling in any form, and he had found it hard to lie to his father, but he did not want to incur the man’s anger at this stage of things. He felt confident that they would be able to work something out, even if it meant making his father the major partner. Now all he had to do was tell Suzi of his decision and see how she felt about the idea.

He had just walked into the restaurant the next day when the phone rang.

‘The doctor said I could go home,’ Suzi said, brusquely, when he answered. ‘Did you manage to get my car back to Caxton Manor?’ When Mark said he already taken care of that, she continued. ‘Narelle’s sister, Eileen, has agreed to move in for a while. You might like to pick her up to save her getting a taxi.’

‘How are you getting home?’

‘That’s been taken care of,’ Suzi said, curtly. When he said there was something he needed to discuss with her, she added. ‘Yes, and there are quite a few things I wish to discuss with you, but they can wait until later.’

*

Narelle watched her closely as she terminated the call.

‘Are you all right?’ she asked, in a concerned voice.

When Suzi replied that everything was under control, the woman started the car and swung away from the hospital. She didn’t say anything more until they pulled up outside Caxton Manor. ‘I’m glad Eileen agreed to help out.’

‘Yes, it was very kind of her.’ Suzi forced a laugh. ‘After what I’ve been through lately I’m sure I’d have managed. I’ve lost my best friend and fallen off a boat and nearly drowned, so I dare say I’ll survive this as well.’