CultOfTheBlackVirgin (34 page)

But James was unmovable. He was thoroughly convinced she was the victim of some sort of coercion, or assault. Rape, even. His fists were clenched, the veins in his temple bulging. She knew he would never believe she’d be capable of doing anything like this. Not Joanna!

So she had to calm him. And then she had to tell him more.

“No, listen to me.
Listen
to me!” Still crying, she stood up and grabbed his shoulders and forced him to look at her. “James, I am so sorry. I truly am. I know I look a mess, and I understand why that might alarm you. But Luc did nothing that I didn’t want him to do. That I didn’t ask him to do. I even begged him to do this to me. I
begged
him for it,” she ended in a small, strangled voice. “Do you understand?” Tears prevented her from seeing the expression on his face, and she was glad. It must have been terrible.

Her hands dropped from his shoulders and she looked away. He stood there, mute. She had to get away from him, so she said, “I’m going to take a shower. We’ll talk some more when I get out.”

She walked into the bathroom and locked the door behind her, feeling her heart breaking for this sweet, proud man that she once thought she loved more than anyone.

When she came back into the room he was sitting in a chair, a stricken look on his face. He looked much older than she remembered. She sat down on the bed, toweling her hair dry, and began to speak in a calm monotone.

“I know it’s asking too much of you, darling, but I need you to try to understand. I know you’ll never forgive me. But try to understand that I’m powerless in this matter. It’s far stronger than me. And I’m going willingly to him. I’m willingly giving up my entire life to be with him. You can’t talk me out of it. It’s too late.

“And it’s not negotiable,” she repeated.

Tears shining in his eyes, James said in a steady voice, “You haven’t even asked me why I’m here. I’ve come to take you home, Joanna. Your father had a heart attack. He died two days ago.”

* * * *

While Jo and James were having the discussion of their life, Edward, Glenda and the rest of the group were aflutter down in the bar. Where was Luc? What had happened to Joanna? What had those two been up to? And what was James going to do about it?

Edward was so concerned for Jo that he’d drunk more than his usual one glass of wine before dinner. Something bad was going to happen. He just knew it.

He glanced over at his wife, who was nervously peeling the label from an empty wine bottle.

They both watched Carol, whose room shared a wall with the women’s dorm room, go upstairs to try to hear what was happening next door. She needed to know if Joanna was in any danger, she explained, as she scampered up the stairs.

When she came down ten minutes later, she informed the group she’d pressed a water glass to the wall, but couldn’t hear a word. Jo and James’ voices had sunk to a low murmur.

Edward was relieved that there was no screaming and fighting. He hates scenes.

But still, he was afraid for Joanna. When Luc came back, things would explode.

* * * *

At eight o’clock,
Madame Guillmont
informed her remaining guests that dinner was about to be served. Dutifully, Edward and Glenda followed the others as they filed out of the bar, no wiser. Luc still hadn’t made an appearance. And of course Jo hadn’t come down. There were two empty places at the table and the overall atmosphere during the meal was one of anxiety and disappointment.

But Glenda had a secret. As she’d made her way into the dining room, the last in the queue, a movement in the back garden caught her eye. She saw Joanna and James coming down the back step, cross the garden, and head up the street. They were carrying Joanna’s bags. They were leaving.

No one else saw them, Glenda realized. And this wasn’t the time or place to speak up. What they were doing was their own business, but her heart went out to Luc.

Chapter Ten

Two days later.

Glenda and Edward Evans thought they would be the first to arrive at the Souillac train station on Monday morning, and were surprised to find Ellen and Thomas were already there. Not only had the Arnolds risen earlier than everyone else, they’d explained to Edward, they’d packed most of their things the night before. Both were eager to return to Oxford, back to their garden and their cats and the phone calls from the five grandchildren who were spread all over the country.

They said they’d enjoyed their holiday right through to the end, unlike some of the others. They didn’t seem particularly concerned about what had happened to Joanna and Luc, Edward thought.

Perhaps they were too old, too experienced, he supposed, to get excited about other people’s messy little lives.

But then Ellen surprised Edward by taking him aside and confiding that she thought it was a real shame that Luc had been caught up in such a mess.

“I may be old but I have to admit that more than once during the week I found myself looking at Joanna and remembering what it felt like to be young. She was a handsome woman, and Luc too good looking for any woman to ignore. Anyone could have guessed there’d be trouble,” she said to Edward. He felt a little uncomfortable in this role of confidante as she continued.

“I feel a little sorry for Luc, who’s been kind to Thomas and me. It seems she played him for a fool. But it’s all very predictable, don’t you think, human nature being what it is.”

She took Edward’s arm and strolled down the platform, away from the others. “You know, our own daughter, married with children, once got herself into a pickle with a co-worker in her law office. The affair tore the family apart, set brothers against sister, and Thomas against his only daughter. Our poor grandchildren suffered terribly, their father relegated to twice-weekly visits. When it had all ended, our daughter was left with no husband, no lover, no job, and a mass of problems with her children and the rest of the family. It was a real shame, I’ve often thought, but no amount of warning had been able to dissuade her from gambling everything she had on the excitement of an adulterous affair.

“What can you do?” she asked as she looked up at Edward. “Just love them, I suppose.”

“Yes. Just love them and let them make their own mistakes,” Edward answered. His heart warmed to this woman whom he’d mistakenly thought was cold.

Then he spied Luc. He looked terrible, Edward noted as he stepped back towards his wife.

When Luc walked up to the Arnolds to wish them goodbye, each formally shook his hand and thanked him for a lovely time. Neither showed any discomfort speaking to the man who looked so different from the one who had met them at the
Hotel Deux Rivieres
ten days earlier. Luc helped them carry their luggage onto the train, and waved them off.

Edward then turned to Ron and Marcie Davies talking in low tones as Ron finished his cigarette before boarding the train. It was clear they were both more interested than the Arnolds in what had happened over the last few days. Edward hadn’t spent much time with Ron but he knew he was always a police inspector, even when off the job. Ron’s particular interest lay in the potential of various parties for criminal activities, he once told Edward. He saw the world only in terms of those who obeyed laws and those who did not.

Right now he was telling his wife that Luc seemed to be a man who could bend a few restraints now and then. “Adultery is minor,” he said to Marcie. “Maybe Luc killed James. Maybe Joanna’s waiting, hiding, until we all leave. Then she and Luc can run away to a foreign country, and live in exile.”

Marcie rolled her eyes and looked at Edward, who had stopped short when he realized the private nature of their conversation.

“Or maybe James killed Joanna,” Ron continued, ignoring Edward and grinding his cigarette out on the floor. “If so, does Luc know? He certainly looks distraught. Or maybe Joanna killed James—with or without Luc’s help. It’s been known to happen. Either way, Luc will be implicated.”

Edward came closer and held out his hand to wish Ron goodby. Ron took it absentmindedly, but kept muttering, as if to himself. “Or maybe Luc killed the both of them? I should make inquiries when I get back to the office.”

Then Ron evidently snapped back into the present and heartily pumped Edward’s hand as he said goodbye.

Ron turned away and walked over to Luc, hand extended for another round of enthusiastic shaking. He slapped the Frenchman on the shoulder, telling him what a great fellow he was, what an enjoyable time he and Marcie had, even though Edward suspected it was a lie. He probably couldn’t wait to get back to work.

Marcie, on the other hand, was clearly dying of curiosity. One look at Luc yesterday morning and they all knew something had gone terribly wrong. Edward could see her romantic nature imagining that James and Joanna had made up—Joanna having fallen to her knees in supplication and tears—James forgiving her and taking her back to Paris for a romantic sexy week in a first class hotel overlooking the Seine. They would conceive their first child there, and go home to get married and raise a happy, healthy family.

Edward watched Luc say goodbye to Marcie, hugging her briefly, giving her a quick kiss on each cheek. She blinked back a few tears as she told him how much she had enjoyed her holiday. This, too, was a lie, Edward suspected.

He wondered if Marcie had begun to feel a teensy bit uncomfortable about the gossip she’d helped feed over the last week. She wasn’t a malicious woman, he knew. Merely a soft one. It was all too easy for her to be swayed by the enthusiasm of Carol and Iris’s gossiping. She probably went along for the ride, not really disliking Jo, nor particularly interested in whether or not Luc was cheating on his wife. Although she was clearly shocked when she saw he’d removed his wedding ring.

Edward watched her say goodbye to Luc, telling him he was a lovely man, and that his wife was a lucky woman. Luc politely thanked her and turned to Sarah.

Sarah, the sad and lovely Sarah, had been only slightly moved by the debacle, Edward thought. He guessed that her own heart was so bruised she could barely recognize anyone else’s pain.

The older women’s gossip had both intrigued and disturbed her, he knew. Sarah had told him she wasn’t accustomed to gossip. She was a solitary person, working very hard to finish articling and begin her law practice. Gossip and idle speculation seemed a tremendous waste of energy. So did flirtation between married people. The idea of extramarital affairs was ignoble to her.

But in a moment of quiet speculation she’d admitted to Edward that part of her did get some vicarious pleasure from listening to the others talking about love, or lust, gone wrong. The fact that others were suffering in their personal lives helped make her feel a tiny bit better about her own pain, which she believed she would carry for the rest of her life.

Edward watched as Luc gave Sarah a quick peck on each cheek and wished her well for the future. She politely returned the sentiment, but didn’t look back as she boarded the train.

Duncan, however, was deeply disturbed by the events of the last few days. It was written all over his face, Edward noted, as he watched the young Scot approach Luc to say goodbye.

Duncan had made no secret of the fact that he, too, was suffering from a broken heart, the victim of a cheating woman. Last night, with the help of drink, he’d vocally empathized with both Luc and James. An unfaithful woman was the worst thing a man could experience, he’d insisted.

His feelings about Joanna were far more ambiguous, though. He liked her, Edward knew. And neither of them could blame Luc for losing his head over a woman like that.

But the loose talk over the past few days had bothered Duncan. He confessed to Edward that he was shocked at how deeply the gossips had delved into the personal lives of people who were essentially strangers to them. Not having any sisters, and therefore being unfamiliar with the finer points of bitchiness, Duncan said he felt his ears burn when he heard Iris telling Carol and Marcie how she knew that Luc was cheating on his wife by screwing Joanna. The three women combed over the details each had provided as proof—all of it circumstantial—but still convincing enough for them to convict Joanna as an adulteress. He couldn’t understand women, he said.

After wishing him goodbye, Edward watched Duncan shake hands with Luc, their eyes meeting for a moment. Duncan told Luc to look after himself, and thanked him for a great time. He smiled sadly at the older man, but Luc’s face remained impassive.

A small explosion of expletives at the other end of the platform caught Edward’s attention. Peter Stewart hadn’t really been sober since Saturday morning. His wife’s incessant jabbering, which had escalated over the last few days, was probably driving him bonkers, Edward guessed. It would certainly be too much for his own sanity. Her nonstop speculating, questioning and gossiping were more than irritating. But now Peter’s rants took front and center.

“I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about Luc,” he hissed at his wife, not caring of he was overheard. “The son of a bitch should keep his personal problems to himself. And he should keep his prick in his pants, for Christ’s sake. We’ve paid good money for this trip, and I expect professionalism.”

“Shhhh. Peter! He’ll hear you!” said Carol, casting her gaze around nervously.