Last Resort (68 page)

She paused.

"But what if I were pregnant?"

she said, suddenly wanting to go ahead with

the fantasy.

To her surprise Esther's eyes started to sparkle.

"Well, it wouldn't be a problem, dear,"

she told her.

"You'd never want for anything, you know, David would make sure of that, and I'd be here to look after you."

Then her expression started to turn oddly wistful.

"You know, I almost wish you were. That baby would be so lucky having you and David as parents."

Penny gave a splutter of laughter.

"Wouldn't it just! With one of us so screwed up right now she doesn't know which way to turn and the other on his way to jail ... yes, I'd call that really lucky."

Esther smiled and, realizing that the old woman was already knitting bootees, Penny decided that to run any further with the fantasy would be less than wise. So, changing the subject, she said:

"What will you do now? Do you think you'll stay in France?"

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Esther nodded, but it was clear that she was still lost in her reverie. Have to stay if you're pregnant/ she said.

"You can't go through it on your own and David would want to know you were being taken care of."

"But I'm not pregnant/ Penny said abruptly.

"Ah, but you might be/ Esther persisted.

"Being sick the way you are and looking the way you do."

"You were convinced just now that I wasn't/ Penny pointed out, trying to ignore the unsettling currents of excitement the possibility was evoking. If she were pregnant, if she really were carrying his baby ... But no, she had to stop herself thinking that way. She wasn't pregnant and she had to be out of her mind to be sitting there hoping she was.

"No/ she said decisively.

"I can't be pregnant. It's too early for all these symptoms and .. ."

Even as she said the words she could feel herself starting to freeze. But it was too late to take them back and from the look on Esther's face she could see that Esther was thinking the very thing Penny didn't want anyone ever to think: that, if she was pregnant and it was too soon for the baby to be David's, then it had to be Christian's.

As the horror turned her insides to ice the swell of nausea sent her running back to the bathroom. By the time she came out again Esther had opened another bottle of wine and was sitting crookedly back in her chair.

She waited until Penny was sitting down too. Then, fixing her with slightly unfocused eyes, she said,

"Have you missed a period, dear? You can tell me now. Have you missed a period?"

Dully, Penny nodded her head.

"I should have had one last weekend/ she answered. Then, as though Esther had asked the question, she said, T never once made love with Christian without using a contraceptive. David and I never used one at all."

She sighed as Esther blinked rapidly.

"But that still doesn't change the dates/ she said.

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'I couldn't be suffering like this if I was only three weeks pregnant."

"Ah, but no one pregnancy is ever the same as another,"

Esther told her.

"What we need to find out is when you were ovulating, that's what we need to do. It's generally thirteen or fourteen days before your period is due and by my reckoning that was when you were with

David."

Penny forced a smile, but her eyelids were drooping and suddenly all she wanted was to sleep. Esther carried on talking for a while, but though the words were reaching her Penny couldn't find the strength to respond.

"... and when you're in your sixth month,"

Esther was saying,

"David will have you flown out to the States so you can be near him when the baby comes. I'll come with you to look after you in the final stages and they'll probably let him out for the delivery. They do that sometimes, you know. Oh, he's going to be so happy about

this, Penny."

Penny wondered if she'd drifted off for a while, for the next thing she knew Esther was saying,

"But you're not pregnant, so you really must stop worrying. You just have to get some rest after everything you've been through. Come on now, let me take you up to bed ..."

"Oh God, I wish David was here,"

Penny heard herself mumble as Esther led her towards the stairs.

"I wish I could have gone with him. I don't even know where to contact him."

"Shh,"

Esther soothed.

"He'll be in touch, don't you worry about that. And Wally will always know how to

reach him."

"I'm not pregnant,"

Penny said, the words sounding as strange in her ears as the heaviness she felt in her legs.

"No, I know,"

Esther answered, pushing open the bedroom door.

Penny smiled, almost as though it was she who was 532

drunk, not Esther.

"I've got to keep the bed warm/ she mumbled. This is the bed."

And suddenly she started to cry-

"Oh, God,"

she wailed, Tm damned well falling apart here and I promised him'

"Shh,"

Esther said softly, pulling back the covers and sitting Penny on the edge of the bed.

"I'm making such a fool of myself,"

Penny sniffed, her eyelids so heavy now she could barely keep them open,

"but I feel so terrible and I might have an incurable disease and I might be pregnant..."

"Just you go to sleep now."

Esther smiled, easing her back against the pillows.

"Go to sleep and dream of David. He loves you, Penny, and he's going to want this baby even more than you do."

"But what if it's not his baby?"

"Of course it is. It couldn't be anyone else's."

"But there isn't a baby."

"Maybe not, but if there is you really won't need to worry about a thing,"

Esther whispered.

"I got to tell you, Marielle,"

Stirling said, slotting documents into his briefcase,

"that you and that poxy little magazine are giving me a headache. So, for the umpteenth time, it's not in my power to hand the god-damned thing over to you because, to begin with, it's not in Villers's name and, to end with, there's no funny money involved that we can find. Now, why don't you do me a favour and pop along home and work out how you're going to get a reference out of Penny the Moon when she fires you?"

Marielle didn't even flinch.

"You made me promises,"

she reminded him tightly.

Stirling was shaking his head.

"Uh-uh/ he said.

"Never any promises. All I did was get you to see things my way and, since that suited you, Marielle, you went along with it like the decent, law-abiding citizen you are. Shame it's gonna cost you your job, but hey, that's the vTay life goes. Win some, lose some. Looks like you lost, Marielle."

He

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said it with such relish, such unbridled glee, that Marielle snatched up a book and flung it at him.

Fortunately for her it missed, but he didn't look any too pleased.

"Get the hell out of here, will you,"

he said sounding more bored than annoyed. "I got things to do and dealing with you don't figure on my agenda today."

"Fine upstanding member of law and order you are,"

she spat.

"First you renege on David; now you renege on me."

"Wasn't me reneged on Villers,"

Stirling informed her smoothly.

"I did what I could to get him the deal he wanted, but I don't run the DBA and nor do I run the District Attorney's office. And as for you, Marielle, we had no deal. Like I said before, you were just doing your duty as a law-abiding citizen. Now, unless you're of a mind to bounce around on my dick for a while, I suggest you scram."

Marielle glared at him.

"A blow job?"

he suggested.

Tou bastard!"

Marielle seethed.

"You used me'

"It was mutual, Marielle,"

he cut in.

"Anyway, what are you so worried about? The magazine's still there, isn't it?

Could be that Penny the Moon won't want to hang around now that Villers is gone, so you might end up with what you want after all. You're sure sly enough to, even if you don't have any more brains than a daffodil's dick."

Tou can insult me all you like,"

Marielle snarled, "but I'm going to report you to your superiors. You exploited me, used me for sex, sent me out to do your dirty work..

Tut a fucking sock in it, Marielle,"

he yawned. Tou twitched that cute little butt of yours in my face so many times I got to feeling sorry for you - that's how comes my dick found its way into your various available orifices."

He grinned.

"Real angel of mercy, me. Don't like to see a person in distress, not if I can do anything to

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kelp, and you sure looked like a person in distress to me, coming on to me the way you did. Anyway, time to go find some other poor sucker to put you out of your misery,

"cos I'm outa here in the next five minutes."

Marielle was quiet for a moment. She knew she'd lost; in fact, if she were honest with herself she'd known it from the moment David had flown out to the Philippines to get Penny back. She'd misjudged just how strongly David felt about Penny, just like she'd misjudged her own powers of manipulation when it came to getting what she wanted out of Stirling. Had she been anyone else she might have felt embarrassed at the lamentable naivete and preposterous belief in her own importance that had led her to think she could take on men such as Villers and Stirling, but Marielle wasn't about to give herself a hard time over that. What she wouldn't mind knowing, though, was just what Gabriella Villers had been doing in France up until the time David had given himself up.

Because, if Gabriella Villers had been here for the reasons Marielle thought she had, there was every chance Penny the Moon wouldn't hang around were she ever to find out.

"What the hell's it got to do with you?"

Stirling snorted when she asked.

"Just curious,"

she responded with a sultry smile.

Stirling eyed her nastily. He knew only too well what was going on in that pretty little head of hers, but she was rowing the wrong boat,

"cos if he was going to tell anyone what Gabriella Villers had been doing here it would be Penny the Moon, not Marielle Descourts. He'd been toying with the idea for a couple of days now of paying Penny the Moon a visit before he left; but, on reflection, he didn't think he would. Gabriella Villers wasn't a woman to be relied on, so whatever information he gave Penny the Moon now wat> likely to be out of date by the time he got there, so what was the point?

Sure, he might be able to put her mind at rest on a couple of

\

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things, but Villers hadn't asked him to, so why get involved? Well, hell, maybe he would, but not right now,

"cos whichever way any of them looked at this, David was going down, and he, Stirling, didn't want to do anything that might tip that wife of his over the edge at this stage of the game. Five years was the best David could hope for now, out in two, maybe three, but it was going to be a whole lot longer if Mrs Villers chose it to be.

Marielle was still looking at him and as he caught the gleam in her eye he started to grin. This woman just didn't know when she was beat - and, hell, why deprive himself of a little last-minute fun?

"You want to reconsider about that blow job?"

he said. Marielle's eyebrows went up.

Five minutes later she was back on her feet and Stirling was zipping up his fly.

"Ah! That'll be my cab,"

Stirling said, looking at his watch as a car horn sounded on the jetty outside.

"Robert,"

she said, drawing out his name as he snapped the locks on his suitcase,

"I'm still curious to know what Gabriella Villers was doing here in France."

Stirling grinned. Then I guess you're just gonna have to stay that way, Marielle,"

he said, and picking up his case, he gave her a quick pat on the bottom and left her life.

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Chapter 27

For the second time Penny picked up the glass of wine in front of her, then, unable to face it, put it back on the table. She'd arrived at the Delaneys"

a while ago now, but though Wally obviously knew she was waiting for news of David he seemed to be enjoying keeping her in suspense. As he chuntered on about the new stock he'd picked up in London for his antique shop Penny could see the malicious gleam in his eyes and the very sight of his gapped teeth and the ginger bristle on his chin caused her to swallow hard on the bile in her throat.

It was now Wednesday evening. Esther had said she would call the minute Wally walked in, but she hadn't, because when Penny had called just before leaving the office she'd discovered that Wally had been back more than two hours.

"How are you feeling now, dear?"

Esther said, as Wally took a break from his inanities and began stuffing his new pipe.

"Much better, thank you,"

Penny lied. She'd been to the doctor's again that morning to get the results of her blood tests. There was nothing wrong with her that a few days in bed wouldn't cure, he had told her.

Esther's expression was unreadable.

Tou know, the last thing David told me before he got n that plane,"

Wally said in his grating bark, as though continuing a conversation that had been going for some

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time,

"was that I had to tell you everything you wanted to know. I wasn't to hold back about anything."

Penny looked at him and felt such hatred well up in her that it was all she could do to stop herself smashing a fist in his loathsome face. She hadn't realized until now that the antipathy between them had built to such a pitch that she could hardly bear to look at him, never mind listen to him.

"Do you know where he is now?"

she said, a razor edge to her voice.

Wally shrugged.

"Being debriefed, no doubt. That's what happens when they go in, you know.

Haven't heard anything since he left, though."

He paused.