Only the Cat Knows (10 page)

‘But I don’t want to get my mind off anything,’ I reminded her. ‘I want to get my mind back — and all the things I had on it.’

‘Oh!’ She hadn’t thought of that. Or had she? A faint glint of speculation flickered in the depths of her eyes. ‘But you can ask me any questions you want. About anything you want to know.’

‘The trouble with that is, I don’t know what I want to know. I don’t know what questions to ask.’

‘Oh!’ I watched her absorb this. ‘Yes, of course. I hadn’t thought of that. Of course you don’t!’ She sounded pleased about it.

‘It might help if —’ A light tap at the door interrupted me.

‘There’s tea!’ Nina sprang towards the door as though she hadn’t eaten for days. I remained seated, but turned to watch.

My hope was dashed again. It wasn’t Dilys delivering the trolley, it was the sullen one who had brought my brunch. She didn’t linger here, either; nor did Nina seem to expect that she would.

‘That looks interesting,’ I remarked as Nina wheeled the trolley over to the table.

‘All sorts of fancy sandwiches,’ Nina said appreciatively. ‘I thought it might be. Antoine has to do his French cooking at dinner for Mr Oversall, but he likes to experiment with sandwiches and petits fours for tea.’

‘I haven’t seen Mr Oversall at dinner yet,’ I said, then realized someone else was missing. ‘And you’ve only set the table for two now. I thought Kiki was joining us.’

‘Oh, no, she cancelled. She often does.’ Nina shrugged. ‘She said she wasn’t feeling well. A headache, as usual. You can’t depend on her, you know.’

‘Really?’ I wouldn’t dream of doing so. I wondered if Kiki was having another search of my quarters while Nina kept me occupied here.

‘I … I don’t like to talk about it … and ordinarily, I wouldn’t …’
Oh, no, not much
.

‘But?’ I encouraged.

‘But you ought to know. Well, you do know — you
did
— but you don’t any more. So … I mean …’ She faltered to
a stop, frowning, having got so convoluted she wasn’t sure what she was trying to say any more.

‘So, perhaps you ought to tell me,’ I prompted. If you really think I ought to know. You do, don’t you?’

‘Oh, yes!’ She had no doubt about that and was relieved that I had seen it so clearly. ‘You
need
to know! Otherwise, you might … she might …’ She broke off again in confusion.

‘I see.’ Although I didn’t. I was beginning to suspect that confusion was her natural state.

‘Maybe you’re beginning to remember,’ she said hopefully. ‘Then it wouldn’t be so embarrassing.’

‘Don’t worry about that.’ Incompetent liars are always embarrassing. I waited for what would come next.

She still hesitated and I could see the twisting of a devious brain behind her eyes.

‘Why don’t you start at the beginning?’ I encouraged. ‘When I first arrived. You
were
here then?’

‘Of course!’ She was indignant. ‘We all were. You only came just about a year ago. After Francesca ran off, leaving poor Everett in the lurch, with all the important projects he had pending. It was really rotten of her! Not that we weren’t happy to have you here,’ she added hastily.

‘Francesca?’

‘She came here from one of his Italian companies. Toffee-nosed little cow!’ The sudden explosion of spite was unnerving. Nina seemed to recognize it and gave me an unconvincing smile. ‘But her English was as good as her Italian. She must have been very useful — in business matters, of course.’

‘Of course.’ I didn’t believe that any more than she did. I wondered which one of Everett Oversall’s harem had felt the most displaced by Francesca.

‘Not that Everett seems to miss her very much.’ There was a muted glee in her voice. ‘He’s mostly annoyed that she left without any notice. That’s why he was so delighted to find you to take her place so quickly’

‘I see.’ That implied I was doing a satisfactory job. I would have expected nothing less of Nessa.

‘Have another sandwich.’ Nina leaned forward, holding out the plate of tiny crustless triangles. ‘They’re not very big —’

A sudden horrendous clatter drowned out her words and obliterated all thought.

‘What’s that?’ I shouted over the racket.

‘The helicopter.’ Nina’s voice rang out as the noise faded into the distance. ‘The landing pad is over behind the trees.’

‘Oh.’ I settled back in my chair. I should have known this place would have the means for instant access — and escape — for someone like Everett Oversall. Road transport would be too slow. And possibly too hazardous.

‘It really frightened you for a minute, didn’t it?’ Nina’s eyes gleamed speculatively. ‘Perhaps you’re beginning to remember. The last time you heard that was when the air ambulance took you away to hospital.’

‘I don’t think I was hearing much of anything then,’ I said bitterly. The image of Nessa’s motionless shattered form rose in my mind. She still wasn’t hearing anything.

‘Oh, well.’ Nina helped herself to another sandwich, since I wasn’t going to. ‘That means we’ll have dinner in our rooms tonight. Most of us. Everett likes to entertain his important guests in private.’

‘What guests?’

‘The ones who arrive by helicopter. Who knows who they are?’ She shrugged. ‘Oil sheikhs, industrial magnates, world leaders, or — perhaps —’ she gave me a sly smile — ‘just some pretty lady who’s caught his fancy. In any case, we aren’t wanted at the party. Most of us …’

‘Most of us?’ It was the second time she’d said that. I can recognize a cue — especially when I’m being beaten over the head with it.

‘Madame sits in on the business dinners. Later, Yvonne does her cabaret act.’ Her mouth twisted. ‘Then maybe
Amanda and Candy are there for the sophisticated conversation stuff, depends on who the guests are. If they were Italian —’ the way she said it brought the word
Mafia
to mind — ‘he wanted Francesca there. I think he got her to translate what they were saying between themselves for him later. And you filled in, too, recently.

‘But I don’t think you’ll be called on tonight.’ Her assessing gaze raked over me, from my bandage-turban to the shadowed bruises on my face and the wrist support bandage on my right wrist, which gave me an excuse if my handwriting wasn’t exactly the same as it had been before the accident. ‘You’re not looking very decorative at the moment.’

I don’t suppose I am,’ I agreed. ‘I’m not feeling very sociable right now, either.’

‘Never mind, the food is great when we have it in our own rooms.’ She obviously thought she was cheering me. ‘Then we get simple stuff. Steak and chips or fish and chips for us, while the kitchen turns itself inside out on fancy stuff to impress the guests. They don’t want to bother with us. I like it better that way. Except for the times when they lock us in.’

‘Lock us in?’

‘Oh, it doesn’t happen all the time. Just when there are really important people — the kind who bring their own armed guard and all sorts of security men with them. Everett says it’s for our own safety, just in case any of them get trigger-happy. We’re better off out of their way.’

Everett might be right. Presumably he knew the sort of people he was dealing with. There were a lot of paranoid dictators about and they usually surrounded themselves with fellow paranoics. The shoot-first-and-ask-questions-afterwards brigade.

‘As though any of us were assassins!’ Nina snorted. I’ll bet that’s not the only reason Everett keeps us locked up. The way some of those men stare at us when they think we aren’t looking gives me the shivers. I feel safer being locked in.’

So did I, but it raised an interesting thought. If there were a master switch to lock us in from the outside, then doors we had locked from the inside could be opened by the same means. Perhaps there was more than one reason for the manual inner bolt on Nessa’s door.

The clatter in the distance had died away and stopped. The deep throb of a powerful motor replaced it, heading towards us.

‘Here they come now,’ Nina said.

‘Are we allowed to look out the window?’ I asked. ‘Or will we be turned to stone?’

‘Oh, they won’t come this close.’ She sounded regretful. ‘They’ll go to the private entrance to Everett’s quarters. People come and go that way all the time without any of us seeing them.’

Why did that not surprise me? Everett Oversall had transformed the Victorian fake monastery into a modern fortress; already remote and secluded, it was now heavily guarded and impregnable. He could entertain whom he liked, when he liked, without fear of observation.

Presumably. There were, of course, persistent rumours that he was the object of constant surveillance by most of the intelligence services of the world. He had never actually been caught in anything illegal — yet — but they lived in hope, just waiting their chance to pounce.

The telephone jangled sharply, startling me.

‘My, you
are
jumpy,’ Nina observed as she crossed the room to answer it. ‘That’ll only be Monica to ask whether we want steak or fish.’ She picked up the phone and nodded confirmation to me.

‘I’ll have the steak,’ she said into the phone. ‘Wait a minute, I’ll ask her.’ She raised her eyebrows at me. ‘Steak or fish?’

I thought of my little Duchess watching hopefully as the food arrived and didn’t hesitate. ‘Fish, please.’

‘Did we have to ask?’ Nina laughed into the phone and I sensed the laughter was shared at the other end. ‘She’s eating for two!’

There was a different — spiteful? — note in the gust of laughter following that remark.

I snapped to attention. Was it only the cat she meant? Or was there a double-double meaning? I tested the thought carefully: Nessa, pregnant? Me, an uncle?

No, not Nessa, I decided, surprised at the faint sense of loss I felt. Anything like that would have shown up in the medical report. In any case, no foetus could have survived that devastating fall. A miscarriage would have been noted in the records.

Unless the information had been suppressed.

Because Everett Oversall had ordered it to be? Or because the baby was Anderson’s and he was covering his tracks?

‘You look worried.’ Nina’s concerned tone was belied by the malice sparkling in her eyes, betraying that she had deliberately provoked the train of thought I was following.

Little bitch!

‘Not at all.’ I smiled serenely. ‘I was just wondering how much of the fish my little darling will leave for me. She can be a bit greedy at times —’

The knock at the door was loud and demanding. We both jumped.

‘Oh, it’s you.’ Nina sounded disappointed as she opened the door. ‘I suppose you’re on escort duty.’

‘That’s right.’ Bud stepped into the room and checked that I was still there. ‘We’re letting the dogs loose early tonight. I’m to see her back to her quarters.’ He looked at the table and then at me. ‘You can finish your tea first.’

‘I’ve had enough.’ Of everything. I rose to my feet and thanked Nina for her hospitality before going with him.

She sighed as she met my eyes and nodded glum confirmation. They weren’t wasting any time and that meant one thing:

It was going to be another locked-in night.

At least the cat was happy. Tummy distended by a massive inhalation of crisp-battered cod, she sprawled on the bed, providing her own background music of contented purring. Who needed any other music?

Although I didn’t doubt Nina’s information, I tried the door and found it locked, despite my having unlocked it from my side. I turned my key again, relocking it as much as was in my power, although I knew now that that feeble power was easily overridden. I shot the bolt firmly, just in case the guests left before morning and we were released while we were sleeping. I didn’t want any unexpected visitors.

So, an early night. Or, at least, a night when I could be sure of no interruptions. A good night to settle down with the depilatory creams, waxes and other tools of the trade and catch up with the maintenance routine.

I was doing my nails when I became aware of distant sounds. At first, I thought the Duchess had developed an interesting vibrato, then realized that there was a definite undercurrent of melody, plus words that sounded fervent, but indistinct.

The Duchess had also raised her head and was glaring towards the cloister walk, her tail twitching with irritation. They had disturbed her beauty sleep.

But she had given me confirmation that it wasn’t just me who was hearing things.

The music intensified, but not very much; it remained
faint and ghostly. Ghostly, now there was a thought. I wondered if the Monk was parading the cloister, waiting for someone to become curious enough to step outside and follow him.

Seized with sudden suspicion, I tiptoed over to the door and tried to open it. Nothing happened. I remained safely locked inside.

Interesting … someone had their wires crossed. Either they didn’t know that the minions were kept out of the way at certain times … or else they were taking advantage of that fact to bring in a portable sound system, knowing that I could not get out to investigate the source of the music, hoping that it would make me curious enough to follow the beckoning monk the next time he appeared.

Of course, there was another possibility. But … no. I couldn’t believe that it was a genuine haunting. It was too calculated, too targeted.

A guard dog barked in the distance and was answered by another. The chanting cut off abruptly. It wasn’t the first time they had barked, and they seemed to be getting closer. The spectral monk was obviously folding up his choir and making a getaway before they got to him.

I hoped the equipment was heavy and cumbersome and gave him a hernia.

On the other hand, given the ratio of males to females around here, the culprit could equally well be a female. That long bulky monk’s robe could hide anything; it was almost as good as a kaftan.

The only certainty was that it was someone who hadn’t been locked in. I thought immediately of Madame and amended the certainty: and someone who was mobile enough to get around swiftly.

The telephone rang suddenly and the cat spoke back sharply. Was there no peace around this place? She glared at me. It was obviously my fault.