Persuade Me (14 page)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

He shut his eyes. That’s right, blank it all out – as if it’s a dream. No, a nightmare.

Any minute now, he’d wake up. Back home, in his own bed, with the surf rumbling on the beach and the sunlight slicing through the blinds.

But wasn’t that
her
voice, so close that he could reach out and touch her? Oh yes, definitely a dream – or a nightmare.

His eyes opened.

It wasn’t a dream. Lou was still lying there, sprawled in a heap, facing away from him. No wonder! he thought, as he crouched beside her. No wonder she couldn’t bear to look at him – the great useless lump who’d let her fall.

And that
was
Anna’s voice. She was kneeling on the other side of Lou and saying, ‘Open your eyes, Lou. It’s Anna, can you hear me?’ Over and over again she said it, and quite loud. But then she had to be loud to make herself heard above that God-awful din on top of the Cobb – a woman, sobbing hysterically. That would be Henrietta; huh, maybe he could make himself useful there, at least, and offer her a shoulder to sodding well cry on.

Then Anna stopped talking to Lou and called out ‘James!’; and, for the first time, Rick noticed James standing a little distance away, his face frozen in horror. When he heard his name, however, he twitched into life and shuffled forward. ‘Yes?’

Anna looked up at him and said firmly, ‘Ring 999 for an ambulance. Tell them she fell from a height of around six feet, landed on stone. Then take Henrietta and catch up with Ben, get him to bring Charles.
Quickly
, James.’

‘Yes – yes, of course. 999, then Henrietta, then Ben.’ In a series of surprisingly coordinated movements, James produced a mobile, stabbed at it a few times with his finger and started talking; at the same time, he carefully skirted round Lou and climbed up the steps. His air of authority must have impressed Henrietta, because the sobbing stopped and Rick heard their footsteps hurrying away.

So much for making himself useful. It was James who’d turned into Action Man, while he …

He felt Anna’s eyes on him. Instantly, he gazed into their clear grey depths, drawing on her strength even as he questioned his own.

‘Come on, Rick,’ she said, gently. ‘You know what to do.’

But he didn’t. His mind was a cotton-wool cloud, blotting out all coherent thought.

She bit her lip; and he realised that she was probably as agitated as he was, but much more in control of herself. ‘Your first-aid training – you used it in La Baule, remember? And you must have used it since.’ She paused to give him time to respond, but he still couldn’t speak. She went on, her voice soft and soothing, ‘Talk me through what you’re going to do until the ambulance gets here.’ Another pause; then, like the flick of a switch, her tone changed. ‘Come
on
, Rick. It could make all the difference!’ He’d never heard her so – so
commanding
.

And she was right; every action, every second counted.

He took a long, deep breath, looked down at Lou, forced the words out between dry, stiff lips. ‘I’m assessing the casualty … Unconscious,’ he watched for the rise and fall of her rib cage, ‘but breathing.’ He placed his fingertips lightly against the clammy skin of her neck. ‘Pulse good.’ He swallowed. ‘I’d normally tilt her head back to keep her airway open, but she may have injured her spine so I daren’t move her neck.’ He glanced across at Anna and heard his voice falter. ‘I-I don’t think there’s anything else I can do.’

Her eyes held no reproach, only encouragement. ‘That’s OK, at least you’ve been through the process. What about covering her with your coat, keeping her warm?’

‘Yes, I should have thought of that.’

He got clumsily to his feet, tore off his coat, knelt down again. As Anna took one side of the coat and helped him spread it over Lou’s inert body, he watched her hands, with their small, calm movements. And he remembered their butterfly touch on his temples when he’d wanted to unwind after a long day at the sailing club … For God’s sake, this was hardly the place for indulging in happy memories; he had to focus on Lou, not his own badly timed needs.

Anna looked back towards the harbour. ‘Not long now, I can hear the siren.’ She turned, reached across and rested her small, calm hand briefly on his shoulder. ‘You did all you could. Remember that.’

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Only later, in the back of Charles’s car as they followed the ambulance, did Anna have time to think over what had happened. The paramedics had made it all look so simple – assessing the situation and strapping Lou to a spinal board in a matter of minutes. She knew, however, that it was anything but simple; the longer Lou was unconscious, the more serious her injuries were likely to be.

Before Lou’s fall, Anna had been too distracted by James to pay much attention to anyone else. Once she realised he was making a pass at her, it was a case of wondering how to fend him off without hurting his feelings.

And then she’d heard Lou’s first shout of excitement – seen her in Rick’s arms – lost her concentration – and slipped. It was as if reality had slapped her in the face again and, in childish retaliation, she’d given James a chance to act the hero.

But she’d heard Lou shout again, then Rick; and, although she couldn’t make out his words, she felt his despair.

What had been going on?

Charles had asked Rick that very question as soon as he arrived, just after the paramedics. Rick, his eyes fixed on Lou’s face, had whispered, ‘I let her down, big time.’ Which made no sense to anyone, unless it was a joke in very bad taste.

Now they were following the ambulance to the Accident & Emergency department at Dorchester; Charles, Mona, Henrietta and Anna in one car, Rick and his driver in the other. James and Ben had stayed in Lyme, on the condition that the others would contact them if there was anything they could do.

Mona broke the silence. ‘You should ring your parents as soon as we get to the hospital, Charles. I heard the paramedics discussing her and it didn’t sound good. Something about giving her oxygen and the A&E trauma team standing by.’

In the back of the car, Henrietta let out a long, shuddering breath; Anna reached across and held her hand.

‘Thanks for reminding me,’ Charles said heavily, ‘but I’ll wait until A&E have seen her and we know what’s happening.’

‘Really? I’d have thought it’ll take days, if not weeks, to find out how permanent the brain damage is.’ Mona glanced round as Henrietta started to cry. ‘Sorry, but we have to be realistic, she could end up a complete vegetable. Better to tell your parents sooner rather than later – don’t you agree, Henrietta? You should–’

Charles cut in savagely with, ‘I don’t think Henrietta’s in a fit state to answer that question and
I
want to wait until Lou’s been seen in A&E.’

‘I’m only trying to be helpful,’ Mona said huffily. ‘As usual, you’re picking a fight over nothing – just when we need to put on a united front.’ She took a brush from her handbag and flicked it through her hair. ‘The press will turn up, you know, to interview Rick. It’ll make quite a story – “Celebrity author’s new girlfriend in mysterious fall”.’ She put the brush away and mused, ‘He should get the sympathy vote, unless it turns out he pushed her.’

Anna gasped. ‘He didn’t push her! How could he – when he was standing below her?’

Charles eyed her in the rear-view mirror. ‘So you saw what happened?’

‘N-no, not really. But I know he couldn’t have pushed her.’ She gave Henrietta’s hand a little squeeze. She’d been close by, she must have seen or heard something; but she obviously wasn’t ready to talk about it.

Mona shrugged. ‘Either way, it’ll do his book sales no harm. Maybe it was a publicity-seeking stunt that went horribly wrong. You know – Lou staging a fall so that Rick could play the hero and have even more women drooling over him.’

‘For God’s sake, shut up!’ Driving too close, Charles had to brake sharply as the ambulance slowed to turn in at the hospital gates. He swung the car after it and swerved into the first empty parking space he saw.

Mona seemed oblivious to his tension. ‘Crap parking, aren’t you bothering to straighten up?’ she said, as he switched off the engine.

Anna took one look at Charles’s clenched fists on the steering wheel and said hurriedly, ‘Mona, why don’t we take Henrietta to the Ladies? Charles, we’ll come and find you later.’

As they got out of the car, she glanced at her watch.

Only six o’clock. It felt like the middle of the night.

Chapter Thirty

Rick found Charles in the A&E waiting area, slumped on one of the dark grey plastic seats. He sat down awkwardly next to him and took a deep breath. ‘Any news?’

Charles shook his head. ‘Not really. They’ve taken her for a CT scan and they’re monitoring her regularly – the Glasgow Coma Scale or something. Whatever the outcome, they’ll have to keep her here until tomorrow. It’s too late to transfer her to the specialist unit in Southampton today – apparently the helicopter doesn’t fly at night.’

Rick stared at the walls, which were decorated with randomly placed coloured glass panels in vivid cobalt. They reminded him of the sea … How he wished he could envelop his whole being in its blue warmth right now, go on a long swim to stretch his cramped muscles and numb his restless mind.

And how he wished he could rewind the last couple of hours and change them completely.

‘Is there anything you want me to do?’ he said quietly, half-expecting Charles to retort, ‘Haven’t you done enough already?’

But Charles didn’t; for the first time since Lou’s fall, he looked Rick straight in the eye and said, ‘Help me think things through. I don’t see much point in us all spending the next God knows how many hours here. I want to stay, and I think one of the others should too. Ideally Henrietta, she’s closest to Lou, but I don’t think she’s up to it. And then at some point someone’s got to tell my parents. Mona thinks I should ring them now – but I can’t face that. And what would I say? It’s likely she’s brain damaged, but we don’t know how bad it is yet.’

Rick looked down at the floor again. Brain damage covered a whole continuum, from minor behavioural changes to permanent and total disability. And it was all his fault …

A deep breath. ‘I’m so sorry this happened, Charles, and I-I must take most – all of the responsibility.’ He lifted his head and met Charles’s weary gaze. ‘For what it’s worth, I want to give Lou – give all of you – any support I can. I’ve got a car, and a driver – why don’t I take Henrietta home and tell your parents?’

Charles’s eyes seemed to lose a little of their haunted look. ‘That would be one weight off my mind. But then – who stays here with me, Mona or Anna?’

A week ago, when he’d believed that Anna was having an affair with Charles, he would have almost choked on the thought of leaving them here together. But now he heard himself say loudly and clearly, as if announcing it to the whole world, ‘I think Anna should stay. Lou told me she would trust Anna with her life.’

Light footsteps behind him. He turned to see who it was – and his eyes locked with Anna’s.

Anna went over to the drinks machine and selected a bottle of water. In less tragic circumstances, she would have treasured Rick’s words. They marked an about-turn from his earlier suspicions, a bridge half-built between them, a bitter-sweet peace offering by an old love.

It was just … well, she felt they were said purely to secure the best possible outcome for Lou. And yet, who could blame him for that?

She turned to the two men. ‘I can certainly stay for the next day or so,’ she said evenly. ‘Then I’ve got lectures on Monday, from eleven onwards – but I could rearrange some things in the second half of the week.’

Charles gave her a tremulous smile. ‘I’ll probably have Mum or Dad with me by that time. But it’ll be great to have you around tonight and tomorrow, in case Lou wakes up or,’ a telling pause, ‘in case she doesn’t.’ He added, with a ragged sigh, ‘She’s fallen off her fair share of horses over the years, but she was always wearing a hard hat.’

Rick stood up. ‘Here are Mona and Henrietta. We might as well tell them the plan, then the three of us can get going.’

Anna glanced round and saw the others approaching. She’d left them in the Ladies, where Mona had obviously been retouching her make-up and restyling her hair; Henrietta, on the other hand, looked a total wreck.

Mona’s eyes widened as she saw their serious faces. ‘Bad news?’

‘No news,’ Charles said dully. ‘But Rick’s offered to take you and Henrietta home and tell Mum and Dad in person. He thinks Anna’s the best person to stay here.’

Mona scowled. ‘
Anna
? How come? She’s not even family, and Lou’s never thought of her as a particular friend. Anyway, she wouldn’t have a clue how to handle the press – whereas, with the sort of circles I move in, it’s second nature to me.’ She flashed Rick a brilliant smile. ‘I agree Henrietta shouldn’t stay – she’s emotionally unstable – but
I’m
not leaving my husband’s side. I supported him through a traumatic time in A&E last Saturday, and I’ll do exactly the same this weekend.’

Rick’s expression was impossible to read. ‘Let’s hope it doesn’t become a regular weekly event.’ He swung round to Charles. ‘Is it OK with you if I take Anna home instead?’

Charles covered his face with his hands and mumbled, ‘Whatever.’

Rick turned to Anna. ‘And is it OK with you?’

She looked down at the floor, her heart still racing from his words ‘take Anna home’ and all that they’d once conveyed, in the pine-tree scent of a French garden. Everything was different now; but, even so, she found herself filled with a strange anticipation … Would he drop Henrietta off first? If he did, they’d have over an hour in the car together; not quite alone, although she imagined his driver would have been selected for his discretion. Would they pass the time with a strained question-and-answer session; or would they talk as naturally as they had in the old days? Except – and here anticipation turned to dread – he might want to confide in her about his feelings for Lou …

Oh shit, what the hell did that matter when Lou was lying there seriously injured?

So she merely said, ‘Of course,’ kissed Mona on the cheek, gave Charles a reassuring hug and slipped her arm through Henrietta’s.

Then she looked over at Rick. ‘Ready when you are.’