The Look of Love (32 page)

Chrissy was
about to relax when her mother added, “But I still think you’re too
old for Chrissy.”

“Oh, mum!”
Chrissy exclaimed again. It was all she seemed to say since Adam
had arrived. Why were parents so embarrassing?

Adam was
unaffected by the remark. “You may be right,” he said, nodding.
“But I think Chrissy and I will have time to discuss that problem
before anything more serious develops. After all, neither of us has
yet committed to a full relationship. We are as they say, just good
friends.”

“Well, I should
think so, too. You’ve only known each other for five minutes.”

“Exactly. A
relationship needs time. And there are, as you say, problems
between us. Be assured that Chrissy has already made it quite plain
to me that I am on probation.”

Then Chrissy’s
father said, “She always was fussy.”

“Dad!”

By the time
Chrissy could get her parents to go into the back room and leave
them on their own, it was nearly ten o’clock.

“Oh, I’m
sorry!” she said to Adam when they were alone at last. “Mum should
never have said that about your age.”

“She didn’t say
anything that we both didn’t already know,” Adam pointed out. “I am
too old for you.”

“No you’re not!
You aren’t that old at all!” Chrissy protested.

“No, but you
are young,” he pointed out. “There is twenty years between us, and
because of this our relationship can at best, only be brief.
Anything longer would be unfair to you, and be down to selfishness
for me.”

“Be selfish!”
Chrissy said to his surprise. “Be a rat! Lie to me and cheat me! I
need a good old fight to take my mind off things! If not, I’m going
to cry buckets and buckets tonight!”

Adam shook his
head sadly. “No matter how much I take your mind off things now,
you will still cry tonight.”

Chrissy sighed.
“Yes, I suppose so. But it might have been a few buckets less.” She
poked him in the ribs. “You sound like you’re not interested in me
anymore. Has losing the game put you off?”

Adam smiled,
and quickly grabbed her hand. “Definitely not! The prize was always
exquisite. And remains so. You have out-gunned me as you warned me
that you would. And now I find that even though I have lost the
game, my desire for the prize remains as strong as before.”

“Then what’s
stopping you?”

Adam’s smile
broadened. He reached out and caressed her neck. Then pulling her
close, he kissed her. Chrissy didn’t resist, and when the kissing
was over, she lay in his arms on the sofa.

“I feel so
guilty,” she whispered.

Adam understood
her meaning. “And if the taxi had killed you, would Jo have felt
guilty?”

Chrissy looked
up. “How could she? That wasn’t anything to do with her.”

“If I remember
right, you told me it was her intention to pair you off with the
brother of her boyfriend. So was it not her fault that you argued
and then ran into the path of the taxi?”

“That’s not
fair.”

“Neither is
blaming yourself for her death. Jo was your friend, and you are
deeply saddened by what happened to her. It’s only natural. But it
wasn’t your fault. You feel guilty only because you are happy while
your friend is dead. It’s unfair. But there’s nothing you can do
about it. It’s quite alright to feel sadness, and it’s quite
alright to mourn. But don’t feel guilty for still being alive.”

Chrissy stared
at him for a moment before laying herself back down in his arms.
She felt him hug her, and she knew that she felt more for him now
than she had at any other time before. Was this how love, true
love, began? She felt guilty as she remembered her arguments with
Scott. She could still see his sad face. Would she still have felt
the same if Adam wasn’t who he was? Was she really that mercenary?
Would she be lying in Scott’s arms if he were the richer? Chrissy
remembered that cold stare.

No! Never!

She looked up
at him again. “I’m sorry about your mother’s wedding dress. I knew
it meant a lot to you, but I didn’t realise just how much until I
saw your face.”

“You said that
you would take my most valuable possession, and you did.” Adam
looked down at her. “Why then did you give it back? It was won
fairly, and as you told me, what I wanted from you was no less
valuable.”

She shrugged.
“Maybe you’re not the only one that’s going soft,” she
confessed.

“Maybe that was
my intention.”

Chrissy sat up
and stared at him. “What do you mean?”

Adam smiled
brightly. “You know that I am devious and cunning. How do you know
that the wedding dress and my feelings for my mother were not a
trap for the gullible?”

Chrissy looked
horrified. “But Charles said that you were upset! He called me
heartless!”

“Charles has
been with me for five years. He has seen every ploy in my game. I
admit that he gave you some assistance, and it often suits me to
allow this, but in the end, he still works for me.”

Chrissy stared
at him, her eyes big and round. “You bugger!” she suddenly
exclaimed and began smacking him. “You did it again, didn’t you?
You tricked me! I won and you tricked and cheated me! You rotten
bugger! You tell Charles that if he was lying to me, I’ll cut his
ears off! Where is he? Why were you driving?”

“I left him at
home,” Adam replied as he tried to fend off her blows. He was
laughing even though Chrissy was hitting him quite hard. “It seemed
churlish to ask him to wait outside in the car all night; although
I’m sure he deserves it after his performance this weekend!
Ow!”

Veronica
suddenly burst into the front room. “Chrissy! Quick! It’s on the
news!”

Chrissy looked
up, startled, and hastily stopped smacking Adam. “What’s on the
news?” she asked quickly, and began to blush with embarrassment.
But her mother hadn’t seemed to notice what she and Adam were
doing. She was much too excited.

“The murder!”
she said dramatically. “Come on you two, or you’ll miss it!”

Chrissy and
Adam followed her mother into the lounge and found that the
newsreader was already part way through the item.

“ –identified
the young woman found murdered at the weekend as Joanne Henshaw
from Stretford. She was killed in the early hours of Saturday
morning only a few streets away from her home.” The newsreader
spoke dispassionately, and the screen was suddenly filled with a
picture of Joanne smiling.

Chrissy
recognised it straight away. It had been taken in this very room at
her eighteenth birthday party.

The picture
disappeared and the newsreader returned. “Earlier this evening, the
police held a press conference to ask for anyone who saw Joanne on
Friday night to come forward.”

The screen now
cut to film of the press conference. It showed two men sitting at a
desk with microphones being held towards them. Chrissy recognised
them as the two policemen who had interviewed her, Connors and
Shawcroft. Connors name came up as he spoke to the press.

“It’s important
that anyone who saw Joanne late on Friday night should contact us.
We are particularly anxious to interview the young man she was seen
with that night.” A photofit picture came up on the screen as
Connors continued. “We don’t believe he was responsible for her
death, but we do believe he can supply us with important
information about her movements that night. His name was Mike, and
we ask for him to come forward so that his name can be cleared. We
also ask that if anyone should recognise him, that they contact us
immediately.”

The newsreader
returned, smiled, and said, “And now the sport.”

“Well, fancy
that!” Veronica exclaimed.

“It’s morbid,”
Chrissy said tearfully. “We’re all morbid! Watching Jo on telly
when she’s already dead!”

Her father
sighed. “I feel sorry for her mum and dad. It’ll be all over the
papers tomorrow. The reporters will be all around their house. They
won’t be able to hide anywhere. And poor Jo’s sisters still at
school.”

Chrissy burst
into tears and ran back into the front room.

“Now look what
you’ve done!” Veronica said to her husband. She started to follow
Chrissy, but Adam held up his hand.

“It’s alright,
Mrs Davis, I’ll go and sit with her. It might be best if it’s me.
She can shout at me without having to say sorry afterwards.”

He quickly went
back into the front room and closed the door.

Veronica stared
at her husband. “Well! Of all the cheek!”

When Adam went
back into the front room, Chrissy had already thrown herself on the
sofa. She was crying. Adam sat next to her and took her in his
arms. He pulled her onto his lap and held her there as she cried
softly. He didn’t say a word. He just held her and waited
patiently.

Finally,
Chrissy’s tears subsided. Adam took a clean white handkerchief from
his pocket and gave it to her. She wiped the tears from her eyes
and face.

“I can’t help
it, Adam,” she said. “Every time I see her picture it makes me
cry.”

“It’s alright.
It’s perfectly natural. And it will be like this for a while. Even
when you stop crying about it, you’ll still feel sad. And it will
always be like that. The memory might dim, but you’ll never forget
her. And every so often, you’ll think of her and feel sad. It’s
better if you try and remember the good things. Think of the fun
you had together. Don’t think of the end. It’ll be alright, you’ll
see.”

His words
almost made Chrissy cry again. “Oh, Adam! You can be really nice
sometimes! So why do you have to be such a devious bugger?”

Adam smiled
weakly. “Because I care for you greatly,” he said seriously. “And I
am not as devious as you think. What I said about the wedding dress
earlier was nothing but a ruse. It did hurt me greatly, and Charles
did not lie to you. I said it merely to distract you from your
grief, as you asked me to.”

Now Chrissy did
cry again. “Oh, Adam!” she wailed. “You sweet thing! And then mum
went and ruined it all!” Chrissy remembered how she had smacked him
and suddenly felt guilty. “Oh, I’m sorry! I hit you so hard as
well! Oh forgive me, Adam! I didn’t mean it!” She smothered him in
kisses.

Adam responded
by grabbing the side of her head and focusing her attention on his
mouth. They kissed like that for some time, and when they finally
came up for air, they looked into one another’s eyes with such
emotion that Chrissy could stand it no longer.

“I wish mum and
dad were out,” she breathed.

“Ah! Another
unattainable dream!” Adam exclaimed ruefully. “I share that dream,
but fortunately for your virtue, they are both very much at
home.”

“Then I’ve a
good mind to turn up at your house on Saturday night wearing that
red dress.”

“I would be
very grateful. But how do you know that hasn’t been my intention
all along?”

“Are you trying
to trick me again?”

“Have I ever
tricked you?”

“Have you ever
stopped?”

“Then it is
time we called a truce.”

Chrissy looked
puzzled as Adam dislodged her from his lap and sat her next to him
on the sofa. He looked very serious as he took her hands in his.
She stared at him in surprise.

“Chrissy,” he
began. “I did not come here just to comfort and console you. I also
came here for my own needs. When Charles returned with the dress I
was distraught. I had treated you badly, and as it turned out,
unfairly. I want to put that right. I have brought the dress with
me–”

“No, Adam! It
was your mother’s!” Chrissy interrupted. “I can’t take it from
you!”

“You can, and
you must!”

“But,
Adam–”

Adam held up
his hand, cutting short her protests. “I want you to have it! You
won it fairly. And, to be honest, I can think of no other person
who I could wish for to have it. But in return, you must grant me
one favour.”

Chrissy nodded
and waited in anticipation.

“When you
marry, I want you to wear it. Promise me?”

Chrissy almost
slumped. “For a moment there, I thought you were going to
propose!”

Adam looked
embarrassed. “I’m sorry; I did not intend to mislead you. But if I
had thought for just a moment that you would accept, I would have
asked you.”

His assumption
annoyed her. “What makes you think I wouldn’t accept?”

“You are far
too sensible. And you and I both know that you would be better off
with someone of your own age.”

“Rubbish!”
Chrissy exclaimed. “Boys my age are prats or worse!”

“But are there
none that you might love?”

For some
reason, Scott’s face came into her mind again. Why was that?

“None that I
could trust,” she said quickly, but her tone and her expression
gave her away.

Adam pounced
instantly. “Ah! So there is someone?”

Chrissy hated
herself for being so transparent. She shook her head in annoyance.
“No there isn’t. Not really.”

“Who is
he?”

“It doesn’t
matter, I tell you!”

Adam wouldn’t
give up. “It does matter! I can see it in your eyes! Tell me,
Chrissy!”

“He’s the
brother of the boy who killed Jo!” Chrissy blurted out. “The
brother of Jo’s boyfriend! Okay now? Satisfied?”

Adam looked
stunned. He nodded slowly. “Ah, I see your dilemma. So young Jo got
her wish after all. But does this boy know his brother is the
one?”

“Of course he
knows!” Chrissy snapped. “And he’s lying through his teeth to
protect him!”

“And you
despise him for this?”

“Wouldn’t
you?”

Adam didn’t
answer at first. He looked thoughtful, and then finally, he shook
his head. “No, I would not despise him; I would feel sorry for
him.”

Chrissy was
astounded. “Sorry for him? But why? He’s protecting a murderer! A
murderer who killed my friend!”