The Love Resort (37 page)

‘Then we’ll have Anne-Marie to thank?’ Carla asked.

‘My God, I suppose we will.’

They heard another moan coming from the bedroom.

‘I should go,’ Thea said, feeling desperate.

‘Thea, Emily’s right: Katie knows what she’s doing. You stay here and let us take care of you. I bet you never usually have anyone do that,’ Carla said.

‘Not often,’ she admitted.

‘I think he might be asleep,’ Katie whispered. Tim was still shaking, but not quite so vigorously.

‘I’m going to stay here with you.’

‘Thanks, Todd. I need to stay awake, just in case.’

‘Katie, what did you really do? I mean, I’ve heard the rumours, but, well, it’s none of my business, but...’

‘How did I get to be so famous? The unedited version?’ She raised an eyebrow.

‘Only if you want to tell me.’ Todd felt an overwhelming desire to learn everything about her.

‘Well, I pulled myself up from nothing to be a star. I always thought I was proud of that, but to be honest there’s nothing to be proud of. I slept with the most awful men, I groomed myself, learnt how to look good, walk, talk and act like I should be a star. I turned into a bitch, I hurt people who were in my way, and I lost myself.’

‘It’s not an unusual story, Katie.’ Todd felt sorry for her. He knew how the system worked, and he knew that underneath the exterior, there was a human being. Something he would never have thought two weeks ago.

‘No, not unusual, but it worked for me and although I know I have a bad reputation for being a diva, I really made myself believe that I deserved to act like that. After all the blow-jobs, the hand jobs, the perverse sex that I had to endure.’ She shuddered.

‘We could talk about what we’re going to do when we get out of here.’

‘Don’t you mean “if”?’

‘No, I mean when. We have to face the Studio.’

‘Well, we’ll just have to tell them the truth. Or we just say we made a mistake. Plenty of people get quickie divorces in Hollywood. No one will be at all surprised.’

‘I think I should come clean.’

‘What about the movie?’

‘I could beg them to let me direct it still, but with a different leading man. If I’m a director no one will care if I like men or not.’

‘Women everywhere will still weep.’

‘They’ll get over it.’

‘So, you think Bernie and co. will go for it?’

‘Probably not, but it’s worth a try. After all, I’m looking forward to directing you.’

‘Really?’

‘Katie, there’s a great actress inside of you, there really is. I think I can get it out.’

‘You sound so utterly pretentious, Todd Cortes.’

‘I do, don’t I?’

‘Which is why you’ll probably make a brilliant director.’ She winked at him.

29

Anne
-
Marie
Langdale
—
A
Bright
Shining
Star

It seems only fitting to provide you with information on your host, the kind that, as a guest of The Love Resort, you receive as a mark of the privileged position you are in. As a gift there is a glossy brochure with a full biography in, and also a list of her books.* From
Only
Where
the
Sun
Shines
, her first book, to
Find
Me
at
the
End
of
the
Rainbow
, her latest offering, her career has been one of the great success stories of recent times.

Of course, this is all shared knowledge, but what you, as guests, receive is a special insight into the lady herself. She’s a small person with a big personality. Her vibrancy, her lust for life, is infectious, and you will see that by staying here. She radiates warmth, compassion and she loves nothing more than laughter.

Guest
Handbook

*This biography is exclusive to The Love Resort and cannot be obtained anywhere else.

*

‘Anything?’ Lily asked.

Ed shook his head.

Harriet, David and Mary were sitting around the breakfast table outside. The sun was shining, they’d been served a fine breakfast but they all felt frazzled by their near-sleepless night.

‘The nurse who left said she was still stuck in the past. She slept for hours, but, again, that’s apparently normal under the circumstances. She’s awake but has still no idea who I am. We asked about the guests but she looked at me as if I was mad. She thought I might be a policeman, then she got scared and the nurse had to ask me to leave. The doctor is due in an hour; hopefully she might be able to tell us something.’

Ed knew that his wife had lost it, properly; he didn’t need a doctor to tell him that. The problem he faced was deciding what to do about it. First, Anne-Marie needed help, and who knew how long it would take before they got any sense out of her? Then there was the matter of the missing guests to tackle, and he knew that David would probably demand proper police involvement today. So that made the press a problem. Then there was Lily. How could they leave now, with things like they were? He didn’t like his wife, would go so far as to say that he hated her most of the time, but he couldn’t just walk out. His life was all spinning out of his control, and it wasn’t just for his wife that he was worried.

‘Oh God. They could be anywhere by now. There’s nothing we can do. Nothing.’ David put his head in his hands.

‘Come on, David, what can she have done?’

‘That’s what I’d like to know. She’s mad.’

‘She’s not mad, she’s ill.’

‘Whatever. Ill people can harm other people.’

‘My Katie is all right,’ Mary announced.

‘I’m glad you think so. What about the others?’ David snapped. He was looking agitated and Ed thought that he would blow a fuse any minute.

‘They’ll be all right too. I know it in my heart.’

David rolled his eyes. ‘I’m going for a swim, I need to cool off.’

The doctor arrived and went straight to Anne-Marie. Ed paced the living room, waiting for her to return. Lily and Harriet went outside.

‘You’d think he still loves her, the way he’s behaving,’ Lily said. She felt like crying; like she’d lost him.

‘What?’

‘You know, as soon as Todd and Katie left we were going to leave too. We were going to start our new life together and, you know what, we’d have been guilt free. The way she’s treated us, we wouldn’t have had one moment of worry about her. But now she’s turned into a dribbling idiot, we will be guilty, and I bet you that Ed won’t leave her.’

‘Right.’

‘Oh, what am I going to do?’

Lily looked at Harriet imploringly; Harriet looked a little scared.

*

‘Mr Smith?’

‘Please, call me Ed.’

‘OK, well, your wife’s condition is unchanged, although it’s still early days. The psychiatrist will be along later, for an evaluation. To be frank, I am expecting him to want to section your wife.’

‘Well, if that’s for the best...’ Ed felt sick at the enormity of what he was hearing.

‘She’s very sick, and in these cases, the patient either snaps out of it quickly, or it takes a long healing process. You have to face the possibility that your wife might not ever fully recover.’

‘Jesus.’ Ed thought of her, her vibrancy, her demands, her shouting and swearing and terrorising everyone. He couldn’t help but feel sad for her, despite everything. However, he did need to know what this meant for him and Lily. He hated himself for his selfishness but just because Anne-Marie was ill, didn’t mean he had to stay with her. Did it? He felt as if he was being weighed down with boulders.

‘You have control, Ed. I think it’s important that you know that. If she’s sectioned, then you will have to sign a consent form, otherwise we might have to forcefully do so.’

‘Look, if that’s the conclusion you come to, then I won’t stand in your way. I want what’s best for my wife.’ He had a feeling that whatever that was, wasn’t going to be best for him.

‘Of course you do.’ The doctor smiled sympathetically, and Ed felt pathetically grateful that he didn’t know the full extent of what was going on.

*

‘He told us not to see her, to leave her alone for now,’ Ed said, once the psychiatrist had gone. He had also told Ed that the next twenty-four hours were crucial. After that, the next course of action would be taken.

‘Did you tell him we’re missing eight people?’ Harriet asked, slightly hysterically.

‘Yes, and he said that the only thing we could do was to call the police, who wouldn’t be able to get anything out of her. If you want the police involved, then I will call them. Oh God…’ Ed put his head in his hands; Lily felt sorry for him. She shot Harriet a sharp look.

‘Sorry,’ Harriet said.

‘It’s OK. I just feel responsible. We were leaving.’ He had no idea why he was telling her that.

‘Lily said.’

‘I still want to, but you know, I can’t walk out on her with this going on. And, the thing is, that although I know it’s not rational, I blame myself.’

‘Which is perfectly normal, although wrong,’ Lily said.

‘Maybe.’

‘It’s not your fault.’

‘I agree,’ Harriet added, looking surprised at herself. ‘Look, I need to call my boss. Wish me luck. I’ve never heard of anyone being murdered over the phone, but there’s always a first time.’ Ed and Lily were both shocked when Harriet actually laughed.

*

Katie walked into the living room. Thea and Carla were huddled together, Jimmy was next to them. Lee had his arms around Emily and was whispering to her.

‘Did you sleep at all?’ she asked. They all shook their heads. Jimmy couldn’t believe that Katie Ray stood before him in her bra. She was tired, and stressed. Everything was more than freakish; he couldn’t even begin to process what was going on, what had been going on, or what would happen to them next.

‘Katie, how is Tim?’

‘He slept some, but he’s not good. Really he needs a doctor; they have pills for this sort of thing, to make it easier.’

‘Oh God, what are we going to do?’

‘I’m going to check for a way out again. There must be something,’ Jimmy said, jumping up. He was used to feeling useless but never more so than now.

‘I’ll help.’ Carla joined him. Jimmy didn’t hold out much hope but needed to feel they were doing something.

‘Can I see him?’ Thea asked, and Katie nodded.

‘I don’t suppose she left us any coffee?’ she asked hopefully. ‘If she did there’s no kettle,’ Emily answered apologetically.

‘Thea?’ Tim asked as Thea approached him.

‘Hi,’ she whispered. He looked awful. Grey and gaunt. Bags hanging under his eyes. He was still shaking, she noticed, as the pain of it ripped through her. He needed her help but she was useless. His hair was stuck to his head where he’d been sweating. He was really sick and she should have prevented it.

‘I don’t feel good.’ He tried to smile but coughed instead.

‘You’ve looked better too,’ Thea replied, kneeling down, and kissing his head. As her heart broke for him, she felt utterly responsible.

‘I’m really sick, aren’t I?’ His tone was that of a child.

‘Yes, Tim, you are.’ Thea said a silent prayer.

‘But now I can get better.’ His eyes glistened with hope.

‘You will get better,’ she answered, and then lay down next to him and held him. She couldn’t fix him. In acknowledging that, she felt she had at last admitted her problem.

She told him stories from their childhood. How they used to play hide-and-seek and how whenever they were playing and their mothers called them in for tea they would hide in their best place and time how long it took for them to be found. How they would go on holiday together, always—either to Wales, with Thea’s mother, or to France, Normandy, with Tim’s. How there were so many good times: they’d learnt to ride bicycles together although Thea was much better than Tim; how they went to horse riding lessons for a while until Tim deemed it mean to the horses and refused to go. How when Thea joined the drama group, Tim, who couldn’t act and didn’t like to act, joined too to keep her company.

There were bad times too, she told him. When his mother moved in with Steve and Steve hit her, and tried to hit Tim once, so Tim ran away. Thea’s mother sorted his mother out, and she sorted Tim out. Then there was the time when her grandfather died and she told Tim that she would die too, because she loved him more than anyone (apart from Tim). Tim stayed talking to her and made her realise that her grandfather would hate it if she did that.

There were so many memories linking them, she told him, so many stories. And as she stroked his head, she finally knew that when she complained about her lack of family, she had one—she had one right there.

‘Thea, I’m sorry,’ he said, when she stopped.

‘It’s OK.’

‘No, it’s not, it’s not OK. I don’t know what it is at the moment, but when I’m better I will.’ She nodded.

*

‘If we get out of here, I’m going to help him,’ Katie decided.

‘How?’ Todd asked.

‘I’m paying for him to go to the best rehab place. There’s that one back home. I know it’s full of screwed-up famous people but then I could visit him. Todd, I couldn’t help my father. This won’t make up for that, but it might help me to come to terms with it.’

‘And it’ll help Tim. What about Thea?’

‘She’s an actress. Todd; we must be able to do something for her.’

‘Maybe we could give her an audition. If we have any clout, that is.’

‘If Thea turned out to be a rubbish actress, even with the best director directing her, then that’s that. But you can at least give her a break.’

‘If I still have a career.’ Todd shuddered as he thought about how much he’d done for his precious career.

‘Oh, you will. We both will. After getting through this, persuading the Studio will be easy. I bet we could do it, especially now we’re friends.’

‘We are friends, aren’t we?’ He laughed as he thought about it.

‘Yes, and every girl needs a gay best friend.’