The Woman From Paris (46 page)

As he swept his eyes around the room he noticed the large collage of photographs that took up an entire wall. They were all of George—every single one—either Julius with George, or Julius with George and some dignitary. David felt uneasy seeing his father’s face smiling out like that from so many frames; it reeked of obsession. He had always known Julius had admired his boss; he had just never known how much. “Ah, you’ve noticed my wall of fame,” Julius laughed. “I thought very highly of your father, as you know. He was a great man. It was a tragedy—that’s all I can say. A tragedy that has changed my life forever. There’ll never be another George Frampton.”

He took the chair behind his desk and knitted his fingers expectantly. “So what brings you up to the Big Smoke?”

David bristled at his sarcastic tone. “You lied about the DNA test,” he replied, sitting down opposite.

Julius’s face darkened, the smile gone as quickly as if he had pulled off a mask. “So you know.” He shrugged. “It was bound to come out sometime.”

“No, it only came out because you let it. You knew full well what was on that DVD.”

Julius picked up a pen and began to twirl it between his stumpy fingers. He sighed insincerely. “Oh dear, that must be very distressing for your mother. I’m so sorry.”

“Spare me your sympathy, Julius.”

A small smile curled the corners of the lawyer’s lips. “I don’t suppose Phaedra’s so welcome now at Fairfield. Such a pity. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

David watched him gloat at Phaedra’s demise, and suddenly, it all became very clear. “She rebuffed you, didn’t she?” he said, heart racing.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“You thought you’d take revenge by sending my mother the DVD because Phaedra had hurt your pride. After all you did for her, plotting and scheming, she didn’t want you.”

“David, you’re barking up the wrong tree.”

“You not only betrayed Phaedra, you betrayed my father.” He swept his eyes over the wall of photographs. “You profess to care about him, and yet you destroy his memory and all those he loved.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Julius growled. “I’d have given my life for George. Your father was a better man than any of his sons.”

“He had a lapse of judgment when he chose you as his man Friday. Or perhaps he chose you
because
you were underhanded. I always considered my father an honorable man. Now I’m not so sure.”

Julius was visibly rattled. “Your father was a brilliant man. Phaedra seduced him, and because of her he took his eye off the ball. She pulled him down. He might not have died if she hadn’t made him miserable. He became reckless after she refused to see him anymore. He threw himself down that mountain as if he had a death wish.”

“You mean he took his eye off
you
, Julius? Admit it, you were jealous. They went trekking, what, twice?—long treks in the Himalayas, something he never did with you. You weren’t jealous of Mum because she never got in the way. But Phaedra did. He was crazy about her, wasn’t he? Suddenly, you were relegated to the shadows, excluded from all the fun.”

“It wasn’t going to last,” Julius snapped. “It was an obsession. You know your father: he was the obsessive type, but his fixations never lasted long. He’d have changed his will back in the end.”

“Was it your idea for her to pretend she was his daughter?”

“She came to me in a panic once she knew she’d been included in his will. She didn’t want to hurt his family. So I concocted the scam to protect George. You know, he would never have left Antoinette. It was nothing more than an infatuation, and it wouldn’t have lasted. Now Phaedra’s where she would have been had he not died: out in the cold. As I said, he would have tired of her in the end.”

“She really rattled you, didn’t she?” said David. “But your plan hasn’t worked. I’m going to ask her to come back, once I find her.”

Julius recovered his composure a little once he realized he still had the upper hand. “Ah, she’s run off, has she?”

“As you intended, she was shocked and hurt by the revelation in the DVD. But I’m going to find her.”

“Well, if you’ve come here in the hope of discovering where she is, I have no idea.” He shrugged carelessly. “And if I did know, why on earth do you think I’d tell you?”

David wanted to reach over and punch him. It wouldn’t have been difficult; the man was half his size and as soft as jelly, but he held back. There was no point either in taunting him with the obvious fact that he would no longer be employed to run George’s estate. David kept his dignity and stood up, thrusting his hands in his pockets to prevent himself from doing something stupid. “I wish you luck, Julius. Once it’s made public that you falsified the DNA test, I don’t imagine you’ll find much work in this town. I’m surprised: for a man as meticulous as you, your actions were extremely clumsy.”

Julius smiled like a snake. “And I wish you luck, David. You’ll need
it to find Phaedra. I imagine by now she’s losing herself in the deepest depths of America. A girl like Phaedra is easy to lose. No roots, no ties, nothing.” He clicked his fingers. “Gone, like a flame in the wind. You can see yourself to the door.”

David’s veneer of calmness crumbled once he reached the pavement. He began to shake, and he staggered to his car, where he remained for a long while, taking deep breaths and fighting the rising nausea. His head swam so that he was unable to organize his thoughts. Where was he to look now? Who did he know who knew her? No one.

He left London defeated. All he could do now was hope that she’d have the courage to contact
him
.

When he reached Fairfield Park, he found his mother and Margaret up at the folly with Dr. Heyworth. The three sat talking in front of the fire like refugees from a terrible tornado, seeking shelter in the little house on the hill. Of course, the subject was Phaedra—a subject they were wearing thin with their incessant discussion.

When David burst in, they were shocked by his unkempt appearance. It was as if he hadn’t slept or bathed for days. Antoinette was wrenched out of herself at the sight of her son’s despair, and suddenly hers paled into insignificance. “David, are you all right?” she asked. He looked like a man who had lost everything.

“Dear boy, come and sit down,” said Margaret gently. “She’s gone, hasn’t she?”

David flopped onto the sofa beside his mother and put his head in his hands. He didn’t feel at all embarrassed to show his unhappiness. They might as well know the truth. “She’s left and taken everything with her,” he said. “She’s not coming back.”

Antoinette put a hand on his shoulder. “You love her very much, don’t you?” He couldn’t answer, and Antoinette didn’t know what else to say. She could offer no words of comfort.

“I don’t know where’s she’s gone. She could be anywhere. I suspect she’s tossed her phone into the Thames, because she doesn’t return my calls or texts. That bloody Julius Beecher wasn’t any help, either.”

“You went to see Beecher?” Margaret was appalled.

David lifted his head out of his hands. “What a sick man he is.”

“In what way is he sick?” Dr. Heyworth asked.

“He’s got a massive wall of photos of Dad, like he was obsessed with him. It’s weird. I think he was jealous of Phaedra because she came between them. You know how close Dad and Julius were. Julius was like his shadow, always one step behind, but always there. Then after Dad died, he tried to have Phaedra for himself, as if he wanted to step into Dad’s shoes. Suddenly, there was the chance, through her, of becoming Dad, with a big fat bank balance and the Frampton Sapphires. It was too good an opportunity to miss. But she rejected him, as any girl of good sense and taste would, so he betrayed her.”

“You mean he sent the DVD on purpose, knowing it would expose Phaedra?” Antoinette exclaimed, looking at Dr. Heyworth. “I’m so naive.”

“There’s nothing wrong in believing the best of everyone. It’s an admirable quality, Antoinette,” said Dr. Heyworth gently.

“I’m not so sure,” she replied, lowering her eyes. “I’ve been much too trusting recently.”

“It doesn’t surprise me at all that that odious man sent the DVD on purpose, and it worked,” said Margaret. “What a weasel.”

“Well, he’s lost everything now, too. I don’t imagine anyone will employ him when they find out what he’s done.”

“He had already lost everything; that’s why he was so ready to bring Phaedra down with him,” said Margaret wisely. “A man commits professional suicide only when he’s got nothing more to lose.”

David shook his head regretfully. “I should have gone after her when she left. What an idiot I am! She was as much to be pitied as you, Mum. Really, I know I shouldn’t say that, and you won’t want to hear it, but I believe it’s true. She loved Dad, and he lied to her, as he lied to you. You both have more in common than you realize.” Antoinette listened but said nothing. She wasn’t ready to be so forgiving.

“I think we all need time to let the dust settle,” Margaret suggested diplomatically. “It’s been a terrible shock, and we all feel bitterly deceived. We can’t control what will happen in the future, and right now, I don’t think we’re ready to project.
Que serà, serà,
isn’t that
what the Spanish say? What will be, will be. We all need something to do. We can’t mope about aimlessly like lost dogs.”

“This folly was my hobby,” said Antoinette mournfully. “But now it’s finished.”

“There’s always plenty to do in the gardens,” Dr. Heyworth suggested.

David rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “What about opening a farm shop?”

The suggestion appeared to come out of nowhere. Margaret and Antoinette looked at him in surprise. “I think that’s an inspired idea,” said Margaret. “I can’t imagine why we didn’t think of it before.”

“Where would we put it?” Antoinette asked.

“In one of the farm buildings. We’ve plenty of barns to choose from,” said David.

“There’s nothing like it anywhere near Fairfield,” Dr. Heyworth added enthusiastically. “It would be very popular.”

“We could have animals,” Antoinette suggested with mounting excitement. “Hens . . . and cows . . .”

“And pigs,” David added, thinking of Phaedra. “Piglets are very cute.”

Margaret narrowed her eyes. Cute wasn’t an English word or one that David would normally use. “I sense someone else’s fingerprints all over this idea,” she said.

“It’s Phaedra’s,” David confessed bashfully.

“It’s a good one,” said Dr. Heyworth. “At least I think so.”

“What else did she suggest?” Margaret asked.

“To open the park to the public.” David imagined that was one step too far for his grandmother, but she put her head on one side as if weighing up the pros and cons.

“It’s not such a bad idea. Fairfield is built to be admired and enjoyed.”

“We could open it during the summer only, for perhaps a couple of weeks or so,” said Antoinette brightly. “It would give Barry and me an incentive to make the gardens as wonderful as possible. There’s a lot more I’d like to do around the lake. I’d like to have ducks, for a start.”

“Ducks, Antoinette? I think you should have geese and swans,” Margaret remarked.

“Don’t swans belong to the queen?” said Dr. Heyworth.

“I’m sure Her Majesty would lend us a few if we asked her nicely.” Margaret grinned. “So how about it? Are we all agreed?
This
will be our project. No more wallowing—let’s put ourselves to work.”

Antoinette glanced anxiously at David. “I’m in,” she said.

“Me, too,” he answered flatly, but he knew his heart wouldn’t be.

“Then that’s settled.” Margaret turned her hawkish gaze on Dr. Heyworth. “Any good with animals, Dr. Heyworth?”

“I’m sure I could put my hand to anything,” he replied with a smile.

“Then you’re in, too.”

“It would be a pleasure to help.”

“Good.” Margaret looked at her watch. “I say, it’s sherry time. Shall I give Harris a call?”

30

T
he idea, born with a roar, petered out into a squeak. Antoinette talked a lot about the farm shop and bought a book in which she wrote down endless lists of ideas, but she never actually
did
anything about them. David helped her choose the barn and planned the car park, piggery, and henhouse, but nothing came of those decisions. Dr. Heyworth found a suitable manager who had been a patient of his. He was aptly named Toby Lemon and used to run a chain of grocery stores before he left to start up on his own. The recession had put a stop to his plans, and now he worked for the local supermarket, which he hated. But while there was no business, there was no job to offer him. Margaret tried to fire Antoinette with enthusiasm, but she was aware that only one person could restore her spirit. It was going to be impossible to replace Phaedra.

The summer days lengthened, the crops grew tall and yellow, the weather got warmer, yet David’s heart was as bleak as midwinter. He kept his pain to himself, although everyone knew the cause. Joshua, Roberta, and Tom continued to come down on weekends, but the atmosphere was heavy. Every now and then they’d get all excited about the farm shop and Tom would threaten to leave his job in London and come down to run it, but then they’d leave and a few more weeks would pass before they discussed the topic again.

David didn’t join in the family gatherings as he used to. He remained in his house, reading his books, or on the farm, working. At harvest time he drove his tractor well into the night, carting grain from the combines to the barns. On rainy days he swept the floors and heaped the corn. He took solace from being busy. If he was busy,
he didn’t have time to think of Phaedra and wonder what she was doing and whether she ever thought of him.

Often he gazed up at the moon as he walked Rufus around the lake at night and imagined her staring up at it, too, remembering the time they spied on Antoinette playing the piano; the first time he had held her hand; the sudden realization that he loved her. He wondered whether she still cared for him, or whether she’d moved on as easily as she’d moved away. After all, they had enjoyed a mild flirtation. There had been nothing in her behavior to suggest that she’d been “desperately, deliriously, and overwhelmingly” in love with him, as she’d been with his father.