Topspin (24 page)

The little prick actually thought he could get away with bribing the members into voting to build a hotel on the site of the tennis courts overlooking the first tee, with American-style golfing condominiums attached to the complex. While it beggared belief, it also explained a lot. The acrimonious atmosphere between the golfers and tennis players had gotten worse recently, exacerbated by a series of trifling incidents which, in retrospect, had probably been initiated by Ed. They’d be delighted to see the back of the tennis courts if it meant the club would then be exclusively for the use of golfers. But the golfers wouldn’t have any say in the proposed development because they held no shares in the tennis leasehold. Ed, or his mysterious partner, must have discussed the development with some of the influential golfing members for it even to have got this far.

Jack grimaced. Ed had wanted Trina out of the way so he could take over the club, secure in the knowledge that Jack and others likely to object to the scheme wouldn’t hang about if he was in charge, handing him victory on a plate. With the Jacks, Joes, and Trinas of this world off the scene, Ed would have a much better chance of convincing the rest of the membership to sell.

Nice try, Ed
.

Would the members even consider selling? More than likely. A lot of them met the required social standards but were perpetually hard up. They’d get a lot of money for their shares, and Jack couldn’t see them turning their backs on that sort of income. Some of the older members hardly showed their faces nowadays and just hung on for the kudos of being associated with such an up-market establishment. Counting on their greed, Ed probably felt confident about getting the majority he needed. Or would have done, if he’d managed to oust Trina.

Jack was trying to figure out what he’d do next, if he was in Ed’s shoes, when the doorbell rang.

“Come on up, love,” he said into the entry phone, pressing the buzzer to let Angie in. She stepped out of the elevator and he was surprised to see Claire with her. He frowned, wondering what had happened to cause both women to look so tense. “And Claire too,” he said, kissing them both. “It must be my lucky day. Come on, let’s sit on the terrace and I’ll get us all something to drink. You both look like you could use it.”

“Thanks, Jack,” said Angela. “I reckon you’re right about that.”

“Two white wines coming right up.”

He served their drinks and took the chair across from them.

“Okay, so what’s on your minds, girls?” he asked, leaning back in his chair and sipping beer straight from the bottle.

“Where to start?” Angela asked, appearing to be in no hurry to do so.

“Try the beginning,” he suggested, frowning when his attempts at levity had little effect upon either of them. Claire in particular looked miserable, as though she was contemplating throwing herself over the railing. “Come on, girls,” he cajoled, “something’s obviously seriously wrong, and you’ve come here because you think your Uncle Jack can help you out. So let’s have it. I won’t bite,” he added, winking at Claire.

“Jack, I think I’ve found out why Ed wants to take over the club,” Angela said.

“No worries. I’m ahead of you there.” And he proceeded to tell them all he’d just learned about Farnborough Enterprises buying out the freehold. “Does that correspond with your information?”

“More or less, but, Jack, there’s more that you need to know.” She paused. “And it has to do with my husband and his partner.”

“How so?”

“Paul… God, I hate the very sound of that name!” She downed the rest of her drink in one swallow. “Jack, you need to know that he’s the main reason why I walked out on Rod. He’s bad news, but Rod can’t see it. Anyway, Paul’s here on the Island, ostensibly to keep his eye on a housing development in Gurnard that he’s got a stake in.”

“But you think he has an alternative agenda?”

“Yes, and he’s been trying to get me to meet with him since he got here.”

“He wants something from you?”

“Not just me, Jack.”

“Oh Lord!” Claire dropped her head into her hands and groaned aloud.

“What is it, darling?” Jack crouched by Claire’s side, concerned and mystified. “How does this mess involve you?”

“Tell him, Claire.” Angela spoke with iron resolve.

With patent reluctance, Claire stuttered through the story she’d told Angela the day before. She kept her eyes trained on the flagstones beneath her feet, her voice an emotionless monotone. Jack just gaped at her, too stunned to speak for several minutes after she ran out of words. The strained silence on the terrace was palpable, but Jack barely noticed as he struggled to absorb all he’d just heard, shaking his head repeatedly.

“I don’t believe it!” Jack glowered at Claire, very much afraid that it had to be true, much as he wished it could be otherwise. “You’re having me on.”

“I wish I was,” Claire mumbled, still not meeting his eye.

“And I saw all the signs but still didn’t want to believe it.” He paced up and down, scowling off into the distance. “Why, Claire?” He swung round to face her. “Explain it to me, because I just don’t get it.”

When she showed no sign that his words had even registered, Jack lost it. Claire had always been the one exception to the rule. He’d told himself that women like Claire made up for the fickleness of the rest and took vicarious pleasure in her contentment with Joe. But it now transpired that Claire was as feckless, grasping, and self-centered as the rest of her miserable sex. Pangs of disillusionment preceded a searing physical pain that made him want to kill someone.

“Why? Come on, tell me why?” He grasped Claire’s shoulders and shook her violently. She made no move to prevent him, remaining docile and unresponsive beneath his harsh hands. “What did you get out of cheating on the most decent man I’ve ever met? Tell me what drove you to it. Make me understand what was in that vacant head of yours, if you think you can.”

“Jack, let her go.”

Angela’s cool tone brought him to his senses and he abruptly released her. She slumped back in her chair, dry-eyed, staring vacantly at the floor without blinking.

“I thought you were different, Claire,” he said quietly, his voice reflecting his disillusionment. “I really thought you had that rare something that set you apart. I envied Joe, do you know that? And I often thought if I could just meet someone who—”

“Give it a rest, Jack!” Claire abruptly emerged from her catatonic state, a spark of defiance swirling in the depths of her eyes. “I’ve seen the way you look at me. If I’d offered myself to you, don’t tell me you’d have turned me down. Well, how about it? Shall we? Where’s your bedroom?” He cast a withering glance her way. “Don’t go all coy on me now. I bet you’ve done it to me enough times in your head.” She rose and moved to stand directly in his path, her features rendered ugly by the force of her anger. “Come on then, Jack, at least touch me. You know you want to.” She turned away from him and when she spoke again it sounded as though all the anger had drained out of her. “Everything’s so black and white with you, Jack, that’s your problem. There’s no middle ground.”

“Don’t try to turn the blame on me.”

“Why? Don’t you believe you deserve some of it?” She tossed her head. “You men are all the same. How many times have I heard you talk about the women you pick up for sex? How many times have I heard women waxing lyrical about your legendary skills between the sheets? You take what you want and then criticize women for letting you have it. If that makes us sluts, what does it say about you?”

“It’s hardly the same thing. I’m not with anyone, which makes me a free agent. What’s more, I don’t make a habit of sleeping with other people’s wives.” Jack enunciated each word with deliberate precision, still struggling to control his anger. “I have standards and live by them, which is obviously where we differ.”

Claire seemed to have run out of ways to justify herself and resumed her seat without looking at him.

“Have you stopped to think what this will do to Joe?”

“Of course I have!” She glowered at him. “What do you take me for?”

“Trust me, darling, you don’t want to know.”

“I’ve been thinking about nothing but Joe for the past few days. He wasn’t supposed to get hurt. Despite what you think of me, I do love him.”

Jack snorted. “You’ve got a strange way of showing it.”

“It isn’t something I made a habit of. It just happened.”

“Oh, right, that’s okay, then.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to understand.” Claire lifted stricken eyes to Jack’s face, but obviously didn’t like what she read in his expression and was the first to look away.

“This isn’t getting us anywhere,” Angela said wearily. “I didn’t bring Claire here so that you two could hurl insults at one another. I asked her to do it because there’s more you should know. Before you condemn Claire too roundly, Jack, I think it’s time I explained a little bit about my past.”

“You don’t have to, love. This isn’t about you. You’re not responsible for your husband’s actions. All you’ve done is try to help
her
.” Jack couldn’t bring himself to say Claire’s name and settled for nodding in her direction.

“No, it’s relevant.” She took a deep breath and a large swig of her replenished drink. “I was just sixteen the first time I saw Rod. I was with a crowd of girls, all of us in our school uniforms, and although he was obviously older than us, that didn’t stop us from drooling at the sight of him. To me he was quite the most dazzling man I’d ever met. He noticed us gawping at him, of course, and came over for a chat. I was astonished when he singled me out and asked for a date. I couldn’t believe someone that sophisticated could possibly be interested in me.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, love. I bet you were a cracker.”

Angela flashed a brief smile at Jack. “I was infatuated with him from the word go. He had money, charm, and connections in the most unlikely places. I gave up all career plans then and there and moved in with him on the day I left school. Against parental advice, but nothing they said was ever going to stop me. I’d prove they were wrong to be suspicious about him, and when they saw how happy we were they’d come to like him.”

“The optimistic face of youth,” Jack said, chuckling.

“Yeah, well, gradually I learned a little more about what he actually did for a living and where all the money came from. But it was too late by then. Besides, there was no way I was going to tell my parents that they’d been right all along.”

“What did he do?” Jack asked.

She took a deep breath and hesitated before responding. “He was, and probably still is, a pornographer,” she said.

Jack was surprised by her reticence. He’d been expecting something worse. “Okay,” he said slowly.

“Oh, I know that might seem pretty tame nowadays, but twenty years ago it was still very much under the table, and therefore much more profitable. I was torn between loving Rod and disgust at what he was doing. But he can be very persuasive. He convinced me that everything he and his partner Paul recorded went on between consenting adults and was intended to be viewed only by adults. He reckoned they were supplying a need, made it sound perfectly acceptable, and gradually my doubts receded.”

“But it wasn’t? Acceptable, I mean.”

“Not exactly, especially since I finished up getting involved myself. Rod persuaded me to take part in a couple of films, just with him. Well, the first time he recorded us without my knowledge, and I was furious. But I got over it when I realized how well-paid it was. For the first time since leaving school, I had a little bit of money of my own, and didn’t see anything wrong with doing on film what we did virtually every night in the privacy of our bedroom.” She spoke as though it was no big deal, but her scarlet features told a different story. “But perhaps that was because I didn’t want to.”

“And then something bad happened?”

“Yes,
Paul
happened. He said his customers were bored with the same old, same old and we needed to spice things up a bit. He wanted Rod, me, and him to be filmed as a threesome.”

“And you agreed?”

“I was reluctant, but they talked me into it eventually.” She dropped her head. “They promised it would be just the once. Rod and I had set our hearts on a new house in Penge, but we were overreaching ourselves. Rod pointed out that the profits from the film would pay the deposit, which was what persuaded me.”

“Okay, so the film went ahead.” Jack spoke casually. “But that can’t harm you now.”

She shuddered. “Yes, I made the film, but it was no longer a turn-on. I felt cheap and degraded, but Paul was ecstatic at the amount of business he turned over with that particular film. He put pressure on Rod to make me agree to do another. When nothing either of them said could persuade me, I’d never seen Paul so angry.”

Jack narrowed his eyes. “Did he get violent?”

“No, fortunately I was saved because I’d just discovered I was pregnant with the twins. Nothing could have pleased me more. But, astonishingly, Paul still wanted to go ahead with the next film. He seemed to think that some of his punters would enjoy seeing an obviously pregnant woman doing such things.”

Her words dried up, and Jack could see what a strain it was for her to relive memories she’d buried deep in her subconscious and had thought never to revisit. He hated Claire at that moment. Truly hated her for what she was putting Angela through.