Читать книгу Death on the Riviera - Ernest Elmore - Страница 20
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ОглавлениеBut when, some twenty minutes after he’d driven away from the villa, she joined him in the parked car, he soon realized that Kitty was in no mood to listen to reason. She was furious with him for turning up again in her life. Furious with the mutual friend in London who sneaked of her whereabouts. Furious because, by a strange coincidence, he’d met Nesta in the past and had thus been able to wangle an invitation to the Villa Paloma. Over Tony Shenton she was brazen.
“I met him long before I met you. We’ve kept in touch for years. That shakes you, doesn’t it? And if Tony asks me, I’m damn well going to marry him!”
“Marry him!” Bill was thunderstruck. “But, good lord, Kit, doesn’t he realize? Haven’t you had the decency to tell him?”
“Tell him what?”
“That you’re already married to me!”
Kitty laughed maliciously.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll have to tell him sometime. Even I can see that. But I’m going to tell him in my own time—not yours.”
“But, good heavens, Kit!”
“Well, what does it matter anyway? I’m not in love with you. I doubt if I ever was. Our marriage was about the grimmest mistake I ever made. Left high and dry in that pokey little Kensington flat all day while you were at the office... a thrilling sort of existence, wasn’t it?” Kitty’s laughter grew more shrill. “And I was supposed to be the good little wifey who sat twiddling her thumbs until her dear hubby came home tired and touchy from his work. Don’t be so dim, Bill. If it hadn’t been for Tony I’d have gone crackers.”
“But, good lord, Kit—you don’t mean that you and Tony—?”
“Oh, be your age! Don’t tell me you didn’t guess. That night after our final row, when I walked out on you for good... well, Tony had already fixed for me to join him down here. You’re wasting your time, Bill. It’s no good. I’m not coming back!”
“But, confound it all, you’re my wife!” cried Bill vehemently. “Do you think I’m going to stand back and see you chuck yourself away on a rank outsider like Shenton?”
“I’d like to see you stop me. If Tony asks me to marry him you’re going to give me my divorce.”
“I’m damned if I am! I came across Shenton during the War and his reputation in the mess stank to high heaven.”
“Oh well, if you must throw mud at him when he’s not here to defend himself...”
Kitty opened the car-door and slid one silk-clad leg to the ground. With a muttered oath Bill dragged her back and, reaching across, slammed the door.
“Now look here, Kit—let’s get this straight. I knew just what you were thinking about when Mrs. Hedderwick pushed out that invitation. That, in the circumstances, I was bound to turn it down. Well, I thought the same thing at first, even if I couldn’t make up an excuse to put the old dear off. But since then I’ve changed my mind, and, whether you like it or not, I’m turning up at the villa tomorrow. And if Mrs. Hedderwick’s agreeable, I’m damn well going to stay there for the remaining three weeks of my holiday. And there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it. If you think I’m going to sneak out of your life with my tail between my legs just because you think you’ve fallen for Shenton in a big way then you’re crazy! I’m giving you three weeks to find out your mistake and come to your senses. So now you know just where you stand.”
“All right,” retorted Kitty hotly. “Turn up at the villa. It won’t worry me. It certainly won’t break my heart to keep out of your way. But get this into your head. I’m not open to persuasion. You can say and do what you like but you won’t make me change my mind. I’m going to marry Tony and you’re going to make it possible. That’s flat and final.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“Well, if you must know I’m going to have a baby and it won’t be yours, Bill. Now laugh that one off.”
“Kit! It isn’t true.”
“Isn’t it? Well, wait another couple of months and even you’ll have to believe me.”
For a moment Bill sat there, immobile, unspeaking; then, suddenly, desperately, he turned on Kitty and grasped her by the wrists. Even at that moment of disillusionment he felt no real enmity towards Kitty. She’d made a mess of her life—that was all. She’d been bored and lonely and he hadn’t realized. And Shenton? How the devil was he to be blamed for this shabby set-up if he hadn’t realized that Kitty was a married woman?
He said pleadingly:
“Kit darling—even now, I don’t care... if only you’ll come back to me. We’ll forget all this rotten business. What do I care if this child isn’t—”
“Let me go—do you hear? Let me get out of here!” With a sudden vicious gesture she snatched free her wrists and caught him a stinging slap on the cheek. “If you don’t open that door and let me go I’ll scream for help!”
“O.K.” said Bill dully. “O.K.”
He reached over and opened the door. She scrambled out and stood for an instant setting straight her hair, smoothing out her frock. Then, ignoring his “Good-night”, she turned on her absurdly high-heels and clicked off up the hill. He watched her flicker through the dappled moonlight, and the fronded shadows of the palm trees, until she was out of sight. It was curious that even at that melancholy moment his heart was full of pity for her.
As he drove back slowly through the deserted streets to his hotel, he made up his mind just what his next move should be in this unhappy situation. He must tackle Shenton face to face and find out, once for all, what his intentions were towards Kitty. And if he were prepared to do the decent thing... Bill shrugged. Well, he knew when he was beaten. But, by God, Shenton must play fair, or else...
