Impetuous Masquerade

Simon left them on the forecourt of the flats, striding away angrily to where his Cortina was parked, leaving Jared to escort Rhia to his own vehicle. This was a Mercedes, sleek and powerful—a hire-car, he remarked dryly as he unlocked the door for her to get inside.

‘I’m used to a longer automobile,’ he added, levering himself into the seat beside her. ‘But I know the Mercedes, and it seemed a reasonable compromise.’

Rhia bent her head. ‘You don’t have to explain yourself to me, Mr Frazer,’ she said stiffly, and he cast her a half impatient glance.

‘No, I know I don’t,’ he conceded, starting the engine. ‘But I’d hate you to think I was trying to impress you. That wasn’t my intention at all.’

‘I’m sure it wasn’t.’ Rhia spoke hotly, then endeavoured to restrain her temper. It wasn’t Jared Frazer’s fault that Valentina had disappeared, and she could hardly blame him for her sister’s part in the proceedings.

‘Valentina was driving Glyn’s car, wasn’t she?’ he said now, as they joined the stream of traffic in the Cromwell Road. ‘She told you, didn’t she? That’s why you were so damn scared when I suggested she’d been with him when the accident happened.’

Rhia took a deep breath. ‘Why—why should you think that?’

‘Why?’ He made a sound of impatience. ‘Miss Mallory—oh, what the hell—Rhia! I can’t go on calling you Miss Mallory—no way could Glyn’s injuries have been sustained behind the wheel of that car. To begin with, there would have been some chest damage, bruising, at least, and there isn’t. His injuries are consistent with those of a passenger, a passenger who, on the moment of impact, was impelled through the windshield.’

Rhia trembled. ‘Did the police tell you this?’

‘Not yet, but they will. It was Glyn’s doctor who expressed his opinion, and I have to say, I agree with him.’

Rhia expelled her breath wearily. ‘And—and is Glyn going to be all right? I mean, now that he’s recovered consciousness.’

Jared shrugged. ‘Let’s hope so.’

‘Was—was the injury to his head all that was wrong?’

‘His face is pretty badly cut about, but I’m told the lacerations will heal. There doesn’t seem to be anything else wrong with him. Apart from his suspected concussion—and the interference with his sight.’

‘His eyes—of course.’ Rhia shivered. ‘What if he doesn’t accept that I’m Val? What if he finds out I’m lying?’

‘Why should he?’ Jared’s mouth was hard. ‘Your sister—Valentina, that is—told me yesterday that she’d never met my nephew. Have you?’

Rhia shook her head. ‘No.’

‘So.’ Her companion breathed more easily. ‘Glyn has nothing to base his suspicions on.’

Rhia gazed anxiously out of the car window, hardly seeing the crowds of Saturday shoppers, the hectic jam of traffic heading towards the river. She was wondering where Valentina was, wondering how long she could last without any obvious means of support, wondering how much longer she, Rhia, could evade Jared Frazer’s searching questions.

It took more than an hour to reach the hospital where Glyn was a patient, and it was after one o’clock when they walked the rubber-tiled corridor to the intensive care unit. There was an air of quiet competence about the place, a reassuring sense of skill and efficiency, that made Rhia believe that if anyone could help Glyn, these people could. She hoped so, she hoped so desperately. Not only for his sake, but for her sister’s.

The Sister in charge of the ward greeted Jared Frazer cordially. Evidently he was already a familiar visitor, and his introduction of Rhia was brief and to the point. Happily, Sister Harris was content with the information that this was the girl Glyn had been asking for, and Rhia did not have to make any explanations before being shown into the side-ward.

Glyn Frazer was lying on a narrow hospital bed, his skin almost as white as the pillow behind his head. He was very still, and Rhia caught her breath at the mass of small cuts and scratches that etched his pale face. There was a bandage round his head, and there were tubes attached to his nose and his wrist; and Rhia’s compassion was deeply stirred by the realisation of how helpless he was.

Glancing at Jared right behind her, she made an involuntary gesture, but Sister Harris had moved past them and was crisply dismissing the young nurse seated by the bedside. Then, bending close to her patient, she said: ‘Mr Frazer! Mr Frazer, are you awake? You’ve got a visitor.’

‘Val!’

Animation gave life to those mutilated features, and Rhia caught her breath as Glyn’s eyes flickered open. They were not dark eyes like his uncle’s, but blue, a clear transparent shade of blue, and when they turned in her direction, Rhia almost lost her nerve.

‘Val?’ Glyn said again. ‘Val, where are you? Sister, you said I had a visitor—’

‘Don’t upset yourself, Mr Frazer.’ The uniformed Sister beckoned Rhia forward. ‘Miss Mallory’s here, right beside me. Give me your hand—there,’ she reached for Rhia’s frozen fingers and entwined the two together. ‘Now do you believe me?’

‘Oh, Val—’

Glyn’s voice cracked, and Rhia, acting under the silent instructions Jared’s eyes were giving her, sank down into the chair the nurse had vacated, and moistened her dry lips. ‘He—hello, Glyn,’ she got out jerkily, as he pulled her fingers to his lips. ‘How—how are you feeling?’

‘I’m okay,’ he exclaimed, and her breath escaped on a shaky gasp when she realised he had apparently accepted her identity. ‘How are you? You’re not hurt, are you? When—when you weren’t here when I woke up, I—I thought you might be—dead!’

Rhia glanced helplessly round at Jared Frazer then, and as if realising she needed his assistance, he moved forward. ‘You’ve been unconscious for more than twenty-four hours, old buddy,’ he remarked, his tone light and deliberately cheerful. ‘You couldn’t expect—Val—to sit with you all that time. She had to sleep, too.’

‘I know.’ Glyn acknowledged this, his eyes turning again in Rhia’s direction, evidently more interested in her than his uncle right now. Rhia, watching those light eyes, felt the hot colour surging into her cheeks. It didn’t seem possible that he could look at her without seeing her.

‘You’re sure you’re okay?’ he insisted, holding on to her fingers. ‘How—how do I look? Did they tell you about my eyes? I’m having some difficulty focussing.’

‘You—you look fine,’ Rhia assured him huskily. ‘And—and I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before your eyesight is back to normal.’

‘I don’t look like a freak, then?’ Glyn persisted, his voice growing a little breathy as his strength drained away.

‘No!’ Rhia was swift to answer him. ‘No, of course not.’

‘Then why don’t you kiss me?’ he demanded, gazing up at her sightlessly, and Rhia could only do as he asked with Jared Frazer and Sister Harris looking on.

Glyn’s lips opened beneath her tentative caress, creating an intimacy she had not expected. She half drew back in protest, and then, her startled eyes meeting his uncle’s dominant gaze, she gave in and returned his kiss.

‘You can do better than that,’ Glyn whispered, when she would have returned to her seat, but to Rhia’s relief, Sister Harris intervened.

‘Not now, Mr Frazer,’ she declared firmly. ‘I think you should get some rest. Miss Mallory can come back later, if she wants to, but for the present, I think she should leave.’

‘Oh, no …’

Glyn protested now, but Sister Harris was insistent, and Jared assured his nephew that ‘Val’ wouldn’t be far away. ‘Give the girl a break, eh, Glyn. And yourself, too. We don’t want you overdoing things, do we?’

Glyn twisted a little restlessly beneath the thin sheet. ‘You won’t go away, will you, Val? I mean—you won’t leave the hospital.’

‘I—’ Rhia looked up at his uncle. ‘I—no. No, I won’t go away. You—you get some sleep now. I’ll see you later.’

Outside in the corridor again, Rhia faced Jared with only mildly concealed resentment. ‘You knew that would happen, didn’t you?’ she exclaimed. ‘You knew Glyn would react the way he did. How can I stay at the hospital? I have commitments of my own.’

‘Then I suggest you try and work out where your sister might have gone,’ Jared responded dryly, falling into step beside her as they walked back towards the lifts. ‘But for now, I suggest you let me buy you lunch. There’s a bar right across the road where they serve a passable hamburger.’

Rhia pressed her lips together frustratedly as the huge lift glided smoothly down to the ground floor. He was right, of course, Val would have to be found; and when she was, she would have to be made to face up to her responsibilities.

Installed in the pub, with a glass of lime and lemonade beside her, and a sesame seed roll filled with hamburger and cheese in her hand, Rhia regarded her companion with slightly less hostility.

‘He—he seems all right, doesn’t he?’ she ventured, as Jared spread his legs to accommodate hers, as they sat together on stools over a small circular table. ‘I mean, at least there hasn’t been any brain damage.’

‘No.’ Jared conceded the point, taking a generous mouthful of his own roll before adding: ‘Your sister can thank her lucky stars. That’s one charge she won’t have to face.’