38 #2
BY THE TIME COSIMO arrived at Arsenio’s office Paul was already there.
He was looking sternly at some photographs on the conference table.
Cosimo didn’t know Paul outside of the confines of his employment at Ferretti House.
He was Jerome’s employee and other than the usual pleasantries he hadn’t really had that much interaction with him.
He knew he must be good at his job and trustworthy otherwise he wouldn’t have lasted nearly four years working under his very particular brother.
After they’d all greeted each other, Arsenio outlined what they knew were the facts and what they presumed was happening.
“So, the bottom line is she’s continuing the affair and Jerome is blissfully unaware. What you speculate though is that she’s biding her time to either amass some money, secure some modelling contracts or what? Jerome asks her for a divorce?” asked Cosimo.
“Yeah, that way he’ll have to pay out a lot more,” Arsenio said through gritted teeth.
“So it’s down to money, then?”
Arsenio nodded.
“You want to confront him?” Cosimo walked over to the table where all the photos were strewn. “With all this?” he idly swept his hand over the table.
“Basically, yes. We’ll wait until after New Year, once business calms down, and then we really need to tell him. It’s gone too far.”
“I have to agree. I feel disloyal and to be honest if I were Jerome, I’d want to know.” Paul shifted in his seat.
“You couldn’t find anything more, then? In the photos?” Cosimo directed his comment to Paul. He shook his head, rose from his chair and strode towards the table.
“No. I know we’re missing something. The drycleaner’s.” He tapped his finger on one of the photos. “Something there doesn’t add up. My man starts on Monday checking into it, hopefully he’ll uncover something.”
Cosimo picked up the picture of Jonathan going into the drycleaner’s and then dragged the photo that showed Liz entering the business on a different day, so that it was in front of him. Paul peered over his shoulder.
“This woman here. She must be an employee, look can you see? It can’t be a coincidence the same woman is in two photos on different days.
” Cosimo pointed to the photograph where Liz was leaving.
Through the open door, you could just make out a woman in a business suit standing behind the counter, talking to the cashier.
She had a distinctive asymmetrical blonde hairstyle.
“And look here. She’s coming out of the door as the trainer approaches.
She’s a little too sharply dressed don’t you think, for a drycleaner employee.
” Paul narrowed his eyes as he focused on the slightly blurred image.
Arsenio paced over to see what they were looking at. He focused on the woman in the photo and his brows furrowed. She looked familiar but he couldn’t work out where he’d seen her. Maybe it was because he’d been staring at these photos that incessantly that her image was now ingrained into his head.
“She looks familiar, but I can’t for the life of me think where I’ve seen her before,” sighed Arsenio, voicing his thoughts.
“Yes, she looks familiar to me too,” Paul agreed.
“It’s probably because we’ve been staring at these Godforsaken photos continuously for the last few weeks,” Arsenio said, clearly irritated. He walked back over to his desk; he’d really had enough of trolling through the photos and not finding anything.
“She looks more like an accountant,” huffed Cosimo. “Or a lawyer.”
Something in Cosimo’s comment made Arsenio remember a similar conversation he’d had with Jerome a few weeks ago.
“What did you say?”
“I said, she looks like an accountant,” repeated Cosimo.
Arsenio strode back to the table and picked up the photo again. He pointed to the woman and showed it to Paul.
“You can’t see her face here very well, but on this photo here, see? Where she’s standing behind the counter. It’s a little out of focus but isn’t she in the photos pinned behind Jerome’s desk?”
Paul examined the picture and pursed his lips together.
“It could be, I’d need to see them together.
Let me quickly go up to Sky and get the photos from my office.
” Paul looked from one photo to another.
“Now that you’ve pointed it out, I think you’re right.
I knew she looked familiar.” Paul shook his head, annoyed he hadn’t made the connection.
“I don’t follow, what’s this woman got to do with Sky?” Cosimo looked expectantly at both Paul and Arsenio.
“An ex colleague of mine in the drug squad believes she’s working for a big drug dealer up here in the north. She’s on our watch list,” explained Paul.
“So if the drycleaners is where she’s working from…” Cosimo started to formulate what this implied.
“Then the drycleaners could be where the drug dealer works from too,” Arsenio added.
“And if the trainer and Liz have been frequenting the drycleaners, for no apparent reason… ,” continued Cosimo.
“We may have our Christmas miracle after all,” sniggered Arsenio, looking pleased with himself.
“I’ll go and get the photos,” Paul said eagerly, now that he thought this was a possibility, he wanted to nail the bitch and as soon as possible.
“THIS MAKES UP FOR missing Christmas Day with you.” Jonathan propped up his head on his hand and looked at Liz who was facing him as they sprawled out on the king size bed.
“All we’ve done for the past two days is fuck like minxes,” she huffed.
Jonathan laughed loudly, “Are you complaining?”
Liz stroked his face. “No.”
“What time do you need to get back?” he asked quietly. He knew today was their last day together and she’d be heading back home in the morning.
“I’ve three hours at least.”
“And then back to reality,” he mumbled. “How much longer Liz? How much longer do I have to be second best?”
“You’re not second best! I told you I need to make sure we’re financially secure. And then I’ll ask him for a divorce. I promise. I just need more time,” she pleaded.
“How much time? Weeks, months, years? I crack up whenever you go back to him, back to your other life. I’ll be on my own and New Year is in a few days and I’ll be alone, again, while you’re playing happy families with the fucking Ferrettis!
“ he fell back against the bed covering his eyes with his arm.
“It’s hell for me too Jonathan. I don’t want to be there either but we’ve got to play it smart.” Liz lifted herself up and crawled onto him. “Hey, come on. We have to stick to the plan.” She bent down and kissed him softly.
He moved his arm and stared up at her. “Have you fucked him?”
“What?” Liz stiffened at his blunt question. They’d gone over this a hundred times. Whenever she spent time away he’d ask her the same question.
“You heard.” He clenched his teeth together, dreading her answer.
She’d promised that she and Jerome hadn’t had that kind of a relationship for over six months.
But he needed to hear it, he needed reassurance that she wasn’t using him.
The longer they spent time together the harder it was becoming for him to believe that she wasn’t sleeping with him. He was her husband after all.
“I’ve told you this. How many more times do I have to tell you?” she started to shift off him, irritated at the line of questioning, but Jonathan grabbed her wrists.
“You can’t blame me for asking, Liz. You go home to him every night.”
“In separate rooms.”
“Under the same roof,” he countered.
“He’s not like that,” she muttered. Suddenly the hurt of Jerome’s constant rejection stung like salt on an open wound, uncurling an emotion Liz wasn’t comfortable identifying.
“He doesn’t like sex?” Jonathan snorted.
“Of course he does,” Liz huffed. Jonathan arched his brow at her defensive tone.
“Just not with me. Not since he found out about us,” she added sharply.
She really didn’t want to talk about Jerome and his unsettling willpower.
She’d practically thrown herself at him on several occasions and he’d stopped her, apart from that one time.
“Oh,” Jonathan said quietly. He regarded her thoughtfully. So, it was Jerome that wasn’t interested, did that mean that she was? Thought Jonathan. He could see a trace of hurt in her pale face.
“Yes, so you see, you’ve nothing to worry about,” Liz added haughtily. She tried to pull her wrists free but he tightened the grip on her.
“Where are you going?”
“Just let me go Jonathan,” she sighed.
“I’ll never let you go. Ever.” He jerked her towards him and encased her slim, pale body against his, then kissed her hard.
Liz resisted for a moment but his powerful arms held her steady and she melted against him.
Jonathan pulled away from her leaving her panting.
“I mean it Liz, I can’t let you go. You’re stuck with me. ” Liz smiled softly at him.
“Good.”
Jonathan relaxed his grip on her and she pulled up.
“Hey, where are you going?” he pouted.
“Come on, let’s do something fun.”
“I thought we just did.” Jonathan’s tone was sulky.
“Actually, I’ve got something.” Liz’s eyes brightened with excitement. She hoped this would cheer him up.
“What do you mean?” Jonathan asked, intrigued by her sudden change of subject.
“Wait here, it’s in my bag.” She jumped off Jonathan and ran to where her bag was sitting on the table at the far end of the hotel room.
She rummaged in the small zipped compartment and pulled out the small plastic bag Gabe had given her.
She lifted it up and shook it for Jonathan to see. He immediately sat up.
“Is that what I think it is?” he asked cautiously, his dark eyes wide with surprise.
Liz nodded, stifling a grin. She’d been desperate to try some since she’d got it.
“Where did you get that?”
“Someone,” she said cryptically.
“Liz.” Jonathan’s tone mildly chastised her.