Chapter 26
Cara braced herself for whatever she was going to be faced with as she paused at the entrance to the ward. Just a few minutes ago, Akis had sped into the hospital car park on his motorbike and they had both rushed into the building, him leading the way. He had offered to come into the ward with her, but she had shaken herself, tried to switch into organisational mode and internally told herself if Margot was awake and talking then how bad could it really be?
‘Nurse! I want to speak to your manager! I told you that an hour ago! An English hour, not a Greek one! Why is no one listening to me?’
Cara felt herself relax. That was Margot, the complaining and rude version. This was good.
Cara headed towards the source of irritation. However, when she got to the bed, she gasped at the sight of her aunt. Her head was wrapped up in bandages like a mummy, her upper chest showed signs of trauma – bloody indents that had been stitched together – and her hands had marks that looked like shrapnel wounds. What on Earth could have caused that?
‘Margot,’ Cara said, scared to sound too concerned, scared to not sound concerned enough. ‘What happened?’
‘It’s nothing really. Why are you even here?’ Margot asked, accusing. ‘I was hoping they’d take off this stupid unfashionable headwear and let me go back to civilisation before you woke up.’
‘Well,’ Cara said, stepping closer to the bed. ‘You didn’t come back to the hotel last night and I couldn’t reach you on your phone so?—’
‘I’ll need a new phone,’ Margot stated. ‘Mine is irreparably damaged.’
‘Margot,’ Cara said. ‘Please tell me what happened. It looks so painful.’
Margot sat forward, eyed the other patients. ‘Come closer,’ she whispered. ‘Greek walls have more ears than English ones I’ve already discovered.’
Cara got as close to her aunt as she could and leaned in like the world’s secrets were about to be divulged.
‘There was an explosion,’ Margot whispered.
‘What?!’
‘Cara! Be quiet! Or I will say no more about it.’
‘But an explosion! Are you sure you don’t mean earthquake?’ Margot had obviously had a knock on the head judging by the elaborate bandage work.
‘I think I know the difference between the earth moving and something blowing up.’
‘Well,’ Cara said quietly. ‘What blew up? And where were you when whatever it was blew up? Are there any more casualties?’
‘Where I was is irrelevant. What isn’t irrelevant is what blew up.’ Margot paused briefly before saying, in even quieter tones, ‘It was… the Maxi-Go.’
Cara gasped and put her hands to her cheeks in pure hot shock. ‘What?’
‘Dial it down, Cara! No one can know! I mean, no one! It would ruin me! Literally.’
Cara paused before replying. ‘I know they said there was an issue in production and that’s why it was taking longer than we had hoped but I didn’t realise it had the potential to explode.’
‘Please stop saying the word “explode”,’ Margot ordered.
‘OK, but can you imagine what would have happened if this had happened on the plane?’
‘Don’t you think I’ve been imagining that? It’s all I’ve been imagining from the second I pulled the first shard of the triple layer comfort handle out of my knuckles!’
‘Well, what are we going to do?’ Cara asked.
‘The very first thing we are not going to do is panic,’ Margot stated, beginning to unpeel the first layer of bandage from her forehead. ‘Panic might be in your nature, sadly, obviously, but it’s never been in mine and I’m not about to give it a seat at the table now.’
‘You have an idea? To fix it?’
‘I don’t have an idea,’ Margot said, a slight smile returning. ‘I have a plan. I have actually always had a plan. It’s the main reason why we’re here.’
Cara was confused. ‘But I thought the main reason we were here was because you were invited to Sofia’s son’s wedding.’
Margot shook her head, a more conniving expression on her face now. ‘I would never have been invited to Sofia’s son’s wedding. Sofia hates me. She hated me all through college and that’s never going to change. And, to be really honest, the feeling is mutual. However, we are both too wise to let those kinds of insipid feelings get in the way of passing up opportunities to move upwards.’
‘Now I’m really confused. So, we were only invited because somehow she contacted you when Placido Domingo pulled out and you said I would sing instead?’
‘Ha! Is that what she was telling people? That Placido Domingo was singing?’
‘Margot! Get to the point!’
‘The original wedding singer was someone called Simeon Barkastra and so sadly, so unfortunately, he had to cancel.’ Margot unwound more of her bandage, leaving it trailing like a towelling snake on the hospital bed.
Now Cara was getting it. ‘You paid him to cancel! So you could provide Sofia with a last-minute alternative. Me.’
‘And you and I were added to the guest list,’ Margot said triumphantly. ‘Did you really think I’d want to spend my days tasting wine that could take the varnish off my nails?’ She sniffed. ‘Although I did enjoy the hen night.’
‘But what’s so important about you being here at Sofia’s son’s wedding that you would go to these lengths to get on the guest list?’
Margot sighed. ‘Someone I haven’t seen for a long time. Someone I need to see now.’
Cara waited with bated breath.
‘The maharaja. Or, as I called him, Raj.’ Margot sighed and it was a sound loaded with regret. Cara took a minute to gather her thoughts. She had never heard Margot sound quite this way before. But she still didn’t fully get it.
‘He’s coming here,’ Margot carried on. ‘To the wedding. Obviously he’s far too busy to take part in this elaborate pre-ceremony malarky but he and Sofia, although never romantically aligned, were in this rather weird best-friendsy situation once he realised how sexually boring she was.’
Cara didn’t know how to respond to that.
‘Anyway, Raj can help me, help us. I need the Maxi-Go to succeed in the biggest arena. I know I’ve pretty much captured the whole of Europe but I want Asia, America, Australia. Raj has contacts all over the world, people who deal in gold and cryptocurrencies like they’re playing with Monopoly bills. He can make the difference between moderate success and world domination.’
Cara didn’t know whether to be in awe of her aunt right now or appalled at this entire set-up. But there was a much more important factor in her mind.
‘But, Margot, didn’t the Maxi-Go just blow up?’
‘Ssh!’ Margot hissed, finally finishing with her unwrapping.
‘Sorry,’ Cara said, lowering her voice. ‘But how is anyone going to invest all their bullion or Bitcoin into something that has the potential to bring down an aircraft?’
‘That’s why I need the investment more than ever. To straighten out these little teething problems. I know it’s a set-back that I didn’t envisage when I was putting my pitch together but, you know, think of all the great inventions in the world; most of them ended up in pieces before the final successful result.’
Now Cara really didn’t know what to say. She was astounded that all this plotting and scheming had gone on right under her nose. Using Sofia as a way to get to someone who might make a big investment in the Maxi-Go that had just exploded and injured her aunt. Then she had another thought.
‘Margot, was anyone else injured by the Maxi-Go?’
‘What?’ Margot asked, shifting on the hospital bed and looking like she might be about to attempt to get off it.
‘The explosion,’ Cara shout-whispered. ‘Was anyone else hurt?’
‘I have no idea,’ Margot said. ‘I was too busy being unconscious and ripped apart by flying zippers. Help me get off of this bed. I need a gin and tonic!’