Chapter 43
As the two of them drank their breakfast coffees and ate their toast Tuesday morning, Guy said, ‘I’ve got to go and see Sandy this morning. I shouldn’t be too long.’
‘I think I’ll go for a last wander around Antibes in that case. I’d like to take some photos for research and to look back on with happy memories,’ Liz said. ‘Shall we walk so far together?’
Half an hour later, Guy kissed Liz goodbye as she turned in the opposite direction to him for the marina and he went on into town.
As he walked, he thought about why he was going to see Sandy and the one question he wanted answered.
Inevitably, Jacqueline and the years they’d spent together came into his mind.
Good years in the main, especially when they had first met and fell in love.
It was only in the later years of their marriage that she’d changed – that they’d both changed, if he was honest. After the accident, when he’d succumbed to those dreadful weeks of anguish and sadness for Jacqueline, he’d started to wonder if their marriage would have survived for much longer or was it already in its last stages?
Meeting Liz and realising how much he wanted her in his life, not missing Jacqueline, he strongly suspected the marriage had been in its death throes.
Whatever truths Sandy told him that morning, he was now ready to cope with them and move on with his life with no regrets.
Sandy opened the door and gave him a big smile as she saw who it was. The smile faded as Guy said, ‘I need to talk to you about Jacqueline – and why she was in a taxi on that particular day.’
She held the door open silently and he walked in.
‘Romain home?’
Sandy shook her head. ‘No. Cup of coffee?’
Guy accepted the offer to give him time to sort out the thoughts racing around his mind.
As Sandy placed the coffee in front of him, she said, ‘Sometimes it’s better not to know certain things.’
‘Not in this instance,’ Guy said. ‘I need to have closure.’
‘Promise me, though, you won’t hold me responsible for Jacqueline’s actions. The contract for renting the villa arrived this morning, please don’t cancel it because you are upset by the little I can tell you. I don’t know everything, but what I do know is sure to upset you.’
Guy gave a weary sigh. ‘I promise. Do you want me to sign it before you talk to me?’
‘No, I’ll take your word for it.’
Guy took a mouthful of coffee, swallowed and looked at Sandy.
‘Do you know why Jacqueline was in that taxi on that fateful day?’
Sandy nodded miserably. ‘The two suitcases with her told me she was doing what she’d been saying she would for weeks.’
‘She was leaving me,’ Guy said it as a statement, not a question.
Sandy nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘Was she unhappy? Or had she met someone else?’
‘Both. And she was also bored with her current life. She wanted more – more money, more everything.’
‘I figured she was unhappy because I wouldn’t buy into that grand spa idea she had, correct?’
Sandy nodded.
‘So who was she leaving me for?’
‘I can’t tell you.’
‘Can’t or won’t?’
‘She never told me his name. Said it was better if I didn’t know.’
‘Did she talk to you about her feelings for me? She was barely talking to me about anything before…’ he made a small movement in the air with his hand.
‘She did in the beginning, but she knew I didn’t agree with the way she was behaving, so she stopped confiding in me. I know she felt guilty about what she was doing. Kept saying how much she hated hurting you, but she couldn’t keep up the pretence of being happy any more.’
‘Was he wealthy?’
‘Billionaire, according to Jacqueline.’
‘Well, that shortens the list of available men a little.’ He finished his coffee and stood up. ‘Thanks for telling me the truth.’ He was at the door before he turned. ‘Tell me, were there any billionaires at her funeral? I have no recollection of the event at all.’
‘I don’t know any personally and there were so many people there.’
Guy opened the door and left, closing it quietly behind him.
Sandy exhaled a deep breath of relief. Hopefully Guy now knew enough of the truth to have closure over Jacqueline’s death and move on with Liz.
He so deserved to be happy. And she hadn’t lied when she said Jacqueline had never told her the billionaire’s name because she hadn’t.
But she did know his name and hated him for enticing her friend away with promises of a new life with unlimited riches.
Months ago, she’d decided that if Guy ever asked her if she knew who the man was she’d deny all knowledge.
He didn’t need to know the identity of the man who had been a frequent diner at Villa Celestia.
Accidentally discovering who the man was when he’d had the shamelessness to attend the funeral, Sandy had promised herself the name of the bastard billionaire who was responsible for the death of her best friend and ruined Guy’s life would never pass her lips.