Chapter 47
Jasmine enjoyed telling the story. She asked Brenda to fetch her another Coke, then sat back in her wooden chair and told us everything that had happened.
‘It was back in February. Actually, I think it might have been Valentine’s Day, which I hated. You know how many horny couples I’d have to check in to the hotel? Red fucking roses everywhere. It reminded me of how lonely I was, how every guy I dated was a deadbeat or an asshole.
‘I was broke, too. So poor I didn’t know how I was going to make next month’s rent. I’d already had to ask for an extension from my landlord, that dick. He kept hinting there were other ways to pay the rent.’ She pulled a disgusted face.
‘Why were you broke?’ I asked.
‘Medical bills. My mom’s latest husband had run out on her, like, a year before, leaving her with loads of unpaid bills.
I’d tried to help her out, but … well, it’s a long story, but let’s just say she couldn’t afford health insurance any more and then she had an accident, broke her arm.
You guys, with your NHS, wouldn’t believe how much something like that costs to fix.
And she couldn’t pay it, which led to me helping her by taking a loan with crazy interest rates, the only loan I could get.
I was pulling double shifts at the hotel, I’d sold all my clothes online.
I was screwed. And you know what? My bitch of a mother wasn’t even grateful. ’
‘Your family sounds a bit like the Grants,’ said Brenda, glaring at Charles.
‘Oh, nothing like the Grants. No one ever kept any secrets in my family. Everyone in the trailer park knew our business. Charles talks a lot about reputation. Let me tell you, my family’s reputation would supply enough material for a mini-series.’
She exhaled.
‘So yeah, that day, Valentine’s Day, “Love Day”, I was feeling pretty goddamn sorry for myself. Poor. Alone. In need of a break, in both senses of the word. And then guess who walked into my hotel?’
‘Lewis,’ I said.
‘Got it in one. This handsome guy of about my age, smartly dressed, just one small bag with him. He walks up to the desk, says he’s not staying here – later I found out he couldn’t afford it and was at some awful motel – but we start chatting and, well, I was charmed.
Like I told you, I was having a shitty day, week, month, and I thought, well, why not let a handsome stranger charm me into bed? ’
Charles sat rigid. ‘Into bed?’
‘Oh yeah, he got there before you.’
Brenda clapped her hands.
‘There are always empty rooms in the hotel. Empty beds. And while we were in bed, after we’d, well, you know, he asked me if I wanted to be rich.
He told me an old guy was going to turn up soon and pretend to encounter me by chance.
I’ve got to admit, when he started telling me all this I started to freak out.
Like, who was this guy I’d just fucked? But he persuaded me to calm down and listen.
And what he told me was a horror story. His dad had stolen an app that Lewis had developed with the help of some young genius, and then murdered this boy when he’d threatened to expose the company’s plans for it.
I actually thought it couldn’t be true. It was too insane. But then he showed me the app.’
‘He still had it?’ Charles sounded sick. ‘I thought we blocked his access to it.’
‘Oh yeah. He still had access to the servers. Or at least, he had access when you fed Elizabeth’s picture into it and found me.
He knew exactly what you were planning to do.
I guess that’s another thing about family, right?
You can predict what they are going to do before they do it.
Lewis knew you would show up in Miami to check me out. See if I was wife material.’
She took another gulp of her drink. ‘I was disgusted. Some creepy old guy coming to meet me because I was the spitting image of his dead wife? Who would do something like that? Then Lewis started to tell me all about you, including how wealthy you were. He told me everything. He described Elizabeth to me, told me all the things you liked about her, Charles. How you liked her to be a little coy, how you loved it when she laughed at your lame jokes. And that’s when he suggested his plan.
When you showed up, I would go along with it.
I would be flirty and sexy and coy, like Elizabeth. I’d laugh at his shitty jokes.’
‘And then what?’ Charles asked.
‘Then I’d marry you.’
‘So you could get your hands on his money?’ That was Holly.
‘Well, yeah. What other reason would I have for marrying your dad?’
Charles shook his head like he couldn’t believe it.
‘The problem was that Lewis said Charles would make me sign a pre-nup, which was right. Even before our spur-of-the-moment Vegas wedding he got his lawyer to send over an agreement, which I had no choice but to sign. The thing was, it only covered divorce, not death.’
‘No,’ Holly said, hands going to her mouth.
Charles echoed Holly’s word. ‘No.’
‘That’s why Lewis took me to the caves. He said it would be the perfect place to stage an accident.
After all, a boy had died there years before, although Lewis thought it had been an accident.
He wanted me to see it, so we could figure out exactly how our accident would happen.
I was going to insist you accompany me to the caves, Charles.
I wanted you to see the Serpent Stone, for it to bring us luck together. Lewis would be waiting.’
‘You could have sold tickets,’ Brenda said.
Jasmine smiled. ‘I’d get my share of the Grant fortune, including company shares.
Not all of Charles’s, of course, but enough.
The rest would obviously go to you, Holly, along with Miranda and Lewis.
Then the four of us would have to decide what happened to the business.
Lewis was confident, Holly, that you would side with him, that you wouldn’t want anything to do with it yourself.
Miranda might fight you, but we were sure you would go along with the plan for Lewis to take over.
Lewis would immediately fire Zack, and Gravitas would be his.
He’d buy me out and I’d fly back to Miami a rich woman. ’
‘Hold on,’ I said. ‘So it was you I heard Lewis talking to on the phone?’
‘Uh-huh. I was upstairs. We thought it was better if we weren’t seen sneaking around the house together. Didn’t want to arouse any suspicion.’
Charles went for the rifle, which was leaning against the bar. I saw what he was going to do and, instinctively, leapt into his path, shoulder-barging him out of the way. He went down on his hands and knees as, behind me, Jasmine grabbed the rifle.
‘Sit down, Charles,’ she said.
Slowly, like a boxer dragging himself off the deck, Charles went back to his chair. I did the same.
‘Obviously,’ Jasmine said, ‘that plan isn’t going to work now.
Lewis is dead. Things have got very, very messy.
If you go to prison, which you really fucking deserve, the company will be ruined.
Then I would imagine Samir’s parents will be looking for a very large sum as compensation.
Yeah, there’ll still be some money left even if Gravitas collapses, but a fraction of what you’re worth now.
And the whole thing will take years. I don’t have that long.
I want to get on with my life. The life I deserve. ’
She gestured around the room. ‘I think we would all like to find a way out of this, right? If Charles goes to prison, it’s not going to bring back any of the dead. I know that sounds harsh, but it’s true.’
‘Everyone.’ Avril was at the window. ‘There are people along the street. They’re poking around all the cars.’
‘Oh shit,’ Holly said. ‘The police are still looking for Patrick.’
‘We need to be quick,’ Jasmine said.
Charles and Brenda both spoke at the same time, using identical words. ‘What are you suggesting?’
‘We’re going to do what you’re famous for, Charles. We’re going to make a deal.’