The Doll’s House (36 page)

Rosa opened her eyes and looked at him. She wasn't dizzy. The room was still, his face in clear focus. She said, forcing the words from a throat racked by screaming. ‘Why did you stop them?'

Harry Oakham answered gently. ‘Don't try to talk. Just stay quiet. The doctor's on his way – Jan, for Christ's sake ring down and see what's keeping him!'

There was no drawing back from reality for Rosa now, no more comfort in his arms. ‘Let go of me,' she whispered. ‘Don't touch me.'

Jan was speaking to Jane on the telephone. He heard Rosa say it, and he saw Oakham draw into himself as if he'd been struck. Jane's voice was in his ear. ‘Dr Frazer's on his way,' she was saying. ‘He'll be here in half an hour – he's out at Woodbridge. Should I call an ambulance? How is she?'

‘Better,' Jan answered. ‘We'll wait for the doctor.'

Harry said, ‘Jan – leave us a minute, will you? Why don't you go to the bar and get us both a drink?'

Jan didn't answer. He looked at Rosa. She had her head turned away from them. She said it again. ‘Don't touch me. Go away, please.'

A slow flush of anger spread over Jan's face. He had never lied to Harry but he lied then. He said, ‘I'm not feeling too well. I can't go downstairs. I'll watch her, you get the drinks. I could do with one …' He let his voice break.

‘I'm sorry—' Harry was on his feet, he'd done as Rosa asked. He had laid her back on the bed and covered her with the blankets. ‘I'm sorry Jan, what a stupid, selfish bugger, after what you did … I'll get a brandy. You sit tight, I won't be long. What did Jane say?'

‘He'll be here in half an hour,' Jan answered. He knew what it meant when Harry looked like that, with the strain round his eyes and the mouth pulled tight against pain. He'd seen it so often after Judith. The door closed. He went close to the bed and looked at Rosa.

‘You shouldn't have said that. He saved your life. You don't know him. You've got no right to judge.'

He was the man Parker had told her to look out for, the Pole who had been Oakham's friend and comrade in the Service. They always worked together, Parker said.

‘You're his friend, Ploekewski,' she mumbled. ‘He lied about you too.'

‘I'm more than his friend,' Jan answered. ‘I love him the best of anyone I've ever known. You lied to
him
, didn't you? He trusted you. But that doesn't count.'

‘He knows about me?' Rosa saw the anger in his face.

‘He knows, but he doesn't care. He loves you. Just like he loved Judith. When you passed out tonight, he nearly cracked. He thought you were dead. Like she was. They murdered her. Did you know that?'

It was very sudden. The bed shifted under her. She cried out in distress as everything lurched.

Murdered
. She heard herself repeat it. ‘Murdered …'

He had no pity, he didn't spare her. He'd shocked her but that was what he intended.

‘Yes. They were out to get Harry. The Russians played it rough in those days. She'd borrowed his ski hat. It was yellow and black. One of her jokes – she'd given it to him. They sent a man out to Verbier. He caught up with Judith on the slope. He thought it was Harry. Hit her with a ski stick, broke her neck.'

He sat down on the edge of the bed. He hardly seemed to see her as he talked, or to care if she was listening, he was lost in Harry's old agony.

He went on. ‘It was all hushed up, the Service didn't want any fuss. The skier just disappeared down the mountain. I took care of Harry afterwards. I stopped him drinking himself to death. He tried to shoot himself once. He was crazy with grief. Blamed himself … Paying them back was the only thing he wanted to live for. And it suited some people to let a man in that state loose. So they gave him the dirty, dangerous jobs and he did them. I went through the worst of it with him, and when I got caught, they put him behind a desk after a year or so.' He turned his attention to her again.

‘They didn't tell you all this when they sent you down here? No, I don't suppose they would … Things like that are best forgotten. He'll be back in a minute. If he hadn't gone after you, we'd have been safe and out of the country by now. He killed Zarubin to save you. I killed Rilke. So you owe both of us.'

She felt numb, but the moment of panic had passed while he was talking. She lay very still, completely drained. After a moment she asked, ‘What do you want me to do?'

‘Make him go,' Jan answered. ‘Give him a chance to get away. And take back what you said to him. If you can, it would help.'

‘I'll try,' she said slowly. ‘When he comes back, leave us alone.'

The door opened; Harry gave Jan a glass of brandy. ‘This'll set you right,' he said. ‘You cunning old sod, I never knew you had a gun – good man for shooting the swine …' Suddenly he flung an arm round Jan's shoulder and hugged him fiercely. ‘Best back-up in the business.'

Jan swallowed a large part of the drink. The room was quiet; Oakham hesitated for a moment and then sat down in a chair.

‘I'll go down and wait for the doctor,' Jan announced and before Harry could say anything, he had gone out, leaving him and Rosa alone.

‘Harry?'

He got up and came slowly to stand close to her. He said, ‘Yes, darling?'

With an effort Rosa drew one hand out of the covers and held it out to him. ‘Sit down with me.'

He caught hold of it, clasping it between his own two hands. The fingers were cold and he rubbed them gently.

‘I didn't mean that,' Rosa said. ‘Forgive me. Please.'

‘Nothing to forgive,' he answered. ‘I deserved it.'

‘I lied to you too,' her voice was very low. Tears filled her eyes and slipped down her face.

‘I know, but it doesn't matter. You were only doing your job, I understand that. I always did mine, till I went wrong. Nothing matters except you're going to be all right.' He brought her hand up and kissed it. ‘Silly thing, leaving the camera in your room … didn't train you very well, did they?' It hurt unbearably to look at him, to see the tenderness in his face. ‘I'm sorry about all the lies, my darling, but I do love you. That was true. Can you forgive me?'

‘Don't say that,' she said. ‘I don't want you to be caught, Harry. Please, please try and get away … I couldn't bear it.'

‘Come on now,' he chided, ‘no more tears. It's all blown anyway, nothing to do with you. One of our chums got picked up and he's talking his head off to the police at this moment. I should think they're on their way here by now. I don't give a damn what happens to me, but Jan couldn't take being locked up. Not again. He was in solitary for ten years. I've got to try and get him away somewhere safe.'

‘Then go now,' she forced strength into her voice. ‘Tonight – don't wait! I beg of you. If you really care about me, you'll go …'

‘Oh I really care,' he answered. ‘Can you give us a little time?' She couldn't find the words. She nodded, and for a moment pressed the hand holding hers.

‘They'll be watching the airports,' he said. ‘Jan's buggered my car – but we just might make it. Don't hold out on them when they get here, will you? You don't want them breathing down your neck after it's over. Look out for yourself; nobody plays by the rules in the game. Promise?'

‘Yes, promise,' she managed.

‘Goodbye, Rosa darling,' he said. ‘Pity I didn't meet you a few months ago. We might have ended up in Brussels after all. I think I hear the doctor coming.' There was a tap on the door and it opened.

Harry came to meet the young man, his medical bag in one hand, the other responding to Harry's handshake.

‘Good of you to come, Doctor. Mrs Bennet's had rather a nasty experience. She'll tell you about it.'

13

‘Mr Oakham?' Jane's eyes opened wide. ‘Are you going somewhere? How's Mrs Bennet?' They were standing side by side, nice Mr Pollock and Mr Oakham, with overnight zip-up bags, saying goodbye to her. The doctor hadn't even come down.

‘I'm afraid,' Harry smiled at her in his friendly way, ‘that something has come up and we've been called away. And Mrs Bennet's fine. The Doctor says she must have eaten something and collapsed in the car park. Lucky I looked for her. But she'll be up and about by tomorrow.'

‘Where are you going? When will you be back? I hope it's nothing wrong …' She kept shaking her head as if she couldn't believe it. Going, just like that. Both of them. She said it again, ‘But when will you be back, Mr Oakham?'

‘I'll let you know,' Harry answered. ‘We must go now, or we'll miss the last train. You be a good girl and look after everything for me.'

And to Jane's astonishment, he leaned across and pecked her on the cheek. Outside, as they hurried down the steps, Jan said, ‘Where are we going, Harry? What train? Why did you say that?'

Oakham had left the car parked outside by the entrance. He swung into the driver's seat and started the engine. The noise swelled into a roar as they drove off.

‘What exactly did you have for lunch?' the doctor asked.

She was suffering from dehydration and shock. There were a lot of ugly bruises round her chest and on her face. Food poisoning could cause a black-out. A nasty fall, severe vomiting attacks and diarrhoea might just account for her condition.
Just
. Still she insisted it was food poisoning. It was not his job to argue. She did look in a very bad way, he had to admit, although he'd expected to find something worse judging by the way the hotel had panicked. But then they would. And they did pay the practice a retainer.

‘Oysters,' he heard Rosa mumble.

‘Oh well, that accounts for it. You get a bad one of those and you'd really be in trouble. Now there's nothing more to do for you at the moment. I expect you've got rid of it all by now. Try to sleep and if you must drink something, only take a sip at a time or you'll be sick again. I'll pop in and see how you are in the morning.'

He'd shut his bag and gone out, irritated that she hadn't even thanked him for coming. He'd been called away from an expectant mother with grumbling labour pains. He didn't have much time for the ailments of people rich enough to stay at Doll's House Manor and stuff themselves with oysters.

When he had gone, Rosa lay with her eyes closed against the shaded bedside light. Sleep. Oblivion. A merciful reprieve till the morning. But it wouldn't come. She lay in the shell of her exhausted body and couldn't still her mind.

He'd asked her to give him time. Time to escape justice for murder and treason. And she'd given it, because he'd risked his own life to save her. And because she loved him. That was why she couldn't sleep. She waited, feeling time as a tangible thing. She fell asleep very suddenly when her last reserve of strength ran out. When she woke there was daylight outside and the light was still shining a pale yellow by the side of the bed.

She pulled herself up slowly and painfully, weaker than any kitten in the cliché, and reached out for the telephone. Then she dialled Jim Parker's direct line.

The noise of the broken exhaust made it impossible to talk. Jan shouted at him as they drove down the drive, ‘Where are we going, Harry, for Christ's sake?' But Harry didn't answer. Suddenly he swung off the tarmac and on to a narrow lane across the parkland. They bumped and roared on the uneven ground in the darkness, the headlights sweeping past trees, and ahead Jan saw the glimmering water of the lake.

The ground sloped down quite steeply and Harry braked sharply and switched off the engine, dousing the lights.

‘Get the bags out,' he said briskly. ‘We're going to need them. Then get behind and help me push!'

‘We can't get away on foot. You're crazy, Harry. Wait!'

‘Haven't got time,' was the answer. ‘Bags out? Right, now get behind, I'm going to let the handbrake off. Now – push!'

Side by side they used their weight and all their strength and after a moment the car began to move, rolling gently and then gathering momentum as it ran down the slope under its own impetus. They stood back, breathless with the effort.

The car hit the water surface. There was a loud splash as it disappeared. Harry Oakham climbed down after it and stood watching the air bubbles streaming up as the car's interior filled and sank deeper until it came to rest.

‘It's twenty feet deep,' he said. ‘I had it dredged out. It could sit there for a long time. Come on, Jan, grab your bag. We're going back.'

‘Back there?' Jan looked over his shoulder at the outline of the hotel, the lighted windows glowing in the distance.

‘The one place they won't be looking for us,' Oakham said quietly, and began to run at a long, steady pace that he knew Jan could follow.

‘Keep to the back,' he hissed, and turned through the rose garden. Jan stumbled and he stopped and helped him. ‘All right?'

‘Yes,' the Pole whispered. The big dining-room windows were curtained, but shafts of light cut across the darkness.

Harry moved very carefully, keeping to the deepest shadows, skirting the ornamental paths, making for the thick shrubbery that led round to the rear of the hotel. He stopped, grabbing Jan, and they crouched low, sheltering behind a tall yew hedge that separated the kitchen garden. Voices. Some of the kitchen staff on their way to their cars in the staff car park. It was late, soon the last customers would leave and the residents make their way to their rooms.

‘Come on,' Jan heard him whisper. He was out of breath; he wasn't fit like Harry. He was afraid and confused; his self-confidence had gone as the car sank out of sight and their only means of escape disappeared with it.

As if Oakham knew what he was feeling, he said quietly, ‘Trust me, you old sod; I did a bit of forward planning. It's clear, come on.'