The Devil's Serenade (5 page)

“I’m not charging you. It’ll be a pleasure. And, besides, you’ve solved the problem of what to do with the second floor.”

Shona stared at me, her mouth slightly open. “Oh, that is so generous of you, Maddie. The society will be thrilled. Thank you so much.”

“My pleasure.” I didn’t tell her I was already planning to bake a lemon drizzle cake. Neil’s favorite. I hadn’t made it since he left. Come to think of it, I hadn’t baked anything since we split up. Memories of fresh bread, roasting meat, and biscuits hot from the oven floated back. I had spent hours in the kitchen when we were married; when I was happy in my ignorance of Neil’s infidelity. Afterwards, I no longer had the heart for it.

The house felt empty when Shona went home. Perhaps I should think about hiring a live-in housekeeper. At least then, at night, when the lights were off, timbers creaked, and the shadows lengthened, I wouldn’t be alone. But what would she do all day? When I’d worked in the bookshop, I’d been too busy to bother with any real hobbies, other than reading and following my favorite soaps on TV. But now? Maybe it wasn’t a housekeeper I needed at all. A companion. I shuddered at the thought. Companions were for old, lonely, sad spinsters. I was none of those.

As I settled down in front of the television, I looked forward to the theater group’s rehearsal nights. Maybe it would also stop my stupid fears of the upper floors.

I was watching some inane sitcom on TV when the doorbell sounded. I glanced at the clock. Eight thirty. I wasn’t expecting anyone, but I was quickly learning that, in a place like Priory St. Michael, that didn’t really count for anything. People had a habit of turning up, unannounced and uninvited. They’d probably even tried the door handle first to see if it was open. If it had been, they would have wandered in and thought nothing of it. But I’d spent too long living in a city to be so trusting of my fellow residents.

I opened the door and stared at the familiar, but unusually disheveled figure on the doorstep. His shirt was creased, his graying hair had grown long over his collar and he looked like he hadn’t shaved in days. When he spoke, he seemed to struggle to raise the hint of a smile, and his feeble effort stopped at the corners of his mouth. His eyes had lost their former sparkle and he seemed to have aged a decade, not a mere three years.

“Hello, Maddie. Long time, no see.”

“Neil. What are you doing here?”

“Oh, come on, aren’t you going to let me in? Aren’t you the least bit curious as to why I’ve come all this way?”

He took a step forward and I barred his way. “You can say anything you want to say to me on the doorstep, and then you can leave. I told you last time. I never want to see or hear from you ever again.”

His expression changed and he wore that hang-dog puppy look that used to work with me years ago. Waves of anger were about to breach the flood barriers in my mind. “And you can cut that out as well.”

Predictably, he turned on the wide-eyed innocence that generally preceded a lie. “Cut what out?”

I sighed and folded my arms. “What do you want, Neil?”

“I want to talk to you. That’s all. I have something to tell you that I can’t say over the phone. I promise I won’t outstay my welcome.”

“You already have.”

Were those actually tears in his eyes? I didn’t expect that.

“Maddie, I really need to talk to you. It’s important. Do you honestly think I’d put myself through this if it wasn’t? I knew what reaction I’d get coming here after what I did to you.”

The nerve of the man! “You betrayed me. Liz was my best friend. At least, I thought she was. No one could be anyone’s best friend and do what she did, for ten years.”

“I know. I know. You have every right to hate me. Us. But please, Maddie, give me ten minutes and I’ll be gone.”

I hesitated. He did seem genuine. But he had always been a consummate liar. The problem was I hadn’t realized that for the first seventeen years of our marriage.

Oh, what the hell? We’d both moved on. I’d achieved the ultimate revenge after all. I had all this. I could give him ten minutes of my life. For old times’ sake. I stepped back and let him in.

“Thank you, Maddie. I appreciate this. I can’t tell you how much.”

I showed him into the living room and went over to the drinks cabinet where I selected a bottle of brandy and two glasses. I unscrewed the bottle and poured two generous measures.

Neil sat down on the settee. He patted the cushion next to him. “I remember this suite from our old house.”

“It’s about the only thing I brought. You had the rest of the good stuff.”

“Only half, Maddie. As we agreed.”

“Yes, but I don’t remember agreeing to you coming into the house when I wasn’t there and cherry picking all the best furniture. No doubt with a little help from Liz. I came home from work to find the place ransacked. I thought at first I’d had burglars. Then I found your note. Cryptic, wasn’t it? ‘Sorry to have missed you. Regards, Neil.’ You knew bloody well which days I worked. You knew the telephone number. You could have called and made an appointment, but if you’d done that, Liz wouldn’t have had the pick of the place, would she? That wouldn’t have suited her at all. I noticed all the things of mine she had admired over the years somehow managed to make their way into your new flat. I saw them all in those cheesy photos of the pair of you that you kept putting up on Facebook for all the world to see. How is the
dear
girl anyway?” I took a gulp of brandy, refilled my glass and handed the other to my ex-husband. I knew my sarcasm wouldn’t be wasted on him.

He took the glass without a word and drained it in one. “Any more where that came from?”

That took me aback. “You don’t usually drink when you drive, and I assume you didn’t walk all the way from Chester.”

He didn’t respond. I didn’t refill his glass and sat down on my usual chair.

He took a deep breath. “Liz and I split up six months ago.” He was certainly full of surprises this evening. “I guess the relationship had run its course. We were arguing all the time and she found someone else…” His voice tailed off. “It was an amicable split.”

I didn’t ask how much of my furniture she now possessed. “So where are you living then? Still in the same place?”

He shook his head. “I moved. She’s buying me out and I’m renting a small flat near where we used to live. Gladstone Street. Do you remember it?”

A vague memory of a collection of streets all named after prime ministers, from Walpole to Baldwin, sprang to mind. Row upon row of small pre-war terraced houses. His place must be quite tiny. At least I’d been able to afford to rent an apartment in a decent part of the city after our house had been sold and we’d split the proceeds. A ripple of sympathy trickled into my brain, only to be stopped in its flow by recollections of lies, deceit, and a harsh divorce settlement that left him winning as much as it consigned me to the loser’s bin. I remembered the look of triumph on Liz’s face. She had come away with everything she wanted. Not only my property, but my husband as well. It was so predictable, I supposed.

I sipped my second drink, while Neil kept clenching and unclenching his hands. He looked so wretched, I almost relented and poured him another. But no way would I be responsible for him driving over the limit. As it was, he would probably have to stay at least an hour to wear off the effects of the first one. Damn my stupidity. Was he angling to spend the night? Probably. Well, tough shit.

I stood up. “I’ll make you a coffee.” I left the room before he could protest.

When I returned, he had recovered his composure, at least a little, and was examining one of the few pieces of Aunt Charlotte’s porcelain that hadn’t been consigned to a box upstairs. A pretty and valuable little bottle.

He replaced it carefully on the mantelpiece. I cringed and wished I’d put it away. But I didn’t know
he
was coming, did I?

“It’s eighteenth century Chinese,” I said. “A handmade Fausone snuff bottle.”

He whistled. “Must be worth a few quid. What do these go for now? Five, ten thousand pounds in such good condition?”

My heart jumped. From someone else that might have been a casual remark, but from Neil… I knew him too well. “You know, you had me almost feeling sorry for you,” I said, handing him his coffee and concentrating hard on preventing my hand from shaking. My anger had reached boiling point, but no way would I allow myself to lose control. Not tonight. There had been too many screaming matches in the past, and I never won any of them. “You haven’t changed. You still know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.”

He looked as if I’d slapped him. “No, you’re wrong, Maddie. I was only making conversation. I came here to apologize. For everything. That affair with Liz. It was stupid, wrong. A silly affair that got out of hand.”

“For ten years? Ten years when I believed every word you told me. My God, you and Liz must have had a lot of laughs at my expense. Stupid, gullible Maddie who’ll believe anything… I
loved
you, Neil. Have you any idea what that’s really like? I truly loved you.” Tears pricked my eyes. No, he mustn’t see me cry. I forced them into retreat. “Now I don’t believe I’ll trust anyone ever again. That’s one of the beauties of living here; I don’t have to see anyone if I don’t want to.”
As long as I keep my door locked and don’t answer the bell,
I didn’t add.

Neil said nothing for a minute or two. He passed his hand over his face, inhaled deeply and leaned forward. “Is there really no way back for us, Maddie?”

Such arrogance! “
What?
Do you seriously believe for one moment that I’d take you back after all that’s happened?”

“I realize now, I was stupid.”

My mouth had gone dry. Every ounce of my will was focused on keeping my voice steady. “Yes. You were stupid. Very. But, contrary to what you may have thought then,
I’m
not. I was only stupid in one way. Loving and trusting
you
. Well, not anymore. I’ve put all that behind me. I assume this newfound awakening of yours has plenty to do with my inheritance? Of which, I may add, you are not entitled to one penny.”

His face took on a pained expression. “Oh, Maddie, how could you think that? No, no of course it’s nothing to do with your money. I want to come back to you. I still love you. I never really loved Liz. It was the excitement…” I could tell from his horrified expression that he knew he shouldn’t have said that.

“Well you can go and find some other cheating woman to get your kicks with, because you’re not coming here.” I didn’t know how much longer I could stop myself from letting fly at him. I stood up. “I think it’s time you left.”

I picked up his half-f coffee mug and empty brandy glass. “Time to go, Neil. I’d like to say it’s been a pleasure, but it hasn’t. Don’t bother to come back.”

He looked ashen. I could read his expression so clearly because I’d seen it before. He really had believed I would fall for his sob story and his phony contrition. His arrogance knew no bounds. How could I ever have doted on this man for so many years? Why had I never seen him for what he was—a money-obsessed womanizer?

I remained at the living room door. He must have seen I wouldn’t back down, so he stood.

“Very well. I can see your mind’s made up. I can’t say how sorry I am. If you ever change your mind, I still have the same mobile number.”

“
I
don’t.”

He nodded. “Can I first use your bathroom? It’s an hour’s drive back to Chester.”

I pointed to the downstairs toilet and went into the kitchen.

I was rinsing his glass when I heard him shriek. I dropped it and it shattered in the sink.

Out in the hall, Neil was screaming and clutching his hair. If this was a new ruse, it was a pretty effective one.

I shook his arm. “What the hell are you playing at?”

His eyes were round, wide. “Something…there’s something in that room…I saw it…I felt it…” He sank to his knees. “Oh, my God. What the hell was that?”

I pulled the toilet door wide open.

“
No
. Don’t go in there, Maddie.
Please
.”

I looked around at the tiny, white bathroom, with its toilet. Seat up, of course, as always when Neil was around. The faucets still ran in the small wash hand basin. I turned them off. They squeaked from lack of use. The overhead light illuminated my face in the mirror and the angry glint in my eyes. In a reflex action, I pushed a wayward lock of hair behind my ear and turned back into the hall.

“Nice try, but there’s nothing here. Goodbye.”

“I swear there was. On my life, Maddie, I swear I saw something.”

“What did you see, Neil?”

“I don’t know. I can’t explain it. Like a…a…scarecrow. That’s the nearest. Like a scarecrow. No eyes. Not a person. It touched me. It scratched me.” He fingered his neck. “I can’t feel anything now, but it hurt. You must be able to see. Look.”

I ventured closer to him and peered at his throat. “All I can see are red marks where you’ve been rubbing it. There’s no skin broken. Oh, come on, I’ve had enough of this. Time to go home.”

I opened the front door and a cold breeze shot in, reminding me the nights were getting colder.

Neil lowered his hands, but they were shaking. For a moment I wondered if he was telling me the truth. Had he really seen something in there? I dismissed the thought. Another one of his pranks for getting his own way.

He took a few steps toward me. “Very well, I’ll go. Something in this house—apart from you—doesn’t want me here. Promise me you’ll take care, Maddie. It might not want you here either.”

“If you’re trying to scare me, Neil, you’re going to have to do an awful lot better than that.”

“I’m not trying to scare you, Maddie. I know what I felt. I know what happened in there was real. There’s something in this house. Something…not right. Promise me you’ll be careful. Better still get the hell out of this place. You can afford it after all.”

Any doubt in my mind flew away at that point. “Always money, Neil. Always money. Goodbye.”

I practically shoved him out as I closed the door, locked and bolted it behind him.