Ultimatum Page 15

  'Was—was your husband badly injured?'

  'Wow, I'll say!' The American girl launched into a list of his injuries. 'His larynx is permanently wired together and he may never speak above a loud whisper again. He has lacerated fingers on both hands…'

  The engine noise of the boats died for a moment as they all waited in line at the start. Then the traffic-light starting-system changed to green and they simultaneously rocketed down the straight towards the first turn buoy, dense clouds of spray flying up behind them.

  For a moment Jan's voice was almost drowned out, but Casey could hear it in the background telling of a crushed heel and lacerated foot. The boats surged down to the buoy, all converging on it together and fighting to get the inside position.

  '… stretched plexus nerve in his right arm… very painful… constant throbbing…'

  Jan's voice droned on as Casey watched fixedly. Some of the boats were round but she couldn't see if one was Reid's. Then two boats must have touched, because one spun wildly.

  '… cast on his leg for three months…'

  Casey had got to her feet, biting on her hand as she watched the boat spin and crash against the dock wall. It was a blue boat. Reid's boat wasn't blue, it was white. It wasn't Reid. The boat didn't sink and within seconds a red cross rescue boat was alongside it, keeping well out of the way of the other nineteen boats that were obliviously still going round the circuit at top speed, the field more spread out now.

  But Casey had seen and heard as much as she could take. A terrible griping pain filled her stomach, and she turned and ran. Ran until she found a women's Portaloo and went inside to be horribly sick, her body retching painfully. She stood there for a long time, leaning against the thin wall of the cabin, beads of perspiration on her face, her breath coming in shuddering, sobbing pants. When she managed to leave the lavatory and go to the basin to wash her face, the attendant gave her a sympathetic look. 'You pregnant, dearie?' she asked.

  'No.' Casey looked down at her hand where she had bitten it so hard that the blood had flowed. 'No, I'm not pregnant.'

  She wrapped a handkerchief round her hand and somehow found her way back to the car, driving slowly all the way home in a numb kind of limbo where all her senses were functioning perfectly well, but her spirit was completely detached from it.

  Back at the Victoria Dock, Reid swept past the chequered flag, first again, and after he had done his lap of honour came happily into the pits, his eyes searching for Casey. 'Where's my wife?' he demanded as soon as he stepped out of the boat.

  The men looked uncomfortable, but then the senior man said, 'I'm sorry, Reid; we saw her get into her car and drive away less than half-way through the race.'

  The excitement and happiness of winning drained from Reid's face. He strode through the pits to see the empty space for himself, then began to tear off his helmet and life-jacket.

  'But Reid, what about the victory ceremony?' one of the men exclaimed.

  His face grim, Reid said fiercely, 'To hell with it! I've got more important things to do.'

  As soon as she reached the house Casey went up to the bedroom and began to pack her suitcases, putting things in haphazardly, still too numb really to think what she was doing. In the back of her mind she knew that before she left she was going to have to sit down and write Reid a letter, somehow convince him that she had tried, really tried, but just couldn't go on any longer.

  As she packed, half her brain worried over the letter, but the other half kept remembering that boat spinning round and how easily it could have been Reid's, until nausea overcame her again and she had to go to the bathroom, although her stomach was empty now and there was only pain and wretchedness.

  She had just come out of the bathroom and had started to pack again when Reid got there. He had driven fast and screeched to a stop outside, not bothering to shut any doors as he ran in and up the stairs. One smouldering glance took in the whole situation.

  'What the hell do you think you're doing?' he shouted angrily as he strode murderously towards her.

  'Reid, I've got to go. I ..

  'You're not going anywhere!' Sweeping her clothes from the case he threw them on the floor, then picked up the case and threw that violently after them.

  'Oh, Reid, I tried. But I couldn't watch. I couldn't stay!' Casey raised her hands to her face in distress.

  'You coward! You were running out on me. If I hadn't come right after you you'd have been gone. Without a word. Just gone! Left me.'

  'No, I was going to leave you a note. I…'

  'A note!' His mouth twisting with fury, Reid caught hold of her wrists, dragging them down from her face. 'I never thought that you'd go this far to try and force my hand. But it seems that there's a hell of a lot I'm learning about you lately.' His teeth gritted, he went on fiercely, 'I really thought that you were beginning to see reason, that we were getting somewhere. I even thought that tonight—tonight…' His voice broke and his head went down on his chest, his powerful hands almost crushing her wrists as he strove to control himself.

  Her heart wrung at the agony in his face, Casey cried, 'Oh Reid, don't, please! I'm sorry, I'm so desperately sorry. But you must see that I can't stay. It wouldn't be honest to stay now.'

  Reid suddenly straightened up, letting go of her wrists to shake her. 'You're just putting on the pressure to make me give up racing. It's just more blackmail, more ..

  'No!' Casey yelled, trying to break through his anger. 'No. I've seen you now. I know how much you love it. I'm not asking you to give it up any more. Because I know you can't. But you're right; I'm a coward. I can't take the stress of watching you or even knowing that you're going to race and might be hurt. So I have to leave, can't you see that?'

  'No! I'm here. I'm alive. You should have stayed.'

  'I saw a boat crash.'

  Reid made an angrily dismissive gesture. 'That was nothing. His engine was damaged, that was all. No one was hurt.'

  But Casey pushed past him and made for the door, knowing that to go on arguing was useless. 'Where are you going?'

  'I don't know. Anywhere.'

  'No, you're not.' He grabbed her and pulled her back. 'What's the use of talking? There's only one way to settle this and I should have done it weeks ago.' Picking her up Reid carried her across his shoulder to the bed and dropped her on it, coming down on top of her to stop her getting away.

  But Casey didn't try to fight, she just lay there as he tore off her jacket and then her shirt, the buttons flying because he was too angry to undo them. She lay still, biting her lip, as his hot hands touched her breasts then impatiently moved on to tear at the fastening of her jeans and pull them off. 'Is this what you want?' Reid shouted at her. 'Do you want me to force you? Is that what you've wanted all along?' His hands went over her avidly, but for the first time she was able to control her erring body and not respond.

  Lifting an angry hand to the neck of his overall, Reid began to pull down the zip, but stopped as he finally became aware of her stillness. He stared down at her as Casey said, in deep sadness, 'No, you don't have to force me. You could have taken me at any time. I'm always willing—I can't help myself. It's been just as much torture for me as it has for you. I want to be loved by you—so very much.' Her voice faltered but she went on, 'But I only had to think how much greater a torture it would be if you were killed and I had to go on living without you.'

  Slowly Reid stood up and put his hands on the bedpost, his knuckles showing white. It was a couple of minutes before he could control himself enough to speak, but then he said, 'One minute I want to love you, the next I want to hurt you, punish you for what you're doing to us. I'm sure if we could just make love, just once ..

  But Casey had got off the bed and was putting on some clothes.

  'No,' he said, becoming angry again. 'I won't let you go-'

  'But you must,' Casey insisted with a note of finality in her tone. 'This—situation isn't doing either of us any good. We have to be apart for a wh
ile, to—to simmer down and think clearly. Maybe then we can talk again, figure out what we're going to do.'

  'Then I'll go,' Reid said in wretched acceptance. 'You must stay here.'

  'No, this is your home. Please, I'd—I'd rather go. You can—you can tell people I've gone to see my parents if anyone asks.'

  'Casey, don't do this, please.' Reid made one last attempt to stop her, reaching urgently out to take her in his arms.

  But Casey held him off. 'No. Can't you see that that only makes it harder? It always has. I'm so sorry, Reid, sorry that I wasn't the kind of wife you wanted.' And she turned and ran out of the room, leaving him staring bleakly after her.

  Casey didn't go home to her parents, instead she found a bed and breakfast place in the town where the warehouse was situated. At a time when she knew he would be out she went over to the house and collected her clothes, leaving Reid a note telling him where she was staying. She spent most of the time at the warehouse unit and

  Reid phoned her there, but she firmly told him not to do so again unless it was urgent.

  'It is urgent,' he replied forcefully. 'You're my wife and I want you back.'

  'Reid, you're trying to rush me and it won't work. You've got to give me time.'

  'Time for what?'

  But he had allowed her to persuade him against his better judgement, although in her heart Casey knew that he was right; she didn't really need any more time. In her mind she had left him; it was over and she should never have married him. It was Reid who needed time to get used to the idea, to realise that it was over, too.

  Another heat-wave hit the south of England; in England any hot weather that lasts more than a week automatically becomes a heat-wave, the perverse nature of the Britsh immediately making them long for rain. It was sweltering too in the warehouse, but Casey hated her digs and stayed at work until the caretaker turned her out at nine every night. Johnny, next door, suffered even more from the heat as he laboured over his stained glass, using a burner to melt the solder holding the pieces together. They were so hot that they went fifty/fifty on a second-hand fridge so that at least they could have a cold drink whenever they wanted one.

  The unit on the other side of her was being developed now and the workmen made a lot of noise, especially when they realised they had a young, good-looking blonde nearby to tease. But Casey took no notice of them, too wrapped up in her own troubles to care.

  One morning, about two weeks after she had left Reid, Casey arrived at the warehouse to find some of the workmen outside, stripped down to shorts, all of them tanned by the sun. They were in the process of hauling some machinery up to the unit next to hers on the second floor, using ropes to pull it up the outside rather than struggle with it up the stairs. This unit was a corner one with windows on both walls, whereas hers only overlooked the river so that her knitting-machines had been carried up.

  Ignoring their wolf-whistles and suggestive remarks, Casey went up to her own unit and, as she did every morning, went to lean far out of the window to look back along the river to where she could just see the head of the lake, feeling that it was a line that somehow still linked her to Reid.

  She set to work, doing so automatically and with no real interest, but making the sweaters beautifully all the same, because she was basically efficient. It was very hot, the sun moving to shine in her window in the afternoon when it was at its hottest. Johnny gave up and went down to sleep and sunbathe on the grass outside, coming up again to carry on when it was cooler. Casey could hear him whistling tunelessly, as he always did when he was concentrating, long after most of the other people there had gone home. At eight-thirty she banged on the wall and he came round for a drink, standing chatting with her for a good half-hour until they decided to pack up and go home.

  'I'm surprised the caretaker hasn't been round,' Casey remarked.

  'He's probably round the pub having a drink, too.'

  Johnny went out and Casey went over to close her window, taking a last look towards the lake and then staring in open-mouthed dismay. There was smoke pouring from Johnny's window. She ran to the door just as he came through it, coughing, his hand over his mouth.

  She grabbed his arm. 'Come on, let's get out.'

  But he pulled her back. 'It's no good,' he got out between coughs. 'We can't get down the stairs. They're impassable.' He gave her a haunted look. 'Oh God, I think I must have left my burner going.'

  Casey stared at him, appalled. 'The fire brigade!' She ran to the phone and gave a prayer of relief when it was still working. Quickly she rang and explained where they were, that they couldn't get out. Then she ran to the window. 'Could we jump into the river, if we had to?'

  'These ceilings are high, it must be about fifty feet and it hasn't rained for ages so the water will be low. If we jump we could kill ourselves.'

  'A rope, then. If we had a rope we could lower ourselves down on the pulley they used for the flour.'

  'But we haven't got one,' Johnny answered in despair.

  It was very hot and they both suddenly realised that the heat was coming through the wall, not from the sun any more, and that wall was the one that Casey stored all her yarns against.

  'The unit next door,' Casey exclaimed, fear forcing her brain to work. 'They were using some ropes this morning. If they're still there…'

  Johnny nodded in hopeful eagerness. 'I'll go and have a look.'

  'Here, put something over your mouth.'

  They soaked a piece of a sweater in Coca Cola and Johnny went out, shutting the door behind him to keep the smoke out. It was a solid door and Casey could hear nothing through it. If Johnny didn't come back… Without even thinking about it Casey went again to the phone, instinct telling her that Reid would be doing the same as her and trying to appease the hurt by working late at the marina.

  He answered at once, but it was a moment before she could find her voice. 'Casey, is that you?' he asked urgently.

  'Yes. Reid, there's a fire at the warehouse. I'm—I'm trapped. With Johnny. He's trying to find a rope. I just want you to know in—in case, that I love you so very much.'

  But he just said, 'I'm coming,' and dropped the phone. She could hear him shouting to someone, his voice fading.

  For a long moment Casey stood gripping the phone, thinking of all the things that could have been, but then Johnny was back, his face and clothes blackened, but triumphantly carrying a long rope.

  'Oh, well done! Well done!' Casey hugged him and dragged the rope over to the window. Dimly she heard the sound of fire engines growing nearer as she leaned out. The river looked an awful long way down. 'Can you thread the rope through the pulley?' she called to Johnny.

  He came to the window to see, but then drew back, his face draining of colour beneath the black smudges. 'I'm sorry, Casey, but I can't stand heights. I get dizzy.'

  'All right, it doesn't matter. I'll do it. You hold the other end of the rope.' She pushed the window wider and a gush of smoke blew in her face, making her cough. There were flames coming out of Johnny's window now and she could hear the small explosions of breaking glass. Opposite, on the other side of the river, was another, lower warehouse, too far away to be any use and with too narrow a strip of ground in front of it for a fire engine to get up and put its ladder across. But some men had run along and seen her, and were shouting to the firemen.

  Grimly Casey stepped out on to the narrow ledge below the window and worked her way to the pulley, then lowered herself to sit astride it while she threaded the rope through, just praying that it was still solid enough to take her weight. 'All right, it's through,' she called to Johnny.

  'OK, tie the end round your waist and I'll lower you down.'

  'What about you, will you be able to climb down?'

  'Yes, of course. Go on, go. It's getting hot in here.'

  Hastily Casey tied the rope. 'I'll abseil. I did it once on an adventure holiday.'

  'OK. Ready?' She nodded and Johnny said, 'Sorry I ruined your business,' and took t
he strain of the rope as she began to go down. Half-way it occurred to Casey that she was going to walk straight into the river, but then she heard the noise of an engine above the shouts of encouragement from the crowd of people who were watching and she saw a power-boat surging up the river towards her. An open boat with Lomax Marine painted on the side.

  Reid reached her as she dangled a yard above the water and brought the boat under her so that he could just reach up and help her inside. He took the rope off then held her very, very tightly, his face buried in her neck. But then the people on the bank stopped cheering and began to shout and one of the two men Reid had brought with him said, 'That other chap isn't coming down.'

  Turning, Casey looked up again at the warehouse to see that Johnny had half climbed out of the window, but was going back again—and there was smoke coming out of there now, too!

  'Oh no! He's afraid of heights. He isn't going to make it! Johnny, come on,' she yelled. 'You can do it.'

  Again Johnny tried, but this time he could only stand on the ledge holding on to the window-frame, unable to move.

  'He's frozen!' Reid exclaimed. 'I'll go up and get him.'

  For a moment Casey's wide, frightened eyes met his, but she made no attempt to stop him. Reid grinned at her, then took hold of the rope and began to climb.

  The people on the bank began to shout and cheer again and there was even the flash of cameras, but Casey watched in silent fear as Reid went higher towards the billowing smoke, mixed with flames now, that came from her window. It was more difficult to negotiate the pulley going up than going down, but he managed it and stood up beside Johnny, tying the rope under his armpits and somehow persuading him to release his iron grip on the window and lowering him down.

  'Oh, quickly, quickly,' Casey prayed, watching the flames spreading. It seemed light years before Johnny was safely in the boat, then Reid was immediately on the rope again himself, sliding down it to jump down beside Johnny who still had his eyes tightly shut.

  'Look out,' someone yelled and they just had time to move out of the way as the burning rope fell and was quickly thrown into the water. Casey looked at it, smouldering and sizzling, then looked up again at the warehouse, the whole floor engulfed now by flames. She began to shake and Reid gave an order to the helmsman, who took them further along to where the fire appliances were.