Eden in Winter Read Free Page A

like. But I’d prefer you go to Jack’s place, your future home. Maybe you can start redecorating.’
    Turning from her, he left.
    *
    Clarice had stared at the Persian rug, unable to face her son. ‘I never saw him again.’
    Adam wondered whether to believe her. ‘How did you react?’
    Clarice swallowed. ‘I was frightened and humiliated. He’d never threatened me like this before, and the other women who preceded this washed-up actress had come and gone. I didn’t know then that he was dying. But that Carla Pacelli would bear him a son made it real. To think I could lose everything was devastating.’
    ‘But you didn’t just sit there, did you? You called Teddy and told him what Ben had said.’
    ‘Yes.’ Clarice admitted. ‘I’ve been lying to protect him.’
    ‘But you didn’t just call Teddy,’ Adam continued. ‘First, you called Jack.’
    Surprised, she glanced at him sideways, then turned away. ‘He didn’t answer,’ she murmured. ‘So I left him a message, telling him what Ben had said and done.’
    ‘And where he’d gone,’ Adam said crisply. ‘Then you lied to the police about both calls. Do you realize what trouble that caused for Teddy?’
    Clarice straightened. ‘What on earth do you mean?’
    For the first time, Adam was surprised. He gazed into her eyes, and saw nothing but confusion. ‘What do you suppose Teddy did that night?’
    ‘Nothing.’ Clarice paused, eyes filling with doubt. ‘Isn’t that what he told the police?’
    Adam weighed the possibilities: that she knew nothing of Teddy’s actions, or that she had caused Ben’s death – or both. ‘Yes,’ he answered. ‘Yet another lie. In truth, he confronted Ben on your behalf and left him still alive, along with a telltale footprint, on the promontory from which Ben “fell” to his death. Now
you’ve
lied him into a potential murder charge.
    ‘Maybe Teddy thought he was protecting you by concealing your call and his confrontation with Ben. But here’s what I think, Mother. You couldn’t reach Jack, and felt certain that Teddy couldn’t help you. And you were ignorant of one crucial fact – that Ben had already changed his will in favour of Carla Pacelli.’ Adam forced a new harshness into his tone. ‘In desperation, you went to the promontory. You found him weak and drunk and disoriented, like a man who’d suffered a stroke. So you pushed him off the cliff, hoping to preserve the prior will – the one that gave you everything.’
    ‘No,’ his mother cried out. ‘I never went there, I swear it. As far as I know, Ben fell.’
    ‘True enough. But one of you helped him.’ Abruptly, Adam stood. ‘Call Jack,’ he finished. ‘Tell him to meet me where Ben went off the promontory.’
    *
    Alone in the darkness, Adam awaited the man he now knew to be his father. The moon was full, and a fitful breeze came off the water. For a half hour he thought about the two rival brothers who, in their separate ways, had ordained the course of his life.
    From behind him he heard footsteps on the trail. Turning, he saw the outline of the man for whom, Adam realized, he had been waiting all his life. Then Jack stepped into the pale light.
    ‘Hello, Jack,’ Adam said with tenuous calm. ‘Is there anything in particular you’d care to say?’
    Jack’s face was worn, his eyes sombre. ‘That I’m sorry,’ he said at last. ‘I always loved you, Adam. For years my reason for staying was to watch you grow.’
    Abruptly, Adam felt his self-control strip away. ‘As Benjamin Blaine’s son?’ he asked with incredulity. ‘You and my mother trapped me in a love–hate relationship with a man who resented me for reasons I couldn’t know. Then you pitted me against him in that last racing season. Do you have a fucking clue what came from that? Or do you give a damn?’
    Though shaken, Jack refused to look away. ‘I never thought you’d leave this place – leave us all behind,’ he said in a low voice. ‘I still don’t