Nina looked round to see the maid. ‘Yes?’
‘Telephone, from IHA.’ Nina held out a hand, but the maid shook her head. ‘For Mr Chase.’
Slightly surprised, Nina passed the phone to Eddie. ‘Hello?’ he said. ‘Lola, hi. What is it?’
He listened to Lola. ‘But it’s the middle of the night over there,’ he objected. Nina could faintly hear her assistant’s voice as she replied; even at this level, she detected a worried urgency. ‘Okay, thanks,’ Eddie said, disconnecting, and punching in a new number.
‘What’s wrong?’ Nina asked.
‘Lizzie’s been trying to get hold of me. Lola said it’s urgent.’
‘Nan?’
Eddie’s look said as much as any words. He stood and put the phone to his ear, anxiously awaiting an answer. ‘Lizzie, it’s me,’ he finally said. ‘I just got your message. What is it?’
He paced back and forth before the windows as he listened to his sister. Nina watched with growing concern as his expression became increasingly stony, his interjections more terse – a sign that he was putting up his shields as a reaction to bad news. Finally he stopped, and with a simple ‘Okay. Right,’ ended the call.
Nina almost didn’t want to ask the obvious question, because she was sure she already knew the answer. But she had to. ‘What did Elizabeth say?’
‘She said . . .’ Eddie began, before his voice shrank to a dry croak. He swallowed, then spoke again. ‘She said that Nan died today.’
Even though it was expected, the news was still a painful shock. ‘Oh, God,’ said Nina. ‘Eddie, I’m sorry.’
‘It wasn’t her lungs,’ he went on quietly. ‘They thought she was responding well to the oxygen therapy. But apparently there’s some side effect of emphysema, something about blood building up in the liver – I dunno, I didn’t really understand it. But that suddenly got worse, so they took her to hospital, and that’s . . . that’s where . . .’
Abruptly, he hurled the telephone at the wall. It shattered. The maid shrieked in fright, then fled as Eddie grabbed the chair and flung it across the room. It hit a small table, wood flying as both pieces of furniture smashed.
‘Eddie, stop!’ Nina cried, hurrying to him. ‘Please, stop! Please!’
He dropped to his knees amongst the wreckage. ‘Oh,
Nina crouched, putting her arms round him. ‘I’m here, I’m here. It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay . . .’
‘No it’s not – it’s
Nina recoiled, shocked, as his rage was turned on her – then stiffened as the injustice of the accusation stoked her own suppressed anger. ‘That’s not fair.’
‘Isn’t it? If you hadn’t been looking for them, Mac wouldn’t have come to South America, and I would have been able to stay in England with Nan.’
‘We had to find them. That’s part of the IHA’s job – making sure things like that don’t fall into the wrong hands.’
‘And Stikes is the
She struggled to keep her temper under control, knowing that he was under immense emotional pressure. ‘We’ve been here before, Eddie. When Mitzi died, while we were looking for Excalibur. Remember?’
‘Course I fucking remember. And you know who got me through it?
‘I will!’
‘But it’s your fucking fault!’
Nina felt as though she had been slapped. ‘I can’t believe you said that.’
It looked for a moment as if even he knew he had gone too far . . . but then his gaze snapped to something behind her. ‘What?’ he demanded.
Nina turned to see the maid waiting almost fearfully in the doorway, clutching a replacement telephone handset. ‘I’m sorry, but . . . another telephone call. For Dr Wilde.’
‘Tell ’em to fuck off,’ Eddie snarled.
‘No, but . . . it is the president of Peru!’
‘And? Tell him to fuck off!’
The young woman seemed on the verge of tears. Nina shot Eddie a furious look, then went to her. ‘I’ll take it,’ she said.
‘Work always comes first with you, doesn’t it?’ Eddie said bitterly. Nina held in an angry reply as she took the phone.
The call was short, but straight to the point. ‘I have to go,’ she told Eddie with reluctance. ‘The President wants to see me.’