‘What do youmean? I’d do anything to stay with you Gemma, you know that. Ithought we might work things out between us. It’s been great theselast few days.’
‘Look Mark,stop clutching at straws, I’ve checked the bank accounts, you’vetaken something like fifty thousand pounds from our account, if notmore, and presumably brought it with you to start some kind of newlife or God knows what. But whatever the hell it is, you’vecertainly ripped me off; and don’t come up with some pathetic sortof denial, you’re the only one who could have withdrawn that money,and in any case the bank told me it was you.’
She wanted to keep himguessing; and to see him try to squirm his way out of things. Shecould almost feel his brain grinding into damage limitationmode.
‘Okay Gemma,yes I did withdraw that money, but only because I deserved it andif you were going to ditch me I wanted to make sure I wasn’t leftwith nothing. And anyway, I haven’t done anything with it, Ipromise, in fact now we’re getting on I really want us to staytogether and give things another go. I’d never actually take it ifwe had a chance of staying together. I love you, youknow.’
Even though Gemma knewshe was one step ahead, she was finding it difficult to stay calmand control her anger. She folded he arms to stop herself tremblingand looked him in the eye.
‘So where isthe money then, Mark?’
‘Well I’ve juststashed it away at home so we can talk things through when we getback.’
That was it, so muchfor his sudden pretence of decency and honesty – qualities whichwere obviously beyond him. She couldn’t keep the charade going anylonger.
‘No way Mark, you’rea fucking liar, you better give me that money back now; and if youmess around I’ll grass you up about Anne’s murder, you know Icould, there’s nothing to pin anything on me except your word. I’llbloody ruin you, again, you arrogant bastard.’
Mark was disconcertedand rattled, his panic fighting a desperation to come up with aplausible explanation.
‘What do youmean give it back now? I haven’t got it here, have I? And as I saidI bloody deserve it for all I’ve done for you.’
It was clear Mark wasgoing to hang in there with his excuses. Enough wasenough.
‘Okay Mark,let’s stop messing around. I know exactly what you’ve done. I’vealready taken the money from the lining of your stupid enormoussuitcase and transferred it all back to an account in my name only.It didn’t have to be like this, you know; I actually used to quitelike you. Anyway I’m going back to Dubrovnik, you can get backyourself and then you can go where the fuck you like.’
By the time she hadfinished it was pretty clear that Mark hadn’t really beenlistening; his whole demeanour was changing. He grabbed her. Hemanaged to look both white and livid at the same time. His wordswere almost spat out.
‘But whatabout last night? I thought we had something. And yes, sure I didtake the money but that was before this and over the last few daysI’ve hoped we could get back together and that’d be far moreimportant to me. You’ve got to believe me. It was only a lastresort.’
Things weren’tgoing quite as Gemma had envisaged. Mark looked more than a littlemanic and clearly unpredictable; she realised that she needed tokeep things together for now.
‘Mark, lastnight was a sham, I got you drunk just so as to get my money back.You can’t think I want you in my life anymore, we’re over. Yes, wemight have had some good times but that’s finished, we agreed. Thiswas a goodbye trip, you bloody promised.’
She felt his griptightening around her shoulders and pushed him away. It didn’t makea difference. Gemma felt a surge of fear, she hadn’t thought aboutany physical threat. Mark’s face was contorted with anger and hisfingers dug into the bottom of her neck.
‘I can’t lose you andyou don’t want me.’
Mark was plainlydesperate and she wasn’t in a position to do much. She needed tocalm him down pretty quickly or things could go badlywrong.
‘Maybe Mark, maybe wecould. I do still feel something for you. You knowthat.’
She looked upat him and smiled, he loosened his hold a little. She knew she hadto get away from him. She pushed him with all her strength, kickingout at his shins at the same time. He rocked back and toward theedge of the cliff but had kept enough of a grip on her to drag herwith him. She kicked again and this time he lost his balance. Hestumbled backwards but still with sufficient of a hold on one ofher arms to bring her with him. Time stood still as they fell thefew yards to the surface of the lake. As they hit the water theyseparated; she remembered thinking how cold it was, and howsurprisingly dark, before her head hit a ledge jutting out from therocky cliff wall below the water line.
Epilogue
Saturday 13 August 1983– 5.00 pm
Jeremywas standing on the balcony overlooking the stretch of waterbetween the apartment he was renting up the hill from the old townof Dubrovnik and the little island of Lokrum, which was lookinggreen and lush in spite of the hot summer it had so far endured. Itwas quite appropriate that Paul Young’s ‘Wherever I Lay my Hat’ was playing in thebackground on the surprisingly up-to-date local radio station. Thishad been Jeremy’s home for the last few months even though hedidn’t favour wearing hats much. He stroked his beard, as usualwondering if he’d ever feel comfortable enough to get rid of it.Even though he’d been back in Dubrovnik since early summer, todayhad been the first time he’d ventured across to the island. It wassomething he just felt he had to do and today had felt the righttime to. However it had been an oddly disturbing experience that hewas having difficulty coming to terms with.
Adrijana came throughfrom the kitchen area with a cup of coffee.
‘Do you fancy a cupbefore you have to go down to the restaurant?’
She put her arms roundhim and kissed the back
