An hour later, sickened after her binge and purge, Colette lay against her fluffy pillows, fingers trembling, as she dialled Hilary’s number. It rang and rang, and then, relieved more than words could say, Colette heard her oldest friend say a groggy, ‘Hello?’
‘Hilary, I’m in trouble. I need to talk to you,’ she managed before bursting into tears.
‘What’s wrong? God, I thought it was my mother. It’s very early, Colette.’ Hilary struggled to wake up, mouthing the word Colette to Niall who had shot up in the bed when the phone rang.
‘Sorry, I just don’t know who else to turn to,’ Colette gulped. ‘Des has had a heart attack. I found out from his mistress, with whom he was in bed when he had it. And he had it because he’s lost a mint of our money with a guy called Bernie Madoff who’s been arrested for running a Ponzi scheme. And I didn’t know about it. And just when I didn’t think things could get any worse I found out that he tried to trick me into signing a document that would put our London home, the property my aunt left me, up as collateral for a massive loan he had planned to take out without telling me. Hilary, please, please come over to me. I really need you.’
‘Oh my God! Colette, that’s horrendous. I don’t know what to say. Will Des be OK?’ Hilary ran her fingers through her tousled hair and made a face at Niall who was resting on his elbows looking at her through bleary eyes.
‘I think so. He’s in Lennox Hill. He had an angioplasty. I’ll know more tomorrow. Could you come over?’ Colette pleaded. ‘Hilary, our marriage is over. I’m going to divorce him. I might have coped with the affair and losing the money but trying to trick me into signing over the flat is just devastating. I’ll have to tell Jazzy some of it and I’ll have to shore up whatever’s left of our finances so that I won’t be left penniless. Thank God I didn’t sign that document without reading it or I’d have lost everything.’ Colette’s heart was doing double flips, and she thought she was going to be sick again.
‘Don’t do anything hasty,’ Hilary cautioned, horrified at what she was hearing. She didn’t particularly like Des Williams but he seemed to have played a very underhand game with Colette.
‘I won’t but I know exactly what has to be done and I’m going to do it. I just don’t want to be here on my own when I’m doing it,’ Colette wept. ‘Please say you’ll come.’
Hilary’s heart sank. But what could she do? Her friend was in the worst trouble possible, and even though Colette could be a fair-weather friend at times, when the chips were down she had turned to Hilary, and she would feel an utter heel if she turned her back on her. ‘OK, I will,’ she agreed. ‘Go to sleep and I’ll suss out flights and I’ll talk to you later.’
‘Oh thanks, Hil, you really are the best friend ever. I’m so grateful to you,’ Colette said with heartfelt gratitude.
‘Go to sleep, get some rest. I’ll call you later.’ Hilary threw her eyes up to heaven at Niall who was earwigging.
‘OK and thanks. And, Hilary . . .’
‘Yes?’
‘Don’t say a word about this to anyone,’ she warned.
‘Of course not!’ Hilary exclaimed. ‘Now try and get some sleep.’
‘OK, bye,’ Colette said tiredly and hung up. She replaced the receiver and switched off the lamp. Hilary was coming; she wouldn’t have to do what she was going to do on her own.
‘What’s going on?’ Niall turned over and put his arms around Hilary as she lay back against him. ‘It sounds pretty grim.’
‘It is, Niall. It’s unbelievable. I don’t like the chap but I never thought Des Williams would be such an underhand creep.’ Hilary nuzzled in against her husband’s shoulder and related the sorry saga to him.
‘You do have to go, I suppose,’ he said gravely when she came to the end. ‘Although I’m not sure she’d do the same for you,’ he added acerbically.
‘Ah don’t be like that, Niall,’ she chided. ‘I’m sure she would. Friends are friends when all’s said and done. Colette’s in a bad way. As if the affair wasn’t enough to have to deal with.’
‘He was always a very cocky guy. So superior, especially about the financial stuff. So Madoff stung him! I’m glad I didn’t take any of his financial advice. We were hit bad enough with ISTEC and the bank shares, but at least we didn’t borrow to speculate.’
‘Yeah well that bloody bank regulator has a lot to answer for and so does that Seán Quinn and his greedy gambling that we’re paying for,’ Hilary grumbled, still smarting over the amount of money they had recently lost in the banking fiasco.
‘At least we haven’t gone under like some people.’ Niall stretched.
‘Yeah,’ she sighed. ‘It was horrible making the lads at work redundant; if we’re able to hang onto the showrooms we’ll be doing well. There’s a long, hard road ahead of us. Thank God the girls are finished college.’
‘And doing well for themselves.’ Niall smiled at
