Impetuous Masquerade. Anne Mather
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what?’ Simon was endearingly obtuse. ‘It seems to me she’d have done far better to admit that she was with him when the accident happened. The police are bound to find out. They always do.’
‘Do they?’ Rhia looked at him anxiously.
‘Of course they do. And in any case, it’s a silly thing to do, running away. It encourages people to think the worst, to imagine you’ve got something to hide.’
‘Perhaps she has.’ Rhia hesitated. ‘Perhaps—perhaps she was driving. How—how about that?’
‘Don’t be silly,’ Simon sniffed. ‘Val can’t drive, you know that.’
‘But—what if she was?’ probed Rhia cautiously. ‘I mean, young people do crazy things.’
‘If I thought that, I’d have no sympathy for her,’ retorted Simon grimly, shattering once and for all Rhia’s hopes of confiding everything. ‘No, no. Val may have been reckless, a bit of a tearaway when she was younger, but she wouldn’t do a thing like that. Good heavens, that would mean she was guilty of manslaughter, if the chap dies.’
Rhia buried her nose in her coffee cup. She felt near to desperation herself, and now that Simon had proved so virtuous, where could she turn?
The sound of the doorbell ringing brought her head up however, and what little colour she had drained out of her face. Who was that? she wondered in dismay. The police! Having discovered Valentina was not at the hospital where she worked, had they come looking for her?
‘Aren’t you going to answer that?’ Simon was looking at her in surprise. ‘You did hear the doorbell, didn’t you? Perhaps it’s Val. Perhaps she’s forgotten her key. Perhaps your fears were unfounded.’
Rhia had distinct doubts that this could be so, but she could not ignore the caller, whoever it was. If she didn’t answer the door, Simon would; he was already half out of his seat, as if growing impatient of her hesitation.
Putting down her coffee cup, Rhia smoothed her damp palms down over the seat of her jeans and walked determinedly along the hall. As she went, she mentally rehearsed what she was going to say, deciding with resignation that she could not pretend she didn’t know what it was all about. Valentina had disappeared, she would tell them that. What they chose to make of it was not her concern.
When she opened the door, however, it was not the blue uniform of a police constable that confronted her, but the grey suede waistcoat of a three-piece suit. And the man who was wearing it with such indolent assurance was the man who had briefly terrorised her the night before.
‘MR FRAZER!’ she breathed, glancing swiftly behind her, aware that Simon would be able to overhear what was said.
‘Miss Mallory,’ Jared Frazer returned equably. ‘Can I come in? I need to talk with you.’
Again!’ Rhia pressed nervous lips together.
‘Yes, again,’ he confirmed, looking pointedly over her shoulder. ‘Can I come in? I think you’ll want to hear what I have to tell you.’
Rhia couldn’t believe that she would. After the way he had behaved the previous evening, she had no wish to have anything more to do with him. He was too arrogant, too sure of himself; and how was she to explain his identity to Simon, when she hadn’t even mentioned what had happened?
‘Could you come back?’ she asked at last, awkwardly. ‘I—it’s difficult for me to speak to you now——’
‘Why?’ His narrowed eyes sought and speared her anxious gaze. ‘Have I come at an inopportune moment? Is Valentina here? Is that what you’re trying so desperately to hide? Well, if she is, so much the better——’ and thrusting Rhia aside, he strode determinedly into the flat.
Rhia was too shocked to stop him, and in any case, she doubted that she could. With a helpless shrug of her shoulders, she closed the door, and then hastened after him. Oh, lord, she fretted uneasily, what was Simon going to make of all of this? If only she had explained what had happened before Jared Frazer made his appearance!
Jared had halted in the middle of the living room, and when Rhia reached the doorway Simon had risen to his feet to confront the taller man. Rhia knew an almost hysterical desire to laugh at their conflicting expressions—Simon’s blustering and indignant, Jared Frazer’s hostile and suspicious.
‘What’s going on here?’
It was Simon who spoke, turning to Rhia in protest, his young good-looking face mirroring his confusion. If he had heard Jared Frazer’s name mentioned, it had meant nothing to him, and Rhia spread her hands wearily as she came into the room.
‘This—this is Glyn’s uncle, Simon,’ she answered him quietly, giving Jared a resentful look. ‘You know—Glyn, Val’s boy-friend; his uncle is here because of—of the accident.’
‘Where is your sister?’
Jared was evidently in no mood to wait while Rhia made the necessary introductions. With an expression of impatience he cast a quick look into the kitchen, then stood regarding her broodingly when she voiced an objection.
‘She’s not here,’ she declared quickly, deciding that Simon’s explanations would have to wait. ‘Mr Frazer, I told you last night I didn’t know where my sister was. I don’t. And—and what’s more, her clothes have disappeared.’
‘Rhia——’ Simon tried to intervene, but Jared wouldn’t let him.
‘You mean, she’s run away,’ he inserted harshly. ‘That doesn’t surprise me.’ He shook his head. ‘I suppose you’ve known all along that she was driving the car.’
Rhia gasped, and Simon took an involuntary step forward. ‘Don’t talk such rot!’ he exclaimed, putting out a hand to Rhia and squeezing her fingers reassuringly. ‘Val can’t drive—she’s never had the opportunity. I don’t know what you’re hoping to gain, Frazer, but blaming an innocent girl for your nephew’s accident isn’t going to help anyone.’
Jared ignored Simon, and addressed himself solely to Rhia. ‘Let’s not indulge in heedless argument, Miss Mallory,’ he suggested bleakly. ‘Your sister was driving that car. I’ve no doubt the police will be able to prove it. But that’s not important now. Glyn’s come round. He’s conscious. And—God help him—he’s asking for your sister.’
‘Oh!’ Rhia pressed both hands to her cheeks.
‘You really don’t know where she is?’
‘No.’ Rhia shook her head. ‘I—I wish I did.’
Jared nodded. Then after a moment’s consideration he seemed to come to a decision. ‘You’ll have to do it instead.’
‘Do it?’ echoed Rhia faintly. ‘Do what?’
‘Pretend to be your sister,’ said Jared flatly.
‘Now, look here——’
Once again Simon tried to intervene, but this time Rhia overrode him: ‘I can’t do that! Glyn will know I’m not Val.’
‘Not necessarily,’ declared Jared heavily. ‘From what I can remember of your sister, you are not unalike in appearance.’
‘But Glyn——’
‘Glyn seems to be having some difficulty with his sight,’ conceded her adversary bleakly. ‘He’s conscious, yes, but that’s all. He didn’t even recognise me at first.’
‘But——’
‘Voices can be deceptive,’ he continued steadily. ‘Sometimes a person doesn’t really listen to a voice, only to who’s speaking. Do you understand me? And your voice can’t be so dissimilar