The Rinucci Brothers

‘I told you, I’ve drawn a line under that,’ he said impatiently.

‘But maybe I haven’t,’ she said, incensed again. ‘And maybe I stand on my right to jump to conclusions, just like you.’

She knew she was treading on thin ice, but what the hell? She was usually slow to anger, but there was something about this man that made her want to be unreasonable. In fact, there was something about him that made her want to jump up and down on his head.

He gave an exasperated sigh. ‘This is getting us nowhere. What are you doing in my house?’

House, she noticed. Not home. Well, he was right about that.

‘I gave Mark a lift.’

‘Riding that contraption outside?’

‘No,’ she shot back. ‘I rode it while he ran behind—’ She checked herself. This was no time for sarcasm. ‘Of course. He rode pillion.’

‘Did he have a helmet?’

‘Yes, I gave him mine.’

‘So you rode without one?’

‘Yes.’

‘Which is against the law.’

‘I’m aware of that, but what else could I do? Leave him there? The point is, his head was safe.’

‘But yours wasn’t.’

‘I’m overwhelmed by your concern,’ she snapped.

‘My concern,’ he snapped back, ‘is for my son if you’d been stopped by the police while in breach of the law.’

Evie ground her teeth but wouldn’t risk answering. He had a point. An unfair point, but still a point.

‘And why were you giving him a lift anyway? Do you normally bring your pupils home from school?’

‘I didn’t bring him home from school. He played truant today, not for the first time.’

‘Yes, I’ve heard about his behaviour before this.’

‘What did you do?’

‘I went to the school and talked with the Deputy Head.’

‘No, I mean what did you do when you got home? Did you talk to Mark?’

‘Of course I did. I told him to behave himself or there’d be trouble. I gather he didn’t listen. All right, leave it to me. I’ll deal with him.’

She stared, aghast.

‘And just what do you mean by that?’ she demanded.

‘I mean I’ll make sure he knows the consequences of disobeying me again. Isn’t that what you came here for?’

‘No!’

Evie spoke so loudly and emphatically that he was actually startled.

‘That is not what I came here for,’ she said firmly. ‘That boy is very unhappy, and I’m trying to find out why. I hadn’t been here five minutes before I could see the reason. Heavens, what a place!’

‘What’s the matter with it?’ he demanded.

‘It’s like a museum. Full of things, but actually empty.’

He looked around at the expensive furnishing, then back at her. He was totally baffled.

‘You call this empty?’

‘It’s empty of everything that matters—warmth, parents to greet him when he comes home.’

‘His mother is dead,’ Justin Dane said in a hard voice.

‘She’s worse than dead, Mr Dane. She’s missing. Where are the pictures of her?’

‘After what she did, I saw no need to keep them, much less put them on display.’

‘But what about Mark? What would he have liked?’

She heard his sharp intake of breath before he said, ‘You’re trespassing on matters that do not concern you.’

‘You’re wrong,’ she said firmly. ‘I am Mark’s teacher and I’m concerned about his welfare. Anything about him concerns me, especially his suffering.’

‘What do you know about his suffering?’

‘Only what he’s trying to tell me without words. I rely on you to tell me the rest. What exactly did she do that entitles you to airbrush her out of existence?’

But he wouldn’t explain, she could see. His face had closed against her.

It was her own fault, she realised. What had she been thinking of to have lost her temper?

She took some deep breaths and tried to calm down. He seemed to be doing much the same for there was a silence. Turning, she saw that he was at the window with his back to her.

He was a tall man, well over six foot, and leanly built with broad shoulders which were emphasised by the way he was standing. When he left the window and began to stride about the room she was struck by how graceless he was. There was strength there, muscle, power, but nothing gentle or yielding.

Heaven help the person who really gets on his wrong side, Evie thought. He’d be pitiless. What kind of life does that poor child have?

When he spoke it was with an exasperated sigh, suggesting that he was doing his best with this awkward woman, but it was very difficult.

‘This is getting us nowhere,’ he said. ‘I accept that you came here with the best of intentions, and I’m glad to know about his misbehaviour. But your job is done now, and I suggest you leave it there.’

She lost her temper again. She couldn’t help it. This man was a machine for making her angry.

‘My job is not done as long as you’re talking about Mark’s ‘‘misbehaviour’’. He is not misbehaving. His mother’s dead, his father’s trying to pretend she never existed. He is miserable, unhappy, wretched, lonely, and that should be your priority. Am I getting through?’

‘Now look—’

A sound from the doorway made them both look, and see Mark. She wondered how long he’d been standing there, and how much he’d heard.

‘Hallo, Dad.’

‘Hallo, Mark. Has anyone offered Miss Wharton any tea?’

‘Yes, Lily’s made some.’

‘Then I suggest you take it upstairs and show Miss Wharton your room. She’d like to see some of your interests.’

She guessed that he would really have liked to throw her out, but he would not do so in front of his son.

‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I appreciate your being so helpful.’

That annoyed him, she was glad to notice.

Mark’s room turned out to contain all the gadgets any boy could want, including a music centre and computer. Evie guessed she was supposed to admire, and conclude that Mark had everything. Instead, she shivered.

Such a profusion of mechanical things, and nothing human. Even here, no pictures of the child’s mother were on show.

‘How powerful is your computer?’ she asked.

He switched on and showed her. As she’d expected it was state of the art, linked to a high-speed Internet connection.

‘It’s the next generation,’ he said. ‘They aren’t even in the shops yet, but Dad brought it home for me. He makes sure my machine is always ahead of the other kids’ machines.’

‘I’ll bet your school loves him for that,’ Evie observed wryly.

‘At my last school they told him he was throwing everything out of kilter by making their computers look outdated. He replaced every machine in the entire school with the newest thing on the market. Then he turned to the headmistress and said, ‘Not out of kilter now.’ And he winked.’

‘He what? Mark, I don’t believe it. I shouldn’t think your father knows how to wink.’

‘He can sometimes. He says there are things any man can do if he has to.’

So, Evie reflected, winking was Justin Dane’s idea of putting on the charm, something a man could do when he had to, but which was otherwise a waste of time. But she felt she was getting to know him now, and ventured to say, ‘I’ll bet he bought you a new computer too, and it was one step ahead of the school’s.’

Mark grinned and nodded.

‘What do you want to do when you leave school, Mark?’

‘I’d like to do something with languages. Dad doesn’t like it, but it’s what I want.’

‘Why isn’t your father keen?’

‘He says there’s no money in it.’

‘Well, that’s true,’ she agreed with a rueful grin.

‘But I don’t care about that,’ he said eagerly. ‘Languages take you into other people’s minds, and different worlds, so you’re not trapped any more, and—’

This was the boy she knew in class, words tumbling over each other in his joy at the glorious flame he’d discovered. Evie smiled encouragement.

‘I like Italian best,’ he said. ‘One day I want to go to Italy—hang on.’

A knock at the door had signalled Lily’s arrival with tea. While Mark was letting her in Evie looked at the shelf behind her chair and saw, with pleasure, how many books it contained. She took down the nearest volume and jumped as a photograph fell out from between the pages.

Picking it up, she saw that it was of a young woman with a little boy, plainly a much younger Mark. They were laughing directly into each other’s eyes.

His mother, she thought.

Something caught in her throat at the feeling that blazed from that picture. If ever two people had loved each other it was these two. But she was dead, and now his life was lived with a harsh father in a house whose luxury couldn’t hide its bleakness.

Suddenly she became aware of the silence and looked up to find Mark watching her, his face pale.

‘Oh, that’s what became of it,’ he said. ‘I was afraid I’d lost it.’

He held out his hand and she gave him the photograph.

‘Is that—?’

‘Shall I pour you some tea?’ he asked, almost too politely.

His face was implacable, setting her at a distance. At that moment his likeness to his father was alarming.

‘Thank you, I’d like some,’ she said, recognising that she must back off.

He put the picture away and poured her tea, taking up their previous conversation about Italy, a country that he’d evidently studied closely.

‘You’ve got the makings of a scholar,’ she said at last.

‘Don’t let Dad hear you say that,’ he warned. ‘He’d hit the roof.’

‘Yes, I suppose he would. I guess you need to be a bit older before you can stand up to him.’

‘People can’t often stand up to Dad. He just flattens them. Except you.’ He gave a sigh of delight. ‘You flattened him.’

‘Mark,’ she said, laughing, ‘life is about a lot more than who flattens whom.’ She couldn’t resist adding, ‘Whatever your father thinks.’

‘Yeah, right,’ he said, unconvinced. ‘But it helps. And you’re the only one who’s ever flattened Dad.’

‘Stop saying that,’ she begged. ‘And how much did you overhear, anyway?’

‘Enough to know that you fla—’

‘All right, all right,’ she said hastily.

‘Wish I could do it.’

Diplomatically she decided not to answer this.

‘I have to be going,’ she said.

‘I wish you wouldn’t. It’s nice with you here.’

‘I’ll see you at school tomorrow. That is—’ she added casually, ‘if you’re there.’

‘I will be.’

‘No more truanting?’

‘Promise.’

They shook hands.

‘Good,’ said Justin from the door. ‘The best deals are made over a handshake.’

There was nothing but calm approval in his voice, and she had no way of knowing if he’d heard his son’s words.

‘We’ve made a very good deal,’ Evie assured him. ‘Mark has promised me that he’ll attend school every day from now on, and since I know he’s a man of his word I consider the matter closed.’

Her eyes told Justin that if he was wise he’d better consider the matter closed too. She thought she detected a flicker of surprise in his expression, but all he said was, ‘Mark, perhaps you’ll show our guest out? Goodbye, Miss Wharton.’

He gave her a brief nod and walked away, depriving her of the chance to talk to him again. Which, she thought, had probably been the idea.

Chapter Two

EVIE didn’t teach Mark the next day, but she saw him at a distance and knew he was in school. On the following morning he was there in her class, quiet but attentive. As he left she drew him briefly aside.

‘All right?’ she asked briefly.

‘Fine.’

‘He didn’t give you a hard time after I left?’

‘He never said a word about my playing truant, but he asked a lot of questions about you.’

‘What sort of questions?’

‘About who you were, how much did I know about you, how were you different to the other teachers?’ There was a touch of mischief in his voice as he added, ‘I said you were no different from the others, and he said, ‘You mean they all go around on motorbikes?’

She tried to suppress a chuckle and failed.

‘You’d better run along,’ she said hastily.

The rest of the week passed uneventfully. Mark attended every day, as he’d promised, and Evie was able to feel mildly satisfied for a job well done.

Her personal life was less tidy. Andrew was growing disgruntled at the feeling that he didn’t come first with Evie. She knew she could save the relationship with a huge effort. But then what? Marriage, which she’d always avoided? Just how hard did she really want to try? She wished she knew the answer.

Tonight he was taking her to dinner and she had discarded jeans and boots in favour of an elegant blue dress and a necklace of filigree silver. She stayed at her desk for a couple of hours after school, catching up on paperwork until Andrew called for her. She was just finishing when Justin Dane walked into the classroom.

She could feel his anger before she saw it. It was like watching a volcano preparing to erupt.

‘So much for deals,’ were his first words.

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘You made a deal with my son, a young man of his word, according to you. He was to stop playing truant.’

‘And he has. He’s been here every day since. I’ve seen him.’

‘Today?’

‘Yes, this afternoon. In fact, he did a particularly good piece of translation. I’ve just finished marking it—here.’

She pulled the book out and showed him.

‘Then where is Mark now?’ he asked in a tight voice.

‘He didn’t come home?’

‘No.’

‘Perhaps he went out with friends?’

‘He isn’t allowed to just go off like that. Either Lily or I must know in advance.’

‘Are you saying that he’s wandering around alone?’ she asked, horrified.

‘I don’t know. I wish I did. Where did you find him last time?’

She scratched her head. ‘I know where it is but I didn’t notice the name of the road.’

‘OK, you can take me there.’

His casual way of giving her orders made her grind her teeth and say, ‘Since you seem not to have noticed, I am about to go out on a date.’

‘How could I have noticed?’ he asked, puzzled.

‘Because I’m dolled up,’ she said, indicating her dress and make-up. Unwisely, she added, ‘I don’t dress like this unless I have to.’

Incredibly his lips twitched. ‘I believe you.’

‘Mr Dane, I’m sure this will come as news to you, but I do have a life. I don’t just sit here waiting for you to give me orders.’

‘So you won’t help me?’

‘I didn’t say that, but ‘‘please’’ would be good.’

‘All right. Please. Now can we get going?’

She looked at her watch. Andrew would be here soon. She guessed how he’d feel if she put him off, but she couldn’t shut out the memory of Mark’s unhappy face and the miserable hunch of his shoulders.

‘All right,’ she said. ‘But I don’t have long, and I must make a call first.’

She dialled Andrew on her cellphone and was relieved when he answered.

‘Darling, I’m going to be a little late,’ she said. ‘Can you leave it for an hour?’

She heard him sigh. ‘An hour then.’

Justin’s luxurious car was waiting in the school yard. For a while, on the journey, neither of them spoke. Evie remembered Mark saying that his father had asked a lot of questions about her. He’d described some of the questions, but how many others had there been?

She took a cautious look at Justin’s profile, which was set and hard, otherwise she would have called it attractive, with a sharply defined nose and a firm chin. A good man to have on your side in a fight. Otherwise, steer clear.

‘So, tell me everything that happened,’ she said at last.

‘I called home and asked to speak to Mark. Lily said he wasn’t there and she didn’t know where he was. Just like last time.’

‘So you immediately blamed me.’

‘I thought you might have some ideas.’

‘I don’t know why we’re going back to this road,’ she said. ‘He’s hardly likely to be there a second time.’

‘Unless there’s something nearby that attracts him. A cinema, a shop?’

‘It’s a tree-lined street. And so are all the others near it. What’s the matter?’

She had noticed him grow suddenly alert, slowing the car and looking around him at the passing streets.

‘I know this part,’ he said. ‘We used to live here.’

‘When?’

‘About three years ago. Is this where you saw him?’

‘In the next road.’

He turned into the street where she had seen Mark slouching along, but, as she had feared, there was no sign of him.

‘Where was your house?’

‘Another five minutes,’ he said tensely. ‘The next turning, then the first on the right.’ He was turning the car as he spoke.

‘There he is,’ Evie said quickly. ‘In the cemetery.’

Of course, she thought. His mother must be buried here.

Justin was drawing over to the kerb and getting out. She hurried to catch up with him and together they climbed the few stone steps to the raised ground where the graves were laid out.

Something made the boy look round as they approached and it was Evie he saw first. His face brightened and he took a step towards her.

‘Hallo, son,’ Justin said.

The child checked himself before turning obediently to his father and there was nothing in his face but blankness. It was enough to stop Justin in his tracks. Evie clenched her hands, hoping he wouldn’t berate his son, but he only turned away with a shrug that would have suggested helplessness in anyone else.

Evie took her chance, walking up to Mark and speaking quietly so that Justin couldn’t hear.

‘You know,’ she said, trying not to sound too heavy, ‘this isn’t playing fair. You promised me, no more playing truant.’

‘But I’ve been at school,’ he said quickly.

‘Don’t split hairs. No truancy means no vanishing after school either. No forcing us to chase around after you, and sending your father grey-haired with worry.’

She thought she saw a smile of disbelief flicker across the child’s face.

‘I just like being here,’ he said.

‘Had you been here the other night, when I caught up with you?’

‘Yes. It’s beautiful.’

‘Show me.’

He took her hand and led her deep into the cemetery, which was old-fashioned with elaborate Victorian graves and mausoleums. Grass and trees made the effect charming rather than bleak.

Once she looked over her shoulder and saw Justin standing where they had left him, at a distance, watching them, motionless, isolated.

They wandered on for a while.

‘Your mother’s dead, isn’t she?’ she asked.

A nod.

‘And is she buried here?’

A shake of the head. Then, ‘But she ought to be,’ he said so quietly that she wondered if she had heard properly.

‘What do you mean, Mark?’

‘Nothing. I suppose we’d better go back to Dad.’

Justin was still standing in the same place, watching for their return. For a moment Evie had an impression of uncertainty, but that must be an illusion caused by the distance.

‘Are you ready to come home?’ he asked Mark as they neared.

Quickly he looked up at Evie. ‘Are you coming with us?’

‘I can’t. I’m going out tonight and I’m late already.’

‘Please,’ he said.

Beside her she could sense Justin turn to stone, waiting for her reply.

‘All right,’ she said. ‘But I can’t stay for long.’

Mark’s face broke into a smile of relief. Justin relaxed slightly.

‘Let’s go,’ he said briefly, indicating the way back to the car.

Mark grabbed hold of her hand and almost dragged her along, making sure that she got into the back seat with him. Justin started up the car without a glance at them.

Nobody spoke during the journey. Mark kept hold of her hand and seemed content simply to have her there. Evie was glad of anything she could do for him, but she was beginning to be alarmed. This child barely knew her, except in class, yet he clung to her as though she were his saviour.

She didn’t know what he wanted to be saved from, but the glimpse she’d had of his lonely life had filled her with dismay. And something told her there was worse to come.

Lily opened the front door for them.

‘Miss Wharton’s really hungry,’ Mark said quickly.

‘I’ll go and see to supper,’ she said, and vanished.

Mark gave a violent sneeze.

‘I hope you haven’t caught cold,’ Evie said.

‘I’m all right,’ he said quickly, and vanished after Lily.

‘I hope you can stay with us long enough for supper at least,’ Justin murmured.

‘I’d better make a phone call.’

Andrew’s voice, when he answered, was revealing. It had a subdued exasperation that told her he’d been expecting this.

‘I’ve got a situation here that I can’t walk away from,’ she pleaded.

‘Another one?’

‘Darling, that’s not fair,’ she said, and sensed Justin looking quickly at her. ‘I didn’t ask for this to happen—’

‘You never do. Things just happen to you. Evie, did it ever occur to you that your life is too crowded? Maybe you need to junk a few things, starting with me.’

‘You mean break up?’ she asked, aghast.

‘Isn’t that where we’re heading?’

‘No, no,’ she said frantically. ‘I don’t want to do that. Please, Andrew, it’s too important to decide like this—’

‘Sure, let’s put it off for a while so that you can keep me dangling at your pleasure.’

‘Is that really what I do?’ she asked penitently.

‘I can’t believe that you really don’t see it. C’mon, Evie, be brave. Say you don’t care about me—’

‘But I do care about you. It’s just that tonight—please be patient. I’ll call you again tomorrow, and maybe we can fix something—’

‘Yes, sure we will. Anything you say.’ The line clicked.

‘Andrew—Andrew?’

She stared at the phone, trying to understand that dear, gentle Andrew had hung up on her.

‘Did he give you a hard time?’ Justin Dane asked.

‘I can hardly blame him,’ she said edgily. ‘Wouldn’t you be annoyed?’

‘Probably. You sound as though you’re leading him a merry dance.’

‘You’d have hung up long ago,’ she said.

But he surprised her by giving her an odd look and saying, ‘Maybe not.’

She wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but she had no time to brood on her own problems now. Only Mark mattered. She couldn’t forget how he’d brightened at the sight of her, or how quickly he’d said she was hungry, an excuse to keep her here.

‘All right,’ Justin resumed in a businesslike tone. ‘You’re entitled to an explanation, so I’ll make things clear.’

‘Not now.’

He stared. ‘What?’

‘What Mark needs now is for us all to sit down to supper and be friendly—or at least act friendly. Explanations can come later. Then I’ll tell you what I want to know.’

From his frown she guessed that this wasn’t how people usually treated him. And she seemed to have the gift of reading his thoughts, for she could follow the lightning process by which he worked out how to turn this to advantage.

‘Fine,’ he said. ‘Then if you’ll have supper with Mark I can do some work.’

‘No, you can have supper with us,’ she said firmly. ‘How often do you and he eat together?’

‘Not often, but I have things to do.’

‘Indeed you have, some more important than others. The most important is to be with your son.’

His lips tightened. ‘Miss Wharton, I’m grateful for the trouble you’re taking for Mark, but this is not your decision—’

‘Oh, but it is. Let me make it clear to you how much my decision it is. If I can give up my evening for your son, so can you. Either you agree to be there for supper, or I’m leaving, right now. And you can explain my absence any way you like.’

Now he was really angry. ‘I’m not in the habit of being dictated to, in my own home or anywhere else.’