Page 75 of The Affair
Devan, ignoring his request, pushed him aside and reached for the door. But it was firmly locked. ‘Where’s the key?’ Devan demanded.
Jared shrugged, blinked. ‘Do you know how important you are to me? Both of you. You’ve been so kind –’
Her husband cursed and swung round, shouting, ‘Ring the police!’ When she didn’t immediately move, he added, ‘Now, Connie!’
Hardly daring to tear her eyes from the two men, she scrabbled blindly for her mobile on the nightstand, but it wasn’t there. She lunged frantically across the bed for Devan’s, forgetting in her panic that he always left his charging in the kitchen overnight. There was no landline in the bedroom any more. ‘My phone’s not here,’ she said, her voice shrill in the silent room. It had been, she was sure, when she went to bed. She always kept it by her in case Caitlin ever needed them in the middle of the night.
‘I took it,’ Jared said simply. ‘I don’t want the police.’
His words were beginning to slur oddly and Devan eyed him closely. ‘Have you been drinking?’
Jared shook his head, his gaze on Connie again, yearning and desperate. ‘I thought we meant somethingto each other, Connie. You and I, we were a team, weren’t we? I thought … I thought …’ He shook his head as if to clear it and began to move towards the bed. But Devan put a hand firmly on his chest and pushed him roughly back against the door. ‘Stay where you are,’ he barked, as he ran his hands down Jared’s body, searching his pockets for the door key or a mobile – and obviously finding nothing.
Jared passively allowed Devan to rummage, but his eyes never left Connie’s face. ‘I thought you felt the same … that connection.’ He shot her the facsimile of a flirtatious smile, a pale imitation of the charming one with which he had wooed her back in the Italian lakes. ‘It was special, no? You and me … Remember that night …’
Connie froze.No, she begged silently.Please, no.
Devan had taken him by the shoulders and was looking intently into his eyes. ‘Christ, you stupid bastard … You’ve taken something, haven’t you?’
Jared didn’t reply, just stared blankly at him, eyelids flickering.
‘What is it? What the fuck have you taken?’ Devan shouted, face inches from Jared’s, shaking him so his body thudded back and forth against the solid oak door.
Jared just closed his eyes. Devan gave him a final shake, then let him go with a frustrated curse. Jared hovered for a moment, then slid slowly down the wall until he was slumped, half sitting, head lolling to one side.
Devan began wildly rattling the door handle. Connie was up now, pulling on the jeans and sweater she’dworn on the plane. She went over to the two men, looking down at Jared as he lay collapsed on the floor. ‘You think it’s an overdose?’
‘Fucking door. Can’t get any purchase on it,’ Devan said, banging it violently with the flat of his hands in frustration. Then he growled, ‘Yes, he’s taken something. Though God knows what.’
Connie bent and laid a hand on Jared’s shoulder. At her touch, he seemed to come to, focusing his gaze on her again. ‘I’m sorry. I’m really sorry to put you in this position,’ he repeated grabbing her hand. ‘I just can’t live without you, Connie.’
She was shaking and speechless as she tried to wrench her hand away. But his grip was like a vice.
‘I want to die … with you.’ Tears filled his turquoise eyes – eyes she had found so beguiling in those moments that now seemed from another world. ‘Will you let me? Will you stay with me, Connie?’ He slid further to the side. ‘Don’t get help. Please … no help …’
Connie looked across at Devan, who had given up on the door and was staring at Jared, breathing heavily, an unreadable expression on his face
‘OK,’ her husband said, giving a cool shrug. ‘If that’s what you want. You’ve caused enough fucking trouble.’ He turned away.
Connie was stunned. ‘For Christ’s sake, Devan. We have todo something.We can’t just sit here and watch him die.’
Her husband flopped down onto the bed, the back he presented to the room rigid. ‘What the hell else canwe do? He’s trapped us in here … And it’s what he wants. He just said so.’
Quickly stepping over the recumbent body, she hurried round the bed and stood looking down on Devan’s dark head. ‘Stop it. Don’t talk like that. You’re a doctor, for heaven’s sake – there must be something you can do.’
Devan glared up at her. ‘There’s nothing, Con. And why the fuck should I care, anyway? This creep has ruined our lives.’
For a split second, she allowed herself the thought. Finally, to be free. No longer having to look over her shoulder or place sinister significance in the most trivial things. To be able to rest in the knowledge that Jared would no longer haunt her every waking thought. She took a faltering breath. Laying her hands on Devan’s shoulder, she shook him till he lifted his bowed head. ‘We have at least to try to help him,’ she said, with quiet strength.
After a second, Devan seemed to come to, his anger morphing into a dazed frown. ‘How can we? Like I said, the bastard’s locked us in, removed all means of communication.’ He glanced around the room, shaking his head. ‘We could stand at the window and shout, I suppose. But on a night like this, who would hear? There’s only Mrs Browne next door and she’s stone deaf.’
It was true. The house on the other side was a holiday let and empty at this time of year. The Methodist hall and a small car park were across the street. Stacy,on the corner, was the closest and he was completely out of earshot.
Connie looked desperately at Jared. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be having trouble breathing, his chest heaving ominously.
‘He has to stay awake,’ she heard Devan muttering, almost to himself. He got up, taking Connie by the shoulders, his gaze intense. ‘But he needs professional help. Nothing will make any difference in the long run, unless we get him to hospital …right now.’
They stared at each other helplessly, panic and shock mirrored in their eyes. ‘OK,’ Devan decided. ‘You try to rouse him. I’m going to climb out of the window. It’s our only chance.’ He strode over to the window and ripped back the curtains. They were on the first floor, and the paned sash window of the old house was small, stiff in the frame – they rarely opened it more than a foot. Outside, it was a drop of around fifteen feet to the ground.
