Ruth’s voice spoke quietly at the other end. ‘Before you go gooey at the knees, she’s not as innocent as she looks. I think she went through your jacket earlier. I left her alone for a couple of minutes and she moved damn fast to get away from it when I came back.’
‘Don’t worry on that score. There’s nothing important there. Anything else?’
‘She was ratty as hell before her bag arrived, then she asked to go to the Ladies. When she came out again she was sweetness and light. Gareth fell for it . . . but I didn’t –’ Willis sensed her smile down the line – ‘probably because I’ve never been as pretty as that.’
Willis chuckled. ‘OK. Thanks, Henry. That’s very helpful.’ He replaced the handset and smiled absent-mindedly at Jen. ‘Where were we? Oh, yes . . . Charles.’ He eyed her with a puzzled expression. ‘He seems to think I told you to come, Ms Morley. Did he get that idea from you?’
She shook her head. ‘It wouldn’t have been true.’ She thought for a moment. ‘He’s quite jealous, Dr Willis. If he knows you and I have been writing to each other that might have made him suspicious.’
‘He does,’ Willis agreed. ‘I mentioned I’d written to you and that you’d replied.’
‘Did he ask what I’d said?’
‘Not that I recall.’ He smiled apologetically, as if it were his fault that his patient was so uninterested. ‘Was jealousy a problem in the relationship? You didn’t mention that in your email.’
‘You’d have thought me arrogant.’
‘Not at all,’ said Willis in surprise. ‘I can easily imagine you being the focus of a man’s jealousy. You must attract a great deal of attention every time you go out. Was that hard for Charles?’
‘Hasn’t he told you?’
Willis shook his head. ‘He’s been very reticent about everything. All I know is what you put in the email. I remember you mentioned a violent argument. Was that prompted by jealousy?’
Fleetingly, a look of wariness crossed her face, as if she feared that his unassuming manner and constant fussy cleaning of his glasses were a front.
‘You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,’ he assured her. ‘I’m not of the school of thought that says anything useful can be raked from dead ashes. Charles has told me he has no feelings for you any more and I’ve no reason to disbelieve him. He certainly didn’t want to see you today.’
She didn’t like that. ‘He wouldn’t have been so angry if he didn’t love me still.’ She fiddled with the clasp of her bag. ‘He was crazy about me. A friend of mine used to call him my personal guard dog . . . panting to lie in my lap one minute . . . and showing his teeth the next if anyone came too close.’
It wasn’t an analogy that sat easily with Willis. The Charles he knew was too self-contained to display his feelings so obviously. Nevertheless . . . ‘That suggests possessiveness. Is that how you’d describe him? As a controlling lover?’
‘Totally. I couldn’t breathe without Charlie’s permission. Another friend – the one who persuaded me to break off the engagement – said he had me locked in a cage like an exotic bird, and if I didn’t break out I’d have no freedom left.’
Willis took note of the mixed metaphors. There was a world of difference between a caged parakeet and a siren who handed titbits to a Rottweiler. Nevertheless . . . ‘Your friend was right,’ he agreed. ‘It sounds like an extremely unhealthy relationship.’
But Jen didn’t like that either. Perhaps she felt the criticism applied equally to her. ‘Not from Charlie’s point of view. He had everything he wanted. He turned up when it suited him . . . snapped his fingers when it suited him . . . and showed me off like a trophy when it suited him.’
‘So why didn’t he welcome you with open arms today? You said it was you who ended the engagement?’ He put an upward inflection at the end of the sentence.
‘That’s right.’
He smiled. ‘Men are very simple creatures, Ms Morley. Most of us hanker after an easy life and take a reprieve when it’s offered.’ He breathed on one of his lenses. ‘If you were everything Charles wanted, why didn’t he grasp your olive branch?’
There was a slight narrowing of the huge eyes, but whether in irritation or confusion the doctor couldn’t tell. ‘His pride won’t let him. He’s still very hurt.’
It was a reasonable answer and Willis acknowledged it with another thoughtful nod. ‘Even so, I’m not clear why you want to rekindle the ashes, Ms Morley. You implied the relationship was stifling.’
‘I miss him,’ she said simply. ‘I hoped the fact that he hadn’t told his parents about the split meant he felt the same.’ She produced a crumpled tissue from her sleeve and held it to her nose. ‘You can’t explain love, Dr Willis. It’s chemistry. It happens.’
‘Mm. I’d say that’s a better description of infatuation. Chemistry has a nasty habit of producing volatile mixtures that end in an explosion.’
She shrugged impatiently. ‘We were good together.’
‘In what way?’
‘Every way .. . in bed . .. talking . . . having fun . . . when we were out. It worked.’ She smiled slightly. ‘I asked him once if he ever thought about being with another woman and he said only Uma Thurman . . . but I think he was joking.’
‘I imagine a lot of men fantasize about Uma Thurman. Do you replicate the image to encourage them to transfer their fantasies to you?’
Another tiny shrug. ‘It’s not something I can help. God made me this way.’
Willis eyed her with amusement. ‘I don’t do God, Ms Morley. I’m of the existentialist view . . . that each individual chooses, and takes responsibility for, the path he or she follows in life.’ He replaced his spectacles on his nose, tucking the arms behind his ears. ‘And, with respect, I’m not convinced that a passing resemblance to a successful actress is a good enough reason to hitch a free ride on her reputation. Rightly or wrongly, it suggests to me that you lack the confidence to be yourself.’
She half-lowered her lids to hide her expression. ‘Is that something Charlie said?’
‘No. I was reflecting on your comments in your email about chameleons lacking confidence. It’s a description that seems to fit you rather better than it fits Charles.’
‘You don’t know him the way I do.’
Willis smiled. ‘I’d be a millionaire by now if I’d been given a pound every time someone said that.’ He clasped his hands in front of him. ‘He doesn’t seem to share your enthusiasm for Uma Thurman.’
‘That’s not true.’
‘A couple of minutes ago you said he referred to her as a joke.’
‘Not her. Him being with her. He knows it’ll never happen.’ She touched the tissue to her eyes. ‘Me dressing up was the next best thing. Why do you think my friend described me as an exotic bird? I had to deck myself out like Irene Cassini in Gattaca – the Uma Thurman character Charlie most fancies . . . like this –’ she gestured towards her suit – ‘otherwise he couldn’t do it.’
‘What?’
‘Sex.’
Willis let the word hang in the air while he thought about the monkish young man upstairs who avoided all contact with female nurses. Was Jen telling the truth? It would explain a few things if she was, he reflected, not least Charles’s refusal to go anywhere near the subject of sex. ‘I’m not sure I understand. Are you saying he couldn’t achieve an erection without the Uma Thurman stimulus?’
She smiled unhappily. ‘Not at the beginning. It was just a game at the beginning.’
Willis made what he could of this. ‘And then the game took over. Charles preferred the fantasy woman to the real one. Is that what happened?’
‘It made him angry if I refused.’