An Affair of the Heart (9 page)

Diana Williams
came through the Arrivals gate at Manchester Airport’s Terminal Two
to be greeted by a hoard of photographers and reporters screaming
for her views on the trial. It was a mad scramble as soon as she
appeared, and in an instant she was at the centre of a howling mob.
Other passengers were barged out of the way, and luggage was
knocked from some of the trolleys. One angry man, seeing his wife
pushed aside, punched a photographer, and the camera fell to the
floor with a smash. There was complete pandemonium.

Police and
airport security suddenly appeared and pushed their way through.
They began to push the reporters out of the way, making room for
Diana and the other passengers to get through. There were shouts
and screams as Diana Williams slowly forced her way out to the
street, where a black BMW was waiting for her. She got in, and it
speeded away, quickly leaving behind the odd few photographers who
chased after it, cameras clicking.

Diana could
hardly speak once she got into the car. She was completely out of
breath. She had no idea what had happened to her suitcase. A man
dressed in a grey uniform, who she thought was one of the security
men, had taken it from her in the rush to get to the car, and that
was the last she had seen of it. She had to just hope that it was
now safely in the boot of the car.

Diana turned to
look at the red haired woman sitting next to her on the back seat.
She was very well dressed in a red suit, the long skirt of which
had a very high split. Her legs were crossed, and the split in her
skirt hung open, revealing light red stockings and a glimpse of one
suspender.

Diana was
suddenly conscious of her own appearance. She had been in a rush
that morning. She had packed hurriedly, and she hadn’t had a chance
to change before she caught the flight. She wore a pair of black
trousers, a short white top, and her battered black leather jacket.
She was wearing no make-up, and after the scuffle at the airport,
she probably looked like she had been pulled through a hedge
backwards, and then run over by a number 53 bus. Somehow she had
the feeling that she was at a disadvantage.

“My name is
Helen Worthington,” the red haired woman said in a silky tone. She
smiled at Diana as she continued, “I’m your father’s solicitor. He
thought that it might be a good idea for you to be met at the
airport. I’m sorry to see that he was right. However, I did warn
him that this might happen. I think my driver got your bag. Apart
from the arrival, did you have a pleasant flight?”

“Yes, er, it
was fine,” Diana replied, trying to brush her dishevelled hair back
into some semblance of order. “Thank you for picking me up. I was a
bit worried there for a while. What’s happening? As soon as I heard
that Sarah had died, I called dad. He told me to get on the next
plane.”

Helen looked at
Diana closely. She had already learned all there was to know about
her. Diana was Alex’s daughter from his first wife. She had grown
up with her mother, who was still very bitter towards her former
husband, so there had been no contact between father and daughter
throughout her childhood. But at fifteen Diana had become a model,
and by eighteen she had left home to live in London. That was when
she had first started to visit her father again. Sometimes she
brought a friend with her. And soon the friend was visiting Alex
more often than she was. That friend was Sarah. And soon after that
they were married. Now Diana lived in Milan, but her accent was
still pure Mancunian.

She was sort of
beautiful, Helen thought, as she eyed Diana’s small waist and
exposed midriff. If you liked that sort of face and shape, that is.
Now aged twenty-two, Diana was five foot ten inches tall and rather
thin. Her face was angular, and she had Alex’s nose and brown eyes.
Her hair was long and black, reaching down to the small of her
back. But for a fashion model who was supposed to be used to being
centre stage, Helen didn’t think she had much sense of the
occasion.

“Your father’s
having a difficult time at the moment,” Helen began. “It’s not just
Sarah’s death, you understand. It’s what happened to her
afterwards.”

“Yes, I read
something about it in the Italian newspapers,” Diana said quickly.
“But it seemed so ridiculous! How could he be asking for her heart
back? It’s crazy! They must have got it wrong! It can’t be
true!”

“Oh, it’s true,
alright,” Helen said, casually, uncrossing her legs and crossing
them the other way. “Your father is suing the hospital responsible
for removing your stepmother’s heart without permission for a
million pounds. And he’s suing the woman who received the heart in
a transplant for its return.”

Diana stared at
Helen in shock. “But why?” she asked.

“Because he
wants to.”

“But this is
horrible! We’ve got to stop him!”

“No!” Helen’s
expression was momentarily fierce. But then the smile returned.
“Your father is already under a lot of pressure to drop his case.
Everybody is treating him as the villain in this drama. You and I
know that isn’t true.”

“But asking for
her heart back, it’s just not right!” Diana protested.

“You know how
much he loved Sarah,” Helen pressed on. “What happened to her
afterwards has upset him dearly. He’s asked you to come here
because he needs someone on his side, someone to stand by him, and
help him through this. What he doesn’t need right now is somebody
questioning his motives.”

“But it’s not
right!”

“Taking Sarah’s
heart without permission wasn’t right,” Helen said forcefully.
“They shouldn’t have done it. And they shouldn’t be allowed to get
away with it.”

“But it was a
mistake!”

“And what
happens if there’s another mistake? And another? And there will be
others if nobody punishes them for this one. Don’t you understand
how important this case is? This isn’t just about what happened to
Sarah, if we win –and we are going to win– this is going to affect
everybody who’s facing a transplant!”

“But people are
more important,” Diana insisted. “You could kill this woman, the
one who now has the heart. Winning this case can’t be more
important to dad than that.”

“I assure you
it is!” Helen was adamant. “As I am sure you will find out when you
see him.”

Diana grew
thoughtful. She stared out of the window watching the scenery go
by, and was suddenly aware that she didn’t recognise the route they
were taking.

“Where are we
going?” she asked in alarm. “Where are you taking me?”

“There’s
nothing to worry about,” Helen replied, casually. “It’s just that
the press is camped outside the house. Your father thought it
better for you to stay at a hotel, at least for tonight. That way
the press won’t know where you are. It’s just a precaution. You saw
what it was like at the airport.”

Diana didn’t
reply. She just sat in the car and stared at Helen Worthington.
Diana had suddenly realised that this woman was going to be a major
problem. It was obvious that she was trying to keep her away from
her father, and that she had other motives for fighting this case.
Sooner or later, she would have to be got out of the way.

“Are you sure?”
Eric Barrett asked. He and John Stanley were back in the Chief
Executive’s office at Wythenshawe hospital.

“Positive!” Dr
Jones confirmed. “He definitely said that it was in her back
pocket.”

“You can
understand now why we asked you both to this meeting,” Andrea
Walker said. “As far as we are aware, Dr Askwith is still in
Albania. But he called Dr Jones again this morning from the
capital, Tirana. And with luck he should be on a plane home this
afternoon.”

“Then it’s
over,” Barrett said with a sigh. “Thank God for that.”

“Not
necessarily,” John Stanley said. “After all, without the card as
evidence, we’ve only got his word that it ever existed at all.”
There was a long pause while everyone digested his words. Stanley
realised quickly that he had ruined everyone’s happy mood.

“Did Dr Askwith
say what he did with the donor card after he found it?” he asked
hopefully.

Dr Jones
nodded. “He said he put it back in her pocket.”

“Oh, no!”
Barrett moaned. “All her belongings were returned to her husband
days ago!”

“Then Williams
must already have it,” Dr Jones said.

“So why is he
taking us all to court if he knows that it wasn’t a mistake?”
Andrea Walker asked.

“He might not
know that he has it,” John Stanley pointed out. “But the problem
is, do we tell him?”

“Of course we
tell him!” Barrett said. “We have to tell him, so that this whole
silly business can be put brought to an end!”

“But what if
Williams destroys the card?” Stanley said to their amazement. “He
could be only interested in the money.”

“Nonsense! The
Carter’s are suing us for more money than he is,” Barrett pointed
out.

“Then maybe he
just doesn’t care about truth, and just wants to get back at
everyone,” Stanley replied. “Who knows? He might already have the
card in his possession. The point is, so long as he has it, we
lose!”

“Wait a
minute,” Andrea Walker said at last. “Whatever Williams is, or is
not thinking, we are obliged, through legal channels, to inform him
of what we know and to ask him if he has the card. This case is now
not as extreme as we once thought. Rather than carrying out a
transplant without the previous, written authorisation of the
donor, it seems we have now merely lost that authorisation. This
has to be made known to all.”

John Stanley
shook his head. “If Williams denies that he has it, that donor card
might as well have never existed. In fact in law, unless someone
else other than Dr Askwith saw it, it doesn’t exist.”

It was mid
morning when Robert McCord received the telephone call. He was
sitting in his office going through his notes when he picked up the
phone and heard an excited voice.

“I don’t
believe it, Robert!” Brian Morgan said brightly. “They’ve all paid
up! Every one of them! My desk is covered in cheques and letters of
apology! I don’t believe it!” He sounded both surprised and
happy.

“And what don’t
you believe, Brian?” McCord said with a sly grin on his lips. “That
all people are basically honest? Or that they just don’t like
anyone finding out that they’re not?”

“I didn’t
believe that a few words to the press could have had so much
effect!”

“Media coverage
is power, Brian. And if I remember correctly, we had a little
deal.”

“Okay, you win!
From now on, it’s no fee!”

“I’m glad to
hear it. Now get back to work, Brian. We’re in court tomorrow, so
I’ll see you this afternoon. We’ve got a lot to get through,
especially as now everyone knows about the donor card.”

“Alright, but I
hope you know what you’re doing, Robert, because it seems a little
unconventional to me!”

“Just trust me,
okay?”

“Okay. I’ll see
you later –oh, and lunch is on me today!”

Robert smiled
as he put the phone down. It rang again almost immediately. This
time there was a familiar voice on the line.

“Meet me at The
Hidden Gem in half an hour,” it said, and then the line went
dead.

The smile died
on Robert’s face. He held on to the phone while he leaned his chin
on his hand, thoughtful for a moment, before slowly putting the
phone down and going back to reading his notes.

Although it
sounded more like the name of a pub, The Hidden Gem was a
delightful little church, completely hemmed in by other buildings
down a back street in the centre of Manchester. It was said that
people passed very close to it every day without ever noticing it
was there. Hence it’s name.

When Robert
McCord entered the church thirty minutes later, there was only one
other person there, sitting alone in one of the pews. Robert walked
slowly down the aisle and sat next to the person, who was wearing a
long black coat with a hood.

Diana Williams
threw back the hood and turned to face him. “Why the hell didn’t
you meet me in Chicago?” she demanded in a harsh and angry whisper.
“What’s going on, Robert?”

“The small
matter of Sarah’s death–” Robert began, but Diana interrupted
him.

“Does he
know?”

Robert gave her
a wry smile. “Do you mean does he know about the money, or does he
know about the affair?”

“The affair!”
Diana almost snarled. “Does he know that Sarah was leaving him for
you?”

Robert nodded.
“Yes, you’ll be pleased to know that it all came out on that last
fateful night. The affair, the money, everything.”

“Then what the
hell’s going on? Why are you both fighting this ridiculous case
over Sarah’s heart? What are you doing, Robert? What’s the matter
with you?”

Robert glanced
around the church, slightly alarmed by Diana’s angry and now raised
voice. But there was no one else to hear. He shrugged his
shoulders. “He wants it back, and I guess I don’t think he has the
right to have it anymore.”

There was a
long pause while Diana stared at him, watching him closely.
Suddenly, she laughed. A short, almost hysterical laugh. Diana sat
back in the pew and shook her head. She smiled at him, but the
humour in her voice was hollow and filled with sarcasm.

“Oh God,
Robert! I don’t believe it! You of all people! Who’d have thought
that shallow, brainless Sarah would have had two men fighting over
her! Even after she was dead! It’s ridiculous! No, it’s a joke!
That’s what it is! A very bad joke!”