The Principle Of Chance (9 page)

‘I discovered she was here in LA.’
Frank said.

‘What about tonight? Coincidence?’

‘Whatever you think, I didn’t
organise tonight. Jack. It was a
chance
meeting.’

Frank wasn’t going to tell Jack that
he knew Ed had a date tonight with Amy. The detective had done a good job as
usual and Frank didn’t need to plan too much. Frank suggested to Ed that
Nonna’s was a good place to take a girl. He also arranged
that
phone
call earlier, to move Ed out of the way. Also Frank knew Jack would notice Amy,
it was easy.

‘This is a surprise! You have kept
it very quiet. How long have you known?’ Jack leaned over his desk to examine
the photos in detail.

‘I’ve known for a very long time,
but I only wanted to watch, from a distance, nothing else. If you remember, I
left Eva with her husband when she was only sixteen and pregnant. I did try to
contact her but the war made it very difficult.

Many years passed, and then I
finally received a letter from her, written some months before. I learned that
she had a son. She said they were fine. I wrote back of course but I heard
nothing for years, until a letter arrived from her husband informing me that
she had passed away. A picture of her son Louie was included, a grown up man,
but he also left the country because of The Hungarian Revolution in 1956. Louie
was nineteen, a little older than me when I arrived here.

Eva didn’t know where I was living
in America; still I was hoping Louie would turn up one day - he didn’t. When my
detective found him, he was married to an American woman, settled in New York.
Amy was already a few years old.

Before you ask Jack, yes, of course,
I helped them financially but it wasn’t easy. I didn’t want to reveal who I
was.’

‘Why not?’ Jack asked, wrapped up in
the story.

‘I don’t know why? I ask myself the
same question every day.’ Frank mused.

‘How
did you help?’
‘I
helped
Louie get the job he wanted. He was an architect, a very good
one in fact. He worked for J. Bloomer’s for some years and then he set up his
own company.’

‘Bloomer’s, wow!’ A well-known and
expensive firm; Jack was impressed.

‘He and his wife died suddenly in a
car crash when Amy was at university. A great loss Jack, it broke my heart!’

‘Amy was provided for, a small
inheritance, and there is also a trust set up for her, money she can get
whenever she likes.’ Frank continued.

‘Set up by you.’ Jack stated, - this
was a story! He thought he knew his best friend and now it turned out, he
didn’t know him at all.

‘Yes, by me.’ Frank was overcome by
a great sadness. He wished he had handled things differently. He was concerned
about how best to tell Amy, he couldn’t just say – I’m your Great Uncle. ‘I
wanted her to be close to me Jack. She’s done so well. I am very proud of her.’

‘What are your plans Frank?’

‘I don’t have any. I am an old man,
I simply want to get to know her, I suppose.’ Frank said thoughtfully.

‘I know what you want! Keep her
close and see how things work out between you two.’ Jack had no idea why Frank
had handled the situation in this way but it must’ve been difficult for him and
he felt very privileged that Frank had decided to take him into his trust.

‘I do want to see her but, wouldn’t
want her to get involved in the family thing, unless she wanted to be.’ Frank
suddenly felt better, talking it over with Jack had its benefits and he trusted
Jack with his life.

‘What happened to Eva’s husband?’

‘I don’t know. I tried to contact
Jani but I failed.’ Frank was walking up and down in the library trying to ease
his nerves. He’d failed his sister and her husband – guilt was a powerful
thing!

‘You did what you could Frank, maybe
you could’ve handled it in another way but it’s too late to think about that.’
Jack knew what Frank was feeling. The guilt was written all over him. ‘Look,
she’s here with us now; see if she wants to be a part of your life. Get to know
each other – you will find out eventually where you stand. If she wants the
truth, you tell her; if she doesn’t, there’s no need to upset her.’

‘You’re right.’ Frank said relieved
that his friend thought the same way he did.

‘Let me point out one thing Frank,
you might have to watch Justin. The guy seems to be interested in Amy too!’
Jack said chuckling.

’Now, now, what you’re saying is…..’

‘Justin is all right, old man, and
you know it!’

‘I suppose I do.’ Frank admitted
with a smile.

****

The drive through Mullberry Drive
was breath-taking. It was a windy night, which resulted in a clear view of the
city as the smog cleared. Amy found it hard to concentrate on the winding road.
She wanted to stop and admire the view. She’d been on this road before but never
at night.

After driving for what seemed like
ages, Justin finally stopped in front of an open gate leading onto a long
drive; he wanted to let Amy drive up to the house. She didn’t. Justin opened
her car door.

‘Don’t you want to take the car to
the garage?’

‘You kidding?’

Okay, she didn’t want that. ‘You
want me to drop off the keys?’ He assumed she wasn’t staying.

‘Yeah, would you? - but I’ll come
with you.’ She said. ‘Curiosity only.’

They left the cars by the gate and
walked up to the house. Amy thought she heard music. As they got closer, they
saw the downstairs French windows blazing with light.

‘Ed is certainly at home.’ Amy
remarked calmly but it wasn’t calmness what she felt. Something was up, her
instinct told her.

‘I’ll post the keys through the
mailbox.’ She said, but before Justin could reply she suddenly stopped.

Amy and Justin had an excellent view
of Ed, servicing a well-equipped blonde in the middle of a large room in front
of the open French windows.

Justin looked uncomfortable. ‘I
don’t know what to say …’

Amy started to laugh, this was
actually too funny. ‘You want to get a close up?’ She asked with a cheeky
smile.

‘If you do … I won’t say no.’ Justin
grinned.

They made their way carefully towards
the open doors, expecting Ed to look up at any minute. As they reached the
threshold, the girl looked up.

‘Hi.’ She said, without stopping.

Ed jumped. ‘Amy, it isn’t what it
looks like!’ He desperately tried to stuff himself back into his pants.

This wasn’t good, when he had
arrived for the meeting he was supposed to have, the man wasn’t there. Instead,
there was a girl who was more than willing to give him a ride to his house.

Who was he to question? – he was
getting laid! End of story. He didn’t think Amy would arrive so fast - the girl
had said she didn’t know the area.

‘Entertaining.’ Amy said, disgusted.

‘I agree, yet, too much in your
face!’ Justin had seen embarrassing situations in his life, but this one was a
winner by far.

Amy threw down the car keys onto a
coffee table. ‘Don’t come near me.’ She said to Ed as he rushed towards her.
‘Ever!’

‘But Amy….’ He pleaded.

‘This?’ Justin pointed at the
blonde. ‘For a girl like Amy?’ He shook his head in disbelief and left.

Amy wondered what had possessed her
to go on a date with a pig like Ed.

Justin wanted to say something
‘wise’, but nothing came to his mind.

It was a silent journey to Amy’s
house.

‘So this is where you live.’ Justin
said, after pulling up in front of her house.

‘This is the house
I rent
.’

‘Okay,… I get it, you rent it! Looks
spacious.’

‘It is.’

‘Inviting.’

‘I know, it’s my cosy pad.’

‘Does it have a kitchen?’

‘State of the art!’

‘Coffee machine?’

‘Maybe.’

‘Let’s see.’ He jumped out of the
car, fully expecting Amy to stop him. She didn’t.

In the kitchen she put the coffee
machine on, picked out two espresso cups and waited for the machine to finish.

The aroma of fresh coffee filled the
air. Amy handed a cup to Justin.

‘What do you do, Justin?’ She asked,
while measuring out a spoonful of sugar.

The atmosphere had changed; Justin
felt the tension rising between them. ‘I’m in the music business.’

‘An indefinite answer. What do you
do?’

‘I own a music label, The Room.’

‘Interesting, I’ve heard that label
is up for sale.’

‘You have?’

‘Being a lawyer …’

He put his cup down, reached out and
pulled Amy towards him. He ran his hands through her hair. Amy felt her whole
body responding to his touch. She waited for ‘the kiss’, but it wasn’t coming.
He didn’t do a thing; just held her close to him, studying her face.

‘You smell sweet.’ He whispered into
her soft hair.

She didn’t know what was happening
to her senses, it was painfully pleasant and she didn’t want him to let her go.

‘I’d better go.’ He said, getting
his breath back.

‘Hope you enjoyed the coffee.’ She
said, fully composed.

‘I did.’

‘I’m glad.’

‘Maybe I’ll see you again?’

‘Maybe.’

‘Good night Amy, I’ll see myself
out.’

‘Good night, Justin.’

She pressed the buzzer to lock the
gate after he left. What an evening! It had been an unnecessary disruption to
her well-organised life.

Chapter Twelve

Justin
received a call from Frank’s lawyer in the middle of the night. He had an easy
task explaining the problem to him. However, Frank’s lawyer informed him that everything
had already been taken care of.

Things went more smoothly than he’d
anticipated. Frank’s lawyer, a Mr Bennett, requested a meeting with Justin in
the morning.

The next morning when he arrived at
Justin’s office, Mr Bennett produced a stack of papers.

‘Mr Orban has a proposition for you
Mr Blakes. Please take a look at the documents.’

Justin studied the papers. It was an
offer to purchase his recording company - a very generous offer.

‘Frank wants to buy the company?’ He
asked the lawyer, in disbelief.

‘Yes, he does; that is, in a way. If
you would prefer Mr Orban as your partner but not as the owner, we can also
arrange that.’

Justin was thinking,… Frank never
slept. When did he have time to come up with this? Mr Bennett dialled a number
and handed him the phone.

‘Good Morning Justin.’ He heard
Frank’s voice.

‘Just the man I wanted to speak to.’

‘I have taken the liberty Justin, of
making you an offer. I don’t want to control you or your company. If you wish
to sell, I am interested. If you want a partner, I’m in too. Also, I can get
lost if you choose that.’

Justin liked the idea to get Frank
on board. His label was a well-established, successful business but he wanted
to move on and try different things.

‘I tell you what, Frank. You lend me
your people for some time and I’ll think about your offer.’

Frank started to chuckle. ‘You’re a
sharp man Justin! I like it! I’ll get a team together for you in the next few
days.’

Justin was suspicious. ‘This was
easy?! You were expecting this!’

‘I want you on my movie kid. If the
only thing holding you back from working for me is your business, then I am
here to help you out. I am old enough to know how things work. Your business is
your life, you worked hard for it. I won’t be the one to take it away from you.
Besides, you might want to keep it.’

Frank was satisfied. Justin was a
kid, he never had, with his willingness and stamina; rare in the ruthless world
of show business. He was also a good writer, he’d discovered. He could hardly
wait to see what Justin and Monica would make of his movie.

‘We spend too much time together
Frank, is there anything you don’t know how to handle?’ Justin asked.

‘This is just the beginning! More to
come.’ Frank said confidently.

‘That’s what I was afraid of!’
Justin passed the phone back to the lawyer.

‘Thank you Mr Bennett, your help is
much appreciated. I will read through the proposition.’

‘You can reach me on this number in
the future.’ He gave Justin his card.

‘Thank you. I hope you aren’t too busy.’

‘I always find time for my clients.’
He said pleasantly.