Chapter 11

Wednesday 4th to Friday 6th November 1970

Towards the end of October, Harriet became depressed again.

“Three months since Kieran dumped her,” said Zena in the car on the way home. “He did it on the sixth of August.”

“Hiroshima Day?” I glanced at her, “I hope the date wasn’t intentional on his part.”

“I don’t think Harriet knows about Hiroshima Day. She’s still not over him. Mind you, I’ve seen him around and he’s looking thoroughly miserable as well.”

I thought about it, as I parked outside Zena’s flat.

“Perhaps you and I should go see Kieran.” I suggested, “He might have realised by now what he’s lost.”

“Hmm.” It was clear Zena was not happy with that idea.

“Zena, it can’t hurt to find out how he feels.”

“Suppose not.” Still not convinced.

“Think about it,” I urged her. “OK?”

“OK,” she muttered.

“In the meantime,” I proposed, “how about we go for a meal on the anniversary? The sixth is on Friday of this week, so we can make a night of it, just the four of us. What d’you think?”

Zena brightened at this. “Yes. Good idea. Can you book somewhere? How about that restaurant you go on about, Orchards is it? I’ll sound out the other two.”

“Good for me too,” I said with a heavy heart. “It’s about six months since I got the push, as well.”

She smiled, and kissed me. “All the better. Perhaps we can go clubbing afterwards.”

I phoned the Restaurant.

“This is Graham Proctor, can I make a reservation for Friday Sixth November? Seven o’clock?

“Mr Graham! So good to hear from you. Friday Six is pretty busy, but we will fit you in. There is a party in on that night, but we have a table in the other room. How many?”

The restaurant had two large rooms, one each side of the entrance and foyer, so that a large party could be entertained in one wing while allowing ordinary diners peace and quiet to enjoy the exquisite food in the other. There was a common bar and lounge between the rooms, also accessed from the foyer, where diners would peruse the menu, order their food and wait for their table to be ready.

“Table for four please, Ambrose. You sure you can do this?”

“For you Mr. Graham, it’s never a problem.”

So at 6.50 Harriet and I were seated in the lounge bar of the restaurant waiting for the other two to arrive, when a group of people came into the lounge at the ‘party’ end of the bar. They had hardly sat down when a woman I thought I should know left the little group she was with and made a bee line for where we were sitting. She did not look happy.

“You bastard, Graham!” was her opening salvo, though she spoke quietly through gritted teeth so as not to make a scene. “You couldn’t let her be could you? Had to come and ruin her night.”

This was a surprise. Who was she and what the hell was she talking about? Harriet looked on with a mixture of puzzlement and wry humour.

“You must excuse me, but I do know you from somewhere, but can’t remember where. Also, I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about.”

“Still the congenital liar, Graham? You know perfectly well why you’re here, and it’s despicable after what you did to that girl!”

Now I was getting irked. “Still none the wiser. Who are you, lady? And what have I done?”

She stopped and rethought. “Annette? You came to our New Year’s party? Now you know what you’ve done. A liar and an unfaithful bastard!”

At this she turned to Harriet.

“You want to be careful with this specimen,” she said to her with an evil almost triumphant glint in her eye. “I’ll bet he hasn’t told you about the other two women he’s shagging at the moment? He’s been doing one of them for months!

Harriet was now looking more and more amused. “Really?” she said with a hint of mockery. “Ooh dear, Graham, what have you been up to?”

“A blonde and a coloured girl,” our visitor continued. “Likes a bit of variety does Graham.”

I caught the smile of recognition from Harriet who was starting to enjoy the confrontation.

“Really Graham,” she said with mock indignation. “Have you been a busy boy?”

Annette looked disconcerted that Harriet was not taking her seriously, but obviously decided to move on.

“Anyway,” she asserted, “you knew this is her favourite restaurant, and now she’s teaching round here–”

Recognition dawned.

“You’re talking about Penelope,” I interrupted. “You’re wrong. This is my favourite restaurant, and it was I who introduced her to it.

“And I’m getting sick of these accusations every time I come into contact with that lying cheating bitch and her abominable family. How could I know what her plans are? She’s never spoken to me, and she’s turned all the friends I made through her against me. So no, I didn’t know she was back in this area, or that she was coming here tonight, I’m here for a little celebration of my own.”

At this Ambrose came over, looking worried.

“Mr Graham, everything all right?” He looked accusingly at Annette.

“Yes fine, Ambrose,” I replied. “The lady and I are catching up on some difficult news.”

“Very well,” he said, shrugged, and walked off.

“Why don’t you sit down?” I suggested. “Cause less of a disturbance.”

She sat down and I continued where I’d left off.

“We’re ‘celebrating’ with Harriet here the three month anniversary of her being dumped by her boyfriend, and I’m ‘celebrating’ that Penelope finished with me six months ago. That was a narrow escape. More comfort than celebration, I suppose.

“Penny? She’s probably lied to you along with her family and other friends – she’s the liar and the cheat, not me.”

“Don’t give me that!” she snapped, “There’s evidence you were cheating long before you got engaged.”

“So why didn’t she finish with me then? Why string me along?”

“Because we only told her about you when she told us she was engaged. We thought she was making a big mistake.”

“You told her?” I was taken aback. “You had evidence? What evidence? There was none.”

“Sorry,” here she turned to Harriet, “Sorry you have to hear this, but it might stop you making the mistake Penny made.

“From early March, Graham, and most probably before that, you were seeing another woman. She’s a coloured girl you’re cheating on Harriet here with...”

At this moment she stopped and her mouth dropped open, for into view, with perfect timing, came Zena and Colette. They came and sat down with us, and looked enquiringly at Annette.

“Zena, Colette,” I said, “this is Annette, a friend of Penelope.”

“That bitch!” exclaimed Colette. “Oh, sorry Annette, but she’s not our favourite person, not that we’ve ever met her. She practically destroyed Graham with her lying and cheating, and just after they got engaged too. We still can’t understand why she would do that.”

“You’re the one he was cheating on her with,” Annette shot at Zena with some venom, “Patty and I saw you, over and over. Penny was away in college and–”

“Rubbish!” muttered Zena. “You saw nothing.”

“You can’t deny you were with him, we saw you again and again – and eventually Penny caught you!”

“I know which night you’re talking about,” Zena replied hotly. “That was after she cheated on him. And she didn’t ‘catch me’ as you put it. I took his car home that night, and brought it back the next morning so he could get to work.”

“But you spent the evening with him, and I’ll bet it wasn’t the only one.”

Zena sighed, and I interrupted the exchange.

“Just a minute,” I said, “Just what is this ‘evidence’ you’ve got?”

“Patty – you remember Patty? Penny’s flatmate?”

I nodded.

“She lives round here now with Carl – you don’t know him – she was at some traffic lights in her car and saw you and Zena here in the car next to her, so she followed you and the two of you went into an apartment block, and she waited outside. You were there an hour, Graham. So she called me and we started to watch the flat.

“Two weeks later you both went to the Westbrook Hotel and were there three hours. And later we saw you driving with her to different houses and staying until late, every week! We were so surprised, we didn’t think you were that sort, so when Penny told us she was engaged to you, we told her we suspected you of cheating, and that she should do some checking of her own. So, what have you to say to that?”

Zena and I both smiled. I was seething inside. Zena it was who spoke: she could see I was too angry.

“Oh dear!” she said with regret. “Shame you or she didn’t ask Graham what was up.”

“Sorry?” Annette frowned.

“First of all, all four of us work together.”

“You work together? Same company?”

Zena nodded. “I live on his way to work and so he gives me a lift there and back. About once a week I invite him in for a cup of tea. Now and then we meet clients in the evening, usually at their hotel or home. We are friends and only friends. Every week we play bridge, the four of us. Those are the houses where we went.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“No. I think you’ve made your mind up, but you know what the topic of conversation was usually? Penny! He went on and on about her, what she was doing, how proud he was of her, how pretty she was, how virtuous she was. I got all the news about what they did when she came to visit him, where they went. It was Penny, Penny, Penny the wonder girl. We all used to laugh about it!

“If we were having it off with him, do you think he’d be talking about her all the time? I can give you so much info. about Penny, what sort of clothes she wears, what she likes, what her family is like. D’you know, after they got engaged he was going round with a stupid grin on his face for days. Do you think if we were fucking him every week he would even get engaged? Why should he?

“Would he get so upset when she kept putting him off going to see her? Even for half an hour on a Saturday?

“If he were shagging me regularly, would he be so devastated when he found she was lying about where she was, when she phoned to say she was with her brother, and she wasn’t there at all?”

Zena was now on a roll, eyes flashing.

“You know what he did? He went to Liverpool without telling her, because she kept putting him off, to talk to her about her behaviour. What did he see? Her and some guy snogging on her doorstep and then the bloke staying the night. Annette, he was distraught!

“That was when the other girls deputed me to take him out for a meal, and listen to his story. That was when I answered the phone to Penny in the evening, then when I brought the car back the next morning, he was in the shower when she rang again. I could have explained if she hadn’t slammed the phone down.

“So he saw her being unfaithful and after that she never said or wrote a single word to him. He took that as evidence she wanted rid of him, and when she sent back the engagement watch without even a covering note, he knew it for a fact. He was destroyed, Annette! And that’s when Colette here gave him some serious comfort to lessen the pain, not before. Only Colette, you understand? Graham and I are simply friends.

Colette added her tuppence worth, “Of course since then he and I have been friends with extras, and do you know, he’s brilliant in the sack, and he’s the best of friends to the three of us. You know he’s been entertaining and supporting Harriet here for three months since her boyfriend dumped her, and he’s never once tried to get into her knickers? Doesn’t sound like a philanderer to me. Penny lost a gem there.”

She had finished her contribution, and sat back with a knowing smile. Annette looked shellshocked.

“And,” I added, “if Penny’d had the courtesy to ring me or write and finish with me decently, she’d have known the truth. I. Did. Not. Cheat. She did, and she lied about it.”

Annette was clearly stunned. “Are you saying she didn’t talk to you at all? She just sent the watch back?”