“Yes, yes, what about you, how are you?”
“I’m fine,” I said, puzzled at the urgency in her voice.
“I didn’t know where you were, I tried to find out, I phoned Exclusives, spoke to Ned’s PA, but she wouldn’t tell me which hotel you were staying at, she said Ned had left instructions not to be disturbed, and it was more than her life was worth. Amelie, I have to ask, how has Ned been toward you? He hasn’t tried to pressure you into anything, has he?”
My heart started thumping. Had she already heard about our marriage? “What do you mean?” I asked.
“It’s just that—Amelie, he assaulted Justine.”
“Assaulted her? Ned assaulted Justine?” I sat down on the bed, my legs suddenly weak. “I don’t understand. He can’t have.”
“He did, he turned up at her apartment late at night, he said he needed to speak to her about her contract. She didn’t want to let him in but he said he wouldn’t be long as Hunter was waiting downstairs in the car. He asked if he could have a coffee and while she was in the kitchen—well, he cornered her, began grabbing her, saying she had teased him for years, that she was an ungrateful bitch, that she owed him for giving her a job in the first place.”
My head was spinning, I could hardly understand what Carolyn was saying.
“But—when was this? Ned’s been here with me for the last few days.”
“Last Friday.”
I drew in my breath. The day before we left for Las Vegas.
“It was awful, Amelie,” Carolyn went on. “She only managed to stop him by grabbing a knife and threatening him with it.”
I clapped my hand over my mouth. “How is she, how is Justine?”
“She was very shaken, obviously, but she was angry more than anything. She called me as soon as Ned left, and I went over. But you should know, Amelie—she filed a complaint against him, for sexual assault. She didn’t want to at first, she said the police wouldn’t believe her, and that they would ask her why she let him into her apartment to discuss her contract instead of asking him to wait until they were in the office—which she did, but Ned insisted he needed to see her that night. She said it would be her word against Ned’s. But then she realized the seriousness of what he’d done and that if she hadn’t grabbed the knife, it could have ended in rape, so we went straight to the police station, and she reported it.”
“I’m glad she did,” I said fiercely. “He can’t be allowed to get away with it.”
“I can’t tell you how worried I was when I got your message saying you were on your way to Las Vegas, because I guessed you were with Ned. He hasn’t tried anything, has he, made you do anything you were uncomfortable with?”
I swallowed hard. Uncomfortable with. The words echoed in my head. I couldn’t tell Carolyn about the marriage, not now, not like this. “No, nothing at all. I’m so sorry you’ve been worried. I would have told you I was going, but it was a last-minute thing, he said he needed to go to Las Vegas on urgent business and asked if I’d like to go with him. If I’d known about Justine, I’d never have agreed.”
“Vicky said she’d let Ned know that I was trying to contact you and ever since, I’ve been waiting for you to call. I couldn’t get ahold of Lina either, and Justine hasn’t been answering her phone since I took her home. It’s such a mess, Amelie!” Her voice broke and shame flooded through me. “I needed to find you, make sure you were alright, so I started phoning all the hotels in Las Vegas.”
“Carolyn, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you’d been trying to contact me, Ned didn’t tell me. Maybe Vicky didn’t tell him.”
“Even if she had, he probably wouldn’t have passed the message on in case I told you about his assault on Justine,” Carolyn said, her voice heavy with disgust.
“This is awful.” I was shaking so much I could barely hold the phone. “I don’t know what to do, I don’t even want to see him.”
“Just come home, but don’t tell him that you know what he did, it’s better if you don’t say anything for now. I’ll keep trying to find Justine. She’s not at her apartment, I’ve been over.”
“Maybe she’s with Lina,” I said. “Maybe Lina has taken her away for a few days, you know, for a change of scene.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell myself. But why aren’t either of them answering their phones?”