Lana shrugged. “I don’t know. I can’t think. I can’t believe it’s happening.”
“I can.” Kate laughed grimly. “Trust me.”
Despite her initial astonishment, Kate found the news of my deception much easier to accept than Lana. Kate had had an instinctive mistrust of me for years. Now, at last, she felt vindicated—even triumphant—and justified in seeking retribution.
“We cannot let that bastard get away with this,” Kate said as she stubbed out her cigarette. “We have to do something.”
“We can’t go to the police, not with a story like this.”
“No, I know. Honestly, I don’t know how seriously they’d take us. To understand how fucking sick this is, you need to know him. You need to know what a psychopath he is.”
“Kate. Do you think he’s crazy? I do.”
“Of course he is. Mad as a hatter.” Kate poured them a couple of whiskeys. “I warned you, years ago, remember? I told you not to trust him. I knew there was something weird about him. You should never have let him get close to you. That was your mistake.”
Lana didn’t say anything for a moment, then said quietly, “I think I’m a little afraid of him.”
Kate frowned. “That’s exactly why we can’t let him win. Do you understand? We have to act. Have you told Jason?”
“No. I’ve only told you.”
“You must tell him.”
“Not yet.”
“What about Elliot?” Kate gave her a curious look. “Are you going to confront him?”
“No.” Lana shook her head. “He mustn’t find out we know. Don’t underestimate him, Kate. He’s dangerous.”
“I know he is. Then what do we do?”
“There’s only one thing we can do.”
“And what’s that?”
Lana fixed her eyes on Kate and didn’t speak for a second. When she did, her voice was without emotion, simply stating a matter of fact.
“We must destroy him.” Lana said. “Or he’ll kill Jason.”
They stared at each other.
Kate slowly nodded. “But how?”
They sat in silence for a moment, mulling it over, as they sipped their whiskeys.
Suddenly, Kate looked up, her eyes sparkling. “I’ve got it. We beat him at his own game.”
“Meaning?”
“We play along. We follow his script. Then, as soon as he thinks it’s all going according to plan … we turn the tables on him. We write him a different ending. One he wasn’t expecting. One that will be the end of him.”
Lana thought about this. Then she nodded. “Okay.”
Kate raised her glass, to make a toast. “To revenge.”
“No.” Lana raised her glass. “To justice.”
“Yes. Justice.”
The two women solemnly drank to the success of their production.
* * *
The curtain went up immediately. That afternoon, in fact, when, tired and hungover, I made my way to Lana’s house.
“Love,” I said, “I came over to check on you. I was worried when I woke up and you were gone. And you’ve not been answering your phone. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” said Lana. “I was going to wake you, but you looked so peaceful.”
“I feel rough as hell now. We drank far too much last night.… Talking of which—how about hair of the dog?”
Lana nodded. “Why not?”
We went into the kitchen, and I opened a bottle of champagne. Then I gently began to remind Lana what we had spoken about last night. I encouraged her to go ahead with our plan, to lure Kate and Jason to the island.
“That’s if you still want to proceed,” I said, casually.
I waited. I noticed Lana was finding it hard to look at me. But I put it down to her hangover.
She forced a smile in my direction. “Nothing could stop me.”
“Good.”
Then, at my suggestion, Lana reached for her phone. She rang up Kate, who was at the Old Vic.
Kate answered the phone quickly. “Hey. You okay?”
“I will be. I’ve worked out what we all need is some sunshine. Will you come?”
“What?” Kate sounded mystified.
“To the island—for Easter?”
Lana went on, in a cheery tone, before Kate could respond: “Don’t say no. It’ll be just us. You, me, Jason, and Leo. And Agathi, of course.… I’m not sure if I’ll ask Elliot—he’s been annoying me lately.”