The telephone was dead, so he went over to Louisa's flat, where he found a young man in pink boxer shorts brandishing the garlic sausage, like a large c.o.c.k, at a frantically giggling Louisa. Her giggles died when she saw Ricky.

'Can I use your telephone?'

Louisa nodded. 'Use the one in the bedroom.' 'Chessie's left me,' Ricky told Drew over the telephone. 'Christ - I am sorry.'

'Did you know anything?'

'I'd heard rumours.'

'Why the f.u.c.k didn't you warn me?'

'I hoped it would blow over.'

'Who's the man?'

'You're not going to like this,' Drew paused. 'Bart Alderton.'

'Bart,' said Ricky incredulously, 'but he's old enough to be'

'Her sugar daddy; that's what attracted her. Look, I'll come over.'

'No - I'm going round to kill him.'

'For Christ's sake, you're in no condition.'

But Ricky'd hung up.

Louisa was standing in the doorway, her eyes filled with tears.

'I'm so sorry,' she stammered. 'You oughtn't to drive. Wait till morning.'

But Ricky pushed straight past her. Millicent, having wolfed her dinner and hoovered up the biscuits on the floor, was determined not to be left behind and jumped belching into the now mended BMW.

It was a warm night. The clouds had rolled back leaving brilliant stars and a rising moon. As Ricky couldn't find the top of the whisky bottle, he wedged it in the side pocket, taking repeated slugs as he drove. He covered the twenty miles in as many minutes, overtaking two cars at once on the narrow roads, shooting crossroads. A cold rage had settled in. It wasn't Chessie's fault. Bart Alderton could corrupt anyone.

The electric gates had not yet been installed, so Ricky was able to open the iron ones. Deer and sheep blinked in the headlights as he drove up an avenue of chestnuttrees. As he rattled over the second sheep grid, where the drive opened up into a big sweep of gravel, the beautiful seventeenth-century manor house, with its ruff of lavender and white roses clambering to the roof, was suddenly floodlit.

Little Millicent quivered in the back as four Rottweilers came roaring round the side of the house, fangs bared, growling horribly, scrabbling at the car's paintwork with thick black claws. Taking another slug of whisky, Ricky got out of the car and, because he was totally unafraid, only stopping to pat a sleek, snarling head or mutter a casual 'good dog', was able to walk unscathed through the pack and ring the door bell.

A security guard answered. His shoulders seemed to fill the door.

'Mrs France-Lynch?' said Ricky.

'You've got the wrong house, buddy.'

'I'm coming in to wait for her.'

'Who's that?' called Chessie's voice.

For a second the security man was caught on the hop. Shoving him aside, Ricky walked into the house. Chessie looked floodlit too. She was wearing a red silk dress, long-sleeved, high-necked and slinky, black shoes with four-inch heels, and huge rubies at her ears, neck and wrists. Her hair had been newly streaked, cut shorter and swept off her flawless face. Ricky caught his breath. She looked staggering. The tramp had become a lady.

'How dare you barge in here?' Radiant with spite, Chessie moved towards him. 'Get out. Bart'll be back in a minute, then we're going out - to Rubens' Retreat.' It was as though she was outlining the evening's whereabouts for a baby-sitter.

'How long's this been going on?'

'My being miserable? Since I met you, I guess.' 'You're coming home.'

'To that dump! I'm b.l.o.o.d.y not.'

She caught a waft of whisky. Ricky was wearing a crumpled dark blue shirt and jeans. Unshaven, very brown, his black hair falling over his forehead, he looked savage and dangerous.

Ricky dropped his eyes first and, aware of the hovering guard, turned left into the drawing room which had been exquisitely furnished in soft corals and yellows by Grace. All the cushions looked as if they had been blown up with bicycle pumps.

'L-1-look, I know things have been difficult, but I love you.'

'Do you now?'

'I've been spending so much time on the ponies, so we could get straight. Things'll get better.'

'Bulls.h.i.t,' screamed Chessie hysterically. 'Polo's a drug only curable by poverty or death, and you're hooked.' 'We won today.'

'So f.u.c.king what?' sneered Chessie. 'Bart's still going to drop you.'

Ricky bit his lip. 'David's going to sponsor me next year, and I've almost certainly got a patron for Palm Beach.' 'That still won't be enough to live on.'

'I'll tap my father.'

'Your father's a disgusting, crabby old man,' taunted Chessie, 'and you're getting more like him every day. I'm not having you damaging Will, like Herbert damaged you, making you incapable of showing affection for anything but a horse. I'm surprised you noticed we'd gone.'

Under the chandelier in the centre of the room, he could see she was uncharacteristically wearing a lot of make-up - making her look much harder. Bart's influence was already working.

'And you think Bart's the answer,' said Ricky slowly. 'I was fooled at the beginning. He'll crucify you; he's only interested in conquest. He beats up his horses; soon he'll do the same to you.'

He already has, thought Chessie, stretching voluptuously. She could hardly sit down after Bart had spanked her that afternoon.

'Bart's the most considerate man I've ever met.' Then, as Ricky raised his eyebrows, 'and the best lover. He could give you a bit of coaching. I'm fed up with being married to a failure in and out of bed.'

Ricky clenched his fists. For a second Chessie thought he was going to hit her. Mocking him with her enhanced beauty, she sauntered over to the drinks trolley, and with a totally steady hand poured herself a vodka and tonic. Herdress was so low-cut at the back that Ricky could see a violet bruise above the cleft of her b.u.t.tocks.

'I'll make a bargain with you,' she said, swinging round. 'I'll come back to you the day you go to ten and and win the Gold Cup.' She ticked the conditions off with long, scarlet nails. win the Gold Cup.' She ticked the conditions off with long, scarlet nails. 'And 'And the day England win back the Westchester.' the day England win back the Westchester.'

It was virtually an impossibility. No English player had gone to ten since before the war, and the Westchester Cup, the Holy Grail of Anglo-American polo, had remained uncontested in American hands since 1939.

'You b.i.t.c.h,' whispered Ricky.

'I agree, it's highly unlikely,' said Chessie. Her laugh sounded horrible, almost mad.

'Daddy! Daddy!' Woken by the din, frightened by the shouting, Will, in pale blue pyjamas, trailing a huge, white, fluffy monkey, obviously the result of a trip to Harrods, ran into the room and threw himself into Ricky's arms. He was so excited he couldn't speak. Ricky clung on to his warm, chunky body, which smelt of talc.u.m powder and shampoo, seeking sanity and comfort. This couldn't be happening. He couldn't let Chessie take Will away.

'Did you bring me a present?'

The cowboy suit was at home. Putting his hand in his jeans' pocket, Ricky pulled out a little silver pony with a detachable saddle and bridle that he'd been given as an extra prize for captaining the winning team. 'Here you are.'

'Horsie,' said Will, enraptured. 'Horsie like Mattie.' Then, turning to Chessie: 'Daddy stay the night?'

'Daddy's going,' said Chessie icily, reaching for the bell.

'Let me keep him for tonight.'

'No,' said Chessie alarmed. 'You'll kidnap him.' 'What are you planning to do with him?'

'Take him back to America of course, but we'll be back and forth to England all the time. Bart does so much business. I'm sure the lawyers will grant you visitation rights.'

'Visitation rights?' said Ricky, enraged. 'You're even talking like a f.u.c.king American now. He's my child, and I'm not having that b.a.s.t.a.r.d bringing him up. We're going home,' he said, pushing Will's blond fringe out of his eyes. Then, when Will looked doubtful: 'Millicent's in the car and you can see Louisa.'

Aware of the security man hovering in the hall, Ricky made a dive for the french windows.

'No,' screamed Chessie.

'Mummy,' bellowed Will, suddenly scared.

'Stop him,' yelled Chessie.

But Ricky was already sprinting across the lawn, with Will bawling his head off, and next minute the BMW was careering down the drive, scattering Rottweilers. They met Bart coming the other way and had to mount the verge to pa.s.s him. Ricky was in luck. Bart, because he was coming to pick up Chessie, had left the gates open. Poor Millicent was bouncing around in the back.

As stone walls and dusty August trees flashed by, Ricky knew he ought to fasten Will's seat belt, but all that seemed important for the moment was putting as much distance as possible between himself and Bart. There was a crossroads in half a mile where he could lose him. In mounting the verge he had spilt the whisky and the car reeked of drink.

'Want Mummy!' howled Will. 'Want Mummy!'

'It's all right, darling, you're safe. Daddy loves you, you'll see Mummy soon. I've got a present for you at home.'

Will's sobs subsided a little. Ahead the River Fleet gleamed in the moonlight. As they hurtled towards the bridge, Ricky put a hand on Will's leg to steady and rea.s.sure him. Next moment the moon slid behind a big, black cloud. Too late, he saw, in the pale glow of the headlights, a fox cub racing down the middle of the bridge towards him, its eyes yellow and panic-stricken. Instinctively Ricky swung to the left and hit the side of the bridge head on. Over the almighty crunch, he heard Will scream, felt an agonizing pain in his elbow and then blackness.

The two speed cops reached him before Bart. Millicent was whimpering in the back. Will was killed outright, his neck broken by the impact of the dashboard. Ricky was unconscious, the gash down the side of his face pouring blood, his right arm in a curiously vulnerable position. You could smell whisky all over the car.

'Plastered,' said one of the traffic cops, shaking his head, 'and neither of them wearing seat belts.'

Then, as the moon came out, he noticed the polo stickers on the windscreen and the little silver pony clutched in Will's hand.

'Christ, it's Ricky France-Lynch,' he said.

As his companion rang for an ambulance, he tried to coax Millicent out of the back. Seeing Ricky's licence on the floor, he flipped through it.

'Thought as much,' he muttered. 'Two drunk-driving charges already. They'll clobber him for manslaughter, poor sod. He thought the world of that kid, poor little b.u.g.g.e.r.'

8.

Nearly four months after William France-Lynch was killed in a car crash and his father arrested on charges of manslaughter and drunken driving, Perdita Macleod broke up for the Christmas holidays. Having been expelled from Queen Augusta's for carousing with the Carlisle twins and walking out of her English exam, she had been dispatched to an even stricter and more expensive boarding school. Only the threat that she wouldn't be given a polo pony for Christmas had prevented her running away.

To the bliss of breaking up was the added thrill that her mother and stepfather had at last moved into Brock House, a rambling medieval rectory on the RutshireGloucestershire border. Six miles from Rutshire Polo Club, it was, even more excitingly, only two miles from Eldercombe, the village in which Ricky France-Lynch lived. Although the poor darling, Perdita reflected bitterly, was still cooling his heels in Rutminster gaol awaiting trial.

Terrified lest her mother would be eccentrically dressed or, even worse, blub in 'Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem', Perdita had failed to send home the invitation to the end-of-term carol service, merely telling her to pick her up afterwards. Perdita was normally too idle to lift anything heavier than a cigarette, but today, in the hope of a lightning getaway, she had lugged her trunk, her record player, carrier bags full of posters, dirty washing, polo magazines, holiday work (some hope), Vivaldi the hampster and a yucca called Kevin down three flights of stairs and piled them up outside her school house.

Alas, just as everyone was spilling out of chapel - identikit mothers in on-the-knee suits, identikit fathers in fawn coats with brown velvet collars - Perdita's mother, Daisy, rolled up in an absolutely filthy, falling-apart Mini and immediately started tooting and waving like a rainbow windmill. Abandoning the car and blocking everyone's way, she ran across the tarmac to fling her arms round her daughter.

Finally Perdita, crimson in the face, was able to wriggle free and start hurling carrier bags into the car, as the held-up traffic tooted and everyone, particularly the fawn-coated fathers, stared in amazement.

Why, thought Perdita savagely, does my mother have to be so wacky, and so demonstrative, and, even worse, look half the age of any of the other mothers? Daisy in fact looked adorable. In her early thirties, she had the round, grave, dark brown eyes, the rosy cheeks, the long, straight, shiny brown hair parted in the middle, and gaudy taste in clothes of a Matrioska doll.

But when she stopped worrying and smiled, her eyes had the joyous sparkle and her mouth the dark pink bewitching softness of Hogarth's Shrimp Girl. Today she was less gaudy than usual. Trying to catch a landscape in a certain light before she left, she had forgotten to take off her painting smock or wash the Alizarin crimson off her hands and looked as if she'd been killing a pig. On her left cheek was a large splodge of burnt sienna, which she'd used to capture the faded ginger of the oak woods beneath the new house.

'Oh look, there's Blue Teddy,' cried Daisy, in her slightly breathless voice which squeaked when she got excited. She propped Perdita's ancient teddy bear up between Kevin the yucca and the record player. 'Now he can see out of the window, it's such a ravishing drive home. Oh, there's Miss...o...b..urne,' went on Daisy, scrabbling in the back as she saw Perdita's house mistress bearing down on them. 'I bought her a bottle of Bristol Cream.'

'No, Mum, she's an old b.i.t.c.h,' hissed Perdita. 'For Christ's sake, get in, we're holding up the traffic.'

Perdita! Have a good Christmas.' A group of cla.s.smates, to whom Perdita, with her beauty, outwardinsouciance and murderous wit, was a source of constant fascination, peered in through the window.

'Are you Perdita's friends?' asked Daisy, who'd never been allowed to meet any of them. 'How lovely! We've just moved to Rutshire. Perhaps you'd like to come and stay in the holidays.'

The tooting was getting deafening.

'Mum, for G.o.d's sake,' shrieked Perdita.

'By-ee,' shouted Daisy, windmilling to Miss...o...b..urne and the group of girls as she set off in a succession of jerks down the drive, narrowly avoiding ramming the car in front as she stopped to admire the trailing yellow twigs of a willow tree against an angry navy-blue sky.

'Can't think what's wrong with the car,' said Daisy as it ground to a halt and died just inside the school gates. The tooting became even more acrimonious as she frantically tried the ignition.

'Need any help?' The father of Lucinda Montague, Perdita's sworn enemy, reeking of brandy from his office party, popped his head inside the car.

'It won't budge,' said Daisy helplessly.

"Fraid you've run out of petrol.'

Daisy, who always found the wrong things funny, went off into peals of laughter. Perdita put her head in her hands. It was not until four fathers, all roaring with laughter, who'd also obviously been to office parties, lifted the Mini out of the way and Miss...o...b..urne had provided a can of petrol, and they'd reached the slow lane of the motorway, and Daisy'd apologized a hundred times, that Perdita thawed enough to light a cigarette and ask what the house was like.

'Oh, gorgeous,' said Daisy, thrilled to be forgiven. 'You cannot believe the views. This morning the whole valley was palest cobalt green with frost, and the shadows of the bare trees were '

'Do Eddie and Violet like it?' interrupted Perdita who was bored rigid by 'Nature'.

'Adore it! There's so much s.p.a.ce after London.' 'I bet they've bagged the best rooms.'