Chapter 2

Willie jumped to answer the phone.

"What is it?" he said as soon as he recognized Barnabas' voice "Louella?"

"No. There is no change there."

"Are you sure?"

"I am sure." Had he been that tiresome when he was mooing about Josette? Probably worse. "I know that it is hard for you, but the best you can do is wait."

Willie breathed deeply a couple of times. "Why did you call, by the way?"

"Davenport is coming here."

"Is he? You mean, he really wants to put his business here?"

"There is a good chance that he will. Now, I have this problem. Where are we going to put him? We can always send him to a motel. But if he roomed with one of the people who called him, he might be more willing. I cannot put him at my place. There is no electricity, and Phillip acts as if I was a plague carrier..

"Not to mention that you are going to get David as soon as Julia gets here. No, my place is a lot better.

"You don't mind?"

"It is my project as well as yours."

"You are a good friend."

"It is just good business. If people have steady jobs, they have money to spend, and some of it gets spent in my store. When they have no money, I have no customers."

When Barnabas hung up, he noticed that Phillip had admitted Iris in.

"Iris, I was just leaving."

"That can't wait. I got this in the mail." she extended it towards him. "A perfumed note from Carolyn."

"Dear Mrs. White:

I want to extend to you my appreciation for providing me an opportunity to indulge in my new hobby. Thanks to your cooperation was able to experience a pleasure I had not anticipated. Be sure that I will always remember you with gratitude.

Yours.

Carolyn Hawkes.

P.S.: My cousin Barnabas can tell you more about my new hobby."

"What does she mean by new hobby? Barnabas asked.

"I have no idea.. Loot at your own mail.

There was a perfumed envelope among the mail. It seemed thicker than the note that Iris had received.

As he opened it, the photos fell on the floor.

Those photos...something twisted inside him when he saw them. Him and Iris. Alone in the corridor leading to his office.

His lips pulled back in a snarl, Iris's head tilted back, his tongue lapping the blood, his teeth going into her throat...

Was it that ugly, that brutal?

"The bitch" Iris muttered Gently she took the letter than fell from Barnabas' fingers. She read it, trying to keep her voice steady.

"My dearest cousin:

I have started on a new hobby: photography. I want you opinion on these. I think that they are good likenesses of you. So does Nicholas, who helped me obtain them. I hope you concur.

In case you are in doubt as to what is a good likeness of you, ask Mrs. White.

I have the impression that somebody called Davenport is coming to town to discuss business with you. I wonder what he will think of these. And maybe these photos are good enough to be shown in a national magazine. I want your honest opinion.

Your loving cousin

Carolyn"

"Well, we knew it was coming."

Barnabas nodded, unable to take his eyes off the photos.

"I imagine that Nichols was the one who let her spy on us to get them" she nudged him to remind him that Nicholas might still be spying on them..."I fell dirty inside. And these happened a while ago. When Maggie was still in town. She must have held them a while."

Letting Barnabas' hopes rise. Letting him think that he could pull off the Davenport deal. And then quashing those hopes when everything seemed within reach.

"It is blackmail. And there isn't much we can do about it."

"No, not much" Neither of them mentioned the document they had obtained from Frank Torrance. Even if Angelique had protected it against any attempt to destroy it, it was best if Carolyn didn't learn it until the last moment.

"Do you want to see her? Or do I go?"

"I..." he looked at the photos again "I...I don't know if...if I can control myself...I don't want to hurt her. And now I feel I would gladly kill her."

"Then I'd better go. I can't promise to hold my temper, but...

Iris lingered inside, trying to get enough courage to go out, to face Carolyn.

Not that she doubted how the game would go. She had good cards and she meant to play them.

The Xerox copy of Frank's document rested in her handbag. She patted it, but while that gave her assurance, it didn't calm her.

She was angry with Carolyn. Angry enough to start screaming like a fishwife.

And Carolyn would love that. She would smile, in that aristocratic way of hers, and talk of how class will always tell. "No breeding, you know", and "you can take white trash out of the trailer park, but you cannot take the trailer park out of the white trash.."

She toyed with the idea of mailing it instead.

Yes. Write a letter in perfumed paper.

"Dearest Carolyn:

I found that while your photos are interesting, they are basically amateur efforts. I wouldn't count much on their being published. In the end you'll only be embarrassed.

I know that it is a blow for you to hear this. But it happens to be the truth. To make you understand it, Iris and I are sending you a piece of writing that is also amateur effort.

This piece of writing deserves to be published as your photographs are. I know that it is hard to accept it, but is the truth. May you continue to improve in your efforts.

Love

Barnabas"

No, she decided, it was a good idea, but not good enough.

She forced herself to walk to Collinwood. And she forced to be polite when Carolyn received her.

"This is most pleasant, Mrs. White" she said. Indeed she was pleased. Wasn't she going to see his hated cousin's lover squirm?

"Is it, really? I am sorry I cannot say the same."

"You have no manners, you know."

"Blackmailers do not deserve any." that shot pleased her. "I saw the photos you took."

"You liked them?"

"I hated them."

"Why? Can't you stand the truth?"

"They aren't true. They...they are obscene."

"It happened that way, didn't it?"

"It did."

"So how come you claim that the photos aren't true? You have a weird standard of truth" she smiled condescendingly "a deficiency in your education?"

"They are not true because there is a lot more to him than that. There is so much that your photos did not capture. and when you say that these photos show all there is to know about him, then they become obscene."

How was she able to speak so calmly?

"An interesting point. Are you going to tell that to Mr. Davenport?

"Sooner or later we will. But one thing for sure. He won't hear it from you. And he will never see the photos either."

"That is up to Barnabas, not me."

"It is up to you. Read this." she took the Xerox copy from her bag an threw it on Carolyn's lap.

It was interesting how Carolyn's expression changed as she read it.

"You...you bastards."

"You know that Barnabas will not use it unless you give him a reason to. You forget about the photos and we'll forget about this.

"You wouldn't dare!"

"The same way Barnabas wouldn't dare force his will on you last fall? How many years could you get for that joke? And who'd be in charge of teh factory while you are in jail? Your mother? David?"

"You cheap whore! White trash! You dare tell me that? You dare tell me what I must do?"

Carolyn's face was red, her eyes bulging, She spat between words and hissed...

...like a fishwife. Like an ill-bred fishwife with no education.

All those expensive schools were only a veneer on the unstable person that Carolyn had become. She would be cool when things went her way. When they didn't, her poise disintegrated.

Carolyn grabbed a candlestick. Iris looked with alarm. Was she considering braining her?

Luckily, Nicholas came in at that moment.

"Mrs. Hawkes" he said " I have some bills."

"What?" Carolyn turned her anger to him "more expenses yet? For that useless TV set you waste your time with?"

"But...you said..." Nicholas barely managed to end his sentence "that it had helped you."

"Well, it didn't. And what's more, it's broken, isn't it? It breaks two days out of three. Get out! And stay out!"