The Collected Short Stories - Jeffrey Archer [170]
“Does he?” I said.
“You must remember. We were going up for the first time the day we met him, and he was already on his third run.”
“Was he?”
“You are being dim this morning, Edward. Did you get out of bed the wrong side?” she asked, laughing.
I didn’t reply.
“Well, I only hope it is Travers,” Caroline added, sipping her coffee. “I never did like the man.”
“Why not?” I asked, somewhat taken aback.
“He once made a pass at me,” she said casually.
I stared across at her, unable to speak.
“Aren’t you going to ask what happened?”
“I’m so stunned I don’t know what to say,” I replied.
“He was all over me at the gallery that night, and then invited me out to lunch after we had dinner with him. I told him to get lost,” Caroline said. She touched me gently on the hand. “I’ve never mentioned it to you before because I thought it might have been the reason he returned the Vuillard, and that only made me feel guilty.”
“But it’s me who should feel guilty,” I said, fumbling with a piece of toast.
“Oh, no, darling, you’re not guilty of anything. In any case, if I ever decided to be unfaithful it wouldn’t be with a lounge lizard like that. Good heavens no. Diana had already warned me what to expect from him. Not my style at all.”
I sat there thinking of Travers on his way to a morgue, or even worse, still buried under the snow, knowing there was nothing I could do about it.
“You know, I think the time really has come for you to tackle the A-slope,” Caroline said as we finished breakfast. “Your skiing has improved beyond words.”
“Yes,” I replied, more than a little preoccupied.
I hardly spoke another word as we made our way together to the foot of the mountain.
“Are you all right, darling?” Caroline asked as we traveled up side by side on the lift.
“Fine,” I said, unable to look down into the ravine as we reached the highest point. Was Travers still down there, or already in the morgue?
“Stop looking like a frightened child. After all the work you’ve put in this week you’re more than ready to join me,” she said reassuringly.
I smiled weakly. When we reached the top, I jumped off the ski lift just a moment too early, and knew as soon as I took my second step that I had sprained an ankle.
I received no sympathy from Caroline. She was convinced I was pretending in order to avoid attempting the advanced run. She swept past me and sped on down the mountain while I returned in ignominy via the lift. When I reached the bottom I glanced toward the engineer, but he didn’t give me a second look. I hobbled over to the first-aid post and checked in. Caroline joined me a few minutes later.
I explained to her that the duty orderly thought it might be a fracture and had suggested I report to the hospital immediately.
Caroline frowned, removed her skis, and went off to find a taxi to take us to the hospital. It wasn’t a long journey but it was one the taxi driver had evidently done many times before from the way he took the slippery bends.
“I ought to be able to dine out on this for about a year,” Caroline promised me as we entered the double doors of the hospital.
“Would you be kind enough to wait outside, madam?’ asked a male orderly as I was ushered into the X-ray room.
“Yes, but will I ever see my poor husband again?” she mocked as the door was closed in front of her.
I entered a room full of sophisticated machinery presided over by an expensively dressed doctor. I told him what I thought was wrong with me and he lifted the offending fool gently up onto an X-ray machine. Moments later he was studying the large negative.
“There’s no fracture there,” he assured me, pointing to the bone. “But if you are still in any pain it might be wise for me to bind the ankle up tightly.” He pinned my X ray next to five others hanging from a rail.
“Am I the sixth person already today?” I asked, looking up at the row of X rays.
“No, no,” he said, laughing. “The other five are all the same man. I think he must have tried to fly over the ravine. the fool.”
“Over the ravine?”
“Yes, showing off, I suspect,” he said as he began