Brilliant Short Stories Page 6

  Gideon Deyoung was a very ordinary home-loving man. He was ostensibly emotionless, with a long fuse to his temper, which went closely hand-in-hand with his low profile life-style. He had been married to Millie for twenty-seven years, none of which had been particularly exciting or memorable because he tended to be unusually calm and slow-witted. They had raised two fine children but, for Millie, the years following their departure from home had been slow and tortuous. Gideon had little enthusiasm for anything exciting in life at all. He had never been an adventurous person in any sense of the word, although the time spent by Millie in raising the children seemed to fill the gap. Now they were gone, life seemed to be empty... there was nothing left. When he and his wife found themselves alone, he made strenuous attempts to find satisfaction in peace and serenity. This hardly suited Millie at all. She was downright bored and fed up to the teeth, feeling aggrieved, and rightly so. They were totally unfettered now that the children had left home; the world was their oyster. There were so many places of interest available to them... so many pursuits and opportunities for enjoyment together... all they had to do was to go out and grasp them. Gideon, however, preferred to stay at home to spend his evenings watching television or pursuing his hobby as a stamp collector. It was quite the opposite for Millie. She had reached the age of forty-eight although she appeared to be at least ten years younger. No one could deny she was an extremely attractive woman. Her figure had always been superb because she took great care to retain its youthful shape by carefully dieting all the year round. Furthermore, she seemed to be full of boundless energy, and many of her friends believed she was endowed with the spirit of youth.

  Life with Gideon began to move close to the watershed. By sheer dint of their opposing attitudes, it was inevitable that the couple would drift apart eventually. The forces of life and nature deemed it would happen. Millie spent two evenings each week ballroom dancing with a regular partner, and her interest bordered on attending evening classes in cooking and learning the Spanish language. But the most important feature in her life was the holiday she took with her friend, Peachey, four times each year in a foreign climate. Gideon never went with her. He disliked foreign holidays because they disrupted the normal peaceful routine of his life. In addition, he nursed a distinct fear of flying, disliked the Spanish intensely, burned badly in the sun and, in any case, he didn’t want to be saddled with two women on vacation. Nor did he wish to go abroad four times each year. It was far better for the two women to go on holiday together, leaving him in peace to get on with the things he enjoyed doing. At the same time, however, he was extremely peeved that Millie was away so often. It had nothing to do with the cost of the tours... they were cheap enough in themselves... but eight weeks of absence throughout the year was enough to make the neighbours gossip. He didn’t like that at all. Nonetheless, he recognised that he and Millie were both happier when they went their own separate ways so he let matters stand. After all, nothing could be gained by challenging the pattern of their present way of life. Neither of them would be willing to accept any change or alter their plans. They were simply man and wife in the sight of God with their marriage based on trust. As far as intimacy between them was concerned, it simply didn’t exist.

  One evening, at eight-thirty, Millie received a telephone call which caused her to change her plans without warning. ‘Peachey’s managed to get us a late-bargain holiday for two weeks in Tenerife starting tomorrow,’ she sprang on him suddenly.

  He stared at her in an old-fashioned way. ‘You’re not scheduled to go with her for another month. You normally like to keep to the same schedule.’

  ‘I know, I know,’ she said excitedly. ‘Apparently someone cancelled at the very last moment on a very cheap holiday. Will you be able to manage without me if I go now?’

  He shrugged his shoulders indicating his reluctant assent. ‘Well I seem to be able to cope at all other times by myself,’ he muttered. In his mind, it mattered little to his routine if she left early for this holiday. ‘What are the arrangements?’

  ‘I’ll pack my suitcases now and leave early in the morning,’ she told him. ‘There’s no panic. The plane doesn’t take off until mid-day. There’s just one thing I have to ask you, Gideon. Would you mind taking my jewellery case to the bank and make certain it goes into my safe-deposit box. I’d feel more comfortable with it there.’

  ‘Safe-deposit box!’ he repeated. ‘I didn’t know you had anything of real value to warrant that.’

  ‘You may say that,’ she retorted, ‘but there are quite a few of my mother’s possessions which she gave me before she passed away. I cherish them. They could never be replaced if we were burgled. It’s all of sentimental value. I’d feel peace of mind if you did that for me.’

  ‘Very well,’ he replied quietly. ‘I’ll see to it.’

  She crossed over to him and kissed him on the forehead. ‘You’re a real darling. I don’t know what I’d do without you.’ She moved away from him thoughtfully. ‘Now, what shall I take to Tenerife to wear at this time of the year?’

  As she left the room, he stared after her. She was a real nuisance! Fancy arranging to go on holiday abroad at a moment’s notice! It was almost indecent. Women were the utter limit! And now she wanted to use him as a messenger... to deliver her jewellery to a bank. Well perhaps it was an ideal time for her to go and leave him to his own devices. She would only be a nuisance mooching round the house complaining all the time. For Millie, it was an awful rush. It took her nearly two hours to pack, making sure she had all the right dresses, shoes, and lingerie, remembering also to take her passport and assemble some sterling to exchange for pesetas when she arrived at her destination.

  The next morning, she handed her large jewellery case to her husband, reminding him of his promise the evening before, and waved farewell from the taxi as she departed. Gideon returned to the crossword puzzle in the morning paper and continued to enjoy his routine until ten-thirty. He intended to take the jewellery case to the bank at about that time but, just as he was about to go, he realised he didn’t know which bank she used. After ploughing through the drawers of the writing bureau and those in his wife’s dressing-table he was still none the wiser. She kept a small metal safe in her wardrobe in which she kept a miscellany of personal matters but it was securely locked. In a panic, he believed he could still get hold of her on the telephone if he rang Peachey. However, he had no idea of the woman’s telephone number or where she lived. Time was ticking by and he started to become extremely frustrated. Then he remembered that Millie kept a small diary on the telephone table. There had to be the details of her friend in there somewhere. He ruffled through the pages quickly until he came across the telephone number he wanted and rang Peachey immediately, hoping he could still catch the woman before she left for the airport.

  ‘Hallo,’ he began as a woman’s voice sounded at the other end of the line. ‘This is Gideon Deyoung, Millie’s husband. I’m so glad I caught you in time before you set off for Tenerife. May I have a quick word with Millie, please? There’s something important I have to ask her.’

  ‘Who is this?’ asked the voice.

  ‘It’s Millie’s husband. I want to speak with Millie Deyoung... your friend!’

  ‘My friend?’ The voice burst into laughter. ‘Who told you that?’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ continued Gideon in confusion. ‘I don’t understand. Isn’t she there? I was told you booked a two-week holiday in Tenerife yesterday. You are Peachey, aren’t you?’

  ‘Yes, it’s Peachey. But I should be so lucky to go on a holiday in Tenerife. For your information Millie and I parted company quite some time ago. I haven’t seen her or spoken to her for about four years. What’s she up to these days?’

  Gideon was dumbstruck for a moment as his mind began to tick over slowly. ‘Four years!’ he gasped. ‘Are you sure about that?’

  ‘Of course I’m sure! It’s abou
t four years now.’

  ‘And you haven’t seen or spoken to her during that time?’

  ‘No, I haven’t. You see, we didn’t exactly part as friends.’

  Deyoung paused to consider his options. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘there’s something fishy going on here and I’d like to sort it out.’

  ‘It certainly sounds fishy like to me,’ commented Peachey.

  ‘Would it be possible for me to come over to see you this evening? I know it’s a lot to ask but you’re the only one I can turn to.’

  ‘Why don’t you make it about eight o’clock... and bring a decent bottle of wine. I don’t see why you shouldn’t pay for the information. Do you have my address?’

  ‘No I don’t,’ he confessed. ‘I’ve a pen here if you’ll let me have it.’

  When he replaced the receiver, there was a hardened expression on his face. His mind was in turmoil and, with his wildest suspicions aroused, he decided to open the jewellery case to look inside. He had never concerned himself with her personal possessions before but now he found himself unable to quell his interest. On searching again, he discovered the key in a drawer in the dressing-table and he opened the case slowly to examine the contents. His eyes widened as he surveyed the multitude of rings, necklaces, bracelets, pearls and brooches which cluttered the trays inside. It was a veritable Aladdin’s cave. Diamonds glittered brightly, gold reflected its glorious hue, rubies, emeralds and sapphires expressed their beautiful colours in the light, while strings of pearls produced a glorious tantalising sheen. Gideon knew very little about jewellery but the contents of the case looked to be very authentic. He sat back for a while with a multitude of thoughts racing through his head. Then he telephoned a large jewellery store in the High Street to whom he took the treasure.

  ‘I’d like you to examine the contents of this case,’ he requested when he arrived there. ‘I’m interested in finding out the true value.’

  The jeweller opened the case, screwed a magnifying-glass into the socket of his right eye and examined the rings in the first tray.

  ‘What do you think?’ pressed Deyoung, anxious to hear the man’s opinion.

  ‘Magnificent!’ he exclaimed. ‘Where did you get these?’ He looked more closely, eyeing each piece with great respect. ‘Are they part of a collection?’

  ‘Not that I know of,’ returned Gideon anxiously. ‘How much are they worth?’

  The jeweller swayed his head from one side to the other as he considered an estimate. ‘At present the commercial retail value, provided none of this is stolen property, is probably worth just over a quarter of a million pounds.’

  ‘How much did you say?’ asked Deyoung in astonishment. He took a step backwards in shock and slumped into a chair on the customer’s side of the counter.

  ‘Just over a quarter of a million pounds,’ repeated the jeweller. ‘Naturally, that’s only an estimate. I need more time to examine each piece in detail before I could give you an accurate figure.’

  Gideon inhaled deeply and puffed out his cheeks. ‘Well it’s not stolen property. I assure you of that,’ he responded. ‘It’s my wife’s jewellery. How much will you offer me for the lot?’

  The other man shrugged and examined the jewellery carefully. ‘Hm,’ he muttered as if to himself. ‘Some of these rings will have to be remodelled... and there’s other work to be done... but I may be able to offer you about a third of the value. Remember, it’s second-hand jewellery.’

  ‘But when remodelled you’ll get the full price,’ challenged Deyoung without hesitation. ‘All right. It’s a deal provided you’re willing to accept two conditions.’

  ‘Conditions?’ inquired the jeweller with surprise. ‘What sort of conditions?’

  Gideon produced Millie’s address-book and handed it to the other man. ‘This is my wife’s address-book. I want you to identify the names of any jewellers in here. It should be no problem for you.’

  The jeweller appeared surprised at the odd request and thumbed through the address-book page by page until he arrived at one particular name. ‘I recognise this one,’ he told him. ‘Frank Seberg. He’s a jeweller! He works for one of our competitors not far from here. The Jewellery Store. I can’t recognise any others.’

  ‘Good!’ nodded Deyoung. ‘I want you to telephone him immediately.’

  ‘What do you want me to say?’

  ‘Just ask for him. That’s all. Ask to speak to him.’

  The jeweller shrugged his shoulders and made the call. When he replaced the receiver, he stared at his customer shrewdly. ‘You know exactly what I’m going to say, don’t you? He’s not there. He’s gone on holiday to Tenerife. What’s going on?

  Gideon pressed his lips together firmly. ‘I’ll tell you what’s going on,’ he riposted. ‘My wife’s been having an affair with him. She’s gone on holiday to Tenerife this morning and I’ll bet you a diamond ring to a penny coin he’s gone with her.’

  ‘Aren’t you rather jumping to conclusions?’ suggested the jeweller, trying to calm his customer.

  ‘I don’t think so. She goes on four holidays abroad every year with her friend, Peachey. But Peachey tells me she hasn’t seen her for four years. So who’s she going off with on holiday? I’ll tell you who! Frank Seberg... the jeweller. That’s who! It’s obvious. All these jewels. It had to be either a millionaire or a jeweller. No one else could afford to give away such wonderful stuff for favours received.’

  The jeweller looked at him dolefully, not wishing to become mixed up with someone else’s sordid affair. ‘You mentioned there was a second condition. What is it?’

  ‘Ah yes! The second condition. Well that’s a little more difficult. I want you to make replicas of all these items. Replace everything in this case with identical junk jewellery. But it must look exactly like the real thing. You’ve got ten days to do it.’

  The other man gasped. ‘Ten days? But that’s impossible! We could replace some items such as pearls from stock but, as for the rest... I’ll need more time. If it’s your wife’s jewellery, why do you want to replace them?’

  ‘The real jewels are my compensation. She can have the dummies. I’m not letting her get away with something like this. Not on your life!’

  ‘I’ll need longer than ten days,’ bleated the jeweller.

  ‘Look,’ countered Deyoung. He was infuriated at being deceived by his wife and experienced the full flood of revenge. ‘I reckon this jewellery is worth more than three hundred thousand pounds in retail value. If you do what I ask, I’ll sell you the lot for fifty thousand pounds. It’s in your own interests to deliver. I’ll call back in ten days’ time. Just make sure it’s ready. And, by the way, I want the jewellery case back! I want her to think it’s all exactly as she gave it to me.’

  That evening, he called on Peachey with two bottles of excellent wine and told her of his discovery concerning the value of the jewellery and about Millie’s affair with the jeweller. She was not the least surprised. At first she was reluctant to say much about her old colleague but, after they had imbibed the wine, her tongue began to loosen. She talked about some of Millie’s past indiscretions whereby she had been using Peachey, in her own words, as a ‘cover-slip’.

  ‘Millie had been actively seeking lovers for some years,’ she told him freely. ‘She wanted to maintain an anchor with you in Britain but to allay any suspicions which might have formed in your mind she told you she was going abroad with me. It wasn’t true, of course but it worked perfectly well for her... until now.’

  ‘And it would have continued to work if she hadn’t asked me to put her jewellery case in her safe-deposit box at the bank.’

  ‘Millie always had one aim in mind,’ continued Peachey. ‘Each paramour had to be either wealthy in his own right or established successfully in the jewellery business. She was no fool! She loved to mix business and pleasu
re. All she wanted was expensive presents from people with access to wealth.’

  ‘It’s hard for me to take it all in,’ moaned Gideon sadly. ‘I mean, it’s like a bolt from the blue.’

  ‘But she had another motive, you know.’ By now it was almost impossible to stop the woman from revealing all her old friend’s secrets. ‘She was paving the way for the time when she could sell all her jewellery and live in luxury by herself. You would be dumped in no uncertain terms. I should imagine that time is pretty close by now.’

  ‘What would you do if you were in my position?’ he asked her, having difficulty in making a decision.

  ‘If you’re a forgiving person, you’d take half the jewels and accept her for what she is... allowing her to continue her affairs. By taking half the jewellery, she would have to stay with you because she wouldn’t have enough money to go off to live on her own. If you were a vengeful person, you’d want to turn the tables on her.

  ‘How could I possibly do that?’

  Peachey smiled at him and there was a malicious tone in her voice. ‘Sell all her jewellery, buy a small place in the country, invest the rest, and retire gracefully on your own. In that way, you’d be compensated for the way she’s treated you... from her money.’

  ‘I’d be pretty lonely on my own,’ he mused.

  ‘No you wouldn’t,’ she told him brazenly, encouraged by the effect of the wine. ‘I’d come with you... to look after the place... as a housekeeper if you like. It might make her realise what she’s done to you if you tell her you’re going off with me.’