wanda1969

Rebecca : Chapter 5 (part 2)

Ianto had never seen the beach so full of people, all milling about. The rain had given way to fog and drizzle, and it was so hard to see if Jack was there. He was relieved when he ran into Owen Harper.

“Owen, thank God I’ve come across you! Have you seen Jack?”

“Yes. I...” Owen looked away.

“For Christ’s sake Owen, what is it?”

“They sent a diver down to look at the wreck- he came across another boat- Rebecca’s boat. They recognised it straight away.” Owen said and then looked away.

“My God. How is he? Where is he?”

“Shaken, of course...he went in that direction.” Harper pointed in the direction of the cove that Ianto had discovered in those first few days at Manderley, and then quickly changed the subject. “The men...they’ve been working all night to find the wreck...any survivors. I’d better arrange some coffee or tea, and some breakfast.”

“Thank you, Owen.”

He left Owen to his breakfast duties and ran towards the cove. It was misty, but as Ianto got closer he noticed a glow. Closer still and he realised it was the glow of lights from the small fisherman’s cottage. Reaching the door he pushed it open. “Jack? Are you there?” There was no reply but he entered nevertheless.

Jack was sat next to the mantelpiece, wrapped in a large military overcoat for warmth.

“Hello, Ianto.” He’d been working all night, scouring the beach, organising the search parties.

“Jack...you haven’t slept. You need some rest, some food...”

Jack just shrugged his shoulders as he held the overcoat around him.

“Jack...please- forgive me for tonight...”

“Forgive you for what?” the older man asked wearily, not even looking at Ianto. And then he seemed to remember. “Oh, yes...I was angry with you, wasn’t I? It doesn’t matter now.”

“About the party. I didn’t realise...” Ianto started.

“It was bloody Cooper, wasn’t it? There’s no way anyone else in the house would have let you do that.”`

“Yes. Can’t we start over? I know you don’t love me Jack...I know you can’t love me. I won’t even ask you to love me. But we were friends at least, weren’t we? We can be friends again...I could even be your PA, your companion...”

“God! You really do love me don’t you?” he said, finally looking up and into Ianto’s eyes. “It’s all too late now...whatever chance we had...of happiness, of...it’s all gone now. The thing I’ve been dreading all along has finally happened Rebecca’s won. God damn her, she’s won...”

Ianto swallowed at the mention of that name. “What the hell do you mean, Jack?”

“Her ghost has been here all along- keeping us away from each other. Making sure we were driven apart. We never had a chance... the diver- he found something...”

“Owen said- he said they’d found her boat.”

“It wasn’t just that Ianto, they found a body...”

“What...? You mean there was someone with her when the boat went down...?”

“You don’t understand, do you? Rebecca was alone. It was Rebecca’s body.”

“But it couldn’t be. You identified her body.”

“Did I?” Jack sighed. “The woman I identified, it wasn’t her. I knew it wasn’t her. She was just an unknown woman, found in the sea. I knew I was lying...and I knew exactly where her body was.”

“How could you possibly know?”

“Because, Ianto, I put it there. There on that boat.” Jack’s eyes locked with his and Ianto knew that his shock was more than visible as he took a step backwards.

“See? Go on, tell me that you love me now. Now you know that I put her there, on that boat, and left it to sink.”

The young man was speechless, but still staring at Jack who let out a breath he’d been holding. “I knew it’d never work. It’s all too late.”

“No it’s not, I do love you, Jack. More than anything. More than anyone I’ve ever met...”

“It doesn’t matter that you think you love me- it’s too late now...they’ve found the boat. They’ve seen the body. It’s only a matter of time before they figure it all out...”

“You should have told me the truth. You must know that I would have helped you.”

“I was going to tell you...I wanted to...I should have...but then we came here and everything changed. I could feel you drifting away from me.”

“How could I do anything but drift away from you, Jack? We came here and it became obvious to me that you were always thinking of her, of Rebecca. I couldn’t even say ‘I love you’- I knew it wouldn’t be returned- because you still think of her.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been comparing me to her- everyone has, even the staff, especially Frith and Cooper. Whenever you looked at me, kissed me even, I knew you were thinking of Rebecca, comparing me to her, wishing it was her, wanting to do everything we did, but with her, because you still love her, Jack.”

“You think I loved her?” Jack laughed. It was a strange and almost bitter laugh. “You really thought I loved her? I hated Rebecca.”

Ianto couldn’t find the words to reply. He didn’t have to. Jack carried on speaking. “Yeah, I was carried away by her. My parents were still alive then- they encouraged me, told me that she would be the ideal mistress of Manderley. She was beautiful, intelligent and had breeding. She was the life and soul of parties. Everyone was taken in- apart from Toshiko, she was possibly the only person who saw through Rebecca.”

“But...”

“No ‘buts’, Ianto. I never had a moment’s happiness with her. Well that’s not quite true- we were married for four days when she told me she’d only married me because she wanted Manderley. We were on our honeymoon- in Monaco. You remember that first day you met me on the cliffs?” Ianto nodded. “We’d gone for a drive- we were sat up there and she told me. Told me that she wanted to keep her old life- wanted to see her old boyfriends. It turned out she’d never confined herself to just the one; monogamy was an alien concept to her.

“She offered me a deal- separate lives. She would be the dutiful mistress of Manderley, be everything that my parents and society expected of her. She told me that it would be scandalous if we divorced- it’d be in the gossip columns of the tabloids. It seems that it was plain to her, even if it wasn’t to my family and most of my friends, that I was bisexual. She said that she’d make sure that came out too.”

“Oh God!”

Jack snorted. “I should never have agreed. But my mother was ill- I didn’t want any scandal. And Rebecca played the part well. We had parties, balls- Manderley was the place to be during the season. But she was incapable of love or tenderness, or even decency. She took a flat in London. She’d stay away for days on end ‘shopping’. She took lovers, became careless, and it was only by the skin of our teeth that it never ended up in the papers. Then she became even more bold, inviting her lovers here- taking them to the old boathouse. Once she even tried to seduce Owen- before his wife, Katie, died. Then she embarked upon an affair with her own cousin, John bloody Hart...”

“I’ve met him,” Ianto said knowing that he couldn’t keep this from Jack, not now.

“You met him? When?”

“That day, a couple of weeks ago, when you went to London. I think he came to see Mrs Cooper. I didn’t want to say anything in case it reminded you of her.”

“Remind me of her? How could I ever forget when I think of her every day- and not in a good way.” Jack gave a wry smile. “She used to bring Hart here, you know. There was one day when I was out walking and found them both here. Threatened to shoot ‘em both- it’s one thing to carry on like that...but under my own nose? On my own land?”

“One night, just before she died, I knew she was down here waiting for Hart. I came down to confront them both- I knew she was expecting him, but he never came. When I got here she was there...” He pointed over to the couch. “Lying on the divan. She’d been drinking; there was a full ashtray on the table. She didn’t look well, but it didn’t stop her and she started to taunt me. She walked over to me, said she could be pregnant, that no one would ever notice it wasn’t mine. That I’d never have the guts to say it wasn’t mine- and it wouldn’t be mine; we hadn’t slept together in years.

“I slapped her across the face. She just laughed, said that if she did have child it would be the heir of Manderely, and that the funny thing would be that it wouldn’t even technically be a Harkness.”

“I knew there was no point in arguing when she was drunk, and I decided to leave. She yelled at me not to ignore her and took another swig of Brandy. The next thing knew she stumbled and fell against the hearth. She lay there a long time. I remember wondering why she was still smiling, and then I noticed she wasn’t breathing.”

“Ianto, I panicked. I picked her up, and took her onto her boat. I pushed off and when I was sure we were asail, I opened the sea cocks to let the water in. And just to make sure, I took a hammer from the toolbox and struck it again and again against the inside of the hull, until there was a hole. Then I released the dingy and floated ashore, leaving Rebecca and the boat to go down...”

“We’ll tell the truth, Jack. There’s got to be a way out of this. We’ll explain.”

“They’ll never believe me, never believe it was an accident. And I identified that woman. A stranger...”

“We’ll say it was a mistake.”

“A mistake? They’re gonna see Rebecca’s wedding ring on her body, her jewellery, and wonder why I didn’t notice that unknown woman wasn’t wearing it all...”

Jack looked away. “I told you I’d done a very selfish thing, didn’t I? Bringing you here, to all of this... when I had no right to. God! I really did love you, I do love you, I really do, but we should never have come here, not when Rebecca was here all along, haunting this place, ready to reveal her secrets. I knew she’d win in the end. She always won. Always got whatever she wanted.”

“Jack- She’s not won just yet...” Ianto was almost glad when he heard Jack’s mobile ring- he didn’t have to try to find any more comforting words just yet.

Jack flipped the ‘phone open and answered it. There was a pause.

“Hi Owen...Detective Davidson is there?...I’m coming now- See you, Owen.”

“What is it, Jack?”

Jack slumped against the wall. “It was Owen. Detective Davidson is up at the house- he wants to know if it’s possible I made a mistake when...when I identified the body last year.”

***

Chapter List: http://wanda1969.dreamwidth.org/17042.html