I had the brief sensation of a man drowning. “How do you know all this?”
“I have two eyes; also, Iris told me.”
“She knows too?”
“Of course she knows! Why else do you think she’s so anxious to get Cave away from this place? She knows Paul can have him killed at any time and no one would be the wiser.”
I grunted with amazement: I understood now what it was that had happened on the terrace. I felt a perfect fool. Of them all I alone had been unaware of what was going on beneath the surface and, in my folly, I had detonated the situation without knowing it. “He knows too?” I asked weakly.
“Of course he does; he’s on his guard every minute against Paul.”
“Why has no one ever told me this?”
Clarissa shrugged. “They had no idea which side you’d take. They still don’t know. Paul believes that you are with him and though he curses you for an impetuous fool, he’s decided that perhaps it’s a good idea now to bring all this into the open, at least among ourselves. He hopes for a majority vote in the directors’ meeting to force Cave to kill himself.”
“And Cave?”
“Has no wish to die ... sensible man.”