A Place of Hope (20 page)

She switched on the television news. There. That was better. Sometimes George and his wife had rather sharp exchanges, and he could be brutal in the way he talked to Marcia. No doubting who was master in that household. Her husband had been just the same.

Liz hated to overhear people quarrelling.

They found Pauline’s house quite easily, but George drove past and parked round the corner. He winked at his wife. ‘Can’t be too careful.’

Pauline stood in the doorway for a moment, scowling at them. ‘I shouldn’t have anything more to do with you, Mr Pilby.’

‘Oh, but you should, Sister. You’ll be well paid for one small favour. The final one of our dealings.’

Still she hesitated. ‘I have a bad feeling about this. Your aunt must be very cunning to have got away from a locked ward. Things may continue to go wrong when you deal with her.’

He laughed. ‘I doubt it. She’s a fool who got lucky, that’s all.’

When Pauline still didn’t move, he asked, ‘Well? Are you going to help me or not? If you don’t need the money . . .’

‘Oh, come in.’ She held open the door and showed them into the dining room. ‘Now, explain exactly what you want me to do.’

‘Just witness my aunt’s signature on a document.’

‘What sort of document? Are you asking me to commit a crime?’

He leaned forward. ‘Isn’t what you’ve done already a crime?’ After a short silence, he held out the paper. ‘Here. No need to read it. You simply sign at the bottom. Put the twenty-fifth as the date. I was at the hospital that day, so it all fits in.’

She turned to the front page of the folded document and he snatched it from her, putting it back with only the last page showing.

‘I like to check what I’m getting into,’ she protested.

‘And I like people to mind their own business. You can always say you weren’t allowed to read the document if anything goes wrong.’

Marcia said quietly, ‘It won’t take a minute, Pauline, and George does know what he’s doing. There’s five hundred pounds waiting to be paid to you. Well worth it, eh?’

Pauline hesitated, biting her lip, then scrawled her signature and wrote the date he’d requested.

‘Thank you.’ George stood up. ‘I doubt we’ll need to trouble you again.’ He held out an envelope.

‘I’d prefer to count the money before you leave.’

The minute Pauline nodded and put away the wad of notes, he left without a word of farewell. As they walked back towards the car he smiled at his wife. ‘That went well.’

‘I suppose so. I—’

There was a man standing by their car, about to put a piece of paper under the windscreen wiper.

‘Hoy! What are you doing?’ George shouted, hurrying forward.

‘Warning you not to park here again. This is a residents only parking area and you’ve not got a sticker on your car. Besides, I’d know you if you lived here. I know everyone in this street.’

George bit back his annoyance. ‘Sorry. We were in a bit of a hurry and I didn’t see the signs. We’ll leave straight away.’

‘You do that. And don’t come back again or I’ll report you to the authorities and you’ll be fined,’ the man yelled after them.

‘Stupid fool.’ George drove round the corner and speeded up. ‘There. That was easy, wasn’t it?’

‘Too easy. I have to agree with Pauline. I don’t feel good about this, either, George. Look, there’s still time to change your mind and—’

‘No way. It’s exactly the windfall we need to top up our retirement fund.’ He grabbed her arm and gave it a little shake. ‘I’ve not let you down before, have I?’

She bit her lip. ‘No, but – George, watch out!’

He narrowly avoided a cyclist, who made a crude sign. ‘Stupid fool.’ He added more quietly, ‘How many times do I have to tell you to leave money matters to me, Marcia? My aunt will find it difficult to get the better of me. And long term, well, she has no children and I’m her only nephew.’

‘Yes, but—’

‘And now that I know she isn’t brain damaged – or not much – she’ll be as well cared for as my mother is. I’m not a cruel man. I’m making sure you’re well looked after in your old age, too. That’s what you care about most, isn’t it?’ He waited and when she didn’t answer, said quietly, ‘I know what I’m doing, my dear.’

‘I just . . . worry sometimes.’

‘Worry about keeping my mother happy. You’ve done brilliantly so far. She must be the biggest bore on the planet.’

‘I think she’s rather sweet.’

‘I think we need to find a proper house for ourselves, but not too close to her. That’s our next job once I’ve sent off the contract to Barton and Halling. You can start studying the market and deciding where you want to live. It won’t be long now before I can retire, thanks to Barton and Halling.’

‘Emily will deny signing the contract to sell.’

He smirked. ‘She can deny it all she likes. I’m rather good at forging signatures, and I’ve made sure the dates on the various documents tie in with my visits. Pauline will back me up on that.’

As she still looked doubtful, he added, ‘Give me a few months and I’ll pull my aunt into line permanently. Perhaps she should live with my mother? They can bore each other to death then.’ He laughed heartily at his own joke as he turned into his mother’s street.

Late on Monday morning, Oliver brought more of his things from home to add to his clothes at The Drover’s Hope. He looked as excited as a schoolboy as he carried his computer and several boxes up to the bedroom he’d chosen, yelling, ‘Down in a minute!’

‘You did say you wanted internet access?’ he asked Emily when he joined the others in the flat.

‘I was going to look into it today.’

‘No need. I’ve arranged in your name for some technicians to come this afternoon to update the telephone system, which is archaic, as well to make sure you’re connected to the internet. I didn’t think you’d object.’

‘Object? I’m delighted.’ She couldn’t resist giving him a hug. ‘How on earth did you manage that? I wasn’t even sure we could get on the Net out here.’

He tapped his nose, grinning. ‘If you don’t ask, I won’t have to tell you any lies. Let’s just say that thanks to being a member of a certain organization, I’ve got friends in useful places.’

‘Wonderful. I’d better set my computer up ready to go, then. It’s about time I checked my emails. George won’t have read them all, thank goodness, because they were protected. Goodness knows what people have been thinking about me not replying.’ She shivered at the thought of her nephew.

Chad looked at her in concern, moving closer as if offering unspoken support. ‘Does he still frighten you?’

‘Yes. I hadn’t realized he could be so . . . ruthless. He grabbed hold of me once while I was in hospital and shook me hard, warning me to do as he said or else. Now that I have you and a built-in lawyer, I feel much better about facing him, but I still worry about how ruthless he can be.’ She looked across at Oliver. ‘Even George isn’t above the law, but he’s got away with so much already.’

‘Some people do manage to twist the law in their favour, I’m afraid. No system is perfect. But we won’t let George get you in his power again, will we, Chad? One or the other of us will stay near you until we’ve got everything settled.’ Oliver frowned. ‘It’s an unusual case, though.’

She sighed. ‘I wish it weren’t. I wish things were absolutely straightforward.’

‘If they were, you’d not need me. Oh, and I’d better warn you: I don’t think you’ll hold Dr Allerton back for long. She’s itching to follow up on the way you were treated, because she takes a pride in the NHS.’

‘You’re an unusual lawyer, Oliver. I’m lucky to have you at my side.’

‘I’m only a part-time lawyer now, but I do believe in justice. And actually, I’m enjoying myself, in a strange sort of way.’ His eyes turned towards Rachel as he said that, then he looked back at Emily. ‘I think we should visit my office this afternoon. We need to go through some of the final formalities for handing over the estate.’

‘I have to wait for my new car before I go anywhere. If it’s delivered in time, I can drive you there and practise finding my way round Littleborough. I need to get back into the swing of real life again, not expect people to look after me. And we have to stock up the house with food and cleaning materials. I know we’ve bought a load of food and things, but they seem to have vanished without trace.’

Chad moved towards the kitchen. ‘I’m ready for a coffee. Anyone joining me? Good.’ He put the kettle on.

Oliver lowered his voice. ‘I need to ask one thing as your lawyer: are you still happy to have Chad living here?’

Emily looked at him in surprise. ‘Oh, yes. I’m enjoying getting to know him. We’re . . . attracted to one another.’ She hesitated, then confided, ‘The only thing is, Chad’s remembered that he has two sons so we don’t know if he’s still married or not.’

‘Ah.’

‘If he could only remember his surname, surely we could check out who he is?’

‘Yes. I’ll use a search engine once we’ve got the internet up and running, see if I can find anything useful. If he’s right about his first names and we put in Chad as well, that should help, surely?’

There was the sound of a vehicle drawing up outside, sending the gravel crackling and scattering. She looked out of the window and forgot her problems as she watched Mark get out of the car and move towards the house. ‘It’s here! My car’s here.’

She set off running, collecting Rachel on the way and stopping next to the car, her hand out to touch it. She felt a little foolish at showing such childish excitement and when she looked round, the three men were watching her in amusement.

Oh, what the hell! Let them smile. The car represented freedom of movement, something she hadn’t had for a long time. She stroked its glossy silver paintwork, bent to examine the grey and maroon upholstery of the driver’s seat and gave in to the temptation to sit in it, adjusting the seat to suit a shorter person.

‘Everything all right?’ Mark came round to smile down at her.

‘It feels great. I need to drive it, to check that it runs OK.’

‘Oh, it will, I promise you. I’m hoping you’ll drive me back to work as a test run.’

‘I’d love to.’ She rushed up to the house to grab a cardigan and her handbag. ‘I’m driving Mark back.’

Oliver grabbed her arm. ‘I should go with you.’

‘It’s only into town and back.’

‘Till we’re sure you’re safe, you really shouldn’t go anywhere alone.’

Her joy faded abruptly. ‘I suppose you’re right. Come on, then.’

She cheered up again as she drove carefully into Littleborough, following Mark’s clear directions to bring them to the car yard.

‘I must seem silly to you, getting so excited about my car,’ she said to Oliver as he moved into the front passenger’s seat.

‘Not at all. You’ve been through a terrible experience. Getting back to normal must feel wonderful.’

‘You’re very understanding.’

‘I try to be. We could go and sign those papers now at the office. I’ll introduce you to my son while we’re there and brief him on what’s happened so far.’

‘Great.’

As they parked, he cleared his throat, avoiding looking at her. ‘Um . . . your friend, Rachel. She isn’t . . . you know, in a relationship?’

Emily smiled, not surprised by this question. ‘No. But I think she might be ripe for one if she could meet the right person.’

There was no answer, but when she glanced sideways she saw him looking happy.

After she’d signed some papers, she drove them back, more confident of the route to take, humming along with one of her favourite songs on the radio.

They spent the last part of the morning cleaning up the bar area outside the flat, keeping the front door wide open to air the place.

Work stopped abruptly as Emily saw a large four-wheel drive come up the hill, slow down and turn into the car park. It had the
Barton & Halling
logo on the doors. It stopped in front of The Drover’s Hope
and
two men in dark suits got out. Both were carrying briefcases.

‘What now?’ Emily wondered aloud. Couldn’t she have even half a day without crises?

The others came to join her from where they were working, so the visitors were faced by a group of three.

‘Miss Mattison?’ the taller man said crisply.

‘
Ms
Mattison,’ she corrected at once.

His lips tightened for a moment or two, as if he was annoyed by this, then he repeated ‘Ms’ in a bored voice and held out his hand. ‘Colin Gressam and my personal assistant, Louis Tompkins. We’re from Barton and Halling, as you may have guessed.’

She wondered if they’d come to make an offer for the house, but played dumb. ‘Why should I have guessed that?’

‘Well, you were told things would happen quickly. My colleague and I have come to do a preliminary walk round the pub and take some photos, so that we can get started on planning the demolition and—’

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘The pub has to go to make way for the entrance to the new estate. Anyway, look at it.’ He waved one scornful hand towards the building. ‘It’s in a dreadful condition.’

‘I haven’t the faintest clue what you’re talking about.’

The two men exchanged knowing glances.

‘You’ve agreed to sell this property to our company, so—’

Emily could only gape at them for a moment or two, then she pulled herself together. ‘I can assure you I’ve made no agreement to sell. And since I’m the owner, I—’

‘Your nephew said you were becoming a little forgetful, which is why he’s helping you with the sale. Perhaps we phone him and check that, dear? I have his number on my mobile.’

She was furious at his tone. ‘Don’t you
dear
me! I’m not a child. This has nothing to do with George and I’ve no intention of phoning him.’

Their expressions said they still thought she was losing her wits.

‘George is lying. I am
not
suffering from dementia. And I’ve signed nothing.’

Oliver moved forward, his voice crisp. ‘I’m Ms Mattison’s lawyer. Perhaps we should go inside and discuss why you believe this? Is that all right with you, Emily?’

‘Yes. And as for George—’

‘We won’t try to ascribe blame at the moment,’ Oliver said firmly. ‘We’ll start by finding out the facts.’