The Inheritance (13 page)

‘I’ll get it,’ her father said.  He
was only gone a couple of minutes and when he returned he had a puzzled look on
his face.  ‘That was strange.  It was someone – a man – who wanted to know if a
girl called Kate lived here.  I said yes and did he want to speak to you, but
he just hung up.’

Kate felt fear envelop her like a
cloak.  ‘I’m sure it was nothing,’ she mumbled.  Her father gave her a searching
look but only nodded.

‘All right.  But Kate, if you’re
having any problems with anyone, I want to know.  I won’t have my daughter
being pestered.’

Kate swallowed the lump in her
throat.  ‘Thanks, Dad.  But there’s no problem.  Whoever it was probably just
got the wrong Kate.’

‘The wrong Kate?’ Her father looked
unconvinced but said no more.

Kate did her best to finish her soup. 
She was very far from having no problem.  Someone intended her harm.  And right
now she was at their mercy.

‘Yes, sure, your fries are coming
right up.’

Emma brushed her hair back across
her sweaty brow as she rushed to the kitchen to deal with the latest order. 
The chef handed her the plateful of food with a curt nod and she dashed back to
the waiting customer, setting the plate down carefully on the table.

‘Would you like anything else with
your meal?’ she asked.

‘No thank you, that’s all.’

‘OK, then.  Enjoy your meal.’

Emma looked at her watch.  Still
two hours to go.  There was another customer at the door waiting to be seated. 
He was young and good looking and he smiled at her as she approached him.

‘Table for one?’ she asked.

‘Yes please.’

‘Follow me.’  She found him a table
on its own in a corner of the restaurant.  ‘Is this one all right?’

‘Yes, thank you, this is perfect.’

‘All right, here’s the menu.  Can I
get you anything to drink?’

‘Yes, can I have a pint of John
Smith’s please?’

‘Certainly.’

Emma didn’t notice the man’s eyes
on her as she went about her work and aside from delivering his beverage and
food to him, she forgot all about him.  She’d only been working at Henderson’s
for a month and each shift she worked she was rushed off her feet.  The evening
wore on and as she approached the end of her shift, Emma was surprised to see
the man was still there, gazing at her as if she was the most interesting
person in the room.  It’d been a while since she’d cleared his plate and
glasses away.  Oh great, she thought, I’ve forgotten to ask if he’d like
dessert.  She quickly finished wiping another table and walked up to his.

‘Can I get you any dessert?’ she
asked.

‘No, just the bill thanks,’ he
said.  ‘But if you have a moment, I’d like to talk to you in private.’

Emma was startled.  ‘Well… um… Look
I don’t really think…’

‘Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to
unnerve you.’ He sighed and Emma noticed that he looked careworn and unhappy. 
‘It’s just that you remind me so much of someone I once knew, I thought you
might be related.’

Now Emma was interested.  ‘All
right.  We close in half an hour.  I’ll ask my boss if it’s OK for us to chat
briefly in here when I’m done.’  

There was no way she was going to
leave the restaurant with a complete stranger.  After everything that had gone
before, she was through with being reckless.  From now on caution would be her
mantra.  Clearing and cleaning the tables seemed to take forever to Emma but
eventually she had finished.  She joined the man, pulling up a chair and
sitting down heavily.  She was so tired.  He looked up from his smartphone and his
expression brightened.

‘So what would you like to talk to
me about?’ Emma asked.

He gave her a half smile.  ‘Once
I’ve explained to you why I’m so interested to talk to you, you’ll probably
think I’m mad.’

‘Try me.’

‘All right.  You look very like a
photo I saw of someone, like the sister of a girl I once knew… I’m sorry, I’m
not making any sense.  I was in a relationship with a girl a long time ago.  We
were very serious about each other – I loved her, I still love her.  But I had
to leave her suddenly without warning.  I’ve never forgotten her though.  I
never could.  Anyway, she showed me a photo of her sister once; I can’t quite
remember what her name was, Emily maybe?  You look so similar to the photo and
to her… My name is Steven and I was wondering if you’re the sister of Kate
Hamilton.’

Emma was surprised.  Did Kate have
a secret boyfriend?  Impossible, surely?

‘Yes, I have a sister called Kate
and our surname is Hamilton,’ she said, ‘but she never mentioned you.  I’m
afraid you’ve got the wrong person.’

He frowned.  ‘It was Cornwall.  I
mean, Cornwall was where I knew her.  We went to the same college, she lived on
a farm with her father and younger sister, said she loved it but her sister
hated it and…’ He trailed off sounding unsure.

‘That does sound like me,’ Emma said
intrigued.  ‘How long ago was it?  No wait, don’t answer that.’  She looked at
her watch.  ‘I don’t have time.  We’re going to be closing soon.  Do you want
to grab a coffee so we can talk some more?’  Emma knew she was abandoning caution,
but she had a feeling she could trust Steven.  And anyway, they’d be surrounded
by other people.

‘Well coffee keeps me awake, but
something would be nice.’ Steven grinned.

‘OK, give me five minutes.  If you
could just wait outside for a moment, I won’t be long.’

After Emma had clocked off and
fetched her things, she joined Steven who was standing in the gloom by the
entrance to the restaurant.  He looked a bit more hopeful and Emma too hoped
that she could help him somehow.  It amazed her that her sister had had – probably
still had – this whole secret life.

‘There’s this nice little café I
know nearby that we could go to,’ she said.  ‘Follow me.’

Steven dutifully followed Emma’s
lead and before long they were in the cafe sipping at their hot drinks.

‘So tell me, Steven,’ she began,
‘how did you know where to look for me?’

‘I didn’t.  I was just looking for
a restaurant to eat at tonight – I’m only in Clapham for a few days – and I
found yours.’  He shrugged.  ‘It was sheer coincidence that I saw you.  I took
a gamble in talking to you, I know, but you looked so much like Kate and that
photo I saw that I just had to try, I just had to see if you were any relation.’

Emma nodded, pursing her lips.  ‘Let’s
double check if my sister really is the person you knew.  It does sound like
she is, but I want to be sure.  So I’m going to ask you a few questions about
her and our family.’

‘Fair enough.  Fire away,’ Steven
said.  He seemed a little nervous.

She rattled off a few questions
about Kate and her family that she thought Steven might reasonably know the
answers to.  When she was satisfied that he’d been successful in answering them
she nodded emphatically, as though she’d made a momentous decision about him.

‘All right, you can stop looking worried,’
she smiled.  ‘Honestly, I think you are who you say you are.  Now if you
wouldn’t mind, perhaps you could tell me a bit about yourself, seeing as I know
absolutely nothing about you.’

Steven nodded and began to tell
Emma about himself and how he met Kate at college.  As he spoke about her
sister, Emma began to realise just how little she knew her.  Through his
descriptions Kate came over as warm and bubbly.   She was someone who most
definitely had her own hopes and dreams for the future.  Maybe she’d wanted to
share her future with this man who she’d obviously felt passionately about.

‘So what happened to scupper your
plans for being with each other?’

Steven’s face darkened.  ‘My
brother.’  He didn’t say anything for a moment.  Emma waited for him to
continue.  ‘He’s a criminal.  He’s a lot older than me.  Our parents are dead
and I’m fairly sure he was responsible for their deaths.’

Emma couldn’t help a sharp intake
of breath.  ‘That’s awful.  What did you do about it?’

Steven’s expression was grim. 
‘Well I told the police about my fears, that I believed my parents had been
poisoned.’

‘Poisoned?’

He nodded.  ‘Yes.  Not at the same
time of course.  That would have been too obvious.  They died a few years
apart, first my mother and then my father.  They were both fine one evening,
but dead by morning.  Each time I was out of the house and I didn’t eat the
same meal as they’d had.  But I couldn’t prove anything, not having been there. 
The police had little evidence to go on – my brother ensured that no evidence
was left, no food scraps or anything.  So they did nothing.’  His voice was
bitter.

‘And your brother wants you dead
because you know too much?’

‘Yes.  The thing is he wanted me to
join him in his crooked business.  He knew I was suspicious and he wanted to
keep me sweet.  But I refused.  Growing up I was in and out of care homes.  The
authorities were trying to keep me as far away from him as possible.  It worked
for a while.  I ended up in Cornwall and I was happy.  My guardian was one of
the teachers at our college.  His name was Mr Astley.  Things seemed to be
falling into place for me.  But unfortunately my brother tracked me down.  I
heard on the grapevine that he wasn’t happy I’d been avoiding him.’

‘So what did you do?’ Emma asked,
utterly engrossed.

‘I had to leave Cornwall.  I had no
choice.  And I couldn’t tell anyone, not even Kate or Mr Astley.  I had to go
into hiding from my brother.  I had friends; I knew people in London who could
help me disappear.  So that’s what I did.’

‘And so Kate didn’t know where on
earth you’d gone.’

‘No.  I’m so sorry for that, Emma. 
The last thing I wanted to do was hurt your sister.  I loved her, I still do. 
But it wasn’t safe for me to stay in Cornwall.  It wasn’t safe for her either
while I was there.’

Emma nodded, thoughtful.  ‘I don’t know
if it’s any consolation to you, but like I said before Kate never breathed a
word of your existence to me or our father.  I don’t know why… I would never
have put her down as being one who kept secrets like that.  I guess I don’t
know her like I thought I did.  But I reckon she didn’t talk to anyone else
about you either.’

Emma was pleased to see Steven look
a little more relaxed.  He leaned back in his chair, stretching and ran his
hands through his hair.  Emma took a sip from her mug of coffee and almost spat
it out as it had gone cold. 

‘That is reassuring in a way,’
Steven said.

‘So where’s your brother now?  Is
he still after you?’

‘I don’t know.  I’m still keeping a
low profile.  But I think something’s happened to him; I don’t know what but
I’m hoping that he’ll leave me alone now.  There’s no guarantee though.’

‘Oh.  Well I do hope that one day
you can live without the threat of him hanging over you,’ Emma said.  She felt
bad for him but also nervous.  Listening to Steven talking about his brother
and the danger he was in had given her an anxious fluttering in her stomach. 
She was worried for Kate that she could be at risk from sinister criminals. 
Could I be as well? she wondered.  She suddenly felt paranoid in case she was
being watched and glanced around her quickly shivering.  But there was nothing
unusual happening of course.

‘Are you all right?’ Steven’s voice
interrupted her thoughts. 

‘Yes I’m fine,’ Emma lied.  ‘Surely
you could contact Kate though.  From what you’ve said, I reckon she’d be over
the moon to hear from you.’  She rummaged around in her handbag for a pen and a
piece of paper, even as she wondered if she would be putting Kate in danger by
helping Steven to contact her.  Surely they deserved to be together though,
despite the risk?  But Steven laid a hand on her arm.

‘Not yet.  I can’t meet her yet.’
He sighed.  ‘It’s still not safe.  And anyway, I don’t know how she’d react. 
She’ll probably never forgive me.’

‘How do you know that?’ But Emma couldn’t
help feeling a little relieved.  She was in two minds.  She did want Kate to
know that Steven was OK, but at the same time she didn’t want to inadvertently
endanger her sister’s life.  ‘Maybe if you let me speak to her before you
contact her,’ she said.  ‘It would be a favour to me, to make up with her… Kate
and I and our dad fell out badly before I left for London.  That’s to say they
were on the same side but I saw things differently.’

‘Do you want to tell me about it?’

Emma was a little surprised to be
asked but nodded gratefully and began pouring out the story of her arguments
with her family, her fall from grace and the fact that she was now trying to
put her life back together.  When she’d been living with Natalie, she could
hardly ever talk about her family to her.  Natalie just hadn’t been interested and
since she’d left the home she’d shared with her, there’d been no one else she
could talk to.

‘I guess I feel less hostile
towards them now,’ she told Steven. 

‘From what you and Kate have told
me, life on a farm just didn’t agree with you.  And so things were bound to get
difficult for the three of you.  Maybe you should have negotiated with your
father about what you would do with your life a bit more.  But that’s easy for
me to say.  I wasn’t there.’

‘Thanks.  That makes me feel a
little better.’ Emma paused, thinking of her sister.  ‘Do you think it’ll ever
be safe for you and Kate to meet one day?  I mean she probably thinks you’re
dead, seeing as you disappeared and no one could find you.  It would be
wonderful if you could be reunited with each other.’

‘When my brother’s dead – then
it’ll be safe for us to meet,’ Steven said.  His voice was harsh.  ‘But right
now my brother is still out there; he and his people wish me harm and anyone
who gets close to me.’ 

‘I understand.  We’ll just have to
hope and pray that your situation will improve.  I do very much hope that
things will work out for you both.’  Emma yawned.  ‘I’m gonna have to head home
now.  It’s been a long night.  Do you want to stay in touch?’