Daughter of Riches (73 page)

‘I see.' It was true, Juliet thought, she had been busy looking for someone who had hated Louis enough to kill him and she had forgotten that love – obsessive love – could be an even stronger motive. But of course there was a great deal more to this than simply solving the puzzle. ‘You killed Louis,' she said slowly, ‘ but Grandma confessed. Why should she do that?'

‘Because she believed Robin – your father – had done it.'

‘She didn't only confess – she went to prison for it. How could you let that happen?'

Deborah crossed to the window so that she was no longer looking at Juliet and the whole of her stance seemed to change in some mysterious way so that she looked not self-possessed and totally sophisticated, but young and vulnerable as if her memories had somehow transformed her once more into the young girl she had once been.

‘I've never been able to forgive myself for that,' she said softly, speaking more to herself than to Juliet. ‘I've spent my life trying to make it up to her but I know I never can.'

‘I should think not! My God, Deborah, she went to prison for you! Didn't you know what was happening? Why the hell didn't you have the decency to own up?'

‘I didn't know she had confessed – truly I didn't. I flew back to London but I knew I couldn't stay there. I couldn't go on living in the house with Louis dead and anyway I was afraid the man who had been threatening Louis over his debts might come back. Besides, I wanted to cut all contact. A girl I had known at a club I used to work at was going to the USA, to Las Vegas, and I went with her. Big as the story of Louis's death was over here it wasn't big enough to reach the USA. By the time I got to hear what had happened Sophia's trial was over. I couldn't understand why she should have confessed, it made no sense to me. I followed it up, tried to find out and put things right. That was when I met David.'

‘For heaven's sake!' Juliet shouted. ‘This just gets worse and worse! You mean to tell me that you not only let my grandmother serve a sentence for you, you then wangled your way into the family by marrying David. You're disgusting! Well, I think it's time Grandma knew all about you. I think it's time she found out what sort of person she has had living under her roof all these years.'

‘Oh Juliet!' Deborah turned. ‘You still don't understand, do you? Your grandmother knows – she's known all along – well, almost all along.'

Juliet blinked. ‘But you said she confessed because she thought Dad …'

‘Yes, that's true. Robin had found out just that night that Molly, your mother, and Louis were having an affair. He had left the house in a terrible temper, intending to have it out with Louis, threatening to kill him. Eventually Molly telephoned here in a terrible state because he had not come home and she didn't know where he was, and your Grandmother, who had just found Louis's body, came to the wrong conclusion. She decided to take the blame rather than let the police arrest Robin.'

‘But why didn't she change her story and tell the truth when she discovered that it was you?'

‘I think you'd better ask her that.'

‘No! I'm asking you! I don't understand how you could allow something like that. What sort of person are you, Deborah?'

‘At the time I was very young, very alone and very frightened.'

‘You're not any of those things now.'

‘No, it's true, I'm not. But let me tell you what happened. I went to see your grandmother in prison. I tried to explain to her what had happened. I got so far and then she stopped me. She said she did not want to know. The one thing she did ask was that we should keep in touch. I visited her regularly and when she came home to Jersey I used to come over to see her. I met David and we fell in love.'

‘And Grandma didn't mind?'

‘She's a very special person, Juliet. No, she didn't mind. She was actually pleased. We had grown very close, she and I. She's been far more of a mother to me than my own ever was.'

‘Does David know?'

‘No. And I hope he never will.'

‘That's deceitful too, isn't it?'

‘What useful purpose would it serve? Oh yes, perhaps it is deceitful. But it's the way Sophia and I want it. And who are you, Juliet, to come here and judge us?'

It was a cry from the heart. Juliet, shaken to the core, did not know how to answer it.

‘Oh my dear!' Sophia said. ‘Oh my dear, I am so sorry you have been so upset by all this.'

She and Juliet were in her room; Deborah had gone up and quietly told her what had happened, and now grandmother and granddaughter were alone.

‘I'm not upset for me, Grandma! I'm upset for you!' Juliet said vehemently. ‘How could you go on letting the world believe: you killed Uncle Louis when you knew very well …'

Sophia smiled, a faint faraway sort of smile.

‘A lot of reasons, I suppose, really. Firstly because Deborah reminded me of myself. She really was very young then, you know, and very frightened. She had had a terrible childhood, a mother who didn't want her, no father, then a succession of men taking advantage of her.'

‘But surely that wasn't in the least like you, Grandma. I understand you had a very happy family.'

‘Yes, I did. But I do assure you, Juliet, I knew only too well what it was to be alone and terrified. Heaven knows I once came very close to shooting someone – by design, not by accident. Sometimes I wish I had.' She broke off and with a rush of discomfort Juliet realised she was remembering the German who, according to Catherine, had raped her during the war.

‘Was that the only reason?' Juliet asked. ‘Because you empathised with her?'

‘No, there were two other very good reasons. One, I felt responsible in a way. Louis was my son and he had treated her very badly. I was ashamed of him. I couldn't blame Deborah for what she did – I am very much afraid Louis asked for what he got, though I don't think for one moment it was her intention to kill him. And lastly David was in love with her. I didn't want to blight things between them. Besides, it was a little late to start making waves. I'd served a very light sentence – much lighter than Deborah would have got, I'm sure. Say what you like, background does make a difference and the justices were biassed very much in my favour.'

‘But Grandma, you've gone on letting everyone think that you …'

‘What good would it have done to re-open it all again?'

‘It would have cleared your name!'

Sophia laughed. ‘That is the least of my worries. I realised a long while ago that caring what people think is a great handicap. Perhaps if I hadn't tried so hard to cover up the fact that Louis's father was German none of this would have happened. I wasn't going to make the same mistake again.'

Juliet shook her head in bewilderment. Her grandmother's reasoning was almost beyond her yet she admired her for it all the same.

‘What about Dad? Why did he and Mama go to Australia?'

‘To get away, of course, there's no doubt about that. They wanted to leave behind the bad memories and the shame and make a fresh start. And of course your father had a very serious side to him. He was shocked, I think, by the whole thing. At the time I took it for guilt. But then I misjudged him, didn't I? Another mistake. I should have apologised to him years ago, I suppose. But I couldn't really, without implicating Deborah, and I didn't want to do that.'

‘Well, Grandma, I have to say I think you are very wrong. I think the truth should be told and your name cleared.'

‘Oh Juliet, Juliet, you are so young and fierce! Look a little further than your nose, my dear. What good would it do now? And besides, I think I have gained far more than I have lost. I have already said I don't much care about what people may think – there are plenty of things in life much more important than that. And see the good things that have come out of it all! I have a wonderful daughter-in-law who has been more to me than I could ever have hoped for, and because of what we share we are far closer than most blood relatives could ever be. No, without a doubt, my dear, I have been a winner in all this. So won't you please just let it all die before you upset the applecart completely!'

Juliet nodded. ‘I suppose so.'

She did not agree. Not completely. But one thing was clear. With her generous spirit her grandmother was indeed a winner, loved by all who knew her. Perhaps in the end that was really all that mattered.

‘Do you know, I dreamed about Nicky the other night,' Viv said.

She and Paul were sitting in the garden enjoying a drink and the last of the evening sunshine but at her words a shadow crossed Paul's face.

‘Really?' he said, taking a quick slurp of his whisky.

‘Yes. It was as if we were all young again in the days before the war. I don't know what made me dream it – Juliet coming here, perhaps, and talking about the past. When I woke first it all seemed so real, almost as if I could reach out and touch it all. And then I suddenly realised – it's nearly fifty years since those days. Fifty years, Paul – a lifetime!'

‘Yes.' The sadness was still there in his voice. ‘ But they cast a long shadow, don't they?'

Viv turned to look at him. Her green eyes were sharp with remembered joy and sorrow but also with something else, a tenderness for so much that they had shared; so much that perhaps they had failed to appreciate.

‘Perhaps we've been wrong to let it, Paul,' she said gently.

‘What do you mean?'

‘The way things were … they marked us. To a certain extent I suppose that's inevitable. But Sophia suffered too and she's risen above it somehow. We've had the chance to do that and we've let it slip by. We've had good times, haven't we? Perhaps those are the ones we should remember, not the things we feel guilty about or regret. What happened is all a very long time ago now. We've had almost fifty years together and they haven't been all bad, have they?'

Her tone was almost pleading; he looked at her and saw for a moment an echo of the old Viv, the girl with flaming red hair who could wind any man around her little finger. Yes, it was true. There had been plenty of good times. They shouldn't let them be marred by the shadow of a man who had been at rest now for almost half a century.

‘It wasn't only Nicky I dreamed of,' Viv went on softly. ‘I dreamed about you too, that night you came to the show I was doing with the repertory company. You looked so handsome in your uniform! I think I fell in love with you that night, only perhaps at the time I didn't realise it.'

‘Because of Nicky …'

‘Nicky was part of my youth,' Viv said firmly. ‘Nicky was a golden boy from the golden years. I don't know if he and I would ever have stood the test of time together – as we have, Paul.'

‘Viv Carteret, the gin is making you maudlin,' Paul said.

But he was smiling, and in the softening evening light he reached out and took her hand.

‘I am going home on Monday, Grandma,' Juliet said. ‘I've booked my flight.'

‘Oh dear, have you really?'

‘Afraid so. I can't stay here forever, you know.'

‘Why not?'

‘Well …' She hesitated. The one very good reason why she could not stay was one she could not bring herself to tell Sophia about. She was ashamed, as well as hurt, that Dan had used her to try to gain information for his project and she knew that it would hurt Sophia too.

Sophia reached out and took her hand.

‘It's all right, my dear, you don't have to explain! I know you have your own life on the other side of the world. Just promise me you won't leave it quite so long before you come back again.'

‘Twenty years, you mean?' Juliet said, laughing. ‘Oh, I think I can quite safely promise you that.'

‘Good.'

‘Telephone for you, Juliet,' Deborah said, putting her head around the door. She was still slightly stiff and awkward in Juliet's presence though she made a great pretence of there being nothing whatever out of the ordinary.

‘Thank you, Deborah.' Juliet too found herself speaking in a slightly unnatural manner. It wasn't possible, she thought, to discover something of such importance and simply put it all behind her, much as she knew that was exactly what her grandmother would have liked her to do.

She went to the telephone in the hall and lifted the receiver.

‘Hello?'

‘Juliet?'

She recognised his voice instantly, recognised it and began to tremble, partly from anger, partly because that was the response he was able to awaken in her.

‘I'm sorry, Dan, I thought I'd made it clear I didn't want any more to do with you.'

‘You did.' He sounded rueful. ‘Abundantly clear. You never gave me a chance to put my side at all.'

‘Do you blame me? I feel very used, Dan. I don't know why you are phoning me but you might as well know I haven't changed my mind. I still think what you did was pretty disgusting.'

‘I know that's what you think and I won't try to argue with you now.'

‘I'm glad to hear it!'

‘But I really do want to see you. It's important. For more reasons than one.'

‘Dan, there is no point. I am going home on Monday.'

Dan's heart lurched but he steeled himself to stick to the script he had decided upon.

‘I can't explain over the telephone. At least, I have no intention of trying. Do you remember the pub I took you to for lunch? I'll be there tonight at eight. I'll look out for you.'

‘Dan …'

‘Eight tonight,' he repeated.

‘I don't know …' But the phone had been put down. Dan was gone.

‘Who was that?' Deborah asked behind her.

Juliet experienced a flash of annoyance, both for Dan, for daring to ring her, and Deborah, trying to re-establish friendship.