The Legacy (29 page)

‘Can I tell you something, Daddy?' Every other sentence began with that. ‘I'd like two puppies; Timmy can have the pony. When can I see it? When can I see the big house?'

Alan pressed a kiss on his son's soft hair. ‘Soon, darling,' he said. ‘It was my house when I was a little boy and it'll be your house soon. Daddy's going to get it for you, and Timmy.'

When Fay came home she found him in a happy mood, the completed jigsaw on the floor and Robert shouting with laughter as his father insisted, ‘Who's a pooey pig, then?' She marvelled that such a shrewd and clever businessman was still in the nursery when it came to humour. When the children had gone upstairs he told her what had happened at the solicitors.

‘I'm not worried,' he said. ‘There are plenty of smart lawyers who'll jump at the chance to take it on. I thought he'd have been over the moon, breaking out the champagne … Case bloody well won for them!'

‘He's not a senior partner,' she pointed out. ‘They won't lose you as a client. Someone else'll step in; let the next move come from them. Now, I'll get you a whisky and tell you all about my day.' She smiled at him and flicked his cheek with her finger. ‘I saw some lovely dresses. I'm afraid it's going to cost you!'

‘So long as you look good, it'll be worth it. I don't mind paying for clothes so long as I get to take them off … how about going upstairs for a quickie?'

She laughed. ‘Sounds good. I'll take the whisky. If you want it, you'll have to come up to get it.'

He heaved himself up and watched her fill the glass and, as she passed, he aimed a sharp slap at her bottom. She said, ‘Ouch,' and gave him an excited look over her shoulder. They had a marvellous sex life. Afterwards, lying relaxed together, Alan said, ‘I had a great time with Robby today. He's a bright kid, and he loves jokes. We played Pooey Pigs and he creased himself …'

‘I know,' Fay answered. ‘I saw you. You're very good with the boys, you know. You're a wonderful father, and you're good with me too; what you did was lovely …'

‘We'll be happy there,' he said. ‘I was telling Robby about it.'

‘Happy where?' She had been wondering if they had time to make love again before dinner.

‘RussMore,' he said. ‘And talking about spending money, you can write your own chit; I want you to refurbish from top to bottom. It'll be our house, and then Timmy's. That's my dream, Fay … to walk in there with you and the boys and say, “It's mine now, you rotten old bastard; you couldn't take it away from me.”'

Fay knew how to deal with the morbidity, too. ‘So long as you don't wait around for him to answer,' she retorted. ‘Come on, darling, my dream is a nice cheese soufflé and it'll spoil if we don't get moving.' She would never admit, even to herself, that the last place in the world she wanted to live was that huge dreary old house.

John Cunningham closed the brief. He looked up at his junior. ‘Frank,' he said, ‘I thought nothing in human nature could surprise me, but I never imagined anything like this. I wonder if this blackguard has any idea of what he's going to look like to the world at large if I use this evidence?'

Frank Collins, unlike many junior barristers at the beck and call of a famous counsel in their chambers, actually regarded Cunningham as just below God. ‘I don't suppose he cares,' he said. ‘If he'd boast about doing it to Ronald Hamilton, he obviously doesn't see anything reprehensible. But you have to use it; it's a winner, isn't it?'

Cunningham tapped the blue brief cover with his index finger. It was a habit that grated on Collins, but then even the Almighty had mannerisms, like the use of archaic words like blackguard. Straight out of Oscar Wilde, he was, in some ways, and the cleverest and deadliest cross-examiner any witness would have to face.

‘Only if he's right about Farrington's wife lying to him,' he said. ‘If the child gives a DNA sample and it matches, our client has not only lost his case but he's destroyed himself. Again, I wonder if he realizes.' He sighed. ‘I suppose, as his counsel, I shall have to point it out to him. Of course, the sensible thing is for Hamilton to get together with old Ruben Stone and persuade the woman to give the house up in return for some financial deal.'

Collins nodded, ‘After all, that's what he wants, isn't it? The family house.'

‘No,' Cunningham said slowly, ‘there's more to it than that. We're dealing with a man who wants revenge. He wants to humiliate and expose his stepmother, because he can't hit back at his father in any other way; I don't think he'll be satisfied with less than that. Still, we have to earn a crust. The tabloids are going to pee themselves with excitement over this one. Ask the clerk to get me Ken Hubert on the telephone, will you? If I give him dinner, he may let something slip if the other side know anything about this. And then get me the Fry v. Porter file, will you, dear chap? At least that's an honest-to-God breach of contract.'

Ken Hubert smiled when he heard the friendly invitation. He called Molly and chuckled when he told her he'd accepted.

‘We'll get a good dinner and some decent claret out of the old sod. He wants some information; it'll be fun not giving him any.'

Molly Hubert said gravely, ‘You have no principles, darling, but then neither does John, and you'd try the same trick with him. Where are we dining?'

‘Le Caprice,' was the answer.

‘My God!' she exclaimed. ‘He must want to find out something. I wonder what it is?'

‘So do I,' he agreed. ‘He's got something up his sleeve, or he thinks we've got something up ours.'

‘And have we?'

He loved her sharp curiosity. ‘Not that I know of, but I'll check with Ruben.'

Twenty minutes later he was saying angrily to Ruben Stone, ‘Why the hell have you been sitting on this? Why wasn't I told immediately? This changes the whole outlook. I'm not pleased about this, not pleased at all.' The reply was emollient.

‘We had to check the story first. I'd hardly come to you with some unsubstantiated gossip picked up in a pub over a few drinks now, would I, not till I'd checked it was true.'

‘And it is.' Ken Hubert was not to be placated. ‘You've checked and it's true.'

‘The undertaker has given an affidavit. He's sworn that after Farrington left the chapel of rest, he noticed the scalp had been lacerated and a section of hair with skin attached had been ripped out. So the other side can demand a DNA test on the Farrington child.'

‘Christ,' Hubert exploded. ‘How low can you sink. The man's a psychopath! Look, John Cunningham's asked me to dine tonight; I'll bet it's because of this; he wants to know if we've discovered this, otherwise he'll spring it on us in court. We'd better set up a meeting early next week; I'm in court all day for the next three days. What's our client's reaction to the news? I suppose she'll want to settle, rather than involve the child in a mess like this …'

Ruben Stone said slowly, ‘I'm afraid not. She was always persuadable, as I judged, given any reasonable proposals. She wasn't a fighter and she never struck any of us as greedy, but that's changed. When she heard what had been done to her husband's body, she dug her toes right in. She'll fight the case to the last. She even threatened to burn the place down if she lost, rather than let Farrington have it. I've never seen such a change in attitude. I really thought she meant to do it; I was quite alarmed.'

‘I shouldn't be, that's just feminine hysteria. Quite understandable, but don't take it seriously.'

It was easy for Hubert to dismiss the threat, Ruben thought. He hadn't been there when Christina Farrington made it. Hysterical she wasn't, but burning with a very dangerous anger. ‘I'll admit that bringing Wallberg into it hasn't helped; she won't deal with anyone else but him now. I suppose it was inevitable, being fellow Swedes, but he's encouraging her to be intransigent.'

‘Well, you'll have to dispense with his services then, if we decide to try for a settlement,' Hubert dismissed that too. Easy for him to solve Ruben's problem from his lofty legal height; not so easy for Ruben.

‘I'll set up a meeting,' Ruben said. And then, a little hesitantly, for Hubert could be temperamental with solicitors, ‘Are you going to discuss this with John Cunningham?'

‘Good God, no! Let him think he's got his ace up his sleeve. We'll have to find something to counter it, that's all. See you next week, and no more surprises, please?' He rang off. He couldn't wait to get home and tell Molly. There wasn't time to call her; he would have to work through without lunch to get home in time to pick her up and go on to Le Caprice.

‘I'm Alan's first cousin,' Harry said pleasantly, ‘once removed, I think. Our grandfathers were brothers.'

Fay said coolly, ‘That's nice.' He had caught her by surprise. He'd just rung the front door bell and asked to see her.

She was furious with the witless Filipino, who'd let him in and brought him to the sitting-room, simply saying, ‘There's a gentleman to see you, Madam.' Alan would have a word to say to him about letting strangers into the house.

She asked him to sit down and he accepted with a smile that wasn't quite as guileless as it seemed. He was very thin, dark and wiry and not very tall. There was a vague look of the Farringtons about him, she admitted. Probably because of the very black hair and deep brown eyes.

‘I've been in South Africa', he explained, ‘for the last fifteen years, so I never got to your wedding or to meet you.'

Fay wasn't aware that he'd been asked. It was a very small wedding, paid for by her parents, who were too proud to let Alan contribute. The only members of his family present were his toffee-nosed father and that patronizing cow, Christina. Even thinking about them made her simmer with resentment; they'd spoiled her happy day. Alan hadn't wanted to invite them, but she and her mother had insisted, especially her mother. ‘Oh, you can't leave them out, it would be so awful, Alan dear … he's your father …' And he'd given in to please her.

There was something that riled her about this so-called cousin. There was just a hint of arrogance in the smile and the easy way he sat himself down, as if he had a right to intrude on her. ‘I've been meaning to look up Alan', he said, ‘since I got back. Then I heard about all the family troubles after my cousin Richard died.'

She said sharply, ‘What's that got to do with it?'

‘Well, I wasn't sure if it was true,' he parried.

‘Well, it is. Alan was treated disgracefully and he's going to court. I hope that explains it to you.' She was openly hostile and he seemed quite unaware of it; he still smiled.

‘Yes, so I understood. I used to go to parties at RussMore when I was a kid; I saw quite a lot of Alan and James. It always seemed to me that Alan could take care of himself; James was a bit of a creep.' He saw a gleam of agreement in the unfriendly stare. ‘But then they did have a hard time, with a mother like that. Terribly druggy she was, even then.'

Fay said fiercely, ‘They had a rotten upbringing. They were never given any love, especially Alan. We've got boys of our own, and believe me, we're not making the same mistake; Alan's a wonderful father.'

‘I'm sure,' Harry agreed. ‘I'm sure you're a wonderful mother too. I'm sure you're perfect parents.' Fay got up.

‘What do you want? Why have you come here?'

‘Well, I really came hoping to see Alan, but he seems to be out, so maybe you'll give him a message from me?'

‘Maybe,' she snapped, ‘it depends what it is. I have a feeling you're not on his side, Mr Spunnier …'

‘Spannier,' he corrected. ‘Harry Spannier. Remind him that when we were children and he tried to bully me, I used to kick the shit out of him; I'm sure he'll remember. If he goes on bullying a woman and a little girl, I'll come back and beat the holy be Jesus out of him. Tell him that for me, will you? I'll see myself out.'

‘You get out!' she screamed at him. ‘Fucking well get out of my house!'

He was by the door when he turned and looked sadly at her. ‘As God made them, He matched them. I can see you make a lovely couple.' She was still shouting obscenities as he closed the door.

‘I love this walk,' Christina said to Rolf. ‘It's so open and you can see for miles. I remember how shocked I was by the weather when I first came, but I got used to it and now I love that too. You get marvellous cloud formations, always changing because of the wind. It's a very old county, and there are villages here where nothing's changed for centuries. I suppose it's because Sweden's so much in love with the future that I found it fascinating … Belinda, don't take Sammy near the wood, she'll go hunting and we'll never get her back!' Turning to him, she explained, ‘That's Richard's dog. He had the mother and grandmother. Sammy went down a rabbit hole and we couldn't find her for five days; he was heartbroken. I thought it extraordinary to mind so much about a dog … now I'm very fond of her too.'

He hadn't known what to say. He had never owned a pet as a child; his adoptive parents didn't keep domestic animals. He said, ‘Isn't Sammy a man's name? Why do you call a bitch Sammy?'

‘Because it's short for Samantha. All the terriers had names beginning with S. The mother was Susan.' He shook his head and said, ‘I give up on the English and their dogs. Are you going to get Belinda a proper pony? I heard her asking about it at lunch.'

‘No,' Christina said firmly. ‘Not till next year.'

‘Would you mind if I bought one for her? You choose it, of course. I don't know anything about horses either.' She had paused to stare at him.

‘You? But, Rolf, you won't be here next year, will you?'