An Unwanted Inheritance, page 22
In the meantime, she had given Caroline the impression that she agreed with her about handing the money over to the police. Hell, she had agreed with her when they had spoken, little knowing how quickly the situation would change, and with it her mind. She would need to see if she could gently push Caroline along the same path as the rest of them.
Of course, they could just press on and leave Caroline out in the cold, but that was the last thing Ellie wanted to do.
43
Nathan rang Ellie the very next morning. This was a rare event. Usually her brother only replied to her messages rather than initiating contact himself, but as soon as Ellie saw his name flash up on the screen of her mobile phone she knew exactly what he wanted.
‘Hi, Nath,’ she said. ‘I can guess what you’re ringing about.’
‘Are we any further forward?’ he asked without bothering with any niceties. Ellie thought about commenting on his lack of social grace, but what would be the point?
‘No,’ she said.
‘Why the hell not?’ His voice was spiky but also guarded, and Ellie wondered if he was worried about being overheard. ‘I spoke to Max and he said we weren’t going to pay it into the bank any more. So, what’s the delay?’
Ellie took a breath to give herself time to get her thoughts straight. ‘I don’t know,’ she replied simply. ‘There’s no reason, as far as I know. Maybe Max has just been too busy to get it sorted.’
She wasn’t about to tell Nathan what Caroline had told her. That really wouldn’t help and anyway, if Caroline wanted to delay things with this integrity issue of hers then she should be the one who took the flak for it.
‘Why don’t you ring Max and ask him?’
‘I did that already,’ snapped Nathan, ‘but he’s not picking up.’
‘You know what he’s like about taking calls at work,’ she said.
‘So, I’m ringing you instead. The thing is, Els . . .’ His tone became lighter and more friendly and Ellie got the impression that he was trying to soften her up. What was it about the men in her life? Did they all think she was a pushover? Nathan didn’t know that she knew he had lied to her and James about the money they’d given him. He had no idea exactly how steep the hill he was climbing really was.
‘. . . the thing is,’ he continued, ‘I could really do with that money. Like now.’
Well, couldn’t we all, she thought but didn’t say.
‘Then you need to speak to Max,’ she said dismissively. ‘He’s the one with all the power, or at least all the money.’
The irony wasn’t lost on her. The most plodding, least dynamic of the siblings was suddenly the one in control of both their destinies. Or perhaps his wife was. Ellie still hadn’t got a handle on the situation between Max and Caroline.
‘I just thought—’ Nathan began, but Ellie cut him off.
‘You’re the one that needs the cash right now, so you can do your own chasing,’ she said firmly. She was thinking that if they both pushed at once there was more chance Max would cave in, but she would let Nathan ford that stream first, then it wouldn’t look as if she was as desperate. In fact, if Nathan did the groundwork, she could possibly emerge from this without any of them having to know just how desperate the situation was for her and James.
Nathan sighed loudly down the phone. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘But will you ring him too. Just so he knows that you’re on my side. Please.’
He drew the word out like he had done when he was little and, despite everything, Ellie caught herself smiling down the line at her baby brother.
‘Oh, go on then,’ she said. ‘Seeing as you asked so nicely. You ring him this evening and I’ll try tomorrow.’
‘Okay,’ he replied, and then he was gone without even saying goodbye.
Ellie considered her next move. Caroline would be at work as well so she would have to wait until she got back home, but Ellie thought she would like to speak to her before Max got there. That way she could test the waters a little on just how strong this conviction of hers really was.
With this in mind, she drafted a quick text.
Hi Caro. Fancy a cuppa after work? Shall we pop over to you around 4?
A couple of minutes later a simple thumbs-up emoji arrived from Caroline.
44
Alex and Theo were already home when Caroline unlocked the front door. The hallway was strewn with school detritus, dropped and left where it had fallen like a snake sheds its skin. She picked her way through, scooping up a sweatshirt, a tie and two schoolbags as she went.
‘Hi, boys,’ she called out. ‘I’m home. Did you have good days?’
A muffled sound that could have been anything but which she chose to interpret positively came from the lounge where the boys would be ensconced in front of the games console whilst they decompressed from their day.
Caroline put the dropped items at the bottom of the stairs for the boys to ignore the next time they went to their rooms, and then went to make sure the kitchen was fit to receive Ellie. It wasn’t too bad. There were crumbs and a dirty butter knife on the work surface where someone had made themselves a sandwich without using a board, and a bottle of squash stood, lidless, by the sink, but that was all.
She had just begun the task of emptying the dishwasher when there was a tap on the back door and Ellie appeared, Olivia and Lucy slinking in behind her and then immediately disappearing to find their cousins.
‘Only me,’ she said, coming in and giving Caroline a hug. ‘Good day?’
‘Not so bad,’ replied Caroline. ‘Much the same as always. You?’
Ellie shrugged. ‘Oh, you know,’ she said sadly.
Caroline hadn’t thought about Tony’s death all day. Quickly, she recentred herself. Living with Max, who kept his emotions somewhere close to his bones, it was easy to forget that he and Ellie had lost their dad in shocking circumstances three weeks before. Caroline knew what it was like to lose a parent, and in difficult circumstances too, so she berated herself for forgetting Ellie’s pain in and amongst everything else that was going on.
She pulled Ellie back into her and gave her another hug, harder this time and, she hoped, loaded with more significance.
‘Oh, your poor lamb,’ she said soothingly. ‘It must be so hard, especially with the funeral still being so far away.’
She could feel Ellie nod against her chest and she squeezed a little tighter. After a moment or two, Ellie pulled herself away. Her eyes were dry but Caroline noticed how deep-set they looked, hollowed out by dark shadows.
‘Are you okay, Ellie?’ she asked. ‘Is it all too much, the funeral and the party? I’m here for you, you know. You only have to ask.’
‘I know,’ said Ellie. ‘Thank you, but it’s all in hand. It’s just a lot to take on board, that’s all.’
‘Of course it is. How are the girls coping?’
‘They’re sad, when they remember,’ smirked Ellie.
Caroline smiled and rolled her eyes. ‘Yes, the boys are the same. It’s quite hard for them to take it in. They know they’re supposed to be upset, and I think they are really, but they can’t quite manage sad twenty-four/seven.’
Caroline was curious as to what Ellie had decided about taking the girls to the funeral, but she felt instinctively that this wasn’t the time to ask. She and Max had finally agreed that Alex and Theo should go. It was up to Ellie and James what they did with their kids. Wanting to move the conversation on, she asked about the party preparations. Usually this would have lifted Ellie’s mood, but today even that seemed to leave her flat.
‘It’s pretty much done,’ she said, barely even smiling. ‘Just a couple of last-minute things on numbers and catering that I can’t do until nearer the time.’
‘Oh, Ellie,’ said Caroline. ‘I’m so sorry this is happening. It’s all such crap.’
Ellie looked at her, eyebrows raised. ‘Well, it’s not like you can do anything about it,’ she replied a little sharply, which pushed Caroline slightly off-kilter.
‘Well, no,’ agreed Caroline, ‘but still. I wish it was a bit easier for you.’
‘Thanks,’ said Ellie. She flicked her fingernails and Caroline wondered if she had done something to upset her, but then Ellie pulled out a chair and sat down. ‘Any chance of a cup of tea?’ she asked.
Caroline, momentarily having forgotten her hostess duties, jumped to it. ‘Yes, sorry. I should have asked. Earl Grey, mint or builders’?’
‘Mint, please,’ said Ellie and slumped back in the chair.
Something really wasn’t right here, Caroline thought. Something more than the party and the funeral.
Two minutes later they sat opposite one another, each cupping steaming mugs in their hands, but the conversation was still faltering. Thirty years of friendship meant they could sit in silence without it being an issue, but Caroline sensed Ellie had something to say that she just wasn’t vocalising.
‘What’s up, Ellie?’ she asked when it became clear that Ellie wasn’t going to begin herself. ‘Apart from the obvious, I mean.’
Ellie paused before she spoke, taking a deep breath and letting it out again slowly. Caroline got the impression that Ellie was deciding what she should tell her, and the thought sent tiny sparks of alarm tingling down her spine. Since when did Ellie pick and choose what to say? They told each other everything. That was how it was, how it had always been. Their friendship was the ‘warts and all’ kind. She tried again.
‘Has something happened? Something more than just the funeral and everything?’
Caroline watched her friend’s face carefully as it fleetingly registered a raft of emotions suggesting some kind of turmoil going on inside, but then Ellie said, ‘No. Not really. It’s just all getting a bit on top of me.’
That wasn’t it, Caroline was pretty certain, but she was happy to run with that until something closer to the truth came out.
‘I’m not surprised,’ she replied. ‘You’re grieving, and on top of that you have all this other stuff to deal with and that’s not to mention the day-to-day difficulties of being a wife and mother. It’s enough to bring anyone down.’
Ellie nodded and bit her lip, but she still didn’t open up. Caroline took another sip of her tea and tried a different tack.
‘Oh, I meant to tell you. You’ll never guess who popped up on my Facebook page,’ she said, pivoting the conversation in a more light-hearted direction. It was a something and nothing of a story, an unrequited childhood crush of hers, who had disappeared and been forgotten, only to reappear on social media looking far less attractive than Caroline remembered. Ellie rallied a little as they gossiped about him and other people from their childhood and for a while it was almost as if nothing was wrong, but Caroline could still feel the sting of whatever it was Ellie wasn’t sharing.
Eventually, Ellie finished her drink and put her mug down decisively, signalling her intention to leave, the thing she had come to say remaining unsaid. Caroline felt it was now or never.
‘Did you have something you wanted to talk about, Ellie?’ she asked, looking directly into her friend’s eyes. Ellie immediately dropped her gaze to the floor, telling Caroline everything she needed to know. ‘Come on. Spit it out. What’s worrying you?’
Ellie put her hand to her mouth, found her thumbnail with her teeth. ‘You know what you said about the money,’ she began. ‘About wanting to hand it over to the police.’
So that was it, Caroline thought. She must have been talking to James. He’d have decided it was a terrible idea, and told her to come round and talk some sense into her. Caroline felt herself bristle. What did it have to do with James? She was perfectly entitled to have her own views, and to pass them on to Ellie. But then, she thought, in reality the money had as little to do with her as it did with James. It was a Frost sibling issue and both of them were excluded from that particular gang.
‘Yes,’ she said simply. If James had sent her here to change her mind then she wasn’t going to make it easy for him.
‘Well, me and James were talking, and we’re not sure it’s the right thing to do.’
‘That’s not what you thought yesterday,’ said Caroline, aware that her tone was snippier than usual.
‘No,’ agreed Ellie, ‘but I’ve had a chance to think about it since then. If we hand the money over then everyone will find out about it. There’s bound to be a leak of some sort. And it’s not going to cast Dad in the best light.’
‘Possibly not,’ conceded Caroline.
‘And I’m not sure that’s something we should put his memory through, not on purpose at any rate,’ Ellie continued.
It crossed Caroline’s mind that perhaps Tony should have thought about his reputation before he started hiding enormous stashes of cash in his house.
‘I’m not sure that’s the point,’ she replied. ‘If the money is illegal then we shouldn’t touch it. If it’s clean then we can just go ahead.’
Ellie’s brow furrowed. ‘But can’t you see that just by asking the question it makes it look like we think Dad was up to no good.’
Caroline raised a sceptical eyebrow as if to say of course he was up to no good. No one who is up to any good has that quantity of money hidden in a suitcase under a bed.
‘Well, anyway, we think it would be better not to open that particular can of worms and just distribute the cash now,’ Ellie continued. She almost sounded as if she were bruising for a fight, and Caroline felt herself straighten up mentally, preparing herself to return her punches.
‘And I don’t,’ she said.
‘To be honest, Caro,’ said Ellie, her lips narrowed, ‘it doesn’t really matter what you think. Or Max, for that matter. Nathan and I can outvote you.’
This hadn’t occurred to Caroline, but of course Ellie was right. They had gone with the majority vote from the start, outvoting Nathan about putting the money into the bank before they had realised the potential tax implications of doing so. But surely this was different? Something as fundamental as this would need them all to agree, wouldn’t it? She hadn’t even had a chance to discuss her thoughts with Max yet – she had been planning to do so when he got home from work – but she felt confident he would see things her way. But that didn’t matter if Ellie and Nathan pushed through what they wanted to do by sheer force of numbers.
‘But it’s wrong!’ she said, her voice shrill. ‘You know that, Ellie. We discussed it and you agreed with me. It’s theft, plain and simple. Until we know the money was Tony’s and obtained entirely legally then it’s not ours to take. I don’t care what you think. Nathan has his own agenda so he’s not looking at things logically. And you and James hardly need it. Much better to wait until we know for sure.’
Ellie stood up. ‘Who needs what is beside the point,’ she said. ‘It’s the principle. If we take it to the police, then questions will be asked. People will start casting aspersions on Dad’s integrity and he’s not even in the ground yet.’
Caroline saw that Ellie was fighting to hold back the tears so decided to back off, even though her comment about Tony’s integrity really needed addressing.
‘Let me talk to Max,’ she said more gently. ‘And then we can decide what to do for the best.’
Ellie wiped at her eyes and gave her a weak smile, clearly also anxious to dispel the tension of a moment before.
‘Okay,’ she said. ‘See what he thinks. We just need to get it sorted out, Caro. The whole situation is making me so stressed and I’ve got enough on my plate as it is. It would be better if we could just agree and move on.’
Caroline nodded sympathetically, but as far as she was concerned nothing had changed. They still needed to make sure the money was legal before they started throwing it around. Max would see that, she was sure.
‘I’m glad we’ve had this talk, Caro,’ said Ellie, sounding as if it had been concluded to her satisfaction. She moved towards the back door. ‘Let’s get the whole thing done before the funeral, shall we? Then we can bury Dad and forget about it.’
Caroline gave her a smile but she wasn’t about to agree with her. There was no way this would be sorted by then.
45
Max had barely got through the door before Caroline was on him.
‘We have to talk about the money,’ she said before he’d taken his jacket off. ‘Ellie popped round this afternoon and I think there’s something going on there. She’s putting quite a lot of pressure on us to just hand the cash out to everyone.’
Max rubbed at his shoulder to relieve post-work stiffness. His skin looked pasty, she thought, and there were fine lines around his eyes that hadn’t been there before all this had happened.
‘Well, why shouldn’t we do just that?’ he asked. ‘We’re both jumpy about having it in the house. So splitting it would be the perfect solution.’
Caroline started. She hadn’t expected this reaction and she needed to make him see that it would be entirely the wrong thing to do before he just caved in and took the easiest path out of the problem.
‘But it wouldn’t—’ she began urgently.
‘Hang on,’ Max said, putting a finger up to silence her mid-flow. ‘I thought we’d agreed that paying it into the bank was a bad idea.’
‘That’s not what I’m talking about,’ Caroline said. Then she swallowed. She was about to accuse Tony of being bent. However she spun it, Max wasn’t going to take kindly to it. ‘It’s more a question of integrity.’
Max threw her a quizzical glance.
‘We don’t know where that money came from. We might be taking something that doesn’t belong to us. We have to know why it was there or if it’s owed to someone else. Without knowing that then taking it for ourselves is theft. And I can’t do that, Max. I can’t steal it.’
Max stuck out his lower lip as he considered her words. ‘Okay,’ he began. ‘So how do you propose to find that out?’
‘I think we should hand it over to the police, let them investigate. And then if it’s clean we’ll get it back, and if it’s not the police will do what they should with it, and that will show it wasn’t ours to take in the first place.’ Caroline scanned his face carefully, looking for any clue that he was with her. For a couple of seconds there was nothing and her heart fluttered in panic.
