Forgive Me

by Lesley Pearse

  Eva didn’t really understand how that would work. But then she knew very little about business, and it hardly mattered to her anyway.

  Fellows nodded knowingly, as if he understood what she was thinking.

  ‘We think it took him a few years working for Portwall, and gaining their trust, before he took the plunge and began his scams. We found a ledger kept by Flora while they were renovating The Beeches. Bribes, by their very nature, have to be kept secret by both parties and cannot go through a bank account. We found nothing to suggest that Andrew had been paying workmen in cash at that time. Flora had itemized the cost of materials, labour charges and so on, and also cheques issued from their bank account to pay for this. It all balanced with invoices that show who the payments were made to.

  ‘But several years later, although your parents appeared on the face of it to be living within their earned income, we discovered they had acquired a number of expensive items, which did not show up as having been paid for through a bank account or with a hire-purchase agreement. We found the bank account into which he’d been diverting money from Portwall, and also a fake passport. We also found proof that he was disposing of the cash he took in bribes by paying workmen in cash, buying antiques and gambling.’

  ‘How can you prove that?’ Eva asked.

  ‘A tip-off led us to a builder who admitted he was paid several thousand for a job he did for Andrew, and signed a statement to that effect. He’s no longer working and has cancer. But we think he was anxious to cooperate because he was appalled by Flora’s death and Andrew’s attack on Sophie.’

  Eva didn’t know what to say. She found it hard to believe that the man who had always lectured her about being honest should be so dishonest himself.

  ‘However, I don’t expect you two girls need chapter and verse about the fraud. I think that you probably want to know what made a measured, methodical man turn into someone capable of being a potential killer?’

  Eva nodded.

  ‘We believe it was the aftermath of your mother’s death,’ Fellows said, looking from Eva to Sophie. ‘First, he found he couldn’t claim on her life insurance, and it was a very large sum he lost out on. Then, to find she’d made a new will leaving her half of the house to his children, and not to him, must have enraged him. We also discovered in our investigation that he took out a mortgage on this house ten years earlier, forging Flora’s signature to do it.

  ‘If the house had been left to him, he could have sold it, paid off that mortgage and bought somewhere smaller. Maybe he’d even intended to go straight. But that was no longer possible. He couldn’t sell the house without Ben and Sophie’s agreement. He must also have been very scared that it would come to light that he’d forged the mortgage document.’

  ‘But why did he take out the mortgage?’ Eva asked. ‘He had a good job, and if he was doing all this other stuff on the side, what did he need more money for?’

  Fellows shrugged. ‘He had become accustomed to living beyond his regular salary. We discovered he stayed in very grand hotels when he was away from home, entertained lavishly, and he frequently gambled in casinos. All in all, he appeared to see himself as something of a playboy.’

  ‘What an idiot!’ Eva exclaimed.

  ‘Don’t say that,’ Sophie retorted. ‘We all had a nice life, and he paid for it – like the swimming pool, for instance.’

  At the mention of the swimming pool Eva was sharply taken back to five years earlier. She had come downstairs late at night to get some hot milk, because she couldn’t sleep, and had stopped short in the hall. She could hear Andrew talking on the phone in the kitchen.

  ‘I’ll collect the cash from you in Paris,’ she heard him say. ‘Next Monday OK for you? Usual place?’

  There was a brief silence as he listened to the person he was speaking to. ‘Don’t worry, it won’t be going in any bank. I’ve got plans for it.’

  Andrew laughed at something the caller said. ‘Don’t worry on that score. I don’t tell her anything,’ he said. ‘She’ll just think I got a bonus.’

  Afraid she would be caught eavesdropping, Eva went back upstairs. She was a bit puzzled by what she’d overheard, but it didn’t really mean anything to her. The only reason she remembered it now was because of what Fellows had said. A few days after hearing her father speaking on the phone she saw architect’s drawings on the dining-room table.

  She asked Flora what they were for.

  ‘Your dad has been going on about converting the old stables into an indoor swimming pool for years,’ she replied. ‘Those are plans for it.’

  Eva was thrilled and started asking excited questions about when it would be done, how big it would be, and things like that. But she immediately saw by Flora’s expression that her mother didn’t share her excitement.

  In fact Flora looked very worried about it. ‘I can’t tell you anything, darling. It’s probably only one of your dad’s pipe dreams that won’t happen anyway. We haven’t got that kind of money.’

  Eva almost reassured Flora that Andrew had got the money. But she stopped herself, because she thought he might be intending to surprise them all with it. It certainly never occurred to her then that he was doing something shady.

  But she was a little confused by Flora’s continuing anxiety when the work began. She spent a lot of time watching the men with diggers doing the excavation work, and Eva overheard her questioning Andrew more than once about where the money was coming from to pay for it. Andrew had been very flippant about it, at least in Eva’s hearing, but back then she fully believed that her dad was utterly reliable, straight as a die, and if he said he could afford it, then he could.

  In fact her view was that Flora was just being a wet blanket.

  But now that she knew the other side of Andrew, she wondered if Flora had guessed he was getting the money dishonestly. Was that another worry for her?

  ‘Was that builder who made the statement the same one who put in the swimming pool?’ she asked.

  ‘Yes, Eva. He was – it was the last big job he did before he became ill. He kept a record of all the payments he received, and the dates.’

  ‘What’s going to happen to my dad?’ Sophie asked in a small voice.

  ‘We’re told they are operating on him tomorrow,’ Fellows replied.

  ‘But what if he dies?’ Sophie asked, her eyes wide and frightened.

  ‘His surgeon is optimistic he will recover, Sophie.’

  ‘But if he does, you’ll send him to prison for years and years,’ she said accusingly.

  ‘Let’s just cross that bridge when we come to it, shall we?’ Fellows said.

  Sophie fled from the room, sobbing.

  ‘Oh dear, I did my best to be tactful,’ he said.

  ‘Sophie’s very confused and easily upset at the moment,’ Eva said. ‘She was always a daddy’s girl and it’s very hard for her to hear he wasn’t the man she thought he was. But can you tell me what will happen to him, if he does pull through?’

  ‘He’ll be charged with two counts of attempted murder, and fraud. I’d say he’s likely to get something between ten and fifteen years in prison.’

  Eva thought about this for a moment. ‘But what will happen to this house then? And if he should die, will Ben be charged with manslaughter?’

  ‘First, I would advise Ben to see a solicitor as soon as possible to apply for Power of Attorney – that way, he can deal with the sale of the house and any other assets. As to whether he will be charged …’ Fellows paused, looking to Markham as if unsure of how to proceed.

  ‘Well, Eva,’ Markham continued for him, ‘should Andrew not recover from the operation, I’m afraid that unfortunately Ben will be charged with murder or manslaughter. That is the law. I know that sounds grossly unfair, given the circumstances, but let me assure you now that he is certain to be acquitted at the trial. Self-defence, or defence of another, is a complete defence, and no jury would find him guilty when they hear what happened. But Ben will need a so
licitor to act for him.’

  This all sounded like a nightmare to Eva. ‘So what happens if Andrew survives the operation but doesn’t recover enough to stand trial?’ she asked.

  ‘I can’t answer that now, Eva,’ Fellows replied. ‘Let’s wait until he’s had the operation. We’ll be off now, and let you go and comfort Sophie.’

  ‘I hate that expression, “Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it”, don’t you?’ Sophie said when Eva found her up in her bedroom after the police had gone. ‘It means people haven’t got a clue about anything.’

  ‘No, it doesn’t,’ she said, sitting down on the bed beside Sophie. ‘It means that sometimes things sort themselves out while you wait. So there’s no point in getting into a state about something that might not happen.’

  ‘I suppose you mean if he dies, then they don’t have to do anything. What about if Dad does survive but he’s a vegetable?’

  ‘I suppose he would have to be moved to a hospital that specializes in head injuries.’ Eva stroked her sister’s hair in an effort to comfort her. ‘But he’ll still get the kind of care other injured people get. They won’t ill-treat him because he’s done something bad.’

  ‘It will be better for him if he does die during the operation, won’t it?’

  Eva didn’t know how to respond to that. It was true Andrew’s future looked grim – either stuck in a hospital for the rest of his life, or a very long spell in prison. She thought he richly deserved it. But it was different for Sophie; until she read her mother’s statement she’d only seen his good side. She was probably clinging to the idea that, if she hadn’t said she was going to tell the police he wasn’t home on the night of the fire, none of this would have happened.

  ‘But it won’t be better for Ben. He’d be charged with murder, or manslaughter,’ Eva said. She wasn’t going to remind Sophie now that, but for her father, she might still have a mother.

  ‘Can you still love someone who isn’t the person you thought they were?’ Sophie asked, and she began to sob.

  Eva drew her sister into her arms. She realized she’d underestimated the effects of shock. Sophie had seemed almost her old self by Sunday afternoon when Ben left for Leeds. But perhaps the reality of what had happened to her hadn’t quite kicked in then. Now, along with knowing her father had tried to kill her, she had to deal with hearing he was a thief.

  ‘Remember Mum used to say she didn’t always like us, but she’d always love us?’ Eva said. ‘I think that covers your dad too. He’s turned everything upside down for you. But it will get better, I promise. Look at me! I thought I was going to die in that fire, but I got over it.’

  ‘I used to think I was an OK person.’ Sophie sobbed into Eva’s shoulder. ‘I was popular at school, top of the class most of the time, I had a nice home and parents that all my friends envied, and I thought I was going places. But it was all fake. I’m not anything, I’m going nowhere. People will always whisper about me. “Remember her? Mum topped herself, dad tried to kill her, and he stole money from the company he worked for.” I can hear them saying it, Eva. I can’t bear it.’

  Eva’s stomach turned over in sympathy. She had never thought of herself as a person who was going places, but she certainly knew what it felt like to be ashamed and second-rate.

  ‘You are still an OK person, Sophie,’ she replied, holding her sister tightly and rocking her. ‘You are still clever and pretty, and all that stuff about our family will be forgotten in a while. You don’t have to stay in Cheltenham. You can start again in London, Leeds, anywhere you fancy. Just like I did.’

  ‘I’m not strong like you,’ she whimpered. ‘I go to pieces.’

  ‘Ben and I won’t let you go to pieces. We’ll hold you up until you are strong enough to stand on your own. I promise you.’

  ‘Why are you so kind to me?’ Sophie asked. ‘I’ve been vile to you. I didn’t stick up for you when Dad was nasty to you. I didn’t try to see you after you left here. I didn’t even care that you’d nearly died in a fire.’

  ‘If you can admit that now, there’s nothing much wrong with you,’ Eva said. ‘You were too young to lose your mum, you were all mixed up. I was vile when I was your age too. Can you remember me in all my goth stuff? How embarrassing was that!’

  ‘You were never vile – not to me.’ Sophie sniffed. ‘And I thought your goth stuff was pretty cool.’

  Eva chuckled. ‘Now that is worrying! So why don’t we go and get a couple of videos to watch tonight, and make ourselves something nice to eat?’

  Sophie moped about all day, and finally went off to bed about ten. Eva rang Ben then to tell him about the police visit. She hadn’t wanted to talk about it in Sophie’s hearing, as she was so disturbed by it all. She ran through about the operation Andrew was to have at the hospital, and then the news of the fraud.

  Ben was horrified and incredulous to hear about the fraud. ‘But he was always going on about being honourable and stuff,’ he said. ‘What a bastard! After everything he’s done, I hope he does bloody well die.’

  ‘I think I’d rather he gets well enough to stand trial and go to prison,’ Eva said. ‘Then he’ll have years of reflecting on what he’s done to us all. Besides, I don’t want you to be charged with murder – even if the police do say you’ll be acquitted. However much public sympathy there would be for you, it would still follow you around afterwards like a bad smell. Journalists are sniffing around here still. They can’t write anything much about it until after his trial, but you can bet they’re collecting up dirt even now in readiness.’

  The story about ‘an incident’ at The Beeches had hit the local paper within twenty-four hours. It described the Pattersons as a troubled family, and went on to report that Andrew Patterson was believed to have attacked both his two younger children. In defending themselves, their father had received serious injuries and was in hospital in a critical condition. A footnote was added about Flora’s suicide a year earlier and an arson attack on Eva’s home in London. As yet there was no mention of Eva’s parentage, or about Andrew’s fraudulent transactions, so presumably the police had kept a lid on that. But the reporters were bound to discover it soon, and when they did, they were going to have a field day. It wouldn’t only be the local papers then, but also the nationals – and even television. It didn’t bear thinking about what that would be like for all of them.

  ‘You must stop Sophie talking to any of her friends about it,’ Ben said. ‘No one would have known much about Mum’s suicide, if it hadn’t been for her.’

  ‘To tell the truth, I’d be happy to see her phoning someone, or talking to a friend,’ Eva admitted. ‘But she doesn’t want anyone near her. It’s like all the stuffing has been knocked out of her. She’s totally mixed up about her dad, one minute hating him, and then crying because she loves him. I really don’t know what to do or say.’

  ‘I just hate him now,’ Ben spat out. ‘To think I used to look up to him! All those lies he’s told, making out he was so perfect when he was stealing from his company. The stuff he did to Mum, and to you. Just dying on the operating table is far too good for him. I want to see him suffer.’

  ‘I don’t like to hear you saying things like that,’ Eva reproved him. ‘You’ve always been such a peacemaker and so understanding. Don’t let this change you, Ben.’

  ‘Of course it will change me, none of us is the same any more,’ he said.

  ‘But we must all try to calm down. I know it’s terrible, but ranting doesn’t make it any better.’

  ‘I bet you’re glad you aren’t his daughter now,’ Ben said, and it sounded as if he was crying. ‘At least you can distance yourself from it.’

  ‘No, I can’t, Ben,’ she said. ‘Because I love you and Sophie. And I will never distance myself from either of you.’

  She asked him a few questions about how he was coping, and how he’d explained away his black eye to his fellow students. Then she told him he must get a solicitor’s advice about both Power of Attor
ney and in case any charges were brought against him.

  ‘You are being marvellous. I don’t know what Sophie and I would’ve done without you,’ he suddenly blurted out. ‘I’m so very sorry that I was nasty to you about the fire. I should’ve trusted you.’

  ‘Forget it, Ben,’ she said. ‘I have. The main thing now is to stick together and get through this.’

  Olive came round on Wednesday afternoon. She looked anxious when Eva opened the door to her. ‘Tell me to go away if you can’t face visitors,’ she said.

  ‘I’m really pleased to see you,’ Eva said, and meant it. Olive’s straightforward manner and often blunt advice was just what she needed. ‘Come on in.’

  ‘I see a couple of vultures are still hanging on outside.’ Olive looked back at the two journalists hovering down by the gate. ‘I hoped they’d stop me to ask me something. If they had, they’d have got a piece of my mind. But I suppose they took one look at my face and guessed what I was about.’

  ‘They’ve been such a pain,’ Eva sighed. ‘They try to waylay us if we go out, and they keeping phoning. I’d disconnect the phone, but someone important might want us.’

  Olive handed Eva a carrier bag with some clothes in it. ‘I don’t suppose you care much what you look like now,’ she said. ‘But there’s a dress, some trousers and a couple of tops. When things are bad for me, I always feel a bit better if I’m wearing something nice. I hoped it might work for you too.’

  ‘That was very thoughtful,’ Eva said, peeping in the bag. ‘You’ve got such good taste. I’m sure I’ll love them when I try them on later. Thank you so much. Coffee?’

  Over coffee Eva explained the recent events. Olive only knew what had been in the local paper, and that had been somewhat vague. ‘I should have phoned you. But to be honest, I’ve found it a struggle just to keep things together here.’