Mothers and Daughters

by Howard, Minna

  He was standing close to her and for a second she felt he’d touch her, take her hand perhaps, or put his arm round her, but he stepped away, walked over to the glass door to the garden and stood there looking out at the last roses, their petals dropping onto the paving stones.

  ‘Don’t let this ruin your love for him, the happy marriage you shared,’ he said still staring out into the garden. ‘You’re making more of it than you should, Alice. I think he knew you would, that’s why he never told you.’

  ‘So put the blame on me,’ she snapped, not wanting to admit there was some truth in what he said. ‘What a typical male thing to do.’

  ‘Don’t blame anyone,’ he turned round to her, his face grave. ‘I thought better of you, Alice; it happened before you met him, years before, and was over quickly. Ned was not planned it surprised them both. By the time Sarah found out it was too late for a termination and anyway she didn’t want one, and Greg married her before Ned was born, and most people assumed Ned was his.’

  Her legs felt like cotton wool. She sat down at the table in front of her cooling coffee, ashamed of her anger, and yet it was so hard to accept Julian was not the person she thought he was, the man she’d built him up to be. Today people felt differently about such things, and it was ironic when birth control was so easily available today that people were so lax about it and babies were born to the most unlikely couples, who didn’t stay together, never would have done, like Evie and Nick.

  ‘So how did your girls take it?’ he asked more gently. ‘Laura didn’t sound shocked at all.’

  She shrugged, ‘When I said I had something important to tell them, Evie thought I had some frightful illness, or that Julian wasn’t really their father.’

  ‘Thank God it wasn’t either of those things, Alice. They didn’t mind so much, did they? In fact, they want to meet Ned, are excited about it.’

  ‘You’ve obviously spoken to Laura about it,’ she said.

  ‘I rang her on Friday, to find out where you were so I could see you. She told me where you’d all be at the weekend, so I guessed you might tell them. She rang me herself later to tell me, said she wanted to meet Ned, asked if he could come to the wedding, but I said it was better to wait until it was over, He’s working hard in New York and he can’t leave just now anyway.’

  ‘I feel as if my life is a tangled mess, so much has happened: Julian getting ill, then dying, Evie having Nick’s baby and Laura taking on Douglas and two children, making me a grandmother, and now this.’ She regarded him intently. ‘I hope there’s nothing else to find out.’

  He took a step towards her, his eyes tender, a slight smile on his lips. ‘Perhaps if Julian had told you, or the girls had not reacted the way they did to his death, you would have taken it better. He loved you, only you, and you must never forget that or let your misguided feelings sour it.’

  His voice was soft; she felt the sincerity of it soothing her. She was battered by the recent events in her life. She wanted to be in Frank’s arms, have him hold her close to him and she half rose from her chair to go to him, lay her head against his heart, but the telephone rang, loud and strident like a warning bell across the room, cutting through her feelings.

  As if he guessed her intention, his face fell, he shrugged, a little helpless movement. ‘You better answer it.’

  With regret, she crossed the room and picked it up, if it was someone trying to sell her something she’d swear at them. It wasn’t: it was Margot in tears.

  ‘Alice, thank God you’re there, please help me, the police have come and arrested Glen and taken him away.’

  38

  ‘Arrested, Glen?’ All sort of lurid scenes swam through her mind. Margot was usually so cagey about her marriage, had he been involved in some sort of accident? She must stop her imagination whirling out of control. Perhaps she’d misheard, Margot sounded in a terrible way, her voice distorted with hysteria. ‘Tell me slowly, Margot. I’ll come round at once, but tell me what’s happened.’

  Frank, hearing the conversation and seeing Alice’s distress, came over to her. She slightly released the receiver from her ear and he bent close so he could hear Margot’s terror.

  ‘The police came; some of them are searching the house. Glen said there was trouble at work but it was a misunderstanding, he couldn’t say more, he looked terrible.’ Margot broke into fresh sobs.

  It was his work, she should have guessed, not a car crash.

  ‘I’ve got Frank with me; we’ll both come round now. Don’t talk to anyone else. Frank is in Glen’s world, finance, law and all that, so he may be able to help. Wait until we come, sit down have some tea… or something stronger.’ She thought of Cecily’s bracing nip of brandy. ‘Oh Margot, it might not be as bad as all that. We’re coming now.’

  With a few more words of encouragement, Alice put down the phone, her mind whirring in overdrive. ‘Do you mind coming with me Frank?’ He was so close she could feel the warmth of him and for a moment she wished he would hold her close but he stepped away, his face stern as he digested the news.

  ‘I’m… sorry, Frank, I sort of dumped you into it, but I don’t know what else to do, she sounds distraught. Why would they arrest Glen, what could he have done?’ She fired questions at him while she ran about the kitchen like a mad hen hunting for her bag, her keys and her Oyster card, she couldn’t take her car, there was nowhere to park.

  ‘I’ll drive you,’ Frank said calmly. ‘I have resident parking for that area so we’ll be fine. Remind me as we go whom Glen worked for and a bit about him. I know Margot of course but I hardly know her husband.’

  She locked up the house and followed Frank to his car, all her thoughts for Margot.

  ‘So,’ he said as they started off, ‘tell me about Glen, where he works, what he does.’

  She told him Glen was in the financial world, watching his face as he concentrated on the road and then seeing his expression tighten, become grim when she mentioned the name of his firm.

  ‘Do you know something bad about it?’ she asked fearfully. ‘I’m sure Glen’s not dishonest, others might be, but not him.’ She couldn’t bear it for Margot, for their sons.

  ‘I’ve been researching various firms and the tax schemes they use, and his firm is one of them,’ Frank said. ‘But don’t let’s jump to any conclusions. It could be nothing, but the police need to question everyone who has dealings with the company.’

  Alice tried to make sense of his words. She and Petra sometimes wondered why Margot rarely discussed her husband’s work, she’d skilfully change the subject if she was questioned, but that could be because she was slightly embarrassed by the amount of money he earned, their large house and expensive holidays things her old friends, Petra and Alice, couldn’t match.

  Frank went on,’ I’m not making any judgements while I’m still working on it. I’m writing some articles for the Financial Times. Quite a few people sail a bit close to the wind over their taxable income and the government is rightly clamping down on it.’ They stopped at the lights and he turned to face her, ‘I don’t suppose Margot knows anything about it, people who do these things don’t usually tell their wives or husbands. Some people don’t give fiddling the books much thought, they pay what they think is a large amount of tax and see nothing wrong in trying to keep back a bit more.’

  Alice thought of the jewels, the beautiful presents Glen had bought Margot, and their expensive house filled with lovely antiques.

  ‘Could he go to prison?’ How on earth would Margot cope with that?

  ‘These are complex cases and some people have rather savvy accountants, to say the least. But some of the laws, especially about tax, should be tightened. It would be best, Alice, if you didn’t say anything to Margot about me working on this. It could have nothing whatever to do with Glen, but he’s been swept up with the rest. Let’s just find out what has happened first.’

  ‘You’re right, Frank. Oh, I’m so relieved you’re here.’ She turned to him and s
aw the warmth in his eyes.

  ‘So am I,’ he said softly, turning into a parking place in Margot’s street.

  He turned off the engine and got out and as Alice followed him she thought of their nursery baskets and how well they were selling, and she wondered if they too were somehow caught up in this tax thing. She was about to ask Frank when they reached Margot’s door. Frank rang the bell, his expression inscrutable as if his mind was taken up with his work, thinking up questions for his article.

  Sam, one of Margot’s sons, opened the door to them. He looked very young and frightened, his hair tousled, his clothes creased as if they’d spent the night on the floor and he’d pulled them on all anyhow. Alice hugged him. ‘Things will work out,’ she said feebly.

  ‘Hope so.’ Tears glazed his eyes, he swallowed, ‘Mum’s on the sofa, she’s in a bad way.’

  ‘Do you know what this is about?’ Frank asked him, laying his hand on Sam’s arm, offering support.

  Sam shook his head and Alice went into the living room and saw Margot lying on the sofa as if she was in the last stages of a mortal illness. She knelt down on the floor beside her and took her in her arms. ‘Margot, I’m so sorry, what happened, do you want to tell me?’

  ‘I don’t know. We were woken by a terrible banging or I was, Glen was already up. I heard the front door open, Glen call out he was coming while he unlocked it and the police rushed in. I thought we were being robbed, though they kept shouting police, but I got confused, I mean anyone can shout out police, can’t they?’

  ‘I suppose so, I…’

  Frank came into the room and, seeing him, Margot sat up, pushing her hair, damp from her tears, away from her face. ‘Glen had to go with the police and they’ve left these others here to go through his things. Oh Frank, don’t write about this, will you? I know you write legal things, but you could find out about it, couldn’t you?’

  Frank sat down beside her and put his arm round her. ‘Tell me what you know, Margot. It will be in complete confidence, I promise you. Has Glen said anything, behaved strangely… been worried about things at work?’ He took out a clean, white handkerchief from his pocket and gently wiped her face. ‘Take your time.’

  Alice sat down close to her on her other side, concerned for her, for all the family. But Frank would help despite wanting copy for his article, she was certain he’d do what he could to support them.

  Poor Margot. The sound of drawers being opened, people moving about in Glen’s study appalled her. Was nothing sacred in one’s own home, family photographs, private letters and cards all scrutinized by strangers? And what about the papers concerning their interior decorating business, would they be snatched and pored over too? She was about to ask when a policewoman passed outside the room with a bulging black sack. Margot didn’t seem to notice but Frank did and caught her eye, gave a tiny shake of his head as if guessing Alice was going to remark on it, so she stayed silent.

  Margot said, ‘Glen told me there’d been trouble at work; he wouldn’t say what, in fact he was very bad-tempered, sort of edgy, difficult to live with.’ She didn’t look at them as if she found it hard to admit to. ‘I… I said he was working too hard and why didn’t we have a holiday, even just a weekend, to get away.’

  ‘And what did he say?’ Frank asked her.

  ‘He was rather vague, said he’d see. I was worried he was ill, one of his colleagues had a heart attack the other day, I thought he was doing too much… but this… oh Frank, why would the police come in like that as if he were a murderer?’ She clutched at him, her eyes wide with fear.

  Frank hugged her closer. Sam had come into the room and sat down miserably, staring at Frank as if he were their lifeline. ‘There are various stories buzzing about and the police sometimes go overboard in their zealousness. I know it’s easy to say, but try not to worry unless you have to,’ Frank said.

  ‘It must be a mistake, but why couldn’t they have telephoned, asked to see him instead of this… this barbaric behaviour. I mean we’re not in somewhere like Russia,’ Margot protested.

  ‘There has to be an element of surprise in this sort of thing in case people have time to destroy any evidence of wrong doing. They are probably in the company now, doing the same thing,’ Frank said. ‘You need a lawyer, have you a good one?’

  ‘There’s Paul Cartwright,’ Sam said, ‘his family have been friends of ours forever. Shall I call him?’ There was hope on his face as he thought of him.

  ‘Aren’t you a lawyer, Frank?’ Margot’s voice lifted, she clutched Frank’s arm.

  ‘Not practising, but I write legal articles, mostly to do with business.’

  ‘So you must know a lot. Couldn’t you go to the police station and get Glen home?’ Margot begged him.

  ‘No, Margot, I’m afraid I can’t. Let’s call this friend. Whatever the reason the police raided you this morning, Glen needs a lawyer.’

  The doorbell rang and everyone froze. Margot brightened, half expecting it to be Glen, explaining that it had all been a dreadful mistake. Sam ran to open the door and they heard him exclaim, with relief, ‘Oh, Uncle Richard, what can we do?’

  Margot burst into tears as her brother came into the room. ‘Richard, thank God you’re here. I don’t know what’s going on.’

  ‘I came as soon as I could.’ He kissed Alice, ‘Good to see you, Alice.’ He was introduced to Frank before turning his attention to Margot. ‘So tell me everything,’ He pulled up a chair and sat close to her.

  Frank caught Alice’s eye and moved to leave now that Margot had her brother with her. ‘I’ll go and see what I can find out, Margot, I’ll contact you later, let you know if I find anything,’ he said, hugging her again before getting up.

  Alice was unsure what to do, but now Richard was here, Margot had support. She turned to Sam, ‘Try and keep strong, you can both come and stay with me if you want to, get your mother away from this.’ The shock was beginning to wear off now, leaving her fearful but determined to be supportive.

  ‘I don’t know what Mum wants to do… or Dad.’ His voice trailed off, he threw her an anguished look and she knew what he was thinking, what if his father was arrested?

  ‘I’ll stay if you want me to,’ she said, wanting to leave with Frank and yet she could not abandon her friend if she needed her.

  ‘I don’t know, Uncle Richard’s here and Lucas is on his way,’ he mentioned his older brother.

  Margot seemed to brace up with her brother there and she assured Alice she felt better now, it was bound to be a mistake and Glen would soon be back. ‘Thanks for rushing round, Alice, but I’m sure you’ve lots to do with the wedding and all. I’ll ring you later.’ She seemed to slip back into her shell of silence that Alice knew so well when certain things, namely Glen and his work, were mentioned.

  ‘If you’re sure,’ Alice hugged her, ‘but ring me on my mobile if you need anything.’

  A few minutes later Alice and Frank left the house, neither spoke until they were in his car.

  ‘Is it very bad?’ she asked, fearful of his answer.

  ‘There are a lot of questions about the company, but we’ll have to wait and see how deep Glen is in it. Poor Margot, it must be such a shock for her and her boys.’

  Alice stayed silent, afraid for her friend. Much though she longed to confide in Frank, she decided she must not say anything, however innocent she thought it was, in case he used it in his articles. She would not tell him how reticent Margot was about gossiping about her husband, though maybe she’d didn’t want to lay out their lives to be picked over, even by her dearest friends, but did she ever suspect things were not quite right and had chosen to ignore them, or was she afraid to upset the balance of their marriage and question him? Or had she questioned him and he’d reassured her that all was well and she accepted it?

  She’d always liked Glen, he was charming and amusing and very good company, but was he hiding something under all his charm, just as Julian had hidden his son from her? She’d learn
t a hard lesson that people were not always who they seemed or who you wanted them to be.

  39

  Frank’s mind was now on his work. He was relieved that Margot’s brother had arrived and one of her sons was there. Alice, dear Alice, was being so strong, so kind, even though she was probably being over-optimistic about Glen’s part in it all. He’d seen it before, perfectly decent people being a little lax with the truth, perhaps once making a mistake on their tax return form, getting away with it and thinking it didn’t matter, then doing it again and somehow kidding themselves that it was all right, their hard work and long hours brought in so much revenue into the business and therefore to the country, so surely it did no harm to cream a little extra off for themselves? So often it became too easy and they got lazy or too cavalier and they were caught.

  ‘I suspect there are some dodgy deals going on and no doubt they’ve arrested everyone high up in the company as a matter of course and will soon release him when they’ve got the ones they want,’ Richard had said as they left. ‘I’m sure Glen hasn’t done anything wrong.’

  Frank was aware then that Alice was watching him as if she was willing him to agree with Richard, explain the usual procedure of investigating suspected malpractice in these companies, but he wouldn’t meet her gaze, he said goodbye again and left the house. He didn’t want to say that he needed to get round to the company Glen worked for as soon as possible. There had been rumours floating about for some time about it, and he must find out how today’s activities would affect the article he was working on.

  He’d left them with some trite remark, like, ‘Don’t worry, these things often seem worse than they are,’ though inwardly he felt they were very serious indeed. Though Glen could have had nothing to do with it, might only get his knuckles rapped for not keeping a more thorough eye on things. He didn’t want to think about the fraudulent people he’d written about, who’d managed to get away with their dishonesty so long just because they were so charming, seemed to be so honest and decent, that no one suspected them of foul play until it was too late.