Miranda could not see the connection. `What`s that got to do with it? He`s him. You`re you. Would you have topped yourself just because you had lost money?`
`No...maybe... I don`t know.` Seeing only despair, Sylvia could not frame a reasonable answer.
`Well, I do know,` her companion retorted. `You did loss money – thousands and thousands, when he made that daft Will. That was a shock to you, an`all, but you got yourself pulled-together again. Why couldn`t he?`
`I don`t know, and I don`t care. Neither-wonder he killed himself. I can`t have thought much of him, can I? Here`s me, talking about starting again with a new man, and there`s Tom, cared too much to face disappointing me. What right have I got to be happy with somebody else?`
`Don`t be such a fond-fool,` Miranda snapped. `He`d made all-them big promises to that lad and didn`t want to look daft in front of him. So Tom did what he thought was best for his-self, and left you to pick up the bits. That doesn`t sound as though he cared all that much about you.`
`You don`t understand, You didn`t know him – honour and duty meant everything to him.`
`Oh yeah, right? Then for-why has he left his money to folks that`s not entitled to it? That wasn`t very honourable, nor his duty neither. That Mr. Hood`s worth ten of him any day.`
The thought of Raymond and the future together that he saw for them tore at Sylvia`s heart. `I can`t marry him, Randa. Not now.`
`So instead, you`re ganna top yourself without giving him a chance to help you? That`s not very fair on him, is it?`
`If I`m going to spend the rest of my days feeling guilty about Tom, Ray would be far better off without me.`
`The rest of your days feeling guilty?` Miranda yelled incredulously. `The more fool you, if you do.` Her finger jabbed the page impatiently. `Look-you here – the very last words he wrote . . . "I have to leave the rest of my estate to Danny, to make sure he gets the chance in life that I promised him." It was the kid he was thinking about at the end, not you.`
Sylvia took back the book and re-read the relevant passage with dawning astonishment. `If I really thought that . . .`
`What else is there to think? He could`ve-of put it no-plainer if he tried. I dunno who the devil this lad is, but he`s come between your man and his wits.`
Though still shaking, Sylvia realised that the black moment had passed, and she was once more on the rise towards normality. `Thank God you hadn`t gone out, Randa. I dread to think what might`ve happened if I`d been in on my own.`
`You`re not on your own. If ever you need me, just knock.`
Sylvia giggled shakily. `I don`t think the ceiling would stand it too often. But it`s okay. I`m feeling a lot better. I won`t do anything daft now. There`s other things to think about.`
Miranda nodded agreement. `You do that, and let me know when the wedding is, so I can get mysel` a new hat.`
After she had gone, Sylvia made a fresh cup of coffee as an aid to marshalling providential thoughts that Miranda did not realise she had planted. If the note was to be believed, Tom`s last thought had indeed been of Daniel, rather than of his wife and family. I still haven`t worked-out what hold that kid and his mother had on Tom, she thought - but next week I might get to the bottom of it at last - now I`m this-close to meeting him, and getting answers to my questions, it`s no time to be thinking of dying - there`s still too much to live for.
SEVENTEEN
Waiting for Daniel Franks to arrive at Trowell, Sylvia struggled against anti-climactic hilarity. What the devil am I playing at, all this cloak-and-dagger stuff? she thought – "I`ll be just inside the main entrance, wearing a green parka and carrying a brown-paper parcel.” -- I must be doolally. But it was too late to draw back – at any minute he would approach and make himself known. Or perhaps he wouldn`t. Maybe, like her, he was having second-thoughts. I hope not, she thought -- I`m a bit long in the tooth for being stood-up
`Mrs. Brandon, is it?` Daniel had come towards her from a sideways direction, catching her unawares. Sylvia searched his face for resemblances to Tom – his eyes are almost the same colour, but many a thousand folks have brown eyes – his hair`s nothing-like, but that takes after his mother. The scrutiny was inconclusive, and she hoped the interview would be more informative.
He looked anxious and awkward. `I feel a bit funny, talking to you like this. Have I done the right thing, coming?`
`Yes.` She had no doubt of that, although so far their encounter had answered no questions. `I`m not surprised you feel strange. So do I, to think you apparently kept in touch with my husband for over three years without me ever knowing you existed. Where can we talk? Are we going inside for a coffee, or something?`
`Okay.` They queued in silence for their snack, and took it to the most remote table they could find, wanting no eavesdroppers.
`This should be all right.` Seating himself opposite her, Daniel launched straight into the subject of their meeting - perhaps he was anxious to have the business over and done with in the shortest possible time. `It must`ve come as a shock to you, Mr. Brandon making a will like that..`
`It certainly did. How did you get to know about him in the first place?`
`I guess I`ve grown-up always knowing about how helpful Mr. Brandon was to Mum when she left Dad. Curiosity got the better of me in the end and, when I was fifteen, I wrote to the Museum on the off-chance he would still be there. That`s how we started corresponding.`
His initiative had been admirable. `You`re brave. I don`t think I would`ve dared. What did he say?`
`He was surprised, of course, but he asked after Mum, and wanted to know what I planned to do after I left school. I told him I hoped to get into Uni to read Archaeology.`
`That would please him.` Sylvia remembered the letters from fellow-antiquarians that she had found among Tom`s papers. He had clearly enjoyed being in touch with like-minded people. Are Tom and Danny like-minded because they`re father and son? she wondered, before reminding herself that Tom had also corresponded with many people to whom he was not related - and that Eleanor too must have similar interests in the ancient world, or she would not have chosen to work in a museum.
`He seemed taken with the idea. In fact, he said straight-off that if I wanted to go on Digs, he would fund me.` Danny paused as if considering the implications of his next remark. `He advised me to make it my first priority in life, and leave the settling-down till later. He told me he had traded all his dreams, to get what he thought he wanted.`
`Thought he wanted?` Sylvia glared at nobody in particular. `Well! that`s me put in my place, isn`t it? Did he ever really love me at all?`
Daniel cast her a surprised glance. `He must`ve done. Didn`t he give up all his plans for your sake? But I suppose there were times when he couldn`t help thinking about what he might`ve done different with his life, and what he`d sacrificed. Keeping his family took all his time and money, so he had no chance of realising his ambitions. He seemed to understand that I could easily be held back that way, with having Mum to consider.`
`That`s not the same thing at all,` Sylvia responded, on the defensive. `When Tom and I got married, he undertook to provide for me and any kids we might have. Looking after your mother isn`t your responsibility. I understood she`d remarried. Where`s your stepfather?`
Danny scowled. `She did remarry, but Joe was only out for what he could get. He ran through what bit of ready-cash she had, but she wasn`t rich enough for his liking. After the accident, he decided he couldn`t face living with an invalid, so he buggered off and left her.`
`Till I read your letters to Tom, I didn`t realise she had been in an accident. I could see she was disabled, but it wouldn`t have been very polite to ask nosey questions about that, when I`d only just met her. I sort-of assumed it was some illness she had – M.S, or suchlike. What happened?`
`Some lunatic ran into the back of her car on the M.25, and the impact broke her spine. She`ll need looking-after for the rest of her life.`
`Doesn`t the Home do that?`
`Yes, but not f
or-free. She sold her flat to pay her way, but that meant she had too much savings to qualify for benefit. She has to foot all the bills herself, and her money`ll be gone in no time, the amount they`re charging. I`ve invested the money Mr. Brandon left me, so the interest will go towards helping her stay at the Home for as long as she wants.`
Feeling that they had digressed far enough, Sylvia returned the conversation to its original subject. `That doesn`t explain why Tom thought he was under some sort of obligation to you, or your mother.` She braced herself to put the question that had so infuriated Eleanor. `Is Tom your father?`
`Mum said you had asked that.`
`She insisted he isn`t, but I`m not sure I believe her. Surely you can see what makes me so suspicious?
`Mum`s never told me, and I`ve never liked to push it. Mentioning it gets her so fired-up.` He too must have risked the question, and got much the same reception as Sylvia had.
`To me, it seems the only logical explanation. Why give you all that money otherwise? Even if he didn`t want me to have it, our daughters could`ve used it to further their ambitions.`
`But not to help them go on Digs,` Danny countered self-consciously. `Mr. Brandon said his daughters weren`t interested, and his one regret was not having a son to follow him. I suppose he must`ve thought I was the next-best-thing, and decided to give it to me.`
Is that something else Tom held against me? Sylvia wondered – that we lost our son in the birth? It wasn`t my fault – not anybody`s fault, the doctors said, just one of those tragic things that sometimes happen, so why blame me? Perhaps he had become angry because she refused to try for another child, afraid of having to face a similar bereavement again. Men are so easy-minded, she reflected – they think having another baby takes the place of the one you lost, but it doesn`t.
`I told him I hadn`t definitely made up my mind about going abroad yet,` Danny continued, `but seeing we had interests in common, we wrote from time to time. Then last October, Mum sent for me in a panic because Dad had turned-up at our flat, and threatened to kill her if she didn`t come back and live with him.` The young voice grew suddenly hard, his facial expression changing to visible and alarming fury. `And do you know how he managed to find her? Your stupid bloody husband gave him our address.`
`I found that awful rude letter you sent.` Sylvia`s resentment boiled up afresh. `What makes you so sure it was Tom that told him?`
`Because Dad said so. He was laughing about how easy it had been to con Mr. Brandon into giving the details. Mum begged and pleaded with me to get her out of there, but what bit of money Joe hadn`t nicked had mostly been spent on adapting the flat for disabled-living, so we couldn`t afford to go anywhere else As she sat there crying, I got madder and madder with Mr. Brandon, and all of a sudden it came to me that the best way to get my own back would be to take what he was offering – not to go abroad, like he wanted me to, but so I could use it to help Mum start a new life. And no – I didn`t feel guilty. After all, he was responsible for spoiling the life she already had.`
Sylvia shook her head in disbelief. `This doesn`t make sense. If Joe was only interested in people with money, why would he want her back again after the accident?`
`His idea was that she should sue the driver, but it was one of those multiple smashes, when one car after another gets involved because none of them can stop, so you could be paying lawyers for ever-and-a-day, trying to work-out whose fault it really was. When Joe realised there wasn`t going to be any compensation for him to get his sticky fingers on, he came round to the flat one day – luckily she was out – got in a temper, broke in and trashed the place. She was too scared to go back, so she got herself straight into The Charter House and sold the flat to get money for their fees. The neighbour who wrote to you must`ve been the only one who knew where she had gone. Why did your cretin of a husband have to tell Joe where she was?`
Sylvia bristled at his tone. `Do you mind? You should be grateful to Tom, never mind name-calling him like you`re doing. He`s been damned good to you, considering you`re nothing to him.`
Danny had the grace to look ashamed. `I know I shouldn`t have played on Mr. Brandon`s kindness, but I was absolutely desperate to help Mum. So I hyped up my enthusiasm for going-on-digs, to make sure he`d give me the money, He had arranged to pay it over to me when I came back from France, Everything would`ve been fine, if it hadn`t been for the Harland Venture.`
Mention of that name riveted Sylvia`s attention at once. `Harland`s? What do you know about them? Were they part of your scheme too?`
`Not mine, It was all Mr. Brandon`s idea to set that up.`
Sylvia felt herself go cold. `Tom? What in God`s name for?`
`To make certain that even if he died before I was grown-up, the money would still come to me. If ever you accidentally stumbled on any of the papers, it would look as if he had been paying someone to let him go abroad, when actually it was for me.`
`Okay, but why leave the rest of the money to you as well? Had you not been provided-for more than enough, as it was?`
Danny looked shamefaced. `I`ve got an awful feeling that wasn`t meant to happen. I would have been due to get the money he promised me round about now, but while-ever it was all just lying mixed-in with the rest of the cash in his bank account, nobody would`ve known it was mine. To make certain I`d get it if anything happened to him before he`d had the chance to hand it over to me, he put that clause in his Will to give me money direct from his estate. If he`d still been alive now, he would`ve given me my share straight into my hand, then changed the will to cut me out, and you`d have been none the wiser.`
`But he died before he could do it,` Sylvia said, reflecting that the story explained some points, but not others. `How come I didn`t find any paperwork about all this?`
`You must`ve done. He`d paid loads into the Harland account. If anybody asked, it was supposed to be for his retirement, or something.`
Sylvia contemplated the truth behind Tom`s convoluted machinations. `Yes – I found papers I thought were for that, but it was all in the Harland Venture`s name, and they told me he`d been saving-up to send himself on a Dig. Nobody ever mentioned you.`
`He meant well, I guess,` Danny said, `but it`s all gone pear-shaped somehow.`
Sylvia wondered if she was being unusually dense. `I still don`t understand. If Tom set up the Harland Venture himself, and all the money in it belonged to him, who`s this bloke that answered the letters my solicitors sent when they were sorting out his estate?`
`It didn`t just belong to Mr. Brandon by then. He`d changed the rules of the Venture.`
`Well, who does it belong to, then?` Sylvia demanded. `And where`s the money now?`
`You might ask.` Danny looked and sounded disgusted. `When Mr. Brandon offered to help me, I mentioned it to Mum. It was before her accident, so she was still with Joe.Harrison, my stepfather. She must`ve told him, because he insisted there ought to be another signatory to represent my interests in case Mr. Brandon ever changed his mind about giving me the money. How many guesses will you need to work out who the other signatory was?`
`Joe Harrison,` Sylvia responded. The cheat and con-man who thought it no shame to deceive and rob a cripple would not have hesitated to misappropriate the Harland funds if the chance arose.
Danny sat with head down, twiddling his fingers nervously before speaking. `I`m sorry, Mrs. Brandon. This`s a hell of a mess, and – God`s honest truth – I don`t know how to get out of it. As soon as ever I got the cheque from the solicitors for the cash from Mr. Brandon`s bank, I put it on five-year deposit to get a better rate of interest. I couldn`t give you it back yet, even if I wanted to.`
`And you don`t particularly want to,` Sylvia said, reading his mind with a clarity that amazed her, `because that would mean your mother having to leave The Charter House the minute her own money runs out.`
He nodded, still avoiding her gaze. `Yes, it would. But if I keep it, I`ll be as bad as Joe Harrison. Morally, it doesn`t belong to either him, or me, or Mum. It should`ve
been for you and your daughters.`
`Yes, it should,` Sylvia retorted, `but that`s not the way Tom set it out in his will, and it`s according to what he said in the will that the law`ll judge the rights and wrongs.`
`What are you going to do?` Daniel sounded almost afraid, as if looking into a future where his mother`s life would be spent in want and fear.
Completely out of her depth, Sylvia found a ready pretext for not deciding immediately. `I don`t think either of us should make any firm decisions, or even say anything more, till we`ve talked to our solicitors.`
`I haven`t got a solicitor.`
Sylvia remembered her own quandary on that very score when Tom died. `Has your mother got one? What about when the divorce went through? Could you maybe use the firm that acted for her then?`
`Would they have to tell Dad where she is?`
`Make that the very first thing you ask, before giving them any more-detailed instructions, but I see no reason why they should. This is your money we`re talking about, not hers, and as you`re over eighteen now, you`re allowed to please yourself how you handle decisions about stuff like that. If you insist that your father hasn`t to be involved, they have an absolute duty not to tell him.`
Daniel looked relieved. `That`s something, anyway Thanks, Mrs. Brandon. You`ve been great about all this. In your place, I would`ve blown my stack.`
Sylvia shrugged. `What`s the point? Neither of us has a cat-in-hell`s chance of recovering the money your step-dad`s done-off with, and I haven`t the faintest idea what the legal position is about the rest. It`s better if we all keep calm, for the time being, and see what happens.` With the main purpose of their meeting over, she wished he would go, and leave her to think how to proceed. Without funds, she had no way of contesting the Will and – even if she did so and her action succeeded – would they ever manage to catch up with Joe Harrison to enforce the judgement?
A Long Road Through The Night Page 22
