Dangerous Secrets

by Chrissie Loveday

  ‘Softly, softly,’ he murmured. ‘Play it cool.’ He took out a mobile from his desk and dialled a number. ‘I think phase two is about due,’ he said.

  Later that morning, in the outer office, Lucy was on the phone to her beloved Wayne.

  ‘Honestly, I don’t know if I can stick it out here much longer.’

  ‘What’s he done now, babe? If he’s tried his old tricks, I’ll come round and sort him out.’

  ‘Nothing like that. He chewed my face off just for sticking to his orders. Told me he’ll never see anyone without an appointment and went barmy because I didn’t let some snooty pair in when they turned up on the doorstep. He’s going through a mid-life crisis I reckon.’

  ‘You gotta play it cool, babe. Just a bit longer. Another few weeks and you can give up. You’ll be busy looking after me and probably much too knackered to work after the nights I’m planning for you.’

  ‘Oh, Wayne, you’re terrible!’

  ‘Besides, you’ll be looking after all our babies. Now make sure you hang on to your temper for a few more weeks. Then we can have the best wedding in the world. Can’t wait to see you walking down that aisle.’

  ‘I’m gonna make you proud, Wayne babe. Thanks for the chat. You can always calm me down. What you doin’?’

  ‘Not much. Thinkin’ about goin’ surfin’. Not much work about at the moment. That’s why I need you to keep your job as long as you can. I’ll pick up summat later in the week. And don’t worry. I’m not really short of a bob or two. Laters.’

  ‘Laters, babe. Love you. Will you have somethin’ nice for me later?’

  ‘Course I will. Never let you down, do I? Love you too, babe.’

  ‘Bye now. Love you.’

  Chapter Four

  Blue and white plastic tape still surrounded part of the cottage garden when the Rentons returned.

  ‘I suppose it’s all right to go in,’ Ryan said doubtfully.

  ‘The house isn’t closed off. It’s only the outhouse that’s a problem.’ They had been told they could return but needed to leave the outhouse untouched for a while longer.

  ‘Do you suppose they’ve taken it away?’ he asked.

  ‘Course they have. They’ll be wanting to do their autopsy. Can’t see the point myself. Poor bastard’s dead, so knowing why seems pretty pointless. Why carve up the body even more?’ She paused as she thought of something. ‘Did … did they have to do one on Mum?’ Her voice faltered.

  ‘Well, partially, yes,’ Ryan said with a shudder. ‘It was an unexpected death. They always need a verdict. Something to tidy up their wretched reports.’

  Silently, they went inside the cottage and automatically, Julia went to put the kettle on. Dirty cups from the previous day were still lying around and she dumped them in the washing up bowl. The thought of her mother’s corpse being hacked about by strangers had upset her.

  ‘Think I’ll put myself down for this freezing thing, after I die,’ she said blandly.

  ‘What, that cryonic suspension?’

  ‘Think that’s what they call it. Saves all the messing about with autopsies.’

  ‘Gruesome.’

  ‘Don’t see why it’s any more so. Death is pretty gruesome. This simply means one is taking charge oneself.’

  ‘Bet they still insist on an autopsy.’ The phone rang and Ryan spoke for a few minutes.

  ‘You’re not going to like this, Jules. Dad’s on his way down. Read something on the Internet about our corpse and decided we’d need his support. Must be a first, don’t you think?’

  ‘What the hell does he want? I expect he intends to drag us back and put the cottage on the market. He’s always been suggesting it’s a waste of money to keep it. He never could bear the thought that we might manage without him.’

  ‘He’ll probably be here quite soon.’

  ‘Damn. I don’t want to see him,’ Julia said. She hadn’t had time to come to terms with any of the traumas surrounding her. Gerard Renton had always controlled his family by providing them with so much that they relied on him totally. He had virtually demanded their dependence to have them follow his every wish. Her mother had even allowed his little friends at whatever cost to her own happiness. She would never have tolerated such interference and control, herself. Gerard must have realized his daughter’s rebellion was total, when she made her escape to Kenya and then to Cornwall. She would not go back for any price.

  It was early afternoon when Gerard eventually arrived. He smelt slightly of alcohol and garlic. Obviously, he had thought it prudent to stop and feed himself on his way down.

  ‘Darling! How perfectly awful for you. What a shock!’ He tried to put his arms round his daughter but she neatly avoided the embrace by moving to open a window. ‘Ryan, my boy. I hope you’ve been looking after your sister properly.’

  This time the rather formal, extended hand was taken and given the required shake. Ryan could never recall a time when his father had greeted him with anything more than a handshake. He had never hugged him, even when he was a small child. Even his mother had needed to choose her moment to give him the longed for hugs, usually when no one else was around – especially his father.

  ‘It’s been a nasty business,’ Ryan mumbled, ill at ease, as ever, when he was within range of his father’s overpowering presence.

  ‘I think the best thing is for us all to go back to Buckinghamshire right away. Make a new start on our lives. There’s a place waiting for you in the company, Ryan, and Julia will be able to take over the running of the house. Don’t worry, darling, I shall get someone to come in to do the actual work. You’ll only have to organise people, plan meals, and so on. You’ll have plenty of time to do all the shopping and other things you love.’ His smile was false to Julia’s eyes.

  ‘Take over Mummy’s role, you mean? No way. No. I shall be staying on here. I’m getting a job and I plan to live here for the foreseeable future.’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Gerard snapped. ‘You can’t possible keep yourself, not in the way you are used to. I warn you my girl, if you don’t come back you can say goodbye to your allowance and all the extra luxuries you need to make your life worthwhile. I mean it. I refuse to put up with your petulance any longer. Where were you when your mother needed you? Gallivanting around some tour in Africa.’

  ‘If you hadn’t been so busy, perhaps you might have done more for her. Or maybe you did? She didn’t seem unwell at all when I left. Maybe you conveniently got rid of her to suit your own ends.’ Julia was white with anger and immediately regretted her words. Her father glared, his eyes flashing in an alarming way she had never seen before.

  ‘Julia. Apologise at once. How dare you. You’ll do as you’re told, my girl. For once in your selfish little life, you will do something for me. Return some of the debt you owe me. You’ve only ever taken from me. Time to give something back.’

  ‘Oh, I’ll pay you back all right. I never realised that bringing up children was an investment that needed repaying. How much do I owe you? Monthly allowances? School fees? At how much a year? I never actually wanted to go away to school and nor did Ryan. Did you?’ She glanced at her brother who looked positively faint. ‘Just think, Daddy dear, you could have saved a fortune on school fees if you’d only listened to what we wanted.’

  ‘I think you’d better get control over your vicious tongue. I’ll put it down to strain and forgive you this time. Now, get your things together and we’ll leave. I have meetings all day tomorrow so I need to get back.’ Gerard clenched his teeth, so angry that he couldn’t trust himself to say more.

  ‘Haven’t you understood? I am not returning. How about you, Ryan?’

  ‘I don’t know. I did think I’d stay here for a while, just for a break. I doubt I shall stay permanently.’

  ‘Please yourselves. I’ll give you an hour to consider. I warn you though, I am quite serious. You get no more money from me unless you earn it by doing exactly what I want you to do.’

  �
��I think I’m with Jules,’ Ryan said hesitantly. ‘I really think I’d hate working in an office all day.’

  ‘You’re a lazy swine,’ Gerard said to his son. His lip curled in deprecating sneer. ‘Lily-livered little toad. Your sister the only woman you can get, is she? You’ve been mothered all your life. No backbone and a distinct lack of testosterone. Like the boys better, do you? I never would have believed I could father a nancy boy.’

  ‘You’re sick. Do you know that?’ Julia shouted. Her eyes blazed. ‘Ryan is what you made him. Pity you never went to public school yourself. You’d have more idea of what a kid like him has to suffer there. You paid a fortune for him to be tortured, you realise that? As for him being a nancy boy, whatever antiquated expression that is supposed to mean, you couldn’t be further from the truth. He is still trying to get over what you have put him through. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like you out of my house.’ She went into the kitchen and began to clatter dishes with a great deal of noise.

  Ryan stood white-faced, biting back his tears. He couldn’t help having a sensitive nature and his father had always bullied him. Could he stand up to him for this once in his life? If he didn’t, he knew it might mean the end of his relationship with his sister: if he did, it was the end of his easy life with enough money to buy what he wanted.

  ‘Dad, I really need a bit of a break. Can I stay here with Julia for a while and then come back home?’ His voice was hesitant as he fought for control of himself.

  ‘I don’t think so. If you stay now, she’ll try to persuade you to give up everything. You do know that, don’t you?’ He stared at his son and relented. ‘All right then. I’ll give you two weeks. If you’re not back where you belong by the Saturday after next, I’ll assume you’re staying here and I’ll arrange with the bank to cut off your allowance. And you know exactly what else I can do. And don’t think for a minute I wouldn’t do it. Now, I’m going to get a meal and then I shall drive back. You can come and eat with me if you like. You’d better ask your sister as well, though I don’t suppose she’ll be remotely interested in spending any time with her father.’

  Ryan nodded. ‘OK.’ He went into the kitchen. ‘Do you want to eat with us? We’re going to the hotel. Come on. We shouldn’t let him go like this.’

  ‘Ryan. How can you even speak to that man after the things he said?’

  ‘Come on, Jules. Lighten up a bit. He’s the only parent we’ve got left. Come on. You’re both angry. You’ve both said things that are unforgivable. Let’s at least try to be civilised.’ He put his arm round her and gave her a quick hug.

  ‘I’m sorry. I shall say something else I don’t mean if I spend more time with him now. You go. I need some space.’ She felt bone weary, as if she could sleep for a week.

  ‘I’m on your side you know, Sis. I just don’t think I can lose Dad as well, however awful things have been. I’ll be back later, when he’s gone.’

  ‘I’ll still be here.’

  The two men left. Julia slumped down in a chair, staring out at the beach that had been so much a part of her life. It had changed. Even much of the sand on the beach had washed away, as if in protest. The once vast expanse of golden sand was now a rocky barrier at low tide. What a mess her life had become. She had to take control of things and decide what she wanted. Time to grow up. Though she would never have admitted it to anyone else, she had been drifting without direction through the years. Even the Kenya trip had been little more than a temporary rebellion. She had known at the outset that she would come home and probably drift some more. Without her mother, there was no option at all. Why shouldn’t she live here and begin some sort of career? Bryce Davies was possibly worth cultivating. Was he married, she wondered?

  You stupid old fool. I never meant to do that. Why did you have to start shouting?

  OK, so I tripped over something and made a noise. You should never leave things lying around like that. Dangerous.

  But if you’d stayed safe in your little bed, I wouldn’t have had to hit you. Now look at you. I only wanted to scare you a bit. Make you feel worried about being here. Look at you, in your stupid old dressing gown.

  Thought I’d got away with it for a bit but, oh no. You have to start shouting, don’t you? Not supposed to hurt anyone, I was told, but it was me or you. I couldn’t let you see me. My boss wouldn’t have liked that. Scare ’em into leaving the place, that’s what he told me. What I’m bein’ paid for. Not bumping someone off.

  Now you’ve given me the problem of getting shot of you. You’re surprisingly heavy for an old bat. Can’t drag you, though, ’cos that’ll leave tracks. Nothing for it but to carry you. Good job the tide’s in. Not so far to go. Gotta walk over the stones so I don’t leave tracks. Tide doesn’t come in quite high enough this time of year.

  Ooooh, that made quite a splash. Good idea of mine to drop you off the higher rocks. Go on, dear. Round the point. That’s the way. With a bit of luck, it’ll take a while before anyone finds you.

  Chapter Five

  Julia went to bed early and didn’t hear Ryan come home. Early next morning, she sat in the garden, her hands wrapped round a mug of coffee. The sound of waves was comforting, perpetual energy and a certainty in life. Gulls wheeled and screamed overhead. Though noisy and intrusive, the familiarity was strangely relaxing.

  ‘Julia? Are you there?’ called a feeble voice.

  ‘Oh, Miss Smythe. Annie.’ The elderly woman looked distraught and was clearly agitated. ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘No dear. I’m not. I don’t know …’ She paused as if waiting for her sister to complete the sentence. ‘Betty seems … to have disappeared. She isn’t in her room. She never goes out … not on her own. Especially not at night.’

  She kept breaking off, as if leaving space for her sister to fill in the gaps.

  ‘Perhaps she went for a walk?’ Annie shook her head. ‘Went to collect something from the shop?’ Another shake of the head. The coils of hair wrapped round her ears shook slightly with the motion.

  ‘Her bed wasn’t slept in. I can’t think where she can be. We both went upstairs at the same time after making our cocoa. I thought I heard her door shut but perhaps I was mistaken.’

  ‘Would she have had a reason to go down again? Maybe she heard something and went downstairs to investigate?’

  ‘I don’t know. Oh dear. We’ve never been apart. I have such a bad feeling.’

  ‘Let’s have a look round your garden. And maybe on the beach,’ Julia suggested. Poor old thing, she was quite lost on her own.

  ‘But I’ve looked all around the garden. It’s not very big. And all round the house. There’s nothing. Well, there was a rake we left out by mistake. Lying on the path at the side of the cottage. I put it away in the shed where it was supposed to be. I suppose she might have tripped over it but she would have come back inside, wouldn’t she? Her clothes are still in her room, where she would have left them. Her dressing gown is missing.’

  Together, the pair crossed the lane and Julia insisted they had another look round the garden and house. It smelt of polish and old people, though it was immaculately tidy and clean.

  ‘You wait here and I’ll take a walk along the beach. Maybe she did go for a walk and fell down or something.’

  ‘In her dressing gown? Don’t be foolish, dear. She’d never do that.’

  ‘Then perhaps it’s time to call the police.’

  ‘But what will people think? I can’t do that. Besides, Betty will be furious if I make a fuss.’

  ‘You go back and make yourself some tea. I’ll go to look on the beach.’

  Ryan appeared at the gate, looking tousled and wearing the shorts he usually slept in.

  ‘What’s going on?’ he asked.

  ‘Betty Smythe seems to have gone missing. I said I’d walk along the beach and see if there’s any sign of her.’

  ‘I’ll grab some shoes and come with you.’

  ‘Apparently, she’s in her nightie, so I hope yo
u can cope.’

  They walked along the beach, deserted apart from the odd dog walker. They asked if anyone had seen their neighbour but nobody had.

  ‘So, how did you leave things with dear Daddy last night?’ Julia asked as they trod on soft, damp sand above the rocks.

  ‘Same as before. I have two weeks holiday and if I’m not back I become disinherited.’

  ‘And will you? Go back?’

  ‘Actually, I don’t think I have much choice. If I don’t work for the family business I can’t earn a living doing anything else. Besides, he …’ He stopped, knowing he could not finish the sentence. Julia seemed not to have noticed.

  ‘But what about your dreams of being an artist, or wasn’t it poetry at one time?’

  ‘Get real. Poets and artists have to be very lucky to make a pittance. And, for Heaven’s sake, don’t mention either of those things in front of Dad. He’d make my life even more hellish. Do you think it’s worth going any further? I doubt that even the redoubtable Betty would have made it much further than this.’

  ‘You’re probably right. Bit of a long shot anyhow. Perhaps she’s been kidnapped and even now the ransom demand is coming in.’

  ‘Can’t think what the other one will do if she isn’t found,’ Ryan said quietly. ‘Doesn’t bear thinking about. They must be well over seventy and probably never been apart.’

  ‘That’s what she said. We’d better go and tell Annie we’ve had no joy. Actually, you’d better go and get dressed. She might faint with shock at the sight of those disgusting shorts.’

  By the time Julia knocked at Miss Smythe’s door, the elderly lady was in a state of near collapse.

  ‘I really think we should phone the police,’ Julia suggested. ‘It isn’t normal for her to go missing like this. Would you like me to do it for you?’

  ‘Thank you, dear. Though I’m still afraid Betty will scold me for making a fuss.’

  ‘You have your tea while I call,’ Julia said, desperate to give her something to do. She dialled the number and explained the problem. Forcefully, she said that it was totally out of character for the woman to go out of the house at night and managed to convince them to send someone round. Annie came from kitchen carrying a tray. It was set perfectly with a starched tray cloth and fine bone china cups. A plate with a doyley held an array of home-made biscuits.