Chapter 65: Chapter 65

*****

James Beth, shadow-eyed from her long drive, flops onto her seat and Richard presses a glass of wine into her hand.

Charlotte sits next to Michael on the couch, jittery and fidgeting, constantly picking at her nails. The wine is excellent, but her glass is untouched, and she doesn’t look at Beth.

“And?” says Richard.

Beth holds up her hands, shaking her head slowly. “Nothing.”

“Nothing? Nothing at all?”

Charlotte looks up, her face stricken.

“Nothing at all,” says Beth. “I spoke to David and Stephen. They simply stone-walled me. Insisted that they never had a sister and that you're misremembering.”

Richard’s lip curls. “No, I’m not.”

Beth’s eyes dart across to Charlotte. Both women look upset. “I believe you my Love,” she says, “but I can't get anything out of them. They simply won’t discuss it. When I tried to press the point, Stephen made their excuses and they left.”

Charlotte’s head drops to her chest. Michael is watching her, her hand eclipsed by his. As she begins to shake, he pulls her close into his chest, one hand stroking the back of her head as he says something quiet to her.

“I'm sorry,” she sobs. “I'm sorry. I just hoped.…”

Richard looks down at my weeping mermaid, his voice dripping disgust. “There’s nothing for you to apologise for, Charlotte. We all know what you hoped for.”

“Which takes us back to the rest of Albert’s papers,” I say. “If we find something solid in there, present them with it, then they can’t deny it can they.”

Beth sucks in her cheeks, nodding slowly. “What did you have in mind?”

“Oh, I don’t know…. Old photos, school reports maybe….”

Michael pipes up. “Funny that. Now that I think about it, I’ve not seen any photos at all. It’s one thing that seems to be missing. Are there any more boxes to come out of Albert’s old house, Beth?”

“No, it’s all but empty now. Just a few sticks of furniture left. I’m done there really.” She looks depressed, takes a sip from her wine. “What have you all achieved while I was away? Anything more useful than I did?”

Richard looks uncomfortable.

He really has no need….

Too close to the knuckle with his own wife?

Does he want me to do the talking?

I cock an eye at him and he nods.

Turning to Beth, “We have put together a paper trail,” I say. “The long and the short is that Albert Kimberley came up with the idea for the first City project. It was a good plan. At a time when the City was really only a town, he conceived the notion that would tie together different unconnected areas….”

I jam my hands together, lacing together spread finger…. “into a single co-ordinated whole. It was a stroke of genius and he bought the land to make it happen. He wanted Richard’s father to fund the project. Judging by what we have here, Edward Haswell was keen to make the project work too and everything would have gone well except that Albert had a gambling problem and drove himself into bankruptcy. When his assets were seized, he lost the lot.”

Beth’s eyes widen, and she looks to Richard, who still looks uneasy. I continue. “Meanwhile, Edward bought up the bulk of those assets and went on to build the Imperial and everything else in that area of the City. From a piece of land which was originally just marshland, today, it’s worth billions.”

Beth muses, staring into space. “And my uncle would have been half-owner of all that, except that he pissed it away in the casinos.”

Michael, Richard and I all exchange a look. It’s very unusual for Beth to speak in such a way. Richard doesn’t look happy….

He expects her to be a lady….

…. and I think he’s about to discipline her, but Michael steps in. “That would have finished many a man.”

“Perhaps it did,” I say. “There’s no sign that he’s a large part of the story after that.”

“He never recovered from the bankruptcy?”

I shrug, and Richard speaks up. “Bankruptcy law was not so generous then. It was harder to recover.

But mainly…. I think something in the man was broken. When I knew him, there wasn’t much left of him.”

“Except,” says Michael, holding up a forefinger, “when the time came that his favourite niece wanted to go to The Big City, he sent her to the Imperial….” He casts an eye to Beth…. “Perhaps hoping that she could somehow reclaim the family heritage?”

Beth nods, her smile pale. “Yes, telling me to work hard, live clean and earn an honest living.”

Richard smiles. “He got that right, didn’t he. I’ll drink a toast to the old man for that.”

“We’re forgetting something aren’t we?” I say. “What happened to your little redhead? Shelley? Why wasn’t she the one that Albert sent to the Big City? To find the streets paved with gold?”

Charlotte stands, chin raised. “We’ll just keep looking then, won’t we. With all of us going through the papers, we’re bound to turn up something.”

“Perhaps,” I say. “But for now, I think we need to take a break on it….” She starts to protest, but I cut her off. “Michael is trying to get the hotel running properly. Richard has a business to run. I have my own work to do, not least to address the issue of who Klempner’s spy might be. And you….” I level a forefinger at her…. “…. You have exams coming. You need to knuckle down to that.”

Her eyes are glossing….

Sometimes we must overrule our emotions….

But I try to take the sting out of my words. “The papers aren’t going anywhere. Let’s run our normal lives for a while, and we’ll come back to it. We’ve learned a lot already.”

She lowers her eyes, nodding meekly. “Yes, alright.” But there are tears in the words.

I move to her, take her in my arms, holding her close. Pressing my lips to her hair, I say, “We'll find a way, Jade. I promise you. We’ll find her for you.”

*****

A knock at my office door: “James, Richard asked me to copy you in on this.” Francis places a file on my desk. “It’s the list of potential contacts, new employees and so forth that might bear examination as your potential spy.”

“Thank you, Francis. Does anything leap off the page at you?”

She looks distressed. “No, I’m afraid not. I appended an extra section at the back which is the list of contractors and tradesmen you have had at your home over the last few months plus new employees taken on at Michael’s leisure centre and the spa hotel.” She holds up hasty hands. “I asked Michael’s permission before I did it. Obviously, it could be sensitive information.”

“That’s alright. It was a good thought.”

She makes to leave, but hovers by the door. “James, is there anything you would like me to look out for? Anything specific?”

I rub my forehead. “I wish I knew. Information’s leaking out somewhere. All I can say Francis, is keep your eyes open for anything that looks out of kilter. At least being on the reception desk, you’re in a good position to watch.”

“I’ll do that. It’s a shame I can only watch this floor, rather than the whole building.”

She leaves, and I open the file, trying to extract something useful from raw data, but the list is too large to be manageable. It is simply not possible to zoom in on several hundred people.

But Francis’ parting words touch a chord: It’s a shame I can only watch this floor, rather than the whole building….

Something to think about….