Monday, late evening
Bea said, ‘I didn’t say I wouldn’t help you. Piers is right. We need to check the legal position.’
Bernice said, ‘I promise we’ll think of something.’ She turned Evie round and led her out of the door and up the stairs. The door closed behind her.
Bea said, ‘Bernice shouldn’t make promises. She hasn’t a clue what she’s up against!’
Piers took his phone out of his pocket and read a text. He didn’t seem to like what he saw. ‘I’m ordered to be ready for collection at half eight tomorrow morning, when I’ll be taken to the Trescotts to start work at nine. I think not!’ He busied himself sending a reply.
Bea got off the bed and sat at the dressing table to take off her jewellery and make-up. ‘What are you telling them?’
‘I’m texting that I’m leaving tonight for a vacation in Florida. Back in four weeks’ time.’
‘Evie will tell him otherwise.’
‘Maybe. Maybe not. We need a council of war. A list of people to contact. Your solicitor’s pretty good, isn’t he? We need to fend off any attempt to remove Beatrice from your guardianship. Also, how do we rescue Leon? Who else do we know on the Holland board of directors? Surely they ought to know what’s happening to the man? And can we work out what action Cyril is going to take next? We’ll have to think up something soon or those two girls will do something silly and end up in worse trouble than they started.’
‘I’m too tired to think.’ She reached for the zip at the back of her dress, but Piers got there before her, and pulled it down. Slowly and with care. He kissed her bare shoulder. ‘I’ll put the cat out, make sure the grandfather clock’s been wound up, the front door is bolted and the alarm on.’
She didn’t have a grandfather clock and Winston would take care of himself but she was happy to leave shutting up the house to him. She took her time in the shower, and heard Piers use the one in the guest room. The girls were moving around on the top floor, calling out to one another. Also using the shower. They weren’t planning to run away together, were they? No, of course not. Bea told herself she was overtired and imagining things.
She put on another of her best silk nightdresses. She wasn’t quite sure why. Probably because it made her feel good.
When she emerged from her bathroom she found Piers sitting up in her bed wearing his new reading glasses and nothing else. He was tapping away at his laptop. She didn’t know how to act. She thought of sweeping off to the guest room in a fit of high dudgeon … if only she could remember what ‘dudgeon’ meant. She thought of how comfortable it would be to slide in beside him, and have a cuddle.
She thought of the wound he’d dealt her so long ago and it was like being stabbed in her heart all over again.
He shut down his laptop and took off his glasses. ‘You need a fighting fund. I can transfer you twenty thousand pounds straight away, if you’ll give me your bank details. It will take a few days to get more. Just let me know how much you’d like.’
She blinked. ‘You have that much to spare?’
‘Small change. Most of my money is tied up in this and that but can be accessed as and when I need it. What do I need money for? I make Max and the grandkids an allowance. I pay my bills on time. I still earn more than I spend.’ He set the laptop aside. ‘I have this dream of being a white knight, riding to your rescue, saying something like, Here’s your enemy’s head on a charger … not that I’m absolutely sure what a charger is. It’s not a horse, is it?’
‘It’s a kind of serving platter, I think. Piers, I’m not ready for you to come to my bed yet. There’s too much going on. I can’t think straight.’
He sighed and got out of bed. No, he wasn’t wearing pyjamas. And he was ready for her.
Her body responded. She felt both shaken and stirred.
He said, ‘I am your obedient servant, ma’am. But give me some hope. We’ll make it legal as soon as possible. Right?’
She blushed and hated herself for doing so. She lifted the duvet and got in on her side. ‘Possibly. Probably. But if you let me down again, I’ll carve you into little pieces and throw them out into the garden for the birds to eat.’
‘And I’ll hand you the knife. Only, as I remember, your carving skills are not up to much. Perhaps I’d better buy you an electric carving knife. That should do the trick.’ He held on for a count of five, but she made no move towards him, so he collected his laptop and glasses and left, turning out the centre light as he did so.
She was not going to cry. No. So many years had passed since they were last in bed together, and yet she remembered how sweet it had been. For two pins, she’d call him back.
No, not yet. A few more days wouldn’t hurt.
We’re turning into an old married couple. Darby and Joan. Tomorrow I must ring round and find out … Dear Lord, how good it was to lie with a man you loved and who loved you! My darling Hamilton, my loving second husband, I miss you so much. You put me back together again when Piers betrayed me. If only … but there, we can’t go back in time, can we?
Please, Lord: will you look after that poor child Evie … and keep Bernice safe … and me. And Piers.
What will Cyril say when he hears Piers said he was going to Florida? And what will he do when he finds out it’s a lie? Oh dear. I feel like laughing and I feel like crying and I don’t know which to do … so I’ll do either.
Tomorrow … busy day … I have to learn how to forgive Piers.
Tuesday morning
Bea got up early and had a sketchy breakfast while making a list of what she had to do.
Piers was nowhere to be seen and neither were the girls, but Winston arrived, demanding attention on finding her alone and at his mercy. Only, as soon as he heard someone opening and shutting doors at the top of the house, he gave Bea a look of reproach and vanished through the cat flap. He didn’t usually take against people, but it seemed that Evie was not on his visiting list.
Bea waited to see if anyone else wanted breakfast at that early hour but when no one appeared, she went down the stairs into the agency rooms to switch on the lights and open the office. There was still half an hour before any of her staff might be expected to arrive, and she had a lot to do. She spread out the list she’d made while having her coffee and got on with it. Some of the people she couldn’t contact till later in the morning, but there was one particular person she needed to contact immediately. If only he weren’t out of the country or on another job …
Staff trickled in to start the day and Bea worked on, putting some people in the know, asking for help, sometimes giving instructions, sometimes cajoling. She hadn’t finished before there was a clatter and Evie came tumbling down the stairs. She was laughing but not as if she were amused. ‘Can you come, please, Mrs Abbot? It’s Bernice. She’s … oh, she’s mad!’
Bea abandoned her phone with a quick ‘I’ll call you back’, and hurried through the office and up the stairs. In the living room she found a competent-looking, middle-aged woman with fashionably silver hair, dressed in expensive black. Botoxed, face-lifted, toned by hours in the gym. From the sour expression on her face, it looked as if something had disagreed with her.
Bernice, frozen-faced, had backed up against the big table in the window, her attitude indicating that she’d hit someone if they said the wrong word.
‘Are you Mrs Abbot?’ said the stranger, proffering her hand to shake. ‘I’m Celia from Crystal’s Model Agency. You’ve heard of us, I’m sure. You’re her mother or guardian, aren’t you? Thank goodness you’ve come. Perhaps you can talk some sense into the girl.’
Bernice was so stiff it looked as if she were vibrating. Her eyes were huge.
Piers came in from the kitchen. ‘What’s going on?’
Bea looked a question at the newcomer. ‘Crystal’s Model Agency? For fashion models? What have they got to do with us?’
Evie was bouncing up and down, flushed with a combination of pleasure and envy. ‘They’re offering Bernice a session with a top photographer and a six-month contract! Can you believe it? I’d give my eye teeth to be considered by them! The money! The places she’ll go to! The people she’ll meet!’
Bea didn’t get it. ‘What? But …! How on earth—?’
Celia pulled a file from a business bag and held it up. ‘The pictures she sent in. Amateurish, of course, but they convinced us she had what it takes. What bone structure! What colouring! What a figure! She’s just perfect! True, her eyebrows need attention, but she has that certain something we’re always looking for and rarely find. We’ve booked her a first session with our photographer in an hour’s time. That’s for her portfolio, you understand. So, if you’ll just glance over the paperwork … we’ll need your signature, of course, as she’s still a minor.’
Bernice almost spat. ‘I didn’t send you any pictures!’
Celia shook her head. ‘Naughty, naughty! We know you dropped them by the agency the other day. I suppose you didn’t tell Mrs Abbot in case nothing happened, but there … your secret’s out now.’
‘I didn’t.’ This seemed to be all Bernice could say. Her body was still rigid.
Bea tried to understand what was happening. If Bernice said she hadn’t done something, then she hadn’t.
Bea took the folder proffered by Celia and looked through a series of A4 size photos. Amateurish, yes. But they showed an elegant young girl with a shining mop of hair, clear skin and violet eyes in the act of dressing, looking out of a window, reading, taking a leap in the air … and then she was showing off her brand-new party dress and trying on shoes in a shop. At lunch with Evie. And lastly there was a delightful one of her asleep in bed.
The camera loved Bernice.
Bea said, ‘This is a scam. No reputable agency will employ a girl who is under eighteen nowadays.’
Celia smiled widely. ‘Oh, come now. She’s nearly fifteen and looks older. She can easily pass for seventeen and who’s going to ask when she looks like that on camera?’
Piers came up behind Bea. ‘Her guardian would never agree.’ He took the folder off Bea and riffled through the contents. He said, ‘Most of these were taken at school. See, the clothes, the backgrounds. The next ones were taken when she was trying on the party dress in the boutique. The last few were taken by a different photographer when you were all having lunch together.’
‘Yes,’ said Bea. ‘I see.’ She went to Bernice and put her arms about her. ‘There, there.’
The girl shuddered. ‘Evie betrayed me.’
‘Yes,’ said Bea. ‘How very sad. I suspect her family leant on her to provide them with the photos.’ And she looked at Evie.
Evie was sullen. ‘What if they did? It was just a spot of fun. They wanted to know if Bernice really was like her portrait, and I said I’d send them some pictures, because I’ve always got my smartphone with me, and they liked them and said they wanted some more, and then … and then …’
‘And then,’ said Piers, ‘you told them where you’d be out shopping, and they had someone come and take candid pictures of you when you were at lunch afterwards. You couldn’t have taken those because they’ve caught you in the shots as well. You might not have known what they intended to do with the photos at first, but you knew what was going to happen when this woman arrived from the agency, right?’
‘So?’ Evie sulked. ‘I don’t know what all the fuss is about. Bernice ought to be pleased. Anyone else would be over the moon. She can be famous, and travel all over the world, and make a mint of money and never have to go back to school.’
Bernice laid her head on Bea’s shoulder. She was trembling, but not as badly as before. Bea stroked the girl’s sleek head. ‘Hush, hush.’
Celia consulted the monster of a watch on her wrist. ‘I hate to rush you, but the photographer won’t wait beyond the time he’s booked for, and we have to get the releases signed. So if we could just sit down and—’
Bernice murmured something. Bea bent her head to listen. ‘What was that?’
‘Tell her to go. That woman. And her. Evie, too.’
Bea looked at Celia. ‘My ward is distressed. She feels her privacy has been violated. It was not her idea to put herself forward for a modelling career. I don’t know whose idea it was but it wasn’t hers. You knew how old she was, but you thought we would be tempted by the prospect of fame and fortune to ignore the rules. I wonder: have you really booked a session with a photographer, or are you planning to take her somewhere isolated, where she can be approached by a man who likes young girls? No?’
‘How dare you!’ The woman became icy. ‘Of course this is a genuine offer! Don’t you realize how many girls apply for a contract with us, and how few are selected? I understand my visit has come as something of a surprise, but when the girl has calmed down I’m sure she’ll want to go through with it.’
Bernice shook her head and clung to Bea.
Celia said, ‘What a stupid girl she is! But you, Mrs Abbot, as her guardian, must be able to appreciate what a rare opportunity this is for her.’
‘I understand,’ said Bea, ‘that if I signed a release saying she was seventeen or eighteen, I’d be joining you in breaking the law. I am tasked with looking after Bernice’s best interests and I’m not going to play your game.’
‘Listen to me! She’s a one-off. I know quality when I see it, and I don’t see it often. Yes, we’d have to fudge her age, but I tell you that this girl’s face will be on the cover of the world’s most famous magazines. She will be on the A-list for parties, will be showered with couture garments to wear, the richest men will vie for her company. And you want to refuse her such a wonderful life?’
Bernice nodded. She didn’t want anything to do with it.
‘That’s enough,’ said Bea. ‘Please, just go.’
Celia flushed with anger. ‘I’m giving you one last chance to change your mind. You can’t expect the agency to keep the offer open when so many others are pleading for attention. If I leave now, you can forget the whole thing. Now, let’s hear it from the girl herself. She has a tongue, doesn’t she?’
Bernice didn’t react. She might not even have heard what Celia had said. Only her light, rapid breathing showed she was alive.
Celia said, ‘Come on, girl! You can’t be that stupid! Speak up for yourself. Are you really going to turn down this chance of a lifetime?’
Bernice lifted her head to look up at Bea. ‘If she won’t go, then I will.’ She released herself and walked out of the room with her head held high.
Celia laughed, a sharp bark with no humour in it. ‘I see how it is. She’s playing for a better contract. Well, that won’t wash. We’re offering her the best she can hope for at this stage.’
Piers tore the photos of Bernice out of the folder. ‘I suppose you have the originals. Our solicitors will be writing to your agency, asking that any photos of Bernice they have be destroyed, as they were taken without her consent.’
‘And who are you, may I ask?’
Bea said, ‘A friend of the family. For the umpteenth time, I’m asking you to leave.’
Celia turned on Bea. ‘If you let that child get away with her tantrums, if you don’t make her see sense and accept our terms, in a few days’ time she’s going to regret turning us down, and she’s going to hate you forever.’
Bea said, ‘I think I know who has put you up to this. Does the name “Trescott” mean anything to you?’
Celia’s eyelids fluttered, but she set her lips in a firm line. She was not going to reply. She stuffed the empty folder back into her bag. ‘I have no idea who thought the girl worthy of attention. I’m not on the board. I’m a talent scout, that’s all.’ And that was a lie. She knew of the name ‘Trescott’ even if she hadn’t had face-to-face contact with them.
So the Trescotts had been behind this latest ploy.
Piers held the door open. ‘Let me show you out.’
Evie collapsed on the settee, wailing, ‘Oh, oh! It’s all gone wrong!’
Bea rolled her eyes and went after Bernice, whom she found sitting on the garden bench in the garden below with Winston, the cat, in her arms. Winston was perfectly happy to be petted and stroked for a short while, so long as there was the prospect of food at the end of it.
The sun was full on the garden, mayflies hovered over the lily pond, pink and white geraniums spilled over the huge stone pots on the terrace, sweet peas climbed a trellis by the high, red-brick wall that enclosed this private space, and birds fought over the feeders at the end of the garden.
Bernice made room for Bea to sit beside her. Winston yawned, blinked at Bea and, knowing she was his most faithful provider, put out his paw to her while retaining his position on Bernice’s lap.
Bea said, ‘Piers is seeing Celia out. Evie is in tears.’
Bernice sighed. Bea was struck by the way the girl was growing up. The fine bones of her face were becoming more pronounced. Yes, she might well consider plucking her rather heavy eyebrows, but she was beginning to show the promise of the poised, elegant woman she would become.
Bea said, ‘About Evie. Shall I tell the Trescotts to come and collect her? That we can’t look after her any longer?’
Bernice went on stroking Winston, who decided that enough was enough. The birds twittering in the tree at the bottom of the garden were making inroads into his territory, and they needed to be aware that there was a cat on guard. He freed himself from Bernice with a leap, and shot up the trunk of the tree to send the birds flying.
Bernice relaxed, limb by limb. She sighed deeply, leaning back and closing her eyes. The sun was warm. A bee hummed, investigating a stand of lilies in the bed under the wall. ‘I don’t get it. What are they after? Why have they set Evie to watch what I do and report back? Why did they think I’d go along with it? I mean … ugh! Those pictures of me! Even when I’m asleep. How could she!’
‘I assume she was under orders. You weren’t tempted to take up a modelling career? Not even for a moment?’
Bernice shivered. ‘At first I thought, “Wow”! Then I thought what a stupid way it was to spend your time, dressing up like a doll and not using your brain at all. That’s not what I want out of life. You think the Trescotts arranged it? I don’t understand why they’d think I’d go for it. First the puppy, then chocolate and an orchid and now this. Why are they getting at me?’
What could Bea say? She couldn’t frighten Bernice with the notion that this was all a plot by Benjy to get her alone with him. Bea wasn’t even sure that that was the motive behind his courtship – if you could call it that.
She said, ‘You may be collateral damage. The Trescotts are talking to Leon about a merger. You will inherit voting shares. At the moment I hold them in trust for you. In the past Leon has always sent me a proxy form so that he can vote your shares as he thinks fit. That’s presumably what will happen when the matter of the merger comes before the board. Because I control those shares on your behalf, I can see why there’d be a charm offensive to make sure those votes go the way they want.’
Bernice saw the flaw in that argument. ‘They’re targeting me, not you. If Evie were spying on you it would be a different matter. But it’s me she’s after, isn’t it?’
Piers came down the steps to join them. ‘Evie’s gone up to her room in floods of tears, and with her phone jammed to her ear. No doubt to report on the failure of their plan B, or is it plan C? I lose track. Are you all right, Brat?’
Bernice nodded. She moved closer to Bea, so as to let him sit beside them.
Bea said, ‘Let’s recap what we know. If I’m right, there are several players in this game, each working on a different agenda. In the first place – and the most straightforward and easiest to understand – there is the desire by Cyril Trescott that nothing should stand in the way of the merger between the two firms. That’s why he’s pushing for closer relationships with us through the offers to Piers, the dinner in town and the invitations to us and to Max for the party at the weekend. His tactic is straightforward. When flattery doesn’t work, he tries bribery and when that fails, he makes threats to remove me from Bernice’s guardianship. Oh, and he thinks it would be amusing to be painted by Piers … but that’s only one piece of an intricate puzzle.
‘The next piece concerns Evie, whose future and considerable fortune is at stake. As far as I can make out, in her grief after her parents died she became ill, was diagnosed as an epileptic and put on some strong pills which make her sleepy. Bernice hasn’t seen any signs of that illness and nor have I. Evie may well have grown out of a tendency in that direction. Now she’s off the pills, she seems normal enough to me. Quite bright in some directions if not in others. Her aunt was perhaps overprotective in pushing her into an early marriage, and her Uncle Constant didn’t care enough to interfere … well, that’s all very understandable in its way.
‘But then we got dragged in to look after her. Why? Well, what do we know for certain? Evie found her uncle dead in bed whereupon April drugged the child stupid and dumped her on us, saying it was important to get her out of the house so that the police wouldn’t question her. April hinted that the girl bore some responsibility for her uncle’s decease, although I can’t think why. Can you think of any reason why Evie should have wanted her uncle to die? I can’t.’
Piers and Bernice both shook their heads. They couldn’t think why, either.
Bea went on. ‘I would really like to know exactly how Uncle Constant come to die. We’re told there was to be an autopsy. The aunt seems to think the verdict will be that he took an accidental overdose. If that is proved to be the case, I suppose we don’t need to worry about it. But was he helped along the road to death? Did Evie have anything to do with his death? If she did, she is guilty of murder. If she knows that someone else was involved but doesn’t speak up, then she’s an accessory after the fact.’
Piers looked grim. ‘You think that someone else in that family had a hand in the man’s death? Not Evie. But you think she’s a useful scapegoat? You think that they want to keep her sedated until she can’t think for herself. That’s “gaslighting”. The victim is made to believe they are going mad.’
Bernice said, ‘That’s ridiculous! You can’t make people believe any such a thing.’
Bea said, ‘There’s precedents for it. Especially if the victim is doped to the eyeballs and everyone keeps telling them they need to be careful or they’ll be ill again and have to be sent back to the clinic. I’m ready to entertain the idea that this is what’s happening. Evie’s an heiress, due to come into a great deal of money in two years’ time. They keep her in fear of what she might do. They tell her they’ll always look after her. They control her every move. They—’
Piers completed the thought. ‘With her guardian’s consent, at sixteen she can get married. And that’s what they’ve planned to happen, isn’t it? She’s being paired off with Joshua to keep the money in the family.’
‘It looks to me,’ said Bea, ‘as if April is behind that scheme, which provides nicely for her eldest son’s future. Let’s move on to another part of the puzzle. Evie has been photographing Bernice and sending the pictures on to someone in the family. Evie has also been keeping that same person informed of our movements. I have to ask myself who would want the pictures and why?’
Piers said, ‘I don’t like the answer to that question.’
Bernice stared. ‘I don’t understand.’
Bea said, ‘You’re too closely involved to see it, Bernice. Let’s compare what you and Evie have in common. You are both underage. You are both heiresses. And practically speaking you are both orphans in someone else’s care. We are told that Evie is going to receive a proposal of marriage from her cousin Joshua at her birthday bash this weekend. She seems to take this as a matter of course. We’re also told that Joshua has ambitions to go into parliament and eventually become prime minister. I’m not sure she’d be much good as the wife of an MP, or that he has the calibre to make it that far, but her money will undoubtedly help him climb the political ladder. So far, so good. Right?’
Bernice frowned. ‘She says Benjy was her first boyfriend but went off her for some reason. She doesn’t seem to me to be madly in love with Joshua, but what do I know?’
‘Ah,’ said Bea. ‘Now we come to it. Benjy. The younger brother, ambitious and with a sense of entitlement. He aims to take over Trescotts. Possibly he will be able to do so in due course, but not yet because his uncle Cyril, the Silver Fox, is firmly in control at the moment. Benjy also needs money. I think he was looking around for another heiress when the Trescotts visited the Royal Academy and learned that Leon had a young great-niece who would inherit a goodly sum one day. The possibility of a merger with Hollands sharpened the Trescotts’ interest in Bernice. At that point in time they had to find a better school for Evie, and it was a neat solution to their problem to send her to the same place as Bernice, and to suggest the pair might room together.’
‘You’re joking!’ Bernice flushed.
‘No, I’m not. One of the people I spoke to this morning was your headmistress, whom I was lucky enough to catch just before she flew off for her summer holiday. She confirmed that Mrs Trescott had approached her suggesting you were paired off with Evie because, she said, there was going to be a closer relationship between the two families. And, a clincher: it was April who suggested giving you a lift back here when she collected Evie at the end of term.’
Bernice rolled her shoulders. ‘I feel like I’ve been used. I thought I was looking after her, and all the time she was spying on me and reporting to her horrible family? Ugh!’
‘Exactly,’ said Bea. ‘Then young Benjy came to call with his brother one day. Why? Because they were passing and wanted to see their cousin? No. I think it was because he’d seen your portrait and was intrigued. To make sure he wasn’t mistaken in his assessment, he asked Evie to send him photos of you. And what he saw, he liked very much indeed.’
Bernice flushed. ‘I’m too young for all that.’
Piers sighed. ‘I think he likes girls young. Remember, Evie said he was her boyfriend before Joshua took up with her.’
‘That’s sick.’ Bernice lifted her shoulders to her ears. ‘It makes me want to puke.’
Piers said, ‘You’re an attractive package, Bernice. Money, brains and looks. I know you’ve not had to think about this before, but Benjy’s right in some respects: some girls of your age – and boys, too – think of nothing but sex.’
‘Well, I don’t. And I don’t want to, either.’
‘Agreed,’ said Bea. ‘Now so far Benjy has followed the family’s usual method of dealing with their inferiors. He’s tried charm. Then he tried tempting you to leave the straight and narrow in various ways. I must admit he is creative in his ideas. But next—’
‘He’ll move on to blackmail, if he can find a lever. And then, force,’ said Piers.
‘So,’ said Bea, ‘we have to take precautions.’
Bernice straightened her shoulders. ‘The first thing to do is to get rid of Evie. I never want to see her again. Get her out of my sight or … or I’ll do her an injury.’