21

Joe was waiting for Tracy as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

‘Bitch,’ Joe muttered as he grabbed her arm.

‘Joe, stop it. I’m cross too, but we shouldn’t let him see us like this.’

He tightened his grip. ‘You don’t care. You’re in the money and if you’re not, your kids are, which is just the same thing. For one moment there I thought she was treating us the same.’

Tracy gave a deliberate and anxious glance back up the echoing staircase.

‘Let’s go and calm down and talk somewhere else.’

Joe followed her gaze. Upstairs a door clanged in the distance. He released her arm, slammed the flat of his hand against the door onto the street, which swung open obligingly, and exited into the welcome fresh air. Tracy followed.

‘I walked past a Nero on my way. Let’s sit down and talk about it there,’ she suggested.

They staggered along in silence, Joe’s anger failing to abate, so that he attacked the pavement at each step, chin thrust forward, arms swinging.

Seated at a table near the back of the café, Tracy began her campaign to keep Joe on side. ‘What were you thinking about going off on one in front of Mr Bateman?’

‘Trace. The guy’s a complete tosser. Mum didn’t think up that stuff on her own. You know as well as I do that she wasn’t capable of that kind of…well…logical thinking. And all that jargon: “bequest”, “forfeit”. He put her up to it. What’s his game then?’

Tracy bit her lip, and then remembered her lipstick too late. She ran her tongue over her teeth to try to remove it and then gave up and rubbed at them with her index finger.

‘I don’t know, but I know that we need him sweet so we can get our money. He’s the executor. He will decide if we can have it. That’s why it was stupid to get angry in front of him. If we’ve got nothing to hide, we wouldn’t be bothered by Mum’s ridiculous conditions, would we?’

Joe stared at his sister and his anger began to subside. He ordered two black coffees and returned to his seat.

‘Listen, if anything, I’m the one in the shit, not you,’ Tracy began, ‘assuming you can show you saw Mum since Christmas?’ she said pointedly. ‘What did you tell the police?’

‘I can’t remember now. I said a few months, I think.’

‘Well I can’t see Brian talking to the police to check up. He’s a strange one. Do you remember Mum ever mentioning him?’

‘No. But it’s not the kind of stuff she would tell me about, is it? By the way, my solicitor is helping me make a will and if you get into any more trouble you don’t get a penny.’

‘Didn’t you hear? He said in the last five years. Unless there’s something else you’ve been nicked for that I don’t know about, then you’re in the clear.’

Joe collected the drinks and returned to the table.

‘No, Trace. I’m completely clean,’ he replied. ‘And Janice will remember when I last saw Mum.’

‘There you are then. We just need to keep calm and not shout at Brian again, just to make sure.’

‘But you saw her at the hospital. And you and Pete, you fixed everything you owed and you don’t even cheat at cards, so why aren’t you on the phone now telling dear Peter that he’s finally hit the jackpot? That our side of the family is the one with the money, for once.’

Tracy covered her face and sat very still. When she finally removed her hands and blinked, Joe was staring at her.

‘What’s up, Trace? Is it something bad?’

Tracy couldn’t help but wonder if his question was tinged with secret pleasure at her discomfort. She stifled a sob.

‘We’re in debt,’ she said.

‘You were, I know. But you sold everything, to pay it off?’

‘We did. The house, the car. Bastards at the school insisted on keeping a whole term’s money because we didn’t give them “sufficient notice” but our lawyer said we wouldn’t win that one. Stupid cow of a secretary enjoyed telling me that. Sold those gorgeous sofas, the Italian ones, the curtains from Florence. Pete had borrowed so much. He was expanding.’

‘But he had insurance?’

‘It’s not come through yet. They said it will take a few more months if they agree to cover him. You remember he went up that ladder to unblock the drainpipe and they snapped him. Now he’s paranoid. He hardly goes out, unless it’s very early or very late. He thinks they’re watching him all the time, through binoculars. He’s become obsessed.’

Joe stifled a giggle. He had never liked his brother-in-law much. Such a big shot with his Gucci shoes and Patek Philippe watch. He doubted that had been relinquished.

‘How much?’ he asked.

‘Our credit card debts are about three thousand, still. Business debts much more – Pete won’t even say, although he gave personal guarantees, too, all over the place, and you heard what Brian said: the debt condition includes “spouse”. I’ll have to get some more advice on what the will means. God, more lawyer’s fees.’

She swirled her coffee in its cup. She really wanted milk and two sugars but she wasn’t going to ask. ‘Maybe you could give me the money, the three thousand. That may be all I need to get my share from the will. Then I can give you it straight back.’

Joe regarded Tracy carefully. She had been good to him when they were kids. She had been the one who had reminded Mum to buy his uniform, on occasion had taken him shopping for clothes herself with money from Mum’s purse. She had tried, with limited success, to help him with his maths homework so he could pass his GCSE, and had even cajoled one of Mum’s boyfriends to give him some impromptu coaching. And she had intervened when Mum had wanted to throw him out after the Mackenzies’ business. But recently, well, for the last twenty years, what had she done for him?

‘It’ll probably come good for us both. You heard – he said it might take months for the distribution. I’m sure you’ll be fine by then. But I’ll talk to Janice and see what we can spare.’

‘Nooooo!’ Tracy shrieked out her response. ‘Please don’t tell Janice about…well…Pete would be so embarrassed.’

‘So you’ll take her money but you don’t want her to know where it’s going.’

‘That’s not fair. And unless you’ve changed a lot I doubt you two have a joint account.’

Joe stood up and fixed the lid on his coffee, ready to go. Tracy could always see through him. She was cleverer, always had been. The brains had gone to the girl. Still, he had the gift of the gab and the better looks by far. And at the moment, he held all the cards.

‘All right. I won’t tell Janice if you don’t want me to. Did he say he was sending us the will?’

‘Yes, by email.’

‘We can speak again when we’ve received it and talked to the man with all the money.’