The meeting with May Barnet went well enough. Having reduced the waving at Laura to a minimum, she thanked Sophie for her Christian act of allowing Mr Perrin to occupy her house after he had treated her in such a disreputable manner, although Sophie got the distinct impression that Mrs Barnet disapproved of her speedily-found recovery with Sam. Or perhaps she disapproved of Sam; there was definitely an air of brusqueness in her voice whenever she spoke to him. But, quite honestly, Sophie didn’t care. She handed over the keys and promised to check the house and remove all her personal effects, took Laura from Sam’s arms and was about to go when May Barnet interrupted her leaving.
‘Ms Denham, Social Services have contacted me regarding Mr Perrin’s long-term care. His accounts appear to have been frozen, so that his financial contribution to his care package will not be available without lengthy application. Would you…’
Sam intervened. ‘Mrs Barnet, Sophie is already paying her sister rent on Mr Perrin’s behalf, for a house which could otherwise provide her with income. She has no shared finances with Mr Perrin and no further obligation, financial or otherwise, to his care. His wife, however, who I gather is attempting to take full possession of his Exeter property, would undoubtedly have joint assets. Have Social Services communicated with her?’
‘Not with any success, Mr Barnes. Although, obviously, that route of support will continue to be investigated.’ She clasped her hands together and Sophie wondered whether she was about to offer a prayer. But she didn’t. Instead, she said, ‘Mr Perrin’s current girlfriend mentioned a large amount of jointly-owned cash that was in Mr Perrin’s car at the time of his accident.’ Her cheeks flushed with disapproval. ‘Several thousands of pounds, I believe.’
Sophie stared at her. ‘Suzie? You’ve spoken to Suzie Kay?’
Mrs Barnet looked apprehensive. ‘She was here yesterday. Also, I believe, twice last week. I—’
Again, Sam interrupted. ‘The money was handed over to the police. They regarded almost thirty-seven thousand pounds in the boot of a car as suspicious. If Miss Kay believes she has claim to some of it she will need to take that up with them.’
May Barnet offered an insincere smile. She turned to Sophie, who frowned back at her.
‘Has Miss Kay often visited Mr Perrin?’
‘Only the three times, as far as I’m aware.’
‘Did he remember who she was?’
‘I’m sorry, I don’t know. It seems his ability to recall varies from day to day.’
Sophie felt Sam touch her arm.
‘Soph, I’m sure Mrs Barnet will contact you if she needs to.’
Sophie paused then held out her hand. ‘May, thank you for all your help.’
May Barnet seemed relieved that the meeting had come to an end. She stood to shake Sophie’s hand then followed her to the door, waited whilst she secured Laura into her pushchair then waved. ‘God bless, Laura. You be a good girl and help mummy.’ She turned her diminishing smile towards Sam and watched as they walked away.
As Sam pushed Laura towards the main exit, Sophie leaned close and whispered, ‘She really doesn’t like you, does she?’
‘I’m utterly heartbroken.’
Sam paid the parking machine then wheeled out into the fresh autumn air. Sophie watched him negotiate the pushchair between the rows of parked cars and wondered why May Barnet could possibly not like him. Perhaps it was because he had been so ready to step into Jonah’s vacated shoes. Or perhaps she was contemptuous of the whole adultery-infidelity-unmarried-sex situation and she needed someone upon whom she could focus her disgust. Perhaps. As they were pulling away, she considered May Barnet’s recent revelation.
‘Sam, what do you think about Suzie visiting Jonah?’
‘Maybe she was checking out her cash.’
‘Do you think some of it really was hers?’
‘God knows.’ He slotted the exit card into the barrier, waited for the bar to rise and drove out towards the road. ‘Let’s eat, I’m starving.’
Sophie’s brow furrowed. ‘But why would they need all that cash?’
‘I dread to think. Perhaps they were planning to go somewhere or do something and Jonah didn’t want to leave a card trail. Perhaps he didn’t want to risk Suzie discovering his name on his credit cards. Whatever the reason, if it involved Jonah, it involved deceit.’
Sophie sighed. ‘Do you think Jonah will be safe at the house? What if those people try to get that missing data from him?’
‘I couldn’t fucking care less, Soph. I just hope that, if they decide to kill him, they don’t damage your house in the process.’
Sophie festered for the rest of the week and the weekend, desperate to know how much Suzie had contributed to Jonah’s blue-bag hoard of cash. So, on Monday, she waited for Viola to leave and rang Suzie, inviting her to meet for a quick lunch, perhaps on Thursday, that is if she could take a longer lunch break. After a brief and pregnant silence, Suzie said she’d love to.
They were both well into their pizzas when Sophie broached the subject of Suzie’s visits to Jonah’s bedside.
‘May Barnet mentioned you’d been to see Jonah a couple of times.’ Suzie failed to respond. ‘I was wondering how he is.’ Suzie remained silent. ‘I haven’t seen him since last month and they’ve stopped giving me updates. And I’m not sure whether it’s appropriate for me to call.’
‘He’s much better. They’re taking him to your house for assessment. It was kind of you to let him go back there.’
Sophie smiled and changed the subject, mentioned her return to office drudgery, Laura’s crèche and eventually homed in on her underlying purpose. ‘Suzie, why did you give Jonah all that money? We found it in his car and gave it to the police. We had no way of knowing some of it was yours. You never mentioned it to me.’
‘I didn’t know whether you’d found it. And I was embarrassed to mention it.’
‘But why did you and Jonah need all that cash? How much of it was yours?’
‘Ten thousand. It was towards our deposit on a house. The person who was selling it said they’d reduce the price if we paid in cash.’ She rummaged in her bag and pulled out some folded sheets, opened them out and showed Sophie an estate agent’s details. At least it looked like an estate agent’s details. But what she actually showed Sophie was two sheets detailing the Perrins’ Topsham Road house located at an address in Bournemouth. The photo of the lounge included a small, sleeping dog. ‘It’s probably sold by now,’ said Suzie. Sophie handed back the sheets and said she was sure Suzie would eventually get her money back.
That evening Sophie told Sam about her conversation with Suzie. He was irritated that she’d failed to mentioned her lunch date before it happened. She brushed his irritation aside. ‘Given the fact that Jonah was not hoping to purchase the house that he already owned, what do you think he needed thirty-seven thousand pounds for?’
‘I don’t know, Soph. Time will tell.’
The weeks passed. Sophie and Sam continued to observe the tumultuous relationship that was building between Sam’s brother and Sophie’s best friend and, whenever possible, they visited Sam’s site and watched Jesse’s architectural vision emerge from the chaos of bricks and cement. College reading week began and Sam was at home and able to take care of Laura and save her from the evil advances of Hadrian the bully. Then, the following mid-week, Sophie received a call informing her that, the coming Monday, Jonah was to be accompanied on his first visit to her house. Sam responded to the news by purchasing Sophie a new mobile with a new number, arranging a new email address and setting up replacement bank, Ebay and Amazon accounts. Sophie hoped this might be an overreaction.
‘Do you really think all this is necessary?’
‘I’m not risking Jonah knowing where you are. You’re still officially at the same address.’
‘But why do I have to have a new mobile number? I’ve had that same one for years.’
‘Because as soon as he gets his hands on any computer equipment, he’ll be able to trace the location of your phone, and if he doesn’t know the number it will slow him down. He’ll undoubtedly be able to work it out by checking the call histories of people you contact. People like Suzie and Rosemary. So, make as many calls as you can from the office. And delete all texts and logged calls immediately. And don’t download emails.’ He handed her a slim silver case. ‘And keep your phone in here when you’re not using it.’
‘What this?’
‘It’s an expensive and very stylish radiodense mobile case. I’ve cancelled geolocation on your new phone, but this will block any attempts at tracking. And it’ll prevent the screen from cracking next time you drop it on the floor.’
‘Why do you know all this stuff?’
‘Because I’m an aspiring criminal.’
Social Services emailed Sophie regarding Jonah’s progress and by the end of the second week of visits, they reported that he was deemed capable of moving into the house, with daily supervision to confirm that he was coping. Sophie forced all this from her mind and spent her days at home working on a duplicate site map, marking out Sam’s new gardens. Jesse nipped up to take a look at her work and was impressed.
‘Have you had much experience with garden design?’
‘I did some courses a few years back. And I used to volunteer at Mately Gardens. There was an old gardener there, who used to say “it’s all very well you young people drawing your plans on pieces of paper, but what you really have to do to be a Capability Brown or a Gertrude Jekyll is be able to imagine the finished garden inside your mind. You have to be able to smell the herbs in the herb garden and the scent of the honeysuckle and stock in the early evening. And you have to be able to see the irises reflected in the water and feel the wind blowing through the trees long after you’ve become dust.”’
‘And can you do that?’
‘Yes, I think so.’
He put his head to one side and looked at her. Then he resumed reading her notes. After a while, he sat back and folded his arms. ‘So, why are you working in a crappy office writing short-term corporate garbage when you could be creating beautiful gardens for the future?’
‘My mother wasn’t sure gardening was an appropriate job for a gal.’
‘I see.’ He laughed. ‘When I told my mother I wanted to be an architect she said, “They’re just glorified builders, dear.” But I was able to change her mind by building this. Sandi and I brought her here to see the finished thing a couple of months before she died.’ He paused. ‘Benz was just over a year old. She never saw Jake but she knew Sandi was pregnant again. She knew Jake was on his way.’
Sophie had never heard Jesse say his wife’s name before. She didn’t know how to respond but she knew that silence would be worse. ‘Was Sam in Hong Kong when your mother died?’
‘He got home in time to see her. He came home for good to help with the boys when I lost Sandi.’
‘Sam told me. It must have been terrible for you. With two little boys. But they are the most marvellous kids I’ve ever met. You and Sam have done a great job.’
Jesse smiled. ‘It’s amazing what you can achieve by showering children with gifts and letting them do whatever they please.’
‘Don’t talk rot. They’re perfectly behaved tiny gentleman.’
‘I’m probably not going to tell them that. It might go to their heads.’