In her car Claire put the bag of money out of sight. Last evening, Edith had responded to her call to meet as if she wanted to be friendly. Edith’s voice was calm, slower and softer than when she had floated around Marine House. And even when she shouted with a raucous sound at her mother.
Claire was dubious about this meeting, and she drove carefully to London. As she entered the busy bar lounge of a large hotel on Park Lane, Edith was waiting for her at the entrance. She was smartly dressed in a dark business suit, and her hair was neatly combed. With little greeting they sat in a quiet corner of what was a busy space. Claire put the holdall on the floor and a waiter laid out coffee on a low table between them. Claire purposely left it to Edith to speak first.
‘I’ve never met Harry Stone. I don’t want to. Mother tells me he’s very brash, vulgar, and he walked out of one of their meetings,’ Edith said.
‘Does that matter? He wants to buy Marine House. The Jackson family want to sell it. You wanted money upfront in notes, so here it is. And the deal now needs to be closed quickly. You do know he’s not a well man, don’t you?’ Claire asked.
‘I don’t care how he is. That’s nothing to do with me.’
Claire pointed to the holdall on the floor.
‘I don’t expect you to count it in this place but there’s £75,000 in notes. And before you walk out with that money, you must write a note confirming that you’ve had a bag of cash from Mr Stone totalling £75,000. And more than that, Harry Stone wants it confirmed that this upfront money is part of the price that you are asking for the sale of Marine House. It’s a lot of money. It can’t now just disappear into thin air. So, it’s up to you and Lady Ruth to finish the deal. That is quite clear I hope,’ Claire said.
‘I’ll send a note to Marine House when I get home, when I’ve counted it,’ Edith said.
‘I’d like to take something back with me, please.’ Claire’s voice was insistent.
Within a few seconds, Edith got up quickly. Her face scowled as if she was offended at what she saw as a demand inferring she was not to be trusted. Without a word, Edith stalked away with a swaggering, jaunty stride across the large room. For the next few minutes, Claire wondered why she had come here to be part of this madness, unsure where it would lead.
Five minutes later, she watched as Edith returned with a large sheet of paper. It had the hotel letterhead at the top. Edith sat down and scribbled a note, folded the paper and gave it to Claire. There was silence as Claire purposefully unfolded it, took her time to read the scrawl and, satisfied, she put it in her bag. She sat back and looked at Edith, who now had a smug grin on her face.
As Claire passed the bag to Edith, she felt conspicuous, although the lounge was too busy for anyone to be interested in looking at them. But Claire was again uncomfortable with Edith. As with her mother and brother, there was a certain conceit in expecting their demands to be met. And today the family were clashing with Harry Stone. They would soon find that he would make the money he was dangling in front of them talk loudly for him. It could be no other way with Harry Stone.
‘I’ll talk to Mother. She doesn’t have to know about this cash yet, but I’ll tell her to instruct the lawyers to get on with the Marine House agreements.’
‘Mr Stone gave a small diamond to Josh; he was to give it to you. Have you had it?’ Claire asked.
‘Diamond? No, I’ve had no diamond. But that would be very like that small boy who is my brother. He thieves lots of things and we even had to bail him out a couple of years ago to prevent a prison sentence for him. You’ll understand that was only to save the family name, otherwise he’d have got locked up just as he deserved.’ Edith pulled the holdall up from the floor.
‘Somebody needs to find your brother. He’s walked away with serious money; as a family, you’ll be bailing him out again soon as Harry Stone’s going to start action against him by the end of the week,’ Claire said.
‘Don’t be silly – Harry Stone won’t do that while he still wants to buy Marine House from us. But, Claire, I think you and I could get along. I’d like to talk about having an apartment in Marine House if Harry Stone gets it divided up. So, can you please keep me informed of progress.’
‘I did say that Mr Stone is not a well person. He has cancer, so his plans for that could take a little longer than you might think.’
Claire sat still for a minute as Edith defiantly strutted across the floor of the hotel lounge with the bag of cash. Claire had not taken to this arrogant woman. She did not work, what did she do with herself all day? Of course, she would inherit the title from her mother. Lady Edith. That did not sound real to Claire at that time as she was watching Edith take money from her family without notice. And Claire’s doubts were growing that Edith was ever in control of what happened to Marine House.
Doubts, yes, but at least Claire now had Edith’s own signature on a piece of hotel paper. One day it would be shown to Lady Ruth. The day of reckoning with this family was coming very soon.