His Horizon - Con Riley Page 0,17
easily, and squeezed it. “His dad sold up after she died, and that’s when he started opening restaurants in London.”
That part was news to Jude, too. Now that he thought harder, all he’d known for certain was that Rob’s dad was well-respected in London’s tight-knit restaurant circles, his good standing opening doors for Rob that Jude could only dream of. “I’m sorry,” he got out. “About your mum.”
Rob nodded, looking anywhere but directly at him while Louise continued. “So that’s how I know Rob understood about more than cheffing. He also knows how hotels work because of where he grew up. The article about Rob came out after the storm,” she explained. “By then, the basic repairs had wiped the summer profits as well as the emergency kitty Mum and Dad left. We didn’t get the usual winter visitors. Usual….” She paused for a moment, dark clouds scudding across a face that was usually bright and open. “Nothing’s been usual around here since then. After the storm, all I had was a pile of final demands and no way to pay them.”
“But, Lou, when I called to ask how you felt about me staying aboard the Aphrodite to search for longer, you didn’t even hint that there was a problem. You told me not to come back.”
She nodded, mug now cupped in both hands. She took a final sip at the same time that Jude drained his own, his mouth dry at the thought of Louise here on her own dealing with a problem that had no solution. She set her mug down, a smile that didn’t look entirely happy twisting her lips. “I thought you were more useful looking for Mum and Dad.”
“How was that more useful?” Jude asked, exasperated.
Rob raised the cognac bottle as if to pour him a measure. Jude declined. Louise pushed her mug towards him. She cupped it again once he’d added a finger. Her nose wrinkled as she sipped, her next comment aimed Rob’s way.
“You weren’t lying. This is bad.” Her grimace mirrored Rob’s before she drew in a deep breath and spoke directly to Jude. “When I realised that the pub wasn’t going to make it without the usual tourists, I was out of options.”
“I could have—”
“You could have done what, Jude?” She pushed a curl behind her ear, her lower lip trembling. “Come home just in time to watch the bailiffs take everything Mum and Dad worked so hard for?” She shook her head. “No. You were much more useful where you were.”
“Surely the insurance….” Jude stopped when Louise’s eyes closed for a second.
“Storm damage only, remember? Of course, I contacted the coroner again.” It was a segue that confused Jude until she explained. “I asked if the presumption of their death could be brought forward.”
“Presumption of death?” Jude could see a line of seagulls on the sea wall, some with their beaks open, no doubt cawing, but all he could hear was the sick thud of his heart. “You wanted the coroner to have Mum and Dad declared dead?”
It wasn’t a laugh that Louise let out, exactly. The dictionary didn’t have a word to describe a sound so joyless. “Of course I didn’t want that.” She grabbed her mug with an abrupt jerk, china clinking against her teeth as she gulped instead of sipping. “Of course I didn’t.”
“Then why—?”
Rob spoke then. “As I understand it, the death of a missing person can only be presumed after seven years, but that timeframe can be shortened if an overwhelming amount of proof is offered, like pinpointing their specific location during a natural disaster, for example.”
The breath Louise let out was long and shaky. “Bless them, but Mum and Dad weren’t the best at business. They took on too big a mortgage for this place, and then never made too much of a profit. There’s still years left on the loan. With more proof and the coroner’s say-so, their life insurance policies will pay it all off and then some. We’d be able to access their pension pots too.”
Jude had experienced plenty of low moments lately; times when he’d spied familiar sails on the horizon only to find a different boat than the One for Luck below them, but he’d never hit rock bottom before that moment.
He sat across from his sister, finally understanding why she hadn’t insisted he come home even if an extra pair of hands might have been useful.
She’d stopped believing he’d find their parents alive.
When was he going to accept