defeated gesture. “What I inherited from my mother — that’s all gone now. I don’t know how it went so quickly, but... then the money we shared out from the fraud case is nearly all gone, too. Dammit, I’m his only son; he owes it to me.”
Charles tried again. “Why don’t you ask for a reconciliation anyway? He’d clear you of debts, perhaps grant you an income from a Trust Fund. I’m sure he’d reinstate you in his Will of his own accord if you went to him and said you wanted to make up.”
“But I’d have to wait till he died to cash in, wouldn’t I? And there’d be no guarantee that he’d not change his Will again. Besides, I’m all set to go through with it now. If we change our plans and then have to set it all up again at a later date, it might not be so easy to...”
“My strong-minded hero!” jeered Bianca, emptying her glass.
There was a solid silence. I could feel dislike and mistrust in the air, but no weakening of purpose. The Maudsleys had shrunk into onlookers.
“So you’ll do it, Charles?” said Bianca softly. I wondered exactly how much it took to make her drunk. She was enjoying herself.
“Yes,” said Charles, and turned away to the door.
“Stop!” cried Bianca. “The cheque — did you think I’d forget?”
Charles stopped, one pace from the door. “What cheque?”
“The cheque you brought with you, of course. You mentioned money straight off, as soon as you got here, hoping to ransom Sue. So you’ve got a cheque with you, I’m sure of that. You’ve probably had it ready for days, against just such an eventuality. Slipped it in with a bunch J.B. was signing at the beginning of the month, perhaps? Let’s have it.”
Charles reached into his breast pocket, produced a cheque and gave it to her. She held it up for us to see. It was signed by John Brenner, but otherwise blank. Neither date nor amount had been filled in.
“I do like dealing with Charles,” smiled Bianca. “He twists and turns and thinks he’s so clever, but he can’t fool me, no matter how he tries. Fill it out for us, dear Charles! On the table here, so that we can all watch you. I do so love watching you commit a crime. It will be the last cheque, if we get rid of J.B. on Sunday, so make it out for a sizeable sum.”
I couldn’t believe it. Charles had told me that any money he gave them was his own, and yet that cheque had been signed by John Brenner. I watched with shocked eyes as Charles filled in the date and completed the cheque in the amount of three thousand pounds.
“Generous!” commented Robert Maudsley, whose breathing was now back to normal. “Why that makes it just over the sum we gave your father for the firm, doesn’t it?”
“May I go now?” asked Charles, handing the cheque over.
“You may,” said Bianca graciously. “But ring us in the morning to confirm you’ve put the Will in the safe and fixed the details for Sunday.”
“Oh — the phone!” Once more Charles stopped by the door. “I tried to ring you earlier on; there seems to be an intermittent fault on your line. I did report it, but...”
“Then send a telegram,” said Bianca. “Early, though — we don’t want to have to deprive Sue of food and drink, do we?”
Charles nodded. He was almost at the door. In a moment he would be gone. He had only looked at me twice all the time he’d been in the room. I couldn’t bear it. I hadn’t seen him for a fortnight, but the moment he’d walked in through the door that evening I’d known that whether he was being blackmailed, or was an out and out villain, I was in love with him. I called his name; I realised he didn’t want to demonstrate any feeling for me in front of the others, but I couldn’t let him go like that.
The next moment I was in his arms, and he was kissing me. I hadn’t had much make-up on, and what I did have he took off in two or three shattering seconds. I was half off my feet, and short of breath when he swung me round with my back to the door, and whispered in my ear,
“Phone me at Whitestones when you can day or night.” We changed positions, and he got busy on the other