Sue for Mercy - Veronica Heley Page 0,53
and a bottle of digitalin with Julian’s fingerprints on it...”
“My God!” screamed Ruth. “He wore gloves when he took them! He never touched them with his bare hands himself, and that means...”
“Precisely! Your fingerprints, my dear Ruth, are delightfully clear on the Will, but I believe the others’ are also well represented. Then there is that little piece of apparatus which Ronald has just confiscated, and the matter of where I was and what happened to me before I landed in hospital. Our memories will be conveniently faulty on the subject of all these things, if you clear my father and accept what’s coming to you.”
“You still can’t link us to the fraud case unless we sign,” said Bianca.
“I’m afraid we can,” smiled Charles. “Didn’t you hear the Inspector say he got copies of your bank statements for the last couple of years? The payment you received — nineteen thousand pounds — from Robert Maudsley for helping with the fraud case and subsequent frame shows up beautifully. You banked the sum six months and three weeks ago. I expect the Inspector will want to see Robert’s bank statements now, won’t he? Sign or not, you’re finished. But I’d prefer you to sign because I want my father home quickly. Remember I’ve got to come down to the Station with you now, to corroborate the fact that J.B. was acting middleman for me in buying the firm; if you don’t sign, then I might find myself digressing on to all sorts of other topics when I make my statement.”
“We’ll sign,” said Bianca. She took the pen from Robert, skimmed through the statement, made a face, and signed. The others signed too. I had been right in thinking that Julian had been crying.
A second police car shot up the drive as the Inspector, J.B., and the Sergeant came out of Julian’s den. All three were looking thoughtful.
Charles handed the statements to the Inspector, who glanced down them without comment. No doubt J.B. had been putting him in the picture.
“I’ll get my coat,” said Ruth. Robert watched her put it on and then, clumsily put his arm round her shoulders and gave them a squeeze. It was the first gesture I’d ever seen him make towards her, but she was too enclosed in her misery to respond. She shook off his arm and walked out of the house without looking back. Suddenly Robert looked too small for his clothes. He flicked a quick glance at us to see if we’d notice the incident, and followed her.
“I must lock up,” announced Bianca.
“We will see to that,” said the Inspector. “You will give us your permission to have a look around, won’t you?”
“To search my house?”
Julian laughed unhappily. “No longer our house, dear. It will have to be sold to repay what we stole.”
“Not my house,” she repeated, beginning to realise that her life as a rich and elegant woman was over. She revolved, looking round the room, impressing it on her memory, bidding it farewell. Whatever happened, Bianca wasn’t going to return to the scene of her defeat. She stopped at J.B. “You do realise that you are not only sending your precious son to jail, but also breaking up his marriage?”
“For the first, I am sorry. For the second, you cannot expect me to grieve.”
“And your money? I suppose you’ll leave it to Charles?”
“Already done,” said J.B. Charles started and would have spoken, but J.B. silenced him with a raised hand. “Charles knew nothing of it, and I suppose I shall have difficulty getting him to accept it. No, let me finish, Charles. I’ve made you my heir because I like the thought of my money going to someone who will know how to look after it.”
“So Charles gets everything,” mused Bianca. “The money, the house, the yacht, the girl... I knew he was the sort to go far, as soon as I saw him. I hope... I wish... you shouldn’t have refused me, Charles!”
Before Julian could stop her, she reached up, wound her arms round behind Charles’ neck, and pressed her mouth to his. We all stood there and watched, too shocked to do anything about it. Charles hardly seemed to notice what she was doing at first, and then he put his hands up to break her grip, and pushed her away from him. Her lipstick left a garish stain on his mouth, so that he looked as if he’d bitten his lip.
She took one step back, and then another. I