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Penzance

My head was spinning as I drove to the office.

Tash had taken me aside and told me she had now been through all the information on the Companies House website and it didn’t make for happy reading.

No professional accounts or audits had been done for seven years.

She imagined that this had been a cost saving.

So the only way I was going to discover exactly what was happening was to hear it directly from my uncle.

Vying with the financial problems was my mother, I still couldn’t believe that she had dementia.

And what was worse was that no one had told me, not even my father.

One good thing was that Tash was babysitting Paul, having insisted I had enough to do.

She would drop him off, but she had a few errands to run first. I wouldn’t be surprised if he found himself in Devon.

The car park was empty except for Marcia and my uncle’s cars. This was a relief. Before entering, I took a few deep breaths and calmed my nerves. I wouldn’t be asking for anything I didn’t have a right to.

Marcia was on the phone and she waved as I passed. I didn’t stop at my father’s office but went straight to Stephen’s, pushing the door open without knocking. He looked up. His hair was a mess and he was ashen-faced.

‘You have some explaining to do.’ I stood in front of his desk.

There was a flash of defiance in his eyes. ‘I don’t owe you anything.’

Anger made speaking both harder and yet easier. ‘You do, on so many counts, but we can stick to the simplest. Between us, my mother and I own the majority of this business, such as it is.’

He laughed bitterly. ‘Not that you cared about it before now.’

I stared at him. ‘You were the one who told me to leave.’

He looked down.

‘Well, I’m back and the business finances are in a mess, so you had better tell me everything.’

He placed his head in his hands. Old-fashioned ledgers covered his desk.

He had done a business studies degree, whereas Dad had been allowed to do an art history one.

Being the elder brother, Dad was always first in line, and he knew that.

It was why he went out of his way to praise Stephen, to counter the guilt he felt.

Both Stephen and I could be stubborn, but I cracked first. ‘Shall I simply notify the authorities of your illegal activities?’

His head shot up. ‘I don’t know where to begin.’

‘The truth from the start would be best.’ I pulled out a chair and sat. ‘First, though, was it really the great-nephews who asked for the keys?’ I stared at him without blinking.

He shook his head.

‘I’m guessing that you planned to remove the Chippendale pieces and sell them privately.’

‘Yes.’ His eyes were bloodshot and I thought he might have been crying.

‘That’s theft.’

‘Don’t you think I know that.’

I remained silent this time. My father’s clock chimed seven times. It was ten minutes to four. If he didn’t begin soon, we could be here a long time. This needed resolving now. I had my mother to protect.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said eventually. I waited, but he didn’t say anything else.

‘Thank you, but I need to know exactly what you are sorry for, in full detail.’

‘All payments to our clients have been made.’

I drew a deep breath. This was worse than I’d imagined if payments to clients were in question. ‘Good.’

‘The business is overdrawn,’ he stated flatly.

I nodded. ‘And you have a warehouse full of pieces of furniture you can’t sell unless you’ve altered them substantially so that no one would recognise them.’

‘Yes.’ He glanced at me with fear and resentment in his eyes.

‘How long has this been going on?’ I summoned all the patience I could find. Behind him was a picture of my grandfather laying the first concrete block for the extension of this building. It was all coming to an end here.

‘Since you missed the Cézanne,’ he said flatly.

‘Right, it always comes back to that.’ I pulled my shoulders back.

‘Well, yes. I tried to build the business up again.’ He puffed out his chest. ‘And I did.’

‘By inflating the bidding, shill bidding.’

He nodded.

‘But sometimes you were stuck being the buyer.’

I looked at the inkwell on his desk. It had belonged to my grandfather. Its only value was sentimental. The business was gone. I couldn’t explain how gutted I felt now that what I had feared was true.

‘You recouped the company’s reputation. Why keep going?’ I knew this thanks to Tash’s investigations.

He clasped his fingers together but didn’t say anything. He was uncomfortable and he should be. What he’d done was illegal. As I thought about it, it became clear.

‘Did it become like gambling?’

He lifted his eyes and met mine, then nodded.

‘When did my father discover what you were doing?’ But I knew the answer. He’d been paying out money from his personal accounts to try and shore up the business. No doubt more guilt, but this time not because of me.

‘A payment bounced.’ He placed his hands on the desk. Part of me felt for him, but only part.

‘So, a year ago.’ Everything began to fall into place.

‘Yes.’ His shoulders dropped lower and he looked suddenly far older than his years.

‘No wonder Dad was on his bike. He had to have some way to relieve his stress.’

My poor father. Between Mum’s diagnosis and Stephen’s illegal activity, his stress levels must have been unbearable.

Who could he confide in? It should have been me.

I should have been here for him. My heart stopped in that moment.

He never would have spoken to Paul about it.

He was never as sold on him as I’d wanted.

He’d brushed away my worries about his lack of enthusiasm with ‘No one will ever be good enough for my girl.’ Well, I was his girl, and I was going to fight for Mum.

I squared my shoulders. ‘Who else knows the situation?’

‘No one.’ Stephen studied his hands.

Throttling him, which was what I wanted to do, wouldn’t help, but pressing on might. ‘Do we put up a bankruptcy sign?’

He stared at me wide-eyed.

‘I don’t see we have any other choice.’ I silently apologised to my grandfather and my father. I’d begun the downfall and my uncle had finished it.

He cleared his throat. ‘I will put my house on the market.’ He spoke so quietly I wasn’t immediately sure what I’d heard.

I opened my mouth to say no, but stopped. Even if I let the business fold, I had to think of my mother. She needed the money. He had taken a wreck of a house above one of the most beautiful coves in Cornwall and remade it into something special. ‘OK. What’s its value?’

‘It should be at least one point five.’ He dared to meet my glance.

‘And your mortgage?’

‘Fifty.’

I released the air I was holding. It might cover it. ‘I suggest you call your preferred agent and list it immediately.’

‘We can’t pay salaries.’ He leaned back in his chair.

I stood. ‘Marcia has been with this firm my whole life. She needs to know what is happening. It will be her choice if she stays. As for the men, we’ll speak to them together and give them a choice.’

‘I’m sorry.’

I placed my hands on the desk and looked directly at him. ‘Sometimes, as you know, sorry doesn’t make things better. I forgive you for myself, but I can’t forgive you for the stress you put my father under, nor for the dangerous financial state you have put my mother in.’

‘I know, I know.’ He placed his head in his hands again.

‘Pull yourself together. I’m going to get Marcia, and then afterwards we will speak to Jack Thomas.’

He nodded.

‘I need to hear your confirmation.’

‘Yes, to all of it.’

‘Fine, then call the estate agent now. It’s spring, your house is beautiful. It should go quickly.’

As I walk away, I wonder who that woman who just spoke was. I didn’t recognise her, but something inside of me did.

* * *

By the time I left the office, I had Marcia on side.

She offered me a loan to pay the men, feeling it was best for the moment to keep the state of things private.

She pointed out that news tended to snowball.

Stephen had already spoken to an estate agent, who felt offers over one million seven hundred thousand pounds would be right for the four-bedroom cottage with sea views and direct access to the coastal path.

Part of me felt sorry for my uncle. That cottage was his joy, and I suspected he’d had very little of that in his life since his plan to save the reputation of the firm had gone so disastrously wrong.

I pulled into the drive, dreading seeing Paul.

He would want to know everything, but with Marcia’s words still fresh in my mind, I wouldn’t tell him a thing.

His behaviour back at Harbour House, trying to make Tash go away, had bothered me.

And he’d been downright rude to Rory, who was not only an expert but a colleague of his. It was all very unprofessional.

After Mum went to bed, we would have to have a heart-to-heart.

I was convinced he’d known about her illness, and he hadn’t told me.

The sense of betrayal I felt was incredibly strong.

He would say I was overreacting, but if this relationship was going to continue, he had to change.

No more checking my emails, no more going behind my back to my family or my colleagues.

The front door opened as I reached it, and Meg came out.

‘How was today?’ I asked, adjusting the bags in my hands.

‘Excellent, she seemed much brighter.’

‘I only found out today about her dementia diagnosis. I’m sorry if anything I’ve said or done . . .’

‘I did wonder if you knew, but I thought you must.’

I shook my head.

‘It’s a lot to take on, dear.’ She gave me a hug. ‘Be kind to yourself and remember she loves you.’

‘She hasn’t gone so far that she doesn’t know me.’

‘No, dear, she hasn’t. She’s still competent. In fact, before mahjong, she had me take her to see the assisted living apartments.’

‘What?’

‘She’s thinking ahead. So she is still very much with it.’

‘Oh.’

Meg hugged me again. ‘This is a good thing, even if it’s overwhelming. She’s thinking of you and your man.’

My shoulders dropped. Everything was racing forward. We would need to do a new lasting power of attorney. It was something we couldn’t delay. In fact, if Tash hadn’t delivered Paul here yet, I would tackle the subject with Mum right now.

‘I’ll be in at half eight tomorrow,’ Meg said.

I thanked her and walked into the house. There was no sign of Paul.

‘Is that you . . . love?’ Mum called from the sitting room. ‘Yes, Mum, I’m home.’

‘I’m glad you’re here. I had an odd phone call from Paul saying he was trapped in St Ives.’

I swallowed a smile. Not quite Devon, but unless Paul wanted to take a bus, he was stuck there until Tash saw fit to bring him back. I couldn’t love her more.

Sitting in the chair beside my mother, I knew I couldn’t put this discussion off. ‘Mum, why didn’t you tell me about your illness?’

She looked down at her hands. ‘Did Paul tell you?’

‘No, Jack Thomas did.’

She turned away. ‘Oh.’

‘You shouldn’t have kept it from me.’

She sighed and looked at me. ‘Your father wanted to tell you, but I told him I would.’

‘But you didn’t.’

‘Paul thought it would break you.’

I closed my eyes. ‘He was wrong.’

‘I can see that. You’ve been dealing with everything.

’ She reached out and put her right hand over mine.

The memory of all the times in my childhood when I had taken comfort from the touch of her hand nearly undid me.

‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘Did you hear him on the radio today talking about muses and women painters?’

‘What?’

‘It was on Radio 4. I heard it when Meg took me out in her car.’

I closed my eyes. He hadn’t wanted me to hear him.

‘What he was saying sounded an awful lot like what you used to say.’ She paused. ‘It took me a while to remember where I had seen your thesis recently. But then I recalled it was in the box in your room.’

I nodded. I’d seen it there too. So much work I thought had gone to waste, but someone else had made use of it. A tsunami of rage was swelling inside me. He’d stolen my work. How had I not seen this?

‘I suppose if Paul is in St Ives . . . he’ll be back soon. Best to have dinner ready.’

So I could throw it at him, I thought but didn’t say aloud.

The mother in front of me right now wouldn’t understand.

The mother who had raised me to be strong, fierce and kind would.

Yes, as Meg said, she was still competent, but only just. I rose and hugged her tight, then went to listen to the programme while I cooked.