An unwanted inheritance, p.20
An Unwanted Inheritance, page 20
Caroline sat quietly for a moment.
‘Do you think your dad made you executor because you’re the most trustworthy?’ This wasn’t something that had ever occurred to her before, but in light of recent developments, Caroline couldn’t help but wonder.
‘No!’ replied Max, his tone indignant, and Caroline worried that she had overstepped the Frost family boundary line.
‘But think about it,’ she continued, not quite willing to let her train of thought go. ‘Remember what we’ve learnt about Nath over the last few days. I’m not convinced that he’d always act in the best interests of the beneficiaries.’
There was a pause in which Caroline assumed that Max was reluctantly conceding that she might have a point.
‘And Ellie. Well, I love her dearly but she does have a tendency to chase after butterflies.’
‘That doesn’t make her untrustworthy,’ said Max.
‘No,’ agreed Caroline. ‘Maybe I chose the wrong word. I just wonder whether there was a reason why your dad picked just you to be executor.’
‘If I know Dad, it’ll have been driven by practicalities – not wanting too many cooks spoiling the broth, and all that,’ he said. ‘Anyway, I have to go. We can talk about it later.’ And then he hung up.
Caroline wasn’t convinced. Tony didn’t do things on a whim. If he’d chosen just Max and run the risk of upsetting the other two then there would be a reason. Then again, from what they were learning about Tony, perhaps being trustworthy wasn’t as important to him as it was to her and so hadn’t been a consideration at all. Or maybe, given what Tony knew would need to be distributed when he died, he had thought that neither Nathan nor James should be involved. Because it was James that she had her doubts about in the Fisher family, she realised. It wasn’t Ellie at all. Ellie had never done anything dishonest, as far as she knew. And Ellie had never been afraid to stand up for the right thing.
An uncomfortable twist in her stomach pulled Caroline back. Of course Ellie wasn’t untrustworthy. How could she have given that idea even a second’s credence? No wonder Max had been so short with her. She would need to apologise when he came back down. She sent a short apology up into the ether for Ellie as well, just in case.
Still feeling guilty, she picked up her mobile to ring her.
Ellie answered after two rings. ‘Hi, lovely. Good day so far?’ came the cheerful voice, clearly glad to be hearing from her. Caroline dispelled the last of her doubts about her lifelong friend.
‘Oh, not bad,’ she replied. ‘Same old, same old. You?’
‘I’m in full-on social gathering organisational mode. My party and the funeral.’
‘That sounds a bit grim.’
‘It’s quite hard doing them together – excited about the party, sad about the funeral, you know.’
‘Well, if I can do anything else to help then you will say, won’t you?’ Caroline offered.
‘Thanks, but it’s fine. I think I’m sorted. There was something that I wanted to talk to you about though, Caro. You know last night . . .’
Caroline sat up a little and listened harder.
‘I just wondered what you meant when you said you didn’t think we should be taking the money at all.’
Caroline took a deep breath as she ordered her thoughts. She hadn’t been sure that anyone had even heard her say that, let alone thought they wanted to hear her opinion. But of course, if anyone did it would be Ellie.
‘Well, just that really,’ she said. ‘It feels wrong to me. We don’t know what the money was doing at your dad’s or what it was for. There’s a suggestion that it might not be entirely above board. I just think we should hand it over to the police to investigate and then, if it turns out that it is completely legit, they’ll give it back to us and we can divvy it up at that stage, knowing we’ve done the right thing.’
Ellie went quiet on the other end and Caroline could picture her thinking about what she had just said.
‘Do you really think the money is dodgy?’ she asked after a few moments.
Caroline paused, weighing up her answer. If she told the truth there was a clear implication that she must think the same about Tony. She didn’t want to upset Ellie, but the thought must have crossed her mind too. In fact, from what Max had told her about their conversation with Valerie, Ellie had already learnt that Tony wasn’t whiter than white. In that moment, she decided it was more important to be completely honest about how she felt. That was going to be the key to getting this sorted out effectively – honesty.
‘I can’t see any other reason why it would have been hidden like it was,’ she said, hopefully leaving it open for there to be a perfectly reasonable solution.
‘Yes,’ Ellie said. ‘I thought that too.’
Encouraged, Caroline continued, feeling her way for unexploded bombs as she went. ‘So, if that’s right, then it strikes me that the money was got unlawfully, or it actually belongs to someone else. And either way, just because I found it doesn’t mean that I, or we, have any entitlement to it.’
Caroline carefully sidestepped mentioning Tony by name or suggesting that he had any part in the money being in his house. She could sense Ellie nodding down the phone.
‘I take your point,’ she said. ‘I’d not really looked at it like that.’
‘I was going to bring it up last night, but then Nathan stormed off and it didn’t feel like the appropriate time. I don’t want to cause any bother, but I really feel we have a duty to do the right thing. I actually feel that quite strongly,’ she added, feeling that she might be pushing at an open door.
‘What does Max think?’ Ellie asked.
‘Oh, you know Max. He sees my point of view but if Nathan was to say we should take it all and put it on the three thirty at Chepstow, he might be persuaded to do that too.’
‘I’m not sure that’s fair,’ chipped in Ellie.
‘No, of course not,’ laughed Caroline. ‘He’s not that easily swayed. But he’s so laid-back that he’s happy to take on board what everyone says. Take the tax thing that James said. Yesterday he was all set to pay the money in to the bank. Today he’s not going to.’
‘But that’s because the situation’s changed,’ said Ellie. ‘He hadn’t thought about the inheritance tax angle before . . .’
‘Yes, you’re right,’ Caroline said quickly, not wanting the conversation to get sidelined into a discussion about Max’s failings. ‘So, you think I’ve got a point?’ she added. ‘About handing the money over to the police.’
It would be perfect if she and Ellie were thinking along the same lines over this. They usually did, but if they agreed now, then between them they could probably get Max and James to do the right thing.
‘Yes,’ said Ellie. ‘And if it turns out there’s nothing wrong with the money – which is probably going to happen – then we’ve lost nothing and we’ll all feel better for being sure the money is perfectly fine to spend.’
‘Precisely,’ said Caroline.
When she put the phone down twenty minutes later, Caroline was pleased that progress was being made. Maybe they could avoid another gathering. If Ellie spoke to James and Max got Nathan on board then they could just move forward without any more arguments. Caroline couldn’t help but think that would be for the best.
40
Nathan was going to have to get himself a new mobile phone. He had turned his current one off to avoid the daily texts and phone calls that came in from all quarters, demanding repayment of debts. Every time it rang, his blood ran cold in his veins. And on top of that, he had set his ringtone as one of his all-time favourite songs, which was now ruined forever – he would never be able to enjoy listening to it again without a rising sense of panic.
But he couldn’t carry on like this, with his phone resolutely switched off. He did actually need to use it – for checking the form and odds if nothing else. It was just this bombardment of messages from his creditors that he wanted to avoid. Briefly, he indulged the idea that if he didn’t reply to the increasingly threatening messages they would just give up and leave him alone, but that was rubbish, of course. They would find him whether he turned his phone on or not, although ignoring them might buy him a little more time.
Time was all he needed. Getting hold of the money was finally no problem. God bless his dad and his stash of cash. Nathan allowed himself a moment of congratulation for his own instincts. He had known there was cash hidden in that house. It was just incredibly bad luck that by the time he’d gone looking for it, Caroline and Max had already found it. He assumed they had known about it too and possibly needed it just as badly as he did. It was all very well, this whiter-than-white act the pair of them put on, but at the end of the day why else would they have been hunting round the house? He’d heard their ridiculous cat story, but it really didn’t ring true. If all Caroline was looking for was the cat, how come she’d opened the suitcase? It made no sense. No. They had definitely been searching for the money too.
Nathan cursed out loud at the thought of his bad timing, a single explosive expletive that made the old lady in the sandwich shop queue next to him jump and turn her head to see who had been so uncouth. He half-smiled an apology at her. He really wasn’t in the business of upsetting old ladies.
There had been a spanner thrown into the works the previous evening, though. Paying the money into the bank? What was that all about? Cash was king. Everyone knew that. They should just split it three ways, and then the others could do what the hell they liked with their share, and he could use his to get the loan sharks off his back. Ninety grand would be more than enough to get a fresh start, but he had to act quickly. The interest on his debts was building up at a terrifying rate and the longer it went on, the less chance he had of coming out of it with both his legs in full working order.
When he reached the front of the queue, he ordered a sandwich and a doughnut and then had to copper up from the coins in his pockets to pay for it. The bank had put a stop on his cards. All he had left was a single credit card, not yet maxed out, which he was saving for a true emergency. The man in the queue behind him tutted as he palmed the coins, counting them one at a time. Nathan threw him an aggressive glare, but he knew he would have been just as irritated if the situation were reversed.
Lunch in hand, he set off to the patch of green space at the back of his office to eat it and ring Max. His brother might not take the call. He was funny about what he did in work time – so twentieth century of him, but then that was his brother all over. But even Max had to stop for lunch, and Nathan might be fortunate with his timing. It was about time Lady Luck put in an appearance.
He sat down on the grass as far away from the other workers as he could and took his phone out of his pocket. The dead screen was reassuringly black. Tentatively he switched it on and watched as colour spread across it. Then there was the usual cacophony of notification noises as all the messages he had received that day and thus far ignored landed.
Nathan felt sick. How the hell had he got himself in this deep? He was an idiot. But he would sort it out. He would get his share of the money, pay off the debts and then he’d make some changes, get his life back on track. He could do it; he knew he could. He just needed the little leg-up that this cash would give him. He dialled Max’s number.
Max answered quickly, but his voice was lowered as if he was worried about being overheard.
‘Nathan. I can’t really talk now,’ he began.
‘Max, wait!’ said Nathan. ‘It won’t take more than a couple of minutes. We can’t pay that money into the bank. It’s total madness. It makes no sense. You should just split it up and then we can each do what we want with our shares.’
He paused, waiting for the objection, ready to counter it, but Max said, ‘Actually, Nath, I was wanting to speak to you about that. Ellie rang this morning. She’s been talking to James and he said that if we pay it in it’s likely to trigger a tax point so we’d lose forty per cent in inheritance tax.’
Shit. Nathan hadn’t even thought of that. A forty per cent deduction wouldn’t leave him with enough to clear his debts. In fact, that would be worse than not having anything. To make a partial payment but to still have the interest accumulating on the balance with no way of repaying it would be even more of a nightmare.
‘Well, we definitely can’t do that, then,’ he said, desperate to get his view across. ‘It would be stupid.’
‘Yeah, I agree,’ said Max, and Nathan felt first surprised and then relieved.
‘So, we’re going to go back to the first idea and just divide it now?’ he said.
‘I suppose so. We’ll need to decide, of course, but if we can’t pay it into the bank then I’m not sure what else we can do.’
Nathan’s breath came rushing out in relief. ‘No,’ he said. ‘Me neither. It’s the obvious thing.’
‘Right, I have to go,’ said Max. ‘But I’ll be in touch soon. Okay?’
‘Yep,’ replied Nathan. ‘That’s great. Speak soon. Have a great day.’
As Nathan turned his phone back off, steadfastly ignoring all the flashing messages, he felt lighter. It was going to be all right. He would have the cash soon and then everything would be okay. He ate his lunch and then whistled his way back to the office.
41
Lucy seemed brighter when she got home from school. No one had been mean to her about her reading, and Miss Elliot had singled her out for praise on her art project. God bless Miss Elliot, Ellie thought as she listened to a bright-eyed Lucy recount the tale. That was what they were paying for at Green Mount. Each child really was seen as an individual with individual needs. She couldn’t believe that her girls would get that level of attention in a state school where the classes were twice the size.
James was home early as well, but in a far worse mood than Lucy. He barely said hello as he stalked across the hall heading for his office.
‘You’re back early,’ Ellie called cheerfully after him. ‘Good day?’
His office door slammed in reply.
‘Nice to see you too, darling,’ she muttered under her breath. He’d calm down, she thought. He got like this sometimes, difficult and withdrawn. It was generally something to do with his work. He was such a perfectionist and when things didn’t go entirely the way he wanted he took it very much to heart. Ellie loved that about her husband, the drive he had to succeed no matter what the obstacles. So she forgave him the occasional lapses of humour. And manners.
Ellie got on with the after-school routine, listening to Olivia read, cajoling Lucy into doing the same. Then a quick tea before they headed out to the girls’ ballet classes. Olivia had the makings of a lovely little ballerina. Lucy preferred her horse riding, but ballet was important for posture and balance, so Ellie made her stick at it.
Ellie settled down in the waiting room with the other mothers. She didn’t really know any of them, not being Green Mount mums, so she gave them all a pleasant but unengaged smile, and pulled her phone out and started to scroll. However, she couldn’t help but listen in to the conversation of the women sitting next to her, despite their lowered voices.
‘They found him hiding in the boys’ changing rooms,’ one mother was saying. ‘He was black and blue and covered in scratches from where they’d made him stand in the holly bush. Fran said he was still shaking when she got him home. She’s thinking about suing the school for emotional trauma.’
‘It’s shocking,’ said the other. ‘And where were the dinner ladies when all this was going on?’
‘Didn’t see a thing, apparently. Or didn’t look, more like.’
‘Has Fran been to see the head?’
‘Oh yes. Got some crap about boys being boys and it just being harmless fun, but of course, they’d keep their eyes open from now on.’
‘They always say that. Just paying lip service, really. Nothing ever changes. And what about Aiden? How’s he?’
‘Fran says he’s having nightmares. I’m not surprised, poor lamb.’
Ellie resisted the urge to look up and take a better look at the two women but from what she remembered they both looked perfectly nice and not at all rough. Their children were in a ballet class, for goodness’ sake. Hearing stories like that just went to confirm what she already knew: state school was a bear pit where only the strongest could survive.
After the class, they headed home, Ellie hoping that James’s mood would have improved, but when they opened the front door she thought she could sense a chilly atmosphere still hanging over the house. She had been going to talk to him about her conversation with Caroline, but she judged that this wasn’t the moment. However, after she had put the children to bed and was sitting at the kitchen table, working her way through the lists for the funeral, he wandered in and raised the subject himself.
‘Did you speak to Max?’ he asked as he poured himself a glass of wine. ‘About the cash?’
Ellie nodded, pleased to have some good news to impart. ‘Yes. It was like you thought. He just hadn’t thought about the tax implications. He’s totally happy to hold off.’
James swallowed and gave her a brief smile.
‘That’s good. Saved ourselves a fortune there, then,’ he said.
Ellie paused before she replied. She wanted to tell him what Caroline had said, was judging whether this was the moment, but he seemed to have forgotten his earlier mood and she didn’t want him to have the impression that everything was sorted with the money now when it wasn’t quite.
‘I spoke to Caro too,’ she began. ‘We had a bit of a chat about it all. You know what she said last night, about not wanting to take the money at all . . . ?’
James rolled his eyes and made a tutting sound. ‘Yes. What does she want to do with it? Donate it to the donkey sanctuary?’
