by Kitty Sewell
In the end your phone calls empowered me, Sebastian, she whispered with a wry smile, then began to cry again.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned. Mimi had come to join her, and in silence, they looked over the Atlantic towards the fading Moroccan coast. Neither wanted to comment on the obvious – in that huge body of water, on one side or the other of the strait, Sebastian’s body floated, nibbled by sea life while waiting to be found.
Instead, Eva said to her, ‘You know, last night, digging in my bag I found the package with the money you gave me. It was a very generous gesture, but you still haven’t told me where it came from.’
‘I found it under a floorboard in the bedroom. Mrs. Cohen had a windfall in the Spanish National Lottery and, because she was getting senile, she must have forgotten she’d put it there. She gambled the rest away and was really scraping the barrel, even for food.’
‘Holy Jesus!’ Eva stared at her. ‘How do you know all this?’
‘Carlo told me…in confidence.’
‘Did he know you’d found the money?’
‘No, I kept it to myself.’ Mimi turned to her. ‘I gave some of it to you and some of it to Mohammed, to release him from his bondage to Carlo. The rest, well, I’m writing Esther’s story, and I am planning to use it to support me while I’m writing, and hopefully part of it to self-publish…that is, if no bona fide publisher wants to take it on.’
‘Esther’s story?’ Eva shook her head in amazement. ‘Do you know enough about her?’
‘I do know a lot. Apart from what Carlo told me, I found a diary, the violin and some other objects, plus a big pile of letters. More things come to me every day. In fact, Esther tells me she wants me to write her story, so she and her children, born and unborn, should not be forgotten.’
Eva stared at her, wondering if she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
‘No, I’m not loopy,’ said Mimi, reading her thoughts and laughing a little. ‘I’m not going the way of Sebastian. Of course, I want to do a lot more research, about her life, about the history of Gibraltar. Esther was a very private person so I need to think about whether to name her. Perhaps she will give me a sign.’ She winked at Eva and laughed again. ‘Either way, her life and her death deserve to be told.’
‘You do amaze me, Mimi. What about your semi-autobiographical novel?’
Mimi looked down, a shadow passing over her face. ‘It can wait. I’ll tackle it when I’m older.’ She glanced up at Eva. ‘But you keep the money I gave you. You’re going to need some yourself.’
‘We’ll see about that!’
They heard a car pull up into the driveway and looked down over the railing. Brian’s brown mop of hair emerging out of a blue Renault was a welcome sight. He got out several Morrisons shopping bags and looking up, saw them waving to him.
‘Meals on wheels,’ he called.
‘We’ll come down and open the door,’ Eva called back.
Half an hour later, while Eva was trying to operate a complex coffee machine, the doorbell rang. Both she and Mimi froze and looked anxiously at each other. Much as they had thought and talked about nothing other than Sebastian, neither of them was ready to cope with news of him… or his remains.
Brian saw it on their faces. ‘Would you like me to get that?’
‘Yeah, you go!’ said Mimi anxiously. ‘But there is no reason it should be about Sebastian, right?’
‘Perhaps a neighbour, or the postman,’ said Eva.
Brian went to the door, and a moment later returned to the kitchen with PC Goldsworthy and detective inspector Carmen Ledbury, a sturdy dark-haired woman in her mid-fifties.
The officers looked intimidatingly serious when they all shook hands. ‘Would you like a cup of coffee?’ Mimi asked.
‘No, thank you,’ they said in unison.
They sat down in the living room, a luxurious expanse of big sofas and abstract art.
‘Miss Eriksson, Miss Luna,’ began Carmen Ledbury. ‘The Marine Unit has been searching for three days now.’ She paused to compose her words. ‘I’m very sorry to have to tell you that Sebastian’s body has not been found, but we have found what we now know is his scuba gear, the tanks and the harness. It seems he must have taken them off deliberately very near where Mr. Risso anchored his boat. It’s a pretty clear sign that—’
Mimi interrupted, ‘That he saw no way out of what he’d done.’
Carmen Ledbury nodded. ‘I’m afraid they are now calling off the search. That doesn’t mean much in the case of Gibraltar because, as you’re probably aware, the Marine Unit has vessels continuously patrolling the waters, both the Mediterranean side as well as the Atlantic. The Spanish authorities have also been alerted and are on the lookout.’
‘He must have been desperate, knowing that everything was lost,’ Eva said.
‘Have there been other attempts…?’
Eva looked at Mimi and took her hand. She was the only one who could answer the question.
‘Well…yes,’ said Mimi. ‘When he was in his teens he took an overdose a couple of times. But then he had this vision – his ‘calling’ – about building stuff, and got a place at university. Of course, I was just a baby at that time, but Dad has told me how much he changed. Between his calling and the right medication, he was on his way to fame and fortune. He never tried to harm himself again.’
They lapsed into silence for a moment. Eva fought an image of a body floating in water, bobbing on the waves, swollen, surrounded by fish.
‘I know this is terribly painful to take on board right now,’ said the detective inspector finally, ‘but I have to tell you that our forensic team has ascertained that Sebastian was in Carlo Montegriffo’s apartment on the day of his death, and was the bearer of the crowbar or claw-hammer which caused his fatal head injury. I’m afraid that – were he alive – Sebastian would be charged with his murder.’
‘He’s my brother and I love him, but there’s hardly any doubt, is there?’ Mimi blurted angrily. ‘He took me down into that damned grotto for my own safety, and probably felt he had no choice but to bump Carlo off, because Carlo was the devil incarnate in his eyes. He probably felt it was his duty to do it. To save me… save the world, even. Sebastian tended to think he was in charge of the world. And why do you call it murder, anyway? Isn’t it manslaughter when a man is out of his mind?’
They all looked at her, her bravery and honesty, but no-one could think of anything else to say.
When they stood up to leave, Carmen Ledbury put out her hand to detain Eva in the living room. ‘Can I just have a private word?’
Eva nodded and they waited for the others to go out into the hall. ‘Yes, tell me!’
‘Sebastian was a good swimmer and an experienced diver, correct?’
Eva frowned. ‘Correct.’
‘We’ve not discounted the possibility that he swam over the frontier line to the Spanish shore. The tides would have made it difficult, but a strong swimmer might just manage it.’
Eva looked out of the window for a long moment. ‘You’re inferring that he escaped after killing Montegriffo?’
Carmen Ledbury shook her head. ‘No…but he could have.’
Eva sank back into her chair. This had never even occurred to her. ‘Yes, I suppose he could have.’
‘So…if he did contact you…if you heard from him, what would you do?’
She burst into tears. It was too much to think that Sebastian could still be alive, after she’d endured the start of such a confounded grieving process. ‘Oh, damn it all…what do I know? I guess I would try and talk him into giving himself up.’
Carmen Ledbury touched her lightly on the shoulder. ‘Okay, all right. It was a question I felt I had to put to you. You wouldn’t be in possession of his passport or know where it is? And what about money? Would you know if he had recently withdrawn some from the bank or had some in his possession?’
She hid her face in her hands. ‘No to both.’
‘Do we have your permission to have a little look around your apartment?’
Eva flung her arm out. ‘Be my guest.’
‘I’m sorry to cause you further grief.’
‘I’ll get the key. Then just go, please,’ said Eva. ‘I’m about to have my daily screaming fit.’
Mimi
Jane and Gordon Featherington-Haugh had taken a room in the Caleta hotel, next to Both Worlds, as it was out of town and a good distance from the scene of Sebastian’s crime.
Mimi had asked Eva to come along for moral support, and the four of them sat stiffly around a table in a suite on the top floor. A coffee pot stood cooling on the table, untouched.
‘Let me say again, I am very sorry for your loss,’ said Gordon to Mimi and Eva.
‘Fine,’ said Mimi and turned to give Jane a cold stare. ‘What about your loss, Mother? Have you cried buckets?’
‘Don’t bother getting sarcastic, Imogen,’ said Jane. ‘This has been an ordeal for all of us.’
Eva moved her chair closer to Mimi’s and put an arm around her shoulder. ‘What’s the main purpose for you being here?’
Gordon coughed and turned to Jane, ‘Shall I?’
Jane gave a small nod and looked away.
‘Sebastian inherited a bit of money from his grandfather Luna in Seville. Not a fortune, but a nice tidy sum. Of course the old man died before Imogen was born, so,’ he turned to Mimi, ‘naturally you’re not in the will.’
‘This meeting is about money?’ Mimi asked, incredulous. ‘Have you never heard of a phone? No worries, I don’t need any money,’ She stood up to go, but Eva held on to her.
Jane got up and stepped out onto the balcony.
Gordon coughed and tried again. ‘Sebastian left this money in the UK, for Diana Cousins to administer. Diana is retired now but the accountancy firm she founded is still managing the funds. Normally, if no will is made, this money would have been divided between the nearest and dearest, such as are left, namely Sebastian’s mother and sister… but –’ he turned and looked towards the balcony, as if appealing for his wife’s support.
‘Just come out with it,’ said Mimi. ‘Don’t waste our time.’
Gordon seemed lost for words and turned to Jane. She stood in the balcony doorway, her immaculate hair style blown asunder by the wind. ‘That money is coming to you, because…you are Sebastian’s sole heir, Imogen.’
Mimi snorted. ‘Are you surprised?’
‘Not because of Sebastian’s will – he left none – but because you are his daughter.’
After an eternity, Jane broke the silence with her shrill voice. ‘I regret we didn’t tell you before, but you’re eighteen, now, and the situation has come to a head.’
‘It can’t be true,’ Mimi whispered. The world she’d known was tumbling crazily in every direction, trying to find purchase in some index of sanity. ‘It simply can’t.’
‘I’m afraid it is,’ said Jane. ‘The good news for you is of course that you’ll inherit all the money, with none of it coming to me.’
Mimi was unable to speak. She turned and stared at Eva. Eva, too, seemed shocked into silence.
‘This bombshell could have waited,’ said Eva finally. ‘Mimi has been to hell and back and—’
‘Of course, we understand,’ Gordon broke in. ‘We heard about the kidnapping. The whole saga is lamentable, highly upsetting. I’ve gone to some lengths to keep it out of the press in the UK.’
Again, everyone went quiet; only the sea and the wind had returned.
‘Shall I send for something strong?’ Gordon asked, his hand hovering over the telephone, but no-one reacted.
Mimi got up and wandered about the room. She stopped by the window and spoke to the sea. ‘I always knew I was a changeling of some sort. I thought I was adopted, but I look too much like Sebastian.’ She turned abruptly to Jane and shouted, ‘I don’t believe this crazy story. Sebastian and I were sister and brother, we always were. You’ve got to be lying. There’s got to be some scheme in this.’
Eva got up, taking her hand and guiding her to a sofa.
‘You’d better tell us how and why,’ Eva said to Jane, her voice sharp. ‘If what you say is true, you owe Mimi a damned good explanation.’
Jane came back inside and sank down on a chair. She looked pale, and with an anxious gesture, flicked the tousled hair from her face.
‘Sebastian was going through a very difficult period when he was eighteen. He had a girlfriend named Tanya,’ Jane grimaced at the name. ‘Tanya was not a very nice kind of girl and she messed Sebastian around, cheated on him, dropped him and picked him up at will. Despite her cat-and-mouse games, he was quite besotted with her. Finally, she ditched him for a boy who was at college with Sebastian, and it was the final straw. Sebastian had fantasies of harming the boy in question, and in fact believed he’d run him over with his car. Subsequently, he suffered a severe breakdown and was hospitalised. He had innumerable shock treatments, and they tried a variety of drugs but it took over a year for him to be released from hospital.’
‘I know, I know,’ Mimi wailed. ‘Don’t tell me what I know. What’s that got to do with me?’
‘After his hospitalisation, that brain-dead little tart discovered that she was four-months’ pregnant. First, she thought there was money to be had and named Sebastian as the father, but after you were born she met some man and decided to give you up for adoption.’
Mimi flinched. ‘Me? I was the baby?’
‘Of course, Sebastian was in no shape to find out, so your dad, that is to say your grandfather, offered to foster you pending a DNA test.’ Jane brushed some invisible crumbs off her skirt with her bejewelled hand. ‘He was adamant that no offspring of his loins should be brought up by unknown entities.’
Mimi felt faint and flopped against Eva. The shock of the revelation had sucked all the strength from her. Only a tiny part of her was not surprised. So many things were starting to align themselves in her mind.
‘I presume Sebastian knew,’ said Eva.
‘We never told him. My ex-husband refused to,’ said Jane, then hesitated. ‘Perhaps he did know, though…’
‘He was over-the-top protective of Mimi,’ said Eva. ‘He did call her his child, once.’
‘Did he really?’ said Mimi. There was a dangerous lump in her throat, threatening tears. She would not let that fucking woman see her pain, even if it crippled her insides.
Mimi straightened up. ‘So you’re not my mother, then, Jane.’
Jane looked her straight in the eye. ‘No, by God, I am not.’
‘That explains why you couldn’t stand me,’ Mimi growled. ‘So why the hell didn’t you tell us? This is not the dark ages, for fuck’s sake! Isn’t there a law against keeping children ignorant about their real parents?’
‘Don’t blame me,’ Jane shot back. ‘That was your grandfather’s idea. He felt we shouldn’t rock the boat when Sebastian was on his trajectory towards the stars. Much as I didn’t want to raise another child, I knew your dad…grandfather…was right on that score. That same son in hospital, devastated by mental illness, came out to make a big name for himself. We knew this was going to save him, and we did everything not to risk his delicate emotional balance. Rightly or wrongly, we just did the very best we could…’
‘“The very best you could”!’ aped Mimi. ‘Don’t make me laugh. You ran out on Dad. You ran out on Sebastian. Then you dumped me with them when neither were in any position to look after me.’
‘Imogen, enough! Don’t be rude,’ interjected Gordon. ‘Jane is your grandmother.’
‘And that’s supposed to redeem her?’
‘You ungrateful little witch,’ Jane snarled. ‘We could easily have allowed Tanya to give you up for adoption. We didn’t need Sebastian’s signature for that. You seem to forget I looked after you until you were six. And then again when you were an impossible thirteen, God help me.’
Gordon Featherington-Haugh put his hands out as though to calm
a storm. ‘Now, now,’ he admonished. ‘We’re all upset, but let’s try and keep this civil. If there is anything else you want to know, Imogen, ask now, and we can conclude this meeting.’
‘Yes,’ said Mimi. ‘A fuck of a lot. For a start, what do you know of my real mother, this Tanya? Who is she?’
*
She’d had a choice between attending the Vigil or the Mass for Carlo, and had chosen the Vigil, mainly because it was in the evening, when she’d be less conspicuous.
Carlo’s murder had been all over the papers, but she trusted that no-one knew who she was, especially with her transformed appearance. She’d bought a dress from Monsoon in muted pink. Her hair was short all over – a boy’s cut – and it suited her, at least for now. She’d ditched the makeup and the metal, well…she’d kept the stud in her nose and the expanding loop in her ear.