by Jac Wright
‘Dad is lucky to have him.’ Peter nodded.
After a sullen breakfast, Douglas McAllen and Magnus Laird had headed out to keep the appointment with Edwards about their mythical disappearing private eye. Caitlin had headed over to BlackGold, instructing Peter to look after Jeremy for the day. She needed to be there early to set some anxious BlackGold engineers’ minds at rest and to direct them to put the offices back in order, she had explained.
‘I am sorry all this is disturbing your A-levels, Peter.’
‘I finished my A-levels and the SATs. I scored straight A’s. I have an offer of admission from Yale to read Civil and Petroleum Engineering. Actually I was due to fly out to start my freshman year last month, but Grandpa McAllen has written to Mum that he’s withholding all our funding because of Dad’s mix-up with this bloody Michelle. I have had to postpone the start date to next semester at least.’
‘Really? I forgot, you are eighteen now. Congratulations, Peter. Well done. I’m sorry this matter has delayed your studies.’
‘It isn’t just a delay. It was going to stop my studies because we cannot afford to pay the tuition and the maintenance without Grandpa McAllen. Mum has saved Marc’s allowance over the years because Marc went to Catholic state school while I went to private school with Gillian. I asked Mum to let me borrow some of Marc’s savings, but Mum wouldn’t hear of it. Mum and I were thinking of applying to UK universities for a grant next year, but even UK universities—well, all the good ones—charge full tuition now,’ he said with great agitation. ‘But now everything is back on track again, I think. I shall be going to Yale in January now,’ he said with little conviction.
Jeremy nodded. They drove on in silence for a while. I should let his anger and agitation subside and diffuse.
‘Dad’s a grown man, but he was acting like a bloody teenager about that slut. We didn’t know what had got into him. He used to coach me on my A-level courses back in the good old days, if you remember. Then he just stopped coming home till very late, and some nights, not at all. We thought he was staying with you and, after you left Marine, with one of his other mates. Mum, however, did say that he was on to another affair. She said all the signs were there again whenever he came to pick up and drop off Marc. Mum could read Dad like a book.’
Jeremy knew that Marianne was Jack’s high-school sweetheart, his girl-next-door. She had grown up with him since childhood and had been married to him for eight years. The children and something more deep down seemed to keep him deeply tied to her.
‘If he were preoccupied before, he practically went into a zone of his own since Michelle announced she was having his kid,’ Peter was continuing. ‘Even when Mum and I told him that Grandpa McAllen was going to stop all our funding, he didn’t care. All he wanted was that slut and her kid. Dad had loved me most all my life and suddenly he was all excited about that slut’s kid. We were sure she was brainwashing him to cut us out of his life.’
Jeremy remained quiet, sympathetically nodding his head. He had seen Michelle’s effect on Jack at Marine and how she took full advantage of it. He also knew how close Jack was to Peter. He could not imagine Jack abandoning his son, but then he had also been taken by surprise at how Jack had abandoned Sally, not only personally but also professionally.
‘I don’t understand how Dad can be so bloody reckless.’
Peter had stepped hard on the accelerator in his agitation. It took a few minutes of silence for him to realize he was over the speed limit and slow down.
‘Dad was lying to everybody that he had finished with her. I actually drove over to Marine last Wednesday to meet him after work. Dad had stopped coming to see us since Mum confronted him about Michelle and our funding, you see. So Mum suggested that I catch him alone and try to speak to him about the university funding.’
Last Wednesday? That was the night of the murder, or the night before it. And Peter clearly hated the murder victim with a vehemence that Jeremy had not anticipated. This was an interesting development.
‘But I saw Michelle getting into his car at Marine, and I followed them. He drove her to Morrisons to do her shopping, and then to her house. I waited around for hours to confront him and then I walked up to Michelle’s door in the rain to knock on the door and ask him what the hell he was doing. We had had a long dry summer and suddenly it rained cats and dogs that day, as if predicting something awful was about to happen. I saw them through the window . . . I was so disgusted. I came back to Mum’s for the night. I didn’t want to face Caitlin at home.’
Gosh, so Jack had been at the scene of the crime on the night of the murder, or the night before the murder if in fact Michelle was murdered the next day. And so had Peter. Wow!
They drove on in silence.
‘So you want to read civil engineering, ha?’
‘Tentatively. Grandpa McAllen’s paying the tuition and maintenance and he needs civil and petroleum engineers for his company. What I really I want is to go to medical school here and stay close to Marc, Gillian, Mum, and Dad. I secretly applied to medical schools last year, and I have an offer from the UCL medical college in London. Only Mum knows about it. I was actually going to speak to Dad and Grandpa McAllen about it when this upheaval happened. It’s all up in the air now, all touch and go. I have written to UCL asking for one year deferred admission to buy myself some time, and they have agreed.’
Wow again. The kid was bright like his parents and had great ambitions and, yes, he was going to need Grandpa McAllen on his side to chase his dreams. And he, too, had badly needed Michelle and her child out of his way.
‘Taking a gap year off is a very good idea, Peter,’ Jeremy applauded. ‘Give your dad and grandpa some time to sort out this mess. Douglas McAllen has mentioned he wants to support your education whatever happens, so I’d pick a good time and talk to him if I were you, about the offer from the medical school as well. I shall have a word with Jack when things calm down.’
‘Grandpa won’t pay for medical school. I know that. That’s why Mum asked me to ask Dad directly.’
They drove on pensively for a while, listening to the purr of the Chrysler.
‘We’re nearly there,’ Peter announced, rolling down his window. ‘Can you smell the sea?’
It smelled all the same to Jeremy. But he was a Cambridge boy, born and brought up amongst the dreaming spires on a misty flat inland through which a river ran. The Connors and the McAllens were creatures of the sea. They played on its waves, lived and loved on its shores, and sensed the moods of the sea like seals. Their lives ebbed and flowed with it. They made powerful machines to harness its immense powers and hidden treasures to make their fortunes from it. Their tempers and passions ran as deep and as powerful as the sea, and when they stormed and raged there was nothing that could stop the destruction they wreaked like tidal waves.
Low overhead flights roared past above them as they turned into the airport car park.
‘Dad bought the Audi for me. It’s identical to his. He bought the two cars together at the same time and gave me this one when I first got my license,’ Peter said lovingly.
The Audi A6 was a pleasant and familiar drive. Actually Jeremy and Jack had picked out three cars of the model together, brand new, about three years ago, two for Jack and one for himself. Peter had just passed his license exam, Jack had announced proudly, and he needed a car for Peter to drive Marc and himself around, especially so that Jack would see more of the boys. Jack had left Peter’s car at the dealership until Christmas and had had it delivered to Peter and Marc as a surprise Christmas gift with a big ribbon on its bonnet.
Jeremy parked the Audi about fifty yards away from the main entrance of Imperial Limousines and quickly walked around to the boot of the car. There it was, hidden under several empty sacks of jute thrown over a couple of flattened cardboard boxes, Caitlin’s laptop, and next to it two flat boxes full of £50 and £20 notes. He quickly hid the laptop under his Jacket and slid back into the passenger seat. No sooner Jeremy
had slipped the laptop into his case and inconspicuously placed the case back on the floor of the car behind the driver’s seat than Peter reappeared, having concluded his business with the limousine firm.
‘Right.’ Peter sank into the driver’s seat and ignited the engine. ‘Mum’s making lunch for us. After lunch I shall drop you at Marine about three p.m. and pick up Marc from school. Give me a ring when you will have finished your business. I shall pick you up and we can head back home.’
‘Sounds like a plan, Peter.’ Jeremy nodded, noticing that Peter thought of Jack’s place as his home and the former Mrs. Marianne Connor’s residence as “Mum’s place”.
CHAPTER 13
Monday, October 18 — Three Days Later
Marianne had always been in the background in Jack’s life. Jack had said it was because of the boys, but Jeremy had always thought there was something more than that in the relationship. Jack’s description had not done justice to the woman that greeted him at the door. Marianne had a beautiful face, a naturally slender and petite figure about 5’ 2” in height, and long, glossy, and straight honey-brown hair that flowed down all the way past her waist. She looked much younger than her 37 years, a year older than he was, as if time had stood still for her since the photograph from the time Jack and she were married that Jack had tucked away in a box in his workshop.
‘Mum, this is Jeremy Stone, Dad’s friend.’
‘I’m pleased to meet you, Mr. Stone. Please come in. I have heard so much about you from Peter over the years.’
‘As have I of you, from both Jack and Peter, Marianne. Please call me Jeremy.’
‘How is Jack? Is he okay?’
‘He’s in good hands with my friend, Harry Stavers. Harry is one of the top criminal defence attorneys in London.’
‘Thank god you are there for him.’
Marianne led Jeremy through to a reasonable-sized living room while Peter took some supplies into the kitchen. It was the main reception of the Victorian house with high ceilings and original period features lovingly restored. If Caitlin’s reception could be described as opulent and a little impersonal with expensive antique pieces liberally placed in spaces proportioned more than twice or thrice in size, Marianne’s living room was decorated with a finely classical taste and an artistic, personal touch. A faint scent of roses teased his senses. A grand piano stood at the centre of the room space to the right of the entrance.
Jeremy ran his fingers over the keys and played a brief cord with one hand.
‘Marc plays.’ Marianne smiled engagingly. ‘My mother gave me that old piano handed down to her from grandma. I had it tuned and restored. I also give piano and violin lessons to Jack’s brother’s two little girls. They live round the corner just three blocks down.’
The proportions of the rooms were less than half the size of the McAllen mansion. Any antiques in here, like the piano, were family hand-downs, not expensive purchases from exclusive antique shops and auctions.
‘Are you off work today?’ he asked.
‘I have taken two weeks off. I need to shield Marc and Peter from all this and try to find some funding to send Peter off to his medical degree. The University’s been pretty good with giving me the time off right at the start of the new academic year. I have been working there as a researcher since completing my Doctorate in biochemistry.’
‘Ah, yes. I heard that Douglas McAllen had threatened to cut off his allowances to Peter, Marc and you, but I believe that’s all on hold now. He mentioned that he wants to look after Peter’s education in any event even if it is not through the present arrangements. Peter is like a grandson to him. I think it is his intention, since Michelle’s death, to keep the status quo going.’
Jeremy made a mental note to confirm with Douglas McAllen and Magnus Laird that the funds to Marianne’s family were not in danger now. Jack would have wanted him to.
He took a seat in an armchair. Marianne had made lemonade and crushed apple juice and had set two chilled jugs and glasses on a tray on a side table. A box of Cavalier chocolates lay next to them. Marianne offered him some, explaining that it was one of the luxuries Jack had got her addicted to since starting the McAllen job. Jeremy took a few truffles. They were indeed as good as he remembered. Jack had acquired his taste for the chocolates from Caitlin and had in turn spread it to everybody he knew. Jeremy remembered how Jack would put a box on a desk in their engineering lab at Marine every Friday with a note for everybody to help themselves.
‘If that is so, it would be a weight off my shoulders. I don’t want to add fuel to the fire bringing it up right now, for Jack’s sake. Still I don’t want Douglas McAllen twisting Peter’s arm to get him to read civil engineering when what he really wants to do is to read medicine. You might think Douglas McAllen is being generous to the boys and me, but he is just buying my husband and my sons to make electronics, civil, and petroleum engineers for his company, the shrewd investor that he is. No, I have to look into Peter’s funding options anyway.’
Marianne took the seat on the sofa to his left.
‘I have made an appointment to see a solicitor about the McAllen divorce agreements, especially for Peter’s sake. Marc and I are fine. I’ve got a decent income from my teaching and research and I have saved carefully over the years. McKinley & Laird solicitors have said that Jack would have to take over payment of any divorce agreements if he separated from Caitlin, but I don’t think he can afford that on his own. Jack has been very generous with the boys’ expenses until recently.’
‘Until his involvement with Michelle Williams you mean?’ Jeremy probed.
‘Until Michelle Williams announced that she was pregnant. That woman was a witch. She had Jack brainwashed and trapped exactly where she wanted by getting herself pregnant after a fleeting affair. When the affair was initially revealed by the anonymous letters Jack met and spoke to me; he didn’t want me to hear it by word of mouth. He promised he was finished with the woman and that it was a fleeting mistake.’
This was very enlightening. Had Jack also wanted Michelle out of the way after a brief fling?
‘But all that changed when Michelle announced she was pregnant. She even waited until it was too late for him to ask for a termination. Jack loves children and he has been considering separating from Caitlin and moving in with that gold digger for the past three weeks. I washed my hands of him. He was a lost cause. Jack always put the boys first before that, but three weeks ago he abandoned them, and the boys lost their father. He stopped coming here after that. Michelle had been pressuring Jack to cut off all contact with us, to break away from BlackGold and take it under his control, and to divorce Caitlin, claiming half of the McAllen mansion and estate.’
How did she know? This could only be guesswork. Or had Jack talked to Marianne about it?
‘I worked with Michelle briefly. She was a very selfish and greedy woman,’ Jeremy agreed.
‘Jack was getting the seven year itch with Caitlin some time ago. When McAllen got Jack divorced from me Jack did it more for his career than for Caitlin. But the money and the glamour was no longer new to him. He was getting tired of the way both Caitlin and Douglas McAllen controlled him and of Ronnie’s strife, the reasons that he never quit Marine to go back to BlackGold full time again. Working and living together with Caitlin 24 hours a day was too much to handle, he said. About two and a half years ago he came back to me and asked for us to get back together.’
‘Really?!’
Jeremy felt like he didn’t know his friend anymore. All this back-and-forth was giving him a headache. Now back-and-forths was something he should know about. He was caught in one: Maggie stringing him along, going back and forth between Gregory and him.
‘Yes, but I could not forgive him. It would have been a mess again with Jack going back and forth.’
You are taking the words right out of my head, Marianne.
‘Besides I wasn’t going to mess with the McAllens. Not good for one’s health, I tell you. Look at
what happened to Michelle. I had just started dating Martin and I refused and sent Jack away. I sensed that he sort of started straying about that time. All the signs were there again. He wasn’t really serious about any of it until Michelle announced she was pregnant.’
‘McAllen got Jack divorced from you?’ Jack had not told much about that separation to him.
‘Douglas McAllen is a ruthless man, Jeremy. He buys people and he gets rid of them; he plays them like pawns with his money. He wanted Jack for his daughter from the very first interview. He knew Jack’s price straightaway and offered him everything he wanted in his career-an offer he could not refuse. Jack had that fight with me, the first argument we have ever had, and left for the hotel to get some space to think. But divorce papers landed through my letterbox the very next afternoon delivered by hand by McKinley & Laird. McAllen put a wall around Jack so that I could not contact him to sort things out between us. There was always Magnus Laird and his solicitors between us, separating us, cutting off contact. In the end, McAllen bought me off with something I could not refuse.’
Marianne combed back strands of straight hair off her face with delicate fingers. They kept falling back around her anyway, thick and heavy like a waterfall.
‘They told me to accept their financial offer, to agree to the divorce amicably, and to have no further contact with Jack asking for reconciliation. If I agreed they said my sons would have the best education, I would be looked after, and Jack would keep paying the mortgage and the household bills. If I did not agree, they would file for divorce on Jack’s behalf. They would make sure all payments to me would be stopped and that I would not get a penny. The solicitors said they would also apply for the full custody of my two boys on the grounds I could not support them. I had two weeks to accept the offer or decline.’