by Anna Jacobs
‘Yes, Doctor.’
He looked across at her and frowned.
‘My mother fainted,’ Nathan said. ‘She seems a bit … well, almost disoriented.’
‘She doesn’t eat enough. You’ll have to make sure she eats properly or she’ll be following your father.’
Nathan stared at him. ‘I will have to make sure?’
‘Yes. You’re the only one left now.’
‘But I shan’t be here. I’m moving out.’
‘Come into the hall.’ Dr Chescombe led the way, closing the dining-room door behind him. ‘Your mother is not a well woman. I’m sorry to have to tell you this on top of your father’s death, but she’s suffering from the early stages of senile dementia. She’ll need watching carefully and looking after. She’ll gradually lose the ability to remember and later, if she lives long enough, to speak or dress herself. It’s going to be hard for you to watch her decline. I feel so sorry not only for such patients but for their families too.’
Nathan could only stare at him in shock.
‘I explained all this to your father last year. Didn’t he tell you?’
‘No. He never said a word.’
‘Well, he’s dead now so it’s no use going over that old ground. I can recommend a good woman as a nurse-companion, but you will be needed here to oversee things, Nathan. I’m sorry. Were you thinking of getting married? If so your wife can—’
‘No. I was just thinking of getting free from him.’
‘Ah. Well, you are free of him, but not free of your mother. I’ll write out a death certificate for your father. I checked him only last week, because I insisted on seeing him before I would agree to prescribe any more pills. I have no doubt what killed him and it wasn’t you.’
‘I’m relieved about that.’
‘I’ll send a message to Broughton’s about arranging a funeral, if you like, Nathan.’
‘Yes, please. I must confess I’m very ignorant about what needs doing.’
‘Put yourself in Broughton’s hands. He’s a very wise and caring chap, who looks after his clients in every way he can.’
Dr Chescombe gave Nathan a long, thoughtful look. ‘You don’t appear to be very well yourself.’
‘I’m not ill. I had an almost sleepless night helping a friend.’
‘Ah. Well, there’s no need to rush through everything today. But you’d better let them know at the office what’s happened, hadn’t you?’ He waited a minute. ‘Are you listening?’
‘What? Oh, sorry. I just realised something else. I’d promised the same friend to help again today. I’ll have to send a message, find someone else to take my place.’
The doctor clapped him on the shoulder. ‘You do that. Your place is here now. And you’ll need to supervise the necessary changes at work as well. In fact, everything will be in your hands from now on, there and at home. But you’re a capable young fellow. You’ll manage all right.’
Nathan looked down at his hands. He could almost see the chains being clasped round his wrists, feel the chill grasp of the steel, and a pressure he couldn’t fight against or escape from to remain in this house of unhappiness.
Just as he’d been about to seize his freedom.
The first thing to do, Nathan decided, was to go into the office and tell the staff about his father. From there he could phone someone to help Mrs Seaton. He had to make sure Kathleen and her children were helped to settle in at Honeyfield House and then helped to make new lives for themselves.
Who would be best? He could only think of Mrs Latimer, because if she couldn’t do anything herself, she’d know someone else who could.
He’d have liked to have helped as well because he admired the young woman’s courage and was rather attracted to her as well. Prettiness allied to character was rare in his experience. He wasn’t the sort to rush in and make a fool of himself over a woman, but he’d wanted to get to know her better, he definitely had.
Well, there was no hurry. He could start to get better acquainted with Mrs Seaton after he’d sorted out whatever was necessary when someone died. The chief clerk would be able to help him reorganise things at work, he was sure. Mr Parkin was a capable fellow.
‘We have to buy mourning clothes.’
He looked up to see his mother standing there, still with that rather blank expression on her face. He knew why she looked like that now and it hurt to see it.
‘We have to buy some mourning clothes, Nathan.’
‘We’ll do that tomorrow.’ He looked round and saw Alice hovering near the door. She seemed to be keeping an eye on his mother and must have been doing it for a while. He wondered if she’d make a better nurse-companion than a stranger, and on an impulse, he beckoned to her.
‘Do come in, Alice. Perhaps you can help us? My mother needs to buy some mourning clothes but I can’t attend to that today. Perhaps you could take her out and make a start on it?’
His mother drifted off across the room to straighten an ornament and he watched her, feeling very upset.
‘The doctor told you, didn’t he?’ Alice said in a low voice. ‘About your mother, I mean?’
‘Yes. I hadn’t realised. How did you know?’
‘Your father said she was getting a bit absent-minded and asked me to keep an eye on her. But I knew what was really wrong. She’s very clever at hiding it still, but that’ll change eventually and she’ll betray how confused she is.’
‘You seem to know a lot about senile dementia.’
‘My grandma went the same way. I was only nine, but I had to help my mother with her for two whole years.’
‘It doesn’t seem fair. My mother isn’t even old.’
‘Some get it younger than others, sir.’
‘Look, perhaps we can find another housemaid and you could look after my mother full-time instead of us bringing in a stranger?’
‘The doctor wants to bring Mrs Pakely in to look after her, but …’ Alice hesitated.
‘Go on.’
‘Well, she’s very harsh with them. My friend works for someone who used her services. She sees they’re clean and fed, you can’t fault her on that, but they’re not happy with her.’
He frowned then studied Alice, whom he’d known for years. He was seeing her with new eyes today as well. ‘Could you manage to keep my mother happy if you had charge of her?’
‘Bless you, yes. Your mother is no trouble at all. She has a sweet nature.’
‘Then I think my first change here will be to promote you to a lady’s maid and companion, and to raise your wages accordingly.’
She went pink with pleasure. ‘Oh! Thank you so much. I won’t let you down, Mr Perry.’
She’d called him ‘Mr Perry’ not ‘Mr Nathan’. It seemed like a rite of passage. He was now head of the household.
His mother was about to go out of the room and he called, ‘Mother? I thought you could have Alice as your maid from now on. Would you like that?’
She stopped and stared at him, then looked over her shoulder. ‘Your father doesn’t want me to have a maid. He says it’s a waste of money and I should be able to find my own clothes.’
‘Father died this morning, remember?’
‘Oh. I’d forgotten. How could I forget?’ She looked stricken.
‘You were thinking of something else. We’ll have to make some changes and you’ll need more help without Father to … um, guide you. Would you like Alice to look after you from now on?’
‘Oh, yes. She’s always so kind to me.’
‘All right?’ He raised one eyebrow at Alice and she nodded.
‘We’ll need to find another maid to do the housework, sir.’
‘Ah. Yes, of course. How do we do that?’
‘You can go to a domestic agency or … Cook has a niece who’s looking for work in Malmesbury to be nearer her family. You could talk to Cook and if her niece hasn’t found a position, you could give her a try.’
‘Shouldn’t my mother do that?’
&nbs
p; ‘Not any longer, sir.’
‘Ah.’
Another shackle, he thought. Managing the household. And a very tight shackle too. He could see the sympathy in Alice’s eyes. He’d do his duty, of course he would, but it was going to be hard to bear.
He went into his father’s study, pausing in the doorway, still half-expecting to see his father sitting behind the desk. He’d have to clear this out before he could use it for himself. The desk was tidy and the drawers firmly closed and locked. His father would have the keys on his person, as usual.
With a sinking heart, Nathan realised that he’d have to go and get them.
The doorbell rang just then and it was the undertakers, so he had to drop everything to deal with them.
Mr Broughton was indeed helpful and tactful, and he found the keys. After that he guided Nathan through a list of decisions to be made.
‘A lavish funeral? No, thank you. Just a quiet one.’ His father had had enough fussing over in his lifetime.
‘Are you sure about this?’ Mr Broughton asked once they’d gone through the list of what he offered. ‘A gentleman of your father’s standing in the community would usually have a more … well, a more lavish send-off, with professional mutes, plumes and six black horses. Not to mention the best mattress and pillow for the coffin. We have some covered in the very best quality silk.’
‘I don’t want a big fuss made. My mother isn’t well and I don’t want to place too much of a burden on her.’ He hesitated, then added, ‘She’s becoming very forgetful.’
Mr Broughton looked at him sharply.
‘We have a maid who is looking after her and helping her, but she won’t be able to cope with a big fuss, or even understand it very well.’
His companion nodded. ‘Ah. I see why now. Definitely the right thing to do in the circumstances, a quiet funeral. I’m sorry you’re having such troubled times, Mr Perry.’
‘Thank you.’
He escorted Mr Broughton to the door when the first set of decisions had been taken. Alice was just leading his mother down the stairs, both dressed in their outdoor clothes.
‘We’re going shopping, dear,’ his mother said. ‘Will you be here when we get back?’
‘No. I have to go to the office.’
He watched her walk out, her expression far beyond placid. In fact she had hardly any expression on her face. How had he missed that blankness? Why hadn’t he noticed how vague she’d been getting?
He looked down at the heavy bunch of keys in his hand. Fancy carrying these around all the time. Had his father ever trusted anyone?
Well, there was no use procrastinating. It was going to be a long, hard day. He’d better make a start by phoning Mrs Latimer and asking her to help Mrs Seaton settle in at Honeyfield.
Unfortunately the maid who answered told him that her mistress had left suddenly and the maid wasn’t sure where she’d gone.
He’d have to try again to contact Mrs Latimer later.
Chapter Twenty-Two
When Nathan arrived at the office just before midday, he went into his small office first and Mr Parkin came hurrying across the main room to speak to him. ‘Is everything all right? It’s not like your father to miss a day’s work without sending word.’
‘Um … no. It’s not all right. Could you come into my father’s office, please?’ He knew the partition that divided off his office was not soundproof.
The older man gave him a sharp look, saying, ‘Oh!’ almost as if he’d guessed what this was about.
Nathan gestured to a chair and waited till the chief clerk had sat down before taking the big, comfortable chair behind his father’s desk. ‘I’m sorry to tell you my father died this morning.’
A quick intake of breath was his only answer for a moment or two, then Mr Parkin shook his head sadly. ‘He’d been working too hard lately. And he hasn’t been looking well for a while.’
‘Yes. The doctor wanted him to take things more easily.’
Parkin hesitated, then said, ‘He couldn’t. There’s a problem no one knows about but him and me, and now only me, so I need to tell you. I’m presuming you’re the new owner?’
‘As far as I know, yes.’ Was he assuming too much? Surely not! Who else could his father leave everything to?
‘The main problem is—’
There was a knock on the door and the office boy peeped in. ‘There’s a lady to see you, a Mrs Latimer. She’s sitting in her motor car outside, says could you go out and speak to her for a moment, if you don’t mind.’
Nathan went out to greet her.
He went across to Barty’s car and found a lady sitting next to him in the front. ‘Ah, Mrs Latimer.’
‘Yes. And you must be Nathan Perry. I presume the lady and her two children were taken safely to Honeyfield House yesterday?’
‘Yes. We were followed at first, but Barty managed to give them the slip. I was going to go out to see that everything’s all right, but my father died this morning and things are a bit chaotic. I tried to phone you this morning to ask you to help Mrs Seaton settle in.’
‘I’m so sorry to hear about your father. It’s a good thing I came, then. I had a sudden urge to welcome the lady in person.’ And had had one of her strange feelings that she was needed.
‘I was going to ask you to take over organising things for the time being, because my mother’s … um, not well, on top of everything else.’
‘Let me take over, then …’
‘Are you sure you don’t mind?’
‘Very sure. And one day we’ll meet in happier circumstances and talk properly about ourselves. I think you have Latimers in your family tree and indeed, you have a look of my male ancestors.’
‘How did you know that?’
‘It’s a sense I have whenever I meet another Latimer – well, one with certain gifts.’
He was startled by that.
She patted his hand as it lay on the edge of the car door. ‘Do what you need to for your own family. It isn’t time yet for you and I to work together more closely. Goodbye!’
He watched her go, wishing he could take the time to talk to her properly now, and find out what she meant by that, but he couldn’t. From what Mr Parkin had said, something was very wrong with the business on top of everything else.
Taking a deep breath of the fresh air, he went back inside, calling, ‘Someone open a couple of windows. It’s very stuffy in here.’
Nathan opened the window in what he still thought of as his father’s office, then sat down again. ‘I’m sorry to keep you waiting. It was Mrs Latimer.’
‘A very pleasant lady. Now, sir,’ the older man leant forward and lowered his voice, which was completely unnecessary because the door was shut, ‘I need to tell you about Mr Galton first.’ He hesitated.
‘What about him?’ Nathan prompted. He didn’t like Mr Galton, who had been working here for just over a year and was too friendly with everyone, with smiles that never reached his eyes.
‘Your father thought he was stealing money. He didn’t have any proof and he didn’t want to call the police in, but Mr Galton didn’t come into work yesterday. Your father didn’t know what to do, but we were going to see if he came in today and if not, look into his various accounts in more detail.’
That must have been why his father had been so urgent to get to work on time today. ‘Why didn’t my father want to call in the police?’
‘He said it’d destroy the firm’s good name. Um. I think we should check the cash boxes first. Your father was feeling unwell yesterday, so he said we’d look into it first thing this morning.’
‘I see. We’d better do that straight away. Would you open the safe, please?’
Mr Parkin looked at him in surprise. ‘I haven’t got the key, sir. Don’t you have it?’
Nathan pulled out his father’s bunch of keys. ‘Will it be one of these?’
‘Yes. That one. But you need the correct number for the combination lock as well, and I don’t have t
hat either. Your father could be rather secretive. Actually, I don’t know how Mr Galton could have known the number, but small amounts of money were definitely going missing from the cash boxes every now and then.’
‘I’m afraid I don’t have the combination number.’ Nathan wondered if this day could possibly get any worse.
‘Oh dear.’
‘Don’t you have any idea, Mr Parkin?’
‘Um … I think the number might begin with seven. I couldn’t help seeing how Mr Perry started dialling because I used to pass him the cash boxes every evening as he opened the safe and he often started dialling before I was able to turn away.’
‘Seven?’ Suddenly Nathan was sure he could guess the first two numbers of the combination for their old-fashioned Milner safe. Perhaps the ability to guess things was related to the ability to find things. ‘Our house number is 72. Could that be the start, do you think?’
It was a long time since he’d gone by his instincts for finding things and he wasn’t even sure it’d work with guessing numbers, but he had no other way of finding the other two numbers needed. It was stupid of his father to start off with the house number, because it’d be an obvious possibility to anyone who knew the family’s address.
Something was making his head hurt and he closed his eyes, rubbing his forehead to ease the throbbing. As he concentrated, a number seemed to whisper into his brain: his father’s birthdate! Equally stupid choice, if that was so.
He swung open the picture on the wall that concealed the safe and tried the numbers 7216, then inserted the key. It turned easily and he opened the door. ‘Thank goodness!’
He saw Mr Parkin staring at him warily and said, ‘It was easy to guess: our house number plus his birthdate.’
‘Oh, I see.’ The older man relaxed.
His reaction had reminded Nathan yet again that people didn’t like you being too different and doing things that weren’t easy to explain. He must take care not to do anything like that in front of people from now on. But if he needed to know something, he’d do whatever was necessary in private. His father wasn’t here to create a fuss now.