Ralph’s Children
Page 24
‘Same difference,’ she said. ‘Mum and I get on so wonderfully these days. I’m not sure if I could bear it if that changed, and it would if we tried living together again.’ She paused. ‘And there’s no point you saying “for a while”, when we both know you’re talking about them being out there, which makes this a long-term situation.’
‘Forgive me if I find that prospect very hard to take,’ Michael said.
‘I’m OK, Dad,’ Kate said ‘all things considered. And don’t forget I’m far from being alone.’
A newborn baby and a woman in a wheelchair.
‘Not exactly a pair of bodyguards,’ Michael said.
‘And Mum would be?’ Kate asked.
Her father took the point.
‘Besides,’ Kate reminded him, ‘Jack might not win his appeal.’
‘I wish to God I could kill you here and now.’
The words still haunted her from time to time.
Michael took a sip of coffee. ‘Have you done anything about the panic button?’
‘Installed last week.’ Kate reached for his hand. ‘You and Mum really need to stop spending every minute worrying about us.’
‘Not quite every minute,’ her father said.
Kate watched him for a moment. ‘What else, Dad?’
‘Just about Marie.’ He paused. ‘She is out, isn’t she?’
Kate nodded. ‘At some meeting.’
‘You know how we feel about her saving you and Bobbi, of course.’
‘But?’
‘Only that before that,’ Michael went on, ‘your mother and I had the impression you weren’t too keen on her staying much longer.’
‘That was then,’ Kate said. ‘Pregnancy and everything else making me ratty. All very different now.’ She smiled. ‘And let’s face it, it is nice having someone else around, at least for the time being.’
‘You could get a nanny,’ Michael said.
‘I don’t want anyone else to take care of Bobbi.’
‘Or a lodger,’ he persisted.
‘I have a lodger,’ Kate said. ‘Who’s insisted on paying rent, and who seems to be turning out to be one of the best friends I’ve ever had.’
Ralph’s Children
They met at Wayland’s Smithy in the second week of May.
Just the three of them.
It was breezy but mild and dry, the place filled with memories.
Ghosts.
‘I’ve brought champagne,’ Roger said.
‘Lovely,’ said Pig.
‘Nice one,’ said Jack.
Roger pulled the bottle and three plastic tulip glasses from a black cool-bag.
‘Thanks,’ said Pig. ‘Though I still feel bad about dumping the Chief.’
‘I thought I might,’ Jack said, ‘but I don’t.’
‘Let’s face it,’ Roger said, ‘if we’d gone down, it’d all have been her fault.’
‘From the word go,’ Jack agreed.
‘I don’t know,’ Pig said.
‘You’re such a fucking softie,’ said Jack.
‘Can’t help it,’ Pig said.
Roger opened the bottle and poured, not spilling a drop.
‘A toast, don’t you think?’ she said. ‘To freedom.’
‘And Simon,’ Pig said.
‘To Simon,’ Jack echoed.
They all drank deeply, drained their glasses.
‘She’d still be here,’ Pig allowed, ‘if it hadn’t been for the Chief’s plan.’
‘There you are then,’ Jack said, as Roger poured again. ‘So no more feeling bad about her, right?’
‘Yes,’ Pig said. ‘OK.’
‘So,’ Roger said, ‘how long before we can play again?’
‘I don’t know how that’ll go,’ Pig said. ‘Without the Chief.’
‘It won’t be without the Chief, will it,’ Roger said. ‘Or have you forgotten?’
‘You mean like in the book,’ Pig said.
In which Jack, the character, had overthrown Ralph as the children’s leader.
‘Obviously,’ Roger said.
‘I think,’ Jack said, ‘we need to be careful, wait a while.’
‘You’re right,’ said Roger.
For the time being, they drank.
Kate
On a warm, sunny afternoon in late June, Kate was standing in her kitchen looking out into the garden at Marie, who was sitting in her chair beside the playpen in which Bobbi was lying on a blanket, kicking her little feet.
Kate felt almost content.
She still missed Rob every single day, but their daughter was healthy.
The first rough draft of her biography of Claude Duval was half written, and she understood from her new London-based agent that an editor at a firm of publishers was keen to see it on completion.
Bel was dating a landscape gardener, a man named David Miles who everyone seemed to like. Much more to the point, her mother seemed happier than Kate could recall seeing her in a great many years.
Michael and Delia were getting married, and Kate had never imagined that could make her feel remotely glad, yet it had done exactly that, and she thought that if Rob were here, he might be proud of her for it.
Never too old, it seemed, to grow up.
Bobbi, she supposed, was responsible for that.
Kate looked out at Marie, at her sensible, increasingly grey-haired, very good friend, and wondered if the time was ever going to come when she might want to leave, and how she would feel about that when it happened.
How she would feel about it if it never happened.
Fine, she decided, for now.
Which was, after all, the most that anyone could wish for.
Ralph
Ralph sat in the Beast’s garden, promises of early summer all around her, the child on the ground beside her.
Ralph was thinking about them.
Her lost children.
She knew now that she would never see them again.
All her fault.
The Beast’s.
She thought about them all the time, wondered if they would ever forgive her. Wondered if they would ever play the game again; if maybe they already had.
As for her, she’d done what she had to, had gone on with it, played it on her own, one step at a time.
The husband first.
The fire next.
Then the simple good luck of Sandi West’s death wish.
No need for intervention there, not a scrap of trouble for her.
Not much luck in her life before her children.
Taken from her now.
Ralph looked towards the cottage, saw her in her kitchen, making their tea.
On the ground, the chestnut-haired, blue-eyed baby girl kicked her little legs and smiled up at her.
The Beast trusted her completely now with her child.
So Ralph could take her time. As long as she wanted.
Biding her time.
Planning her own game.
The best and most important game ever.
Motherhood.
››› If you’ve enjoyed this book and would like to discover more great vintage crime and thriller titles, as well as the most exciting crime and thriller authors writing today, visit: ›››
The Murder Room
Where Criminal Minds Meet
themurderroom.com
By Hilary Norman
(titles that appear in bold are published by The Murder Room)
Sam Becket Mysteries
Mind Games (1999)
Last Run (2007)
Shimmer (2009)
Caged (2010)
Hell (2011)
Eclipse (2012)
Standalone Novels
In Love and Friendship (1986)
Chateau Ella (1988)
Shattered Stars (1991)
Fascination (1992)
Spellbound (1993)
Laura (1994)
If I Should Die (1995) (originally published under the pen name Alexandra
Henry)
The Key to Susanna (1996)
Susanna (1996)
The Pact (1997)
Too Close (1998)
Blind Fear (2000)
Deadly Games (2001)
Twisted Minds (2002)
No Escape (2003)
Guilt (2004)
Compulsion (2005)
Ralph’s Children (2008)
For Jonathan
Acknowledgements
My gratitude to: Howard Barmad; Jennifer Bloch; Sheena Craig; Aisha Faruqi; Sara Fisher; Howard Green; Peter Johnston; Helmut Pesch; Helen Rose; Rainer Schumacher; Richard Spencer; Dr Jonathan Tarlow.
Hilary Norman
Hilary Norman was born and educated in London. After working as an actress she had careers in the fashion and broadcasting industries. She travelled extensively throughout Europe and lived for a time in the United States before writing her first international bestseller, In Love and Friendship, which has been translated into a dozen languages. Her subsequent novels have been equally successful. She lives in North London, where she has spent most of her life, with her husband and their beloved RSPCA rescue dog.
An Orion ebook
Copyright © Hilary Norman 2008
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This ebook first published in Great Britain in 2013
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ISBN 978 1 4719 0844 6
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