“I know. You certainly put him in his place.”
“I had to. I hate being spoken to as if I’m stupid. Just because we’re getting on a bit doesn’t mean we’ve lost our mental facilities.” She looked towards the pizza window. “Thank goodness for that! Troy’s finished his meal.” She rubbed her hands together. “I’m ready to grill him.”
Chapter 17
Troy Ridgeway came out of the pizza restaurant and smiled directly at Connie and Sable.
Connie hissed, “He’s on to us! He knows we’ve been watching him.”
Troy walked over to them and said, “Excuse me, do you know where The King’s Hotel is, please? I’m meeting my mum there, and I’m already running a bit late.”
“Sure,” Sable said. She gave him directions. Troy thanked them and walked away.
Connie said, “Weren’t we supposed to talk to him?”
“Yes. But he put me off by asking for directions.” Sable looked at Connie. “What do we do now?”
“There are two things we can do. We can run after him and pretend he’s dropped something.”
“Like what?”
Connie said, “Money. People will always stop if you tell them they’ve dropped money. And it will show what kind of a person he is if he takes it. Have you got a twenty-pound-note handy?”
“I have, but I’m not giving it to you. Troy Ridgeway would take it, and then post a photo of it online.”
“It’s only to get him to stop and talk to us. If we did that, I could dramatically clutch my chest and say I’m not feeling well. With my other hand, I’d grab him and pull him towards me. While he’s distracted, you could put a recording device in his pocket. Then we could find out what he’s going to say to his mum.”
Sable gave her a studied look. “That doesn’t sound an impromptu kind of plan.”
“It isn’t. I’ve thought of a few ways to get people to talk to us. I like that plan. I can put my amateur dramatic talents to use.”
“What’s your other plan?”
“We could mosey on down to The King’s Hotel. They do a lovely afternoon tea. And wouldn’t it be a coincidence if we bumped into our new best friend, Fenella Ridgeway while we were there?” Connie raised her eyebrows in mock surprise.
“I like your second plan better, mainly because it involves food.”
Sable and Connie walked the short distance to The King’s Hotel. They spoke to the woman on reception and asked if they could order an afternoon tea.
“Yes, of course. We’re not very busy today. Go through to the lounge area and choose where you’d like to sit. Someone will be over soon to take your order.”
They thanked her and walked into the lounge.
Connie said, “I hope Fenella’s somewhere nearby. If she’s meeting her son in her room, it’s going to be difficult for us to accidentally bump into her.”
“You don’t need to worry about that; she’s sitting over there. Act casual.”
“Connie! Sable! Hello!” Fenella called to them from the far side of the lounge.
Sable winced. “Blimey, she’s got a voice like a fog-horn. I thought she’d have lost her voice after all that nattering last night.”
Connie whispered, “Put a smile on your face.”
Sable did so, and the pair walked over to where Fenella was sitting. Troy was also at the table with his back facing them.
Connie said, “Hello again. How are you today?”
“I feel great,” Fenella declared. “I probably shouldn’t, not in the circumstances. But I do.” She nodded in Troy’s direction. “This is my son, Troy. He sent me a message half an hour ago to say he was in Leeds. What a lovely surprise for me!”
Troy stood up and turned around. He did a double-take when he saw Connie and Sable.
Sable said loudly, “Well I never! Fancy seeing you again. What a coincidence! What a small world we live in. Connie, isn’t this a coincidence?”
Connie shot her a warning look before saying, “Yes, it is.” She smiled at Troy. “Hello there. I hope you found this hotel easily enough.”
Fenella said, “Am I missing something? How do you know each other?”
Troy said, “I asked these ladies for directions to this hotel.”
Fenella clapped her hands together. “How delightful! Troy, I met Connie and Sable last night. They were such good company. They listened to me going on for hours. They must have been bored silly.”
“Not at all,” Sable replied without a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
Fenella said, “What are you doing here? Are you having some lunch?”
“We are,” Connie said. “We’re going to have the afternoon tea. They do a super one here.”
“Afternoon tea? Oh, that sounds perfect. I’ll order that too.” Fenella said. “Why don’t you sit with us?”
Connie said, “Oh, no. We wouldn’t want to intrude.”
Fenella looked at Troy and raised her eyebrows in question.
Troy said, “You must join us. Mum, I’m too full to eat anything, but you go ahead.”
Connie and Sable took a seat. A member of staff came over and took their order.
As they waited for their food, Fenella said, “You’ll never guess what’s happened. Do you remember that man who was bothering me last night?”
“Evan Falcon?” Sable said. “Yes, we remember.”
Fenella leant closer. “I called into Bruno’s office this morning, and someone told me Evan has been taken in for questioning by the police. What do you think about that?”
Connie studied Troy’s expression as his mum spoke. No emotion passed over his face at all; not even mild interest.
Sable said, “Do the police think he had something to do Bruno’s death?”
“It looks that way, doesn’t it?” Fenella sat back. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he had killed Bruno. From what I gather, there was intense rivalry between them, and they were always in competition for the best cases.”
“I hope you don’t mind me asking,” Connie began, “but what are you going to do with the company?”
“I’m going to sell it. I’ve no interest in it at all. Troy’s going to help me with that.”
Troy nodded. “I am. And the sooner, the better.”
Keeping a close eye on his reaction, Connie said, “Troy, don’t you have any interest in the legal business? Sorry for bringing this up, but didn’t you have any interest in what your dad did?”
Troy shrugged. “No. My dad was a stranger to me all my life. It doesn’t mean a thing to me that he’s dead. Sorry for being heartless.”
A waitress arrived with their food. She placed three sets of tiered plates on the table. The bottom layer was crammed with delicious-looking sandwiches in a variety of fillings. The middle layer was taken up with delicate pastries and mini cakes. The top layer held two currant scones complete with a tub of clotted cream and a small jar of strawberry jam.
Sable’s stomach growled in appreciation.
The waitress said, “Your tea will be over in a minute.” She smiled before walking away.
Troy took his phone out. “I’ve got to get a photo of these. I’ll put them on my Facebook page.”
He didn’t see Sable rolling her eyes, but Connie did.
As Connie watched Troy taking various shots of the scrumptious food, an idea came to her.
She said, “Troy, I don’t know much about this Facebook thing. I’ve heard of it, of course, but I’m not sure how you put photos and words on it. I don’t suppose you could explain it to me in a way I’d understand?”
“Of course I can.” Troy came to Connie’s side and crouched down. He tapped on the screen. “These are the photos I’ve just taken. Watch how I post them on to my Facebook page.” He clicked away. “And these are the photos I’ve already put on.” He scrolled down his photo album.
Connie pointed at the phone. “Oh, look! There you are having a pizza. And there’s Sable and me sitting outside on a bench. Can I take a closer look, please?”
“Sure.” Troy handed her the phone.
Connie quickly scrolled through the images. She was hoping to find something of interest. She stopped at one and blinked. That certainly was interesting. The image showed two men smiling into the camera. The older man had his arm around the younger one in a friendly gesture. The photo had been taken hours before the older man, Bruno Ridgeway, had died.
Connie held the phone up. “Troy, who’s this you’re with? I’ve seen photos of your dad, and this looks very much like him.”
Troy quickly took the phone back. “You’re mistaken. It’s not my dad. I never met him. I never wanted to.”
In a stern voice, Fenella said to him, “Troy, give me that phone. Now.”
Troy said, “Mum, I can explain. Don’t be mad.”
“Explain? What do you have to explain?”
“Mum, I can’t tell you here, not in front of your friends.”
Fenella folded her arms. “You can tell me in front of my friends. And that’s exactly what you’re going to do. Sit down and tell me everything.”
Chapter 18
Troy began, “Mum, I know all about the letters you’ve been receiving. All those nasty, threatening ones from the debt collectors. You should have told me about them. You shouldn’t have kept them to yourself. It’s my fault you got into debt in the first place.”
Fenella gave him a sad smile. “How could I show them to you? You’d started to get your life together. You were happier than you’d been in years. I didn’t want to upset you. And it was my decision to help you with your debts. Don’t ever feel guilty about that. I just did what any parent would do.”
Troy shook his head. “Not every parent, Mum. My dad could have helped us at any time, but he never did.”
Connie could feel questions forming on her lips, but it wasn’t her place to ask them. This conversation was between Troy and his mum. She didn’t feel like eating but took a sandwich to give herself something to do. She glanced over at Sable and noticed she’d almost emptied the lower tier of sandwiches in front of her.
Troy said, “When you first told me who my dad was, I tried to contact him. It wasn’t hard for me to find him, and to find out where he worked. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say to him. I just knew I had to talk to him. I suppose I wanted an explanation. I wanted to know why he wasn’t in my life.”
“And did you manage to speak to him?” Fenella asked.
Troy let out a bitter laugh. “No, I didn’t. I left message after message for him at his office. At first, I just gave my first name. I stupidly thought he’d recognise it and get back to me immediately. When he didn’t, I gave my full name. And, again, he didn’t return my calls. That’s when I got desperate. I told the man who answered the phone that I was Bruno’s son. I said I was going to stay on the line until I spoke to him.” His head dropped, and he stopped speaking.
Fenella said, “What did he say? He must have said something to you.”
Troy looked back up, pain in his eyes. “The man on the phone told me Bruno’s reply. Bruno said he didn’t have a son, and if I should phone him again, he’d contact the police.”
Connie gasped. “No! What a terrible thing to say!”
Sable put her sandwich down, and added, “The evil, cold-hearted reptile!”
Fenella’s eyes welled up. “Troy, I’m so sorry.”
“You’ve nothing to be sorry for, Mum. You warned me about him; you told me he never wanted to see me. I thought he’d change his mind if I phoned him. I should have known after the way he treated you that he didn’t have a shred of decency in him.”
The waitress brought over the tea and smiled politely as she placed a pot in front of each person. Thanks were muttered from the people at the table.
When the waitress had gone, Troy looked at Sable and Connie. “I don’t know how much Mum told you about me last night, but I went through a wild phase a few years ago. Not that it’s an excuse, but it began after that last call to my dad’s office. I suppose I was lashing out at the world. I won’t go into details of what I did. I’m too ashamed to even think about my past life now. The upshot is that I got myself into terrible debt. I did my best to pay off what I could, but Mum found out and she started to pay it off for me. Being the selfish idiot I was, I let her.” He looked back at Fenella. “I’m so sorry for putting you through that.”
Fenella said, “You’ve already apologised a million times. And you’ve worked hard to sort yourself out. I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks, Mum. I thought my debts were nearly all gone until I found those letters of yours. I didn’t know you’d been struggling to pay off my loans. And I didn’t know the house was going to be taken away. You should have told me.”
“I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.”
Troy said, “That last letter about the house spurred me into action. I was furious with Dad. You’d worked so hard to raise me on your own.” He looked at Connie. “Mum had five different jobs at one point. She was constantly exhausted.”
Fenella said, “Don’t make a big deal of it, Troy. I did what I had to. That’s all in the past now. When did you meet your dad?”
“A few days ago.” He paused. “It was the day that he died. I had no idea you were going to see him too, Mum. I went to his office that day, and I told the security guard on reception that I was Bruno’s son, and that I was going to surprise Dad. After I showed him some ID, the guard let me through. I went up to the floor where Dad worked. I thought someone was going to throw me out at any minute. There was no one on reception there. I found Dad’s office, and I went in. To say he was surprised is an understatement.
“He must have known who I was because he went pale and muttered my name. I had this great big speech prepared about how awful he’d been to you, and how terribly he’d treated me. I was going to demand answers to all the questions I had. But he looked so shocked. Inside of berating him, I got him a glass of water.”
Connie couldn’t help her question coming out. “What time was this?”
“About four o’clock. Once I made sure he was alright, I then laid into him. Not in a nasty way. I was calm as I told him what I thought about him. He just sat there and listened. When I’d finished, he said he agreed with everything I’d said. He told me he’d met up with you, Mum, and he said how awful he’d been to you. He was planning on phoning you later to apologise.
“I wanted to know why he never wanted to see me. I said I could understand why he didn’t want to see you, Mum, but why me? I was his son. He said I would only remind him of the betrayal he’d gone through. That made me mad, and I told him it was a pathetic excuse.”
“Good for you,” Sable said. She put a scone on her plate and began to cut it open.
Troy went on, “I stayed with him for about an hour. He kept saying he was sorry, and I started to believe him. I even agreed to see him again. He offered to give me money to help with any debts I had. I told him I’d already sorted them out and had made the final payment that very morning. Mum, I did tell him about your financial problems. I hope you don’t mind.”
“It doesn’t matter now,” Fenella said.
“Dad said he would help you out. He felt guilty about what he’d done. I genuinely believe that. He said he’d never stopped loving you and thought one day you’d get back together. He showed me a copy of his will which left everything to you, Mum.”
Connie’s eyebrows rose. A quick glance at Sable showed her eyebrows doing the same.
Troy looked at his phone. “I took this photo before I left his office. I’m glad we sorted things out before I left. I wish we could have had more time together. Mum, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about meeting Dad. I didn’t want to upset you.”
Fenella leant over the table and patted Troy on the hand. “It doesn’t matter now. I’m glad you sorted things out too. You should have told me you were in Leeds these last few days. You could have stayed in this hotel with me. Where have you been staying?”
“A bed
and breakfast not far from here. It’s a cheap one. I’m very careful with my money now.”
Fenella let out a loud sigh. “Well, thank you for telling me. It was brave of you to see your dad on your own.” She looked at the food in front of her. “I don’t think I could eat anything even though it looks delicious.”
“Me neither,” Connie said. She was desperate to talk to Sable in private.
Sable looked at her empty plates. “You don’t know what you’re missing. Ask the waitress to pack it up for you both. There’s no point wasting good food.”
Fenella said, “That’s a good idea. Shall we talk about something else? I’m sure you’ve heard more than enough about my private life.”
Connie looked at her watch. “I’m afraid we have to go. It was lovely meeting you again. And you, Troy.” She stood up.
Sable stood up too. “Don’t forget your food, Connie.” She signalled to the waitress.
Once Connie’s food had been packed up, they said goodbye to Fenella and Troy, and left the hotel.
As they walked away from the hotel, Sable said, “You think Troy killed his dad, don’t you?”
“Did you see Troy’s face in that photo with his dad? He was barely smiling. I don’t think he’s forgiven Bruno for what he’s done. Not for a minute.”
Chapter 19
As they drove back to Connie’s house, Connie said, “Troy is active online, so why didn’t he post that photo of him and his dad? You’d think he’d want to show the world he’d reconciled with Bruno.”
“Maybe he was going to put it on later. During those times we’ve spoken to Fenella and Troy, neither one has mentioned Bruno’s other marriages. You’d have thought one of them would. It must be galling to see Bruno getting on with his life when they’re struggling to make ends meet. That must have affected them. And would Troy really turn down the offer of money? He knew Fenella was in dire straits with her money; you’d have thought he’d take the money for her sake.”
Connie nodded. “That’s a good point. Unless Troy decided he’d like Fenella to have all of Bruno’s money as soon as possible. And the only way to make that happen was to kill Bruno. Troy must have returned to the building later in the evening. We need to speak to the security guard who was there that night. Do you think we should tell Saffy about this?”
Mr Ridgeway's Last Case (Butterworth Mystery Book 5) Page 7