The Godson's Legacy

by Gait, Paul;

  ‘Oh, I see you have your wife with you,’ John Sparrow said suspiciously, stepping into the room. ‘Hello Mrs Williams- Screen.

  Perhaps, Mr Screen, I should have rung before I travelled all the way down from Cheltenham,’ the Policeman said, hoping to influence Rupert’s decision by emphasising his efforts and length of his journey.

  ‘OK then,’ Rupert said, reluctantly.

  ‘Thanks. I won’t keep you long. I was thinking on the way down here, that you were remarkably unlucky that you and your…partner.’

  ‘Cousin,’ Sue said, quickly. ‘Joanne is Rupert’s cousin.’

  ‘As I was saying, it’s remarkable how unlucky Mr Screen and his cousin,’ he said, overemphasising the word - cousin, ‘were so seriously injured when you, Mrs Williams Screen escaped without any injuries. Don’t you think?’

  ‘Yes, I guess my guardian angel was looking after me that night,’ she said.

  ‘Yes surprisingly lucky,’ he said, sceptically.

  ‘Now if you don’t mind my husband needs to rest.’ She said moving towards him with the intention of ushering him out.

  The Policeman ignored her and watched the Sister help Rupert slowly get back into bed.

  ‘Mr Screen, I was only going to ask you to confirm that your wife was with you in the car when it happened. Yes or No, and then I’ll go.’

  Sue was about to protest, when Rupert croaked unconvincingly, ‘Yes.’

  ‘OK, I’ll be on my way. I hope you and your…cousin get back on your feet soon.’

  ‘So do I,’ Sue echoed, with false sympathy.

  ‘Oh incidentally, Mrs Screen,’ he said, again deliberately avoiding using her full name to aggravate her. ‘It’s a pity you threw those shoes away, because we found the broken heel on the motorway. You could have stuck it back on and nobody would have been any wiser. Never mind, it’s too late now you’ve thrown them away, isn’t it?’

  Sue was perturbed at the mention of the heel.

  ‘Why did you…why were you looking for it?’ she asked, suspiciously.

  ‘All part of evidence gathering into the cause of the crash,’ he said, and turned on his heel, feeling smug that he’d had the last word.

  The Sister followed him out and as they disappeared down the corridor Rupert sat up in bed and uncharacteristically quizzed her.

  ‘So what part did you play in that crash? he said, bravely. Why would Gloucestershire Police travel down here to urgently see me in hospital?’

  ‘Mind your own business,’ she said, picking up her handbag. ‘Hurry up and get well soon. We don’t want you to miss the reading of the will do we?’

  ‘Well you’re not coming with me, that’s for certain.’ Rupert shouted, defiantly.

  ‘Is that right?’ she said, her hackles rising. ‘I’ll just pop and see ‘my sister’ to make sure she’s still breathing, shall I?’

  ‘You leave her alone. Do you hear me? Leave her alone,’ he shouted, his last words tailing off as he started coughing, holding his ribs, in obvious pain.

  ‘Careful now, otherwise I shall be going by myself. A rich widow.’

  She turned and left as Rupert fought to control his breathing.

  ‘Would he never be rid of her?’ he wondered. ‘Perhaps he needed another guardian Angel, now that Uncle Geoffery was no longer around.’

  PART TWO

  The Will

  CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

  23rd January

  Geoffery’s meticulous planning meant that only a month after his funeral, Andy, three Godsons, family and friends boarded a chartered Hawker 800 jet at Gloucestershire Airport for the flight to the offices of Geoffery’s Lawyers in Monaco.

  The invitations to the will reading had been delivered by special messenger from the Law practice.

  Andy had been at home when the messenger arrived and he quickly opened the letter. ‘It’s the invitation for the reading of the will,’ he’d informed Helen.

  ‘That’ll be nice for you,’ Helen had said, disinterested.

  ‘Oh, it’s in Monaco,’ he said, reading down further. ‘It says overnight accommodation has been arranged.’

  ‘Huh!’

  ‘You’re invited too,’ he’d added, quickly.

  ‘Yeah and who’s going to look after the kids. I don’t want to go to a boring will reading anyway.’

  ‘Yeah but it would be a nice break for you.’

  ‘There’s far too much to do here,’ she said, picking up a pile of children’s clothes and going upstairs.

  ‘Please yourself,’ he’d muttered. ‘I’m going.

  Sue had been alerted about the will reading inadvertently when the courier arrived at her house asking for Rupert. Anticipating that it might be something to do with the legacy, she told him Rupert was in hospital, to where she directed him.

  She chased it up with another visit to the hospital and after subjecting Rupert to a bombastic interrogation, confirmed that he had been invited to the will reading.

  Rupert told her that he didn’t want to attend because Joanne was still in a coma and he was intending to stay with her. But Sue had not only convinced him to go, but she insisted in taking Joanne’s place too.

  James’s invitation had been delivered to the clinic where he was continuing his ‘drying out’ regime. Unfortunately, his street days had resulted in serious liver damage for which he was also being treated, although ultimately a liver transplant would be inevitable.

  Ben was excited at the prospect of the trip. Since the messenger had delivered the invitation, he had been ‘hyper’.

  The warning from the Policeman about being alone with Ben had made Andy nervous. It would only take one critical accusation and he knew the Safeguarding Unit at Scout HQs would suspend him and the troop would fold.

  All his hardwork would have been in vain, in creating a safe haven for the council house kids.

  But he couldn’t desert Ben, especially now, while he was showing a surprisingly vulnerable side to his character.

  So in spite of the warning, Andy picked Ben up from his Grandfather’s house, and drove him, alone, to the airport. Andy was in the horns of a dilemma, forced into the situation of transporting Ben alone, because Helen and Beth were not going to Monaco.

  Helen, because she didn’t want to leave the children. In addition, their marital relations were still strained after she caught Andy with his arms around Nadine.

  And Ben’s mother, Beth, was back into a critical part of her treatment in the addiction clinic having badly crashed out of her rehab programme at Christmas.

  Ben didn’t pause for breath as he explained to Andy on the way to the airport that he’d never been abroad before, let alone on an airplane and a chartered one at that.

  As they congregated in the small departure lounge, Andy was shocked to see that Rupert was accompanied by Sue.

  He’d heard about the motorway accident and knew that Jo was still recovering in hospital, but for Sue to be there! She was obviously up to her old tricks of harassing Rupert. How he regretted being instrumental in giving her back her freedom. But Geoffery had set her up. It wasn’t his fault.

  She glowered at him as she spotted him looking at her. He quickly looked away, embarrassed at being found out.

  James had mixed feelings about the trip. For in the days of his apparently endless wealth, he would fly with the same regularity as most people took a taxi. However, following his fall from grace, this would be the first time for many years, that he’d flown.

  Tim had received the invitation whilst at his Mother’s house, Like Ben, he and his mother Kay had never been on a plane before. There had been insufficient funds in the Springfield household to have holidays, let alone ones out of the country.

  On the other hand Carrie had been all over the world in many different types of planes during her army career. Indeed, part of her build up to becoming a member of the SAS had been to develop all manner of parachuting techniques. High Altitude Low Opening – also known as HALO, was one sh
e particularly enjoyed for the buzz of long free-fall. Flying, therefore, was second nature to her

  Kay had been surprised to be invited to the will reading, but as one of Geoffery’s former girlfriends, she had been secretly hoping to be included. Even if she wasn’t written in to the will, the trip would be reward in itself.

  The luxurious interior of the Hawker jet impressed Ben as he settled into a single white leather swivel seat which, like the eight others, were positioned either side of the narrow gangway.

  He craned his neck to see out of the window hoping to be spotted in his new celebrity status. Across the other side of the runway he could see enthusiasts by the Aviator pub with their binoculars.

  He had watched planes take off from the same spot himself, but never dreamt than one day he would be in one of them, especially a chartered jet.

  He knew their radios would be tuned to the aircraft frequencies, listening into the brief voice traffic between plane and control tower.

  The sound of the door closing made him turn away from his window gazing and he saw that an attractive uniformed flight attendant, who introduced herself as Evette, was doing the mandatory safety announcements.

  After the briefing, she walked along the gangway giving out hard boiled sweets and checking that everybody was buckled into their seat belts.

  The plane started moving along the labyrinth of taxiways and eventually turned on to the operational runway.

  Ben felt butterflies in his stomach as they waited a few minutes at the end of the runway for clearance.

  Suddenly the crescendo of engine noise increased, as the pilot pushed the throttles forward holding the jet on the brakes, until it reached a peak. Then he released the brakes and they were off, hurtling down the runway like a greyhound through starting gates. As the plane accelerated, Ben could hear underneath him the tyre noise as they sped along the bumpy runway.

  It seemed that they must surely run out of runway, when suddenly he felt the kick in his back and his stomach ‘drop’ as the pilot ‘rotated’ the plane. The nose lifted and the tyre noise ceased, followed quickly by a clunk as the undercarriage retracted… and for the first time in his life Ben was flying and so were his spirits.

  The sleek jet took off in a roar, quickly leaping into the sky over the roofs of Churchup. He saw the skate park disappearing under its wing, as it banked over to follow its declared flight path. Within minutes, it had punched a hole through the low cloud and emerged into the hidden sunshine.

  Ben revelled in every aspect of the flight. Perhaps life was going to get better after all, memories of the upsetting Christmas and disastrous start to the New Year being replaced with the prospect of a new and exciting adventure.

  Drinks and nibbles were served during the flight by Evette, who made sure that Ben had more than his fair share and even took him up to the cockpit, where he was impressed to see the pilot was wearing ‘shades’ in the bright sunshine.

  The pilot explained to him about the autopilot flight plan and the vast array of buttons, screens and dials. He told him about various cloud formations, as the jet made its way across the hidden English countryside and over the coast.

  As they left English shores, Ben had to return to his seat because of slight turbulence. Through holes in the cloud, he had tantalising glimpses of the white wake of ships crossing the Channel.

  As they crossed over the French coast the cloud disappeared and he was treated to a panorama of patchwork fields, roads, mountains, lakes and rivers. A living geography map was opening up before his very excited eyes.

  Carrie spent a lot of the flight talking soothingly to a frightened Kay, grabbing her hand when they hit turbulence. Kay was clearly very nervous, her earlier excitement now deflated.

  Sue had sat quietly for the most part of the trip, self-conscious that she was in the ‘lion’s den’ of Geoffery’s cohorts. But she decided that the monetary outcome would be worth the short term discomfort of sitting with them during the flight.

  She was also hoping to get a quick cash settlement with her share of Rupert’s legacy, so that she could make herself disappear in Europe, out of the clutches of the British Police. It was obvious to her the trap was closing in.

  However she couldn’t stop from interrupting Carrie as she was trying to calm Kay’s flight nerves. ‘Don’t worry, if the plane crashes, you won’t know too much about it,’ she said, callously.

  Carrie ignored her and continued to reassure Kay, ‘Of course flying’s perfectly safe,’ and told her about the hundreds of flights she had been on whilst in the forces.

  ‘Yes she’s right of course,’ Sue interjected again, ‘but I suppose the more flights you make, the more odds start stacking up against you, don’t they? I mean that plane that caught fire in Manchester…’

  ‘If yee don’t mind like,’ Carrie said, giving her a withering look’ her Geordie accent surfacing now she was angry. ‘This is a private crack. Keep yer nose oot. Reet?’

  ‘Oh, sorry I’m sure.’ Sue said, humiliated by the put down. ‘I was only trying to help.’ She mentally added Carrie to her hate list.

  Rupert smiled to himself at her admonishment. It was the highlight of his day. Although Rupert’s thoughts quickly returned to Joanne, lying in a hospital bed, without him by her side. What if she came around and he wasn’t there? Would she think he’d deserted her? And the baby was it going to be alright while Joanne struggled with her own battle to get better?

  He had been told that until she came out of the coma, they wouldn’t know the severity of her back injuries or whether she would be paralysed or not. Whatever it took, he was determined to get her the best medical care his inheritance would buy.

  Andy was wondering what he could do to appease Helen, perhaps he could track down some of the posh perfume that Nadine was wearing and make the peace. He hoped Nadine wouldn’t be at the reading. The seed that Helen had planted of him being Nadine’s ‘bit of rough’ might be too much for him to resist, if the opportunity presented itself.

  Before long the note of the engines changed and the plane started descending. Evette did the rounds of her passengers, giving out hard boiled sweets again and checking that everybody was wearing their seat belt.

  James gazed down on the familiar coastline. This was a descent he had made many times before, for this had been his playground. He had spent a lot of money and time at seemingly endless parties, here. The Cannes film festival, the F1 circus and the Casino in Monaco, to name just a few. It all seemed a lifetime away now though.

  Here, he had an indulgent lifestyle. His money had bought him every pleasure imaginable. But, just like his rich friends, he had taken it all for granted.

  A spectre of his former life flashed back into his consciousness. The pain of losing his lover Sebastian, firstly to another and subsequently his untimely death still haunted him.

  The loss of Sebastian had been the catalyst for his downward spiral of depression. His ineptitude had lost him his late millionaire father’s legacy, his inheritance at the casino tables. It was the beginning of the end. As his trappings of wealth, the yachts, the cars, the lavish parties disappeared, so too did his so called friends.

  The inevitable bankruptcy ultimately pitched him into abject poverty and onto the streets of London. On the streets, the bottle became his numbing salvation and eased the pain of his broken heart.

  He had lost all self-respect until, thankfully, just a few months ago Andy and Ben had tracked him down and Geoffery rescued him from himself.

  However, here he was back to where it all started, but with a fresh chance to restore his self-esteem. Geoffery’s money would give him a new opportunity. He knew he mustn’t blow it twice. There would be no other Guardian Angel to save him next time.

  Ben was apprehensive, but excited, about the landing as the small jet, buffeted by turbulence, neared the runway at a sunny Nice Cote D’Azur airport.

  Safely on the ground, the plane decelerated quickly as the Pilot applied reverse thrust. And
after negotiating the taxiways for a few minutes, it halted. The doorway opened on to a temperate Mediterranean afternoon.

  As Ben filed past the still seated Sue, he thought her face was somehow familiar, but he couldn’t place it.

  CHAPTER THIRTY SIX

  23rd January

  The Law Firm’s representative, Monique, met them at the airport and chaperoned them through customs to a gleaming black, stretched Mercedes for the short journey over the mountains to Monaco.

  Their route took them down the same serpentine road upon which Geoffery had nearly collided with the school bus only six months previously, whilst returning home with the devastating news of the terminal prognosis of his illness.

  Ben was wide eyed at his surroundings, for as the rugged mountain panorama ended, the beautiful blue Mediterranean appeared, sparkling in the afternoon sunshine. Here he was, in a world beyond his wildest dreams, the adventure getting better and better all the time.

  ‘Wow, this is brilliant,’ he said, to nobody in particular.

  Soon the sleek car pulled up in a fashionable area of Monte Carlo, outside an opulent three storey building, in the narrow Boulevard des Moulins.

  The wide pavement was populated with a row of neatly trimmed trees in large square plant boxes, an elegant show of topiary, befitting the area.

  Monique led the crocodile of expectant beneficiaries from the stretched limo into the elegant pastel painted building, its façade bedecked with columns and mock balconies.

  Andy stopped and caught his breath, as he took in his surroundings. He was just as overwhelmed as Ben had been, for the day had become a blur of exciting activity, a brief flight in a luxurious chartered jet and now alighting into the relatively warm luxury of Monaco. It was a far cry from a busy day at the hospice and the gloom of the British winter that they’d left behind.

  Framed above the roof tops, Andy could see the peak of Mont Agel peering down on the Principality, the late afternoon sun painting the rocky mountainside with an orange aura.