The Flood

by Rachel Bennett

  Trying to run was making Daniela look daft. So, she stopped.

  Leo appeared around a corner. ‘What’re you doing?’ he demanded in an angry whisper. ‘What’re you after?’

  Daniela tried a smile, but Leo’s expression withered it. ‘Nothing,’ she said.

  ‘Are you kidding me? What the hell were you thinking?’ Leo grabbed her arm to lead her away. ‘Get out of here before you wake my dad.’

  Daniela dug in her heels. ‘Leo, you don’t understand. Your dad—’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘You—?’

  ‘I know what happened to Franklyn. That’s why you’re here, right?’

  The hitch in his voice made Daniela hesitate. ‘How d’you know what he did?’

  ‘I heard him talking on the phone. Organising someone to go find her.’ Leo bit his lip. ‘I know what it meant.’

  ‘You don’t know the half of it.’ Daniela pulled loose from his grip. ‘If you’d seen what he’d done you wouldn’t defend him.’

  ‘I’m not. But things can’t go on like this. You—’

  ‘He broke Frankie’s fingers.’ Without meaning to, Daniela took a step towards him. ‘Am I supposed to just ignore that?’

  Leo’s eyes cut away. ‘I wish you would,’ he said, his voice harsh. ‘What do you think it’s like for me and Mum? This feud has pushed him to the edge. I’m genuinely worried what it might make him do. Please, forget about this.’

  ‘Are you serious?’

  ‘Of course I am.’ Leo lost his temper. ‘It’s wrecking our family. If Franklyn could’ve just left us alone—’

  Daniela laughed incredulously. ‘You’re blaming Franklyn? Did she break her own fingers?’

  Leo’s expression hardened. ‘Do you even realise what she’s done? Stealing the money was the last straw, but it’s been everything else. She—’ His voice cracked. He shook his head angrily. ‘If Dad finds out you’re here it’ll make things worse. For everyone. Don’t you understand that?’

  Daniela thought of the overflowing sink in the storeroom. If she strained her ears, she could hear splattering water. ‘Leo,’ she said, ‘he threatened to kill me today. If we let him get away with this—’

  ‘Please keep your voice down.’

  ‘Who knows what he’ll do next? I’m not going to wait till he goes after Auryn.’

  Leo turned his face away. ‘If you want to help people,’ he said, ‘the best thing you could do is get lost.’

  The way he said it was heart-breaking. Daniela realised at that moment how much she wanted Leo. The idea of anything bad happening to him—

  The rear door of the shop banged open, and the roar of Henry’s voice filled the room.

  ‘What’s going on? Who’s in here?’

  31

  February 2017

  It’s not true.

  Daniela swallowed. Blinked. Her heart felt too big for her chest.

  Franklyn would never do that.

  Aloud, Daniela said, ‘They hated each other.’

  ‘Funny how it works out like that.’ Margaret shifted in her seat. ‘Are you sure I can’t get you a drink?’

  ‘No, I—’

  ‘Doesn’t have to be tea. I’m sure I’ve got something else.’ Margaret unfolded her legs and went to a walnut drinks cabinet. From inside she produced a bottle of whisky. ‘Here we go. That’ll take the edge off the cold.’

  ‘I don’t—’

  ‘Hush, no excuses now. I was planning a snifter before bed anyways. And a lady shouldn’t drink alone.’ Margaret snorted laughter. ‘Although, when you get to shuffling around in your pyjamas at this time of day, letting strangers into your house, I think you’ve eluded the definition of lady.’

  Margaret poured generous measures into a pair of crystal tumblers. The label on the bottle looked expensive.

  ‘One of the few good things Henry left behind,’ Margaret said as she held out a glass to Daniela. ‘In all the kerfuffle he overlooked two cases down in the cellar. D’you want ice?’

  ‘I – no.’

  ‘Good girl.’ Margaret pushed the tumbler into Daniela’s unresisting hands. ‘Drink up. It’ll make you feel better.’

  Daniela was shaking. ‘When did it happen?’

  ‘Franklyn and Henry? It started when she went off to Birmingham. They were working together, then …’ Margaret sighed. ‘Sorry, love. I thought you knew. Everyone else did.’

  ‘They did?’

  Margaret sat down with her drink cupped in both hands. ‘I don’t know how long it went on. Honestly, I never wanted the details. But it was a while. More than one occasion, certainly.’

  Why?

  ‘You feel like you owe something to the people you used to know.’

  ‘He thought he could blackmail me.’

  She wouldn’t have done it willingly. But Daniela couldn’t bring herself to say that aloud.

  ‘How did you find out?’ Daniela asked.

  ‘Franklyn told me.’ Margaret swirled her drink. ‘She came to me … well, it would’ve been that weekend. The day Henry got hurt. She came into the shop early that morning, flipped the sign to closed, made me sit down, and told me everything. About her and him and – well, let’s just say it wasn’t the first time he’d strayed, according to her. She told me everything. And I—’ Margaret forced a laugh ‘—I chased her out. Threatened her with all sorts.’

  Daniela couldn’t imagine Margaret threatening anything. But then, she also couldn’t picture Franklyn and Henry together.

  ‘If I hadn’t yelled so much, maybe Leo wouldn’t have overheard.’ Margaret’s lips pulled into a tight line. ‘Maybe he wouldn’t have confronted his dad about it. Maybe … well, maybe a lot of things.’

  Daniela gulped her drink. It burned.

  ‘That was the last time I spoke to Franklyn,’ Margaret said. ‘I thought she was trying to hurt Henry, driving me and Leo away, ruining his business – because I held the purse-strings to the antiques shop, of course. If I’d walked, he’d have been left with nothing. And that’s almost what happened.’

  That was why Henry had cornered Daniela out by the river, and why Franklyn came home with broken fingers. Not because of the money they’d stolen. Because Frankie had taken so much more.

  Margaret’s grip tightened around her glass. ‘It wasn’t till later – years later – I realised she’d been trying to help me. In her own stupid, backwards way, she wanted to give me a reason to kick Henry out forever. Something I could never forgive him for. Wish I’d listened.’ Margaret shook her hair out of her eyes. ‘Henry’s like a harbinger of bad news. Every time he shows his face, disaster is right behind. Or maybe I just see it that way.’

  Daniela nodded. She tried to focus. ‘But you’re sure he’s not in town at the moment?’

  ‘Who’s ever sure about anything? You think you’ve got a little stability, then pfft, off it goes like a fart in the wind. I think Eric’s stayed at Winterbridge Farm – he couldn’t leave the cows – but the cabins are locked up. I doubt Henry’s there now.’ Margaret cocked her head. ‘Why’re you asking?’

  ‘I … I don’t want to run into him.’

  ‘No. On top of everything else, you don’t need that.’ Margaret looked sympathetic. ‘It must be terrible for you. You and Auryn were always so close.’

  Daniela had to laugh. ‘You think so?’

  ‘Oh, you had your falling-outs, I know. Who on this planet doesn’t, especially with family? But there were always the four of you, the Cain sisters, and everyone could see how much you meant to each other.’

  Daniela shrugged, embarrassed. ‘I guess things change.’

  ‘Everything changes,’ Margaret agreed. ‘It’s such a shame. The way you kids scattered to the winds after your mother left …’

  ‘We didn’t scatter, so much. I mean, Steph’s still here.’

  Margaret waved away the distinction. ‘I always knew you weren’t for staying. There’s too much wildness in all of you.’

  Margar
et was sipping her whisky – only little sips, but she’d already drunk half the substantial glass. Daniela kept pace. She still felt the same urgency, the need to leave the house as soon as possible, but for the moment all she could do was sit there, numb. The alcohol made her warm around the ears.

  ‘I probably shouldn’t tell you this,’ Margaret said in her conspiratorial tone, the one she used for gossiping over the counter, ‘but years ago, my granny came to stay, and she happened to see all four of you in the street. She said, “You know how it goes with large families?”’ Margaret held up the fingers of one hand, thumb tucked in. She counted them off. ‘“The first child goes to the priesthood, the second to the police, the third to jail, and the fourth to the devil.”’

  Daniela felt a tingle up her back. Margaret was smiling in that soft, guileless way, and somehow it didn’t sound like an insult.

  ‘She must’ve known us well,’ Daniela said carefully.

  ‘Oh, she didn’t know you at all. That was just her way – an off-the-cuff judgement based on nothing but the things folks say back home. She didn’t mean a thing by it, and I forgot about it, until years and years later, when Franklyn up and took her vows.’

  For the first time, Daniela realised what Franklyn had really wanted to atone for.

  Margaret smiled over the rim of her glass. The way her eyes twinkled made her look years younger. ‘I always thought my granny got it a little wrong,’ she said then. ‘You were always the one with something of the devil about her, Dani Cain.’

  ‘I’m … not sure how to take that.’

  ‘You’ll take it for what it is. A passing comment from a woman who’s known you since before you could walk. So, have you heard from Franklyn these past few years?’

  She asked too casually, her eyes avoiding Daniela’s. ‘Not really,’ Daniela said. ‘She wrote to me a few times while I was inside. Just keeping me up to speed on the family. She came to visit me once, after Dad died, but I-I didn’t want to talk to her, not right then.’

  ‘That’s a shame,’ Margaret said softly. ‘Still, if you do get to speak to her, tell her she was right. About pretty much everything. And I’m sorry for how it turned out.’

  Margaret knocked back the last of her drink. Daniela examined the quarter-inch in her own glass, then followed suit. The raw burn of expensive alcohol made her cough.

  ‘So, do you believe what your gran said?’ Daniela asked. ‘I’m the third-born, so I’ve been written off from the start? Because, I have to say, that’s not greatly comforting.’

  ‘Then change.’ Margaret shrugged, her movements softened by alcohol. ‘Look at me – I used to be a tired old woman with an arsehole husband, working in a tiny shop in a village in the middle of nowhere. Now I’m a single lady in her prime who runs her own business.’

  Daniela couldn’t help but return her smile. ‘Sounds like you made a good swap.’

  ‘Didn’t I just?’ She beamed. ‘Henry keeps playing these games, coming back to town, wanting me to know he’s still around, but I’m not playing anymore.’

  ‘Do you know if he’s still in touch with my family?’

  ‘Oh, I doubt it. He didn’t have many kind words for Stephanie, but—’ She paused, frowning. ‘Mind, when I saw Henry last week at the Crossed Swords … I went to meet some friends, and there was Henry, sitting by the window. He had his back to me so I could’ve snuck out without him spotting me, but I thought, why should I be on eggshells all the time? This is my home village, and I’m damned if he’s going to scare me away. So, I went to the bar, and I was keeping a weather eye on him, just in case, and I realised he was talking to Auryn.’

  Daniela stood up and took Margaret’s glass. She refilled them both from the bottle on the cabinet. ‘What were they talking about?’

  ‘I wasn’t close enough to find out. But it didn’t look like a friendly chat, if you know what I mean. Auryn wasn’t happy. And Henry was in close—’ She leaned forwards to demonstrate. The loose neck of her pyjamas gaped. ‘Like he didn’t want to be overheard.’

  Leo had said Henry and Auryn were still in contact. Daniela hadn’t realised he’d meant as recently as last week. ‘And this was last week?’

  ‘A bit less than a week. Perhaps five days.’

  So, before Auryn left Stonecrop – or said she’d left. Sometime between then and now, she’d returned to hide away in the old house. Had Henry found out she was there? That she was alone in the house? Her family thought she’d left. There was no one there to protect her.

  Daniela felt anger curling in her stomach again.

  ‘Did they talk for long?’ Daniela asked.

  ‘About ten or fifteen minutes that I saw.’ Margaret sipped her new drink. ‘I met up with my friends and got distracted, and when I looked back, the pair of them were gone.’

  ‘I wouldn’t think they’d have much to talk about,’ Daniela said.

  ‘Well, I couldn’t hear, but I can hazard an astute guess.’

  ‘You can?’

  Margaret hesitated before saying, ‘You have to understand, Henry’s still bitter. Specifically, about the way your father treated him. They were in business together for a lot of years. I know it was Henry’s idea to start bringing those awful shoddy goods into the country, but if your dad felt so strongly about it, he should’ve said something at the start, rather than—’

  ‘Wait.’ Daniela frowned. ‘How long was Henry doing the counterfeit thing? I thought it was only for a short while.’

  ‘Oh, God no. It started long before your father sold his half of the business.’

  ‘And you knew about it?’

  Margaret gave her a look. ‘Yes. I handled the finances for my shop and the antiques business, so of course I found out eventually, despite the best efforts of my estranged husband. He’s good at disguising his tracks – there’s a nebulous element to buying and selling antiques, since mostly it’s done in cash – but not enough to fool me. I’d thank you not to judge me, by the way. I saw what he was doing and turned a blind eye. I’m aware of that.’

  Daniela shut her mouth.

  Margaret’s gaze became reflective. ‘The problem was, your mother figured it out at about the same time that I did. She didn’t find out from me, but secrets have a way of disclosing themselves, don’t they?’ She took a long swallow of her drink. ‘She left your father not long afterwards. And I always felt terrible about that. Whether I contributed directly or not, the last thing I wanted was for you kids to grow up without a mother.’

  Daniela shifted in her seat. The topic made her uncomfortable. ‘I doubt that’s why she left,’ she said, recalling years of arguments and silences and worse. ‘It definitely wasn’t your fault.’

  ‘Some of it might’ve been. I told her a few things I should’ve kept to myself. I told her about her jewellery – those rings your father bought for her, one for each of you kids? The truth is, they weren’t his to give. They belonged to my grandmother. I thought they’d been lost in a house move, until I saw them on your mother’s hands. Henry sold them to your dad and assumed, even if I noticed, I’d say nothing rather than cause a scene. Perhaps that would’ve been best.’ Margaret sighed. ‘Little, awful things like that. Nothing bad enough to keep her away from you all these years, I would’ve thought, but who knows. Mind you, there was a few things she could’ve told me in return, but didn’t.’

  Daniela said nothing.

  ‘Some of us can put up with more than others,’ Margaret said with a soft shrug. ‘After your mother left, when things got rocky between Henry and your father, and the business folded, Henry got it into his head that your father cheated him. Stole from him, effectively. And now your father’s passed on, God love him, the money must be somewhere. I’m only guessing, but if Henry was talking to Auryn, it’d be because he wants what he thinks he’s owed. Auryn was in charge of your dad’s finances. Her professional experience, and all that.’

  Daniela’s head ached. Was this what it was about? Dad’s money? She thought
of the package below the floorboards. Had Auryn hidden it there to avoid Henry getting hold of it?

  ‘How much did Henry reckon he was owed?’ she asked.

  ‘A lot. He used to say your dad robbed us of half a million, but that was probably hyperbole.’

  Daniela shook her head. There’d been a substantial amount of money under the floor, but not half a million. Did that make her feel better or worse? Her heart ached with every beat.

  Henry McKearney had been in Stonecrop recently. He’d talked to Auryn, he wanted money, and he hated Daniela’s family.

  Was that enough reason for him to kill Auryn?

  Margaret was staring into her glass. ‘Auryn was a great kid. She never had a bad word to say about anybody. I always hoped she and Leo would sort things out. They were wonderful. And now she’s gone.’ She tipped her head back and drained her glass. ‘He’s distraught, of course. Leo. I phoned him earlier but he could barely even talk. He kept asking if I knew where his dad was. Like a little kid. It’s heart-breaking. This sort of thing, it never makes sense, does it? Auryn should’ve looked after her health. She shouldn’t have lived alone. Or she should’ve gone somewhere warm to ride out the floods—’

  ‘Stephanie said she did go, a few days ago.’

  ‘Really? Why on earth did she come back?’ Margaret frowned. ‘How did she come back? She doesn’t drive, and there’ve been no buses for a week. I wonder if Leo knows …’ She shook her head sadly. ‘None of it seems fair. Why couldn’t the good Lord have stolen Henry instead? It’s not right that a young girl should take ill and die like that.’

  ‘Take ill?’

  Margaret tilted her head. The alcohol had smoothed the creases of her face. ‘That’s what Leo told me,’ she said. ‘They couldn’t say for certain, but it looked like she’d neglected herself and took ill. Probably pneumonia, and no surprise in this weather.’

  She doesn’t know. ‘It wasn’t pneumonia,’ Daniela said. ‘Someone killed her.’

  A number of emotions crossed Margaret’s face. Finally she settled on simple denial. ‘Well, that’s not possible,’ she said. ‘They wouldn’t know yet. They’d have to do an – an autopsy, and other investigations, wouldn’t they?’