Fatal Legacy Read Free Page B

overran, so that as they left, Julia, in Jaeger and pearls, was able to confront Sally, wearing a neat navy Marks and Spencer suit and pink blouse. As she tried gently to step to one side, the other woman moved to block her way.
    ‘Just where do you think you’re going, young woman? I want a word with you.’
    Sally shook her head, unmoved by Julia’s anger. She had been patronised by the older woman ever since she had married Alex, and she knew that the knowledge of their inheritance would be enough of a punishment.
    ‘Please, Julia, this is hardly the time or place. Why don’t we discuss this in private later over a nice cup of tea?’
    ‘Cup of tea?! Dear God, who the hell do you think you are, inviting me for a cup of tea like Lady Bountiful. Frankly you’re the last person I want to have tea with. I have my standards, you know.’
    Alexander stepped forward and placed a firm hand on Julia’s shoulder.
    ‘Aunt Julia, please don’t upset yourself. The last thing Uncle Alan would have wanted was for this to divide the family.’
    Julia threw back her head and let out a blast of high-pitched laughter.
    ‘You simpleton, that’s precisely what he wanted. This ishardly the stuff of happy families. You’re so stupid. Mind you, I shouldn’t be surprised; your father was an idiot. What can one expect?’
    ‘That’s enough.’ Alexander’s tone was barely polite and carried the unmistakable weight of authority behind it. They all looked at him, held silent by surprised intakes of breath. Julia recovered first, but her voice was querulous and had lost much of its arrogant assurance.
    ‘Don’t think I don’t know how all this has come about. You wait until I take you both to court. It’ll all come out then, about you and your whore!’
    ‘Enough, Julia!’ Colin looked aghast at his wife. The new Alexander standing before him seemed quite capable of retaliating with an action for slander. He glanced sideways at the young couple. If his wife’s outrageous insult had been intended to discomfort them, it had missed its mark completely. His niece by marriage regarded him with a cool, detached contempt; his nephew with impatience. Then, with absolute assurance, they stepped past his wife and greeted Jeremy Kemp with a warm handshake, leaving him to escort his unusually silent spouse outside.
    Kemp settled Alexander and Sally into comfortable leather chairs and offered them a sherry. It was only eleven o’clock but he felt they all needed one. Sally sipped hers gratefully whilst Alexander, after touching the glass to his lips, ignored it. The meeting ran on past twelve, then to one o’clock. Kemp, engrossed in the detail, had forgotten about the appointment with Graham at quarter past, until he heard raised voices in the outer office. He looked apologetically at his clients.
    ‘Graham was due to see me at one fifteen. For once he’s early, and he’s obviously objecting to being kept waiting.’
    The door was flung back with such force that it rattled the windows, and Graham stalked in, smelling faintly of whisky. An apologetic Jenny stood behind him, dressed in extraordinary tight flared white hipsters and a cropped lime-green top that left her flat brown stomach and pierced navel bare.
    ‘Typical. I should have known you two’d get in first.’
    ‘We were just leaving. And as to what we discussed, none of it was confidential. We will very happily share it with youwhen you can spare us a moment.’ Sally smiled, openly relaxed. Alexander took her arm and turned to Kemp.
    ‘We’ll leave you to it then, Jeremy. Come on, Sally.’
    He opened his mouth to say something to Graham, but then closed it again and shook his head, as if unable to find the words. Graham stared in astonishment at the sudden change that had come over his cousin.
     
    Alexander might have adjusted with unexpected ease to his sudden wealth but his world was about to become even more complicated. He walked into Doggett and Hawes, Wainwright