After the Funeral Read online

  Julia smiled back. ‘Of course.’ This was when she found her job most rewarding, when clients reached new understandings through having space to talk. She hoped this would be a breakthrough for Grace, even as she sensed there was much more for this troubled and vulnerable young woman to work out.

  –  CHAPTER 12  –

  The rest of the day passed quickly for Julia. She saw three more clients and was typing up session notes when she heard a knock on her office door. Pete poked his shaven head round. ‘Coming then?’ he asked, jangling his keys.

  ‘Where?’

  ‘Cold affected your memory as well?’ Pete’s grin faded when Julia didn’t return it. ‘Sorry.’ He rubbed the stubble on his cheek. ‘To the offices I told you about.’

  ‘Oh.’ Julia recalled rebuffing him earlier. The prospect of spending time alone in the draughty old school on a cold wet January evening wasn’t inviting. The paperwork would wait. ‘OK. Can you give me a few minutes?’

  ‘Sure, great! I’ll drive, then bring you back to pick your car up. See you outside in five.’ The door slammed behind him. Julia had the impression he didn’t want to give her the opportunity to change her mind. She switched off her laptop and locked her notes in the filing cabinet, hoping Pete wasn’t assuming that she had made a definite decision to share premises with him when their tenancies at the school expired.

  She approached the subject as she climbed into his mud-spattered blue Fiesta. ‘It’s good you’re being so proactive about this. I still haven’t given it much thought.’

  He didn’t answer immediately, concentrating on pulling out into the rush hour traffic. The wipers swished a mixture of sleet and rain across the screen.

  ‘One of us has to be,’ he said.

  Julia frowned at the collective pronoun. ‘But I haven’t made up my mind yet.’

  ‘No, I know. You’ve got a lot on your plate. Makes sense though, doesn’t it? Pete indicated to overtake a bus slowing to a stop outside an estate agent. A couple, arms linked under a golf umbrella, was browsing the properties in the lit window.

  Julia pushed away the thought that she needed to start looking at houses as well as business premises. ‘Careful!’ She held her breath as Pete accelerated past the bus. The driver of an approaching car honked, flashing his headlamps.

  ‘Sorry. Cut that a bit fine.’

  ‘Do you always drive like this?’

  He grinned. ‘Didn’t think you’d be lecturing me about my driving after Saturday.’

  She didn’t answer. Pete turned on to the dual carriageway which wound up the hill towards the main routes out of the city. ‘Sorry. Can’t have been easy, sorting through your mum’s things. Did you find anything in those diaries?’

  Julia hesitated. ‘Not much.’ She wasn’t sure if she wanted to tell Pete about her mother’s reference to a secret, though it would be good to talk it over with someone. She was missing having James to confide in since their row on Sunday morning.

  The gears crunched as Pete moved down into second on the steep incline. ‘Amazing building,’ he said, nodding in the direction of the floodlit cathedral which loomed above on their left. The bells, muffled by the traffic, rang the three quarters.

  Hearing them, Julia suddenly recalled them chiming midnight the previous Wednesday. Linda’s words echoed in her head again: ‘Now isn’t the time to explain about our family. I don’t want to upset you, to shock you, not with everything else you’re dealing with.’ To her relief she hadn’t heard from Linda since the phone call on Saturday. She wasn’t sure she could cope with the older woman’s dark hints at the moment. Julia shivered, then sneezed again. She took a tissue from her coat pocket and blew her nose.

  ‘Takes a while for the heater to take off the chill.’ Pete leaned across to turn it up to full blast, his hand brushing her knee.

  ‘I’m warm enough. It’s just…’ She hesitated again. Maybe it would put things into perspective if she told Pete about Linda and her hint of a family secret.

  ‘Just what?’ Pete glanced at her as he yanked on the handbrake. The traffic had ground to a halt in the ascent to the traffic lights. Julia’s legs jerked involuntarily. ‘Bit jumpy, aren’t you?’

  She took a deep breath. ‘It’s probably nothing to worry about.’ She turned the heater down, struggling to make herself heard above its whir. ‘Just a woman who turned up at Mother’s funeral claiming to be a long-lost relative.’

  ‘Really? Who is she?’

  ‘She claims to be a distant cousin. An artist. I went to her exhibition last week.’

  ‘Cool. What kind of art?’

  ‘Paintings. I don’t know anything about art, but she seems to be good. There were quite a lot of people there, including the local press.’ Julia’s shoulders stiffened inside her black trench coat as she remembered Linda pulling her in for the photo.

  ‘So what’s the problem?’ Pete released the handbrake as the traffic in front resumed the ascent. They crawled a hundred yards before stopping again.

  ‘I don’t know. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, maybe things are getting to me more than they should…’ Julia broke off, unused to so much self-disclosure. It was surprisingly easy to talk to Pete in the cocoon of the car.

  ‘Give yourself a break, Julia. You’ve just lost your mum.’

  She was touched by the genuine concern in Pete’s eyes as he turned towards her. ‘I suppose so. Maybe that’s why I find her, Linda, so… overpowering.’

  ‘Overpowering?’ The car swayed in a gust of wind. Pete turned up the wipers as the rain began to fall harder.

  ‘Yes. I found myself going along with her to an Italian after the exhibition, and then she hinted – it sounds far-fetched – that there’s some kind of family secret.’ Glancing up at the bulk of the cathedral as they crept forward the distance of two lamp posts, Julia shivered again.

  ‘That’s all, no details?’

  ‘No. She said it wasn’t the right time to tell me, that she didn’t want to worry me with it after everything I’ve been through recently.’

  ‘Meaning your mum’s death?’

  ‘Yes.’ Julia hesitated. ‘And my separation. Mum had told her about that too.’

  ‘She seems to know a lot about you.’

  ‘Yes. I’ve found that unsettling.’ Julia was still shivering, though the car was now warm enough for Pete to turn down the heater. ‘And I found out from Mum’s neighbour that she’d been visiting since last summer.’

  ‘You found out from your mum’s neighbour? You mean your mum hadn’t told you about her?’ Pete released the handbrake and moved forward a short distance before braking again.

  ‘No. It’s strange, isn’t it? All I can think is that Mother thought it was too insignificant to bother me. From what Linda said, I think she first visited in summer, around the time Greg and I split, just before Mother’s heart condition was diagnosed. She must have visited quite a lot – there were four pictures of Mother’s cottage at the “exhibition.” ‘The Open Door,’ she called the series.’

  ‘Could it have just been that she was inspired to paint your mum? Artists use a lot of different subjects, don’t they?’

  ‘Maybe.’

  ‘You think there’s more to it?’

  ‘I just don’t know why Mother didn’t mention her. Aren’t you putting the handbrake on?’ Pete was riding the clutch on the incline and Julia found herself air-braking.

  ‘Back seat driver, aren’t you?’ It was still light enough for Julia to see him grin as he pulled on the handbrake. ‘Like you say, your mum might not have wanted to worry you about this woman when you had so much going on.’

  ‘Mmm.’

  ‘But you’re not convinced?’

  Pete was more perceptive than Julia had appreciated. It encouraged her to continue unravelling the enigma of her newly-discovered relative. ‘No. The other thing is that Edith – Mother’s neighbour – told me Linda had been back to the cottage since Mother died. So Mother must have given her a
key. But why would she go back there?’

  ‘Maybe she left something behind? I’m going to see if this is quicker. We’re running late.’ Pete turned left up the road winding towards the cathedral. Five low chimes of the bell penetrated the rain hammering on the car.

  ‘She might have left something,’ Julia conceded. ‘But why didn’t she mention it to me, ask me to get it for her? Why hasn’t she told me she has a key?’

  ‘That is weird. What are you going to do about it?’ The traffic lights under the Norman archway changed to red and he pulled up.

  ‘I don’t know.’ Julia twisted a button on her coat. ‘I don’t want her going back to the cottage. I mean, I don’t know anything about the woman except that she’s an artist. And you hear so many things about people befriending lonely old people and hoping to benefit… Linda doesn’t seem that kind of person, but who knows?’ Her voice rose as she vented the thoughts which had been troubling her since Saturday afternoon. ‘She’s got no right, has she, to go disturbing Mother, then poking around in her home after she’s gone? I don’t know who she thinks she is. She was even crying about losing Mother last week!’ Julia swallowed hard, reaching again for her tissue.

  Pete hesitated before turning towards her. ‘I know she was your mother, Jules, but it’s possible this artist woman had grown fond of her during her visits. You’re right, though, she might be after something. Damn,’ he muttered, stalling the car after a honk from the van behind drew his attention back to the traffic. He switched the engine back on, indicating to turn right towards the ring road.

  Julia waited until he completed the turn. ‘You don’t think I’m being melodramatic, then?’

  ‘No. Course not. Melodrama is never something I’d associate with you. Cool Jules is how I think of you.’

  ‘ “Cool Jules?”’

  ‘Yes. Sorry, I know you don’t like me calling you “Jules.”’

  ‘That doesn’t matter.’

  ‘Wow. Progress.’

  Julia couldn’t see Pete’s expression as he manoeuvred round a bus, with greater care this time. But she registered the amusement in his voice and found herself smiling. Something had changed in her attitude towards him since he had helped her after the skid. And there had been that moment in the kitchen, when he had begun to massage her hand… Her cheeks grew warm at the thought. They would never be more than friends, she reminded herself. He was involved in some complicated relationship with someone. Besides, they had worked alongside one another all these years without there being any hint of any chemistry between them. Why was she bothered then that he had described her as ‘cool’? It wasn’t as bad as being described as ‘smug’ by James, was it? But even so… She kept her voice level. ‘You say you find me “cool”?’

  ‘Yeah. That’s how you are, isn’t it? Always in control. Measured. Never seen you rattled before Saturday. Blimey, real stair rods, isn’t it?’ He turned the wipers up to full speed as Julia digested his assessment.

  There was a pause before Pete continued, ‘Not surprised you weren’t yourself on Saturday, though, with this weird artist woman on top of everything else. What does your brother make of it?’

  Julia hesitated. ‘I’ve not had chance to talk to him about it yet.’ It was tempting to confide in him about the row with James, but she felt that would be disloyal.

  ‘Oh?’ Pete glanced across at her. When it was obvious Julia wasn’t going to add anything, he went on, ‘And you’ve checked nothing’s missing at your mum’s place? Jewellery, valuables, cash?’

  ‘There was nothing except the cash in her purse. I took that home the day she went into hospital. She didn’t have any jewellery or valuables left. No thanks to Nicholas.’

  ‘Nicholas?’

  ‘My step-father, James’s father. Mother’s second husband. He died ten years ago.’ She sighed.

  ‘Not good with money?’

  ‘No. A lovely man though.’ Julia smiled. She’d always been very fond of Nicholas. When her mother introduced them he’d produced a fluffy pink rabbit, more suitable for a baby than a ten-year-old. She’d realised that he was more nervous about their first meeting than she was. It had endeared him to her instantly.

  ‘Nicholas made some bad investments and ended up in debt. Mother had to sell her few pieces of jewellery to bail him out. There wasn’t much. Just necklaces and earrings my father had bought her for anniversaries and birthdays.’ Julia’s voice wavered and she found herself blinking back the tears which were never far away.

  ‘Sounds like your dad was an old-fashioned romantic.’ Pete turned off the heater, his hand catching her knee again.

  She swallowed. ‘Yes, I suppose he was.’

  ‘Nicholas sounds a bit like your ex, doesn’t he? What is it with the women in your family that you pair up with financial losers?’

  It was a moment before she trusted herself to speak. ‘I beg your pardon?’

  ‘Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.’ Pete drummed his hand on the steering wheel. The final set of lights before their destination changed back to red.

  ‘No. You shouldn’t. Nicholas didn’t know what he was doing, not like –’ Julia broke off. She’d tried so hard not to criticise Greg since the split.

  Pete jumped in. ‘But Greg knew, didn’t he?’ When Julia didn’t reply, he went on, ‘Come on. Admit it, Jules, the man’s a two-timing bastard who’s left you high and dry. You were taken in by him hook, line and sinker. You’ll feel a hell of a lot better if you admit what he was. Finally.’ He turned into the car park in front of a small shopping precinct.

  Julia’s chest tightened. She felt a flush spread upwards from her neck. ‘How dare you?’ she said. ‘How dare you make judgements about my choice of partner? And who do you think you are to give me advice?’

  ‘No need for the high horse! He left you for another woman who he’s knocked up. You’re in danger of losing your house because he didn’t pay the mortgage. Do I really need to spell it out?’ Pete shook his head in disbelief. ‘This’ll be the one.’ He swung the Fiesta into a space in front of a unit with a ‘To Let’ sign hanging above it. The lights were on inside, outlining a figure behind the glass door, presumably the agent.

  Julia stared ahead through the windscreen. The heavy rain was already beginning to obscure the neon-lit shops. She sensed Pete turn towards her but remained motionless. Blood pounded in her ears.

  ‘Looks OK, doesn’t it? Bright and welcoming on a foul night, makes a better first impression than the dismal old school!’

  She took a deep breath, knowing as she opened her mouth that she was being irrational. But even so…

  ‘After what you have said there is no way I will be going into business with you.’ She opened the passenger door. ‘I will leave you to view the premises and make my own way back to the office by bus.’

  She climbed out of the car. A squall of wind blew the door against her left leg as she reached back in to pick up her laptop and bag from the footwell in front of the passenger seat. She clenched her teeth against the pain, keeping her face averted from Pete.

  ‘Don’t be daft, Jules.’ His voice, faintly amused, was also gentle. Despite her resolution she paused in gathering her belongings. ‘I was out of order. Sorry. But I’m trying to help. Honestly. Come on, have a look round. We’ve not got long before the landlord’s notice expires.’ Sensing her hesitate, he pressed on, ‘And don’t go back on the bus on a filthy night like this. It’s not going to help you get over your cold.’

  She sighed. Her financial circumstances alone meant she should go ahead and view the vacant premises, at least contemplate Pete’s suggestion of them sharing. She replaced the laptop and bag in the car. ‘All right then. But don’t criticise Greg any more, OK?’

  ‘Deal.’ Pete jumped out of the car and joined her on the pavement outside the vacant unit. ‘I just can’t stand seeing a good woman like you being treated badly. You need to take care of yourself, duck.’ He placed a hand briefly round her shoulders before passin
g her to open the door. Julia smiled at the local term of endearment, registering her disappointment that his touch had been so brief.

  ‘Get a grip!’ she told herself as the agent, a dark slim young woman in impossibly high red and white striped heels, stepped forward to greet them. She barely glanced at Julia, bestowing her wide smile on Pete.

  Julia could see immediately that the premises were unsuitable. There was insufficient floor space to divide into two offices and a reception area. Pete voiced her opinion as he took in the dimensions of the unit. ‘Far too small,’ he said. ‘Is that why the dimensions weren’t included in the ad?’

  The agent’s smile faded. ‘I’m not responsible for that. My colleague at the office drew up the particulars.’

  Pete shrugged. ‘Whatever. But the ad said the premises could be divided into 2–3 offices. No way.’ He swept his arm around the unit. ‘Maybe you could tell your colleague to provide accurate information and save folk making wild goose chases.’

  ‘I’m sorry you feel you had a wasted journey. We have your details on file and will contact you if larger business premises come on to the market.’ The agent’s smile was back in place as she opened the door.

  The rain was falling even more heavily as they made a dash to the car. ‘Typical hard-faced lying agent,’ said Pete as he turned the key in the ignition. His usual jaunty air had deserted him.

  ‘There’ll be other premises,’ said Julia.

  ‘We’ve not got much time, have we?’ He slid the gear lever into reverse. ‘I’d hoped these would fit the bill. Good location too.’

  ‘I know. But like I said earlier, I’m not sure what I want to do.’

  Pete drove in silence for a few moments as they turned back out on to the ring road. It was less busy heading back towards the city centre.