Classic Bestsellers from Josephine Cox: Bumper Collection. Josephine Cox

so much to Kathy. You would love her, Liz. She’s so much like her father in manner and nature.

      If you feel this is beyond you, then don’t worry.

      Yours affectionately,

      Jasper

      Shaken by the awful news, Liz had to sit down. Holding the letter in her trembling hands, she read it for a second time. ‘Dear God! What a terrible thing to happen … and to one of Robert’s daughters.’ It was inconceivable.

      Lately, she had been toying with the idea of going to meet Robert’s daughter, Kathy, but now she didn’t know what to do. Would Kathy feel that she was interfering? What if she took offence at her turning up out of the blue … taking it upon herself to feel she had a right to console Kathy?

      And what about the way she and Kathy’s father had set up house together? It would be understandable if Kathy bore some kind of grudge.

      Unless, as Jasper had pointed out, Kathy was made in the same caring, sensible mould as her father.

      Wailing and moaning, Robbie came running in. ‘It wasn’t my fault! The wind took it out of my hands!’ he cried. ‘It’s got stuck in the tree again. Come and see.’

      ‘What am I going to do with you, eh?’ Affectionately, she ruffled his hair. ‘Come on then. We’ll try and get it down, shall we?’

      The boy saw the letter as she thrust it into her skirt-pocket. ‘What’s that, Mummy?’

      ‘It’s a letter, son.’

      ‘Who’s it from?’

      ‘Jasper.’

      Robbie danced on the spot. ‘Is he coming to see us again?’

      ‘No, Robbie. He wants us to go and see him, in West Bay.’ She did not tell him why. There was no need for that.

      ‘Oh, can we, Mummy? Please!’

      ‘I don’t know, son. We’ll have to see.’

      ‘I love Jasper,’ he said. ‘He’s my friend.’

      As she led him out to the garden, her arm round his small shoulders, she looked down. ‘He’s my friend too.’

      The boy glanced up, his dark eyes smiling up at her, melting her heart.

      He was so like his father, she thought. More and more of late, there were times when she imagined Robert was looking at her through the boy’s eyes.

      She thought maybe she should go and see Kathy, if only for Robert’s sake.

      Then she wondered. He had kept them apart all that time. Maybe he didn’t want her to meet his other family.

      She was torn.

      Should she go, or should she reply to Jasper and say she wasn’t able to, for whatever reason?

      If she decided not to go, she believed Jasper would understand her motives. He was a good man. A friend of Robert’s too.

      But there was time for her to think it over.

      In the end, all she wanted was to make the right decision for them all.

       Chapter 22

      KATHY WAS ADAMANT. ‘You go and do what you came to do,’ she told Tom. ‘I need some time alone in the church.’

      ‘Are you sure?’ Tom didn’t like to leave her there in the big London church alone. He knew how, within the hour, her mother would arrive. Soon after that, her sister would receive the blessings before being laid to rest. ‘I can always tend to my business afterwards.’

      ‘No.’ Reaching up, she kissed him firmly on the mouth, ‘I’ll be fine. I just need to be alone for a while. Come back as soon as you can, and don’t worry about me.’

      ‘I don’t like to leave you …’

      ‘Go!’ She gave him a friendly shove. ‘Like I said, I’ll be all right.’

      Before hurrying away, he told her he would be back in no time. ‘So don’t think you’re getting rid of me that easily!’

      Inspector Lawson had agreed to meet him nearby at his request. ‘I’ve done everything you said,’ he told Tom when they were seated in the pub. ‘I’ve been in touch with the case-officers in Dorset … they can’t tell me anything I didn’t already now. I’ve sifted through all your brother’s belongings, and I’ve scoured his diary. But there is no mention anywhere of either Kathy or her sister, Samantha.’

      Tom’s heart rose with hope. ‘So, Kathy’s sister’s death was an accident?’ It would have been so hard for him to tell Kathy that his own brother was Samantha’s killer.

      The inspector shook his head. ‘No, Tom! That’s not what I’m saying. What I am saying is that we have no evidence to show he even knew Kathy or her sister. The last entry in his diary was made two days before she died. So, we can’t say it was him, and we can’t say it wasn’t.’

      Tom thought about all of that before asking the question, ‘What do you think?’ Leaning forward, he looked the other man in the eye. ‘Was Samantha’s death a straightforward accident?’

      The inspector thrust out his hands in a gesture of helplessness. ‘Who knows? The post-mortem was inconclusive. They couldn’t find hard evidence of foul play, apparently. But, whatever the truth, and for what it’s worth, I don’t think it was your brother who did it.’

      Somewhat relieved, Tom thanked the inspector. ‘I’d like to think it wasn’t Dougie,’ he murmured. ‘When he gets where he’s going, he’ll have more than enough to explain to the Almighty.’

      ‘Considering everything … it was good of you to see he got a decent burial, even if you weren’t there to see it.’

      Tom’s features darkened with loathing. ‘I didn’t do it for him,’ he said gratingly. ‘I did it because there was no one else. I can never forgive him for what he did. But I’ve done my duty, and, as far as I’m concerned, that’s an end to it.’

      ‘I wish you well, Tom. You must put it all behind you now.’

      ‘I know.’

      ‘If I hear anything, I’ll let you know.’

      They shook hands and Tom left.

      Outside, he hailed a cab, and went to meet Kathy at the church.

      When he arrived, she was kneeling in a pew at the back of the church, head bent and eyes closed. She didn’t hear him until he was right beside her. ‘Are you all right, darling?’

      She nodded, but didn’t reply.

      Tom gave her a comforting hug, before going to the altar where the candle Kathy had lit was already burning. Quiet as a mouse, he lit four candles beside it: one for each of his children, one for his wife, and one for Kathy’s sister.

      He then lit a fifth candle which he distanced from the others. As he put the light to it, he muttered harshly, ‘This one is for those poor, tortured souls who’ve lost their way.’ At the back of his mind was his own brother, Dougie.

      In moments of flashbacks he could see them as children, playing and laughing; as he thought of it all, the tears rimmed his eyes.

      Angry, he wiped them away and returned to Kathy, who had seen it all, and was made to wonder.

      A moment later, they came, one after the other, side by side, her mother and Richard, friends, colleagues; all come to pray for Samantha’s soul.

      They went to the front of the church and didn’t see the two at the back.

      With Tom beside her, Kathy watched them come in.