Minette Walters - Fox Evil

"I'm not into revolving doors, Leo. I'd rather have a wife and kids."

There was a brief hesitation. "Then you'd better forget anything you learned at school, my friend. It's a myth that blue-eyed parents can't produce brown-eyed children. Ma was an expert on genetic throwbacks. It made her feel better about herself to blame her children's addictions and her father's alcoholism on some distant ancestor who belonged to the Hellfire Club." Another pause to see if Mark would bite, and when he didn't: "Don't worry. I can guarantee that Lizzie's baby was nothing to do with me. Apart from anything else, I never fancied her enough to sleep with her… not after she started going with riffraff, anyway."

This time Mark did bite. "What riffraff?"

"Irish tinkers that Peter Squires brought in to mend his fences. He had them camping in a field over one summer. It was pretty funny, actually. Ma made a tit of herself by taking the children's education in hand, then went ballistic when she discovered Lizzie was being shafted by one of them."

"When was this?"

"What's it worth?"

"Nothing. I'll ask your father."

"He won't know. He was away at the time… and Ma never told him. The whole thing was kept very hush-hush in case the neighbors found out. Even I didn't know till later. I was in France for four weeks, and by the time I got back Ma had put Lizzie under lock and key. It was a mistake. She should have let it run its natural course."

"Why?"

"First love," said Leo cynically. "No one was ever as good again. It was the beginning of the slippery slope for my poor sister."

Nancy put all her effort into her thigh muscles and, with an unsteady lurch, rose to her feet with Wolfie sitting on her left hip. It would take a feather to knock her down again, but she prayed the old woman wouldn't realize that. "Move away from the door, please, Mrs. Dawson. Wolfie and I are going downstairs now."

Vera shook her head. "Fox wants his boy."

"No."

Negatives disturbed her. She began smacking her fists together again. "He belongs to Fox."

"No," said Nancy even more forcefully. "If Fox ever had any rights as a parent, he forfeited them when he took Wolfie from his mother. Parenthood isn't about ownership, it's about duty of care, and Fox has failed to show this child any care at all. You, too, Mrs. Dawson. Where were you when Wolfie and his mother needed help?

Wolfie pressed his lips to her ear. "Cub, too," he whispered urgently. "Don't forget li'l Cub."

She had no idea who or what Cub was, but she didn't want to take her attention from Vera. "Cub, too," she repeated. "Where were you for little Cub, Mrs. Dawson?"

But Vera didn't seem to know who Cub was either and, like Prue Weldon, fell back on what she knew. "He's a good boy. You put your feet up, Ma, he says. What's Bob ever done for you except treat you like a skivvy? He'll get his comeuppance, don't you worry."

Nancy frowned. "Does that mean Fox isn't Bob's son?"

The old woman's confusion intensified. "He's my boy."

Nancy gave the half-smile that was so reminiscent of James's. It would have been a warning to the old woman if she'd been capable of interpreting it. "So people were right to call you a whore?"

"It's Lizzie was the whore," she hissed. "She lay with other men."

"Good," said Nancy, hoisting Wolfie higher on her hip. "Because I couldn't give a damn how many men she slept with-just so long as Fox isn't my father… and you aren't my grandmother. Now, will you move … because there is no way I am going to allow a murdering old bitch to take Wolfie from me. You aren't fit to look after anything, let alone a child."

Vera almost danced with frustration. "You're so high and mighty… just like her . She's the one took babies away. All puffed up with her good works… making out she knew more than Vera did. You're not a suitable mother, she said. I can't allow it. Is that fair? Doesn't Vera have rights, too?" Up came the finger. "Do this… do that… Who cares about Vera's feelings?"

It was like listening to a stylus jump tracks on a worn record to produce unrelated bursts of sound. The theme was recognizable but the pieces lacked cohesion and continuity. Who was she talking about now? Nancy wondered. Ailsa? Had Ailsa made a decision about Vera's fitness as a mother? It seemed unlikely- on whose authority could she do it? -but it might explain Vera's bizarre remark about "knowing her baby when she saw it."

Perhaps Vera saw the indecision in her face because the gnarled finger jabbed in her direction again. "See," she said jubilantly. "I said it wasn't right, but she wouldn't listen. It won't work, she said, better to give it to strangers. So much heartache… and all for nothing when she had to go looking for it in the end."

"If you're talking about me," Nancy said coldly, "then Ailsa was right. You're the last person in the world anyone should give a baby to. Look at the damage you did to your own child." She started to walk forward. "Are you going to move or will I have to make you?"

Tears welled in Vera's eyes. "It wasn't my fault. It was Bob's fault. He told them to get rid of it. I wasn't even allowed to see it."

But Nancy wasn't interested. Telling Wolfie to turn the handle, she backed into the old woman, forcing her aside, and with a sigh of relief hooked the door open with her foot and hurried into the corridor.

Leo's voice took on an amused drawl. "When Dad got back, about two or three months later, he discovered his mother's rings had been nicked, along with bits of silver from the various display cabinets on the ground floor. Everything else had been shifted around to fill the gaps, so Ma didn't notice, of course-she was far too interested in her charity work-but Dad did. Spotted it within twenty-four hours of walking through the door. That's how acquisitive he is." He paused to see if Mark would rise to the barb this time. "Well, you know the rest. He lammed into poor old Vera like there was no tomorrow… and Ma never said a word."

"About what?"

"Lizzie's shenanigans."

"What did they have to do with it?"

"Who do you think stole the flaming stuff?"

"I thought you owned up to it."

"I did," Leo said with a grunt of laughter. "Bad mistake."

"Who, then? The boyfriend?"

"Christ, no! I wouldn't have taken the blame for him. No, it was Lizzie. She came to me, shaking like a leaf, and told me what had been going on. Her bloke persuaded her he'd marry her if she could get some money together to elope to Gretna Green. Silly cow. She was a pathetic romantic. Got comprehensively screwed by a waster… and still looks back on him as the best thing that ever happened to her."

Mark took to staring at the wall again. Which was the lie? That Leo had stolen from his father… or that he hadn't ? He could feel the tug of the man's charm again, but he wasn't so gullible these days. The single thing he could be sure of was that Leo was playing a gamble. "Did Vera know about it?"

"Of course she did. She was part of the problem. She adored the toerag because he took the trouble to soften her up. He was a bit of a charmer, by all accounts. Vera told lies for Lizzie so Ma wouldn't know what was going on."

"Why didn't she say something when your father accused her of stealing?"

"She would have done if she'd been given time. That's why Lizzie came howling to me."

"Then why did your mother believe you? She must have guessed that Lizzie had something to do with it."

"It made life easier for her. Dad would have given her hell for letting Lizzie run out of control. In any case, I'm a convincing liar. I told her I'd blown the lot in a casino in Deauville. She had no trouble believing that."

Probably because it was true, thought Mark cynically. Or partially true. Ailsa had always said that what Leo did, Lizzie did six months later. Nevertheless… "Will Lizzie vouch for you if I tell your father this?"