Стивен Бут - Drowned Lives

The smile had been slipping from Parker’s face for the last few seconds, and by the time I’d finished speaking, it was gone completely. Instead, his jaw had tensed into a hard line, abandoning any pretence of civility. The expression in his eyes hadn’t changed, because the smile had never spread beyond his teeth.

‘You may find the items were not Samuel Longden’s sole property in the first place for him to bequeath to you,’ he said.

‘I suppose you could challenge the will, if you think you could prove that.’

‘Perhaps I should.’

We stared at each other for a moment. I was trying hard to look much braver than I felt. Then Parker turned aside, ostensibly to admire the tetras and mollies in the tank against the wall. His heavy shoulders relaxed again gradually, and the smile began to twitch the corners of his mouth. He looked at me sideways, almost shyly.

‘Look, Christopher, we’ve got off on the wrong foot, and it’s entirely my fault. I suppose I ought to come clean.’

I noted the sudden switch to my first name, but I didn’t like the presumed intimacy any better than the oily courtesy.

‘That sounds like a good idea to me.’

‘What I’ve just told you isn’t entirely true.’

‘Go on,’ I said, far from surprised.

‘When I first introduced myself, you asked me if I was a relative of Samuel Longden’s, and I told you I wasn’t. That’s true, strictly speaking. But it’s a little more complicated than that.’

‘Perhaps you’d better explain.’

He sighed. ‘There’s something I should tell you. But this is very difficult for me. The subject is rather sensitive, both for myself and my family, just as it was for Samuel. I suggest it could be something you yourself are quite unaware of. Even though Samuel Longden was your great-uncle.’

I knew his ploy had been a calculated change of tactics. But I had to admit that he’d caught my interest now. I needed to hear what he had to say.

‘Will this take long?’ I asked.

‘A little while,’ he smiled.

‘You’d better sit down then. I’ll make us some coffee.’

‘That would be very civilised.’

Leo Parker settled himself on one of the yellow armchairs, close to the fish tank, where his eyes could follow the flickering movements. During the next few minutes, I began to wonder if his eyes moved away to watch the fish at moments when he was lying, but I possessed no facts to check his statements against. I had to accept what he told me at face value, for now.

‘Did Samuel ever mention my stepmother to you?’ he asked as I returned with a tray.

‘Why would he?’

‘Her name was Mary,’ he said. ‘Mary Parker.’

I stopped in mid-stride, almost pole-axed.

‘Mary—?’

Parker smiled as he casually let slip his bombshell.

‘She was also your grandmother.’

I felt him watching me like a hawk, and I couldn’t stop myself flushing with irritation and embarrassment as I clattered the tray down and slopped some coffee into a saucer.

‘I’m talking about your grandmother, Christopher,’ he repeated, as if I was deaf or stupid.

But I wasn’t either of those things. I was just thunderstruck, the way he’d no doubt intended me to be.

‘Of course,’ I said finally. ‘But did you say... your stepmother?’

He inclined his head. ‘Your grandparents separated and divorced. Mary went on to marry my father, Matthew Parker.’

‘So our families are related.’

‘I’d describe them as inextricably entangled.’

‘I had no idea,’ I admitted. ‘I knew that Mary left my grandfather when they’d only been married for a few years and already had a son, my father. But what happened to her afterwards—’

I must have looked sceptical, because Parker felt the need to convince me.

‘I can assure you it’s true. She married again.’

‘To your father.’

‘Yes.’ He hesitated. ‘Suffice to say that your grandfather’s marriage to my stepmother had its problems. Their separation was very sad. There were things that caused a lot of distress within the family, aspects I don’t really want to go into. You see, I’m hoping to avoid any more distress.’

As I recovered from the shock, I found the only emotion left in me was that profound sense of irritation.

‘Surely that must all have been many years ago,’ I said.

‘Oh, the late 1940s.’

‘It’s all been over and done with a very long time ago. It can’t mean anything to us now.’

‘That’s where you’re wrong, I’m afraid. I do wish it were true, but I fear that Samuel may have been planning to re-open old wounds.’

‘I can’t imagine that was his intention.’

‘But, as you said yourself, you knew very little about him.’

I had to acknowledge this was true.

‘What I’d like to assure myself of,’ he said, seeing me weakening, ‘is the fate of any documents or papers relating to my stepmother, or to my father. Any letters, perhaps?’

‘I’ve seen nothing of that kind,’ I said. ‘Nothing at all.’ This was quite true, as I’d yet to examine the files, apart from the first few pages of Samuel’s manuscript. It was rapidly becoming apparent, though, that I’d have to face the task soon, to find out what everyone found so interesting.

‘Are you quite sure?’

‘Mr Parker, until a few minutes ago I hadn’t even heard of your family.’

‘Yes, you said so.’ He waited, his lips pressed together in frustration, but his courteous exterior holding. ‘I know it’s an imposition, but might it be possible for me to have a look for myself?’

I bridled possessively. Much as I wanted to pump Parker for anything he knew, the attempt to poke his nose into what I was doing was outrageous.

‘I don’t think so.’

‘But—’

‘I think you’re going to have to trust me. Allow me to use my own judgement on any documents I come across, whoever they might mention.’

‘Oh, I’m sure I can trust you, but—’

‘You see, my great-uncle has given me a very specific task to carry out, to complete a book. This is a historical work, about one of my own ancestors, as I understand it — not a biography of Samuel Longden, and certainly not an account of his private life or his marriages. Anything relating to your family is hardly likely to be relevant, is it?’

‘I hope not.’

‘So I’m afraid we’ll have to leave it there.’

‘Very well.’ He stood over me, his shoulders hunched unhappily. I got to my feet, to feel at less of a disadvantage.

‘I can see you’re not entirely reassured,’ I said.

‘I’m sorry. If you understood the circumstances... But I can’t really explain it to you. At least take my card in case you change your mind.’

As soon as I’d got him out of the house, I went into the front room and looked at the files that had been delivered by Great-Uncle Samuel. What was in that musty heap of paper that was of such interest? Did something in there really hold dark, intimate secrets about Leo Parker’s family? Something that involved my grandmother Mary in particular? It seemed unlikely. There might be a clue about the split in my own family, though. That would be interesting, given the lengths that everyone involved had gone to in order to hush it up, to erase it from history altogether.

But Parker knew something about it, or wanted me to think he did. And if he knew, then other people must do, too. Perhaps there was something here, in these files, that would help me to ask the right questions. At last there was a little chink of hope that might cast light on my family. And I had Leo Parker to thank for it.

I looked at the window as I caught a movement. I was just in time to see the driver’s door of the BMW close and the car begin to drive away.