PENNY JORDAN - The Perfect Sinner

‘Well, we’re not sure, but we think it could possibly be because of David. You know that Jack and Joss bunked off school to go and look for Jack’s father….’

‘Mmm … Chrissie mentioned it,’ Guy acknowledged, referring to his wife, who was in a rather roundabout way, a member of the Crighton family.

‘Both Jon and I have talked to Jack, and so has Olivia, but he seems to have this bee in his bonnet at the moment about David,’ Jenny told him. ‘It’s perfectly natural that he should, of course; after all, unlike Olivia, he was still really very much a child when David disappeared and he couldn’t totally take in the situation. But what’s more worrying is that Louise seems to think that Jack is actually blaming himself in some way for David’s disappearance.’

‘Blaming himself …’ Guy gave her a sharp look. ‘Why on earth should he do that?’

Jenny shook her head. ‘I don’t know. We’ve both tried to talk to him about it, but he’s at that age …’ She gave a small sigh. ‘We’ve all always been so close, and we thought he was happy living with us, but now we’re both beginning to question whether or not we did the right thing and whether he might ultimately have been happier going to Brighton with Tania.’

‘I shouldn’t have any concerns about that,’ Guy interrupted her firmly. ‘ I certainly know who I’d prefer.’

Jenny gave him a wan smile. ‘Tania is his mother,’ she reminded him. ‘Even if Olivia says that in her opinion Jack has been far better off with us.’

‘Olivia should know, she is Jack’s sister.’

‘Yes, I know, and we’ve been through the whole history of David’s disappearance with Jack and explained to him about the … the problems that had arisen here with the business.’

‘It can’t have been easy for you,’ Guy commented. ‘I can still remember just what you and Jon went through at the time.’

‘It was a shock, especially for Jon when he found out that his twin had been defrauding one of their clients. I know it’s a dreadful thing to say, but if that client hadn’t died when she did and Ruth hadn’t been able to refund the money David had “borrowed” from her estate, I don’t know what would have happened.

‘Olivia, Jon and I have explained to Jack just what the situation was. While, legally, his father is free to return to this country if he should want to do so, there could be no question of him ever being able to practise in the business.

‘I know it’s an issue that we would have had to deal with at one stage, but I just wish that it hadn’t manifested itself right now when Jack is working towards his A levels.’

‘Mmm … I know that Joss is planning on going up to Oxford, but what is Jack hoping to do?’

‘We had talked and thought he wanted to follow Jon into the practice. There’s a very close bond between them, but just recently … I know all teenagers go through a turbulent period, but it seems lately that Jack really resents us both, but particularly Jon. His behaviour is hurting Jon, although he never says anything.’

‘Mmm … I expect he’s concerned that he might be rearing a second Max, although …’ He stopped when he saw Jenny’s expression and asked, ‘Is that what Jon thinks, Jen?’

‘Not exactly, but he has said recently that he wonders if he’s adequate father material. He blames himself for the fact that Max is as he is. He always has done, and I feel the same way—that we both failed him. We can’t help wondering if there was something we could have done, something we neglected to do, some sign we missed or some …’ She paused and shook her head. ‘Jack is nowhere near being like Max, of course, but Jon is beginning to feel that somehow or other he must have failed him—Jack’s become so abstracted, so withdrawn just recently, and of course you always worry that … about …’

‘Drugs,’ Guy supplied shrewdly for her.

‘Well, one reads such things,’ Jenny admitted, ‘and although we’re only a relatively quiet small country town, we’re not that far from Manchester or …’

‘I know what you’re saying,’ Guy agreed. Then he added quietly, ‘I could put a few feelers out for you if you want me to….’

Guy’s family, the Cookes, were involved in every aspect of Haslewich life, including some which were not strictly ethical or honourable.

There was a local story that the Cookes had once included in their number a member of the Gipsy band that had travelled through the area, and it was from this alliance that the family had inherited their strikingly dark tangled curls and good looks.

Jenny hesitated. The headmaster had recently alerted all the parents at the boys’ school to the fact that drugs were being sold outside the school gates, despite the police’s attempts to put a stop to it. She had no reason to suspect that either Joss or Jack were taking them, and she was pretty sure that Jack’s recent change in behaviour and attitude was because of his confused emotions about his father.

‘I wouldn’t want Jack to think that we didn’t trust him,’ she told Guy slowly. ‘Jon’s worried that Jack might feel that, as our nephew, he comes second place to Joss, which isn’t the case at all. We love them both very dearly, although of course in different ways, and because Jon was himself always aware that in his father’s eyes he could never compare to David, Jon is determined that Jack won’t suffer in the way that he did.’

‘It’s a very difficult situation,’ Guy acknowledged.

‘Jon hates having to take anyone to task,’ Jenny told him ruefully, ‘but it is so important that Jack works hard and gets good grades when he sits his A’s.’

‘I saw Max driving into town earlier,’ Guy told her.

Jenny forced a small smile.

‘Oh, did you? Good. Maddy will be pleased. She was afraid that he might miss Leo’s first performance in the play school Christmas play,’ she told him with a smile.

She wasn’t smiling ten minutes later, however, as she hurried back to her car, pitting her body against the cold of the sharp east wind. Maddy had confided in her only a few days ago that she was concerned about Leo’s growing antagonism towards his father.

‘Gramps thinks I’m overcoddling Leo, but I’ve tried to explain to him that it’s because he doesn’t see very much of Max and Max isn’t … Max doesn’t …’

Maddy’s voice had trailed off, but she hadn’t needed to explain. Jenny knew exactly what her eldest son was and what he wasn’t. Joss spent more time with, and was far closer, to his small nephew than his father, and Jon, too, made sure that he gave his small grandson as much attention as he could.

Maddy wasn’t there when Max arrived at Queensmead. She had gone out to do some shopping, taking both children with her. The rich scent of the greenery and fruit she had used to make the Christmas garlands that decorated the hallway and stairs, as well as the warmth of their seasonal colours against the mellow patina of the panelling, might have caused another man to stop and savour not just the seasonal spirit they evoked but also the quiet skill of the woman who had made them, but Max gave his wife’s handiwork no more than a brief, cursory frown as he headed for the stairs. Before he could climb them, his grandfather’s study door opened and the older man limped painfully into the hallway, his austere expression giving way to a warm smile as he saw his favourite grandchild.

‘Max,’ he exclaimed eagerly. ‘You’re back. Come and have a drink with me.’

Max watched the way his grandfather’s hand trembled as he poured them both a Scotch. He was aging rapidly, his once-tall, ramrod-straight frame now spare and bent, his walk betraying the wariness of someone who had lost the security of being able to depend on his own physical strength.