Lynda Plante - The Talisman

‘Yes, yes — and you?’

‘Well, I’m fine, but I could do without all this business. Still, it’s typical. They’ll all be arriving, so I came early to get the old fella sorted out. Few bottles in the car need putting on ice, want to give me a hand? Jesus, this place gives me the creeps, and it’s not been dusted for months... It stinks! Dewint?’

Evelyn gestured for Alex to go into the kitchen ahead of him. Together they washed glasses and put three bottles of champagne on ice.

Some of the family arrived, and Alex bustled around giving orders for curtains to be drawn and windows opened to air the place. Barbara promptly followed him saying they should be closed as it was freezing. Evelyn hung back shyly, but Barbara swept him into her perfumed arms and said she was pleased to have him home. It almost made him laugh — like an outsider, he watched her daughters arriving with their husbands, saw the same sweeping gesture, heard the long drawn-out, ‘Daaaahhhling...’

They all appeared more as if they were arriving for a party than the reading of a will. Evelyn noticed that his father took the throne-like chair at the head of the dining table. He looked very elegant, and smoked a cigar similar to those Edward always used to have clenched in his teeth.

Three lawyers arrived, carrying bulging briefcases. Someone remarked that they hoped luncheon had been ordered as it looked as though it was going to be a long day.

Evelyn found it difficult to answer his cousins’ and aunts’ questions. He avoided them as much as possible, growing quieter and quieter as the family grew louder. In the midst of laughter and funny stories, no one, not one of them, referred to the reason they were all there. Edward’s name was not even mentioned.

Jinks had not yet arrived, and Evelyn kept one eye on the doors. Everyone else was there, and Alex began to get tetchy, checking his watch every minute or so. He asked the lawyers if they could begin as there was obviously a lot of paper to be got through.

Evelyn surveyed the members of his family. There was not a shred of feeling for Edward between the lot of them. Another dreadful portrait of him hung above Alex’s head. It must have been painted when Edward was in his thirties, with coal-black hair. He positively glared into the room. Although it was not a good painting, it was so powerful it dominated the sitter in the throne before it. But Alex was unconscious of it, he was more interested in getting the business over and done with. Evelyn couldn’t help but smile at the face in the painting, it was as though Edward knew exactly what was going on.

Just as the lawyers had agreed to begin, Dewint tapped on the door. ‘Excuse me, sah, Miss Juliana has just driven up.’

Barbara muttered, ‘About time too,’ and like the rest of the family she turned to face the double doors. Dewint was holding one open, and swung the other wide. Both doors stood open, but the marble hall was empty.

Jinks had waited for this moment. She had been parked across the street, watching them all arrive, and had timed it to perfection. The looks on their faces made every second of the wait worthwhile.

No film star, no top model, could have made a better entrance. She was swathed in a mink coat that Barbara could tell with one glance had set her back at least twenty thousand pounds. Her slightly wavy, long hair was gleaming, and as she tossed her head it swung back from her face. A beautiful face, finely sculptured, with little or no trace of make-up. She took her time walking the entire length of the room, and offered her cheek for Alex to kiss.

‘Uncle Alex.’

Alex rose to his feet — she was as tall as he was. She moved on to Barbara, bent and gave her the same non-committal cheek. She gave a languid handshake to the lawyers, two of whom bowed and scraped their chairs back, offering her their seats. One took her coat, the other seated her. At the same time she gave each of her cousins a soft, humourless smile. She said their names in turn — Annabelle, Selina, Lord Henry, Charles, James... her eyes lingering for a fraction of a second on each face. She paused a moment longer when she looked at Lady Annabelle’s daughters. The two teenage girls were open-mouthed with awe at their cousin. She hesitated over their names, not embarrassed, but amused by their gaping mouths... Her eyes slowly roamed around the table until they rested on his face — the one person she had not seen arrive, the one she had been waiting for and wanting to see.

‘Ahhh, Evelyn, how fortunate you were, being released from prison for this occasion. Well, isn’t it something, I think maybe I am wrong, but isn’t this the first time we have all been brought together? Oh, I am sorry, Uncle Alex — please, please don’t let me delay the proceedings any longer. I am sure you were just about to begin.’

Alex nodded to the lawyers to begin and they started by naming all the beneficiaries. Edward had forgotten no one. Dewint had been left more than five hundred thousand pounds. There were names no one had ever heard of: Jodie, Sylvia, and all the girls from Notting Hill Gate had been left five or ten thousand pounds. Many employees, including Miss Henderson, were generously remembered, of course... the list was endless.

Evelyn wanted it to go on, and on, and on — it gave him time to look at his cousin Jinks. He could not believe that this was the gawky, nervous girl from France. He continued to stare at her until she turned and gave him a look of total contempt. She pointed to a glass, and he filled it with champagne, passed it along to her.

At long last the lawyers turned to their last file. Alex puffed on his cigar. He couldn’t help wondering what Edward had left to his now exceptionally glamorous niece.

The lawyer coughed and someone passed him a glass of water, which he sipped, then he licked his lips. ‘We come now to the final section of the late Edward Barkley’s will...’

Alex leaned forward slightly, looking at the date on the will. He could see it quite clearly — 15 March 1987, shortly before Edward’s death. This meant it could not possibly be the same document Alex had passed to the lawyers. He made an involuntary move towards the document, and the lawyer hesitated. He coughed again, pulled the will closer, and began to read...

‘To my daughter, Juliana Harriet Barkley, I leave three million pounds, to be signed over immediately. On her twenty-first birthday, a further one million...’

The colour drained from her face. She waited for them to continue, her heart thudding... The lawyer looked at Alex, and got as far as saying that Alex would retain his half-share in the Barkley Company and would receive a further two million when Alex snatched the will and read for himself what was written.

Edward Barkley had left to Evelyn, on condition that he publicly announced he was Edward’s son, his entire fortune, plus all his shares in the Barkley Company. In other words, Evelyn was now Alex’s partner. No cheque, not a single document, could be sent out from the Barkley Company without a double signature. The power, only just tasted, held for so short a time, slipped out of Alex’s hands.

His initial shock subsided into a calm, deep rage. Edward had cheated him, even in death. With every ounce of control he possessed, Alex stood up and walked out of the room. He passed his son, Edward’s son, with nothing more than a cursory glance. Evelyn lifted his hand as if to stop him, but Alex brushed past him. He was quickly followed by Barbara, who almost snapped her fingers to her daughters and their husbands to leave with her.

Evelyn was confused — they were looking at him with such hatred, such open loathing... He banged the table suddenly. ‘What the hell is going on? What does he mean? What does this mean?’