Charlie Read online

  They sat down at the kitchen table and Mr Wyatt cleared his throat and took a sip of tea before speaking. ‘What I need to tell you is going to be difficult, Charlie,’ he said apologetically. ‘Now, if I seem brusque, it’s not that I don’t care about your feelings, just that I want to explain it all as simply and clearly as possible.’

  Charlie nodded.

  ‘Your father is a friend along with being a client and as such it’s my duty to protect you and your mother to the best of my ability in his absence.’

  Charlie felt sick; that word protect suggested he knew something even worse was going to happen soon.

  ‘While the police’s primary concern was with catching the two men who attacked Sylvia, your father’s continuing absence has changed the direction of their investigations,’ he went on.

  ‘You don’t mean they think he had something to do with it, do you?’ Charlie interrupted him.

  Wyatt looked apprehensive. ‘I’m quite sure he wasn’t responsible for it,’ he said quickly. ‘But the two things must be related in some way. I’m sure you can see that?’

  ‘I think those men came here to find Dad,’ Charlie said. ‘Might they have found him and hurt him too?’ Just voicing this tiny fear she’d had in the back of her mind made it seem larger and more plausible.

  ‘I think that’s unlikely,’ Wyatt said. ‘But trying to find your father has made it necessary for the police to look into his business interests. Unfortunately, some unexpected and very significant details have come to their notice which put a whole new slant on their investigation.’

  ‘I don’t understand. What details?’ Charlie asked. ‘Do you mean they’ve found he’s been doing something bad?’

  Wyatt looked uncomfortable and ran one finger round the collar of his shirt.

  ‘Not exactly. It’s more like odd things which don’t fit into the image we all had of your father.’

  ‘Like what for instance?’ she asked with some indignation.

  ‘Well, that he used to be a club owner in Soho?’

  Charlie’s eyebrows shot up into two inverted ‘V’ shapes.

  ‘So you didn’t know either! Oh dear!’ Wyatt grimaced. ‘I was shocked myself. In all the ten years I have known him as a friend and a client, he never even gave me a hint about it. I imagined he’d been in the importing business all his life.’

  ‘What’s wrong with owning a night-club?’ Charlie was instantly on the defensive.

  Wyatt looked even more uncomfortable. ‘Well, discovering something like that, Charlie, is a bit like finding a locked box. If we could find the key to open it, we might find something inside which would help us to understand why those men hurt your mother.’

  ‘Can’t Mum help?’

  Wyatt sighed deeply. ‘I have tried to talk to her, but I didn’t make any headway. She’s so very angry. Of course that’s understandable under the circumstances, she’s in pain, her husband has disappeared, and her future looks grim to her.’ He paused and frowned. ‘She claims she knew nothing about his business, she even denied all knowledge of any clubs. I can’t tell if she’s speaking the truth or whether she’s trying to shield Jin.’

  ‘But why, and from what?’ Charlie asked. Her stomach was churning, she could feel a cold sweat trickling down the back of her neck.

  Wyatt shrugged. ‘That could be what’s in the locked box! Maybe she only suspects something and someone, and she’s playing for time hoping Jin will get back to sort it out. But the most worrying thread in all this is money.’

  Charlie was confused and frightened now. ‘Money?’

  ‘Yes, Charlie, money, or rather the lack of it. Now, forgive me if you don’t understand all this, stop me if you want something explained more fully.

  ’Last year your father borrowed a great deal of money against this house. It was free and clear before that as he’d bought it with cash. He said he needed capital to expand his business and I handled the legal side of it for him. The mortgage company checked his accounts and as they were entirely satisfied with his credit-worthiness he received the money he needed in the early part of this year.

  ‘When someone disappears, Charlie, one of the first things to be checked is a bank account, to see when and where it was last used. It was while doing that that the police discovered he had drawn out sixty thousand pounds in cash, plus everything from a savings account, and indeed almost emptying his current account, some months ago. He arranged it through a bank in central London.’

  ‘Well, that’s no one’s business but his,’ Charlie said indignantly. ‘It’s his money after all.’

  ‘Of course it is,’ Mr Wyatt said quickly. ‘But in the light of his disappearance, and added to other things the police have found, it is rather suspicious.’

  ‘What other things?’ She didn’t like the way this ‘chat’ was going at all.

  ‘Well, they’ve found several unpaid bills, and it seems Jin is seriously behind with the mortgage payments on the house too. In fact the only thing we can find which has been paid was his life insurance, that was by standing order at the bank.’

  Charlie gulped. She didn’t fully understand what a mortgage meant, but she had the gist of what Mr Wyatt was getting at. Her dad had robbed Peter to pay Paul, but he’d overlooked the bills back home.

  ‘What happens if someone doesn’t pay their mortgage?’ she asked, her voice trembling.

  Wyatt sighed. ‘Well, the very worst thing that can happen is that the mortgage company repossesses the house. That means they take it back. Of course, if Jin gets back in time and pays the arrears, everything will be fine.’

  At this point they were interrupted by the police calling to him from the middle floor. Wyatt went up to speak to them. Charlie crept out to listen, but apart from hearing them mention some papers they were taking with them, the rest of their conversation was too muffled to follow. They left then and Wyatt came back downstairs into the kitchen looking extremely worried.

  He sat down at the table again.

  ‘What is it?’ she asked after what seemed to be an interminable silence. ‘Did the police find something else?’

  He looked at her, and his eyes dropped from her firm gaze. ‘Yes, Charlie,’ he said at length. ‘Something I hadn’t anticipated and it’s very serious. The last thing I want to do now when you already have so much anxiety is add to it. But as your family lawyer I would be derelict in my duties if I kept you and your mother in the dark about what is happening. What the police have just found was a registered letter. It was signed for by your mother, but unopened amongst a batch of others. It was from the Inland Revenue, warning your father that a bankruptcy order would be issued against him unless they received what he owed them within ten days.’

  Charlie didn’t understand. Bankruptcy was a word she’d read occasionally in the papers but she didn’t know its real meaning.

  Seeing her bewilderment, Wyatt explained it in simple terms. He also stated they had found other demands for this amount earlier in the day.

  ‘I don’t suppose he imagined they would press him for it so quickly,’ he went on. ‘I expect this deal he had up his sleeve was intended to sort everything out. Unfortunately the Inland Revenue do not wait indefinitely. As far as they are concerned, when the ten days are up and no payment is on their desk, that’s it. That ten days passed some time ago.’

  ‘But surely if we explain to them that my dad didn’t see it and that we don’t know where he is, they’ll understand?’

  James Wyatt was moved by the girl’s naivety. Just one look at her was enough to know all she’d ever had to do was ask and she received it. From her stylishly cut hair, trendy mini-dress, confident manner and cultured voice, everything about her said ‘money’. But if the money was gone, she had some hard knocks coming to her.

  James Wyatt was just a family lawyer, he handled wills, divorces, trusts and house purchases in the main, bankruptcy or criminal law wasn’t his bag. What he’d stumbled on here now was well out of his sphere, and
if he was honest with himself, he didn’t want any part of it.

  When the police called on him immediately after Sylvia’s attack and asked for his assistance, he’d steadfastly refused to believe Jin’s disappearance was anything other than a coincidence. Jin was something of a dark horse, he rarely spoke about his business and never about his personal life, but in Wyatt’s book those were admirable qualities, he had no time for men who boasted about their wealth and success.

  Yet as the days had passed and disquieting facts surfaced, so he’d begun to have his doubts about the man he’d always trusted implicitly.

  It looked very much as if Jin was an unscrupulous bounder. He might not have anticipated the Inland Revenue would take such action so soon, but he had known the tax was well overdue, and that he hadn’t met the mortgage payments and other bills. Why, then, had he drawn out all that money in cash and disappeared?

  To the police it had begun to look as if he’d hired those men to hurt his wife, perhaps hoping it would lead them to believe he’d been murdered by the same gang and his body disposed of. As they had said so succinctly, Jin wouldn’t be the first man to go to such lengths to start a new life, with a new identity.

  On top of his anxiety about becoming embroiled in a case which might affect his own standing in the community, Wyatt was very puzzled by Sylvia Weish’s attitude. Her anger and distress at being crippled were understandable enough, but why wouldn’t she speak out about what she knew of her husband’s business, unless she knew for certain that to do so might precipitate more trouble and hurt for herself? She was such a difficult woman to read, on one hand she seemed entirely self-centred, complaining loudly about her treatment in hospital and demanding to be moved to a private nursing home, on the other she seemed terrified of everything and everyone.

  Charlie wondered why Mr Wyatt was taking so long to reply to her last question. ‘What if I telephone the Inland Revenue myself and explain?’ she suggested. ‘I’m sure they won’t do anything to Dad if I ask them not to.’

  Wyatt shook his head at her innocence. ‘I’m afraid you are wrong there. You see, they have to do it. They will make every effort to find him. Bankruptcy notices will be put in newspapers where he might see them. But if he doesn’t come forward very quickly, the order will be made in his absence, his possessions seized by the Official Receiver and his creditors paid. It has to be, otherwise anyone who wanted to evade paying their debts could just skip off.’

  Charlie fell silent for a moment, thinking about what that actually meant. Wyatt had said there were several debts apart from what her dad owed in tax. He hadn’t paid the mortgage, and there was no money in his bank account to pay it either.

  ‘They can’t take the house surely? Where will we live?’ She looked fearfully about her, she loved this house. She had believed it would one day be hers. ‘What will Mum do if she can’t walk again? She’ll go bonkers if you tell her any of this!’

  James didn’t relish being the one forced to tell her. He could imagine her screaming so loud Jin would hear her wherever he was in the world. And what of Charlie? She was such a beautiful and intelligent young girl, spoiled maybe, but that wasn’t her fault. How was she going to cope when ‘Windways’ was taken and she had to try to rebuild her life with a bitter, crippled mother in tow?

  ‘If the worst happens and your father doesn’t return, I will of course act on your and your mother’s behalf,’ he said, choosing his words carefully. ‘I will endeavour to get some financial provision made for you both. The house is in your father’s name only I’m afraid, but should it be taken, I’ll also do my best in helping find you somewhere else to live. So please don’t think you are alone. As for essential household items, clothes, etc., they won’t be taken by the Receiver.’

  Charlie heard the word ‘essential’ and it seemed to have great significance. ‘What does essential mean exactly?’

  Wyatt heard the alarm in her voice and felt for her. ‘Beds, bedding, table and chairs, a cooker, that sort of thing.’

  Charlie felt as if someone had kicked her in the stomach. She had never paid much attention to the many beautiful artefacts around the house, but she knew they were valuable and none would be considered essential.

  ‘And the rest of the stuff? They’ll take that too?’ she whispered.

  ‘I’m afraid so,’ he said wearily. ‘You see, in bankruptcy everything is sold off and the money goes into a pot to be shared out to the creditors.’

  There was utter silence for a moment. Wyatt looked at her stricken face and felt an absolute heel. He knew only too well what happened in cases of this kind. Between the Official Receiver’s fees, the auctioneers’ and lawyers’, including his own, everyone stood to gain something, often far more than the creditors got. It was a shabby business, the goods in this house would be sold for a pittance to slimy dealers who plotted between themselves to keep the bidding ridiculously low. The person who would buy this splendid house would almost certainly have someone on the inside in the palm of their hand and get it at a rock-bottom price. Charlie and her mother’s needs would be entirely disregarded. He felt he must do something to salve his conscience.

  ‘If I give you a little tip, Charlie, will you promise me you’ll keep it just between ourselves?’

  Charlie nodded. ‘Go on,’ she urged him. ‘I can be as secretive as Dad.’

  Wyatt half smiled – her bland expression which gave nothing away reminded him strongly of Jin. He had a feeling she was capable of learning to be just as cunning too.

  ‘Let’s just say that no one yet has made an inventory of things in this house,’ he said. ‘They will of course, and possibly very soon, and at that time the doors will be sealed and no one will be allowed to take anything away. But right now there is nothing to prevent you taking some small pieces away to safety.’

  She didn’t understand what he meant exactly. Yet she sensed he was trying to help her. ‘Like what for instance?’

  He shrugged. ‘I don’t know what’s here, do I?’ he said pointedly. ‘I do vaguely remember some rather fine miniatures once, though of course your father might have sold them. A quick look through your mother’s jewellery box might be in order. It wouldn’t do to take anything away that is too large to carry with you. Now let’s have another cup of tea and then I’ll leave you to water those houseplants.’

  When he dropped the subject and moved away to make a second pot of tea, Charlie knew he had gone as far as he could for her and he would never mention it again. Over a second cup of tea she asked him if he thought she should forget going back to school in September and find herself a job now.

  Wyatt had forgotten until that moment that she went to a private school, and that she was intending to take ‘A’ levels with a view to going to university. That threw up even more difficulties for her.

  ‘I think it would be an excellent plan for you to get a job,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘But hold fire about school for a while, there’s always a possibility they might offer you a free place, especially if your “O” level results are good ones. How are you getting on with the Mellings? Can you stay there indefinitely?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ She went on to explain she felt the atmosphere was becoming a bit strained. ‘Maybe if I found a job I could get a room of my own somewhere?’

  Wyatt had been impressed by her poise and good manners on previous meetings, today he’d been touched by her innocence. But it was only now that he saw her courage and her intelligence.

  She hadn’t dissolved into tears or even bitter recriminations. Every question she’d asked was relevant and showed a fine grasp of reality. He wondered though if she was capable of looking after herself – according to Mrs Brown the old housekeeper she couldn’t even boil an egg. But maybe she needed to try. It might be the making of her.

  ‘That sounds like an excellent idea to me,’ he said. ‘But find the job first. You can’t pay rent without money coming in.’

  He left soon after, warning her to double-lock the f
ront door behind her and the outside gate. The moment she heard his car pull away Charlie went up to her bedroom, lay down on her bed and burst into tears.

  She had cried many times in the last five days, but never like this – hot, bitter tears that seemed to come from some hitherto untapped well. She had never before felt such an overwhelming sense of isolation, grief, fear and betrayal. She had loved, trusted and looked up to her father, yet he had callously gone away, taking with him all the money, knowing full well it would be his wife and daughter who would be punished and publicly ridiculed when his debts were called in.

  Why had he done it? Surely if he was in some sort of trouble he could at least have warned them? Now as a result of his cowardice, her mother was crippled, his daughter’s life ruined. How could any man do such a terrible thing?

  She knew that she would never again sleep on this big comfortable bed with its peach drapes, never lie and sunbathe in the garden, or curl up with a book on the settee downstairs. Common sense told her that wherever she and her mother ended up, it would be tiny and grim. As from today she was going to have to learn to live without all the luxury she’d taken for granted up till now.

  How could she return to school in September? Even if it were possible to get a scholarship she wouldn’t want to face the other girls’ pity. She certainly had no intention of going to the comprehensive. She’d heard those common girls who went there calling her ‘Chinky Charlie’ behind her back. If she was suddenly flung in there they’d probably say worse.

  The tears gradually dried up and she lay there sniffing. It was almost half past two and she knew she must get back to the Mellings’ before long. But first she had to find the things Mr Wyatt spoke of. Right now she didn’t really want anything of her father’s, but then she and her mother might need the money from them later on. If she didn’t do it today she might never get another chance.

  The gilt-framed miniatures were where they’d always been, on either side of the bureau in the small sitting room. Six in all, of old-fashioned ladies. It had never occurred to her before that they were valuable, but Mr Wyatt obviously knew best. She took them down and put them on a tray. Next she moved into the drawing room and unlocked the glass cabinet. She knew the twelve small jade animals were good ones, her father wouldn’t have had them in the house otherwise. There were four small silver photograph frames, all containing pictures of herself from two until ten. She would take those too.