A Place of Hope (2 page)

‘I don’t think she’ll let you handle her affairs, George. She’s not like your mother.’ Marcia looked at her watch. ‘Do you want to ring her now, tell her about her inheritance?’

‘No. I’m going to think about it. Time enough to tell her when we get back, anyway. We’re going in a few days.’

‘George, you really ought to let your aunt know her mail has come here by mistake.’

His voice took on an edge. ‘Stay out of this, Marcia. I’m the money person, not you.’

‘But it’s not your money.’

He smiled. ‘It will be one day. I’ll make sure of that. After all, who else is there to inherit but me, her only nephew? And if she’s paying someone to manage her money, why not keep it in the family? I’m really good with money.’

‘You can’t be sure her money will come to you, and anyway, she’s very young for her age.’

‘She hasn’t got any other close relatives to leave it to.’

Marcia shook her head but didn’t protest any more. When George got that tone in his voice, best to leave him to do whatever he thought right.

She couldn’t see Emily agreeing to let him manage the money, though. Emily was very different from her sister. Confident and self-contained.

Two weeks after her accident, Liz was feeling a lot better and Emily was itching to get back home.

When the phone rang, Emily tried to read her book till Liz had finished, but couldn’t help overhearing.

‘How lovely!’ Her sister beamed with delight as she put down the phone. ‘George and Marcia will be coming back to England tomorrow and they want to stay here with me for a day or two.’

Too late for me to attend the course, Emily thought. Liz could have paid someone to help her with the housework and let her go to the course, but she’d begged her sister to stay.

‘I’ll go home first thing tomorrow and leave the spare bedroom ready for them. I have a lot of things to do and you’ll be all right for a few hours with Mrs Potter next door.’

‘Yes, I will. And George will be living permanently in England from now on, which is such a comfort. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for your help, Emily dear. I don’t know what I’d have done without you.’

‘You’re welcome.’

‘I’m really looking forward to spending more time with them. Marcia is such a capable woman and always so kind to me, the best of daughters-in-law. Sometimes only women understand how you feel. Dear George thinks everyone enjoys his own robust health. He’s
so
like his father.’

For about the hundredth time, Emily held back the words she really wanted to say:
for goodness’ sake, stand on your own feet, Liz Pilby, and stop letting George run your life!

The following day she was ready to leave by the time her sister got up.

‘I don’t know how you can do so much this early in the day,’ Liz complained. ‘Surely you’ve time to sit down and have a cup of tea with me first?’

Stifling a sigh, Emily joined her at the little table in the kitchen.

As soon as she could, she stood up. ‘I’ll just go and fetch the rest of my things from the bedroom, then I’ll be off. I’ve changed the sheets for George and Marcia, and put the others on to wash.’

‘You’re very efficient. Like my George.’

Hah! If she thought she was anything like her nephew, she’d go and see a psychiatrist!

When she came down, Liz was looking worried. ‘I think you’d better stay here tonight after all, dear. I just heard on the radio that there’s going to be a bad storm later on.’

Emily couldn’t bear the thought of spending another night in the small, cluttered cottage, where every sound echoed up the stair well. ‘Oh, I’ll be home before the storm breaks, I’m sure.’

She set off, feeling happier the minute she turned out of the street. She hadn’t told Liz, but she’d arranged to have lunch with an old friend from work who lived half an hour’s drive away. Knowing Jan, it’d be late afternoon before she got on the road again, but it’d be lovely to catch up.

It was even later than Emily had expected when she left Jan’s house, but it’d only take her an hour or two to get back to Kings Langley.

The sky grew dark rapidly and the storm hit suddenly. Soon rain was beating down on the small car and visibility was poor. A traffic announcement interrupted the radio programme to blare out the information that there was a bad hold-up on the M25 due to a multiple car pile-up. Drivers were urged to avoid that stretch of the motorway until further notice.

Emily groaned as she heard the junction numbers involved. That was the route she’d intended to take. The traffic was always slow there, so the hold-up must be bad to warrant an announcement like that. She stopped at the first lay-by to program her satnav to cut across country by the most direct route.

Bad mistake. She soon realized it wasn’t a night to be driving such an elderly vehicle along narrow country roads, but there was nowhere convenient to stop to reprogram the satnav. She should have specified major roads to get her round the problem area. What if she broke down out here in the middle of nowhere?

A loud clap of thunder made her jump, and was it her imagination or was there a roughness to the engine’s sound? Perhaps she should try to find a hotel or a bed and breakfast?

Headlights suddenly dazzled her. She looked in the rear view mirror, annoyed to find a car following her closely. Far too closely, especially in this weather! She pressed lightly on the brakes to warn it to stay back, but it drew even closer.

It was raining so hard, she couldn’t see clearly what the idiot was doing and cried out in shock as the much bigger car suddenly pulled closer and deliberately nudged her vehicle, sending it dangerously close to the verge. She thumped her horn several times, yelling, ‘Get back, you lunatic!’

It came close and nudged her car again.

She braked to let the idiot go past, which was presumably what the driver wanted, but he slowed down to match her speed, horn blaring. Now she was puzzled, as well as angry. What was the driver trying to do? She’d read in the papers of hooligans getting their kicks from nudging other cars, but had never expected to be the target of such an assault.

She braked harder, but not in time to stop the bigger vehicle thumping into hers again. As she struggled to keep control, it bumped into her hard enough to send her car careering right off the road.

She let out an involuntary shriek and braked hard, only just managing to avoid ramming a signpost. Her car came to an abrupt halt at an upwards angle on a muddy slope. For a moment she could only sit there, too shocked to think straight.

When she looked round, she saw the big car slow down ahead, sounding its horn and flashing its headlights on and off.

It was as if it was celebrating running her off the road.

Then it speeded up and vanished.

Her car radio was still playing, so she switched it off, but left the engine running, worried it might not start again. She tried to reverse slowly back on to the road, but her wheels spun in the mud and she couldn’t gain any traction.

She pulled out her mobile phone to dial for assistance. Just then another vehicle came into view, slowing down as its headlights caught her car in their beam. It drew up where she’d gone off the road.

A man jumped out of the passenger side, coming to peer through her side window. He was about her own age, but not until a grey-haired woman got out of the driver’s side and came to join them did Emily feel it was safe to let down her window. Well, she let it down a few inches, then it stuck.

‘You all right, love?’

‘Yes. Just a bit shocked.’

‘Accidents do that to you.’

‘Accidents!’ She told him about the lunatic who’d done this to her.

He gaped at her. ‘Someone did this on purpose?’

‘Yes. Definitely.’

‘I’ve read about it in the papers,’ his companion said. She looked at Emily with sympathy. ‘Joy riders daring each other to shove people off the road. The police are looking for them, but they steal cars to do it in then vanish.’

‘Did you get their number?’ he asked.

‘What good would that do if the car was stolen? Anyway, I couldn’t see the number plate or even tell the make, except that it was a big four-wheel drive.’

‘Still, you’re not hurt, that’s the main thing. Let’s see if we can get you back on the road.’

‘I think the car’s stuck.’ She tried again to reverse with the same result.

‘Good thing I carry a tow rope.’ He turned and saw his companion already holding it out. ‘Thanks, love.’

He was very efficient and soon had Emily’s car back on the road, by which time they were both soaked.

‘There are some bad dents, so you’re going to need major work on the body, but the engine sounds all right.’

‘I doubt it’s worth bothering to repair the car. I was going to get a new one anyway.’

‘Have you far to go?’

She sighed. ‘Further than I care to drive on a night like this. I’m still shaky. I think I’ll look for a hotel. I can’t thank you enough for your help.’

He shrugged. ‘It’s a poor person who passes by when someone’s in trouble. I’ll follow you for a while to make sure you’re all right and that no other lunatics waylay you on these quiet roads.’

Emily drove slowly away and the couple followed her. When they reached a wider road with other traffic, they gave a toot of the horn and passed her.

This was definitely the last time she took a short cut along minor roads in the dark. Last time ever! What was the world coming to when hooligans deliberately tried to cause accidents?

Soon afterwards, she saw a lighted sign indicating a hotel and turned off the road into its car park. There were only a few other vehicles there. She looked round carefully before she unlocked her car door, but they were smaller than the one which had rammed her.

She grabbed her suitcase and ran across to the hotel, getting soaked over even that short distance. The place was small and looked rather run down, but it seemed clean and it’d do for one night. She didn’t want to drive on through the storm, which seemed to be getting worse by the minute.

A bored receptionist signed her in and pointed out the lift, then picked up a mobile phone and continued to chat to a friend.

If I was the manager here, Emily thought angrily, I’d soon improve customer service!

She found her room easily enough. It was on the second floor, very basic: bed, TV, chair and the tiniest possible en suite bathroom. Wind gusts shook the window frame and the door rattled in sympathy. It sounded as if someone was trying to get in and she went across to double check that she’d locked the door.

She winced as lightning flashed outside, followed by a clap of thunder so loud it hurt her ears. Thank goodness she hadn’t continued driving in such a bad storm. She checked the information folder. First things first. She’d better go downstairs and get something to eat before the café closed.

The lights flickered, then flickered again. She grimaced, praying there wouldn’t be a power cut, because her torch was in the car. So was her computer and she wasn’t going out to get it now.

She opened the door to check where the stairs were, finding them round the corner from the lift. The stairs were broad and elegant, Edwardian probably, but this corridor had only one light and the carpet was badly frayed in several places. In fact, the whole hotel felt like a set for filming a ghost movie.

She went back into the room, stared at herself in the mirror and sighed. No use trying to do more than tidy her hair. It’d been thoroughly soaked and was a flattened mess. Wrapping a pashmina over her cardigan, she set off for the café.

As she walked out into the corridor, the lights flickered again. She was definitely not taking the lift, didn’t want to risk being trapped in it if the power failed.

Just as she got to the top of the stairs, the lights went out completely and she stopped moving. ‘Damn!’ she muttered under her breath. She stood still, hoping the electricity would come on again. But the seconds ticked slowly past and the lights stayed off.

She could see a faint glow coming from below, so decided to make her way downstairs by feel. After five steps, she turned the corner of the stairs, but caught her shoe heel in a frayed patch of carpet. She fell forward and reached out in the darkness for something to catch hold of.

She lost her balance, scrabbled desperately for the hand rail but her shoe wouldn’t come free of the carpet, so she missed it. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. She continued to fall, her body twisting in the air and thumping into a wall so violently it knocked the breath out of her.

As she tumbled helplessly on, she hit her head on something, crying out involuntarily from the sharp pain. Then darkness swallowed her . . .

George picked up the phone, listened intently then said, ‘I’m Emily Mattison’s nephew. I’d be the closest relative in that sense. My mother is her sister, but she’s too frail to deal with this.’

His wife and mother turned to stare at him in shock.

‘Oh, dear!’ He shook his head sadly. ‘Yes, of course I’ll come and see you. Tomorrow. Yes, I’ll bring some clothes. Thank you.’

He put the phone down. ‘Aunt Emily has been in an accident. She’s in hospital in a coma. I think it’ll be better if I go to see her first and deal with the formalities, Mother. You can go later, when we’re sure she’s going to survive.’

His mother gasped for air, then her eyes rolled up and she fell sideways on the couch.

Marcia quickly felt for a pulse. ‘Just one of her faints, I think.’

‘It’s a good thing she has us to look after her. And now Emily is going to need our help, too.’ He smiled at his wife. ‘It’s a good thing I didn’t worry her with this property offer and inheritance stuff, isn’t it? I’ll take care of all that for her . . . if she recovers, she’ll be very grateful.’

‘
If?
Is she that badly hurt?’

‘I’m afraid so.’ He smiled again as he said it.

When Emily woke, she had trouble opening her eyes. A machine began beeping and she turned her head slightly to look towards it. She was hooked up to a monitor. Lights were flashing and the beeping hurt her head.