Deadly Business (22 page)

‘I don’t think so,’ Audrey replied. ‘They brought the bar trolley, but I don’t think she was aware of it, not even when the steward reached over us to give Duncan the two bottles of white wine that he’d asked for.’ She sobbed; I said nothing, but let her get it out.

‘We touched down in Nice at nine twenty. It was quite a hard landing; everyone else on the plane was shaken up, but Susie didn’t stir, not at all. At first I thought it was just because she’d been so tired. I didn’t try to waken her until we’d taxied in and were on stand, and then I couldn’t. I tried, very gently at first, then I shook her a little bit harder. It was only when I took my seat belt off and turned round to take a good look at her, I saw … the way her mouth was hanging open … Primavera …’

‘I understand,’ I said gently. Tom was at the lift; the doors were open, but I waved for him to wait, knowing that if I stepped inside I’d lose the signal.

‘I called the flight attendants,’ she continued. ‘They’re all first-aiders, and they could see right away it was serious. They asked if there was a doctor on board and a woman came up from the back of the plane. She had ID that showed she worked in a hospital in Paris. She couldn’t find a pulse, she held a mirror under her nose, and I could see there wasn’t the faintest sign of breath on it. Then she shone a penlight in her eye and said the pupils were completely non-reactive. They had oxygen on board, and those shock pads, but the doctor said she was beyond resuscitation, and she pronounced her dead, at nine twenty-nine local time. The captain was there; he made a note of it, and got her to sign a declaration.’

‘Did she suggest a cause of death?’

‘No. The pilot asked her, but she said she wasn’t prepared to guess, that there’ll have to be an autopsy.’

‘What happened then?’

‘They put a sheet over her, and got everyone off the plane through the back exit. We had to clamber over her, Duncan and I.’

‘How did he react?’ I asked.

‘You know, Primavera, I can’t answer that, not properly. He didn’t burst into floods of tears or anything, put it that way. He was very quiet. That’s until the captain asked me who was the next of kin. I said it was Janet, just automatically, without even thinking, and Duncan shouted, “No, she’s fucking not! I am!” The crew probably just thought he was hysterical, but he wasn’t. He was making a point, if you ask me.’

‘I don’t have to,’ I told her. ‘I can see that. What are you doing now? Where are you?’

‘I’m in the VIP lounge; they’ve asked us to wait here to talk to the ambulance crew that are coming to take Susie’s body to the morgue. They’re going to take her to the hospital in Nice. I want her to go to Monaco, but that might not be possible, a jurisdictional thing, the airport manager says, since she died in France. Duncan’s outside, having a cigarette … to calm his nerves, he said … but I can see him from where I’m sitting. He’s standing in the forecourt and he’s not smoking; he’s on his phone. He switched it on when we got in here, and got a text right away.’

‘I’ll bet,’ I muttered. ‘Audrey,’ I continued, ‘I have to think about all of this, and I have Tom with me. I can’t kid him on about this. I will call you back as soon as we’re through security and I’ve had a chance to talk to him.’

‘You’re still going to catch your flight?’

The thought of not catching it hadn’t even occurred to me. ‘Oh yes,’ I said. ‘It’s even more important now that I do. I’ll speak to you again shortly; meantime, hang in there.’

‘What’s wrong?’ Tom asked, as soon as I’d joined him at the lift. We weren’t alone; a fat bloke with a suit bag and a briefcase was waiting beside us, and I didn’t want to be breaking any news in his earshot.

‘Not now, love,’ I said. ‘Be patient, until we’re inside the building.’

He nodded, but his face was set in a look that wasn’t fearful exactly, but told me he wasn’t expecting to be hearing any good news. I’d called Audrey by name and if he’d heard me … He said nothing, though; instead he fussed me through the fast bag drop, which wasn’t, and security, putting his carryon bag and mine on to the X-ray conveyor and reminding me to take off my belt and watch. I set the damn gate off, of course, thanks to the metal button on my bloody trousers, and had to endure a pat-down, no, a feel-up, from a clumsy woman who was so thorough in her search that I asked her if she was enjoying it, for I sure as hell wasn’t. She threatened to call her supervisor. I threatened to call the police. I must have been better at threatening than her, for she backed off.

I was still steaming mad with her by the time I’d reclaimed my stuff, but my son’s presence, and the knowledge of what I was about to tell him, helped me control myself. We went straight to the business class lounge. I’ve known those to be busier than the concourse at some airports, but Barcelona’s was quiet that morning. I checked the board as we walked in, letting Tom show our tickets. Our flight was showing a ten-minute delay; that meant we had more than half an hour to boarding time, enough for what had to be done.

I fetched a soft drink and some biscuits for him and a coffee for me, then steered us to the quietest corner I could see. His patience finally ran out as soon as I sat down.

‘It’s Susie, Mum, isn’t it?’ he said, his face tense.

All I could do was nod.

‘She’s dead. I can tell by your face.’

‘Yes. She died on board the flight to Nice, about an hour ago. It was very sudden, Tom. Audrey said she died in her sleep.’

I’d thought he might shed a tear. After all, for that part of his early childhood when I was away, in various places, and Oz had custody, he’d been brought up by Susie, hence the name by which he always called her. But he didn’t, he sat there stoically and it was I who felt my eyes go moist.
Twice in two days, Ice Maiden
, I thought.
What’s happening?

‘She was very ill, wasn’t she? Janet told me,’ he added, ‘after she’d spoken to her.’

‘Yes, she was. She was very frail, and in her condition, many things could have gone wrong any time. From what Audrey told me, I’d guess she had a brain haemorrhage, and died pretty much instantly.’

‘Was Duncan there?’

‘Yes, apparently so.’

‘What’s going to happen now? Does that mean that Duncan’s going to be Janet and wee Jonathan’s stepfather?’

‘I suppose it does.’

He glared at me. ‘Mum, we can’t let that happen. He’s not a good man. They have to live with us.’

‘Tom,’ I sighed, ‘that’s easier said than achieved. It’s never that simple. Like it or not, Duncan and Susie were married when she died. You’re their half-brother, but I have no relationship to them at all. I suppose I could petition the court.’

‘You could, Mum,’ he insisted. ‘Duncan won’t want two kids. Why shouldn’t he let them live with us?’

‘These are not two ordinary kids,’ I pointed out, ‘any more than you are, given that your father was a famous man, and still is. Christ, there have been as many sightings of Oz Blackstone as there were of Elvis after he died! Tom, you are all wealthy kids and Susie’s will is going to make you even wealthier. If I can speak to you as if you were all grown up, not just two-thirds of the way there, I think Duncan Culshaw is a greedy, grasping son-of-a-bitch, and he’s unlikely to give up control of Janet and Jonathan’s wealth. Understand?’

He nodded. ‘Maybe Uncle Harvey could fix it. He’s a lawyer.’

‘Yes, but he’s not that sort of lawyer any longer. He’s a judge. We couldn’t take a case to him, because he knows us.’

‘Okay, maybe he could get one of his pals to fix it!’

I smiled at his remaining innocence … or was I the innocent, and was he right? Do the courts really work on the old pals principle? It didn’t fucking help me when I was in the dock, that’s for sure.

‘We have to wait and see what happens, but I promise, I won’t let anything bad happen to those kids. And nor,’ I reminded him, ‘will Conrad Kent. Speaking of whom,’ I concluded, ‘I must call Audrey again, like I promised I would.’ I picked up my coffee and took a sip, but it was cold, and anyway, I didn’t fancy it any longer.

‘Be a love,’ I asked him. ‘Go and get me a drink. White wine; biggest glass they’ve got.’

He looked at his watch, raised an eyebrow.

‘Hey,’ I exclaimed, ‘gimme a break.’

As he walked over to the self-service bar, I called Audrey back. ‘How are things?’ I asked. A damn silly question, looking back on it; unless Susie had suddenly stopped being dead, ‘things’ were not going to be any better.

‘I’m still in the VIP lounge. They’ve taken Susie’s body away to a hospital in Nice. A police officer came with the ambulance crew. I tried to persuade him to let me take her to Monaco, but no way. I’ve just spoken to the British Embassy in Paris, and told them what’s happened. They’re going to get involved, and send a consular observer to the autopsy. It’s a judicial procedure; the authorities have to satisfy themselves that the death was natural. Once they’ve done that, they’ll release the body.’

‘Who’ll organise the funeral?’

‘Me, if I’m still around. I’ve just had a blazing row with Duncan. He knows about our being appointed to the board. It went public as scheduled; the text that he had must have tipped him off. As soon as he finished that phone call I told you about earlier he came storming in here and started yelling at me, even though I was in the middle of talking to the police officer. What the hell did I think I was playing at, I’d manipulated a dying woman, and it was all that witch Primavera’s doing; nasty, furious, threatening stuff. Eventually the policeman intervened, and told him to have some respect. Duncan didn’t understand him, of course, so he just carried on. He might have been arrested if the airport manager hadn’t intervened and explained who he was, and that he’d just lost his wife. He quietened down after that, and walked out again. I don’t know where he is now. And I don’t know what to do.’

‘That’s obvious, Audrey. You get yourself back to Monaco as fast as you can; it’s essential that you’re there when Conrad gets back with the kids. Have you called him?’

‘Not yet. It’s not easy; the children will be in the car with him.’

Tom appeared at my side with a large glass of yellow-hued wine. ‘Don’t say anything about what’s happened,’ I suggested. ‘Just ask him what time he expects to arrive, and tell him that things have changed with Susie, and that you’re not going to Scotland any more.’

‘But I have to, Primavera; the board meeting.’

‘There will be a quorum without you, trust me. You’re needed in Monaco; things have happened over the last couple of days to make that essential, now that Susie’s gone. Listen,’ I said, ‘Susie’s intention in appointing us to the board was to protect the children’s interests. That was when she was alive, and it’s all the more important now that she isn’t; you have to be with them. I will handle the board meeting on my own, don’t worry.’

‘What about the other things she asked you to do for her? Setting up the trust, her will?’

‘I don’t know. She gave me a very clear written mandate, and her signed authority to implement it. It’s clear that while she accepted Duncan as her husband, she didn’t want him controlling her kids’ inheritance in the event of her death.’

‘Maybe we’ve got him wrong,’ Audrey said. ‘Perhaps he’ll agree to what Susie wanted.’

‘Can you see the sky where you are?’ I asked.

‘Yes,’ she replied, puzzled.

‘Are there any pigs up there? Audrey, don’t be naive; all the peaches have fallen off the tree at once and landed in bloody Duncan’s lap. Damn it!’ I snapped. ‘Why the hell did she have to fly so soon? Didn’t she know how fragile she was?’

‘Yes, she did. Her doctor spelled it out for her the last time she saw him. He was okay with the Vegas trip, but told her she should stay in Arizona for another two weeks at least, preferably a month, with her platelet levels being monitored, before even thinking about flying transcontinental. He said her blood chemistry was still too unstable.’

‘Was Duncan aware of that?’

‘Yes, we both sat in on the meeting.’

‘And he let her fly?’

‘Yes, but so did I, Primavera, so did I. I didn’t want her to, but she insisted; she told me that she knew she was going to die soon anyway, and wanted to see her kids before she did. I suggested that we could fly Janet and wee Jonathan out to Arizona, but she said the trip would be too tough for them, since they would know why they were going, or at least Janet would, for sure. Duncan backed her up; he said that if I didn’t book the flights, he would.’

‘God,’ I snapped. ‘You’re making it sound as if he wanted her to die.’ I’d forgotten completely that Tom was sitting alongside me. At the edge of my vision I saw him stiffen in his chair, glanced at him and saw his eyes ablaze with a fury that his wing chun master definitely would not have liked.

‘I’m only telling you how it was,’ she replied. ‘Do you know what her last words were? After she said she was going to sleep on the flight to be alert when she met the kids, she said, “I’m not looking forward to telling them what I’ve done.” Now I’ll have to tell them, unless Duncan gets to them first.’

‘You won’t,’ I said. ‘They know already. And they’re not happy.’

‘In that case, I’ve got to go, now. I’ve just seen, literally a couple of seconds ago, Duncan getting into a taxi, and you can bet he’s heading for Susie’s. The swine’s even left me to take care of the baggage.’