Every Time We Say Goodbye (8 page)

Matthews looked perplexed. ‘He always appeared fine at work. How on earth was he able to function normally?’

‘He couldn’t,’ Marianne said, remembering those dark days and how frustrated and helpless she’d felt as her husband fell apart before her eyes. ‘When he couldn’t get the tablets from the GP, he started to buy them online.’

Matthews was shocked. ‘That seems a very risky thing to do – and a very desperate one.’

In retrospect Marianne had to agree but it had made some sense at the time. ‘He was just buying the pills the doctor had prescribed for him; it seemed preferable to him drinking. Dominic wasn’t a pleasant drunk; he could become quite aggressive,’ she explained, thinking that when she’d walked in here today she hadn’t expected to be telling Dominic’s boss any of this. ‘All in all, buying sleeping tablets online seemed the lesser of two evils.’

‘I can understand that,’ Matthews nodded, his eyes sad.

‘It was fine for a while but as time went on the tablets grew less effective and Dominic increased the dose. I begged him not to, I was terrified of the harm he might do himself. In the morning he was bleary-eyed getting into the car and there were days when it was almost impossible to wake him. The only way I finally got through to him was when I pointed out that if I was noticing what a mess he was in the mornings, that you must be too and that he might be jeopardizing his career. Well, that shocked him and had almost an immediate effect; he just seemed to snap out of it. I suppose I should have been suspicious but I was so relieved that he was behaving normally.’ She paused, wondering if she had really believed everything was okay or had she just wanted it so much that she had closed her eyes to the truth. ‘But the transformation was due to yet more drugs that he’d started taking in the morning to get him up and going. It’s not surprising I didn’t notice; he was hardly ever at home. He left for work before we were up and was rarely home before eight, and then with so many business dinners . . .’ She stopped at the puzzled look on Matthews’ face. ‘What?’

‘Well, my dear, Dominic was a hard worker but he usually left the office by five thirty, six at the latest. As for dinners, given these difficult times we cut the expense accounts of all management eighteen months ago; entertaining clients was vetoed.’

‘So, where was he?’ Marianne wondered aloud.

‘I’m afraid I have no idea.’

It took a moment for Marianne to twig why he was looking uncomfortable. ‘You think he was with a woman?’ She smiled at the ludicrous idea. Between his erratic moods and heavy workload, Dominic wouldn’t have had the time or patience for another woman. But he wasn’t working long hours, she reminded herself, and perhaps another woman might account for his ambivalence towards her. She pushed the thought to the back of her mind; she would reflect on it later. ‘How much did he take from the company?’ she asked, thinking of the dwindling current account and their modest deposit account; nothing made sense.

Matthews shook his head. ‘It’s too early to say for sure, but we are talking six figures.’

She stared at him, stunned. ‘I don’t know what to say. I had no idea what he was up to, I assure you; he certainly didn’t lodge the money in our accounts,’ she paused and looked at him, ‘if you want to check—’

Matthews held up a hand, looking embarrassed. ‘Your openness and honesty makes it even more difficult for me to tell you, Marianne, but I’m afraid there is no possibility of us honouring your pension at this moment in time. Happily, I’m sure that his life assurance will be substantial—’

‘They are contesting our claim,’ she said. ‘Traces of drugs showed up in the post-mortem results.’

Matthews looked at her, his eyes full of pity. ‘My dear girl, I am so sorry. It seems wrong that you and your family should suffer like this. Let me talk to the other partners about this and see if there is anything we can do.’

‘Thank you, I appreciate that.’

‘I’ll have a courier pick up the laptop this afternoon if that’s okay.’

‘Of course.’

‘Thank you. Oh, forgive me for asking but would you mind if we borrowed his phone too?’

‘I don’t have it; the police suspect it may have been stolen in the restaurant.’

‘How despicable,’ Matthews said, glancing surreptitiously at his watch.

‘I must go.’ Marianne stood up. Her legs felt shaky and she steadied herself on the arm of the chair.

‘Are you okay to drive?’ he asked, looking at her in concern. ‘I could get someone to drop you and you could collect your car tomorrow.’

‘I’m fine.’

‘I doubt that.’ He shook her hand and sighed. ‘I am sorry to have been the bearer of such shocking news.’

‘Will you let me know if there are any developments?’

‘Of course.’

Marianne drove around the corner and parked before she broke down. As the tears ran down her cheeks, she clenched the steering wheel for support, her whole body trembling; she had never felt as frightened in her life. How was she to manage with no income, no savings and two children and Dot to support? Her breaths came in short, fast gasps and she realized she was having a panic attack. She concentrated on her breathing, willing herself to calm down; she couldn’t go home in this state. What the hell was she going to tell Dot? Realizing that she couldn’t face her mother-in-law yet, she turned on the ignition, turned the car around and set out for Johnny Sheridan’s builders’ yard.

She sighed in relief when she saw his distinctive maroon Mercedes and parked rather haphazardly behind it. She wiped her eyes, blew her nose and picked her way through the dirt towards the Portakabin that served as Johnny’s office.

‘Yeah?’

She opened the door and stood uncertainly in the doorway as he continued to type, his head bent over his keyboard. ‘Bad time?’

‘Marianne.’ He immediately pushed away from his desk and came around to greet her, his smile faltering when he saw her expression. ‘You look done in, sweetheart; is everything okay?’

She gave him a watery smile. ‘Not really.’

‘Come and sit down.’ He gestured to a chair and pulled his own around the desk so he could sit beside her. ‘I’d offer you a cuppa but there’s no milk.’

‘I could do with something a lot stronger.’

‘Come on then, spit it out, what’s up?’

She dropped her bag on the dusty floor and flopped back in the chair; feeling tired and beaten. ‘I don’t know where to start.’

‘Try the beginning.’

She looked into his kind face and took a deep breath. ‘Dominic was stealing from Matthews and Baldwin, Johnny.’

‘Are you serious?’ He stared at her in astonishment.

‘Yes. After he died they were going through his client accounts and apparently there are “discrepancies”.’

‘What sort of discrepancies?’

‘Adrian Matthews couldn’t or wouldn’t say; the investigation is ongoing apparently.’

Johnny digested the news. ‘How much are we talking about?’

‘They don’t know exactly yet but they think it runs to six figures.’

‘Shit, you’re kidding me!’

She shook her head. ‘I thought Dominic must have done it to pay for the drugs but he couldn’t possibly have spent that sort of money, could he?’

‘I wouldn’t have thought so.’

‘There’s more. All his business dinners, the working late, it was all lies.’

‘But why? And if he wasn’t at work, where was he?’

Marianne shrugged. ‘You tell me.’

‘You think he was having an affair? No, Marianne, for all his faults, he loved you; get that silly notion out of your head.’

Marianne took a tissue from her sleeve and blew her nose. ‘Do you honestly think I care, Johnny?’

He looked uncomfortable. No, I suppose not.’

‘If he wasn’t meeting a woman then where was he?’

‘He could have belonged to one of these private gambling clubs. That would account for the stealing and his absences, and when he started losing money he dipped into the company coffers.’

Marianne wasn’t convinced. ‘He never showed an interest in gambling before; I don’t think he ever even backed a horse in the Grand National.’

‘I doubt interest would have anything to do with it; remember he had an addictive personality.’

‘I suppose,’ she agreed.

‘So, how was Matthews with you?’

‘Initially he was quite frosty but he thawed. It helped that I agreed to hand over Dominic’s laptop.’

‘You did?’ Johnny frowned.

‘It would have looked very suspicious if I hadn’t.’

‘I suppose. You know, Marianne, I think you should take legal advice. We have to make sure that the company can’t seize your assets to pay his debts.’

‘Ha, what is there to seize?’

‘Your house, love,’ he said softly.

‘No, they wouldn’t take my house!’ She looked at him in alarm. ‘They couldn’t . . . could they?’

‘Probably not but we should find out.’

She shook her head; the nightmare was getting steadily worse. ‘I’m still trying to get my head around the fact that on top of having no life assurance I now have no pension either.’

‘He said that?’

‘More or less. Why should they cough up for a man who robbed them?’

‘But that’s not your fault,’ Johnny protested. ‘Let me call my solicitor; Eddie’s a good guy.’

‘If you want, but I don’t have a leg to stand on and you know it, Johnny.’

‘We need to find that money, or what’s left of it.’ Johnny drummed his fingers on the desk and frowned in concentration. ‘Did they have any of his personal papers?’

She shook her head. ‘Matthews said there weren’t any.’

‘Perhaps we should hire a private investigator.’

Marianne raised her eyebrows. ‘And pay him with what?’

‘What a bloody mess. And poor Dot; how do you think she’ll take this latest bombshell?’

‘I can’t tell her,’ Marianne whispered. Dot had been through enough; she couldn’t hit her with this as well.

‘But how can you keep it a secret, darling? How are you going to explain the fact that there’s no pension?’

‘I have no idea but I can’t tell her this, Johnny. His addiction was one thing but finding out that her only child was a thief too would break her heart.’

He thought for a moment. ‘The simplest thing to do is tell her that for legal reasons they have to wait until after the inquest before they can pay you any money.’

‘And what then?’ She dragged tired fingers through her long hair.

‘Don’t worry about that now,’ he frowned.

‘You’re right. Lord knows I’ve more than enough to worry about at the moment.’ She stood up. ‘I’d better go.’

He gave her a warm hug. ‘Are you going to be okay?’

‘I’m going to have to be, aren’t I?’ Marianne said, feeling weepy again. But she couldn’t give in to tears, she had to go home and convince Dot that everything was fine.

‘You’ll get through this, love. Helen and I will be with you every step of the way.’

She clung to him for a second. ‘Good, because I have a feeling I’m going to need you.’

Chapter Seven

When Marianne struggled through the door, laden down with bags, she found Dot standing at the kitchen table, baking.

‘Hello, love, how did you get on?’

‘Not bad,’ Marianne said as she put away the groceries. She had decided to do the shopping on the way home to give herself more time to recover her composure. It had worked. As she wandered up and down aisles she counted her blessings. She had two amazing, healthy kids, a wonderful mother-in-law, great friends in Helen, Jo and Johnny, and she knew even Greg would offer support if it was needed. And she no longer had the stormy, threatening cloud in the shape of Dominic hanging over her. Yes, he’d left her a sorry mess to deal with but deal with it she would. ‘I’m gasping for some tea, want one? I got doughnuts.’ She reached for the kettle.

‘Lovely.’ Dot put the apple tart in the oven, cleaned up and sat waiting in silence until Marianne had made the tea and joined her.

‘So, out with it; what’s wrong?’

Marianne met her gaze and smiled. ‘I can never fool you, can I? Bad news, I’m afraid. It looks like I won’t get a penny from Matthews and Baldwin until after the inquest.’

‘But that could take ages.’ Dot looked horrified.

‘I know.’ Marianne gave a helpless shrug.

‘Have you enough money to last that long?’

‘Not really. We’re going to have to seriously economize and plan for the worst. I should probably start looking for a job.’

‘I can’t believe it. I thought that Dominic would have plenty of money put by.’

‘You know Dominic, he didn’t really believe in leaving money in bank accounts; he liked to invest.’ It was true, Marianne thought, and made a mental note to say so to Johnny. Perhaps Dominic had lots of shares that they hadn’t discovered yet. Still, if they did, were they hers or would she have to hand them over to Matthews and Baldwin? It all made her head spin.

‘I’m sorry, love, you shouldn’t have to worry about money on top of everything else.’

‘Perhaps going back to work is exactly the distraction I need, although I don’t imagine getting a job will be easy these days.’

‘But didn’t you have a great job in the travel agency?’

‘Yes, but they were different times. Still, I’m sure I’ll find something.’

‘We both will.’

‘Don’t be silly,’ Marianne laughed.

‘Why is it silly?’ Dot retorted. ‘I’m a strong, healthy woman and a hard worker; why shouldn’t I get a job?’

‘I know you can do it,’ Marianne quickly reassured her. ‘I just don’t see why you should. Anyway, someone will have to look after the children.’

‘I should because it’s thanks to my son that you’re in this mess.

‘That doesn’t make you responsible.’

‘Perhaps not, but didn’t you say I was part of this family?’ Dot challenged.

‘Yes, I did—’

‘Then let me do my bit.’

Marianne smiled though the tears weren’t far away. ‘You know, as mother-in-laws go, you’re not the worst.’

‘Easy, I’ll get a big head,’ Dot laughed. ‘As for the children, I could still take care of them and get some part-time work in the mornings while they’re at school.’

‘I suppose.’

‘Don’t worry. We’ve enough grey matter between us to figure something out. I suppose you’ll be selling this place?’