Bobby's Girl (31 page)

She interrupted him. ‘I already know. I've known for years, Sandy.'

Penny took the glass of wine Sandy handed her and sat facing him in the conservatory.

He sipped his own wine before setting his glass on the table. ‘How did you find out?'

Her answer was brief. ‘Bobby.'

‘You saw him after the accident?'

‘I never saw him again after that night. Charlotte made sure I couldn't go near the room that Bobby – you – were taken to in the hospital. She hired security guards to keep everyone, especially his friends and the press, away. The doctors endorsed her decision because you weren't expected to live. At the time I assumed she gave the order because she wanted to regain control of Bobby's life. Now it's obvious. She didn't want to risk anyone discovering that you weren't Bobby.'

‘Charlotte believed I was Bobby after the accident and for weeks afterwards. It was an understandable mistake.
I was burnt and bandaged beyond recognition. Bobby and I were the same height and build. Both of us had blue eyes.'

‘But your hair was different. Yours was blue-black, Bobby's a brown-black.'

‘My hair had burnt off.'

‘I'm sorry. I didn't know.' She looked into his eyes. Imagined the scars he was concealing beneath the silk hood. ‘I'm so sorry, Sandy. You must have been in excruciating pain.'

‘You didn't see me at all after the accident?' He reached for his wine glass and cradled it.

‘No. I was unconscious for hours. When I came round and asked to see you, the doctors – and Charlotte – said you were too weak to receive visitors.'

‘The doctors kept me on morphine for months. My first memory – and it's a hazy one after the accident – is Charlotte informing me that Sandy had been killed in Vietnam. That was in late November or early December. I told Charlotte I was Sandy and she was furious. She ordered me not to talk to the medical staff. On her next visit she said if she couldn't have one grandson she'd have another. I needed the best care money could buy. She promised if I impersonated Bobby she'd buy it for me – and take care of my mother. If I didn't go along with her plan she'd throw us both out on the street. I was past caring what happened to me but my mother …'

‘Charlotte always was good at blackmail. Your love for your mother made you vulnerable. And, she was an expert at picking people's weak spots. But what possible
reason could she have for asking you to pretend to be Bobby?'

‘The first was money, the only thing that ever mattered to Charlotte. But I'll come back to that later. The second was the accident. A change of identity would have led to a reopening of the police enquiry and more newspaper reports and scandal. It was months before I remembered some of the things that happened that night and over a year before I discovered Charlotte had managed to keep your statement that Bobby was responsible for the accident out of the press. I've had nearly twenty years to piece together the events. But there are still a few things I don't understand.'

She took two letters from her handbag. ‘Perhaps I can help you.'

He looked at the airmail stamp on the envelope and recognised the handwriting. ‘Bobby wrote to you?'

‘Twice, once from the States and once from Vietnam. The second letter was sent on to me after he'd been killed.'

Sandy made no attempt to take them from her. ‘I can tell you how the mix-up happened. The police officer who asked me to drive Bobby back to the Brosna Estate that night in Marion and Joe's yard went to their house the following morning to inform them about the accident. Marion told him that I'd woken her in the night collecting my things. My bag was missing; your bag and Kate's were still there. Bobby's bags were at the Beach House. The officer accepted Marion's story. He had no reason not to. He'd told me to drive Bobby's car the night before and I was
seen driving it away. A driver who causes an accident will often panic and run from the scene, particularly if people are killed or injured. For the first day or so the police believed the accident was down to my bad driving. They didn't change their opinion until you gave your statement. But even then they believed that Sandy had collected his belongings from the house and disappeared and the survivor dragged from the wreck was Bobby.'

She thought about what he'd said. ‘Now I can see why Charlotte didn't realise who you were at first.'

‘And now we come to the money. Charlotte had set up a tax avoidance trust fund in Bobby's name. I have no idea how much was in it, but Charlotte had attached all sorts of conditions. Bobby wouldn't have been able to access any of the money or property until he was
thirty-five
. She contacted her lawyers to find out if Bobby had made a will. She was fairly certain he hadn't and she was right. As Bobby had no wife or known children at the time of his death, under Massachusetts law, his estate would have been divided between his parents. His mother was dead, so that left his father and Bobby's vast brood of half-brothers and -sisters. Charlotte was determined her stepson and his offspring wouldn't get a penny more than she'd already given him. So the moment the doctors cut the bandages from my hands in February 1969, she brought lawyers to my hospital bedside, pushed a pen between my fingers and made me sign document after document. The trust must have been difficult to dismantle. I was still signing papers two years later.'

‘But your signature …'

‘My right hand had been burnt to the bone. I was undergoing skin graft operations. But most significant of all, I was simply too damned weak to fight Charlotte. It was easier to go along with what she demanded of me, especially when she reminded me that although my mother had been resident in the States for years, she'd entered as an illegal immigrant. I didn't know if my mother had ever taken citizenship but I had more sense, even in my confused state than to ask Charlotte if Harriet had or hadn't. And, Charlotte gave me a letter from my mother – you met Harriet?'

‘I did,' she confirmed.

‘Charlotte allowed me to read it once before burning it in front of me. In it, my mother said she was pleased that I was getting the expensive medical care I needed, and being unable to acknowledge me as her son was a small price to pay for the treatment Charlotte was arranging.'

‘Did you see your mother after the accident?'

‘Not until Easter 1969 when Charlotte had me conveyed to the Brosna Estate on the Cape to recuperate between operations. She wouldn't allow Harriet to visit me before then in case either of us failed to control ourselves in front of the hospital staff. She warned that at the faintest flicker of recognition from either of us she'd stop funding my treatment and throw us both out.'

‘She was a hard woman.'

‘I'd rather not talk about her,' Sandy said decisively. ‘After the accident she destroyed what little relationship
she'd allowed me, as Bobby's childhood companion, to have with my mother.'

She offered him the letters. ‘These explain why Bobby acted the way he did.'

‘Aren't they personal?'

‘Very,' she concurred. ‘Which is why I've never shown them to a soul.'

‘Not even Andy?'

‘Especially Andy.'

‘Wasn't he curious about his father?'

‘Yes. And, I always tried to answer his questions about Bobby as honestly as I could without mentioning you. Given Charlotte's – personality – I thought it best to keep the secret of “Bobby Brosna's” identity to myself. ‘

‘Wise move.'

‘I'm more grateful than you can know for signing the document that relinquished your paternal rights to Andy.'

‘Like you, I too was afraid of Charlotte and with good cause. I saw what she was capable of when I was growing up. Saw just how cruel she could be, especially to Bobby.'

‘Bobby told me some of it.'

‘Whenever Bobby showed affection, she'd punish him. To her love and affection were weaknesses.'

‘She's dead and gone, Sandy,' she reminded him softly.

‘But her legacy lives on,' he said bitterly.

‘When Andy was small I told him his father was someone I'd met before he was born and didn't want to stay with because I preferred living with just him. He grew up happy,' she insisted defensively. ‘We live close to
my parents. My brothers and sisters all live in the same town …'

‘I know.' He reached down to the floor beside his chair and handed her the file he'd taken from Charlotte's room.

Stunned, she leafed through the pages. ‘Bobby said Charlotte employed snoops but this …'

‘It's Charlotte's copy of one I commissioned. I wanted to ensure that you and Bobby's son wanted for nothing. She simply wanted to watch you. Are you sure you want me to read these letters?'

‘Read them in the order they were written. The dates are on the envelopes. Although they were written weeks apart and one was sent from the States and the other Vietnam, I received both in January 1969. They had bounced around Swansea University, Art College and College of Further Education for weeks before they reached me.'

He removed the first letter and unfolded it.