Moving On (28 page)

More lights went on outside, the very bright spotlights next door, and she groaned in relief.

The voices yelled out, ‘Go and live somewhere else or we’ll make you sorry, you old hag!’ Then she heard them running off down the street.

When there was the sound of a key turning in the front door, her heart seemed to skip in her chest. Stuart. It must be. But she couldn’t move or speak, just couldn’t move a muscle, because fear had gripped her so tightly.

Stuart saw two male figures running down the street, but his first concern was for his mother. He unlocked the front door and yelled, ‘Mum? Are you all right?’

There was no answer. Terrified, he slammed the door shut so that it locked and ran up to the bedroom, not even putting the light on till he got to the top of the stairs. ‘Mum? Ah, thank goodness! There you are.’

She didn’t speak or move, and he’d never seen anyone look so terrified. But when he took her in his arms, she shuddered and collapsed against him.

He stroked her hair, upset at how fragile she felt. ‘It’s all right, Mum. I’m here. It’s all right.’

But it wasn’t all right. She huddled against him, shaking and clutching his hand, tears running down her cheeks, still not speaking.

Holding his mother close, he rang Wendy and asked her to come across. ‘I saw them run away so it should be safe now. I’ll watch out of the window as you come across. I can be with you in thirty seconds flat if you need me. No, Mum’s not hurt physically, but she’s in shock. We need to call the police and maybe the doctor, too.’

Wendy was there within a couple of minutes and took over with her usual brisk efficiency, leaving him free to go and investigate. He was furious with himself for not putting a better security system round his mother’s house, but all the previous trouble had targeted the house he was living in and he couldn’t understand why anyone would target his mother. He could only hope his own CCTV cameras had caught the intruders, though they’d probably been wearing hoods or masks.

The police arrived quickly and the officers were concerned that such an old lady had been attacked and terrified like that. They asked to see the CCTV footage and he promised to get the recording for them once it was safe to leave his mother.

By that time she was recovering a little, thank goodness. She refused to have the doctor called out, but her hands still shook as she raised the mug of hot, sweet tea Wendy had made to her lips.

Stuart’s whole body shook too every time he looked at her, but with anger and outrage so strong he could barely keep his feelings under control.

What sort of person targeted an old lady who had so recently buried her husband? If this was Molly’s damned husband, he was going to regret it. In fact, whoever it was, Stuart was going to find him and teach him a lesson he’d never forget.

But not till he’d calmed down a little, and not till he’d set up a better security system here. His mother didn’t even have a lock on the inside of her bedroom door. Why had he not noticed that? He’d let her down. His own mother.

Then he thought of Molly. What would her ex do if he found out Molly was selling the house? Would he go after her, too?

Taylor needed bringing into line and Stuart already had an idea how to do that.

By Friday morning, the show house was clear of Euan’s personal possessions, though he’d had to have a shed erected next to the caravan to store some of his things, because there was no room inside the caravan.

‘Cindy’s not short of money, if she can lay her hands on enough to buy this house outright within a couple of days,’ he told Molly thoughtfully. ‘You’d have thought she’d have gone for something more upmarket, a luxury flat in London maybe. She doesn’t play golf, after all.’

‘She said she liked the setting and the beautiful countryside nearby, and it’s also close enough to her family, but not too close. I really like her and I’m glad she’s moving in. She’ll help set the tone for the group. I think she’ll get on well with the Sarcens, too.’

‘You like everyone.’

‘Not everyone. I don’t like Craig or his new wife. She’s very hard; brittle is a perfect word to describe her. Her voice gets a viciously sharp edge to it sometimes, however polite the words.’

‘And how does Craig react to that?’

‘I gather from Rachel that he usually does as Tasha wants.’ Molly smiled. ‘In fact, I’m distanced enough now to believe he deserves her. It’s a good thing our children are grown up, though. I’d have fought tooth and nail to prevent a woman like her raising them. Even so, she still took them away from me.’

‘Sounds like Brian’s come back to you. Maybe Rachel will, too.’

She shook her head, sad now. ‘I doubt it. Rachel is Daddy’s girl through and through.’

When the doorbell rang, Rachel glanced out of the window, saw her father’s car parked below and threw open the front door with a glad cry of, ‘Daddy— Oh, it’s you, Tasha.’ She took an instinctive step backwards.

Her stepmother walked in and did a quick tour, her expression growing more disgusted by the minute. ‘I thought you told your father you’d clean this place up?’

Rachel looked round. It did look a bit untidy, but she’d cleared a whole lot of stuff up
and
done two loads of washing. Well, Brian had done one, but she’d done another all on her own.

‘Did your mother teach you nothing about housekeeping?’

‘I didn’t need to learn. She could do everything better than I ever could.’ She didn’t admit to Tasha that her mother had tried and failed to get her to clear up after herself, or that she’d deliberately made a worse mess whenever her mother nagged about that.

‘Everyone needs to learn to look after themselves. Unless you want to smell like a pig. Dirty places smell, Rachel, and make people who live in them smell, too.’

She looked at her stepmother in horror.
Smell!
She didn’t smell. Did she? How did you know? Maybe you couldn’t smell yourself. ‘What’s it got to do with you, anyway?’

‘Mind your manners when you speak to me or I’ll make sure your father never comes to see you again. And don’t think I can’t.’

Silence hung pregnant between them then Rachel began to cry.

‘Stop that!’

She couldn’t help crying even more loudly. This confrontation was just too much on top of everything else.

Tasha slapped her across the face and Rachel stopped crying to gape at her in shock.

‘Someone has to take you in hand. I’m not having your father worried by this mess, just when he’s got a big deal coming up. If you don’t care about yourself, you should at least care about him after all he’s done for you.’

‘I do care about him.’

‘Then why are you not at work?’

‘I don’t want to go back there. They’ll all laugh at me.’

‘They’ll be sorry for you, you fool, especially if you’re brave about it.’

Rachel looked at her doubtfully. ‘Brave?’

‘Yes. Don’t cry or sob, and especially don’t complain or bad-mouth Jamie. Just blink away the tears and look tragic. I’m sure you can manage that. You’re a good little actress. Your father can’t always tell when you’re lying, but I can.’

It sounded more like another insult than advice, but Rachel didn’t know what to say, which often happened with her stepmother.

Tasha put her expensive leather handbag down. ‘Right. We’re going to have a lesson on house cleaning, and make sure you pay careful attention. I do not wish to see a pigsty like this again. I’ll be back to check on you regularly, for your father’s sake. At least my Geneva can keep herself
clean
, whatever her other faults.’

The scorn in her voice made Rachel twitch, but Tasha wasn’t even looking at her, didn’t care two hoots about her, only about her father.

If he didn’t look after her, no one would, because no one else cared about her now. Her mother certainly didn’t, and she might not have been able to help spoiling the wedding, but afterwards she’d gone away without saying where, in case anyone needed her, which showed how selfish she was.

Sulkily Rachel did as she was told, hating the way the cleaning reddened her hands, because of course she didn’t have any rubber gloves and Tasha did.

Why was her father letting this happen to her?

When Tasha got home, a man followed her up the path. He looked smart enough to allay any fears she might have about being mugged.

‘Mrs Taylor?’

‘Yes.’

‘I’d like to see your husband. Would Craig be at home?’

‘I certainly hope so. Please wait here. I’ll see if he’s in.’ But when she walked into the house, the man gave her a nudge with his shoulder and as she stumbled through the doorway, he followed quickly, saying, ‘Oh, sorry’.

She lunged for the panic button, but he was already between her and it.

‘I’m not here to hurt you in any way, or to rob you. I merely want to make sure I see your husband.’

She frowned at him, but he looked utterly respectable. ‘Who are you? Why should he not want to see you?’

‘I’m Stuart Benton.’ He pulled out a business card and offered it to her.

She studied it. ‘Security consultant. Is this a stunt to show us we need better security?’

‘No. This call is on behalf of my mother.’

Craig called out, ‘Tasha? Is that you?’

‘Yes. You have a visitor. He’s pushed his way in.’

There was the sound of footsteps running down the stairs, but at the sight of the other man Craig stopped a couple of steps from the bottom, looking poised to retreat. ‘Benton, isn’t it?’

‘Yes. I’m here on behalf of my mother. Her house was targeted by vandals last night and this upset her considerably. Which has upset me.’

Tasha watched her husband put on his false look of concern.

‘I’m sorry to hear that. What’s it got to do with me, though?’

‘As you and I both know, it has everything to do with you.’ He turned to Tasha. ‘My mother is over eighty, and she buried my father on Tuesday. She’s normally a very plucky lady, but wasn’t in the best of states to be facing intruders a couple of days after that, as you can imagine.’

He turned back to Craig. ‘I would be very upset if anything else happened to my mother. Very.’ He nodded to Tasha. ‘See if you can talk a little sense into him.’

She watched Stuart leave, then looked at Craig. ‘Tell me he’s mistaken.’

He shrugged. ‘I was just sending a little warning to him not to buy that house.’

She stood perfectly still, then said in icy tones. ‘I can’t believe you attacked a woman so soon after her husband’s funeral.’

‘How the hell was I to know the old chap had died? Anyway, no one touched her. I made a point of telling them not to. They just lobbed rocks through a couple of the windows.’

‘Even that was a disgusting thing to do to an old lady.’

‘Sometimes you have to make a point forcibly.’

‘Not in that way. And not to ladies over eighty. I’m disgusted with you. I think I’ll spend the weekend with my brother. You are not invited.’

She waited and when he didn’t say anything, added, ‘When I come back, I want to hear that you’ve severed your ties with those hoodlums and given up your plans to move back into Lavengro Road.’

He followed her upstairs into the bedroom. ‘You’re not going to your brother’s, and I
will
get that house and we
will
live there. I’m owed it. Keep right out of this affair, Tasha. I’ll sort it.’

For the first time ever, she found herself a little nervous of him. For the first time, she wondered if some of the other rumours she’d heard about him were true. No, surely not? He was a respected businessman, a man on the rise, not a thug. But she’d bear this in mind if she decided to take further action. With a shrug, she took her coat off and changed into more casual gear.

‘What time is dinner?’ he asked, as pleasantly as if he’d not just threatened her.

She didn’t want to be alone with him till she’d calmed down and decided what to do. ‘I’d like to go out to eat. Just somewhere casual. I’m not in the mood for cooking tonight after dealing with your stupid daughter.’

‘Very well. Mario’s suit you?’

She inclined her head and he went downstairs to wait for her.

At the restaurant, he said in his usual pleasant tone, ‘I think we’ll take a little trip into Wiltshire on Sunday. I want to visit Molly.’

‘You’re not going to . . . do anything else stupid.’

‘Of course not. I’m going to make her another offer for the house, and in such a way, she can’t refuse it.’

When they got back, Tasha said she was tired, but he smiled as he continued to get ready for bed. He paid no attention to her protests and for the first time she didn’t enjoy making love to him.

In fact, it was more like a rape as far as she was concerned.

That was a lot of firsts for one evening. But the last one upset her most of all.

The email Euan sent to his older son brought a rapid response. He called Molly over to his computer to read it on Friday evening.

‘He hopes it works out for you,’ she said. ‘How nice your Jason sounds! How loving!’

‘Have you sent an email to your son yet?’

‘Yes. But I haven’t had a reply.’

Even as she spoke, her email program pinged to let her know a message had arrived and she found it was from Brian.

She felt relief shudder through her. She didn’t know what she’d been expecting, but this cheerful acceptance of her relationship made her feel good.

She called Euan over. ‘Come and look at this.’