Restoring Grace (58 page)

‘
Haven't you got one? This is so frustrating!’

‘Flynn has.
There's one on his desk. Let's go.’

Chapter Twenty-five

 
Flynn's
drive was full of cars, or so it seemed.

‘
Flynn's
back, and he's got guests,' said Grace, nudging
her car into a space
next to the wall. 'I wonder who?'

‘
Perhaps I
shouldn't come in,' said Ellie, suddenly
aware of her clothes, 'I'm
filthy.’

Grace looked down at her
own long skirt and matching
sweater and
cardigan, which had looked quite smart
when
she'd put them on that morning. 'I'm covered in
cobwebs too,' she said. 'Never mind. We can sneak in and
go into the study. They may not see us, whoever
they
are.'

‘They', or at least one of them, was hanging
about in the hall, waiting for Grace and Ellie. It was Demi.

‘
Oh, hi,
Dems!' said Ellie, holding the envelope with
the scrap of paper to her
as they hugged.

‘Is your mother here?' asked Grace, when she
too had kissed Demi.

Demi nodded. 'In there. With Flynn.'

‘I'll go and say hello,' said Grace with a
sinking feeling
that good manners should
take precedence over her desire
to inspect the paper. Flynn had probably
been entertaining Hermia for hours, waiting for her return.

Her hand had depressed the handle before she
heard Demi say, 'Your sister's there, too!'

‘Oh, God,' muttered Grace, and carried on into
the room. 'Come with me, Ellie!’

Ellie slid the envelope
with the paper under her jumper,
and then prepared to follow Grace.

There were three people in
the room, and they all
looked round as Grace and Ellie
entered. Flynn seemed
relaxed but his
expression warned Grace that she was in
for trouble. Allegra was wearing
an expression of exasperation which was very familiar. And Demi's mother,
Hermia, was looking at her with a strange
combination
of respect and
resentment, which Grace didn't have time
to work out.

‘Hello, everyone,' said Grace, wondering how
Allegra
and Hermia had discovered where Flynn
lived from just
a telephone number.

‘
Darling,
you're horribly dirty,' said Flynn, making this
seem like a good thing
to be. He walked across the room to kiss Grace's cheek. 'Hi, Ellie.'

‘
We've been
to Luckenham House,' said Ellie.
'Checking on the men doing the dry-rot
treatment.'

‘Yes . . .' How to explain the dirt? Grace
thought frantically. 'I thought I'd left something important in one of the old
stables.' Grace hoped no one could see she was
blushing. Her heart had leapt so at the warmth of Flynn's
welcome
that her ability to lie and deceive, which had sharpened up so much lately, had
disloyally abandoned her.

Ellie, seeing Grace's reaction, tried
frantically to cover for her. 'We were looking for an old bill,' she said, her
head full of what they'd found, only aware how odd
she'd
sounded when she saw everyone looking suspiciously at her.

‘Where's Demi disappeared to?' asked Grace,
looking round rather desperately.

 
'I
expect she's playing on my computer,' said Flynn.
'Would you two like a drink? We're trying some Madeira.
I think
you might like it. It's very dry and smooth. Quite unusual, I think. Hermia's
brought Demi back to us.'

‘She wouldn't stay with me,' said Hermia.
'She's been m a terrible strop. Said she couldn't cope without her computer and
got all moody because I wouldn't let her use mine. God, I find teenagers
difficult!’

Ellie silently cursed Hermia for being unable
to be pleasant to her daughter even for a few days; she'd gone to a lot of
trouble to arrange for Flynn and Grace to be alone, and now they wouldn't be
any more. But then,
Grace had told her that
Flynn had said he wouldn't touch
her
until everything was sorted out, so perhaps it wasn't
a total calamity.

‘And I'm sure you know why I'm here,' said
Allegra crisply. 'I've been talking to Hermia. Grace, you've been lying to me.'

‘No, I haven't! What on earth are you talking
about?' Grace's indignation was more from guilt than anything, but she thought
it sounded quite convincing.

‘Sit down, both of you,' said Flynn calmly.
'Ellie, can I get you something soft?'

‘No, an ordinary chair will be fine.' The
tension had made Ellie flippant.

‘
I meant to
drink!' said Flynn, probably grateful for the
light relief. 'I'm not
sure what I've got, but there will be something.'

‘
I'll come
with you and choose,' said Ellie. 'Then I want
to see what Demi is up
to.’

Knowing Flynn would be back as soon as he
could, Grace faced the two women who now confronted her.

‘
Why didn't
you tell me about these panels?' demanded
Allegra. 'Really, it almost
borders on deceit.'

‘
No, it
doesn't! We found some old painted panels, which might be worth something or
nothing, and I didn't tell you!
For goodness' sake, do you tell me every
time you find something you didn't know you had?' Then she realised
that this would never happen to Allegra. There
was nothing,
in any corner of her house, that she didn't know about.

‘It's not the same, and you know it,' snapped
Allegra, obviously well bolstered up by Hermia in her indigna
tion about Grace's inheritance. 'By rights, those
pictures
belong to me and Nicholas.'

‘
No, they
don't!' said Grace. 'Or if they do, so do all
the doors and windows and
skirting boards! They were nailed down!'

‘
Were
nailed down? So where are they
now?’

To Grace's enormous
relief, Flynn and Ellie came back
into the room,
with a reluctant-looking Demi. 'I'm having
them restored. They were nearly attacked by the dry rot.'

‘
So how are you going to pay for that?' demanded
Allegra.

‘
Allegra!
I'm surprised at you, asking me to discuss my
personal finances in front
of . . .' She indicated Hermia and the others, but realised that however she
felt about
some of them, she couldn't quite
refer to Demi, her
mother, Flynn and Ellie as strangers. '. . .
non-family members,' she managed eventually.

‘
I think we
practically are family,' said Hermia, enjoying
the opportunity to see
Grace put on the spot. 'After all, we were married to the same man.'

‘But not at the same time,' said Ellie, trying
to draw Hermia's fire.

‘Whatever the relationships,' said Allegra,
dismissing
this as a detail, 'we're all adults.
I'm sure we can be frank
with each other.' She swept the room with the
look that controlled every committee she ever sat on, demanding agreement.

Not long ago, Grace would have sighed and
complied with her sister's demands, but no longer. 'Oh, come on, Allegra!' she
said. 'You were always telling me off about discussing money in public. You
said it was vulgar. You can't expect me to disregard all those years of
training and do it now.'

‘
I'm not
that much older than you,' said Allegra,
glancing at Flynn.

‘
The ten years did seem a lot when I was a
child,' said
Grace, feeling cruel, but
pleased that she seemed to have
managed
to shut her sister up for a few minutes.
'Let's all have another drink,'
said Flynn.

Ellie glanced at her watch. It was one o'clock.
She was
starving and she desperately wanted
to look at the paper
which crackled occasionally from its place under
her jumper. 'I really should be getting back—'

‘No!' Grace jumped to her feet. 'I promised you
lunch! Flynn?' She met his eyes across the room and blushed again. 'Is it all
right if I get Ellie something to eat? She's pregnant—'

‘I think we know that.' Hermia yawned. 'There's
no stigma attached to being an unmarried mother these
days.' Her expression revealed that she personally rather
regretted
the current laxity of society's morals.

‘—which means she has to eat regularly.' Grace
took Ellie by the arm and almost dragged her from the room. Once in the kitchen
they flopped down at the table.

‘
My God!'
Grace was shaking with rage and frustra
tion. 'I don't believe it! My
sister is the giddy limit! She'll claim those pictures if she can!'

‘She can't. They were nailed down. Now come on,
we
need a magnifying glass. Could you go and
get one out
of the study?’

Grace shook her head. 'Not
with them in there! Will
Ran have a magnifying glass, do you
think?'

‘God yes! He's got special glasses with lights
in them.
You have to have that if you're
conserving paintings,' she
added, pleased with her new knowledge.

‘Then you take it to him,' said Grace, glad to
pass the responsibility to someone else. 'Get him to read it. And ring me
immediately. I have to know if they are by this Richard Coat-thingy.’

Ellie was affronted. 'I know they are, Grace. I
told you about the rabbit.'

‘
No, you didn't!' Grace was confused. 'What
rabbit?'

‘
Oh.' Ellie dismissed this oversight. 'It's one in the
painting in the National Portrait Gallery that is a dead ringer for one in the
panels. I told Ran about it, but he's not convinced I could tell one rabbit
from another. It's why he's insisting on some sort of proof.'

‘Which that bit of paper may not provide!'

‘It might! But you're right, it might not.'

‘
And in a
way it would be a good thing if they're not
all that valuable,' said Grace, trying to look on the bright
side, although Ellie's enthusiasm was infectious
and she'd
found herself starting to believe the panels might be
important. 'I mean, think of the trouble if they really are by this . .

‘Richard Coatbridge,' helped Ellie.

‘Richard Coatbridge!' came a voice from the
door that could have reached the back of the stalls, no problem. 'Did you say
Richard Coatbridge?' Allegra marched into
the
kitchen, her high heels pounding threateningly on to
the tiled floor.

‘It's terribly unlikely,' said Grace.

‘
Yes,
terribly. In fact, Ran – the picture restorer – doesn't
think they are
for a minute,' said Ellie. 'And now I've got
to
go.' She looked longingly at the biscuit tin on the side,
and then opened it and helped herself to a couple
of them
which, handily, were already wrapped in cellophane.

Grace shot to her feet. 'Fine! You go. And ring
me, if
there's any news. About the baby!'
she added desperately,
wondering what
news there could possibly be consid
ering it wasn't due for months.

‘I'm having a scan!' said Ellie helpfully.

‘I'll come to the hospital with you,' said
Grace. 'No, I insist! Is it now?' It was rather grasping at straws, but she
really didn't want to be left with her sister.

‘
No!' Ellie
frowned and shook her head as if Grace had
gone completely mad. 'But
I'll tell you as soon as I know when it is, I promise.’

Grace exhaled as her window of opportunity for escape
closed. 'OK. Good. I'll see you out.’

Flynn
arrived in the kitchen, possibly in pursuit of Allegra.

‘Ellie's
just going,' said Grace.

‘Oh,' said
Flynn.

‘
Yes. Is it all right if I take these?' Ellie indicated
the biscuits.