She began moving the abandoned breakfast bowls and cereal packets.

  ‘It’s such a shame about Ellie’s birthday,’ she said as she worked. ‘I know how much she’s been looking forward to it.’

  Max shrugged. ‘It’s just a day like any other. And she didn’t seem to mind that much.’

  ‘I thought she was doing a good job of covering it up,’ Caroline said. ‘I’d have been pretty upset if I had to have my dad’s funeral on my fortieth birthday.’

  ‘She’s still got the party,’ said Max, sitting down to unlace his trainers.

  ‘That’s true. I imagine we’ll all be ready to let our hair down by then.’

  Caroline watched Max. Sweat was dripping from his forehead on to the floor as he bent to fiddle with his shoes. She resisted the urge to swoop in with a cloth and wipe it away.

  ‘I thought there was almost a moment with James last night,’ she continued.

  ‘James should learn to wind his neck in sometimes,’ replied Max. ‘The money is nothing to do with him.’

  Caroline wasn’t sure she agreed entirely with that. James was married to Ellie, after all, but she could read Max and didn’t need to comment. Whilst she wanted to go over the evening yet again, she didn’t want to cause a row.

  ‘Have you heard from Ellie about going to your mum’s?’ she asked.

  Max looked up at the big clock above the door. ‘It’s only quarter past ten, Caro! I’m not sure there’s been time.’

  ‘I could come with you,’ she said tentatively. Asking Valerie about the money had been her idea in the first place and she wanted to hear what she had to say, even though she could get all the details afterwards from either Ellie or Max, probably both; but Max shook his head.

  ‘I think it should just be the two of us,’ he said. ‘If you come then we’ll have to take James too, and I’m not sure how helpful that will be.’

  There had been a tension between James and her mother-in-law from day one, Caroline thought, although Valerie had done her best to disguise it by keeping quiet in his presence and letting Tony do most of the talking. That was quite natural. Ellie was her daughter and what could be more normal than for the men to gravitate together whilst mother and daughter caught up on each other’s news? Caroline had noticed, though. She knew both women well enough to pick up the vibe: dislike from Valerie and a kind of regret from Ellie that she couldn’t get her mum to see what she saw in the man she had chosen to spend her life with. Looking back, Caroline wondered whether James was just too like Tony for Valerie’s liking.

  Max was probably right, though. It would be better if it was just the two of them. Valerie was more likely to be open with her children if they were alone.

  ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I see your point. Right, why don’t you have your shower and then we can pop to the garden centre. I need some more bedding plants for the pots at the front before they sell out.’

  She knew Max would rather stay at home with the boys, but Caroline made a point of making them all go out together at least once at the weekend.

  ‘We can take the ball and have a kick about in the park on the way home,’ she said. ‘And Theo likes looking at the tropical fish. They won’t mind.’

  ‘Just as long as he doesn’t spend all morning trying to persuade us to buy some like he did last time.’

  ‘I’m not sure we could have fish now we have Monty,’ said Caroline. ‘Wouldn’t he try to eat them?’

  As if hearing his name, Monty appeared from the hallway, his ears pricked, and began to rub himself against the table leg. Caroline knelt down stealthily and, making eye contact with the cat, held a hand out to him. Monty inched forward until he was within touching distance and then allowed her to rub him gently on the top of his head and around his ears.

  ‘He seems to be settling in,’ said Max, his movement across the room making Monty start and slink quickly away.

  ‘He’s still a bit wary,’ replied Caroline. ‘Like he’s not quite sure what’s happening.’

  ‘I know how he feels,’ said Max with a laugh.

  30

  Later that day Max and the boys were happily tucked up on the sofa watching a film they had seen hundreds of times but never seemed to tire of. Caroline was surplus to requirements and so she took herself off to the kitchen and fired up the laptop. Ever since Lesley Hungerford’s unkind comments about Tony in the staff room, she had been curious to know exactly what she’d meant.

  She googled the name of the shopping centre Lesley had mentioned but that only brought up details of opening hours and which shops were there. She tried again, this time framing her search around the news reports. Again, there wasn’t much. Various stories tracked the progress of the centre from the initial proposal to its opening, but nothing suggested anything untoward had gone on. A couple of the stories had photographs attached and in one she saw a healthily tanned Tony shaking hands with a man in a hard hat and smiling broadly at the camera. The image of his face there on the laptop, so large and lifelike, pulled her up short and she had to catch her breath a moment before she could carry on. His death was still shocking and seeing him there, looking so very alive, brought tears to her eyes and a lump to her throat.

  There was nothing in the stories that suggested the kind of unethical behaviour Lesley had hinted at. Stupid woman, thought Caroline, cross with herself that she had allowed Lesley’s nastiness to get under her skin.

  But then she thought about the suitcase full of cash that was currently hiding under the rafters and the doubts began to creep back into her mind. Where would Lesley have got her information from? Caroline wondered. It was probably just gossip around the town. She hadn’t heard it repeated because, well, what did she have to do with new shopping centre developments? Also, she supposed, if Tony had been involved then it was likely people would avoid mentioning it when she was there – people other than Lesley, of course. But perhaps they had been talking about it.

  Caroline thought about where talking happened online and settled on Facebook. Wasn’t there a local group where people posted news and jobs and lost keys and what have you? She didn’t really have any time for all of that, but Ellie sometimes filled her in on the more outrageous threads. People got very intense, or so she gathered; everyone had an opinion that they were dying to share. If there had been something suspect about the shopping centre then surely that was the place it would have been raised.

  Logging into Facebook, she ignored her ninety-seven notifications and navigated to the local group. Then she tapped in the name of the shopping centre and various threads appeared. It was hard to know which to choose, so she started at the top. The first one was about whether the new centre would steal the trade from the town. Lots of very aerated people had a view. She moved to the next one, which was mainly focused on what an eyesore the centre was. Caroline thought this was rich, bearing in mind the run-down streets that it had replaced. One commenter made mention of how quickly planning permission seemed to have been obtained, but no one else picked up on it. Caroline didn’t recognise the name of the person, but then why would she? This was a town of over four hundred thousand people.

  After a while she gave up. Just reading through the comments was giving her a headache. Did they not have anything better to do with their time than join in with this pointless tittle-tattle? There was nothing concrete in the posts about the planning process in general or Tony in particular. If there had been anything suspicious then surely someone would have raised it on the page. Unless that kind of post got taken down, of course; she didn’t know if that happened. Was it libellous, to make accusations like that? Either way, she had searched and found nothing, probably because there was nothing to find. She snapped the laptop shut and went to see what the others wanted for supper, dispelling all doubts from her mind as she did so.

  31

  Max still wasn’t at all sure about talking to his mum. Part of him didn’t want to tell her about the money because the situation was going to be complicated enough without her views on top, but another, and he suspected bigger, worry was that he didn’t want to hear what she might have to say about where it might have come from.

  Ellie had arranged for them to go early. Valerie had a tee time booked at the golf club that they had to work around, apparently. Max had offered to pick Ellie up on the way, save them going in two cars, and when he arrived he sat outside and tooted his horn. A disgruntled-looking Ellie emerged from the house a minute later, her face screwed into a frown.

  ‘Do you have to do that?’ she asked as she opened the door.

  ‘What?’ he asked with feigned innocence, although he knew exactly what Ellie was talking about and had only tooted his horn because it pleased him to annoy her stuck-up neighbours. He thought about revving his engine as he pulled away, or even doing the kind of wheel spin that left tyre marks on the tarmac, but decided that maybe that would be a little petty. Tempting though.

  ‘Did you give Mum any idea of what we want to talk to her about?’ he asked as they turned out of Ellie’s road.

  Ellie shook her head. ‘No. I just said it was to do with the arrangements for the funeral. I think she thought it was a bit strange that it was going to take both of us to tell her in person, but she’ll understand soon enough.’

  There was a pause as Max negotiated the roundabout and then she spoke again.

  ‘Where do you think the money came from? Me and James were talking about it but we couldn’t come up with a single reason why it would be there.’

  ‘No, me neither,’ replied Max neutrally.

  He was reluctant to get caught up in speculation. It wouldn’t help and it wouldn’t give them any answers. Better to wait and see whether Valerie could cast any light on the shadowy stash.

  Ellie, seeming to recognise that he wouldn’t be drawn, changed the subject and talked about how well the girls were doing pretty much without taking a breath until they had pulled up outside Valerie’s apartment.

  ‘How shall we play this?’ she asked as they got out of the car. ‘Do you want to do the talking?’

  ‘If you like,’ he said, not having given the matter any thought. ‘It was me and Caro who found the money, I suppose.’

  ‘Okay, let’s go then.’ Ellie showed no sign of sharing his concerns, stepping lightly towards the building. Maybe he was concerned for no reason.

  Valerie lived in an apartment in a purpose-built block. Hers was on the first floor, had joint access via an anonymous staircase and no outside space other than a south-facing balcony like the ones that you got in holiday resort hotels. It was neat, compact and practical, much like Valerie herself.

  They rang her bell and seconds later the door buzzed open and they went in and up the stairs. Valerie was standing on the landing as they approached.

  ‘Morning, you two,’ she said. She gave them each a hug and then gestured for them to go inside.

  The apartment was bright and light and smelled of lilies and fresh coffee. Max saw a fresh pot standing on the kitchen surface along with three cups and a milk jug. There were no biscuits, he noted regretfully.

  ‘Coffee?’ Valerie asked, but she was already pouring. Max nodded, pulling out a stool and perching on its edge. He watched as his mother poured confidently, no sign of the slightly tremulous woman he remembered from his childhood. When had that change happened? he wondered. Or maybe she had always been capable and it was his version of her that had been skewed in a different direction. Whatever it was, there was no denying that since leaving Tony she had undergone a major rejuvenation.

  ‘So,’ she said when the drinks were all poured, ‘what’s so important that you two have had to come racing across town to discuss it first thing on a Sunday morning?’

  That was another thing that was different about her, Max thought: her directness. It sometimes felt as if she had spent years dancing around subjects and was now making up for lost time.

  Even though they had agreed that Max would do the talking, it was Ellie who replied.

  ‘We’ve booked the funeral for a week on Friday,’ she said.

  ‘But that’s your—’

  ‘I know. But it really doesn’t matter. They didn’t have another date that worked, and I still have the party.’

  Valerie looked unconvinced, but she let it go. ‘So, I’m assuming the crem and then afterwards at the golf club,’ she said.

  Ellie nodded.

  ‘Okay, I’ll put it in my diary. And now, why are you really here?’

  Ellie looked at Max, urging him to speak with her eyes.

  ‘The thing is . . .’ he began. ‘We found some money.’

  ‘At Tony’s?’ Valerie interrupted.

  Max nodded. ‘In a suitcase under the spare bed.’

  Valerie raised a curious eyebrow as if to say what were you doing there, but there was no point trotting out the cat story again. It was irrelevant.

  ‘And was it a lot of money?’ Valerie asked.

  Max nodded again. ‘About two hundred and seventy grand,’ he said. He watched his mum’s face carefully for signs of shock but there was nothing there. She gave a single nod, as if he had just confirmed something she had been expecting to hear.

  ‘You knew?’ he said.

  ‘No,’ she replied, ‘but let’s just say I’m not surprised.’

  ‘Why not, Mum?’ asked Ellie.

  Valerie paused for a moment, her eyes passing over her daughter’s face. Max got the impression she was trying to decide what she should say, or rather how much, and his anxiety levels began to rise again. He didn’t need to know whatever it was. Didn’t want to know. But they were here now. The question had been asked and there was no turning back. And anyway, there might be a perfectly innocent explanation, even if it was quite difficult to imagine what it might be. She took a mouthful of coffee before continuing.

  ‘I’m not surprised because there was always cash in the house. Granted not quite that much, although there might have been, I suppose. I used to stumble across it when I was cleaning. And then I got quite good at finding it. He never had much imagination, your father.’

  ‘But where did it come from?’ asked Ellie. ‘And why did Dad have it at home rather than in a bank?’

  Valerie folded her arms across her chest, hugging herself tightly. ‘I asked him much the same,’ she said.

  ‘And?’ asked Max.

  ‘Do you want what he told me, or what I suspect was the truth?’

  ‘Both?’

  ‘Okay. He told me that it was perfectly normal to hang on to cash at home because if he put it in the bank the tax man would take half of it.’

  ‘So he was just dodging tax,’ said Ellie. Max thought he caught a hint of relief in her voice, as if she had been expecting something much worse. He thought dodging tax was bad enough. His tax had always been collected by his employer so he had paid what was due from the day he started work without question. He didn’t have much time for anyone who tried to cheat the system. If you had a big tax bill to pay, then that simply meant you were fortunate enough to have earned a lot of money.

  ‘But that’s not what you thought,’ he prompted.

  ‘No,’ said Valerie. ‘There was an element of that, I’m sure, but mainly I think he kept the money in the house because he didn’t want anyone to know about it. If he had total control of it then he could avoid any awkward questions.’

  ‘What kind of questions?’ asked Ellie.

  ‘Where it had come from. Where it was going. That kind of thing,’ replied Valerie.

  This was all a bit vague for Max and he was struggling to grasp hold of whatever it was his mum was telling them.

  ‘But why would he want to do that?’ he asked.

  Valerie looked at him with something like pity in her eyes and he suddenly felt both ignorant and stupid. What was he missing here?

  ‘Bribes, you mean?’ said Ellie.

  Max turned to look at her. How did his baby sister understand what was being said here when he was completely in the dark?

  ‘Bribes! What kind of bribes?’ he asked. ‘I’m not sure I’m following this. Are you saying that there was something dodgy about Dad?’

  ‘Oh, my lovely innocent boy,’ said Valerie. She reached out and put her hand on his forearm, gently applying pressure in an affectionate squeeze. ‘I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, Max, but your father didn’t always play things exactly by the book. There were parts of his dealings that were a touch on the shady side. I always found that it was better not to ask too many questions.’

  Max couldn’t process what she had said. He ran his hands through his hair, blinking stupidly at Valerie. He wasn’t sure he believed her. If his dad had been up to no good all those years then surely he would have noticed something, but he had seen nothing out of the ordinary. Tony was a perfectly ordinary bloke, a bit loud sometimes, but not dishonest. Surely.

  And yet, two hundred and seventy thousand pounds in a suitcase under his spare bed did seem to tell a different tale, and one that would fit in with what his mum was saying.

  ‘So, who does the money belong to?’ he asked.

  Valerie shook her head, her palms raised. ‘Now that I couldn’t tell you,’ she said. ‘It could have been his, although I wouldn’t want to look too closely at where he got it from. It could have been in transit to someone else, in which case they are going to be pretty annoyed that he’s up and died on them.’

  ‘But what should we do with it?’ Max asked, suddenly feeling like a child taking advice from a trusted teacher and not a man in his forties who could decide such matters for himself.

  ‘That’s up to the three of you, I suppose,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to sound uncaring and I’ll be here for you all, of course I will, but what Tony was or wasn’t up to is none of my concern any more.’ She gave them a wan smile, as if she was exhausted by just the thought of dealing with the aftermath of his dad’s death. ‘And where’s Nathan in all this? I assume, given that he’s not here now, that you haven’t told him about the money.’

  Max saw Ellie’s head drop to avoid any eye contact with their mum. What was that all about? he wondered. There were too many signals that he couldn’t read flying around here.