Chapter Fifteen

Sammy was staring at the paper, Corinne was reading out the details, but it all seemed to be drifting over her head, none of it was making sense. Daniel had been charged with more than a dozen cases of fraud, against unnamed people or businesses. It didn't make sense; or rather it wouldn't have if she hadn't witnessed his behaviour at the funeral the previous week.

"Do we know who it was against? Who he stole the money from?"

Mike shook his head, "I'll call head office tomorrow, see if anyone knows anything."

Sammy nodded, she couldn't think about the future, not for a moment. Earlier that day she was about to get a mortgage, buy her and Eleanor a cute little cottage. Now she had no regular income from her husband and her brother-in-law had been arrested for fraud. Suddenly things weren't so simple; she wasn't in control of her destiny anymore. Everything was once again spiralling and she had to fight the nausea that threatened to overwhelm her.

So much was wrong, and she'd been wrong. She wanted to call Joel, apologise, admit that she got things wrong. But he hadn't replied to her message after the funeral and she had to accept that all ties to Marcus were gone now, she'd never see his family again, and neither would she see Joel. That caused a pain in her chest, she liked sitting with him, talking, reminiscing. He was the only other person who loved Marcus by choice, that was why they had so much in common. She knew that. But she had been harsh, she'd misjudged him and she couldn't blame him for his distance, but it didn't mean that it didn't still hurt. A lot.

Corinne was on her third cup of coffee, nudging Mike to decipher the financial and legalese that made little sense to the two women. He was groaning as he accepted the pages of the newspaper with the smudged print where she'd jabbed her finger angrily at the words. She loved watching the two of them interact, the control in their relationship, who had the upper hand flipped so frequently that it almost made her dizzy. But it was healthy, Corinne was laughing as Mike narrowed his eyes, then he snatched at her pulling her giggling into his lap.

She turned her head to make more drinks, because that made her feel sad. IT was the companionship that she missed so much, someone who knew you so well, was there to give you a cuddle as you watched TV, or came in from the cold.

Blinking hard to fight her tears, she turned back to them with a smile, but they were sharing a tender kiss and it broke her a little bit more. She wasn't jealous, or embarrassed, just a little lonely. Picking up a dish towel she tossed it in their direction.

"Get a room!"

They both chuckled as they pulled apart, but as Corinne opened her mouth, to either apologise or protest, she wasn't sure, the doorbell once again rang. Sammy rolled her eyes leaving the room, mouthing the word, "behave!" over her shoulder. That earned her the same dish towel hitting her head as she left the room.

She was laughing heartily as she pulled open the door, then froze dead in her tracks. Stood there was Joel; looking...well rough was putting it mildly, until he smiled at seeing her.

"Finally found you! Thought I was going to have to knock EVERY door in town to find you!"

Joel wanted to collapse on to the sofa he could see behind Sammy, but first he had to deal with the confusion and hint of anger in her eyes.

"You didn't call..."

He sighed, "I didn't get your message for ages...and to be honest I haven't been able to make a call since then. Not until yesterday, and instead of calling, I thought a visit might work out better?"

Her lips pulled in to a harsh line, a long way from a smile, but she stepped back and waved him into the house.

As he slipped off his jacket, he couldn't miss the way her shoulders lifted, animosity pumping out of her. He SHOULD have called, but since he'd answered the phone to Toby the other side of the previous weekend, he hadn't had a moment to himself. He'd wanted Toby to find something...ANY thing to bring Daniel down, but he had no idea it would be THIS big. And he wasn't sure how she'd take the news, because none of it was pretty and there was no way that Marcus could be kept out of it completely.

"Sorry..."

But Sammy stopped him with a raised hand and he could see her take a deep breath, then her shoulders softened. "It's me who's sorry. I was going to phone you...soon. You were right, about Daniel. Firstly the funeral...then what I've just read."

He sighed, there was so much more than she realised, he had no idea how to even begin to explain. "I had no idea it was this big." He watched her for a moment, her bottom lip snagged between her teeth with anxiety. "I wanted to try and explain...I owe you that."

She shook her head, "you don't OWE me anything. You were arguing with him at the funeral."

"This has been a long time coming."

Sammy seemed to relax a little more, "come into the kitchen...do you want a coffee?"

Nothing had ever sounded more tempting, so with a nod he followed her into the house. Mike and Corinne looked up as he entered the kitchen, and he smiled at them.

"We were just talking about you!" Corinne announced jumping to the feet and giving him a hug. "I never trusted that bloody Daniel."

He smiled as he reciprocated the hug, then shook hands with Mike, "nice to see you again."

"Mike was helping me sort out my finances. I want to buy this house, somewhere of my own."

The prickle of anxiety unsettled his stomach, "that's a really good idea. Thanks Mike." He had no idea why he thanked the man but he knew that he was happy that someone was looking out for her. "But then you discovered the headlines."

The three nodded as they looked at him expectantly, with another sigh, he lowered himself into a seat at the table, then took the mug of coffee Sammy offered. As he started to speak the two women also sat at the table.

"This goes back SO long...I've only got the details this weekend, and it's all a little patchy still."

It wasn't a pleasant story, Daniel had always been a sly conniving child, but even this all seemed so farfetched even for him.

"I don't where the beginning really is. But basically, in a nutshell...Daniel had an affair with the wife of one of the high cabinet members of the last government." All three gasped when he gave them a high flying household name politician. "Obviously she was still married; he was having fun...until he got her pregnant. That wasn't on his agenda.

"I'm piecing together what we THINK happened as the key man in all this Marcus isn't here to clear things. Anyway, he went to Marcus begging for money, I imagine he thought he'd convince her to have a termination."

"But she didn't?"

That was Sammy, he smiled at her, "it seems that way! He has a four year old son, but it doesn't stop there. Said politician threatened him with exposure, Marcus paid him off."

Sammy gasped, jaw falling open, "he's part of this?"

Shrugging he reached for his mug gratefully, "he took a large chunk of money and gave it to Joanna, the girlfriend. Daniel was careful to ensure he wasn't actually involved in that transaction. But once Scott his son arrived he became more desperate. Joanna was used to a certain level of living, and so he had debts. Again Marcus stepped in. Two decent amounts of money, but nothing we couldn't lose from the business. I almost didn't notice it."

"I can't believe he'd do that." He watched as Corinne wrapped an arm around Sammy, she looked as though she was on the verge of tears.

"You know how Marcus was, he would do anything for anyone, and Daniel was always second best in Clifford's eyes, I can imagine that he didn't want to see that relationship worsen. But by then Daniel was struggling to cope, Joanna and Scott live in a pretty nice area of London and he pays for that, plus there's another woman and I think maybe another baby."

"Shit!"

He nodded, "it gets worse. I think he was blackmailing Marcus, threatening to tell me about the money he'd already paid maybe, but then huge amounts started to disappear from our business accounts. I'd challenged Marcus and he said he knew nothing about it. But they were all huge debts against the business." He didn't tell her that they were personal debts against Marcus, that would hurt her more than was necessary. "So basically he took almost all we had. Joanna's husband is now based in New York for a year; Marcus had gone to see him on the trip before he died. It seems that somehow Daniel was doing the same to him. He was always bright, but this seems more organised than anything I could see him capable of. The amounts were taken 'legitimately' in that they were existing monetary pathways, but then they moved between a dozen back accounts making it really difficult to trace. But we did...eventually."

"You uncovered this?"

Joel nodded, "I wish we hadn't, but six months back...he orchestrated another debt at me, I couldn't keep the apartment and pay him off. I had to compromise."

"I'm sorry I made that so difficult for you. I wish you'd have told me then. I'd have understood."

Tell her then? When he thought Scott was her husband's child? He felt his face heat as he tried to squirm out of that corner.

"Will you get the money back?"

He shrugged, "I don't know. Some maybe."

She was quiet for a moment and it was Corinne who spoke next, "did Marcus know it was him?"

"He kept it secret so he must have. I just wish he'd spoken to me instead of covering it all up, he might still be here, and none of this would have happened."

Sammy shook her head, "you can't say that. You can't." She stood and paced a little, he along with the others watched her knowing that she was thinking up some big question.

"So he forced you to sell my home?"

The apartment, how to explain that one.

"More forced me not to buy it. It was being repossessed."

"He told me you'd make me move to yours, that was his 'sign' that you had ulterior motives for being nice to me."

"And I walked straight into that trap."

She nodded then stopped dead in her tracks, "why didn't you challenge him? Why did you pay this bill or whatever it was?"

He groaned, running a hand over his face for a moment as she added, "I mean if this wasn't a real debt then you could have challenged it. You SHOULD have challenged it."

He tried a nonchalant shrug but failed abysmally.

"Joel?"

She was staring at him, all wide eyed and terrified, that was his fault, "he was going to upset you...if I didn't go along with things."

"What could he do or say to upset me that he hadn't already done? I had nothing else that could possibly hurt me. I don't believe that. Why did you pay him?"

"He made me think that Scott wasn't his son..."

She gasped turning as white as a sheet, "you thought that Marcus was the dad? You thought he'd cheated on me?"

There it was, the pain, the hurt, the broken memories, he'd done everything in his power to stop this happening, and it had anyway, all that pain, the blackmail...all for nothing. He had to try and help her understand.

"He MADE me think it; he WANTED me to think it. He knew that I'd not let anyone or anything taint Marcus' memory. It was the only thing that would hurt me...him hurting you."

There were tears in her eyes as she stared up at him, "but you were his best friend...you think he was capable of that?"

He shook his head vehemently, "NO! That is exactly why I didn't tell you."

"But you paid off all this money to keep this secret."

He blushed, she was right, he'd failed Marcus, he should have forced him to come clean, then he'd never have gone off chasing some politician across the Atlantic, and he'd never have been in a taxi on the M4 leaving Heathrow when a truck hit it off the road.

"I did...and I was wrong."

She stood and glared at him, "you're right. You WERE wrong, he LOVED me, and he wouldn't have cheated on me, never. And if any of you think differently then you need to walk out that door." As she made to leave the room Corinne placed a hand on Joel's arm.

"Let her go. She's had to take a lot in, give her a moment."

He stood up, "I've booked into a hotel, the Salisbury in town. Will you tell her I want to talk?"

Corinne nodded, "you shouldn't go. She'll be ok..."

"She needs time to digest things. Tell her I'll answer any questions she has. Ok?"

There was something depressing about a small hotel room, especially when you could barely pace around the bed to disperse the anger, the frustration that threatened to overwhelm him. It was at times like this that he realised how little he had left. He had no family, no one to call when the chips were down, nowhere that he called home. And for a thirty two year old man, that was a very sad admission. There was a bar downstairs, but he had spent far too long hung-over the last few weeks. But it was a better option than sitting in that dark room alone full of pity. Kicking off his shoes he made for the room that classed as a bathroom and turned on the shower, wishing that it would wash away the memories of the day along with the grime. But he wasn't sure what if anything that would take away the pain he'd caused Sammy.

Eleanor made it all worthwhile, made it easier to cope. She was stood in her cot shouting animatedly when Sammy walked into her.

"Hey Ellie-Moo!" She swore she wouldn't be one of those mothers who had a dozen stupid pet names for her daughter. But she did already. Smiling at her cute grin, Sammy scooped her up into her arms and blew a raspberry to the side of her neck. She loved the smell of her daughter; it was so comforting, rewarding, familiar.

By the time she'd changed her, redressed her, she had calmed down, a lot. She repeatedly took her frustrations out on Joel and it wasn't his fault. He'd tried to protect her, she could see that now, but for some reason, when they were together, all they did was fight. No that wasn't true. She took it all out on him, all the hurt, the pain, the loss on the one person who knew what she was going; the person who'd lost the same as her.

She could be a real bitch sometimes.

Only Corinne and Mike remained in the dining room when she emerged with Eleanor in her arms.

"He's gone?"

Corinne nodded walking towards her, "you ok?"

She nodded, "it was just all a shock. Was he ok?"

Her friend shrugged, "he was pretty upset, but he knew you needed some space."

Hanging her head, she wrestled Eleanor into her high chair then got her some snacks to eat. It was a while before she lifted her eyes. "It was a shock."

Corinne wrapped her arms sympathetically around her, "it's one step forward two steps back everyday hey?"

Sammy hated that tears prickled her eyes once again, "I need to call him. Apologise."

Mike cleared his throat, "before you do, you need to know what we were talking about earlier. Your mortgage..."

She stared at him round eyed, "what do you mean?"

Corinne squeezed her arm, "the money, every month..."

She felt her mouth fall open slackly, nausea was rising in her stomach, "it was him?"

Mike nodded, "out of his own pocket. He thought he'd get to the end of it all, find what Marcus was owed."

Just when she thought she couldn't feel any worse, she did.