Masters And Lovers 1-4 novel Chapter 84

James

My mobile vibes in my pocket: a message coming in. I check the screen: Michael

U alone?

Puzzled….

Yes why?

Got something 2 show u. cum 2 rchrds office. Dont tell C

On my way

My stomach lurches. When I left Michael this morning, he had plans to spend a couple of hours sifting through old papers again.

What the fuck has he found now?

As luck would have it, excluding Charlotte is not a problem. She’s working as an assistant/extra pair of hands/student observer in the NDT laboratories at a local foundry. She’ll be happily occupied and not going anywhere until Michael or I picks her up.

*****

Francis gives me the nod as I enter reception. “He said to go straight in, James.”

I find Richard and Michael together in the conference room, talking quietly together.

“What’s up?” I ask.

Michael gestures to two items on the table-top. “All but the last of Albert’s papers. Hidden in the bottom of a box under piles of absolute rubbish and tucked inside a twenty-year-old telephone directory.”

I fumble spectacles onto my nose and look closer.

A photo, burned and browned at the edges, one corner missing which cuts off the upper part of a woman’s body. Only her legs and the lower part of her dress remains. The remainder of the image is visible, but badly faded and yellowed: a family photo. Beside the truncated body of the woman, an adult man with two boys and a little red-headed girl. The boys are late teens, almost young men and the little girl is being held in the arms of the man, her own arms around his neck. In the background is a table laid out with sandwiches and a cake with candles.

I flip it over, looking at the back; a neat handwritten note, easily legible despite fading and again, being partly cut off at the missing corner.

…. ephen, David, Shelley

Al and Eve.

Shelley’s 5th birthday.

As I look at the other item, I draw in my breath. Also singed at the edges, but clearly readable: “This is to certify the following record of birth…. Name: Michelle Kimberley. Sex: Female. Name of Father: Albert Kimberley: Maiden Name of Mother: Eve Wright….”

Holding photo and certificate in either hand, my mind turns.

“Rescued from a fire, wouldn’t you say?” says Richard.

“It certainly looks that way,” I agree. “This explains the lack of photos, I suppose. If the rest were burned….”

“Except that someone retrieved just these items,” finishes Michael.

“I see why you didn’t want me to bring Charlotte.”

“No,” he says. “I think this would upset her. I thought you should see them first and we should agree on what to do before we tell her about them.”

I glance up at Richard. “Does Beth know?”

“No. I’ve not told her. She might feel honour bound to tell Charlotte, and I agree with Michael. To see these, in the condition they are, would hurt her deeply.”

“Any more where these came from?” I ask.

Michael shakes his head. “No, as I said, this is about the last of it. It’s sheer luck I noticed them at all because they’d been very well hidden.”

“I think we can assume that was by Albert,”

“I’d say so, yes.

I prop myself back against the table, arms folded. “So, what do we do next?”

“When Elizabeth visited Stephen and David,” says Richard, “they cut her dead. Refused to admit Michelle ever even existed. They accused me of being mistaken….” He snorts. ” They can hardly stand by that now….”

“So….”

“I think we confront them again, and this time, I don’t want it to be Beth that goes. She’s….”

“Too easily intimidated?”

Richard rocks his hand back and forth. “Not exactly. I was thinking that she perhaps would find it difficult confronting her older uncles, her own family, when they’ve already refused her several times already.”

“I'll go,” I say.

“Um....” Richard and Michael exchange glances.

“What? What's wrong? Do you imagine they’re going to intimidate me?”

“No, James,” says Richard. “I don’t but…. How to put this? You're a fine man and I admire you enormously. You have many skills and virtues, but let's be honest. Tact and diplomacy are not among them. I think both will be needed to handle this one.”

Michael’s face is suspiciously straight.

“I'm not sure if I should be flattered or insulted,” I mutter.

Michael slaps me on the shoulder, grinning. “You should be flattered. Come on. Let's all play to our strengths.”

Resisting the urge to punch the grin from his face, “I take your point. What do you suggest?”

“If I go,” says Richard, “I think they may well stonewall me the same way they did Elizabeth. To them, I’m just her husband. It’s none of my business. But Michael is an unknown quantity to them. And he is Charlotte’s husband; a man with a right to ask the question.”

“I agree,” says Michael. “I’ll go.”

*****

Michael

“Can you keep Charlotte occupied, so she doesn’t think too hard about me not being around.”

“Of course. What have you told her?”

“That I’m going to be at a trade fair for a couple of days. I made it sound as boring as possible.”

“Great. I’ll call you when I know something.”

“See you in a couple of days.”