Faith - Lesley Pearse [223]
She went to the bottom of the stairs and listened to what Jackie was saying. ‘I must go,’ she heard. ‘Belle’s downstairs on the scrounge again. But don’t despair, my growling one. We’ll soon be away from all the bloodsuckers, together, for ever.’
Belle had to leave then because she knew that if she stayed she might hit Jackie.
∗
All over Christmas and New Year she stayed right away. She found presents from Jackie on her doorstep on Christmas Eve, but no apologetic note, no offer to reconsider. Belle didn’t take a present to her because if she had she might have blurted out what she’d seen and heard.
Charles took the view that Jackie was gifting the property to Laura as a tax dodge. He didn’t think there was any reason for Belle to get worked up about anything because if Jackie was going off somewhere with a man she probably intended to sell Kirkmay House, and she’d have to pay them to get out.
But Belle didn’t believe Charles, and all through January and February she became more and more wound up. It was so cold, and without any guests booking to stay they had no money either, and to add insult to injury, she often saw Jackie park her car opposite her house. Sometimes Laura was with her and she would watch from her window as they walked along to the restaurant on Marketgate. Their arms would be linked, heads close together as they chatted and laughed, and it seemed to Belle they were talking and laughing about her.
Then in March Jackie came to the house to see Belle.
‘This has gone on long enough, Belle,’ she said. ‘Let me come in, it’s cold out here. I need to talk to you.’
She sat there in the kitchen dressed in a sheepskin coat and matching hat which Belle could tell cost a small fortune, and she offered her £2,000 to leave Kirkmay because she was going to sell it.
‘You can take whatever furniture you need from here too,’ she said. ‘But you must leave the curtains and carpets as I shall be including them in the sale.’
‘But that’s not enough to live on,’ Belle said in horror.
‘It isn’t intended to be,’ Jackie said airily. You and Charles will have to get jobs like everyone else does. But it’s enough for advance rent on a small flat.’
Belle protested but Jackie was adamant. ‘Look, Belle, I bailed you out when you were in trouble. I got you this place, I paid for the furniture and soft furnishings and let you have a free hand. But you’ve never worked at it. I really thought Barney’s death might sober you two up, that’s the only reason I didn’t shop Charles. But he’s still driving his car drunk as a lord, and you, Belle, have become still greedier and lazier. That’s my offer, and in my view it’s a very generous one.’
‘Wouldn’t you have been angry if your own sister treated you that way?’ Belle looked from Donaldson to Price and then to her lawyer.
Donaldson was too stunned by her selfishness to reply. A glance at both his colleagues revealed that they were equally nonplussed.
‘Where could we go with only two thousand pounds?’ Belle continued, not even aware they hadn’t answered her question. ‘Did she expect us to live in a council house?’
‘So, Belle, that was in March of ’93,’ Donaldson said. ‘What happened on 12 May, two months later?’
‘I phoned Jackie that morning, she’d been getting at me constantly to leave ever since March. I wanted her to come round to my place to talk. I couldn’t go to her because my car was in the garage. She was really sharp with me and said if I wanted to see her I could walk round. Well, I wasn’t going to do that, it’s about three miles, so as the Langdons’ car was there, and the keys, I used that.
‘Her nastiness about me walking was what set me off,’ Belle mused.
∗
She was fuming as she drove the short distance. Jackie was always saying she was lazy and that if she walked more she wouldn’t have such a fat arse. But she had to see Jackie, and try again to get more money out of her. She couldn’t bear to spend another summer in Scotland.
Jackie