Faith - Lesley Pearse [94]
Belle had implied Roger would have a long list of grouses, but so far he hadn’t voiced any. He had only mentioned Jackie in relation to incidents and people who were part of their set in the seventies. He seemed very balanced; he was neither dismissive about his wife’s value, nor too sentimental. Stuart felt he’d accepted what had happened, and was in the process of putting a new life together, for he even mentioned a new woman friend.
Once they’d finished the pizza, and were both very mellow, Stuart thought it was time to broach more thorny issues. ‘Do you still keep in touch with Belle and Charles?’ he asked.
‘Not if I can help it,’ Roger said with a chuckle. ‘I never liked Charles, he was too up himself. And Belle became a whinging bitch within a few years of marriage to him.’
Stuart grinned. ‘I didn’t see Charles when I called on them, he was out somewhere. Can’t say I was disappointed either. But fancy them running a guest house! A bit of a comedown, isn’t it?’
‘Charles claimed at the time that he wanted less stress and more golf,’ Roger said. ‘But I think it was more likely that he was short of readies. There was a rumour going around at the time he left London that he was in a spot of bother over one of his construction sites. But then there were always rumours about Charles, you’ll probably remember that he was always one for sharp practice.’
‘That’s why I gave him a wide berth,’ Stuart agreed. ‘Mind you, most of the property developers back in the seventies were the same. Jackie had the right idea – every place of hers I worked on was tip-top. No cutting corners, good design, quality fittings.’
‘She believed in doing up each place as if she was going to live in it. J used to argue with her about it when she first got started.’ Roger smiled ruefully. ‘I said she couldn’t make any profit that way. But I was wrong – her integrity showed, and they sold fast. A smaller profit but a quick turnover is more valuable in the long run.’
‘I wish I’d bought one of her places back then,’ Stuart said. ‘She offered me a small top flat in Battersea Bridge Road and as I recall it was a couple of thousand. Typical dumb Scot, I thought the mortgage would be a millstone round my neck. I saw a flat just like it offered for sale the other day and it was a hundred and fifty thousand! And that, I’m told, is a bargain!’
Roger laughed. ‘Property prices are ludicrous in London now. A young couple just starting out have no chance of getting a home like this one. Jackie tried to talk Belle into buying that flat in Battersea too. It was before she married Charles. But that little bimbo thought Battersea was too downmarket for her!’
‘I bet she’s sick about that now,’ Stuart sniggered. ‘I suppose back then she thought she ought to be living across the bridge in Chelsea. She was always a bit preoccupied with status, funny really when you think how Lena and Frank were, they didn’t give a toss about such things. By the way, have you got any idea why Belle implied Lena had gone senile? I found her bright as a button.’
‘Well, Belle likes to divide and rule. She wouldn’t have wanted you to see Lena, just as she wouldn’t want you to see me or Toby if he was still around.’
‘Why on earth not?’
‘I dare say because of just what we are doing right now. Discussing her. She wouldn’t want me telling you that she sold the house in Duke’s Avenue with undue haste.’
‘Did she?’
Well, Lena was in a bit of a state. But wouldn’t anyone be if they’d just lost both their daughter and husband?’ Roger exclaimed with indignation. ‘I don’t think it warranted shipping her off to an old folks’ home though. A bit of TLC would have put her right in my view.’
‘You think Belle ought to have taken her up to Scotland to live with her?’
Roger frowned. ‘I don’t think Lena would have wanted that, too many reminders of Jackie. But I think Belle should have come down and stayed with her for a while. She had no ties, she could even have got someone up there to run the guest