The living room was cosy, with two armchairs, a sofa and a coffee table facing a pretty tiled fireplace. To the left of the fireplace was a bookcase loaded with books and to the right was an old record player with a number of vinyl records stacked next to it. The carpet was a vision of brown paisley swirls, and the walls were decorated in red and gold stripes and covered in photographs of yet more famous people.
Dolores, wearing a black feather boa around her neck and animal-print kitten-heel slippers, was bent over the dining table, where there were three laptops open and a mound of paperwork. She had company. Florrie froze. Tom must have sensed her apprehension as he grabbed her hand with a firm grip.
Standing next to Dolores was Sophia Henley.
They both looked in Florrie’s direction, then glanced between her and Tom, questions clear in their eyes.
Tom held up his hands in a surrender stance. ‘I know you’re going to say that we were trying to keep this between ourselves but it’s getting a little difficult to manage. I think it’s only fair that Florrie knows what’s going on.’
Slowly Dolores nodded. ‘I agree.’
Tom touched Florrie’s arm. ‘Let me introduce you to Sophia. Her grandparents were friends of my grandfather and also knew Dolores very well.’
‘Sophia’s grandmother was my personal assistant for many years. Sophia’s mum was my god-daughter,’ shared Dolores.
‘The reason we’re all here is because we’re working together, undercover, to expose my fraudulent father. We hope we can trust you with that information,’ Tom said hesitantly.
Shock must have been written all over Florrie’s face. Sophia stepped forward with an outstretched hand. ‘It’s so good to finally meet you. Over the years you’ve popped up in conversation quite a lot.’
Florrie’s heart was beating fast as she shook Sophia’s hand.
‘And just for the record, though we’ve been friends since we could talk, Sophia and I have never been romantically connected, despite what the press might have suggested many years ago,’ Tom said kindly.
‘Tom is more like an annoying older brother than anything else,’ added Sophia.
‘Hey, less of the annoying!’ he pressed, pretending to look hurt.
‘You’re just a little annoying, and a bit bossy, too.’
‘I’ll give you annoying, not bossy!’ He smiled and turned to Florrie. ‘I know what it must have seemed like back then, but it really wasn’t what you thought. My father had long hoped that we would marry to bring the wealth of the two families together and he would often sell stories about us to the newspaper in an attempt to make that happen, as it would have made him look good to have that connection. It was also a means of making himself more popular with the press so they would write flattering stories about him.’
Florrie felt like a complete idiot. Eight years ago, she’d seen red and blocked him with no explanation, and now she knew the truth she felt awful. Tom had been genuine in his feelings towards her. ‘Is this where I should be apologising?’
Tom smiled and touched her arm. ‘I should be apologising too. I should have come to find you but back then I was a little stubborn.’
‘Oh, he can be very stubborn,’ chipped in Sophia.
‘And the reason I didn’t want to talk about it when I arrived in Heartcross was because we had to keep all this under wraps,’ he gestured towards the computers and paperwork. The reason Sophia is here is because she has been involved with charities for a number of years and she’s married to a lawyer, which is very helpful as it’s given us access to free legal advice. The bottom line is that my father has been using Grandfather’s foundation money for his own gain for years, and has been executing fraudulent behaviour within W. Houston Property Developers.’
‘I’ll put the kettle on.’ Sophia disappeared into the kitchen whilst Dolores pointed towards the settee with her walking stick, saying, ‘Take no notice of Cary. He’ll start chirping as soon as you sit next to him.’
Next to the settee was a large birdcage housing a yellow canary. In her flustered state Florrie hadn’t even noticed it. Dolores was right and as soon as Florrie sat next to him, he started chirping.
‘I thought your canary was called Fred, after Astaire?’ she asked.
Dolores gave a little chuckle. ‘That was my previous canary. He stopped dancing. This is Cary.’
‘As in Cary Grant?’ asked Florrie.
‘The very one. He starred in one of my favourite films,To Catch a Thief, and hopefully that’s exactly what we’re about to do this afternoon.’ Dolores pointed to the laptops, their screens full of numbers and columns.
‘What is all that?’ asked Florrie.
Sophia brought in a tray with a pot of tea, four China teacups and saucers and a plate of chocolate Hobnob biscuits. After placing it down on the coffee table she took a seat in the armchair next to Dolores.
‘Those are the confidential accounts of the William Houston Foundation, which has always been Edward’s domain … until now.’
‘We think that the money raised for the charity is not finding its way to the right causes,’ said Tom. ‘And this has been going on a very long time.’
