Whilst Dee had certainly been left adequately financ
ially provided for by her father, she had not, by any means, been left the vast fortune other people thought. The fact that she was now a reasonably wealthy woman owed more to her adroit financial management of her own assets than to her inherited wealth, and Dee was pleased that it should be that way. But, like him, she preferred to donate most of the money she made to the local charity he had established, rather than amassing it for herself. But no one knew better than she did herself just what her ambitious scheme was likely to cost. There was no way she could fund it by herself—not in the immediate future.
How could Peter have done this to her?
She filled the kettle and went to stand by the sink, looking out into the garden as she waited for it to boil. Pointless, though, to blame poor Peter; he was only following the dictates of his conscience.
The doorbell rang. Dee was tempted to ignore it. The last thing she felt like right now was having to be sociable, but, as she hesitated, it rang again.
Squaring her shoulders, she went to answer its summons.
As she opened the front door, initially a beam of bright sunlight semi-dazzled her, so that for a moment she actually thought she must be seeing things. She blinked quickly once, and then once again, but no, she was not seeing things. He, Hugo, was actually standing there.
‘Hugo,’ she protested dizzily as he stepped towards her, but it was too late to protest or to deny him admittance because he was already standing in her hallway.
‘What is it? What do you want?’ she demanded sharply as she closed the door.
‘I had to see you,’ he responded. ‘We need to talk.’
The sombreness of his voice and his expression immediately aroused Dee’s anxiety.
‘What is it?’ she repeated as she led the way to the kitchen. ‘Is it Peter? Is he worse? Is he...?’
As she opened the kitchen door and Hugo followed her inside the telephone rang in her study.
Excusing herself to Hugo, she went to answer it.
‘Dee, it’s me, Anna,’ she heard her friend announcing as she picked up the receiver. ‘I thought I’d just ring for a chat. How are you? Ward told me about the problems you’re having with the committee—’
‘Er, Anna, can I ring you back later?’ Dee interrupted her quickly. ‘It’s just that...I’m rather busy at the moment.’
Dee didn’t want to offend Anna, but she knew there was no way she could talk to her with Hugo in the house.
‘Yes. Of course. I understand,’ Anna agreed immediately, but Dee could sense that she was a little surprised.
Replacing the receiver, Dee hurried back to the kitchen. As she opened the door she could see Hugo standing by the table holding her file that related to the plans she had hoped to put to the committee. He was quite blatantly reading the file, and angrily Dee demanded, ‘What are you doing? Those are private papers.’
‘Are these the proposals you were planning to put to the committee?’ Hugo asked her brusquely, ignoring her angry demand.
Dee glared at him.
‘Yes, as a matter of fact they are. Not that it’s any business of yours.’
Abruptly she stopped, remembering too late just exactly what business it actually was of his, but it was too late now to recall her childish taunt.
A little to her surprise, though, instead of picking her up on it Hugo merely continued to frown and returned his attention to her open file.
‘Your proposals call for a very radical change in direction for the charity,’ Hugo told her.
Through her open study door Dee could hear her fax machine clattering.
Impatiently she looked from Hugo towards the study. The fax could be important. In some of the markets in which she had dealings a delay of only minutes in a deal could mean a financial loss of many thousands of pounds.
Turning her back on Hugo, she hurried back to her study, ripping the printed message out of the fax machine and quickly running her glance over it.
Body found in sea off Singapore identified as that of Julian Cox. Singapore authorities are investigating possibility of murder as Cox known to be a heavy gambler with large outstanding debts. Any further instructions?
The message had been sent via the agency Dee had used to try to trace the whereabouts of Julian Cox, and, although she had always known that wherever he had gone he would sooner or later return to his dishonest, cheating ways, she had not expected to receive news like this.