‘No, I couldn’t see it.’
Abigail breathed a sigh of relief and called up the accounting program.
‘I reckon someone has resprayed it at some point and covered up that scratch.’
‘Carys, really, can you just give it a rest? I’m not interested in some old car. Haven’t you got something better to do?’
Abigail smiled, thinkinghe took the words right out of my mouth.
‘I thought you wouldn’t believe me, so I took this.’
Abigail glanced over her shoulder and saw Carys hold up her phone and show Oliver something. ‘See, I told you it was her car.’
He took her phone. ‘It’s still got that old bumper sticker.’
Abigail’s eyes went wide. Bumper sticker? Then she recalled the faded sticker reading,I’m not old, I’m classic.
‘Who do you think it belongs to?’ Carys asked.
‘Isn’t it obvious, Carys? It’s one of the staff.’
‘But there isn’t anybody working at the moment …’ Carys stopped dead.
Abigail sat staring at her computer screen. There was a heavy silence in the room.
Oliver broke the silence. ‘Is that your car, Abigail?’
She slowly swivelled around in her chair to find Carys staring at her, wide-eyed.
Abigail rose from her chair. There was no use denying it. ‘Yes, it’s my car.’
‘Where did you buy it?’
Abigail took a deep breath. She stared at them. They were going to find out, eventually. There was no point in hiding the truth any longer. Abigail thought they would have heard it from her sister long before this. ‘I didn’t buy it. I inherited it from my late husband, along with the cottage in Southwold – The Hideaway.’
Carys sat down in a chair, staring at Abigail, shocked. Oliver rose from his seat and stood there behind the desk, glaring at her.
Abigail wished someone would say something. She saw Carys and Oliver exchange a glance. The first words out of Oliver’s mouth shocked Abigail. He pointed at the door. ‘Get out!’
Abigail stood there, stock still.
Carys said, ‘Oliver – please, just hear her out.’
‘What? She comes into our house, snooping on our finances.’ He turned and looked at Abigail. ‘You got our aunt’s property. That should have come to us, to Carys. She’s going to inherit nothing. Our aunt knew that. We thought my sister would inherit the cottage.’
Abigail turned and stared at Carys.
‘Now, you’ve wormed your way into our family,’ he emphasised the wordour. ‘What else are you after?’
Abigail was shaking her head with tears in her eyes. ‘Noth … nothing. This has all been a big mistake.’
‘You bet it has.’
Carys stared at her brother.
‘Oliver, don’t do something you’ll—’
‘I said, get out.’