Dark Room

She gazed at him through the drifting smoke. 'Who's we?' she murmured. 'I haven't lost anything. The shares have risen ten points since Adam resigned, which means I've already made a tidy paper profit on my morning's investment alone. I hope you're not going to tell me you sold your shares, Miles. When Adam gave them to us, he said, sell everything else but don't sell these. You should have had more faith in him.'

'I had to,' he said through gritted teeth. 'Fergus, too. We borrowed money on the back of the damn things and the bastard we were in hock to made us sell out to cover the debts.'

She shrugged. 'More fool you.'

He was as tightly strung as a new bow. 'Oh Jesus-if you knew how much I hated you. It's all your fault this has happened-'' His voice carried a tremor of despair.

She arched a sardonic eyebrow. 'How do you make that out?'

'Russell ... Leo-they were both shits.'

'What's that got to do with anything?'

'If you'd picked someone halfway decent-we wouldn't be in mess.

She watched his knuckles turn white as he gripped the arms of the chair. After all, what did she really know about this brother of hers? 'You were only sixteen when Russell was murdered,' she said slowly. 'Betty swore you and Fergus were at the Hall all day.'

He stared at her with hot, angry eyes. 'What the hell are you talking about?'

'I thought-never mind.'

'You thought I did it?' he sneered. 'Well, sometimes I wish I had. The old man would have bent over backwards for me after that. I'd have done it for free, too, because I'd have enjoyed doing it. I loathed Russell. He was almost as arrogant and patronizing as you are.' He surged out of his chair in one violent movement and trapped her in hers by leaning over and gripping the arms. 'It cost Dad a packet to get rid of him, you silly bitch, and another packet to do for Leo and Meg. And now Fergus and I are in the shit because of it. The police are parked all round the Hall, just waiting to arrest him, and the minute they do, Mum, me, and Fergus will be out in the sodding street. We're wiped out-don't you understand? Mum, too-she sold her shares months ago. There's nothing left.'

'You've still got your jobs,' she said, gazing steadily up at him so that he wouldn't guess how frightened she was.

He threw himself petulantly back into his chair, his anger spent. 'God, you're so naive,' he said. 'John Normans won't keep us on. We're only there because of Dad. You know that. Everybody knows it. Christ, it's not as though either of us is even needed. All I have to do is make sure the site-security contracts are kept up to date. Any moron could do it.' He banged his fist against the chair arm. 'I get a moron's salary because of it. Do you know what I do? I engage night watchmen and put my signature to the standardized contract that comes off the sodding word processor.

'Then why aren't you doing it now?' she asked him. 'Surely this is the time to prove that you're worth keeping.'

His anger flared again. 'You stupid, patronizing BITCH!' he screamed. 'IT'S OVER! Dad's made sure you're okay, because you're his fucking darling, but he's dropped all the rest of us in it. Can't you get that into your thick skull?'

She blew a stream of smoke towards the ceiling and watched the patterns it made in the draft from the open windows. 'How do you know Adam had Russell killed?' she asked quietly.

'Who else could have done it?'

'Me,' she suggested.

Miles looked amused. 'Little Miss Perfect. Come off it, Jinxy, you haven't got the guts.'

'And you think Adam has?''

He shrugged. 'I know he has.'

'How?'

'Because he's bloody vicious, that's how. Look at the way he treats me and Fergus.'

She formed her lips into an approximation of a smile. 'I want proof, Miles, not impressions. Can you prove Adam had Russell killed?'

'I can prove he wanted him killed. He said afterwards that Russell had got what was coming to him. Your precious husband was shafting your best friend. Dad hated him for it.'

'What did he say when he heard about Leo and Meg?' Even to Jinx her voice sounded strangely remote.

Miles shrugged again. 'That he hoped your memory loss was permanent; then he shut himself in his office and called his solicitor. He's paranoid about you starting to remember things, so we reckon you saw something you shouldn't have done.'

She stared at the opposite wall. 'You said it cost him a packet. How much exactly?'

'A lot.'

'How much, Miles?'

'I don't know,' he said sulkily. 'All I know is it comes damned expensive.'

She shifted her gaze lazily to look at him. 'You don't know anything, do you? You're talking about what you wish Adam had done, not what he actually did. I suppose it makes you feel better to think of your father as a murderer.' She laughed suddenly. 'You know, I really feel quite sorry for you. Presumably you've spent the last ten years justifying all your shabby little deceits against Adam's guilt, so how the hell are you going to cope when it turns out he's whiter than white?' A movement at the windows caught her eye, and as she looked inquiringly towards the two uniformed policemen blocking the light, there was a peremptory knock on the door behind her. She frowned as WPC Blake walked in uninvited. 'Can I help you?' Jinx said politely, looking beyond her to