Soraya cast hereyes down the paper then looked up, perplexed.
‘It’s a searchfor the estate of William Dunk,’ Morton said cryptically.
‘I don’tunderstand,’ Soraya mumbled.
‘William Dunk,your father-in-law - he left nothing behind other than the delightful house inwhich your husband now resides,’ Morton said with a large grin.
‘What’sDaniel’s dad got to do with anything?’ Soraya asked.
‘Oh yes, sorry,I forgot that bit. William Dunk was James Coldrick’s father.’
‘No,’ Soraya exclaimedincredulously. ‘Absolutely impossible.’
‘I’m afraidnot, William Dunk is undoubtedly the biological father of James Coldrick.’
‘How could thatbe?’
‘William wasthe estate handyman – Marlene obviously fell in love with him, unbeknownst tothe Windsor-Sackvilles. The result was James Coldrick. Marlenewasn’t silly enough to declare the truth. In short, your son has norelationship whatever with the Windsor-Sackvilles.’
‘You’re makingall this up,’ Soraya protested.
‘Why would I dothat?’
‘To stop Finfrom getting what he’s entitled to.’
‘He’s entitledto nothing, Soraya. Absolutely nothing.’
‘Then why havethey been buying James Coldrick’s silence all these years, then? Why go to suchlengths to protect the truth?’ she demanded, anger rising in her voice. ‘If James was William’s son then why have the Windsor-Sackvilles spent allthese years covering up the truth?’
‘They didn’tknow. They believed James was the son of David Windsor-Sackville. Simple as that.’
Morton brieflysummarised what he had learnt from Professor Geoffrey Daniels about the plansto unite the Koldrichs and the Windsor-Sackvilles. ‘Ultimately, theybelieved that James had been created as part of that union, but D-Day marked achange of direction in the war. The last thing a prominent English familywanted in mid-1944 was a link to Nazi Germany. As you know from thesedocuments in my lap, a wedding was even planned. They went as far as todraw up a new coat of arms for the pair, which they had emblazoned on a copperbox,’ he said. Professor Daniels had emailed Morton a copy of the Koldrichfamily crest, which was a confirmed match for the other half on the copper box.
‘How are you sodamn sure that William Dunk was James’ father?’ she demanded.
‘DNA. Iborrowed a sample from your husband. It’s ironic really that he’sdone so much damage to James Coldrick’s family. I wonder if he would havedone the Windsor-Sackville’s bidding if he’d known that James Coldrick was hishalf-brother.’
Soraya staredin disbelief, taking in the news.
‘One thing I'mstill not sure of, though. You married Dunk in 2005, yet had Finlay withPeter in 2008. Was your relationship with Peter purely because you'ddiscovered in the archives that the Windsor-Sackvilles were paying off anillegitimate son? Did you go out looking for Peter in order to procure achild with him?’
Soraya satdumbstruck, her silence speaking for her.
Morton letSoraya's guilt hang quietly between them before saying, ‘I’m on my way to thepolice station right now. Your husband, your deceased father-in-law, theWindsor-Sackvilles, Olivia Walker, will all be implicated. I’m giving youa chance.’
‘What do youmean?’
‘I mean, I’lldo what I can to save your back but you need to disappear. Now.’
‘Why would youdo that?’
‘Finlay. I was always working for him remember – not you – and as my client, he doesn’tdeserve the fallout from all this. Take him and leave.’
Right on cue,Finlay Coldrick strolled into the room. Rather bizarrely, Morton thought,the boy actually grinned from ear to ear when he spotted him. ‘Hi,Morton!’ he greeted. Even more bizarrely, he bent down and gave Morton ahug. ‘What happened to your arms?’
‘Long story,’Morton said, genuinely taken aback by the child’s reaction. Maybechildren weren’t such an alien species after all.
‘Fin,’ Sorayasaid sharply, ‘go to your room and pack some clothes into your holdall, likeyou used to when you went to stay at…’ Her sentence faded and their eyes lockedmomentarily before Fin hurried from the room.
‘Would itreally have been worth it, Soraya? I take it all this comes down tomoney?’ Morton asked, not pausing for an answer. ‘You realise that yourhusband is responsible for Peter’s and his mum’s deaths, don’t you?’
Soraya suddenlyburst into tears - uncontrollable, angry tears.
‘Goodbye,Soraya,’ Morton said. He took one last pitying glance at her then leftthe house, knowing that he would see neither Soraya nor Finlay ever again.
‘Done?’Juliette asked him as he climbed back inside the hot police van.
‘Done. Tothe station,’ Morton replied emptily. None of the previous genealogy jobshe had completed had ever had even one percent of the drama of the ColdrickCase but they had all ended with a satisfying conclusion; this left himfeeling hollow inside. So many lives had been destroyed and were about tobe destroyed because of the Coldrick Case.
It took six hours. Six longgruelling hours in the void that was Interview Room Three of Ashford PoliceStation and Morton had told Barnaby McHale, the middle-aged, yet spry DeputyCommissioner for the Metropolitan Police the entirety of the Coldrick Case,inside and out. He even confessed to the innumerable illegalities whichhe had committed along the way. McHale passively scribed several pages ofnotes, only occasionally interjecting to clarify a point which sounded quiteludicrous. ‘Your house blew up?’ he had asked, to which Mortonnodded. ‘What, all of it?’ which seemed a slightly obtuse question. Morton nodded again and then continued with the interview. The onlycareful and discreet economies with the truth surrounded Soraya Benton and MaxFairbrother’s involvement. In the case of the bald-pated stalwart of EastSussex Archives, Morton felt his involvement to have been so insignificant andso long ago as to be ignorable but he couldn’t quite see how Soraya wouldescape investigation, seeing as she was married to the murderer that was DanielDunk. He wondered if killing more than one person made Dunk a serialkiller or mass murderer. Neither was a great character trait in ahusband, he reasoned, as he handed over all the documentation in hispossession. McHale mentioned Olivia Walker’s astonishing rise to the top,muttering something about questionable nepotism by the Secretary ofDefence. He told Morton that he would be personally overseeing aninvestigation into Mary and Peter Coldrick’s deaths. Then McHale shookhis hand, acknowledged the possibility of Morton's facing his own charges butconcluded nonetheless, ‘Very brave thing you’ve done, Mr Farrier.' ButMorton didn’t feel brave; he felt like the clichéd fish out of water, albeit avery stubborn one, like a belligerent salmon, hacking its way against
