Free False Charity by Veronica Heley

–’ a shrug ‘– then I get down to work again and forget about everything else. I’d like to make amends, promise that I’d never leave you in the lurch again, but that would be a lie. Because I might.’ Piers shook himself. ‘I could do with a drink. Bea?’
    â€˜First tell me why you’re here.’
    Piers sat down, and took a deep breath. ‘I’m no angel, I know, and you might have thought I walked away and forgot you, never felt any guilt. But I did. Feel guilty, I mean. Well, most of the time I didn’t, but then it would come up and hit me, and I’d curse myself for losing you. So when Hamilton asked me to look after you—’
    â€˜What? When was this? You and Hamilton? But how did you know one another?’
    â€˜We met by chance at the National Portrait Gallery. I had something hanging there and he’d wandered in by chance. If it had been anyone else, I suppose he’d have looked right through me, but Hamilton, he wasn’t like that, was he? We ended up having lunch together. After all, he’d gained what I’d lost. He was magnanimous. I rather think I apologized to him for having walked out on you, but he seemed to understand how it is to be driven by work. And what it is to run away from commitment. He was good about commitment, wasn’t he?’
    Bea nodded. Yes, if Hamilton had committed to anything, he saw it through.
    Piers said, ‘You never cared to watch cricket, did you? He liked it, and so did I. After that first meeting we used to run into one another at Lords every now and then, perhaps twice a year. He was restful to be with. I felt absolved from what I’d done, deserting you and Max. Three years ago Hamilton told me about the cancer. It was only at the start, and he hoped, various treatments were being offered, well, you know about that. It took years, didn’t it? We kept in touch. He never mentioned the cancer unless I asked him, right up to the last time we met. It was then he said you might need some help when he died. I said you wouldn’t want help from me, no way. He just smiled. So that’s why I’m here. One unreliable old man, offering whatever help you need.’
    Bea blinked. This was all rather a lot to take in at once, and it wasn’t very good for the ego to feel that Piers had only come looking for her because Hamilton had asked him to.
    There was a noise at the door, and Maggie edged her way in. She was red in the face, which clashed horribly with her dyed hair. ‘Sorry I flew off the handle. You were quite right, I really am not much good at office work. So I’ll fish your washing out of the drier, take your dry-cleaning in, and be off.’
    Part of Bea said ‘Hurray!’ but the other part said she couldn’t let the girl go like this. She extended her free hand to Maggie, who came slowly across the room, angrily swiping the back of her hand across her face. Bea looked around. ‘I saw a box of paper tissues somewhere.’
    Piers made a long arm, rescued a box and handed it to Maggie, who snorted and sniffed into one tissue after the other.
    â€˜What about the boy?’ asked Bea. ‘Is he leaving, too?’
    Maggie wiped reddened eyes. ‘He got thrown out by his father. He’s got nowhere to go. I’d better find him a hostel or something. I don’t think my mother would let him stay with us.’
    â€˜What did he do?’
    Maggie said, ‘What you’ve got to understand is that it wasn’t his fault. He’s the youngest in a family that’s mad keen on sport, and he’s no good at it. He’s brainy, mind. He’s taken eight A levels and he thinks he got them all. The thing is, he’s a computer buff.’
    She took a deep breath. ‘He accessed something on his father’s computer, something he’d no right to be looking at. His father found out and beat him up. Then he threw him out. I