Free Chameleon - A City of London Thriller by J Jackson Bentley

they walked back to the lodge; Nick was smiling and blushing at
the compliment.
    ***
    It was dusk
already and the two of them had enjoyed a ploughman’s salad for
dinner, uncle and niece sitting in companionable silence. They
walked over to the sofa and sat down. Nick was tall and muscular;
he had never really carried much fat as he was exercising all day.
His dark hair was greying and thinning but his eyes were bright.
There were few outward signs of his critical illness. Gillian had
been told by the consultant that Nick could have treatment that
would prolong his life by as much as six months, but that he was
refusing all medical advice on the topic. Instead he had chosen to
have palliative care only, in his home, via a Macmillan
Nurse.
    Gillian asked
her favourite question of Nick, knowing that he would never tire of
giving her the answer.
    “ Nick, tell
me how I came to be the future Lady of the Tallgarth
Manor?”
    Nick embarked
on the story that had been familiar to his niece since her
infancy.
    “ Andrea
Bailey was the brightest and prettiest woman ever to adorn this
manor house. She was employed as estate manager, following a spell
at Windsor Great Park and after obtaining her degree at Reading
University. She lit the place up and she made it pay for the first
time since my grandfather’s time. Harold was useless and Bernice
was even more useless; she could spend money and boss people
around, but she had no idea what she was doing. Andrea changed
everything. She lived in this lodge at the time, and I had a
bedroom in the main house.
    All was well
when Denton Miles III turned up to understudy Andrea before
returning to Virginia to manage his family’s estate, about twenty
times the size of this one. I adored Andrea, but we became so close
as colleagues that any romantic allusions were just that,
allusions. Denton was a great kid, likeable, intelligent, funny and
so caring. Despite the age gap of about ten years, I guess Andrea
just fell for him. He stayed the summer and headed back to the USA
when he was told that his mother was ailing. They both knew that
returning with a fiancée ten years his senior would not play well
with his parents, and so they said goodbye and parted as
friends.
    Andrea didn’t
realise she was pregnant until weeks later, when the sickness
started and didn’t stop. She was determined to go ahead with the
birth and she asked me if I would be a surrogate father to her
child. I would have done anything for her, if I’m being
honest.
    Investigations
into the continued sickness led unfortunately to a diagnosis of
cancer, ironic now considering my present situation, but she
refused chemo because it would have probably terminated
you.”
    Nick reached
across and took Gillian’s hands in his.
    “ She died
when you were just four months old. She never achieved her dream of
celebrating your first birthday. Harold and Bernice didn’t have
children of their own, and the option of having a child without the
inconvenience of sex, pregnancy and delivery appealed to them. I’m
not entirely sure Harold knows what to do with a woman in bed,
anyway.”
    Gillian and
Nick both sniggered, but she caught a flash of pain cross his
face.
    “ Are you OK?”
she asked, her voice laden with concern. Nick nodded, and reached
over to pick up a bottle of morphine laced brandy. He took a
generous swig and waited for the pain to subside.
    Gillian looked
at the prescription label and sighed.
    “ You do know
that this is suicide juice, don’t you? They give it to terminal
patients, instructing them to take a tablespoonful every six hours,
at the same time warning them that three spoonfuls at once will
lead to unconsciousness and death.”
    “ I know,
Gillian. But I don’t have long, and as a gamekeeper I wouldn’t let
an animal suffer like this. I want you to let me go.”
    “ Why
me?”
    “ Because
you’re the only one who loves me enough to miss me.”
    ***
    Nick died two
days later. After a few days the