Free A Death in the Family by Hazel Holt Page A

we’ve built our reputation on.’
    ‘I gather you’re doing very well.’
    ‘Yes, we’ve managed to get a regular clientele – a neighbourhood restaurant, as they say in the glossies, but that’s the best sort to have in some ways, especially in the provinces. Our main trouble now is lack of space, we really do need larger premises, but the rents and rates in the best places are prohibitive.’ ‘I can imagine.’
    The general conversation continued while we ate our lunch (‘
Wonderful
Dundee cake! Did you make it?’) and I began to wonder why we were talking like this when a man was dead? Surely someone should have said something by now! As I poured the coffee I said, ‘I’m so very sorry about your father, Luke. It must have been a dreadful shock.’
    ‘Yes,’ he said, as though considering the question, ‘it was.’
    I tried again. ‘I don’t quite know what the procedure is – I mean, I don’t know if the police have finished…whatever they have to do at thecottage.’ I turned to Janet. ‘Would you like me to drive you both over there so that you can see what the situation is?’
    She looked at Luke who said, ‘I’m afraid I have to be getting back fairly soon – I just came down to see how Mum is.’
    ‘He can’t leave the restaurant, you see,’ Janet said, ‘they have bookings for tonight and there’s only him and Yves.’
    ‘I see.’
    Luke caught the faint note of disapproval in my reply and said, ‘I know it sounds awfully unfeeling and, honestly, I’d stay if I could, but Mum says Christine is coming and she’s bound to want to make all the arrangements – I’d only be in the way.’
    ‘Christine is very efficient,’ Janet said.
    Luke smiled. ‘That’s one way of putting it. But bossy people come into their own at times like this, don’t they?’
    I started to gather up the lunch things and Luke took one of the trays and followed me out into the kitchen.
    ‘How’s she been?’ he asked abruptly.
    I shook my head. ‘I honestly don’t know. Poor Janet, it was a terrible shock, as you can imagine, finding your father like that – dreadful. She was, well – stunned I suppose. She hardly said anything. She managed to give a statement to the police. That wasn’t too bad because I knew the sergeant and he was very gentle with her, and she was still in a sortof daze when we got back here and went to bed. But this morning…’ I stopped.
    ‘This morning?’ Luke asked.
    ‘So calm and matter-of-fact about arrangements, about going back to the cottage – I really don’t understand it. She’s never mentioned your father once, hadn’t shed a tear until you came. It’s as though she’s on autopilot, if you know what I mean.’
    He nodded. ‘That’s quite a good way of putting it, actually. She’s never been allowed to be herself, to take control of her own life. If you’ve seen her with my father you’ll know what I mean.’
    ‘Yes, I see. But no emotion…’
    ‘There was no emotion in their marriage,’ Luke said, his voice hardening, ‘except fear on her part. So there’s no reason why there should be any emotion now he has gone.’
    ‘I see,’ I repeated, though I didn’t, quite.
    Luke had now moved over to the sink and was quietly and efficiently washing up the lunch things. I went over to dry them and the sort of intimacy that this shared task engenders allowed me to ask, ‘Were you fond of your father?’
    He paused for a moment, apparently concentrating on rinsing a glass, then he said, ‘When I was a little boy I wanted so much to have his approval. I was the boy, you see, and a great deal was expected of me. I was reasonably bright academically and that pleased him, but he wanted me to be more what he called“manly”. But I was no good at sport and outdoor things and I never stood up for myself when I was picked on at school for being the son of one of the masters. He didn’t like that. We managed to keep some sort of rapport until I left school.