A Darker Reality by Anne Perry

Author:Anne Perry [Anne Perry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HeadlinePublisher
Published: 2021-02-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Elena was sitting in the smaller lounge opening on to the garden. It was less formal than the larger room where visitors were received, and more comfortable in many ways. The big windows faced the early light, and there were French doors that opened on to the lawn, now closed because the morning air was cool. At the end of the lawn were tall evergreen trees, the delicate dogwood blossoms standing out white against them.

The bookshelves were white wood, and filled with volumes all jumbled together, not according to subject or size, but as the last person had taken them out, or put them back. A heavy pottery bowl was filled with bright, flame-patterned tulips – reds, yellows and purples – not arranged, but plopped in together, as if they had grown like that. It was a room at ease with itself.

Katherine came in and closed the door behind her. She looked tired. There was no lift in her smile. She had brushed her hair, but missed several strands, which was so unlike her.

‘How’s Grandmother?’ Elena asked immediately. ‘Did she sleep?’

‘I don’t think so,’ Katherine replied, sitting down in the chair opposite her. ‘She said she did, but I think she’s just wishing . . . trying to pretend there’s nothing to worry about, and that it will all pass.’

‘And you don’t think it will?’ Elena asked. ‘It’s early, Mother. They can’t just brush it away. They have to prove it. And Grandfather has lots of friends. And he’ll be home today, even if he’s sort of . . . restricted.’

‘Elena, darling, I know that, and it’s important, but it’s temporary. Don’t try to reassure me with hopes. We all wish it would go away, but I have to have someone to talk to honestly. I know your father is doing everything he can, but he’s tiptoeing around me, trying not to say anything negative.’ She smiled, and yet it was very close to tears. ‘Like a man dancing in a pavement full of puddles. He leaps over one only to land in another. He works so hard not to upset me, and I’m working just as hard not to be upset. Let me speak honestly to you, at least.’

‘Of course,’ she said gently. This thought frightened her. She feared the truth might be ugly. Not about her grandfather, but about the power of his enemies. They had been overwhelmingly successful so far. Nobody had mentioned them by name, but a man as prominent as Wyatt Baylor was bound to have offended many, even if by no more than succeeding where they had failed.

‘I feel so helpless.’ Katherine stared out of the window. ‘I’ve tried to ask Mother about the people closest to him, people who might be his rivals, or who might have lost money through some of his advice, or decisions, but she isn’t telling me the truth. I don’t know whether it’s because she wants to think they’re all real friends, or because she doesn’t want to sound as if she’s gossiping.

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