Crimson Poison by Susan Moore

Author:Susan Moore [Susan Moore]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857634498
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Published: 2016-08-14T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Six

CUSTODY

The Walkers were sitting in the kitchen slurping crab and noodle soup for supper. Prissy was in a sulk. She stirred her spoon noisily while across the table Henry stared into his bowl, his food untouched. He glanced anxiously at NutNut. His squirrel hadn’t made a sound since he’d sent Nat the video, and that was over three hours ago.

“Prissy, stop that,” snapped Aunt Vera, reaching across and snatching away Prissy’s spoon.

“It tastes disgusting,” said Prissy.

“Go to your room!” Aunt Vera pointed towards the door.

Prissy scraped her chair back slowly on the marble floor. Everybody winced. She grabbed her glitter cat robot off the table, stood up, turned on her high-heeled mules and clacked out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Silence fell.

Uncle Fergal picked up his crystal tumbler and took a swig of whisky. “Got ourselves a real teenager, haven’t we?”

Vera pursed her lips. “I said she couldn’t have Candy over for a sleepover. The Brat is back tomorrow.”

Henry squeezed NutNut’s right ear to trigger his recording function. NutNut’s ears twitched.

Uncle Fergal nodded. “Did the papers arrive from the lawyer?”

Vera turned and picked up a large brown envelope from the shelf behind her. A sly smile spread across her lips.

“You’ll never have to work again.” She wafted the envelope tantalisingly beneath his nose.

Henry felt sick as he watched his father pull out a thick sheaf of typed white papers from the envelope.

“I have to hand it to you, Vera, you’ve pulled a rabbit out of a hat,” he said, flicking through them.

“It wasn’t easy. The only loophole we could find was to file for ‘abandonment by guardian’. Ah Wong has acted as witness to say that Jamuka abandoned Natalie without due care. It cost a bit, she’s a smart woman and she asked for a lot of money. I’ve told her I’ll pay her when we get guardianship and access to the SPIN fortune. I see it as a worthwhile expense.”

“And when do we get custody?”

“Jamuka isn’t here to fight our claim. Since we’re claiming it’s abandonment we only have to legally wait a week.” Vera clapped her hands together. “We’re going to be richer than we ever dreamed of.”

“And the Brat?”

“I’ve already spoken with the estate agent and briefed him to find us a house on the Peak. It must have a wing where she can be kept separately with an adjoining nanny’s room.”

Uncle Fergal nodded in agreement. “Very wise. We don’t want her becoming part of the family, do we?”

Henry felt like punching him. How could they be so greedy and horrible? Instead he bit his tongue and looked down at his bowl. He coughed loudly and made a spluttering sound.

“Not feeling too bright, eh, Henry?” said his father.

Henry slumped his shoulders and shook his head.

“We’d better get the boy to bed, Vera. He’s not touched his supper.”

Vera looked startled, as though she had forgotten that her son was at the table.

“Go to bed, Henry darling. We need you back on your feet to go house-hunting tomorrow, bright and early.

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