The Mothers of Quality Street by Penny Thorpe

Author:Penny Thorpe [Thorpe, Penny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2020-01-28T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Three

‘The news isn’t good, we’ve been sifting through your father’s affairs carefully. I think you were already aware that your father was in financial difficulties.’ The solicitor tried to be compassionate, but he didn’t want to become too embroiled in a case which would take up a lot of time and pay nothing.

Cynthia Starbeck’s look of shock told the solicitor that he had been mistaken. ‘My father was a successful businessman, an investor, he was …’ Her voice trailed off as she struggled to grasp what he had been. What had he been? She had never fully understood. He had been a Member of Parliament for a term, and there had been board meetings and a house full of purple-faced, cigar-smoking men, but what had his line of business actually been?

‘But you took out loans for him, considerable loans. Were you not concerned that he was in need of money?’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never taken out a loan in my life. I own a flat in Hipperholme, and I have some money in some investment trusts which my father arranged for me. I didn’t involve myself with the details, but some of my salary each month went into the fund, and—’

‘If I may, Miss Starbeck, how much is in this fund, and to whom was it paid?’

‘Well, I arranged a standing order from my checking account of £6 per month to my father’s—’

‘Those are loan repayments, Miss Starbeck; your father had you sign an agreement to borrow money on his behalf against your flat. You were to pay off the interest on the loan at the rate of £6 a month.’

‘But that can’t be! My father would never have—’

‘Your father had sizeable debts, Miss Starbeck. It seems the money he asked you to borrow against your flat was to invest in a high-risk scheme which, if it had come off, would have given him enough money to keep his creditors at bay a little longer – but the sum was lost. I regret to inform you that your father has died without the wherewithal to even pay his funeral expenses or for the administration of his estate.’

‘But what does this mean? Will I have to use the money he invested for me to pay off this loan?’

‘Miss Starbeck, he didn’t invest any money for you. The money you gave him was paid to a lender against the interest of the loan.’

‘But where is the investment trust money? How much do I have in trust?’

‘Nothing.’

‘That’s impossible! He’s been investing my money for me all my working life, I—’ And suddenly the reality of what her father was washed over Cynthia Starbeck and she felt cold and empty and alone – and she hated the man.

‘I can keep his creditors at bay for a little longer to allow you to settle your affairs—’

‘Why would I need to settle my affairs? They were his debts, they’re nothing to do with me. I may not have the investments I

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