What A Way To Go by Bella Mackie

Author:Bella Mackie [Bella Mackie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2024-07-26T17:00:00+00:00

ANTHONY

Charles turned up shortly afterwards, thank god. At the rate she was going, she’d have finished off all the good wine by the time the assets were seized. He was walking a little taller than usual. Pompous arse even greeted the housekeeper with a consoling pat on the shoulder.

‘Anthony’s mess won’t affect you, dear.’ As if he was some Dickensian master of the house.

Olivia’s real lawyer, Benjamin Bottle from Bottle, Blum and Bowlers turned up five minutes later, looking exactly as a man whose father, grandfather and great grandfather, all lawyers who carried the name Benjamin Bottle should look. He coached her extensively on what to say when the guys from the serious fraud unit arrived, summing up with a clear brief: ‘Say nothing; it may be helpful to cry a little if you can.’

I hated all of them in that moment. Giles, calling my bloody wife as if his hands were entirely clean. The front of the man! I’d had a jolt of recollection when he called me a bastard so angrily. We’d fought that night down by the lake. He’d been suspicious, accusatory, asking me if I was doing anything ‘in an unorthodox way’. He’d said it so pompously that I’d laughed, hoping to convey how absurd I found the question. We’d stood by the edge of the water in a standoff and I’d turned the tables on my business partner, accusing him of not trusting me and demanding to know why he was asking such outrageous questions.

Giles had told Liv that Wismere was screwed and he was right. I knew investigators would already be locking down the office and removing every single computer, piece of paper and bloody stapler in the place. He wouldn’t even be allowed to step over the threshold, and it was all because of bloody Anita Vasher. I’ve not made anywhere near enough mistakes to actually rank them, but she was undoubtedly my biggest.

The woman inherited a lot of money from her father, who owned diamond mines back when owning a diamond mine actually meant something, and I’d been introduced to her at an exhibition of Jingdezhen porcelain where we bonded over a particular blue vase that even I couldn’t afford, though she could’ve easily bought the entire lot without blinking. Anita looked like a nice old grandma, that was what blinded me. Stooped, a little doddery and a tendency to lose her train of thought. I’d latched on to her immediately, everyone knew the Vasher name, and offered to take her out for tea. People said she was curmudgeonly, unwilling to suffer fools lightly, but she was charmed, I’m catnip for old ladies, even the ones in tracksuits who only eat schnitzel. All you’ve got to do is put on an excessive display of good manners and have the odd self-deprecating joke up your sleeve. It helps if you wear a smart suit too, good tailoring hits that nostalgic sweet spot.

After a little wooing, I took some money from her very happily, writing her off as someone who’d be content with a small return and some attention from me.

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