Blue Steal Read online

  ‘I asked if she’d known it was a sure thing. She said yes. And then I asked how she knew. And she said she’d seen the documents in James Farraday’s room. And I asked how she’d got into his room, and she said …’ He broke away, and ran his hand over his jaw.

  ‘She’d slept with him,’ Selina supplied.

  He didn’t bother officially confirming it. ‘Apparently it didn’t mean anything. It was just a means to an end, a way to obtain inside information. She couldn’t understand why I was making a big deal out of it, especially when she was doing it for us.’

  Selina’s mouth quirked in sympathy. ‘I’m sorry. That must have hurt.’

  ‘The worst thing was, she was doing it for us. She honestly didn’t think it was that big a deal. She really believed I’d be okay with it.’ His expression turned from passionate to sombre. ‘And then I started to think, had I known? Had I known all along? Because there was a crazy amount of money coming in, and I didn’t think too hard about it.’ He turned to face the river again.

  ‘And that’s when you quit your day job?’ It made sense. Better sense now. Jack still didn’t understand her circumstances, he still didn’t understand why her need for money was nothing like his status chasing, but she wasn’t mad at him for what he’d said earlier any more. There was no point being angry at the arrogance of his statements, at his lack of basic understanding. He wasn’t trying to be an obnoxious git. He was trying to share with her the benefit of his accrued wisdom.

  Shame it had no relevance to her whatsoever.

  ‘I was brought up right, you know. My parents taught me the difference between right and wrong. So how did my life get to the point where my girlfriend was sleeping with other men for money and I was turning a blind eye?’

  She put a hand on his arm. ‘You didn’t turn a blind eye. You didn’t know.’

  He looked down at it, still sombre. ‘To this day, I don’t know if that’s true.’

  ‘I do. You think you would have thrown away your career like that if you’d known? It shocked you, to your core. Enough to make you rethink your whole life.’

  ‘I know you don’t want to listen to me,’ he said. ‘I know it’s not fun to hear. But I’ve been there. I know what it feels like to want more, to feel like you need more, but …’

  ‘I should be careful what I wish for, right? Do look a gift-horse in the mouth.’

  He took the hand that was still on his arm, and held it in his hand. ‘Selina, you’re so much better than that.’ His eyes entreated her to listen, and the way he looked at her, it was hard to resist. ‘You don’t need to steal a necklace. And you don’t need Lewis’s money.’

  So that was the point of this whole diatribe. The reason he’d shared something she got the sense he didn’t talk about. Ever. He didn’t like that she was next in line to the Holloway fortune.

  Why exactly was hard to work out. The necklace was obvious—he was going for it too, and … he had a point. Technically, it was stealing. She wasn’t unaware of that fact. But his problems with her new relationship with her great-uncle? Surely that only worked in his favour, since it meant she now wasn’t looking for the necklace?

  And honestly, what did he expect? That he’d give her some lecture about money being the root of all evil, and she’d turn down Lewis’s offer to turn over his business empire to her in due course? Who in their right mind would say no to that? ‘Are you seriously suggesting I should walk away?’

  ‘Whatever you think it’s going to do for you, however much you think it’s worth, it’s not going to give you what you want.’

  That’s what he thought. She knew better. ‘You don’t know anything about what I want, Jack.’

  If he did, he would understand Lewis’s offer would give her a better life for her sister. But she’d been the one to insist she was a gold-digger. No wonder he thought she was selling her soul for expensive labels and creature comforts.

  She felt his eyes on her, knew that he was about to push further, for information she wasn’t sure she was ready to share, but luckily for her, Keith chose that moment to emerge from the foyer.

  ‘Right. Sorry about the interruption. My fool of a financial adviser is determined to lose me money,’ he complained.

  Jack shot her a sharp, lingering look that promised they weren’t through, but had no choice but to follow Selina back to their seat and listen to Keith as he spent the next five minutes detailing the ineptitude of his financial manager.

  Selina listened, eyes wide. Keith was right. His manager was a fool, possibly even worse than her own bumbling boss. ‘That’s a disaster waiting to happen,’ she said, the words out her mouth before she knew it. ‘It’s certainly not what I’d recommend.’

  Keith, though he’d been mostly focused on Jack as he told his tale, now looked intently at her. ‘No?’ An open query.

  Selina paused, stuck for the moment. She shouldn’t be doling out financial advice. She didn’t have any qualifications, or strictly speaking, any experience in the role. She was a glorified secretary, for God’s sake. But she knew any advice she could give Keith would be a far better bet than what he’d got from the man he was paying a fortune to.

  Whatever. It wasn’t like Keith was paying her. He could talk it or leave it.

  She outlined her thoughts. Keith nodded as she talked, intently interested in what she had to say. The topic was his money, after all.

  ‘That’s got potential,’ he said when she’d finished. He looked past them, out over his gorgeous river view, Blackberry tapping against his thigh. ‘In fact, it’s damn good. Who did you say you were with again?’

  She hadn’t. ‘McKellan’s,’ she replied automatically. Her company, true, but not in the capacity he meant. And then she remembered she didn’t work there anymore, or wouldn’t, in the very near future. She was joining Holloway Enterprises, and not as an EA. As vice-president, or something similar. She almost leapt at her first opportunity to say it, but then remembered they were here to pry information about Andrew out of Keith. If Keith knew she was a colleague and relative, chances were he’d be much more circumspect. ‘Formerly,’ she added. ‘I’m currently exploring other opportunities.’

  ‘Have you got a card?’

  ‘Not on me.’ And he’d likely retract the offer if he saw she was an EA.

  ‘Here’s mine,’ he said, digging one out of a pocket and passing it across to her. ‘Give me a call or shoot me an email sometime. We’ll talk.’

  She took the card. Despite his earlier attempt, Keith wasn’t being sleazy. He seriously wanted to talk to her about providing financial advice. The one thing sexier than a nubile body was money.

  ‘Can’t take you anywhere,’ Jack whispered in her ear.

  She’d been angry at him five minutes ago, really angry. But somehow, his arm was back around her shoulders and they were sharing another conspiratorial grin.

  Trouble, that’s what he was.

  ‘So, back to your book,’ Keith said, turning to Jack. ‘The Holloway twins. What do you want to know?’

  ‘Anything and everything. With the ring being discovered last week … You heard about that, of course?’ He paused and Keith inclined his head in acquiescence. ‘Public interest in the story is high. I want to take advantage of the timing, incorporate a little true crime into my book. Who knows? Maybe we’ll finally flush out those thieves after all. Who better to ask for all the minor but interesting details of their lives than a school chum?’

  Keith pulled a little face. ‘Not sure how much I’m going to be able to help. It was a long time ago.’

  ‘Anything you can remember is useful. You were friends with Andrew and Lewis?’

  Keith grimaced. ‘Well, Andrew I was friends with, I suppose. As much as you could be friends with either of them.’

  ‘They weren’t the social kind?’

  ‘Their parents kept them on a pretty tight leash. Expected them to work at the hotel. Start at the bottom, work their way up, that kind of thing. But they w
ere allowed to play sports. Andrew was crazy for it. Tennis, cricket, footy … Anything and everything he could. Lewis not so much.’

  Having just seen their bedroom, she’d guessed that much. One half packed full of sports gear; the other side bare.

  ‘They were close?’ Jack prodded.

  Keith looked at Jack, stunned, then burst in a loud laugh. ‘Close?’ He lost another few moments to chuckling. ‘Andrew hated Lewis. He was such an embarrassment. A real loon. Andrew could never get away from him. He used to trail around after Andrew like some kind of demented, lost puppy.’

  This conversation was supposed to be taking place to help Jack write his book, so Selina probably wasn’t supposed to contribute, but she wasn’t going to sit here and say nothing in the face of that kind of nastiness. ‘That’s not very nice.’

  Her words didn’t stop Keith from laughing.

  She could well imagine Lewis struggling at school. Fifty years on, and he was still socially awkward—it would only have been worse as a teen. She remembered Lewis’s comment about not possessing Andrew’s easy manners, and a wave of pity swept over her. Andrew had obviously been the popular one. She wasn’t about to choose sides between her dead grandfather and very much alive great-uncle. And it was clear from the way Lewis talked how him much he’d loved his brother. Who was to say how it had been between them? Not a jerk like Keith Turnbull.

  A fresh burst of laughter. ‘I’ve just remembered something funny. But you can’t put it in the book. Just to give Selina here a flavour, since she’s so keen to defend nutty Lewis.’

  ‘Scout’s honour,’ Jack promised easily. As well he might, given there was no book.

  ‘The cricket team got sick of Lewis always hanging around. He was always there, in the locker room and everything, even though he wasn’t playing or training. It was weird. We told him to piss off but he didn’t listen. Anyway we decided we’d had enough, so some of us …’ With what he no doubt thought was a charmingly mischievous twinkle in his eye, his hand went towards his groin, gripped and waved an imaginary penis. ‘The old bucket on the door trick. God, he got drenched. Served him right.’

  He laughed raucously. Selina felt nauseous.

  ‘He wouldn’t piss off so he got pissed on.’ Said in familiar tones which indicated that phrase had provided that group of adolescent boys with hours of mirth.

  Selina couldn’t think of the last time she’d heard anything less funny. ‘Did Andrew know? Did he … participate?’ she asked, though she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer. She couldn’t bear to think her grandfather would have bullied his brother like that.

  ‘Andrew found Lewis annoying. And believe you me, he didn’t mind telling us exactly how much, but … Lewis was his brother. I suppose Andrew wouldn’t have felt right doing that.’ Keith paused. ‘Anyway, next practice session, while we’re all out on the field, Lewis the nutcase gets all our uniforms and spare equipment from the locker room, piles them into some kind of bonfire and burns the lot.’

  ‘He set fire to them?’ Jack asked, shooting a quick glance at her.

  ‘Like I said, a bonfire. What a psycho!’

  He paused as if he expected Jack or Selina to comment at that point, but when they didn’t, he gave a slight shrug and continued. ‘Lewis almost got expelled for that, and his parents had to pay to replace the uniforms, but at least he stayed away from then on.’

  It was a horrible story. She couldn’t believe Keith was laughing about it. It didn’t make her likely to side with him against Lewis.

  Poor Lewis. It sounded like his school years were absolute hell. She wasn’t surprised—he was the type to be bullied—and having been through the same thing with her sister, she had a zero-tolerance threshold for that kind of behaviour.

  Selina snuck a glance to her side, trying to gauge what Jack was making of all this. If he was smiling or laughing, she’d hit him. He wasn’t, thank goodness, but he was sneaking his own glance in her direction, studying her intensely. Thinking something, that was for sure, but she didn’t know what.

  ‘Anyway, like I said, probably best left out of the book,’ Keith said more sedately, as if he realised his amusing anecdote had fallen a little flat.

  ‘That’s perfect, Keith,’ said Jack quickly. ‘I won’t include that story of course, but it all adds up to build a picture. Strict upbringing, two very different brothers. Promising sporting star, life cut tragically shot. Only the good die young, hey?’ Another keen look in her direction.

  Which Selina again struggled to interpret. Something was obviously up, but she’d have to wait. Now wasn’t the time to pump Jack for more information.

  Jack asked more questions; favourite subjects at school and the ones they hated, favourite bands, friends, girlfriends, taste in literature. Selina listened, but couldn’t see how any of it would help him find the necklace. One thing that struck her as odd was how many questions Jack asked about Lewis. She would have thought he’d be more interested in Andrew. After all, Andrew was the one who’d hidden the jewellery. But Jack’s mind worked in unusual ways, he obviously had his own MO.

  Keith was glancing at his watch with increasing frequency, and Jack, astute enough to realise he was pushing his welcome, thanked him for his time, engaged in another jocular handshake, and made loose arrangements to catch up with the family when James was next back from London.

  Keith turned to her, hand outstretched, but unlike the lascivious squeeze at the beginning of their interview, this clasp was all business. ‘Absolute pleasure, Selina. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.’

  Don’t hold your breath.

  It was flattering, but she was in no position to call Keith with further financial advice.

  Driving back, Jack left her to her thoughts, for which she was grateful. She hadn’t realised just how tired she was. There was a good reason for that, of course—she’d barely slept all week—but with Anna’s condition, she was used to rough nights. It was the emotional component of the week that was really taking a toll.

  Selina stared out of window through the rapidly encroaching dusk. The river looked totally different now, no longer green-blue with tints from the sun but dark and dirty.

  By Keith’s account, the Holloway side of the family was a mess.

  She’d used to wonder incessantly what her life might have been like if she’d been raised a rich Holloway instead of a poor Migliore, and now maybe she had her answer: it wouldn’t have been the heaven she’d imagined.

  Poor Lewis. His school days sounded horrible.

  ‘So what’s with the financial wizardry?’ Jack cut in eventually. ‘I had no idea you had those kinds of skills.’

  ‘I don’t,’ she said, dragging her attention from the scene outside.

  He gave her a reproachful look. ‘Keith’s pretty savvy and he thought you knew what you were talking about.’

  She shrugged. ‘Hard not to pick up a few things when you’ve been working in the same place for over a decade.’

  ‘Over a decade?’ He shot her another glance, surprised. ‘Since you were …’

  ‘It’s not polite to ask a lady her age,’ she quipped but there was little bite to it. She was too tired. ‘Sixteen,’ she said. ‘My mum died. Someone had to step up and earn the money. I quit school and took the first job I was offered. Been there ever since.’

  A pause as he digested that.

  She knew he had a million questions. She’d heard them all before.

  Why hadn’t she gone back to school?

  Because between Anna and a job she couldn’t afford to lose, she had no time or energy for anything else.

  Why hadn’t she tried for a more lucrative job?

  Because at least this job was secure. Change was too risky in a single-income household, and Mark trusted her and gave her a lot of leeway for emergencies.

  Didn’t she think she was underselling herself?

  She liked to think she was doing alright for someone who hadn’t even been able to graduate high sc
hool.

  The sounds of Michael Bublé’s Sway hit the evening airwaves.

  ‘I remember that ring tone,’ Jack said, as she scrambled to retrieve her phone.

  The call that had set in motion their whole journey together. What would have happened if nonna had called ten minutes later, once Selina had already secured a room first-time around? Would she be sitting next to Jack driving around Yarra Boulevard right now?

  Her gut tightened. After all this time, she shouldn’t experience this sickening, sinking sense of dread, but it still hit her every time.

  Most of her phone calls were about the same thing.

  Drawing her phone out, she checked quickly to confirm the caller. Nonna. Bracing herself, she answered. ‘What’s wrong?’

  Chapter 12

  Jack’s eyes flicked to Selina’s face as often as driving would allow. Most of what she was saying he couldn’t understand. A prolonged discussion about attacks and medications and dosages.

  One thing was clear: it wasn’t good news.

  She shoved the phone back in her bag and returned to staring out the window, shoulders high, jaw tight.

  ‘Your nonna?’ he asked, hazarding a guess.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘She’s not well?’

  She tensed even further. They’d pulled up, waiting to turn off the boulevard that ran along the river and onto the main drag into the city. It gave him time to turn to her, forced her to meet his eyes. ‘Selina?’

  ‘It’s my sister,’ she replied eventually. Her voice was calm and low, but tense. ‘I need to get home.’

  He took in the almost painful stiffness of her back. Whatever was going on, it wasn’t good. ‘Where?’

  ‘Maribyrnong.’

  A working-class suburb in Melbourne’s west. ‘I’ll drive you.’

  ‘It’s okay. Drop me at a stand. I’ll take a taxi.’

  The traffic cleared ahead and he moved forward. There was no way he was dropping her at a taxi stand. He didn’t know where he and Selina stood exactly, but it didn’t matter—he wouldn’t drop anyone this distressed at a cab rank. ‘We’re already in the car. I can get you there faster.’