Web of Lies by Sally Rigby (best book club books of all time .txt) 📕

‘Yes, I understand. You weren’t the only people who refused to attend. Thank you for sending Sebastian, though. He’s been very supportive.’

‘Is he still with you?’

‘Yes, he’s staying in Market Harborough.’

‘Jolly good. I’m glad he’s there to assist. Do you have a reason for phoning, only I’m due in a meeting shortly?’

‘Um … yes … I do, actually.’ How was she going to broach it?

‘What is it?’ her aunt’s matter-of-fact voice echoed in her ear.

She hoped Seb wouldn’t be too angry with her.

‘Sebastian won’t be happy with me telling you, but I felt duty-bound. There’s been an incident and—’

‘Incident? What sort of incident?’ her aunt’s worried voice interrupted.

‘He’s fine,’ she reassured her aunt. ‘But in Market Harborough on Saturday night Sebastian got attacked.’

There was a gasp on the end of the phone. ‘Are you sure he’s okay? Why did nobody tell me? I shouldn’t learn about it several days later.’

‘He visited me a short while ago and under the circumstances he’s doing well. I thought to myself that if it had been one of my boys I’d have wanted to know. I know he’s a lot older than them, but you never stop being a mother, do you?’

‘No, you don’t. Can you give me more information on what happened? I didn’t even know he was still in your neck of the woods.’

She hesitated. She didn’t want the family to know about the investigation, because all they wanted was for Donald’s death and business practices to be forgotten.

‘He was helping me with a few things. He went out with a friend on Saturday night and as he was walking back to the Airbnb he’s renting he got attacked by two men. He was very badly beaten up.’

‘Oh, my goodness. How badly? Will he need surgery?’

‘Nothing’s broken apart from a couple of ribs, I understand, but he’s very bruised and swollen all over. His face especially is a bit of a mess.’

‘What’s he doing now? He should come back home.’

‘I think he’s taking it easy and resting. It wouldn’t be a good idea for him to drive back yet.’

‘Oh, this is dreadful. And you say he’s staying in an Air something. What’s that?’

‘It’s an online place where people rent out their homes. Sebastian is staying in a little house in the town centre.’

‘But why did they attack him?’

‘They took his wallet.’

‘So it was a mugging?’

‘Yes, I believe so.’

‘But surely at his size he could have stood up for himself.’

‘They caught him unawares.’

‘Why doesn’t he stay with you? Surely that’s better than being on his own.’

‘I did offer, but he’s happy where he is, and he’s got his dog with him.’

‘I’ll telephone him.’

‘He might not be pleased that I told you but, as I said, I’d want to know if it was me.’

‘Thank you for letting me know, Sarah. I appreciate you doing this, under the circumstances. I’ll speak to him later as soon as I come back from my meeting. I’m glad you’re well, and I’m sure we’ll get together soon. We’ve just got to let the dust settle for a little while longer.’

‘I understand. Thanks, Auntie Charlotte.’

She ended the call but continued staring at the phone. Her aunt had seemed upset at the attack, yet she wasn’t going to phone Seb straight away because she had a meeting to go to.

Sarah shook her head. Most bizarre.

Chapter 28

17 May

Seb woke up with a start when his phone rang. He must have fallen asleep on the sofa after Birdie had dropped him off. It already was dark outside, what time was it? He picked up the phone and looked at his screen. It was his mother.

What did she want?

Had something happened to a member of the family?

They usually spoke every couple of weeks, and he’d called her the other night. Everything had been fine then.

‘Hello.’ He gasped as pain shot through his jaw which had locked while he’d been asleep.

‘I’ve just heard.’ The worry in his mother’s voice echoed in his ear. ‘Sarah called me. How are you? What on earth happened?’

He could cheerfully throttle Sarah. His mother was anxious about him at the best of times, and this would only add to it.

‘It was an accident,’ he said, downplaying it, not wanting her to worry further. ‘Sarah shouldn’t have contacted you. There was absolutely no need, as I’m perfectly fine.’

‘That’s not what Sarah told me. She said you were attacked, and your face is a mess. Why are you still there? Come home and let me take care of you.’

Or, supervise the staff doing the caring. His mother wasn’t hands-on at all.

‘Thank you for being concerned but it’s not necessary, I’m not a child. What else did Sarah tell you?’ He forced his voice to sound calm, despite being annoyed at Sarah’s actions.

Had she told his mother about her suspicion regarding Donald’s death? He hoped not, if there was going to be more scandal, he needed to break it to them gently, and also be there to help work out some strategy for dealing with it.

‘To be honest, she was a little bit strange and cagey, which is most unlike her, though under the circumstances it’s understandable. She told me that you were helping her with something but didn’t elucidate. Why didn’t you tell me you were still in Market Harborough when we spoke? I thought you were in London. Shouldn’t you be at work?’

He drew in a breath. He didn’t want to tell her about his job yet because she’d want to tell his father, and he needed to be more prepared for that. ‘I agreed to stay a while after the funeral as a favour for Sarah. She asked me to investigate into Donald’s suicide because she’s convinced that it wasn’t the correct verdict.’

‘Is she right?’

‘I don’t know. Possibly. I’m working with a member of the Market Harborough CID on it.’

‘How is Sarah coping, it must be very difficult for her?’

His mother and cousin had always been close and kept in regular contact, until Donald