Finders Keepers by Edie Baylis (epub ebook reader txt) 📕

flaring as she continued raving. His eyebrows pulled into a deep frown. What should he do? If this was true, then Teagan and Robert had played a blinder. An absolute corker. But where the hell did that leave him?

‘Haven’t you anything to say? You were sweet on her too.’ Dulcie spat the words through her gritted teeth.

‘I’m really disappointed,’ Heath lied. ‘Robert called only last week asking if I’d seen her.’

‘Oh he did, did he?’ Dulcie sneered. ‘All part of the plan to make out that he didn’t know what was going on and together they were fleecing me!’

Heath weighed up the situation fast. At the moment Dulcie’s mouth was loose enough for his idea to work. He made a big point of shrugging sadly. ‘I called and messaged her several times and wondered why she didn’t call me back. I presumed her phone must be broken, hence why I came round.’

‘Too busy planning how to steal my things.’ Dulcie griped.

‘I don’t know what’s been taken, so I can’t comment. All I know is that I’m devastated. I thought she liked me... I really thought we might have a future. That we...’

‘My diamonds, that’s what they’ve taken!’ Dulcie spat, her eyes glazed. ‘Rare diamonds, worth millions! First Helen tried to get them, then the Powells and I even thought you had come for them at one point...’ She laughed shrilly and gazed at the ceiling. ‘I sometimes wonder whether I really am mad! I was genuinely convinced at one point that you looked a bit like...’

As Dulcie’s voice tailed off, Heath could barely breathe. ‘Looked like who?’ he pushed tentatively.

‘Oh, it doesn’t matter.’ Dulcie pointed towards the sideboard. ‘Be a good lad and pour me a gin will you?’

Heath got up from the chair and walked obediently to the sideboard, turning his back so he could afford to crack a smile. So, she had suspected he was related? There might be something he could salvage from this situation after all. But how should he play it? There was one or two ways and either could backfire, but it was worth a try, surely?

Heath poured a larger than average gin into a tall glass, despite his shaking hands. Fixing a sympathetic smile, he handed Dulcie the glass. ‘Well, I think it’s dreadful how your son has treated you. I also had no idea Teagan was capable of something so underhand. She... she seemed so lovely...’

‘Didn’t she just?’ Dulcie scoffed, snatching the glass. ‘Lots of people aren’t what they seem. Everyone has an agenda.’

‘Well, I don’t!’ Heath exclaimed – the first of many lies to come. He grabbed Dulcie’s bony hand. ‘I’m all too aware of how awful people can be. Is there anything I can do to help you get your diamonds back? Why don’t we call the police? They’ve stolen from you, after all.’

Dulcie paled. ‘I can’t call the police!’ she snapped. Quickly remembering herself, she looked down at her hands, ensuring her bottom lip trembled. ‘Not after Helen... It would remind me too much of... of...’

Sniffing loudly, she pulled a handkerchief from the sleeve of her cardigan and dabbed at her face. ‘It probably sounds bizarre to a young man like you, but although I know the diamonds are worth a fortune, when you get to my age it’s betrayal that’s more important.’

No it wasn’t – well, a little. Robert’s betrayal stung, but those diamonds were her insurance. The one she’d been waiting to cash in for decades, but she had to make Darren Harding believe otherwise. The last thing she wanted was him thinking he was doing her a bloody favour by involving the police!

Heath nodded. A likely story. Dulcie wanted those diamonds as much as he did, but he didn’t want the police round either. If he played his cards right, then he’d talk her into believing he was the key back to happiness. He’d step into her beloved son’s shoes.

Here was an opportunity – a good one and he was going to take it. ‘I do understand – at least to a certain extent. My own grandfather was murdered because of underhand people.’ He sighed dramatically. ‘It was a scandal because he was having an affair with a dancer at the club he worked at and he was murdered by the dancer’s husband or someone connected to him. I don’t know, but it’s something that’s haunted my father all his life. You’d think he’d be cross that his father was playing away, but he felt awful for the other woman too. I mean, two women left devastated by my grandfather’s death.’

Heath shrugged sadly, hoping his acting skills weren’t letting him down. Would Dulcie fall for it? ‘After I was finally told why I didn’t have a grandfather, I became convinced these people would come after me.’ He laughed sadly. ‘I felt the name I inherited was cursed, so the moment I turned eighteen, I changed my name. I haven’t told anyone about this - not even Teagan, so I don’t know why I’m telling you!’

Dulcie’s beady eyes scrutinised Heath. ‘Your grandmother must have hated this other woman.’

Heath shrugged. ‘I think she did initially, but the few times she ever spoke of it she always worried something had befallen her too. She tried to find this other lady but never managed to track her down.’ He smiled sadly. ‘She never will now, because she died recently.’

Nerves fluttering, Dulcie weighed up the conversation and hid her inner glee to hear that Sophie Pointer, the sour bitch, was no more. ‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ she gushed. ‘Can you remember the dancer’s name?’

Heath wrinkled his face in mock concentration. ‘I can’t think now... Was it Faith? No, Faye. That’s it - her name was Faye.’

Dulcie swallowed the newly formed lump in her throat and quelled the urge to reach out and touch the young man’s face. Another piece of Michael. She’d been right all along. Right, in as much that this boy was a relation of Michael’s but not