The Legacy: Trouble Comes Disguised As Family (Unspoken Book 2) T. Belshaw (management books to read .txt) 📖

‘I’d really appreciate that, Wade. I have a couple of important articles to write up and there’s a deadline looming.’

As Wade powered off up the lane to the ear-splitting noise of the drum and base, Jess closed the door and walked through to the lounge. She had been trying to psyche herself up all morning to make a second visit to the attic. She had finished reading the 1939 memoir and the 1940 notebook, along with the ones that covered the rest of the war, were in a tea chest in the far corner of the loft.

Jess found the room unnerving to say the least. She had heard so much nonsense about the attic from her family when she was growing up, that she found herself on edge even thinking about climbing the stairway that led up to it. She only went up last time because Alice had requested it and she often found the swaying figure she had seen in the cobweb-covered full-length mirror, haunting her dreams. Alice had said it was probably her best friend, Amy, checking up on her and she shouldn’t be frightened, but Jess was still reluctant to find out whether the figure had been a trick of the light, or a message from beyond.

‘I know, Nana, I’m just a wuss,’ she said aloud.

She decided to build up to it in stages, and walked slowly up to the first-floor landing where she made her way to the window at the front of the house and looked out over the lane. Taking several deep breaths, she was just about to turn to embark on stage two of her mission, when a battered old car with a late-nineties number plate pulled up on the drive. Two men in their early thirties, wearing badly fitting suits, got out of the car and walked quickly to the front door. Jess, relieved at having the trip to the attic postponed, stepped briskly down the stairs.

She opened the door to find one of the men standing on the top step, the other stood at the bottom, looking nervously up and down the lane.

‘Hello, love,’ the man on the top step said, slipping his foot into the gap between the door and the frame.

Jess, thinking the pair were Jehovah’s Witnesses, or a team working for an energy firm trying to get her to swap providers, smiled politely and waited for him to continue.

‘Is your dad in? We’d like a word.’ The man on the bottom step turned and fixed her with a thin smile.

‘Why would he be in? He doesn’t live here,’ replied Jess.

‘Well, in that case, we’d like a word with you,’ said the taller of the two.

Jess began to feel very nervous. ‘I’m all ears,’ she replied, with more confidence than she was feeling.

‘We represent… let’s call it an insurance company.’ The man closest to Jess pushed his hand into his pocket, Jess expected him to produce a business card but he didn’t. Instead, he withdrew the hand, patted the pocket, then let it fall to his side. ‘The company hasn’t been paid the instalments on the life policy, so we,’ he pushed his thumb towards the man behind, ‘are here to collect.’

Jess closed the door an inch.

‘I don’t have life insurance,’ she said, fighting to keep control of her voice.

‘No, you don’t, but your father does, and he told us last week, that you would pay the instalments he owes. We don’t expect you to have the full amount in cash, obviously, so you have a choice. You can get the money by tomorrow, or you can just pick up your phone and transfer the money. Call this number when you’re ready and you’ll be given an account number to pay it into.’

The man put his hand into his pocket again and pulled out a folded piece of paper.

Jess suddenly felt anger stir inside her.

‘And just how much are you asking me to pay?’

‘Fifty thousand. I know it was forty, last week, but with the interest…’

‘You have to be joking. I don’t have anything like that kind of money, and I wouldn’t give it to you if I had.’ Jess tried to close the door but the man pushed his knee into the gap and leaned in closer.

‘Well, you had better find a way of getting the money, love. The debt is now a joint one. One of you has to cough up, and since your father doesn’t appear to be able to pay, the onus falls on to you.’ He narrowed his eyes and stared into Jess’s from about a foot away.

Jess lifted her shaking hand and pushed a stray hair out of her eyes.

‘I told you, I can’t just put my hands on that kind of money. I—’

‘FIND A WAY!’ The man glared at her, then his voice became as cold as ice.

‘It will be best for both you and your father, if you pay up without any fuss because, when we find him, and we will find him, you could be forking out for a funeral, on top of the debt.’

Angry tears misted Jess’s eyes. She rubbed them away with the back of her right hand.

‘I’m not going to be blackmailed like this. I’ll call the police.’

‘I wouldn’t if I were you,’ the man on the bottom step joined in the conversation. ‘Not if you know what’s good for you.’ He fixed her with a cold eye. ‘These remote old houses can be scary places when you live alone like you do. I bet it would go up like matchwood.’

The taller of the two men dropped the piece of paper into the hall. ‘You have until noon tomorrow. I think bank transfer would be easiest. Tell them you’re investing in an insurance company.’ He looked over Jess’s shoulder into the hall. ‘You might want to think about buying a policy for yourself, anyway. As my associate said. These old houses go up like tinder.’ The man looked hard at Jess. ‘We aren’t the only