The Nurse(22)

She reared back as if I’d hit her. ‘Really,’ she said, the tone of her voice saying clearly that she didn’t believe me. ‘Well, in that case, I’ll leave you to your own company.’

I hadn’t seen her since. It wouldn’t be her at the door.

I gulped down the last of my juice and got to my feet. It might even be someone interesting, someone to shake me out of the melancholy that was swamping me.

The person standing on the doorstep didn’t look too promising. A craggy face was topped by a sunburnt bald head that was streaked with thin parallel lines of white hair. Stumpy legs stuck out from under a pair of creased cotton shorts and looked as if they struggled to support the grossly protuberant belly.

‘Yes, can I help you?’ I said, regretting having answered the door.

‘Lissa McColl?’

Had he been better dressed, or at least not wearing shorts that showed off knobbly knees and the start of varicose veins, I might have thought he was a social worker coming to check on how the daughter of a dead father and broken mother was coping. Whoever he was, he knew my name and that made me nervous. ‘Who’s asking?’ Rude, but necessary.

He held his hands up defensively. ‘I’m sorry, I should have introduced myself first. My name is Alan… Alan Burton.’

It was a struggle to keep my expression locked in neutral. Of all the scenarios I might have predicted, this wasn’t one of them. A brother or possibly a husband of the woman I had killed. Maybe Olivia too had been guilty of the crime of bigamy. Now wouldn’t that be a laugh?

But I wasn’t laughing when I stood back to allow him to enter. I tried to shake off the melancholy that was making my thought processes sluggish. Whoever this man was, it was essential to watch what I said. ‘Come on through,’ I said, shutting the front door and leading the way back into the kitchen. ‘Have a seat. Would you like a cup of tea or coffee?’

‘Tea would be good, thank you.’

Rather than sitting, he prowled around the kitchen, picking up and putting down the ornaments and mementos my mother had collected over the years: seashells from various beaches, a smooth stone from a river, a pottery elephant my father had bought her in Arundel because she’d admired it. This strange man picked up each and peered at it suspiciously.

‘Here you go,’ I said, putting a mug of tea on the table and positioning a jug of milk within reach. I waited till he’d sat and added milk to his tea before speaking again. ‘Alan Burton, you are I assume related to Olivia.’

He took a miniscule sip of the hot tea before nodding. ‘Yes, she’s’ – he shook his head and stuck out his lower lip – ‘I can’t get my head around saying was as yet. But yes, Olivia was my sister.’

I raced to find my place in the script. ‘Was? I’m sorry, I don’t understand.’

He sighed. ‘Ah yes, I’m sorry, of course you don’t know yet. I was speaking with her solicitor yesterday afternoon. I’m sure he’ll contact you today and I’m sorry I rushed the gun it’s just…’ His already heavily line faced creased even further and I thought he was going to cry.

‘Olivia is dead?’

‘Yes.’

‘I’m sorry for your loss. I never met her, of course, I didn’t know she existed till recently.’ I let my breath out in a trembling sigh. ‘You’re obviously aware that she was never legally married to my father.’

‘Yes. Livvy rang me when she found out. She was distraught about his death and stunned to find out the lie they’d been living. I met him a few times. Such a charming man, so full of life, funny and kind. Livvy adored him. I still can’t believe it was all a lie.’

‘It came as a shock to us too. My mother was particularly affected by it.’ He didn’t ask where she was, perhaps the solicitor had told him. ‘It was obviously too much for Olivia too.’

He took a gulp of the tea and wiped a hand over his mouth. ‘No, you don’t understand! She didn’t kill herself; she was murdered. A burglary. It was in the papers; I’m surprised you didn’t see it.’

I held my hand over my mouth and widened my eyes. ‘Oh no! That was her? A neighbour spoke about a woman being killed during a burglary recently, I didn’t see the article though so never saw the name.’ It was nice to be able to tell the truth for a change.

‘It was a shock. I was her only living relative which is why I went to see the solicitor yesterday.’

To see what he was going to inherit. I guessed this was where the real shock lay for him. He’d have assumed the house was hers after the death of her husband. What a come down it must have been to discover he was to get diddly. There was nothing for me to say, so I waited.

‘Mr Brooks told me Olivia had a life interest in the house which now reverts to your mother.’ His smile was wolfish. ‘And to you, of course.’

I didn’t think a reply was necessary and merely nodded.

‘I gathered from him that your mother isn’t expected to make a full recovery though,’ he said, assuming an expression of fake concern. ‘That must be so hard on you. Only sixteen and to be alone in the world.’

I can’t believe the very careful solicitor had been so free with information. It looked to me as if Alan Burton had gone to a great deal of trouble to find out the details of my situation. I just wasn’t quite clear why. Not yet anyway. But I wasn’t kept in ignorance for long.