The Winter Sea (39 page)

‘
No!
’ shouted Jenny. ‘No way! That’s not true! There is no way that Pat did any such thing. Good Lord, what a cesspool of lies everyone is swimming in down there! Never. Never ever. You know what sort of a man your father was. They must have the wrong Patrick Sullivan.’

‘Mum, Mum, I know. That’s how I feel too. Dad was so special, but . . . what if . . . what if there is something to it? When he was young? I mean, I don’t know all that much about his past, do you?’

‘Well, no,’ agreed Jenny. ‘He was not a man for looking over his shoulder at the past. He always told us to look to the light ahead. I never had any interest in his past because he didn’t. Maybe that’s one of the things I liked about him, he didn’t come with any of that family baggage that can drag you down. He always said it was just the three of us against the world . . .’ She started to cry.

‘I agree with you, Mum. It’s just too unbelievable . . .’

‘What does your Michael say?’

‘I haven’t spoken to him. I texted him to call me but I haven’t heard from him yet. I feel so awful. I don’t know how he’s going to take all of this. I mean, my father . . . his grandfather, it’s such a terrible coincidence. I can’t get my head around it all. No matter how I try to sort it out, I can’t make any sense of it.’

‘One thing’s for certain, we need to find out more. I have to come down. Patrick was my husband. I need to know what happened,’ said Jenny, her voice sounding firmer. ‘I’ll be there as soon as I can.’

‘Okay then,’ said Cassie. ‘Mum, before you go, do you have any old letters from Dad tucked away that could give us a clue as to what this is all about?’

‘No, no old letters. You know how your father hated to keep junk. He always said how much simpler life is without accumulating anything that isn’t necessary. I have nothing of his past at all.’

‘I remember.’

‘As far as your father was concerned, if it didn’t involve either of us, it was irrelevant to him. He was so devoted to you and me, Cassie,’ said Jenny.

‘I know, Mum. He was a fabulous father. He was always there for me. That’s why I can’t believe what Frank told me.’

‘All I really know about your father’s background is that his parents came from Ireland and his mother died in a traffic accident and as soon as he could he went out into the world on his own. He never mentioned anything else about his family so I assumed he had none.’

‘Mum, I can only think that all of this is a horrible mistake and the mess will sort itself out.’

‘You might be right, Cass. Why don’t you try to contact the solicitor who drew up Ricardo’s will? Maybe he can explain everything.’

‘Good idea, Mum. I’ll have to find out who it is though. Anyway, I’ll let you go. See you soon.’

For a few minutes Cassie felt buoyed by her mother’s suggestion, but then she thought of Michael and spent a restless night wondering what she could say to him. Surely by now he would have heard about the will. Probably the Aquinos were already planning to contest it.

In the morning sunshine, watching Bill chase the seagulls dive-bombing around his morning toast, Cassie began to think about the big picture. Why had she been left so much money in Ricardo’s will? She thought back over the five-minute conversation she’d had with him after his party. It had been completely inconsequential. She was pretty sure Michael had introduced her only by her first name. He had never mentioned the name Holloway, let alone Sullivan. Would Ricardo have known from that brief meeting that she was Patrick Sullivan’s daughter? It seemed unlikely. To him, she had been just another guest.

She finished breakfast and pulled out the phone book and started to make a list of the local solicitors. One of them must have drawn up Ricardo’s will.

‘How’s it going, boss? Anything special you had in mind for today?’ Steve appeared with a notepad, ready for their discussion of the menu.

‘Not really. Are you heading to Frank’s for seafood?’ asked Cassie.

‘Yeah. Thought I might check the wharf, too. See if anyone has come in with something they want to sell on the QT. Been a few casual fishing boats passing through.’

‘Well, if you do that, keep your head down. We don’t want to upset Frank, our main supplier, by buying from someone else,’ said Cassie.

‘No worries. There seem to be a lot of mussels around at present. Always popular.’

‘How well do they freeze? Is it worth stocking up?’ asked Cassie.

‘Why would we want to do that? We pride ourselves on food fresh from the sea.’

‘You’re right. My mistake. Take no notice. I’m a bit out of sorts today. Give me a call if you have any questions. See you when you get back.’

‘Righto. It’s not like you not to be on top of every detail,’ he said, giving her a puzzled look as he walked towards the door.

Cassie gave him a weak smile as he left and poured herself another cup of coffee as her mobile jangled on the table next to her. She stared at the caller’s ID. Michael.

She took a deep breath. ‘Hi.’

‘Hi to you.’ There was a pause. ‘Cassie, the whole family knows about Ricardo’s will. Can I see you?’

‘Oh God, Michael . . . I knew nothing about any of this, I swear. I’m just so shocked . . . I can’t believe it. I don’t know why Ricardo left me all that money. I had no idea that my father was connected with your family. You have to believe that he was a good man.’ Cassie could hear herself babbling but she couldn’t stop.

Eventually Michael said, ‘Yes. You’ve told me that many times. Can I come over?’

‘Yes. Yes, please.’

Cassie hung up, and started replaying the conversation in her head. Was he going to take Frank’s side and think that she had done something to extort the money from Ricardo, or was he going to believe her when she said that she had no idea what was going on? Michael had sounded calm, but maybe he was too calm. Perhaps he was being detached.

She rushed upstairs, threw off her old T-shirt and put on a clean blue silk shirt over her jeans. She smoothed her hair and added a touch of lipstick and mascara and the jasmine perfume Michael liked. She didn’t want to look too contrived, especially first thing in the morning, but neither did she want to appear as wretched as she felt.

Michael rapped at the door rather than wandering around the side to the deck as he normally did. The formality alarmed Cassie but she tried to sound casual and normal.

‘Hi, the door’s open. We’re around the back.’

She was throwing stale bread over the railing of the deck, and watching the small mullet leap for the crumbs as Bill splashed about in the shallows, attempting to catch the fish or at least a chunk of bread.

‘Hi.’ Michael gave her a smile and then there was a momentary hesitancy on both their parts. Cassie stepped forward and kissed him on the cheek.

‘I’m so glad you came. Coffee?’

‘Sure.’ He leaned down and called to Bill. ‘Mate, there’s bread over there, forget the fish!’

But Bill was over the whole exercise. He sploshed rapidly from the water and dashed around to the deck to greet Michael, who fussed over him.

Cassie brought two mugs of coffee, handed one to Michael and then sat in the deckchair beside him.

Michael sipped his coffee and eyed Cassie over the rim of his mug. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘I feel terrible! I can’t work out what’s going on, and I’m scared you’re going to hate me for what’s happened.’
She knew her voice was rising but she was close to
tears.

Michael leapt to his feet and went over and wrapped his arms around her. ‘This is a nightmare, isn’t it? My poor darling. Of course I’m not going to hate you. My grandfather died more than fifty years ago, long before I was born. Neither of us can be held responsible for something that happened so long ago. It had nothing to do with us. I should have come over straight away last night, but I was dealing with a cow in labour and I couldn’t leave it. I was very surprised when I learned that Frank’d told all the other members of the family, including my mother and my sisters that you must have said something sinister to Uncle Ricardo on the night of his party to make him leave you all that money. I was with you all the time you were talking to Uncle Ricardo. It was a nothing conversation. You didn’t say anything to him of significance, unless you were talking in some obscure code. I’ve let all my family know that.’

Cassie smiled at Michael, relieved that she had his support. Trixie was right, he was the sort of man who would make up his own mind and not be persuaded by the opinions of others. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him.

‘Michael, I’m so glad that you’re okay with this,’ she said. ‘Can you tell me, does anyone in your family know the connection between your family and my father? Did he work for them? He never mentioned their name to either my mother or me, but there has to be something – otherwise why would Uncle Ricardo leave me so much money?’

‘My mother has no idea. She was way too young to remember the death of her father and later on no one in the family ever wanted to talk about it. She thinks that was because no one wanted to upset my great-grandfather Joe, who was devastated by what had happened.’

‘Michael, what am I going to do? I can’t just accept the money if I don’t know why he wanted me to have it. I feel as though I’m stealing from your family.’

‘Cassie, that’s nonsense, but we need to find out why you were left the bequest. Don’t you agree?’

‘I do. I desperately want to find out, too. I don’t want it to come between us.’ She looked at him with tears welling in her eyes.

‘It won’t come between us, Cassie. Are you sure your mother knows nothing about this?’

‘Positive. Mum and I have racked our brains. Dad never talked about his childhood, his past. Now I guess we know why. We have to find the answer through your family.’

‘And for the moment none of them are saying anything. That’s not surprising, I suppose. They’re as stunned by Uncle Ricardo’s will as you are. But Uncle Ricardo must have had a good reason for leaving you all that money. We just have to find out what it was. Sweetheart, I can’t stay here any longer. I have a surgery to open and you have a restaurant to run. I’ll see you as soon as I close up. But I was thinking, Uncle Ricardo’s solicitor is Bruce Walker. He’s worked for Uncle Ricardo for years. He might have an idea why you were left the money.’

‘Thanks, Michael. I’ll give him a ring and set up a meeting. I’m sure he’ll tell me I’m the wrong Cassandra Sullivan and that all this is someone else’s nightmare.’

‘Chin up, Cass. We’ll work it all out eventually. And remember, I’m on your side,’ he said as he tenderly kissed her goodbye.

Michael was right, she did have a business to look after, and, as if to prove it, her mobile phone rang almost as soon as he had driven off.

‘Hey, Cassie, it’s Steve. We have a problem.’

‘That’s not great. What is it?’

‘No seafood. For some reason, Frank Aquino has struck us off his customer list. I’m hunting around other places for fish, but suddenly I feel like a bad smell. No one wants to sell anything to me. Have you got any outstanding bills or something like that?’

‘No way. Listen, Steve this isn’t unexpected though I’d hoped it wouldn’t actually happen. There’s a bit of a family feud blowing up with the Aquinos and I’m the focus of it. Can you source fish anywhere else?’

‘I could phone a mate of mine to see what he’s got. Bit of a drive, halfway to Nowra, to get it but that might be what we have to do.’

Cassie dragged her hand through her hair. ‘Ring and see what he has. But you won’t have time to go and get it. I’ll ask Geoff. Is the rest of the menu sorted?’

‘Other than the seafood, yes, it’s all taken care of.’

As soon as Steve hung up, Cassie rang Bruce Walker’s office and asked to speak with the solicitor. The woman on the other end said that Mr Walker was presently engaged with another client, but she would let him know, and she was sure that he would ring back at his first opportunity.

After the lunch service had finished, Steve unbuttoned his white jacket and leaned back in a chair. ‘Just as well we didn’t have a lot of people in. Seafood was a bit stretched. We ran out of mussels.’

‘Look, Steve, there’s this family issue that I think I should fill you in on before the gossip starts.’

Steve held up his hands. ‘Don’t worry, Cass, I’m not going to listen to the gossip. Hearsay multiplies into untruths, I always think.’

‘I’d like to tell you anyway. I think I need to tell you, with this seafood situation. Frank Aquino told me yesterday afternoon that his grandfather Ricardo left me a quarter of a million dollars in his will.’

Steve stared at her and gave a long whistle. ‘I see.’

‘No, you don’t see.’ Cassie went on to explain what Frank had told her. ‘And now it sounds like he’s made good on his threat to tell everyone.’

Steve nodded slowly. ‘So Frank’s doing payback. And your relationship with Michael? I suppose that’s now considered a bit suss too?’

‘No, Michael believes me and is as confused as I am about this whole business.’

‘This sounds like a TV script,’ said Steve.

‘Sure does. Steve, I won’t be happy until I get to the bottom of it all. Either I find out why Uncle Ricardo left me all that money, or I prove that I’m not the Cassie Sullivan named in the will.’ She spoke with more determination in her voice than she actually felt and suddenly added, ‘You don’t think the restaurant was so quiet today because of what Frank’s been saying, do you?’

‘Don’t be paranoid, Cassie,’ said Steve. ‘Let’s wait and see how things pan out. This Aquino thing could all be just a flash in the pan. They’ll settle down.’

‘I’m not so sure,’ said Cassie, thinking of the money in the will. ‘Do you think I should confront Frank about this?’

‘Not for the time being. The customers won’t starve. I’ll be able to source whatever we need.’

‘Thanks, Steve,’ she said, trying to muster a smile.

Just then the phone rang and when Cassie picked it up the voice on the other end introduced himself as Bruce Walker.

‘I’m the solicitor handling Ricardo Aquino’s estate,’ he explained. ‘I’m sorry that it has taken so long to get back to you, but I’ve had to deal with some other priorities.’