Birds Of A Feather Episode 26
“Have you seen enough?” Jess asked Rob after they watched Kevin Brigstocke come out of the garage and go into the house.
He nodded and followed her back down the stairs and into her kitchen.
She sat down at the table and gestured to him to sit opposite.
“Now you can tell me why you pretend to be a stranger to Little Billington when you’re not.”
He gave a wry smile.
“I didn’t think I’d get away with it, but it was worth a try. You’re right. I was brought up in the house we’ve just been looking at.”
Jess stared at him.
“Then you must be –”
He nodded.
“I’m Rupert Heston-Plucknett. Or Hissing-Plucknose, as your neighbour calls us. I’m Daphne and Geoffrey’s son.”
“But why call yourself Rob Jenkins?” she asked.
“I’ve always called myself Rob. My mother’s the only person on the planet who calls me Rupert. As for my surname, I wanted to come here without drawing attention to myself.”
“But I thought Daphne’s son had a high-flying job in New York, earning big bucks and running an investment company single handedly.”
Rob pointed to his faded jeans and washed-out sweater.
“Do I look like I’m earning big bucks? My mother has a talent for creating a world she prefers rather than the one she lives in.”
“So the expensive private boarding school? The First from Cambridge? Was that part of your mother’s fantasy?”
“Sadly, no. Those two are true. I did go to an expensive boarding school and I hated every moment, apart from the art lessons.
“I was good at maths as well as art and got a place at King’s College, Cambridge, which is where I met my girlfriend, Alice. We lost touch after we graduated.
“She went to London to study journalism, while I turned my back on a career in corporate finance, much to my parents’ horror.
“I backpacked around the world for a couple of years.
“When I came back, I was broke,” Rob continued. “My mother was giving one of her dinner parties the evening I turned up. She didn’t even recognise me.
“When she realised it was me, she gave me fifty pounds and told me to go away before her guests saw me. That was the last time I saw her until today.”
“Your father!” Jess exclaimed, remembering Geoffrey. “How is he?”
“He’s still in intensive care. It’s a question of waiting and hoping. My mother told me to leave. I guess even at a time like this she’s afraid someone might see me.”
“Maybe she’s in shock,” Jess murmured.
He nodded.
“Possibly. But she said something that made me want to go and check it out for myself.”
“Something to do with Billington Grange?”
Rob nodded.
“She said how much she hated Brigstocke and how everything had gone wrong since he appeared on the scene.
“His construction company built that triple garage we were looking at.
“That was six months ago and she thought at the time it was because he was closely involved with Dad’s building supplies business and it was just somewhere to store surplus stock.
“It’s my bet it stored a bit more than a few nails and pieces of timber.”
“So where does Alice fit into all this?” Jess asked.
Just thinking about Alice made his stomach tighten as guilt flooded back.
In the first months following her death, it had been almost unbearable, and it still had the power to knock him sideways.
Was it his fault she’d been involved with Kevin Brigstocke’s case?
Alice had always been ambitious, and he’d often wondered if the reason she got involved with him in the first place had been because of his father’s connection with Brigstocke.
If he could turn the clock back he’d never have said the things he did that day.
He would never have let her go off while she was still furious with him.
“Rob?” Jess’s voice brought him back to the present. “You don’t have to answer that.”
He shook his head.
“Alice was an investigative journalist. She was working on a story about Brigstocke and some scam he and my father were allegedly involved in.
“She was on her way to interview my father when she had a car accident. She died at the scene. It was my fault.”
“How do you make that out? Were you driving?”
“I wasn’t there. She wanted me to go with her, but I refused. It felt disloyal to him for me to be there.”
“But she couldn’t have expected you to be present at the interview, surely? That would have put you in an impossible situation.”
“No, she didn’t. She just wanted me to drive her. We had a blazing row and I let her go. The last thing I said to her before she stormed out was that she’d used me to get at my father.”
“And did she?” Jess asked gently.
He gave a sad smile.
“That’s something I’ll never know, isn’t it?”
She looked thoughtful for a few moments.
“Is that why you took the unit at Folly Farm? To give you cover while you found out what was going on?”
“Yes and no. I’m making a decent living from my pottery.
“Thanks to some friends from uni, who work in the art world, I’m getting my work in some pretty prestigious galleries.
“The unit at Folly Farm came up at the right time. I needed to expand and this was the perfect opportunity.
“I intend to be at Folly Farm for some considerable time.”
Jess smiled.
“I’m delighted to hear it. So what are you going to do about Brigstocke? Are you going to take over where Alice left off?”
“I’d like to, but I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“I may know someone who could help you there. He’s a private detective,” Jess said.
Rob stood up.
“I’d best be getting back to the hospital. Thanks for listening. I’ll have a think about that detective.
“I can’t help thinking my father may have been set up as the fall guy.”
As Jess saw him out, the door of Elsie’s cottage opened.
“How’s your father?” she asked Rob.
Rob and Jess exchanged a startled glance.
“How did you know that?” he asked.
“Because she’s a witch,” Jess said with a smile.
Elsie cackled.
“Folks can change their hair and their clothes, but they can never change their eyes.
“I knew I recognised you, but couldn’t place you until now. How is he?”
“Still unconscious,” Rob replied. “I’d best be off. Thanks, Jess. I’ll get back to you about that other thing.”