‘That must have been awful for you. I still can’t believe it,’ Imogen said, both upset and relieved that she hadn’t been with her mother at the end.
‘No. It doesn’t feel real. I only just got her back.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Imogen said. She was genuinely sorry that they had spent all those years apart. Arranged marriages seemed so archaic and she just couldn’t get her head around the fact that he hadn’t fought for her and her mother, that he had chosen someone else.
‘Do you believe in fate?’
‘I try not to think about it. I don’t know what I think about things like that. I barely believe in coincidences though.’
‘I think maybe your mother and I weren’t meant to be. The obstacles were too many for it to be an accident.’
‘I’m not sure where you’re going with this.’
‘I think that me and her were never about us. I think we were brought together so that you could exist. I think you are the reason we fell for each other. You are special, important in some way.’
‘Isn’t everyone?’ Imogen said, brushing off the compliment. Is this how he let himself off the hook for not being around?
‘Maybe, yes. Your mother loved you very much, even though I know you struggled together, but because of your struggle you are a remarkable person.’
‘Is that what you tell yourself? That me growing up without a father is fine because it was character-building?’
‘I’m sorry to make light of it. I am sorry I missed all those years with you.’
‘I’m not. We did OK,’ Imogen said more defensively than she intended.
‘We can talk about the past if you want to. We can talk about why I wasn’t around.’
‘I know – you had to marry a good Greek girl and my mother wasn’t one.’
‘That’s true. I did have to marry someone I didn’t want to,’ Elias said, a hint of exasperation in his voice.
‘So why did you?’
‘Arranged marriage is a complicated thing that seems quite alien to people from other cultures. We were in financial trouble and my father had promised. I couldn’t dishonour him and so I married into the family.’
‘So, your money isn’t yours, it’s your wife’s?’
‘No, I worked hard and made sure not to repeat my father’s mistakes; my money is my own. Kiki has taken her half and we are now in the process of getting a divorce.’
‘And your children? Did you ever love their mother?’ Imogen said, still confused as to how he could have left them both.
‘Not like I loved your mother,’ Elias said, staring into his empty whisky tumbler.
‘So, what changed in your marriage?’
‘Our parents died, and we didn’t feel the same way about divorce as they did. She was in love with someone else, also. Our parents were the only winners in that situation. But we got our boys and we love them very much.’
‘All sounds very amicable,’ Imogen said, finding it hard to believe that the relationship that stopped her from having a father was that easy to dissolve.
‘It is.’
‘What do they think about me?’ Imogen said. Elias, a man who had been a ghost when she was growing up, suddenly thrust in to her life during a murder investigation barely a year ago. She had always been an only child and so it was hard to think of herself as an older sister to three grown men.
‘Your brothers? Surprised, but they want to meet you.’
‘They do?’ Imogen hadn’t even considered meeting his children, but hearing Elias call them her brothers made that seem inevitable and her discomfort returned.
‘Yes. We’re having a family gathering soon, would you like to come?’
‘I don’t know. It feels too soon for that. I can’t just get a whole new family now that my mother has gone.’ Imogen said. Irene was the only parent she had ever known; she had longed for more when she was younger and now that her mother was dead, she felt like it was wrong to replace her immediately.
‘At least consider meeting with me properly – we could have dinner on Friday night.’
‘I’m sorry. It’s too soon. I need more time.’
Imogen stood up and left her half-finished gin on the counter. This was all too strange. First he wanted to get to know her, now he wanted her to meet her brothers. Just the word brother sounded alien to her in this context; she had no reference for it. It didn’t mean anything to her, not in the same way as mother did, not in the same way that orphan did. That’s how she felt, orphaned, even though her father was sat right opposite her. It didn’t matter; she was all alone in the world now. No more Greys.
He stood up and held his hand out for her to shake. She took pity on him, knowing full well that she was the only person he could truly share his grief over her mother’s death with. She put her arms around him and felt his tension ease within her embrace. From now on, he would be the only connection she had to her mother, too. She had to consider carefully what to do next. There was a whole other world that she could immerse herself in, but the idea of it scared her. She was only just getting accustomed to the one she was living in now. Imogen needed to decide whether she wanted all her life changes to happen at once, get it over with. Could she handle any more heartbreak?
‘Please state your name for the tape,’ Imogen said. She had barely got into work when she was informed about the young girl waiting to be processed and questioned.
‘Caitlin Watts,’ the girl said, not looking at Imogen but clearly sizing Adrian up.
‘And how old are you?’
‘I just turned nineteen.’
‘You were spotted breaking into the old chapel on Smalling Street, is that correct?’ Adrian said.
‘Yes, I’m sorry.’ She tilted her head down, keeping her eyes on him.
‘Was there a reason for that?’ Imogen asked.
‘Not a good one. I just wanted to see if I could,’ Caitlin said, still staring at Adrian.
Imogen noted that there was no nervous disposition with this girl at all; she seemed almost defiant, even a little defensive. What was her game?
‘We’re trying to get hold of the reverend in charge, who will tell us if anything is damaged or stolen.’
‘He’s away at the moment, gone to some pilgrim site in Kent.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘Because I live with him,’ Caitlin said with a hint of a smile. ‘He’s my grandad.’
Imogen tried to gauge whether this was a lie or not; there was something very hard to read about Caitlin, a dishonesty about her. She looked over to Adrian, who shook off his surprise at this revelation very quickly and recomposed himself. Imogen could tell the girl was fixated on getting a reaction out of Adrian; her strange flirtation seemed to be working on him, he was visibly flustered by her.
‘Do you have any way of contacting him?’ Adrian said.
‘Not for a couple of days. He will be back before the weekend, though. He’ll tell you that nothing is missing or damaged; I’m