Miranda’s Family

Chapter Twenty-One

After they’d finished their refreshments, which included the men accepting the offer of the rest of the biscuits remaining on the plate and eating them with relish, Libby cleared the tea things away.

She was about to rejoin the others at the table, when Miranda stood up and announced, ‘I can’t put this off any longer, much as I’m dreading it. Let’s all of us investigate what’s in the box now. If that woman was so keen to take it away, it must be important and I’d value other opinions on what we find.’

‘How about we take it into the dining room and spread the contents out on the big table there?’ Libby suggested.

‘Good idea. Ryan and I will fetch it down for you.’ Col said.

They brought it and set it on the table. ‘It’s a rather nice box and when you study it more closely, it looks to be a lot older than I’d thought,’ Col said.

They all took a closer look.

‘Strange that we didn’t notice that before,’ Libby said. ‘It can’t have been handled much to stay so clean. There’s only some surface dust on it. But you’re right to be careful, Col. We don’t want the box to slip and send its contents scattering everywhere. I’ll help you carry it.’

‘No. I’ve got it.’ Ryan went to the other end and the two men nodded at one another and picked the box up at the same time then followed the women slowly towards the dining room.

Libby had stopped just inside the doorway to stare round and was now making some soft tutting noises. ‘It’s a long time since I’ve seen such a dusty set of furniture. Don’t put that box of papers on the table yet, guys, or they’ll get dirty when we pull them out. Can you hold it for a little longer and I’ll go and find a duster or something I can use as one.’ When they nodded, she hurried past them back into the kitchen.

When she didn’t return as quickly as they’d expected, Ryan said, ‘Let’s put the box down on that occasional table in the bay window. It’s surprisingly heavy.’

‘We should stand near it and stay there out of her way,’ Miranda suggested. ‘It won’t take her long, I’m sure. I’ve never seen anyone who can restore order to a place as rapidly as Libby.’

Her friend returned brandishing what looked like a small tablecloth. ‘I couldn’t find any cleaning materials. They’re not stored anywhere obvious, that’s for sure. But this was in a kitchen drawer and should do the job adequately. It’s a well-worn piece so I doubt it’ll matter to the new owner if we damage it.’ She flourished it at Miranda.

‘It wouldn’t matter to me even if it were brand new, it’s so ugly.’ She scowled at the garish pattern round the edges of the cheap material.

‘I knew you’d love it as much as I did.’ Libby grinned as she whisked round the table and dining chairs with her improvised duster. Then she rolled it up and dumped in on a hard chair in one corner before gesturing. ‘Go ahead and set the box down. The table and chairs should be all right now, clean enough not to mess the papers up when we spread them out, which is the main thing. I’ll wash that old tablecloth another time, or just tear it up for rags as is.’

‘Rags!’ said Miranda firmly. ‘I couldn’t live with those ugly so-called flowers round the edges. They don’t look like any blossoms that I’ve ever seen.’

Everyone chuckled at her vehemence and the men put the box at one end of the big table, after which Ryan waved one hand at the two women to signal that they should take charge of it.

Libby lifted off the lid, doing it carefully because it had very pretty patterns inlaid in it. She held it out to admire it for a moment and show it to the others, then stood it on end against the wall and sat down again waiting for her friend to deal with her new possession.

Miranda peered at the contents then lifted the edges of a few of the tightly packed papers it contained, first ones near the top then selecting others at intervals lower down to get some idea of how its crowded contents had been arranged and how old they were. Mostly they seemed to go by date, but occasionally someone seemed to have been careless, or had they been hiding some information? It was hard to tell.

Near the top she found used envelopes stapled to papers she presumed were the letters they’d contained, some just scribbled on, others typed neatly. She read a couple but they were simply arrangements to meet at times long gone. There were also occasional slender folders of various thicknesses and who knew what else these contained?

She didn’t stop to find out at the moment but looked round at the others. ‘This box seems to be full to bursting and with a mixture of what looks like business paperwork. Someone must have been stuffing stray documents, old letters and who knows what into it any old how for decades. They can’t have been pulling most of them out again, either, so they’re more or less in date order still.’

‘You may as well start at the top, then,’ Libby suggested.

‘I just want to see what’s at the bottom first.’ Miranda grasped a handful from near the bottom and lifted one edge, staring down at what was near the bottom in surprise. ‘Good heavens! Some of these papers lower down are from decades ago, well before I was born! They just seem to have been dumped in the box and left there ever since, then others dumped on top of them. See, they’re not crumpled and most look brand new, though the paper is slightly yellowed with age, perhaps.’

Libby frowned down at the ones she’d pulled out then at the box still crammed with papers. ‘How should we organise ourselves to sort it all out accurately? We don’t want to just pile these in random heaps, surely?’

‘How about we first decide on the best way to sort out the papers roughly,’ Col suggested. ‘And after that’s done, we should look at how to group them further. It should be how you want to make a more specific investigation from then on, Miranda, because these belong to you now and possibly refer to your ancestors. I doubt we’ll be able sort many of the piles out properly today, whatever method we use. There are a lot and they look to be in a right old mess at the moment.’

Libby waited a moment or two and when neither her friend nor anyone else volunteered any other suggestion, she glanced at Miranda, who nodded at her slightly, so she took charge and began organising them with her usual efficiency, passing each person a pile of papers, but keeping the individual piles together and going round from one person to another and checking, then warning everyone not to mix up their piles since the papers were already more or less in date order.

‘Now, let’s each make an initial check of our own pile. We can flick through them then share our findings. I don’t think doing this by dates alone will be much use as we get further into things.’

There were more nods and murmurs but they were all looking at her for more specific guidance, she could tell. People at work often did ask her help about arranging and organising things once they got to know her and admire her skill at that.

‘Once the box is empty, we can each go through our pile quickly, trying to get some idea of what it contains: envelopes, letters, other papers, miscellaneous scraps, whatever we find.’

She waited and when they nodded, she handed fistfuls out. ‘Here you are. Just look through your own fistful.’

They began to do this and found it fairly effective, but as they were getting near to emptying the box and about to start flicking through their own piles, Libby sat staring at the things in front of her. ‘These papers at the bottom of the box looked different, so I kept them together.’

She used both hands to lift out two faded, scruffy folders from the box. Each folder looked to be chock full of loose papers and letters.

She took a quick look at a few, then said, ‘I think someone has sorted these out already. They’re very fragile so I’ll have to go slowly.’ She had to hold each one with both hands and move it carefully to stop the contents sliding out. Then she set them down one on top of the other in front of herself. ‘I’ll just take a quick look at this one.’

But when she opened the top folder and began to go through the top papers she gasped, looking shocked. She checked a few more pages, not saying a word, only holding up one hand to stop them interrupting her concentration.

She was looking more and more upset and the others stared in surprise, exchanged glances and waited quietly for an explanation.

Instead, Libby closed that folder then passed it with the other one from the bottom of the box to Miranda. ‘Take a quick look at the top papers.’

While her friend was doing that, Libby turned to the men and said, ‘I think it may be better if Miranda and I sort these out initially on our own and then go through them with you later, since we both have some idea of the Westerby family background and the – the implications of these.’

‘Does that mean you already have some idea about what the contents are dealing with?’ Col asked.

Libby hesitated, then said, ‘I don’t exactly understand all the details, but they seem to contain some rather private information that Miranda should see first and think about, before even I look at the rest of them.’

They looked at her in surprise, especially as she shot them a quick, pleading glance and put her forefinger to her lips in a gesture to keep silent and then set an example by waiting, motionless. But she was unable to hide how really worried she was about something she’d found.

It was Ryan who caught on to her unspoken plea first. ‘Why don’t you two go into the next room then and take a preliminary look in peace? You can spread these papers out on the table there, the one near the bookshelves. Col and I can keep watch on the approach to this house from here as well as continuing to go through some of the other piles of papers and making sure those papers are in the right sets, give or take. Or we can just leave them and wait for further instructions.’

‘I think we should wait. But it could be even more important now to keep watch.’ Libby picked up her own folder and beckoned to her friend. ‘Come on, love. We’ll go and spread these out next door.’

But the minute the two of them were alone, Miranda asked, ‘What were all those meaningful glances about? You’ve looked at more of these papers than I have. I’m a bit puzzled by what I’ve seen so far and it just doesn’t make sense. Is this something else my great-aunt has done that needs to be broken to me tactfully?’

Libby hesitated, then nodded and gestured to the folders. ‘It looks like it, I’m afraid. I only know because I got this pile first. If what I’m guessing is correct, these are definitely the papers your great-aunt would have been eager to destroy. She must have asked that horrible Selma creature to do it if she died before she had sorted out the information she wanted to keep from you permanently. Why don’t you have a quick glance through them and I’ll wait for you to tell me what you think before I have another look or do anything else.’

Miranda shot her an anguished glance, then reluctantly picked up the top folder of the two and removed its contents.

‘Take all the time you need, love. Even a quick glance told me that they’re going to be extremely important for you.’

She gave Libby a little nod, took a deep breath as if bracing herself and began to study the papers from the top folder as her friend set them aside, drawing in sharp breaths of shock several times before they’d got even a quarter of the way through the contents.

After a while, both women finished reading the first group of papers in the folder and looked at one another. Miranda said in a choked-sounding voice, ‘These aren’t forgeries, are they?’ It was a statement as much as a question.

‘I don’t think they are. In fact, I now think the others you were given must have been the forgeries, made to look as if they were the family papers. These that we’ve now found seem to me to be the genuine ones. Both sets look old, but these seem old in more subtle ways, now that I can compare them. Some have slight wrinkles and faint marks here and there as if they’ve been handled and looked at dozens of times.’

Miranda looked more closely and nodded. ‘Yes. I agree.’

Libby took over again. ‘And my other big reason is that some of these have a smell I recognise from regularly visiting research libraries during my university years and working as a weekend volunteer in a small private reference library for a few years at one stage. I think of it as the smell of truly old papers and books. You can’t mistake it and I don’t think you can fake it.’

‘I could smell that too and I agree with you about it. Why would anyone have falsified the first set of documents, though?’

She stared blindly down at the piles of papers, then answered her own question before Libby could say anything else. ‘The forged ones must have been to keep the genuine information about my family away from me. I don’t know why she even kept the latter, though. To gloat, perhaps, or to check information she wanted to add to it.’

She fell silent for a moment or two then her pain burst out. ‘Was there nothing that horrible woman wouldn’t do to spoil my life? Even after she’s dead she seems to be reaching out to hurt me.’

After a moment she tapped the pile of papers with her right forefinger as she worked out the answer to her own question. ‘She wanted to make sure I couldn’t find out who I was genuinely related to.’ In spite of her efforts to stay calm, a sob escaped her and she pressed a hand to her mouth. ‘Cutting an orphaned child completely off from her remaining family was vile. Why would anyone do that?’

‘I can’t think why she did it but it shows she was utterly wicked and selfish beyond reason.’

‘Or vengeful about something!’

‘Yes. The latter I’d guess. You’ve always said you could tell she hated you but you didn’t understand why.’ Libby frowned and stared at the papers again. ‘You know, these could have far wider ramifications than only affecting you. She must have known about your real family connections for years, perhaps even kept an eye on where some of these other people were living. They’ll surely want to know about your existence too. How would you feel about that?’

‘About having genuine relatives? I’d be over the moon.’ Miranda’s voice broke.

Libby didn’t say anything, only gave her friend a hug. She knew how it had always upset Miranda not to have any relatives at all apart from that horrible Phyllis and one distant cousin whom she’d never even met.

Miranda asked hesitantly, ‘Do you think we should keep this information to ourselves at first? Not because I don’t trust Ryan and Col, but because the fewer people who know, the safer the information will be.’

‘Hmm. I’m not sure I agree about that. Apart from any other considerations, as a police officer Col might have access to some helpful sets of data that aren’t available to us. Or know people who could help you.’

‘I never thought of that. And he may be able to help us to keep those papers safe from that Parnham creature. But there are quite a lot of them to hide easily. I don’t want to lodge them in a bank because I want to carry on going through them. Give me time to think about it.’

‘All right.’ Libby shrugged. ‘So we’ll just keep them either with us or somewhere safe in the house. The information they contain is going to impact on other people’s lives as well as yours in the future.’

‘Who knows what other branches of my family will be revealed and how that could affect their future children, not just as an inheritance but if they need financial help from the Trust.’

Libby nodded. ‘It’s there for members of the family who have emergencies, after all, isn’t it, not just for the heir?’

‘Yes. Ah, who can be sure of anything at this stage?’ Miranda ran one hand through her hair, not seeming to realise how wild and untidy she was making it.

Her friend continued to study the papers. ‘We’ll have to tread very carefully indeed till we’re one hundred per cent certain we understand the whole situation.’

There was dead silence for a few moments, then Miranda wiped away some more tears that had escaped her control, whispering, ‘Fancy trying to take all my family connections away from me and leave me alone for the rest of my life! What could have made her hate me so viciously?’

Libby gave her a quick hug and said in a whisper, ‘Perhaps we should leave worrying about that for the moment and concentrate on getting settled in here. And I don’t think we should reveal anything about it to other people until we’ve gathered a lot more information, which includes that distant cousin of yours, the one your great-aunt left tenancy of the cottage to. Whatever you decide to do, you know I’ll help you in any way I can.’

Miranda gave her a wobbly smile. ‘I’d rather taken your willingness to do that for granted because you feel so much like a close relative. Are you sure you want to help me sort things out? I feel guilty asking you when it’s not your family and blood relatives involved.’

‘Didn’t you mean it when you adopted me as your aunt?’

She stared at Libby in surprise. ‘Yes, of course I did. But I didn’t think it’d bring you such troubles and difficulties to face, ones as nasty as these may turn out to be, since we’re dealing with my great-aunt and the Parnhams.’

‘Well, too bad. You’ve got me by your side now, through thick and thin. You feel like family and I no longer have any close relatives left in England, so I need you as well as genuinely caring about you.’

After another pause, she added in a low voice, ‘The enormity of what your great-aunt did, her horrible unkindness and deliberate neglect of you, all the lies she told – well, it sickens me as well as you. Two heads are usually better than one in solving problems, as the saying goes, especially when dealing with such a puzzling situation.’

Miranda nodded. ‘I agree. So I think our first step has got to be to rough out what we can of the genuine family tree, then hide the originals we’ve found somewhere safe. In this era at least we can photocopy them and store them digitally as well as finding a physical hiding place for the originals. Phyllis never came to terms with doing things online, so didn’t really understand what can be done or found digitally, or what can be hidden there, so that’s a weakness in her planning that may be to our advantage long-term.’

‘And I wonder whether the Parnhams are any better at managing things digitally.’

‘It’d help if they weren’t but you can’t guarantee anything.’

‘Well, we’ll keep our eyes open and hunt for the truth, whatever it may turn out to be. Thank you for trusting me to help you.’ Libby patted her arm. ‘I’m sure that other people will benefit as well as you if we can sort out the nasty mess that woman left.’

‘Didn’t just leave – created. Of course I trust you. And I promise you that whatever we find out, you will never stop being the family of my heart, even if you and I are not blood relatives and even if we find others to whom I am related by birth.’

The two women hugged one another again quickly, both blinking more sentimental tears away, then Libby said slowly and thoughtfully, ‘I’ll do what you want about it but I still think it’d be better to tell the guys what we’ve found out. Col will have a lot of contacts from his years in the police force and he may also be able to point out different avenues of enquiry to pursue. And Ryan is a really decent and intelligent person. Who knows what he’ll be able to contribute? I can’t help liking him, can you?’

Miranda’s face softened into a smile. ‘No, I can’t. And he also lives nearby in case we’re attacked in some way. I just wish that guy didn’t have the right to live in that nearby cottage. What was my great-aunt plotting when she left him that?’

‘Who knows? He may be much stronger than either of us so could be physically dangerous. I wonder if we could set up some sort of loud electric alarm, one where we can press a button and let Ryan know we have a problem. I trust him implicitly, don’t you?’

‘Yes, I do. What is there about some faces that makes you feel sure they’re owned by good people?’ Her expression softened again as she said this, then she frowned and went across to look out of the window.

Miranda sighed. ‘I can’t help wishing I didn’t feel so threatened still, but I do. I feel the need to check everything around me.’ She shivered. ‘There’s something going on and if she planned it, you can be sure it won’t be good for me.’

‘We have enough on our plate at the moment sorting out these papers that your great-aunt arranged to have destroyed.’

‘This all sounds so horribly melodramatic, doesn’t it? I’d just like to settle down to a normal home life here and make a few friends. Maybe even find a family by marriage.’ It was what she’d longed for most of all since her mother died when she was a teenager.

Libby gave her shoulder a quick squeeze. ‘We’ll cope, love. And I’m sure we shall gradually make new friends in the village.’

‘I know we’ll cope and work things out in the long run, but what we’ve found out so far isn’t just melodramatic; it’s a true horror tale as far as I’m concerned,’ Miranda said bitterly.

After a pause she added, ‘I still find it hard to believe what my great-aunt has done to me, how she separated me from my real family from when my father died. I was only a small child than. She must have started making plans and fooling my mother straight away. And I fell into her hands like a ripe fruit waiting to be stamped on when it dropped off the branch after Mum died. There have been so many lonely years and I had to learn the harsh lessons of facing the world alone.’

‘Well, you coped. You’re a strong woman now. And you’ll never be so alone again. The past is fixed, but the future can still be changed into a better focus.’

‘Yes. And perhaps you’re right. If the guys are settled round here, we should include them and tell them what’s going on.’

Libby stood up. ‘I’ll go and ask them to join us, then, and outline briefly what we’ve found. All right? I’ll not bring them back quickly. You’ve had a horrible shock, Miranda. Take a few minutes to calm down.’

‘Thanks. A little quiet time does sound rather good.’

Libby went into the next room and outlined the situation succinctly to the two men, who stared at her in shock when she finished explaining what had happened to her friend over the years.

After a moment or two’s thought, Col asked a few questions, shaking his head sadly at the answers. ‘What that old woman did was criminal as far as I’m concerned, but it’s too late to call her to account for it now. Pity. But we can try to make sure her housekeeper doesn’t carry out any of her late mistress’s wishes.’

‘We’ll do more than try; we’ll succeed. I’m determined on that,’ Libby said.

‘Good.’

‘We’ll give Miranda a few more minutes to pull herself together, shall we?’ Col suggested.

‘Yes. And then we’ll see if we can find some practical ways to help her to deal with the whole situation. In the meantime, you two can show me what you’ve sorted out from the rest of the papers.’

‘Not much of interest, I’m afraid. It was those two folders which revealed most, showing exactly what that harridan had been up to and that has given us a lead to the true extent of the situation.’

‘There is one paper which might lead to another family connection,’ Ryan said. ‘Not as close a relationship as Miranda’s but still this guy is somehow connected to her and her family. Let me find it. It must have slipped off.’ He fiddled about and came up with a scruffy-looking piece of paper and held it out to Libby.

She glanced at it and nodded. ‘Yes. But I think it’s the start of another trail, so put it away carefully and we’ll look at it in more detail later. We can’t solve every problem at once.’