Chapter 54
‘What’s up?’ Jason said.
‘Nothing.’
Everything. Sabri lowered the window to let some fresh air into the car.
The farting invariably began within minutes of leaving her parents’ house after supper.
She’d yet to determine which of the four was responsible; probably all of them.
Tonight’s meal had been unusually heavy on pulses and vegetables, not to mention spices.
There were times when she suspected her mother of doing it deliberately.
Her husband gave an audible sigh.
They were drawing closer to the sewerage treatment works. On balance, her family’s emissions were the lesser of two evils and so she closed the window.
Jason tried again. ‘You upset about what your mum said?’
Instinctively, Sabri gave him the combination of glare and head jerk that meant not in front of the kids. Glancing behind, though, all three were intent on their phones. Darren even had headphones on. She and Jason could be planning their cold-blooded murder and they’d remain oblivious.
Sabri said, ‘Since when has my mother been an authority on the scriptures? She went to time and trouble to dig that one up.’
Jason shifted in his seat, as though trying to raise one buttock and let the fart out without her knowing. ‘I switch off when she starts talking about Paradise,’ he admitted. ‘She made it clear years ago I’m going nowhere near it.’
‘According to the prophet, if anyone deprives an heir of his inheritance, Allah will deprive him of his inheritance in Paradise on the Day of Resurrection.’
Jason thought for a second. ‘How does that work then? You are the heir.’
‘I think she meant Quick’s real heirs are his children. If I take his money, I’m depriving them.’
‘You got off lightly.’ Jason slowed down as they approached a speed camera. ‘Your dad wanted to know if it’s because of some deal I’ve been involved with. I think he suspects I’m head of a criminal gang.’
Sabri’s dad knew perfectly well Jason didn’t have the brains to head up a gang of any sort. He’d made no secret of despising his son-in-law over the years; or his daughter for the choice she’d made.
‘You’d think, of the whole world, my own parents would be supportive,’ she said. ‘Maybe offer a bit of genuine advice. Hell, investment tips wouldn’t go amiss. I mean, how do we even begin to handle millions of pounds?’
‘We’ll cope, love. It’s a nice problem to have.’
Sometimes she wished she had Jason’s uncomplicated approach to life.
‘She’s got so used to me being the family disappointment, she can’t cope with the idea of anything going right for me,’ Sabri said.
‘And if we become rich, even marginally better off than we are now, if I don’t have to go cap in hand to her and Dad next time there’s a bill we can’t pay, if we don’t rely on them for the school trips and the mobile phones and the extra sports equipment … ’
‘Babe, you need to breathe.’
‘They lose power over us,’ she finished. ‘And I don’t think they can cope with that.’
Jason looked puzzled; most of her family dynamics went over his head.
‘You know what she said to me when she was giving us our coats? She said, You need to ask yourself what you’ve done, Sabri, to earn that level of good fortune. And if you can’t answer, that will tell you something.’
Her phone pinged.
‘That your new secret thread?’
Jason could be a twat at times. She’d shown him the WhatsApp group, The Famous Five, the day Tara set it up, had let him read the thread several times. She’d made no attempt to keep it secret.
Or maybe she needed to calm the hell down. ‘Tara’s worried about Robin,’ she told him. ‘He’s reading all the messages but not replying. She’s asking him outright if he’s OK.’
‘Any sign of the other two?’ Jason asked.
‘Not so far.’
‘And still none of you know each other?’ Jason turned into their road and slowed down to meet the new twenty-mile-an-hour speed limit.
‘It’s hard to be sure from photographs and that glimpse we had of Cheryl on TV, but I could swear I’ve never met her, Holly or Robin. Tara looks familiar, but she would. We worked for the same NHS trust for years.’
Jason pulled into their drive behind Sabri’s car.
The Tesla had been returned undamaged, thank God.
She’d made Jason promise not to spend any more money, but he hadn’t been smart enough to hide the suspicious wrappings she’d found in the outside bin.
After that, it had been the work of minutes to find the new shirt in the wardrobe and the trainers at the back of the boot cupboard.
‘Sab,’ Jason said.
‘We home?’ Bethany muttered from the back seat.
‘Sab,’ Jason repeated. She followed his gaze to where the front door of their house stood open.