Page 48 of The Book of Irish Secrets
Please come to the flat asap. I need to know what you’re doing here.
The flat? Claire read the message again. Was Rose in her flat? In that case, she must have seen all the stuff on the table, all the material Claire had gathered about the Fleury family. ‘Oh no,’ she exclaimed and picked up her jacket and bag. As she rushed out of the office, she bumped into Karina.
‘Hey,’ Karina said. ‘Are you leaving already? I thought we could discuss?—’
‘I have to get back to Magnolia Manor,’ Claire said. ‘Sorry, Karina, it’s a… a… family emergency. I’ll call you later.’
‘A family emergency?’ Karina said. ‘What family?’
‘I’ll explain later, promise,’ Claire said and pushed past Karina, breaking into a run down the corridor.
‘Okay,’ Karina said. ‘Talk later, then.’
Claire didn’t reply but raced out the front door and jumped into her car which she had parked outside. Then she drove down the street that, as luck would have it, was empty of traffic. She drove as fast as she could down the road, speeding up the avenue to the manor, and pulled up by the front steps in a shower of gravel. Then she ran in through the front door, up the stairs and into her flat, where she found Rose standing at the table, gazing at all the documents and other material. She looked up as Claire arrived.
‘There you are,’ Rose said in a cold voice.
‘Yes,’ Claire said. ‘But how come you’re here in my flat?’
‘I have a key and I let myself in to put a fire extinguisher in the kitchen. I forgot to do that when you moved in. I think I told you about that?’
‘No, you didn’t,’ Claire replied.
‘Well, it’s in the regulations,’ Rose said. ‘So that’s why I’m here. And then I saw all this.’ Rose gestured at everything on the table. ‘Please explain what all this means.’
‘It’s not what it looks like. I can explain,’ Claire said.
‘I certainly hope so,’ Rose snapped. ‘This looks like you’re planning some kind of heist, or identity theft or something.’ She stared at Claire. ‘Who are you and what are you really doing here?’
Claire’s legs suddenly turned to jelly and she sank down on a chair. ‘It’s a long story. But first maybe I should tell you who I am.’ She paused for a moment, trying to gather up enough courage to continue. ‘My name,’ she started, ‘is Claire Fleury. And I’m your third cousin.’
TWENTY-SEVEN
Rose blinked and stared at her. ‘How is that possible?’ She shook her head. ‘No, I don’t believe it. You’re lying.’
‘I’m not,’ Claire protested. ‘Louis Fleury, Cornelius’s twin brother, was my great-grandfather.’
‘Cornelius had a twin brother?’ Rose stared at Claire with big eyes. ‘How come we’ve never heard of him?’
‘They fell out,’ Claire said, not surprised that Rose didn’t know. She had been worried that they’d immediately reject her when they found out about Louis and that she was his great-granddaughter. Now Rose confirmed that she hadn’t been told about Cornelius’s twin brother – or the feud. Sylvia, on the other hand, seemed to have known something about a brother, but how much did she know about the feud?
‘Fell out?’ Rose asked. ‘About what?’
‘I’m not sure yet,’ Claire said. ‘That’s what I’ve been trying to find out. All I know is that there was a big row about something and Louis left Magnolia Manor when the twins were in their twenties, never to return.’
Rose listened for a moment, still looking at Claire incredulously. ‘You’re making this up,’ she said and felt for herphone in her pocket. ‘I’m going to call Noel and ask him what I should do. You’re obviously some kind of impostor.’
‘No, I’m not, I swear,’ Claire exclaimed. ‘Please, Rose, listen to me for a moment,’ she pleaded. ‘I have lived with this sad story all my life, you know. We knew there had been some kind of rift long ago and that it had caused a huge upset. We were not to talk about it, though. A forbidden subject never to be mentioned. My father and grandfather refused to tell us anything. But my great-aunt Rachel, Louis’ daughter, put together that family tree and collected all the photos that she found when her father died and put it in a book that was sent to me after she died.’
‘That’s the weirdest story I ever heard,’ Rose said, still looking doubtful. ‘So how can you prove it?’
Claire stood up and pointed at the page with the family tree in Auntie Rachel’s book that Rose had left open. ‘You must have seen this.’
Rose looked at the page. ‘I only just opened it.’ She looked at the page. ‘These are all the family names from way back.’
Claire nodded. ‘That’s right. All the Fleurys who lived at Magnolia Manor since it was built. And then, as you can see, there is your branch of the family, and ours. It was drawn up by my great-aunt Rachel.’
Rose studied the family tree for a few minutes without speaking. Then she looked up and met Claire’s gaze. ‘This is unbelievable.’
