Page 186 of The Pearl Sister
‘Oh yes,’ Star said as she brought the trifle over. ‘But now I want to hear about your adventures. Especially with Ace. How did you meet him? What was he like?’
So I told her, and as I did, I remembered how kind he’d been to me. And felt sad all over again that he thought I’d betrayed him.
‘Are you going to see him in prison?’ she asked me.
‘He’d probably get me thrown out,’ I said as I scraped the last of the trifle out of the bowl. ‘I suppose I could try.’
‘The question is, did he do it?’
‘I think he did, yeah.’
‘Even if he did, as Mouse said, it’s doubtful that he would have done it alone. Why aren’t others at the bank coming forward?’
‘’Cos they don’t want to spend the next ten years banged up?’ I rolled my eyes at her. ‘He did mention something about somebody called Linda knowing the truth, whoever “Linda” is.’
‘Don’t you think you owe it to him to find out? Perhaps he’d forgive you if you tried to help him.’
‘I dunno, ’cos when I think about it, it was like Ace had just accepted the situation, given up.’
‘If I were you, I’d put in a call to the bank and ask to speak to Linda.’
‘Maybe, but there might be more than one of them.’
‘So, it wasn’t love or anything?’ Star continued to probe.
‘No, though I really, really liked him. He was thoughtful, you know? He was the one who sent off for the biography about Kitty Mercer – that’s the person who Pa had said in his letter that I should investigate. Ace read the book to me after I told him I was dyslexic.’
‘Really? Wow, that doesn’t sound like the Ace we’ve all been reading about in the papers. They’ve made him sound like an absolute jerk: a hard-drinking womaniser who only cared about making more millions.’
‘He wasn’t like that at all. Not when I knew him, at least. He only had one glass of champagne the whole time I was staying with him.’ I smiled as I remembered that night.
‘So that’s Ace. Now what about your birth family? Did you find them?’
‘Yeah, I did, though most of them are dead. My mother for certain – and my father, well, who knows where he is.’
‘I’m sorry, Cee.’ Star reached out her hand to grasp mine. ‘It’s like that with my biological father too.’
‘It’s fine, though, because the person Ididfind is fantastic. He’s my grandfather. He’s an artist – and a pretty famous one at that.’
‘Oh Cee, I’m so happy for you!’
‘Thanks. It feels good to find someone who shares the same blood, doesn’t it?’
‘Yes. Go on then, tell me all about how you found him, and who you are.’
So I did. Star’s eyes were out on stalks as I brought her up to the present day.
‘So, you’ve got Japanese, Aboriginal, German, Scottish and English blood in you.’ She counted the nationalities off on her fingers.
‘Yup. No wonder I’ve always been confused,’ I grinned.
‘I think it sounds exotic, especially compared to me, who turns out to be English through and through. So weird, isn’t it, how your granny, Sarah, and my mum came from the East End of London? And here we are, living only a few miles along the river from where they were born.’
‘Yeah, I suppose it is.’
‘Did you bring any photos back of your paintings?’
‘I forgot, but I think Chrissie took a shot of the first one I did with my camera. I’ll get the roll developed.’
