Chapter 8: The Call with James
"I'm glad you picked up," he said.
He sounded relaxed.
Prepared.
"You said you wanted to talk.
I'm listening."
"Look — last night got out of hand.
Mason shouldn't have kicked the ball inside.
I get that.
And Mum overreacted.
I'm not saying she didn't."
"You're not saying she didn't," I repeated.
"What I'm saying is, there's a bigger picture here.
The family's been under a lot of stress lately.
Mum and Dad aren't getting any younger.
There's a lot to manage.
And when things get tense, people say things."
"Like what, James?"
A small pause.
"Like what you said to Mum.
About never being the favourite.
About Dad always choosing me."
"I didn't say that."
"She was very upset about it."
"I didn't say it.
Not to her, not to anyone.
You know I didn't, because you're the one who told her I did."
Silence.
Shorter than I expected.
"I don't know what you think you've found out," he said.
The relaxed tone was still there, but something underneath it had shifted.
"But you're making accusations that are going to damage this family a lot more than a broken TV."
"I haven't made any accusations.
I'm telling you what I know."
"And what do you know?"
"I know you've been texting Dad for at least six weeks.
Building a case against me.
I know you walked Mum and Dad into a solicitor's firm run by someone you used to work with.
I know you sat in on their estate meetings.
And I know that last night, before dinner, you told Dad that my husband had been asking questions about the estate behind everyone's backs."
The silence this time was longer.
"You've been talking to Sandra," he said.
"I've been talking to a lot of people."
"Sandra doesn't know what she heard.
She was in the kitchen.
She got half a conversation."
"She heard enough."
"This is exactly what I've been telling them." His voice had changed now.
The warmth was gone.
"You take one small thing and you build it into something enormous.
You've always done this.
You've always made everything about you."
"The will, James.
What did you change?"
"I didn't change anything."
"Then you won't mind if Mum and Dad ask to review the documents with their own independent solicitor."
Nothing.
Three full seconds of nothing.
"That's completely unnecessary," he said.
"You're going to upset them over nothing.
Dad's health isn't great.
You want to put him through that?"
"I want him to know what he signed."
"He knows what he signed.
I was there."
"That's the problem," I said.
Another silence.
Then his voice came back, quieter, harder.
"You bring an outside solicitor into this, you're telling Mum and Dad that you don't trust them.
That you think they're incapable of managing their own affairs.
Is that what you want them to think?"
"No.
I want them to think clearly.
Without your help."
"I'm warning you," he said.
"You push this, you lose them.
Completely.
I've spent months making sure they're protected and looked after, and you've spent that same time doing nothing.
Who do you think they're going to believe?"
"I think," I said, "that you've spent months making sure they're positioned.
Not protected.
And I think when Dad actually looks at those documents himself, he's going to see the difference."
James hung up.
I set the phone on the table.
My hands were completely steady.
My husband appeared in the doorway.
"How did he take it?"
"He threatened me.
Then he hung up."
"Good," my husband said.
"Guilty people threaten.
Innocent people explain."
I nodded.
"He knows we're close to something.
We need to move faster than he expects."
"Pete called while you were on with James," my husband said.
"He already spoke to your father."
I looked up.
"Already?
I thought he was calling tonight."
"He said he couldn't wait.
He said something in our conversation this morning made him pick up the phone." My husband crossed the kitchen and sat down across from me.
"Your father asked Pete to come over this afternoon.
He wants to see the documents himself."
Something shifted in my chest.
Not relief.
Not yet.
But the first edge of it.
"He's going to look," I said.
May you like
"He's going to look," my husband said.
"And James doesn't know that yet."
