Birds Of A Feather Episode 38
Rob had been staring at Alice’s notes ever since Jess left.
He had no intention of giving up on the investigation into Kevin Brigstocke, in spite of what he’d told her.
This was something he had to do on his own.
He’d meant it when he’d told Jess that Brigstocke was a dangerous man.
The investigation had already cost Alice her life. Rob didn’t want anything to happen to Jess.
And if he found out his father was involved in criminal activity? What would he do then?
But he couldn’t believe it. His father was a good man.
A bit weak, he supposed, particularly when it came to dealing with his wife, but he ran a successful business, having taken it over from his father and grandfather before him.
But was that still the case, he wondered, now that Kevin Brigstocke was involved in the company?
After his mother turned him away from the hospital yesterday, he’d driven round to his father’s place of business on the other side of the town.
When he had arrived he was surprised to see it all boarded up and a sign announcing the coming of a development of two- and three-bedroom houses in place of the one that used to read Heston Building Supplies Limited.
Rob had assumed at the time that his father had done what he’d been vowing to do for years and sold the town centre property and moved to a more accessible site at a small out-of-town business park.
But was that the case? Or was Heston Building Supplies on the point of bankruptcy? Had he sold Billington Grange to Brigstocke to stave it off?
He gathered up the notes, put them back in the folder and stuffed them in his rucksack.
There was nothing to be gained sitting here thinking. It didn’t matter how many times he read the notes, they were never going to make any sense.
There was only one place he’d find the answer. His father’s desk.
Geoffrey had always been meticulous.
He didn’t employ office staff, but kept all the records himself in a big old-fashioned ledger.
Rob reckoned if he could just see that ledger, or look at a set of the company’s accounts, it might help him to get an accurate picture.
In Billington Grange his father had had a very grand study, with a lovely old desk that had belonged to his grandfather angled to overlook the garden.
Rob hoped the desk had made the move to the Old Post Office and had not been left at Billington Grange for Kevin Brigstocke to use.
The thought of that man sitting at his grandfather’s desk started a slow burn of anger inside him.
He locked up his workshop then drove down to the Old Post Office.
His mother’s car was not there. She was, he assumed, still at the hospital.
With a bit of luck, she’d stay true to form and he’d find a spare key tucked into a small crack under the rim of an ornate stone urn that had made the journey from Billington Grange.
It wasn’t the most secure hiding place. His father was always going on at her about it, but she refused to take any notice.
He felt under the rim, located the crack and, sure enough, there was a key.
He let himself in. It was weird to see familiar pieces of furniture in an unfamiliar and smaller setting.
The hall cupboard which had graced the entrance to Billington Grange for as long as he could remember almost filled the hallway of the tiny cottage.
The place was crammed with things suited for a much larger house.
He could only imagine how his mother would hate this.
The only picture on the wall in the hall was one of him on his graduation day.
He paused for a moment and looked at the confident young man he’d appeared to be that day, with his proud parents on either side of him, his mother dressed up to the nines.