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‘Because we’re partners. And I don’t believe you’re as bad as she depicts you.’
He grunts. ‘Worse. I’m worse. I’m absolute scum.’
‘Stopsayingthat. We all know you’re not.’
He smirks. ‘What the hell do you know about me, Emmie?’
‘I know you’re not a bad person. I know something happened that hurt you.’
He’s silent, his eyes lost on the ceiling.
‘Let me help you, Jago. Let everyone help you to get back on your feet.’
He snorts. ‘Help? No, Emmie. There’s no help for the likes of me. I’m dead inside, and out.’
‘But, Jago…’
‘Emmie, stop. You’ve seen how I drink. I reckon I’ve got a few good years left in me before my liver packs up, but I’m going to live them my way. Not expecting anything from life.’
‘But why? You’re still young, Jago. Please. Please let me help you.’ Without realising, I’ve migrated into his personal space, my face inches from his. ‘Please let me do this.’
His eyes shift from the ceiling to mine. Lying here like this, he still looks formidable, only his huge dark eyes betraying his vulnerability as they peer almost hopefully at me. If I can get him to hope, I can get him to live.
‘That’s sweet of you, Emmie, but no. Not gonna happen. Bums like me just don’t put themselves back together again because they have a couple of friends. It doesn’t work like that. For your own sake, just stay away from me. Go home.’
In the past, I’d have fled a mile from someone like him. The bad boy, the tough one on the street. But there’s something about Jago that I can’t define or describe. He’s not the bad man he portrays himself to be. I’ve seen him perform selfless acts. Heard about the brave things he’s done. Of how everyone loved him and protected him out of the memory of the man he used to be.
There has to be something of that man somewhere inside him still. A man with integrity doesn’t simply disappear into thin air, no matter what happens to him. There has to be a reason for someone to go through such a drastic change. And there’s only one person who can explain.
*
After Janice arrives and settles herself, I leave Jago and march all the way into Starry Cove, up Rectory Lane and through the gates across the grounds of Heatherton Hall.
She’s sitting in her drawing room, calm and composed, as usual, in one of her elegant suits. I’m aware that I’m a mess, stomping through the house like an enraged bull, that my bag is falling off my shoulder, that my hair is in my face and that I look like I’m about to crown someone. That someone being Lady Mary Heatherton-Smythe.
‘Oh, Emily,’ she greets me as I barge in on her and a group of elderly women. ‘Come and meet—’
‘What thehelldid you say to him?’ I demand, heedless of all the ladies in haute couture sitting around sipping their tea.
She looks around the gathering, wide-eyed and innocent.
‘I beg your pardon? Are you alright, Emily? You seem upset.’
‘You thinkI’mupset? You ought to see Jago Moon! What the hell are you up to, Grandmother?’
‘Dear Emily, you are not thinking straight and are being rude to me. What couldIpossibly say to Jago Moon that would make him any more of a mess than he already is? The man is a lowlife. And you would be wise to stay away from him, as I have instructed you to do so many times in the past.’
‘Instructed? You don’t instruct me, Grandmother!’ I roar. ‘Nor will you continue to intimidate people into avoiding him. Because of you and your stupid influence, a lot of people have turned their backs on him, and I want to know why. And I want to know what you did to him.’
‘Me? My dear girl, you must be out of your mind. Or perhaps,’ she titters, turning to her appalled friends for support, ‘seeing the company you keep, you must be drunk, too.’
‘I’m not drunk, Grandmother,’ I assure. ‘But there is a man who’s lost the will to live and I know thatyouhave something to do with it. So tell me, what exactly did you say to him? Did you threaten him with your lawyers even when I asked you not to? Why can’t you just leave him be? You have so much money already, and if Nano perceived it a good idea to leave him some of his assets, I don’t see why it should bother you.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘No! Nopardon, Grandmother. You’ve treated me with indifference at best ever since I got here. Remember that I didn’t ask for anything. You had your solicitor write to me. Because it was actually too difficult for you to pick up the phone or write me a line or two welcoming me to the family.’
She stares at me as if I’ve gone mad. Maybe I have. But I’m no longer willing to be pushed around by anyone, be it Audrey, Stephen or my grandmother. Because I don’t know anyone who’s been ignored by her entire family without ever having done anything to deserve it.
