She was up to speed with everything. Anne-Marie Carr was going to give her full daily reports on all the major events happening within the company, and Diana had been surprised at how interested she had been in her first missive.
‘I need to tell you something,’ she said slowly.
Coming over here, she had wrestled with what she was about to say.
‘It’s not easy to do this,’ she began. ‘But please believe that what I’m about to tell you is the truth. Believe me when I say that I want the right thing for your family. For you, for Charlie, for Julian.’
Ralph frowned. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘I know that Elizabeth is the favourite to take over the CEO job, and I don’t think that’s right.’
She couldn’t pause for breath, she couldn’t look him in the eye. Part of her felt traitorous saying this. Without Elizabeth she felt sure that her sister would not be tucked up soundly asleep; in fact she hated to think what might have happened to her. But she also felt quite strongly that people had to account for what they had done.
‘As you know, I got Rachel to look into Julian’s death. I did it because I had to know the truth. Rachel did her job, she did a great job, but she found out more than she’d bargained for, more than she wanted to know.’
She closed her eyes, knowing that what she was about to say could blow the Denvers even further apart. The words were right there, settling on her tongue. Elizabeth’s involvement with Susie McCormack. The plan to seduce Julian so that he would be irrevocably tarnished, so discredited that Elizabeth would get his job. But did she want to put his family through any more pain?
Tears were prickling at her eyes.
‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be telling you this,’ she whispered finally.
‘Don’t worry. We know what Elizabeth did.’ Ralph’s low baritone was so soft she could hardly hear it.
‘You do?’ she said incredulously.
He looked up and met her gaze directly. ‘Knowledge is power, Diana. How do you think I built such a successful business?’
He took off his panama hat and put it on the table.
‘After the scandal, we had that girl, Susie McCormack, investigated. Tracked, if you like. My team became aware of communication between Elizabeth and Susie, communication that suggested that they had been involved in the scheme together. If you ever wondered why our daughter didn’t get the CEO job on my retirement, then there is your answer. Sometimes you can be just too ambitious, too ruthless, and that leads to recklessness and mistakes. She is a brilliant executive but she will never get the top job. Not while I am alive anyway.’
‘Did you ever think she was involved in Julian’s death?’
‘Not for one moment,’ he said, his eyes burning a little more brightly, as if Diana had crossed a line. ‘As a parent, you know that your children will make mistakes. But there are some things that you just cannot accept them doing. Some things your mind, your instinct as a parent will not let you even countenance.’
Diana looked to her left and saw two tears running down Mr Denver’s crêpey cheeks, one slightly ahead of the other.
‘I had one motto when I ran the business. Learn from your mistakes, but always look forward. Never back. A new CEO will be appointed for the Denver Group, and for the first time ever, that person will not be a member of the Denver family.’ He gave Diana a small smile. ‘Perhaps it’s not a bad thing to have some fresh blood whilst we wait for the next generation.’
‘Next generation?’
‘You know how proud we all are of Charlie. He is growing up into a very fine young man indeed.’
He had stunned her into a relieved and happy silence.
‘You are still part of this family, Diana. If my daughter made you feel that you weren’t, then I apologise for that. I was angry when I heard what you had asked Rachel to do. Of course I wanted to know how my son died, but I was too scared to look myself. I didn’t want to look, because I knew that whatever we found, the blame would come back to me.’
‘Back to you?’
‘Did the stress of running the family business kill him? Was his depression some hereditary fault of mine? Did I not protect him enough, guide him enough? I was sending myself mad with those questions.’
&
nbsp; ‘It’s not your fault, Ralph. None of it.’
He looked sad, defeated. ‘Yes it is. That man. Greg Willets.’ He almost spat out the words. ‘I was taken in by Greg Willets as much as everyone else was. I gave him his first job. And then he killed my son.’
He puffed out his cheeks. His eyes were so misted Diana could barely see the pupils. She stood up and walked around to him, putting her hands lightly on his shoulders.