Silent, At The Service Station

Two Years Earlier, Lucy

They stopped at a Service Station and found a table away from other customers. They bought coffees, no food. She gave a brief explanation, leaving out her thoughts on Agnes Harlesden and a possible affair between Dad and the woman with the dark hair. She'd considered discussing those with Arthur, but she needed to see whose side he would take first. Whether he'd insist she own up to the Summer School and return to her adoptive parents' home in North Yorkshire.

'Ah,' Arthur said finally, taking a thoughtful sip of coffee. 'So you decided you would come back and get your friends to cover for you and invent a name. Very impressive. But why?'

'I had no choice. My adoptive parents wouldn't discuss the fire with me, so I decided I had to do something about it.'

'Do you not think, though, that your adoptive parents might have thought that constantly being reminded of the fire might not be in your best interests. They only want the best for you, you know.  It was very tough, very upsetting for us, too. They wrote to Lily and me years ago, asking us not to contact you again. It broke our hearts, Lily and mine, but we had to accept that your uncle and aunt meant it for your own good.  And look at you, you've done so well. You're practically grown up now.'

She looked away, overcome with emotion.  Her adoptive parents had taken her in and done so much for her, and she'd repaid them by lying.  No! Don't start crying in here.      

'Listen,' Arthur said. 'If you wanted to talk, you should have picked up the phone and called me. I would happily have done my best to help.  Instead, you've told a lot of fibs to a lot of people, if you don't mind me saying. I have to say, though,I admire your tenacity. Coming back to that House must have taken enormous courage. How do you cope with being there?'

'I just get on with it.  I don't like being back.'

'Look,' Arthur said. 'Don't get me wrong. I understand your reasons for being here. You're entitled to answers. I'm just not sure you've gone about this in the right way. It's against the law to gain employment through deception.  You could get into trouble.'

'So?'

Arthur sighed. 'Lucy.'  

'I need the truth about the fire.'

'Of course you do. I just wish you hadn't lied on an application form. It's so serious'.

A brief pause. Then: 'Going back to the fire. What can you tell me?'

'Only what we already know.  I'm afraid I have no other answers for you.'

'Couldn't the fire have simply been a warning? Dad was in serious debt.’

'Well,' Arthur began.  

'Say Dad owed thousands of pounds and couldn't pay, and the person just wanted to scare Dad into paying.  Maybe that's all it was, and the fire got out of control.'

'Yes,' Arthur said. 'I see your point.  However, we have to consider the larger picture and, as you know, your father had already made plans to leave the country, alone, leaving your mother to deal with over fifty thousand pounds worth of debts.’

'Fifty thousand?'  She hadn't realised the amount had been so high.

'I'm afraid so. It may even have been more. And a musician's annual income is never high, unless they're world famous. Neither your mother nor your father could have settled those debts.  And of course, your mother didn't know about the debts at the time. And Agnes...well, your father wouldn't have gone to her for help. She's not an easy woman at the best of times.’

'How did my father get in so much debt?’

'Well, it's a long story. Gambling, I'm afraid. He kept it a secret from your mother.'