KATE HAD TAKEN A GAMBLE ASKING HIM ABOUT Silvia, but she needed to know as much about the man sitting in the back of her car as possible. The more she knew, the more she would be able to understand his motives, and the more ammunition she would have to use against him. She had to pit her wits against his, but it was already a game of catch-up because he knew so much more about her.
‘Silvia suffered, you see, Kate. She was an innocent, someone believing in goodness, not clouded the way others are.’
‘Silvia was your friend, William?’
‘Oh, yes. But I let her down.’
‘William, you shouldn’t blame yourself.’ Was he the reason Silvia fell? Did he cause her accident? Was it an accident? She needed to know who else was there. The bishop, Antonio Peri, certainly, but who else? William must have been just a boy, so he hadn’t travelled alone.
‘Thank you, Kate, but don’t worry about me on that score. It’s a burden I’ve borne for a very long time. I’ve learned to live with it. I’m not afraid of suffering.’
‘You were very young, William. Did you have to travel alone?’
‘No, no. Mother and I travelled together. She had a mission, you see.’
‘A mission?’
‘Yes, an end game. Mother thought she was being very clever. I hate to talk about all this in front of the boy, Kate.’
‘It’s okay.’ She glanced at Charlie in the rear-view, but she needed William to talk. It was the only way she could get her head around what to do next.
‘Are you sure, Kate? I’ll be discreet, but I do want you to know as much as possible about me.’
‘I want to know all about you too, William.’
‘I know you do,’ his tone soft. ‘Well if you’re sure.’ He paused. ‘Sadly, Kate, I was the result of a cleric’s indiscretion, at least that was Mother’s story. I was illegitimate, a bastard.’ He looked over at Charlie. ‘Someone to be whispered about. It’s not nice when people talk behind your back, Kate.’
Kate tried to maintain her focus on the motorway, taking in each time William Cronly lowered his voice.
‘I used to think my father was an explorer. There was a picture of a man on the piano in the music room. An attractive silver frame, you’d have liked it, Kate.’
‘Would I, William?’
‘Oh, yes. It was very classy. But, of course, my father wasn’t an explorer at all. It was just another lie, another fabrication, all cloak and mirrors. Mother was very good at that.’
‘What happened when you went to Tuscany, William?’
He didn’t answer straight away. He looked out the window, as if his mind had suddenly become distracted. Kate needed to use the time well. If Silvia had died when he was a boy, the event would have traumatised him, tied him into the past, perhaps rendering him incapable of moving on.
‘Take the next exit, Kate. We’re nearly there.’
‘Okay.’
What had been the trigger? Why had he come out of the woodwork? What had changed things? She needed to keep him talking.
‘How’s Charlie doing in the back?’ She had to keep using Charlie’s name, too. He needed to look on her son as a person. If she emphasised William’s suffering as a boy, maybe he would look on Charlie in the same light.
‘He’s doing fine. But he’s not interested in his comics. Maybe he’s tired?’
‘He could be. He usually likes comics.’
‘I do too.’
‘Do you?’
‘Oh, yes. Still do. Superheroes, like Charlie.’
Kate smiled thinly. ‘You two have a lot in common.’
‘Do you think?’
‘Definitely.’
‘I was hesitant about bringing Charlie with us, Kate.’
‘Perhaps we should take him back.’
‘Oh, no. But I did worry about the trauma. I’m a very understanding man when it comes to how children feel.’
‘I know you are, William.’
‘But then I realised something.’
‘What was that?’
‘Well, it’s very simple, Kate. Things like this can make a boy stronger. He’s been spoiled, Kate. You must see that. You have to suffer to realise how lucky you are. Don’t you agree?’
Kate’s knuckles were white, her hands gripping the steering wheel so hard it hurt. ‘I guess it depends on the suffering, William.’ She could hear the quiver in her voice. But at least, whatever William Cronly’s feelings were towards her son, he saw a future for him, no matter how warped it might be.
‘William, why don’t you tell me about Tuscany?’
‘It was beautiful, Kate. The view from Castello de Luca was remarkably similar to home.’
‘Home?’
‘Cronly Lodge. Don’t worry, you will see it soon. It even had some elderberry trees. It was in Tuscany that I met Silvia.’
‘What happened to her, William? What happened to Silvia?’
Kate watched his expression in the mirror. She needed to pick up even the slightest change in demeanour. Again, his mind seemed to drift. But this time, she didn’t have long to wait.
‘It was dreadful, Kate. I loved her, you see. I didn’t know it then, far too young to understand. She trusted me, she was my friend.’
‘Go on, William. This is important to me too.’
‘Is it? I do hope so, Kate. Your feelings matter a great deal to me.’