Page 65 of Teacakes & Tangos
At last, I looked up at Xander. ‘So was that the first you knew of... Freddie... being involved in the robbery? When I showed you the photo in the newspaper?’ I stared at him intently, desperately wanting his answer to be yes because anything else just didn’t bear thinking about... that he could have been concealing his brother’s involvement from me all this time – and from the police as well!
He glanced away with a sigh and my heart sank.
So itwasn’tthe first Xander had known...
‘The photo you showed me confirmed what I’d suspected but didn’t know for certain,’ he said, meeting my eye. ‘It wasn’t a great photo but the tattoo was a give-away.’
‘Oh, yes. So Freddie had the same tattoo as you.’
Xander nodded. ‘He loved Auntie Iris and he was devastated when she died. It was actually his idea that we should both get tattoos in memory of her.’
‘That’s so lovely. So Freddie isn’tallbad, then?’
He gave a rueful smile. ‘I suppose not.’
‘But why did you suspect Freddie might be one of the robbers? Before you saw the photo, I mean?’
‘The day after the robbery, police named one of the men they’d arrested in connection with it. He’s called Josh Reeves.’
‘Right?’
He shrugged wearily. ‘My brother’s known Josh since school. They were always making trouble, even back then.’
I swallowed hard. ‘So Freddie and this Josh Reeves are... partners in crime, then?’
He laughed mirthlessly. ‘You could say that. I spent whole years of my life trying to get my brother back on the straight and narrow... trying to make him stick in at school. Then trying to get him into work so that he wasn’t kicking around aimlessly, being tempted down a dodgy route by Josh.’ He shook his head angrily. ‘Freddie’s bright, you know? Much more intelligent than I am. He could have been anything he wanted to be... a doctor, a solicitor, whatever – he’s brilliant at maths. But there’s something in his nature that always just wants to do things the easy way... and he can be really charming, so all his life he’s got away with murder.’ He gave a bitter snort. ‘Not literally, thank God. At least, I don’t think so.’
‘What a waste,’ I murmured. ‘It must have been awful for you as his brother, seeing him going down such a destructive path.’
He nodded sadly. ‘I was always trying to encourage him to take the education route. He should have gone to university. But instead, he left school as soon as he could. And since then, he’s made a career out of claiming all the benefits he can get his hands on, supplemented by other dodgy dealings, which I’d rather not know about.
‘He makes money selling weed and thinks it’s just a laugh. He’d scoff at me for studying so that I could get a good job and a mortgage, saying that I was on a boring treadmill and he was always going to be far happier than me.’ He shrugged. ‘So in the end, I gave up on him. Maybe I shouldn’t have. But I knew he’d never change and I really didn’t want to be around to watch him sink even lower and possibly self-destruct.’
I nodded. ‘I don’t blame you. It’s really sad.’
‘It is,’ he said softly. ‘So you can understand why I washed my hands of him?’
‘I can. You tried your best with him. You couldn’t carry on forever having your best efforts thrown back in your face.’
‘Exactly.’ He took in a long breath and blew it out. ‘So anyway, I’ve been to the police and they’ll be trying to track him down.’
I looked at him. ‘I’m going to have to phone the police myself and tell them I’ve seen him camping out in the woods.’
‘Of course.’
He sighed. ‘Oh, Anika, I’m so sorry... about everything.’
‘I wish you’d been honest with me. But I suppose I can understand why you wanted to protect your brother by not telling me you thought he might be involved...’
Xander shot me a look. ‘Protecthim? You must be joking! No, the only thing I’m sorry about is the fact that his involvement in the robbery was probably instrumental in getting our gran injured – and even worse, leaving your dad in a coma in hospital as a result!’
He was shaking his head, looking so guilty.
‘But Xander, that was nothing to do with you.’
‘Maybe not. But honestly, Anika, you have no idea how bad I felt when Gran told me she’d been to see the daughter of the man who’d saved her life and I realised it must be you.’ He shook his head, looking pale and so wretched that I wanted to go over and hug him. ‘Ever since I found out that was actually your dad in that hospital bed, I’ve been trying so hard to make it up to you.’
I looked at him, processing his words... seeing the guilt and remorse written all over his face.
