‘Or perhaps your father has already done that and that’s why he’s giving her the gift? Perhaps he knows she won’t touch the family estate otherwise? For some reason, she didn’t want it then and she doesn’t want it now . . . Do you know if he was going to make the donation anonymously?’

He shrugged disconsolately. ‘I know nothing about any of it. He never discussed it with me.’

‘Well, it would have been tokenism anyway,’ Charlotte mused. ‘Marina would surely have guessed where the money came from if several hundred million euros suddenly turned up in her account one day.’ She bit her lip. ‘Maybe he’s tried giving her her share before and she’s refused . . . ? Perhaps he thinks that by giving her the money on his deathbed, she won’t be able to return it?’

‘Why should he have to try so hard? It makes no sense,’ he cried, the exasperation bursting through again as they went round in circles, seemingly never getting closer to the point. ‘Are we really supposed to accept that this woman turned her back on her family and left them far behind – not just the estate and her share of it, but the people: her brothers, my father, her parents? What kind of woman could do such a thing? And then, not only did she hide herself from them, but she perpetuated the lie throughout her own family’s lifetimes?’

‘I agree it’s baffling. It suggests that whatever happened between them must have been devastating.’

They were both quiet for a long time, the word sitting between them like a bomb. ‘Devastating’ covered a lot of ground.

‘What do you want me to do?’ she asked finally.

He was quiet for a moment, trying to control himself, control the situation. ‘Well clearly the financial offer is now redundant. If she’s truly a Mendoza, then legally she is already a rich woman, whether she chooses to spend it or not. No, money has no weight here any more.’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘What is vital now is that we discover what happened between her and my father to make her abandon her family. And why my father is so desperate to bring her back again.’

Charlotte agreed. ‘He’s certainly gone to a lot of trouble trying to track her down. It strikes me that reconciliation, even forgiveness, is what he needs before he dies.’

‘Reconciliation? . . . Hmm.’ His eyes slid sidelong to her. ‘How is Professor Marling getting on?’

In an instant, her world flipped, landing belly up. The very mention of him was enough to floor her. ‘Um . . .’

‘Because he had better be as good as his CV suggests. You might have brought him in initially for some background context, but things have changed. Everything now hinges on knowing exactly what happened, when and why. He needs to be thorough and he needs to be fast.’

‘He won’t let you down. He’s meticulous.’

‘You said you two knew each other?’