Kate had been intending to have a serious talk to Hugh about the missed calls on his mobile phone when he came back from Paris that weekend. But somehow it never seemed to be the right time, or maybe she was avoiding it by delaying for as long as possible. Something told her it was a very dangerous subject. Kate now knew for sure that he hadn't been playing golf that Friday after he came back from the States. She had called the club secretary and he had told her Hugh hadn't been there that day. She added this to the list of things she needed to face him with when they finally had their talk together. But this evening Hugh wanted to discuss something else. He seemed quite excited about an idea he had had.

'I've been thinking about your mother again,' he said.

'How do you mean?' asked Kate. 'Whatever made you think of her?'

'Well, I've had an idea that might just work out. Everyone would get what they want out of it. A win-win situation.'

'Everyone? Who is everyone? Get what? What's this all about?'

'Well, the situation is that your mother needs special care. Your sister Jan can't afford it. Your mother can't afford it. And we don't want to pay for it ourselves. Right?'

'Right,' said Kate, wondering where this was leading.

'So, what we do is this. We offer to pay $1,500 a month to Jan to arrange a nurse for the old lady.'

'But I thought you said we wouldn't pay.'

'Wait a minute, there's more. We don't do it for nothing. We pay her the money monthly, but when the old lady dies, which is probably not long, the house would belong to us. We'd draw up an agreement, which Jan would sign, to agree that the house would become our property. It's quite a common kind of arrangement these days, when people are living longer and can't look after themselves anymore.'

'So it's like a gamble on how long Mother will live?'

'In a way, yes. If she lives till she's ninety, that's about ten years, we would have paid $180,000. But the house is worth at least $250,000, I think, and if they redevelop the area for new houses, the land alone would be worth even more than that. So we would make at least $70,000 if she lives to be ninety, but I'm sure she won't live that long. Just think, if she only lived for another year, we'd make over $150,000. It's a fantastic opportunity for us, and it solves Jan's problem too. Everyone wins. It's a win-win situation.'

'My God, are you serious?' said Kate. But she could see from the look on Hugh's face that he really was.

'Of course I'm serious.'