by Anita Waller
‘Is everything okay?’ he asked quietly, and Heather nodded.
Claudia was starting to come around and remained seated rather than risk standing again. Harry went back to Emma, but his eyes never left his mother all the time they were in the chapel.
Once outside, he went to his mum. ‘What’s wrong?’ he whispered. ‘Why did you faint? And where’s Dad?’
‘I fainted because I’ve had a little operation, and I’m still recovering. And I’ve no idea where your father is. I don’t want to know where he is, either. That part of my life is over.’
Zoe arrived to stand with her brother. ‘We need to talk with you, Mum.’ Unshed tears glistened in her eyes.
‘I know you do,’ Claudia said, and hugged her with her left arm. The right arm still didn’t move too well.
‘So, when?’
‘I’ll come to Harry’s after he finishes work on Monday. We can all talk then. But if you find your father, and he turns up, you’ll not see me again. Is that clear?’
Harry and Zoe nodded. They’d never seen Claudia like this before; strong, dictatorial, unbending.
‘I’m going back to Heather now, she needs me today, and she doesn’t need my problems. I’ll see you Monday evening. Seven o’clock?’
All four of them nodded. Claudia gave an exasperated shake of her head. ‘And don’t look so bloody scared. I’m not a monster, I’m your mum. Things have just changed a little bit, that’s all. I still love the four of you, unconditionally. So can you put this on the back burner until Monday night?’ She stared around at them, and they all nodded again.
She gave them a brief smile, squeezed Zoe’s hand and moved towards Heather.
Heather and Claudia had a taxi home. It seemed the best and safest thing to do, despite several offers of a lift, and by seven o’clock they were both in pyjamas, curled up on the sofa with cups of tea.
‘It went well,’ Heather sighed. ‘I know I’d left him, but I feel quite lost now. I think we would always have stayed friends, just not married ones. And it really hurts me to know I couldn’t stop the fall.’
‘Don’t beat yourself up about it. If you had managed to catch him, you could have ended up dead alongside him. He wasn’t a small man, you know.’
‘I know, it seems so unfair… just like your diagnosis. We need to concentrate on that. No more junk food, we eat healthily from now on. We’ll be there bright and early tomorrow, follow instructions, and hope we get good results.’ Heather knew she was waffling. She sipped at her tea, holding back tears.
The doorbell pealed out and Heather stood to look out of the window. Carefully. They weren’t expecting anyone, and she had to be sure who it was before opening the door.
Michelle waved at the movement of the curtain. Heather put up a thumb, and went down to let her in.
‘Just thought I’d check in on everybody,’ Michelle said. ‘I know it must have been a rough day for you. And how’s Claudia? Is she on the mend?’
‘Come upstairs,’ Heather said. ‘We’ll fill you in.’
Heather saw the shock flash across Michelle’s face as Claudia told her what the various test results meant.
‘But you look so well! A lot better than when you first came home.’
‘I know, and I feel well. A little tired maybe, but eventually I won’t feel like this as the cancer starts to overwhelm my organs.’
‘I hope you know that it goes without saying, if I can help in any way, just ask. Heather, you listening to me?’
‘I’m listening.’ Heather smiled at her. ‘And thank you. But I will be with Claud all the time. I’ve packed in my job, as has Claudia. And who knows, this bundle of drugs they’re going to give her may shrink the tumours enough to extend her life considerably. I can’t believe it will end in nine months, I can’t.’ And finally the tears that she had denied all day fell from her eyes.
All three women stood in a circle and hugged each other.
Finally, Heather broke away.
‘Brandy?’ she asked, and they nodded.
Once again the wine glasses were utilised, and she laughed as she handed them around. ‘This is becoming a habit. We need to buy some brandy glasses, Claud.’
‘There are plenty in James’s house,’ Claudia said. ‘I could do with sneaking in when he’s not there and collecting some stuff. But apparently his car is there, and he’s not, so it could be a bit of a dangerous game. I won’t know when he’s back.’
‘Where is he?’ Michelle asked.
‘No idea. My daughter’s been trying to get in touch with him, but he’s not answering. She’s been in the house and he’s not ill in bed or anything, he’s just gone. We know he’s got somebody else in his life, but I don’t think the kids know it. He could be in some little love nest with him.’
‘Him?’
‘Him.’ Claudia confirmed it with a nod.
‘Each to their own,’ Michelle said with a shrug.
‘It kind of explains how he’s been with me for the last few years, though. He’s obviously been struggling, but now seems to have given in. I mean, we’re not completely sure, it’s a suspicion, but a big suspicion.’
‘What a mess. Between the three of us, things haven’t been easy, have they? I saw George Ullyat, my toe-rag of an ex, today. Honestly, if Steve knew…’ Michelle held up her hands. ‘He’d kill him.’
‘Aren’t you scared?’ Claudia asked.
‘Terrified. I try never to be on my own, ever. He was peering through the shop window, but luckily there were two of us working today, because I had two birthday cakes to get out. When he saw my assistant, he walked away. Why on earth does he still want to get me, after all this time? I got Steve to walk me here tonight, and he says I’ve to ring him when I’m ready for going home, and he’ll come and get me. I shouldn’t have to live like that.’
‘This George bloke’s obviously an obsessive.’ Claudia spoke quietly. ‘Heather says you have a gun. I’d keep it in your bag. Loaded.’
Michelle gave a small laugh. ‘Don’t really think it’s in me to kill anybody. I couldn’t stand to be locked up.’
‘Does he live near the shop?’
‘Yes, too near. And he never seems to be around when Steve is with me, so that makes me feel as though I’m being stalked. It’s not a good feeling, I can tell you.’
‘I’m sure. What can we do?’ Heather frowned, her expressive face registering concern for Michelle.
‘I don’t think there’s anything you can do. Unless we have a connecting doorbell from under my counter straight to up here,’ Michelle said with a laugh.
‘Why not?’ Claudia stared at Michelle. ‘I suspect we’ll be in here quite a lot over the next few months, and it would give some peace of mind to know you only have to press it and we’ll come galloping down. He’ll back off if there are three of us, and what’s more, he’ll think twice about doing it again if he realises you contacted us.’
‘We’d have to install it ourselves,’ Michelle said, thinking aloud. ‘I daren’t ask Steve, he can’t know George is still on the scene. If I fix the bell part under the counter, then we run the cable over to the window area, straight up the outside wall, the cable will fit through your window without having to drill. The box will sit on your window sill, out of the way.’
‘We’re up for that,’ Heather said. ‘If you can pick one up tomorrow, come around Sunday and we’ll get it fitted. Claudia’s got her first chemo tomorrow, so she may feel a bit rough Saturday afternoon. If she’s still not well Sunday morning, I’ll ring you, but all being good, we’ll sort it Sunday afternoon, give you a bit of security.’
‘You two are so good for me,’ Michelle said. ‘I’m so glad I met you. I’m going to leave you in peace and get Steve to walk across and meet me. Get an early night, Claudia, it’s a big day tomorrow.’
She picked up her phone to text Steve.
‘You don’t have to go,’ Claudia said. ‘Stay as long as you want.’
‘Michelle’s right,’
Heather interrupted. ‘You do need an early night. We don’t know what’s in front of us tomorrow, but I’m pretty sure you’ll be better for having a good night’s sleep. We’ll have hot chocolate or something equally soporific, and you can take one of the sleeping tablets.’
Claudia looked at them both.
‘I’m not having the treatment. No chemo, no radiotherapy. And please don’t argue with me, it’s my decision, and it’s made.’
Chapter 16
DS Liam Norwood ran up the flight of steps and into the police station foyer. The sun was shining, and the sky was a clear blue with an absence of clouds. A beautiful day; he hated working Saturdays, and especially eight o’clock starts on beautiful days.
Since the divorce, he only got to see the kids at weekends, and he’d had to tell them he would pick them up at three instead of his usual early collection. Danny and Liv hadn’t been pleased. It had cost him a promised visit to the cinema for Saturday afternoon, and a walk in the Derbyshire hills for Sunday. He knew he would enjoy both with Danny and Liv; if they wanted a trip to the moon he would do his best to provide it.
‘Morning, Ken,’ he called to the man behind the glass window. PC Ken Staines had been there forever, or so it seemed. His ready smile for everybody but villains was well known in the station. Don’t like villains, he was frequently heard to mutter, and that just about summed him up.
Liam Norwood was heading through the door leading to the offices when Ken called to him.
‘Liam, something interesting came in a few minutes ago. Not sure where to send it to, it’s not run of the mill.’
‘Villains?’ Liam joked.
‘Now don’t start, young man. Villains is ’orrible people, as you well know. No, this is something a bit different. A Leeds Councillor has contacted us to report a missing person.’
‘A counsellor in what? Anything interesting? Sex therapist?’
‘Not a counsellor, a Councillor.’
‘From Leeds? Why has he contacted us?’
‘The missing person is from here, this area.’
Liam let the door close and moved back to the window. ‘I’ll have a look at it. I’ll get it to whoever needs it, and I’ll let you know where it ends up.’
He took the paperwork that was being fed under the edge of the window and ran up the stairs to the open-plan office inhabited by the team. He frowned at the state of his desk, just as he did every morning. He sat in close proximity to DC Rosie Havenhand, and her desk was always immaculate; she even polished it, adding further to his discomfiture.
He shuffled a few files around and thought he might ask Rosie for the loan of her polish and duster later, but then dismissed the idea. He pulled the file towards him that he had carried upstairs and began to read. James Bell. Missing. He knew the name, but…
James Bell! That rings a bell was the spark that initially ran through his mind, and then he looked closely at the report. It seemed that James worked for the Labour party, and a Labour Councillor in Leeds had been trying to get in touch with him for over a week, unsuccessfully. It was out of character for James to ignore contact, especially with a politician from his own party.
James Bell was the neighbour who had found the body of the chap who had fallen downstairs. Liam closed his eyes for a moment, and the name came to him. Owen Gower. Closing his eyes also brought to the forefront of his mind the horrific scene that had met him when he walked through the door of the Gower house. James Bell was Owen Gower’s best mate. Alarm bells rang that were nothing to do with James’s inopportune surname.
Liam rang down to Ken in the foyer. ‘Log that missing person report to me, Ken, will you? There’s a bit of a tie in with a closed case of mine, so I’ll check it out till we get answers.’
‘Okay, Liam. No problem. Got to go, need to bash some young lads heads together,’ and he put down the phone.
Liam picked up the file and walked into DI Ray’s office.
‘Boss?’
She looked at him over the top of a coffee cup. ‘If you’re bringing me a request for leave, the answer is no.’
‘As if. It’s two years since I’ve had a holiday, so now you mention it…’
‘I didn’t.’ She put down her cup. ‘So what do you want?’
‘Two weeks in the Maldives.’
She looked at him without speaking or smiling, and he grinned.
‘Okay, maybe just a week, but after I’ve sorted this.’ He handed over the file, and she began to read.
He waited patiently, and eventually she lifted her head. ‘You’re checking it out, and not mispers?’
‘I just want to have a look at it. James Bell, the missing chap, is the one who found his neighbour dead at the bottom of the stairs. There was nothing suspicious, the dead chap had so much alcohol in his blood it was inevitable he would fall. He was on his own in the house, his wife had left him a couple of days earlier, but she’d left him because of the drink. There was nothing that gave me cause for concern. The post-mortem ruled it as accidental death.’
‘And?’
‘I don’t know… I don’t want to spend a lot of time on it, just satisfy myself we didn’t miss anything. You see, James Bell’s wife left him to move into a flat with Gower’s wife. Seems they’d both had enough, so decided to go. They specifically asked me not to let Bell know their address, because the Bell breakdown was based on domestic violence that was escalating. Bell’s wife, and I can’t recall her name at the moment, was scared.’
Philippa Ray handed the file back to her DS. ‘I’ll give you two days. And you can take Rosie with you when you go see the wives, but the rest is down to you.’
‘Thanks, boss. I’m going to start with this Councillor Monroe and take it from there. I’ll ring him, see what I can get out of him. I don’t think it’ll merit a trip up to Leeds.’
‘Oh, my Lord,’ she groaned. ‘Be polite. I know what you’re like.’
‘Don’t worry, I’ll be as nice as I always am,’ he said laughing, as he closed the door behind him.
He punched his fist in the air and mouthed yes! He’d expected a fight over the case, because it really had been a closed one and a very simple one. He hoped it still was; he’d liked the ladies very much and didn’t want to bring further grief into their lives.
He stopped off at the coffee machine, punched in the number for a latte and then treated himself to a KitKat. Could life get any better than this, he thought, as he ambled back to his desk. Yes; somebody could tidy his desk for him.
Claudia was trembling. The conversation that had begun with Quentin’s secretary, and then had very quickly been passed to Quentin himself, had been difficult. She had refused the treatment scheduled to begin within the hour, and he wasn’t happy with her. He tried hard to persuade her to come in; yes, he agreed, there would be side effects, but the benefits far outweighed the sickness that was created by taking the drugs. They had talked for some time but she was adamant. It was her life, her body, her decision.
Heather handed her a mug of tea. ‘Well?’
Claudia pressed the mug against her lips. She didn’t want to speak.
‘Claud, I need to know what he said, and what you’ve agreed. I need to help you, whatever has just happened.’
Claudia put down the tea without having a drink.
‘I’m not extending my life by three months and having no quality in that time. I’d rather do what we said, change our eating habits, no alcohol, no dairy products…’ She pointed at the mug of tea. ‘That is my last drink with milk in it. We’ll do some research on vitamins I can add to my diet, and we’ll enjoy the next six months without me being ill due to the treatment. Heather, I’m not going to survive this, we know that, but I’m going to live out the rest exactly as I want to live it.’
‘And he didn’t try to talk you out of it?’
‘Kind of, but he did admit I’m not the only one on his books who has taken this stance. I’ll still be seeing him every fortnight to assess what pain relief I mi
ght be needing, but really, I think he understood.’
‘So what now? Would you like to go away for a few days?’
‘Yes, I would. But not for a week or so. This leg is still giving me some grief, and I’d prefer to be walking without pain, because I’d like a couple of days in Paris. I can’t believe I’ve never been, and I’d like to see the Louvre before I die.’
‘Consider it done. And we’ll go first class all the way.’
They high-fived each other, then grinned.
‘Councillor Monroe? My name is DS Liam Norwood, South Yorkshire police. I’ve been handed a file regarding a missing person you’re concerned about. A Mr James Bell?’
‘Oh, thank you, DS Norgood.’
‘Norwood, sir. DS Norwood. Now, can we go through this report and fill in some details please? When did you last see Mr Bell?’
The reply was prompt. ‘Saturday, 23rd April. In the morning. I can’t give you an exact time, but he headed back to Sheffield before midday.’
‘You had a meeting on a Saturday morning? I’m impressed.’
Norwood detected a brief moment of hesitation. He annotated it with a tick, a habit he’d developed over the years to denote unease or a query.
‘I didn’t say we’d had a meeting,’ Monroe carefully explained. ‘I said I’d seen him on the Saturday morning. We had a coffee.’
‘Where?’
Again the hesitation. Another tick.
‘In the Travelodge in the city centre.’
‘In the restaurant?’
‘No, just in reception. I’m sure the staff will vouch for us, if you need confirmation, DS Norwood. James stays there regularly when he is in Leeds. They all know him.’
‘And you? Do they know you?’
Another pause. A third tick.
‘I suppose so. James and I work closely together. He works for the party, and I am a Labour Councillor.’