by Sue Fortin
Monday, 13 May, 1.05 p.m.
Steph pulled up outside her mum’s house. It was a two-bedroom bungalow sitting on the side of a hill overlooking the town of Kendalton. It was an unassuming property which blended in with all the other bungalows in the road. There was nothing about it which was notable and that was, no doubt, the way Wendy liked it. For Steph, growing up, everything had been very modest, from their home (a three-bedroom, 1960s semi), their family car (a Ford Sierra) and their clothes (bought from supermarkets) to holidays in a caravan in Dorset. Wendy was all about blending in and going unnoticed. In her younger days, Steph had often imagined her mother to be a secret spy who was living a double life. She couldn’t believe her mum was really that dreary. It was only her job as a police officer that was mildly exciting.
As it turned out, Wendy Lynch hadn’t lived up to any of Steph’s expectations as a super-spy, rather as she hadn’t lived up to Steph’s expectations as a mother.
Steph made a conscious effort to shrug off those thoughts and feelings of disappointment. She hadn’t seen her mother for over six months now and had spoken to her probably no more than three times, but maybe this time Wendy would be more relaxed. No longer a serving police officer, perhaps retirement had made her a warmer woman. Steph acknowledged that this was probably a high expectation, given her mother’s usual conversational style, which Steph had often likened to a blunt-force trauma.
She rang the bell and waited patiently for her mum to open the door. ‘You’re early,’ Wendy said, stepping aside so Steph could enter.
Steph checked her watch. ‘Only by ten minutes.’ She walked inside, not stopping to kiss or embrace her mother. It had never been something Wendy had done and by default something Steph didn’t think about doing. In fact, it was only her father who would show any type of affection. She had often wondered how her parents had become a couple – they had just never seemed a good fit, and their union remained a great mystery to her. ‘How are you?’ she asked as her mother closed the front door.
‘Fine, thank you. I’ve got a visitor. Someone you might remember.’
Steph gave her mother a quizzical look as she wracked her brains wondering who it could be. It certainly wouldn’t be any family. Her grandparents on both sides had passed away and Wendy was an only child, so there were no aunties, uncles or cousins. On her father’s side, there was a brother who lived in Australia, but she couldn’t imagine him visiting. They only kept in touch via an annual Christmas card.
Steph followed her mother into the living room and immediately recognised the visitor as Rob Lacey, her mum’s old work colleague from her days in the force. ‘Hello, Rob, this is a nice surprise. How are you?’
‘I’m good, thanks, Steph. You’re looking very well. I haven’t seen you since your father’s funeral. Your mum has kept me up-to-date with what you’ve been up to though.’
Steph hid her surprise. She had no idea her mum kept up-to-date herself with Steph’s life, let alone shared the information with anyone else.
They spent the next half an hour or so chatting generally about what they had all been up to, especially now Rob had retired too. He told them about his plans to go travelling now he had both the time and the money, and before it was too late, as he put it.
‘I wish Mum would do something now she’s retired,’ said Steph as Wendy took the cups out and washed up. ‘I don’t think early retirement was a good thing for her. From what I can work out, she doesn’t do very much. Hasn’t joined any clubs or anything. I’m sure she could have stayed on in the force for a few more years.’
Rob’s brow furrowed and he leaned across the arm of the chair, pushing the room door closed. ‘Retirement? But your mum never took retirement.’
Steph returned the frown. ‘Yes, she did. Eighteen months ago.’
The crease deepened between his eyes. ‘It wasn’t retirement, not voluntary anyway. She didn’t have any choice in the matter.’
‘What? No. She retired. You must be getting muddled up with someone else.’ She looked at Rob’s apologetic expression and realised he wasn’t joking. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘Sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything. She obviously didn’t want you to know. She has her reasons, no doubt.’
‘It’s too late now.’ Steph threw a cautionary glance towards the door. ‘Tell me, Rob, if she didn’t take retirement, what happened?’
‘It’s not my place to tell you.’ Rob squeezed his bottom lip between his finger and thumb.
‘OK, I’ll ask her myself,’ said Steph. She’d rather not, but now she’d been given this grain of information she couldn’t just brush it off. Why had her mother been lying?
Rob let out a frustrated sigh. ‘If I tell you, you mustn’t let on that you know.’ He waited while Steph nodded her agreement before continuing. ‘She was asked to tender her resignation. She didn’t have any choice. It was either that or be dismissed, which would mean no pension and a tarnished record.’
‘What the hell did she do?’ It was hard to believe Rob was talking about Wendy; this all sounded so out of character.
‘There had been an investigation by Internal Affairs. I don’t know the details but there was some sort of cover-up. Rumours were rife that someone, i.e. your mother, hadn’t followed correct procedures and, although the word corrupt was never used, there were implications that something was bad in CID.’ Rob spoke quickly and in hushed tones.
‘My mother was corrupt!’ Steph managed to bring her voice down to an astonished whisper.
‘Not your mother, but something in CID was wrong. It was a general consensus of opinion that your mother was the scapegoat.’
Steph glanced towards the door again. ‘Of all the things Mum is, I can’t honestly believe she was corrupt.’
‘Nor could anyone else. And that’s why she wasn’t made an example of.’
‘Bloody hell,’ muttered Steph. ‘And you’ve no idea what it was all about?’
Rob Lacey shook his head. ‘I’d moved to a different station by then.’
‘Didn’t you ask anyway? Didn’t you even ask her?’
‘She would never speak about it. I did try.’ Rob looked apologetically at Steph.
The door opened and Wendy came through with her jacket over her arm. ‘What are you two looking so guilty about?’ she asked, although there was humour in her voice.
Rob gave a laugh. ‘We were just debating the best pubs around here for a bite to eat. I’m starving.’
‘So am I,’ said Steph, thankful for Rob’s deflection.
The King’s Arms, Kendalton,
Monday 13 May, 1.45 p.m.
Lunch was a pleasant affair and, although Steph found her mind wandering back to Rob’s revelation that her mother had been forced to resign, she did actually enjoy herself. Wendy seemed much more relaxed than Steph had anticipated. Maybe it was because someone else was with them, or was it the someone else that was making her relaxed? As Wendy laughed at something Rob said, Steph noticed a lightness in her mother’s features.
Rob drove them back to Wendy’s house later that afternoon.
‘That was nice,’ said Steph, after they’d said their goodbyes and Rob had driven off.
‘It was indeed,’ said Wendy as they went inside. ‘And before you say anything, no, there is nothing going on between myself and Rob. We are just good friends.’
Steph let out a laugh. ‘I wasn’t going to say a word.’
‘Oh, yes, you were, I can read you like a book.’ Her mother actually smiled at her.
Steph couldn’t help grinning as she settled herself in the conservatory. With the sun shining through the glass, if she closed her eyes and concentrated she could imagine herself on a beach soaking up the heat somewhere on the Adriatic coast. The glass of wine at lunchtime was making her feel quite heavy-eyed. She had anticipated leaving after lunch, but she was enjoying being in her mother’s company right now. It was a rarity for them to share a joke and relax with each other.
; ‘I heard Sonia Lomas turned up at the reception party at Conmere,’ said Wendy as she took her seat opposite.
‘How did you know that?’ asked Steph, surprised her mother should know already.
‘Bad news travels fast.’ Wendy looked at Steph. ‘You didn’t have anything to do with that, did you?’
‘Of course not! I don’t know why everyone is so hostile towards the woman. Even Harry didn’t seem very pleased to see his mother-in-law.’
‘He has good reason. You’re not to get involved with any of that, do you hear me?’
Steph felt herself prickle at her mother’s tone. ‘I’m not a child any more. I can make my own decisions.’ So much for the relaxed atmosphere with her mother lasting.
‘For once, if you never do anything else for me in your life, just promise to not get involved.’
Steph would have laughed if Wendy hadn’t looked so serious. She put down her cup. ‘Mum, what are you so worried about?’
‘When are you going home?’ Wendy asked instead.
Steph felt her whole being deflate. She hated feeling like this. She hated the fact that all she wanted was her mother to show some sort of concern or consideration for her, but she never did. Why Steph put herself through this she didn’t know. Wendy had never been a hands-on, cuddly mum. It seemed that not even retirement had thawed the original ice-queen. She met her mother’s gaze. Well, what Steph was about to tell her should make up for the disappointment Steph felt. Wendy was going to love this. She smiled at her mother. ‘I’m not going home just yet,’ she said.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I’ve got myself a job at Conmere.’ Steph sat back, taking comfort from the look of horror on Wendy’s face.
‘Are you serious?’
‘Absolutely. They were shortstaffed for the week and I was offered a job, plus Harry Sinclair had asked me to do some promo photos for the interior of the house and said he could put some in the shop to sell. I get paid for both, so it’s a win-win for me. I didn’t have any work this week and I need the money, so it would have been stupid to turn it down.’
Gosh, she wished she had her camera now to take a picture of the look on Wendy’s face. It was somewhere between horror and anger, with a touch of disbelief thrown in, but it was fleeting and in a matter of seconds Wendy had regained her composure.
‘I don’t know what you’re up to, Steph, but you’re playing with fire,’ she said.
‘Don’t be so dramatic. If there’s something I should know, something that you’re worried about, then you should tell me.’
Wendy looked undecided – not a common expression her mother wore, but she definitely looked to be in some sort of internal dilemma. ‘There are things I can’t tell you, Steph,’ she said at last. ‘I may be retired from the force but I’m still bound by the Official Secrets Act.’
‘Sorry, but that’s not good enough. I need something more concrete than that.’
‘You’re just going to have to take my word for it.’
Steph huffed in frustration. Aargh! She felt like throttling her mother. She was so bloody stubborn at times. She decided to try a different tack.
‘Why did you retire?’
Wendy’s shoulders and body tensed. She looked at Steph. ‘Because I wanted to still be able to enjoy life. I didn’t want to retire and be stuck in an old folks’ home straight away.’
‘So why haven’t you done anything since you retired?’
‘What do you mean?’ Wendy’s eyebrows darted together.
‘You’ve just stayed at home, doing nothing, as far as I can tell. Are you going to follow Rob’s example and do something exciting, like travelling?’
‘I don’t know. I might.’ Wendy’s shoulders relaxed but her eyes were still fixed on Steph.
‘Don’t you miss the force?’ Steph knew she was being pushy but she was cross with her mum and didn’t know when she’d feel brave enough to ask her about the police again. As it was, she knew she was approaching it in a roundabout way. She should be direct. Just ask the question.
‘Mum … did you leave the force because you wanted to?’ Steph asked the question as delicately as she could, her soft tone implying she knew more.
Wendy opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again. She put her cup on the table and placed her hands on her knees. ‘Rob’s a gossip,’ she said at last. ‘He shouldn’t have told you.’
‘He didn’t mean to tell me. I kind of forced him.’
‘Nonsense. He’s come up against tougher interrogators than you.’
‘Maybe he thought I should know for some reason.’
‘A good idea would die of loneliness in his head sometimes,’ said Wendy.
‘So, what really did happen? Did you have to leave the force?’ Steph pushed on.
‘It was by mutual agreement,’ said Wendy. ‘I did nothing wrong. I was doing what I was supposed to be doing but sometimes when there’s a change at the top of the food chain, it’s those lower down who pay the price.’
‘Mum, please stop talking in riddles all the time. Just be straight with me,’ pleaded Steph.
Wendy sighed deeply. ‘The new guv’nor didn’t like the way CID was operating. I had been doing things the way I’d always done everything. The guv’nor didn’t like it. He thought I was stuck in my ways and not keeping up with a modern-day police force. He didn’t think I would fit into his vision for the department.’
‘What were you doing that was so wrong?’
Wendy tapped one foot against the other in agitation before speaking. ‘He didn’t appreciate the work I put in behind the scenes fostering good working relationships with the local communities. He wanted results. Crime rates cleared up. He wasn’t interested in making connections that might one day pay off. We reached an impasse and the only way for me was out. He put me on a disciplinary for not completing my paperwork on time.’ She was clearly still angry about this. ‘He wanted every minute of my shift accounted for on a timesheet. It was embarrassing and humiliating. I was doing nothing wrong. I was merely spending time with the local community.’
‘He sounds like the old-fashioned one,’ said Steph.
‘Well, whatever, we didn’t get on and when he suggested I leave I didn’t exactly put up a fight. I wanted to protect my pension and my reputation.’
‘You didn’t think you could go to the union?’ asked Steph. She was surprised by her mother’s response to a man like that. It wasn’t like her at all. Wendy was renowned for standing her ground, standing up to people. Steph found it hard to imagine her mum doing anything less, certainly not kowtowing to a bully. It seemed so out of character. Certainly not the Wendy Lynch she knew.
‘I did think about the union, but that would have taken ages to go through and it would have meant my whole career being picked over and analysed. I didn’t want the entire station to know that my policing methods were under scrutiny. I didn’t want to be talked about in hushed tones whenever I came into a room. I didn’t want people to talk about me behind my back and essentially become judge and jury. I also didn’t want to have to call upon any of my colleagues to stand up for me. It could make things difficult for them too. I didn’t want to put them in that position.’
‘Had this man just singled you out or had he targeted other officers?’
‘He had it in for me and me only. I don’t know if it was because I’m a woman and he felt threatened by me but, whatever his real reasons, he didn’t want me about.’
‘Rob said something about people thinking the whole of the CID department was corrupt.’
Wendy raised her eyebrows. ‘Corrupt? He used that word?’
‘Only quoting what others had said.’
‘I’m so glad to be out of that place,’ sighed Wendy. ‘Talk about Chinese whispers. No one in CID was corrupt as far as I know. Now, I really don’t want to talk about it any more. I’ve said far too much and we’ve somehow managed to get off the topic of what you’re doing up there.’
‘J
ust working.’
‘I don’t believe you for one minute,’ said Wendy. ‘You be careful, Steph. Those Sinclairs won’t hesitate to get rid of you if you’re not up to scratch or they think you’re being too nosy. They like their privacy.’
Steph might have used the word secrets but she didn’t argue with her mother. She didn’t know what it was, but everything about that family felt out of step and they seemed to be able to reach out and unsettle everything they came into contact with … Elizabeth, Cameron, Sonia, Wendy and even herself.
Without warning there was an almighty crashing noise of glass breaking from the front of the house. Both Steph and her mother jumped in fright.
‘What the hell …?’ said Steph. She sprang to her feet the same time as her mother.
‘Let me go first,’ commanded her mother, pulling at Steph’s arm and making her wait behind her. Wendy pushed open the door to the living room and poked her head around it. She let out a sound somewhere between an exasperated sigh and an angry huff. ‘It’s the window. It’s been bricked.’
Steph went into the room after her mother to see a house brick lying on the floor in the middle of the room, surrounded by shards of glass. One of the vertical blinds had been ripped and the sofa in front of the window was covered in bits of broken glass too.
‘Bastards!’ said Steph. She ran out of the bungalow and onto the street, looking up and down, but the road was deserted.
‘Everything OK?’ came a voice.
Steph whirled round and at the end of the garden path of the house next door was an elderly lady. ‘I heard something crash.’
Steph marvelled at the neighbour’s hearing. ‘It was my mum’s window,’ she explained, walking over. ‘Someone threw a house brick at it. You didn’t see anyone, did you?’
‘Oh, how terrible. I’m sorry, I was just closing my front door. I’ve been to the shops, you see. I heard the noise.’
‘But didn’t see anyone?’
‘Not really. I came out onto the path and saw a car drive off.’
‘Did you see who was driving or what sort of car it was?’