The Dead Wife

by Sue Fortin

  Harry looked in disbelief as the reality of what Dominic was saying hit him. He shook his head. ‘No. It … it can’t be.’

  ‘It can be and it is.’ Dominic sat down.

  ‘Would someone like to tell me what you two are going on about?’ chipped in Owen.

  His brothers ignored him. ‘Look, Harry,’ said Dominic. ‘I’m only trying to protect her. She’s not strong enough to deal with this now. I’m sorry. I really am. I didn’t want it to end the way it did, but what’s done is done. It’s better this way.’

  ‘No!’ Harry heard himself shout. ‘It’s not. It’s not better.’

  ‘Of course it is,’ said Dominic, his eyes narrowing. ‘Unless, of course, you want to see our mother spend the rest of her life in prison. Unless you want to see her die there, because that’s what will happen. She’s not strong enough to withstand a trial. She hasn’t got the luxury of time. Now get that into your head.’

  ‘Someone, please—’ began Owen, only to be cut off by both Harry and Dominic telling him in unison to shut up.

  ‘You know how much she loves this place. It means everything to her. It means more than any one of us, singular or plural. Conmere really does run through her veins. You can’t do this to her.’ Dominic blew out a long breath. ‘Now, go find that girlfriend of yours and warn her off, before I have to.’

  Harry looked defiantly at his brother. What the hell was he supposed to do? Could he really tell Steph the truth? But what about Elizabeth? She didn’t deserve this, nor did Sonia. ‘All this time you’ve known,’ he said.

  ‘I was at the boathouse. I saw it happen.’

  ‘And you cleaned up for her.’

  ‘I had no choice. The same way you don’t.’

  ‘Well, fuck you,’ said Harry, before storming out of the room.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Conmere Lake, Friday, 17 May, 2.50 p.m.

  Steph pulled Harry’s coat tighter around her. It was colder out here on the water but the drop in temperature extended further than her physical symptoms. The atmosphere in the boat had shifted; something had changed. There was a look on Pru’s face that she could not determine but it was sending shock waves to Steph’s nerve endings. Suddenly, she didn’t want to be in the boat with Pru. She felt vulnerable and in danger. ‘Are you sure this needs to be done today?’

  ‘Positive.’ Pru pulled hard on the oars and Steph was surprised by the older woman’s strength. ‘I wish Harry didn’t live in France,’ said Pru unexpectedly as she began to hit her stride with the rowing. ‘But he has his reasons.’

  Steph resisted the urge to say she wished that too, but then again, she wished a lot of things about Harry and his not living in France was just one of them. ‘Did he ever want to move to France when Elizabeth was alive? Did Elizabeth like living here on the resort?’

  ‘She wouldn’t have wanted to live in France,’ said Pru, with a distaste that surprised Steph. ‘She liked it here too much. Harry spoiled her.’ She tutted. ‘He treated her like a princess and she behaved like a slut.’ Steph looked up at Pru, who met her gaze with a defiant look. ‘I know it’s not the done thing to speak ill of the dead, but she caused trouble with my sons.’

  A beat and then another passed.

  Suddenly, Steph could see everything in twenty-twenty vision. The inexplicable danger she had felt moments earlier was now explicable.

  ‘What trouble was that?’ she said, trying to keep her voice even, while scolding herself for being so blind to the truth. She had been so convinced it was one of the brothers who had been behind Elizabeth’s death that she hadn’t even tried to look elsewhere. She had been fooled by Pru. She thought it was only her own mother who put everything before her own children, but it wasn’t. Pru did exactly the same and Steph had missed it through her own prejudices towards Wendy.

  ‘Haven’t you worked it out yet? I thought you would have done by now, especially with your connections.’

  ‘Connections? What do you mean?’ Steph’s mind was racing. She needed to think fast to try to find a way out of this without alerting Pru to the fact she had worked out the truth.

  ‘With the newspapers, of course.’ Pru smiled one of the warm, motherly smiles Steph had seen her use when talking to guests.

  ‘Oh, yes, newspapers. Er, well, I’m a features writer, not really a journalist.’

  ‘Ah, but don’t try to tell me you wouldn’t jump at a story if there was some scandal to be revealed.’ Pru yanked on the oars harder.

  ‘Is there a scandal, then?’

  ‘Not if I have anything to do with it.’

  Steph looked beyond Pru’s shoulder; they were only a few metres away from the other boats now, but Pru seemed to be heading around them. ‘Don’t we need to get closer to the boats?’

  Pru didn’t answer but just eyed Steph, a small smile turning the corners of her mouth upwards. ‘Change of plan,’ she said.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘You’re not really very good at lying,’ said Pru, adopting a carefree tone. ‘And don’t say you don’t know what I mean.’ Pru brought the boat to a halt. She was barely out of breath despite the exertion. She pulled the oars into the boat and then began undressing.

  ‘What are you doing?’ asked Steph in alarm as Pru took off her coat, followed by her shoes and then socks. Pru lifted the holdall and began putting her clothes into the bag.

  To Steph’s surprise, Pru was wearing a wetsuit underneath her clothing.

  ‘I thought I’d take a swim,’ said Pru. ‘But not until you have first.’

  Pru began rocking the boat.

  ‘Stop!’ Steph gripped both sides of the boat with her hands. There was no need to second-guess Pru now, whose plan was quite clear, but there was no way she was going to end up the same way as Elizabeth. ‘You drowned Elizabeth!’ she shouted.

  Pru laughed out loud. ‘Of course I didn’t drown her. She drowned all by herself. You know, she was a terrible swimmer. Hated the water. I didn’t have to drown her, just get her in the water.’

  ‘You pushed her in,’ said Steph. ‘You’re responsible for her death. And I was stupid enough to think it was one of your sons.’

  Pru stopped rocking the boat and her eyes hardened. ‘My sons are many things but they are not murderers. They haven’t got the stomach for it, they haven’t got the balls. They left me no choice. I did it for them.’

  Steph felt stunned. She had underestimated Pru Sinclair by a long way. The woman was insane. She’d killed Elizabeth to protect her boys and now she wanted to do the same to Steph.

  She needed to think of a plan, but out here in the middle of the lake her options were limited. She had to keep Pru talking while she tried to think of something. She had her phone with her but it was in her pocket, underneath the coat Pru had given her. She pulled it out and looked at the screen. No signal.

  Pru laughed again. ‘You might as well throw that in the water. No use whatsoever out here.’

  ‘Why did you have to kill her?’ Steph fumbled with her phone. She wanted to hear Pru say it herself.

  ‘She had an affair. She cheated on Harry,’ spat Pru. ‘But she couldn’t be content with just having an affair with anyone, it had to be his own brother – Dominic.’

  ‘Why didn’t you just tell her to stop?’

  ‘It was too late. She was going to leave Harry. She was blackmailing Dominic and Owen. She would have destroyed all of my sons, and not only that, it would have been the end of Conmere. I wasn’t going to let that happen. With her out of the way, my sons would be free and the resort would be saved.’

  ‘Did Harry know?’ She felt a compassion for Harry that she hadn’t been expecting. ‘Did he know she was cheating on him?’

  ‘He suspected. He even confronted Dominic, but he denied it. Owen was there at the time and he told me about it. That’s when I knew I had to do something.’

  ‘Couldn’t you have paid her off?’ Steph sensed the confession was coming to a close. She ripped off the
heavy waxed jacket and pushed it under the seat, before dropping her phone on top of it.

  ‘And have her blabber-mouthing about it to everyone? No. Absolutely not. Either that or she would have just kept coming back for more and more money. She couldn’t be trusted. The same way I can’t have you telling your story.’

  ‘What makes you think I know anything?’

  ‘I’m not stupid. I know who your mother is. I know everything that goes on around here. I make it my business and I know you’ve been poking your nose in where it doesn’t belong. I tried to warn you. Tried to warn your mother and Elizabeth’s mother, but no, you wouldn’t take the hint, would you?’

  ‘You? It was you in the car and you with the brick?’

  Pru rolled her eyes skyward. ‘Ten out of ten. And now it’s your turn to take a swim.’

  ‘You won’t get away with this.’

  ‘Oh, goodness, can’t you think of anything original to say?’ scorned Pru. ‘You’re going in the water. So am I, but I get to swim back to shore and put on my clothes.’ She tapped the holdall. ‘My dry bag will ensure my clothes are still dry and then I can raise the alarm that you’ve fallen in the water trying to get the boats for me. I’ll be distraught, of course. I won’t be able to imagine another death in the lake. No one will suspect me of being out there. I’m in my sixties, I’m dying of cancer, I can’t swim that far.’

  Steph gulped. ‘You’re dying of cancer?’

  ‘Yes; I have nothing to lose really. I’ll be dead in six-to-twelve months but I don’t care. I will have saved my beloved Conmere and my sons.’

  ‘You’re mad, you know that?’ said Steph.

  ‘Oh, shut up and get in the bloody water,’ snarled Pru.

  Steph shook her head vehemently, her hands gripping the wooden seat. Still, the speed with which Pru moved took her by surprise, and before she realised what was happening Pru had yanked her to her feet. ‘Get off me!’ grunted Steph as she tried to pull Pru’s hands from the neck of her jumper.

  Pru was stronger than she looked and Steph was fighting hard to keep her balance as Pru tried to tip her overboard. The boat lurched to one side and then the other. Steph’s footing was momentarily dislodged, and as she attempted to re-establish her balance her foot slipped on the waxed cotton coat. Pru seized the opportunity and threw her weight into Steph, sending them both flying out of the boat and into the water.

  Chapter Forty

  Conmere, Friday, 17 May 2.57 p.m.

  As Harry stormed out of the living room, he was greeted by the sound of more raised voices. This time two women’s. He looked up and was surprised to see Wendy Lynch standing there, in the middle of a heated debate with Heidi.

  ‘I just want you to ring my daughter or call her on the walkie-talkie or whatever system you use,’ Wendy was demanding. She looked round as Harry stepped into the hall. ‘Right, you. Where’s my daughter?’

  Harry shot Heidi a look. ‘Where’s Steph?’

  ‘On her lunch break, but she’s not in the staff kitchen – I’ve just come from there.’ Heidi looked at her watch. ‘She should be back in about ten minutes.’

  ‘Any idea where she might have gone?’

  At that moment Eileen came through from the main doors, and she stopped in her tracks as she took in the worried faces in front of her.

  ‘Have you seen Steph?’ Harry asked, trying to keep the anxiety from his voice.

  ‘A while ago, yes – I saw her walking with Mrs Sinclair.’

  ‘Where?’ he demanded, barely before Eileen had finished her sentence.

  ‘Through the resort.’ She pointed in the direction of the terrace and pool.

  ‘Did you see where they went?’ Harry’s heart was hammering inside him.

  ‘Just saw them go down the terrace steps,’ said Eileen. ‘Mrs Sinclair didn’t have the girls with her.’

  Harry didn’t bother to answer; his only concern was for Steph. He went to grab his coat from the hook on the back of the door, but it was missing. Instead, he picked up a lightweight waterproof jacket and hurried after Wendy, who was already storming her way out of the building. His stomach churned with anxiety and his heart thumped with fear. Steph was with his mother and they were heading for the lake. He clenched his hands as panic began to surge through him. He couldn’t let history repeat itself. He couldn’t let anything happen to Steph. He had to get to the lake and fast. He stopped, spun round and grabbed a key from the reception-desk drawer.

  ‘Wait! Wendy, just wait a minute,’ said Harry as he caught up with the former DCI. ‘I’ll get one of the resort buggies. We can cover the grounds quicker. This way – they’re behind the pool house.’

  ‘Hurry, we need to find her, and quickly.’

  They raced round to the pool house and Harry used the key to start the electric buggy, which was basically a quad bike but with a bench seat and a steering wheel. ‘Ready?’

  Harry steered the buggy round the pool house and along the path which filtered through the trees, past the first tier of guest lodges and then into the denser woodland. ‘I know what happened,’ he shouted above the noise of the engine. ‘And I know Steph must have worked it out.’

  ‘I spoke to her this morning on the phone. She said she’d discovered the cocaine your brother has been dealing. He’s got a haul of it hidden away in the boathouse.’

  ‘What?’ Harry turned his head to look at Wendy. She was deadly serious.

  ‘Look out!’ yelled Wendy.

  Harry yanked the steering wheel to the left, narrowly missing a tree. ‘A drugs haul?’

  ‘Yes. Just keep your eyes on the track,’ said Wendy, raising her voice to be heard. ‘Where are you going exactly?’

  ‘Down to the lake. My mother likes to go there. Steph likes the lake. It’s where …’ His words trailed off. He didn’t need to tell Wendy it was where Elizabeth had drowned.

  He could feel Wendy’s gaze on him and he took a sideways look at her. He couldn’t read her expression, but in just a quick glimpse he had seen guilt and fear. ‘You know as well, don’t you?’ he said. The buggy jolted violently to one side as it hit a root but stayed upright and he steered it along the woodland path, opening up the accelerator.

  ‘Elizabeth found out too many secrets about your family and she was holding them all to ransom,’ said Wendy, eventually. ‘She made enemies of just about everyone and she knew it. She was playing a dangerous game.’

  ‘She was difficult to get on with in the end,’ said Harry, thinking back to how, in the last couple of months of her life, they had practically been living separate lives and he’d been planning for a new life ahead as a divorcee. He hadn’t spoken about this with anyone, not even his brothers, and after her death it had seemed pointless. It was only heaping more misery on everyone, especially her mother, Sonia. He wondered now if Elizabeth had confided in anyone. No one had spoken to him about it, no one had mentioned it or even hinted at it. He didn’t know if, like him, they felt it was irrelevant after her death.

  ‘She was making life difficult for all of you,’ said Wendy. ‘Her death was very convenient.’

  Harry shot her a look. Convenient? That was one cold-hearted way of describing it. He concentrated on the path ahead as they reached the descent towards the lake.

  The buggy trundled down the hill, swaying and dipping as it covered the uneven ground. Within a few minutes they were at the side of the lake.

  Harry scanned the shoreline, and there, sprawled out on the muddy water’s edge, was a figure. He brought the buggy to a halt, stalling the engine, and jumped off, running across the stones. He threw himself down on the ground beside the limp body. It was his mother. She was wearing a full wetsuit. Beside her was a dry bag.

  ‘Mum! Mum!’ shouted Harry, turning her over onto her back. He pressed his ear to her face. He could feel her breath on his skin. It was faint, but it was there. He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialled for an ambulance, before taking off his jacket and covering his mother with it. He stoo
d up and looked out across the lake.

  There were three rowing boats in the centre of the lake that shouldn’t have been there. One was slightly more adrift than the others. He squinted some more. There was a dark shape floating by the boat. Fear gripped his throat.

  ‘Ambulance service. Is the patient breathing?’ came the response of the emergency-call handler.

  Harry forced himself to answer. ‘Yes. She’s collapsed though. She’s been in the water. Swimming. I’ve found her by the edge of the lake. It’s my mother, she’s sixty-eight.’

  He waved his arm frantically to Wendy, pointing out across the lake. He was torn between answering the operator’s questions and diving into the water himself. Wendy, however, had no hesitation. She was battling against the water, wading towards the nearest rowing boat.

  Harry looked at his mother and back at Wendy and then out at the body in the lake. His indecision was relieved as a car came speeding up along the track and skidded to a halt. Dominic jumped out and started running towards them. Harry threw the phone at his brother.

  ‘You deal with this. It’s the ambulance service.’

  With that he turned and ran into the water, shouting at Wendy to wait for him. Fortunately he’d kept himself in shape, and years of wild-water swimming with his mum were about to pay off. He dived into the water, wishing he’d taken time to kick his shoes off as he powered his way to the rowing boat.

  Reaching the edge of the boat, he hauled himself in and took the oars from Wendy, pulling harder and faster than he’d ever done in his life. He had no idea how long Steph had been in the water. It might already be too late.

  Memories of Elizabeth flooded back to him, images of her lifeless body in the hospital, tubes down her throat, wires attached to monitors. The beep-beep of the heart monitor and the sound of the ventilator wheezing. All the machinery which had kept Elizabeth alive but had not been able to save her.