Someone to Trust

by Someone to Trust (retail) (epub)

  She got up, went round the table and put an arm round her stepfather. ‘It’s OK, I didn’t mean it. Of course she’s going to turn up. Rob’s right. She’s been missing hardly any time at all.’

  ‘She can’t be dead! I don’t want her to be dead,’ cried Barney brokenly, resting his head against Lucy. She felt awkward standing there, listening to a grown man cry, but she could understand his feelings. She wondered if they’d had a row after the party in St Domingo Grove but her mother had seemed perfectly calm and undisturbed the next morning. So Lucy continued to pat his back and whisper soothing words, aware that Rob was watching them. She remembered him saying Barney had double standards. Why had he said that?

  ‘Is there anything you can tell me, Lucy, to add to what your brother, Barney and Agnes have said about your mother’s daily routine?’

  ‘I don’t know what they’ve told you.’ She hesitated, unsure whether to mention Maureen’s attending St Anthony’s church? If… when – she was going to be positive – her mother returned, it could cause problems between husband and wife.

  ‘But you’re her daughter. She might tell you things she wouldn’t mention to anyone else.’

  Lucy could see there was something in that but Timmy knew about St Anthony’s so maybe he’d already told Rob. There was nothing else she could think of that her mother had said or done out of the ordinary. ‘I can’t think of anything.’

  He nodded and stood up. ‘Then I’ll be on my way. I’ll drop in this evening and see whether she’s turned up.’

  ‘You see him out, Lucy,’ said Barney, who had control of himself now.

  She did as he said. Rob paused on the doorstep and looked her straight in the eye. ‘There was something you’d thought of, wasn’t there? Something you don’t want Barney to know.’

  Lucy was impressed by his perceptiveness. ‘You’re too smart by half, Mr Detective,’ she said lightly. ‘I wasn’t sure if Timmy had told you but Mam’s been dropping in at St Anthony’s on Scottie the last few months. Old haunts!’ There was a catch in her voice. ‘It seems she missed them after all.’

  Rob looked interested. ‘I’ll get the bobby on the beat down there to have a word with the priest. There might be something else she’s hiding.’

  ‘You’re forgetting the sanctity of the confessional.’

  ‘I’m not talking about sin.’

  ‘Then what could she have to conceal?’ said Lucy softly, remembering those moments on the sofa at his aunt’s. Perhaps he was thinking of them, too, because he couldn’t take his eyes off her and there was a flush on his cheeks. Then, with a sudden swift movement, he turned on his heel and ran down the steps.

  Lucy closed the door and went back into the kitchen. Barney was still sitting at the table. Timmy was standing over the cooker, frying pan in hand. ‘I thought you might like some breakfast before going to work.’

  ‘I’ll do that. I’m not going to go to pieces.’

  ‘You’re not going to work, are you, girlie?’ asked Barney in a trembling voice, reaching out a hand to her.

  ‘Aren’t you?’ She took his hand, thinking she would rather be at the cinema than here, listening, hoping, waiting for her mother to come in. She would rather be occupied out of the house, come home and find her mother waiting for her.

  ‘I’m feeling poorly.’ He sounded much older than his years.

  ‘Agnes’ll be here to look after you.’

  ‘I prefer you.’

  Lucy hardened her heart. This sudden dependency made her feel uncomfortable. ‘You’ve got to pull yourself together. What’ll Mam think when she comes home and finds us both skiving off work?’

  ‘She should feel flattered. I promise if she comes back we’ll get a wireless.’

  ‘She’d like that,’ said Lucy diplomatically, wishing he’d seen fit to buy her one for Christmas.

  The day at work dragged on interminably and at the end of it Lucy could not wait to get home to see if her mother was there; but she wasn’t.

  Barney must have been chain smoking because the ash tray in the music room was overflowing with cigarette butts. Of her brother there was no sign. ‘Has Timmy gone to bed?’ she asked.

  ‘I don’t know where he is.’ Barney sprawled in the leather chair, an empty cup at his elbow, a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. He wore a morose expression. ‘I’ve lost count of the times he’s asked me if his mam is back yet. He’s been in and out of the house until it drove me mad.’ Her stepfather stretched out a hand to her. ‘I’m scared, Lucy. What if that O’Neill fella has got her? Or what if she’s gone peculiar again like she did after she lost the baby and has done something – terrible?’

  Lucy’s eyes dilated. ‘You mean taken her own life? No!’ she cried. ‘Mam wouldn’t do that! Not her! It’s not in her nature. She’d got better, wasn’t miserable any longer.’ Lucy wasn’t even going to consider suicide as a possibility. ‘Right. I’m going upstairs to see if Timmy’s there.’

  He wasn’t. She took the stairs two at a time on the way down. ‘He’s not there! Think, Uncle Barney! Did he say anything to you about where he was going?’

  Her stepfather shook his head. ‘I wasn’t taking things in, girlie. I can’t get your mam out of my mind.’ He looked so woebegone she couldn’t be too annoyed with him but she did not want to be in his company and walked out of the room. It was getting on for eleven-thirty. Where could Timmy be? Could he have gone to Aunt Mac’s? Maybe he had gone up to Daniel Street to see Owen? Or even along to Rob’s aunt’s?

  Lucy decided to try Owen’s house first but she had barely walked halfway along St Domingo Road when she saw her brother and Rob coming towards her. She pounced on Timmy. ‘You’ve had me worried sick. What are you playing at?’

  ‘I got sick of him,’ said Timmy, his expression mutinous. ‘He’s only thinking of himself.’

  Lucy’s eyes met Rob’s over her brother’s head. ‘Any news?’

  ‘Not a whisper. Timmy’s been telling me your mam and Barney fell out over a wireless a few weeks ago. I know they disagreed about you on New Year’s Eve.’

  ‘What are you getting at? All husbands and wives fall out at times. You don’t think he’s murdered her?’ A laugh tripped off Lucy’s tongue.

  ‘You’d be surprised at the reasons people kill,’ Rob said seriously.

  ‘I don’t believe it!’ She was angry with him. Barney might be some things, but a murderer?

  ‘Most murders are committed by a family member.’

  Her cheeks blanched and for a moment it looked like Rob was going to say something else but instead he turned and walked away. How could he say that? How could he hurt her in that way? She’d started to forgive herself but now… She seized Timmy by the arm and hurried him in the direction of Barney’s house.

  Her brother protested. ‘Why are you so rough? I’ve done nothing wrong. It’s Uncle Barney you should be cross with. What if he has killed Mam? He was real mad with her, remember?’

  ‘He wouldn’t kill her for that! And you’re not to say a word to Barney about this. He wouldn’t kill Mam in a hundred years. You’ve seen what he’s like! It’s Shaun O’Neill we’ve got to catch.’

  Barney had gone to bed when they arrived home, which disappointed Lucy because she’d thought he would have shown some interest in Timmy turning up. Even so she made excuses for her stepfather. He must be frustrated, unable to go looking for his wife like any able-bodied husband would. Maybe he blamed himself for not being able to protect Maureen from the likes of Shaun O’Neill.

  In the morning Owen turned up to dig over the garden. He made no comment about New Year’s Eve or her mother being missing. Maybe he couldn’t think of the right words, thought Lucy.

  Several days later a couple of policemen turned up. They had a warrant to search the house. Lucy was dumbstruck and rushed round to Rob’s aunt’s to see what he had to say about it but received no answer at the house. Having no time to return home, she went straight on to work. During her two
-hour break she wrote a letter to Rob and posted it. When she arrived home it was to discover the front garden had been freshly dug over.

  ‘They were looking for Mam’s body,’ whispered Timmy as she stood in the hall removing her coat.

  Lucy felt the colour drain from her face and gripped the newel post. ‘I can’t believe Rob’s done this. Where’s Barney?’

  ‘In the music room.’

  Lucy went in and found her stepfather sitting in his large leather chair, smoking and gazing into the fire. ‘Timmy’s told me what the police have done.’

  ‘They didn’t find anything, lovey.’ He smiled wearily. ‘I told them they wouldn’t. As if I’d hurt a hair of your mother’s head. It was all down to her clothes being in the wardrobe. They said if she’d gone off after a quarrel or anything of that sort she would have packed a suitcase. A lovely lot of clothes she’s got in there, they said. I said to them, “Why should I kill her? I’ve got nothing to gain by it. Now if it was me who’d gone missing… Well now, she’d come in to something then, wouldn’t she?”’

  Lucy had to agree. ‘Didn’t they say anything about Shaun O’Neill?’

  ‘I did mention him, despite Rob’s already knowing about him, and they made no comment. So he must have told them.’

  Lucy paced the floor, arms folded. ‘It’s maddening! I could kill Rob. This is all his fault.’

  ‘No, lovey,’ said Barney, getting to his feet. He put an arm about her. ‘You mustn’t blame the lad. Seems it was the Chief Constable who made the decision to search this house. Remembered Winnie being killed. A woman killed, another going missing from the same address.’ He nodded his head gravely. ‘Suspicious, Lucy. But I swore to them on the Bible I hadn’t hurt a hair on your mother’s head.’

  ‘You don’t have to keep repeating that, Uncle Barney. I believe you!’ She rested her head against his shoulder. ‘I’m just so tired and worried.’ Her voice trembled.

  ‘There, lovey, you go to bed and have a good sleep.’ He caressed her cheek. ‘Sunday tomorrow, you can have a good rest.’

  But Lucy couldn’t rest and the next morning was up early. She ate a solitary breakfast, went into the music room and put a match to the fire before curling up in the leather chair. She watched the flames, emotionally and physically exhausted after another restless night. Her eyelids drooped and she dozed to awake to the sound of Rob’s voice. ‘Where is she?’

  ‘Keep your voice down, Mr Jones.’ It was Agnes. ‘She’s in the music room, having a little rest.’

  The door was flung open and Rob entered. Lucy put her feet down on the floor and straightened herself. ‘What is it?’

  ‘You!’ She could see he was very angry.

  ‘I suppose it’s the letter I sent you.’

  ‘The letter?’ He snorted, turned his back on her a moment and then faced her again. ‘If that was all! What were you thinking of telling Constable Rankine you were a girl wanting a good time, a bright young thing, and mentioning me by name as if I could get you out of trouble? You’ve no idea the ragging I’ve had and the things people are saying about us.’

  She had to force herself to think back. All week her mind had been filled with only one thing, her mother’s disappearance. Finally she remembered New Year’s Eve and all that had happened that evening. ‘It was the shimmy frock. He was going to arrest me, thought I was a woman of the streets. I had to do something! Your name worked a treat and he saw us home. After he saw Barney he must have known I wasn’t what he took me for at first.’

  ‘No, he decided you were something else! God only knows how but it’s got back to my aunt and Blodwen. I assure you they both seem to have no trouble in believing something has being going on between you and me.’

  ‘You mean…’ Lucy’s face brightened and for a moment she forgot her mother could be lying dead at the bottom of the Mersey or buried in some dark place. ‘Blodwen’s broken off your engagement?’

  ‘No! She’s given me an ultimatum. Either I give up my job and take over my aunt’s timber yard within the month or it’s all over between us!’

  Chapter Sixteen

  Lucy stood on the front step, hugging herself and gazing down at the garden. It was a week since Rob had told her about Blodwen’s ultimatum and since then she had felt physically wounded, convinced he never wanted to see her again. She told herself she had to face up to the fact he really did mean it when he said he loved Blodwen. What was she going to do now? Along with the worry about her mother she felt as if her heart was breaking.

  ‘Hello, Midget!’

  She lifted her head and stared at Owen from lacklustre eyes. ‘What d’you want?’ Her tone was unfriendly.

  ‘That’s a nice welcome.’ He came up the steps and stood beside her. ‘A pity the police didn’t come a week earlier. They’d have saved me a job.’

  ‘Barney told them they were wasting their time. They could have made an effort and checked that you’d recently dug over the ground. I can’t credit it that they didn’t think how difficult it would be for a cripple like Barney to get digging. They’ve dug up all the spring bulbs you put in last September.’

  ‘He’s stronger than you think, you know,’ said Owen, taking out a packet of Woodbines and lighting up. ‘Could dig a grave even if it was a struggle.’

  ‘Don’t!’ she snapped.

  ‘Sorry.’ Silence. Then: ‘You’re not at work today?’

  ‘Yes. I nipped home to see how Barney was… I’ll be heading back in a minute.’

  Owen rested a shoulder against the door jamb. ‘I’m real sorry about your mam being missing. I suppose there’s no chance of me taking you to the Grafton now?’

  Lucy felt like hitting him. ‘You’ve got that right,’ she confirmed, her eyes glinting. ‘Take Dilys – you’ll make her day.’

  He didn’t deny it. ‘At least someone loves me and there’s a lot about her I like. The trouble with Dilys is she wants too much of me.’

  Lucy could understand that if Dilys was really in love with him because she herself wanted all of Rob. She buttoned her coat, thinking it was time to get back to work. ‘Is he in?’ asked Owen, straightening up and nipping out the glowing end of his cigarette before placing it back in the packet. She nodded and without saying goodbye walked slowly down the steps.

  Waiting at the tram stop on the other side of the road she noticed several people dawdling past the house. Neighbours had taken a ghoulish interest in their goings-on since her mother’s disappearance had hit the headlines of the local newspapers; a rerun of the details of the sensational murder of Winnie Jones and the fact that her murderer had never been found meant that Maureen’s going missing was more than a five-day wonder.

  Lucy was working at the cash desk now but although the work was much easier on the feet she found it less interesting and was glad when she could head for home.

  As she entered the house she was aware of the sound of music. She froze as the Third Movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, all passion and anger, flooded the place. She wrapped her arm round the newel post, feeling the need for an anchor, and waited for the music to stop before entering the music room.

  Barney lifted his head. His face was blotchy and still showed signs of strain but his eyes looked clear and focused readily on her. ‘You all right, girlie?’

  ‘It’s been a long day.’ Lucy walked over to the piano. ‘You must be feeling better to be playing?’

  ‘I am. I’ve decided I can’t stay home anymore. Tomorrow it’s back to my place at the piano and entertaining people. So many have sent messages saying they’re thinking of me.’

  ‘The police will allow you to go to work?’ she said tentatively.

  He looked amused. ‘They’ve got nothing on me – and I can hardly skip the country. I wouldn’t be surprised if they put a tail on me but that doesn’t worry me. I’ve nothing to hide where your mother’s concerned.’ His hand covered one of Lucy’s where it rested on top of the piano. ‘I’m worried about that Shaun O’Neill, th
ough.’

  A nerve throbbed at the corner of Lucy’s eye. ‘I wish they could find him. At least then we’d know if…’ She could not finish the sentence and, freeing her hand, walked out of the room. Upstairs she found Timmy reading a book by candlelight. She sat on the bed. ‘What are reading?’

  ‘Lost up the Amazon! I tell you, Luce, I wouldn’t like to meet an anaconda.’ He sounded deadly serious.

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘A giant snake. It could eat you whole.’

  ‘Cheerful stuff,’ she said in a teasing voice.

  He lowered his eyes to the page. ‘It helps to take my mind off things.’

  Tears filled Lucy’s eyes and she wanted to take her brother in her arms and comfort him. But what was there to say? She wanted her mam as much as he did.

  ‘Luce?’

  ‘Yes?’ She averted her face and brushed away the tears.

  ‘You don’t think Mam’s gone off somewhere to get away from him?’

  Her head swivelled. ‘No! She wouldn’t leave without telling us. Mam loves us!’ Lucy saw the hope die in her brother’s eyes and felt terrible. ‘Well, that’s to say, in her right mind she wouldn’t leave us,’ she stammered. ‘You’ve heard Barney say she went a bit peculiar after losing the baby.’

  ‘That’s ages ago.’ Timmy sighed. ‘No, you’re right. She wouldn’t leave us of her own free will.’ He bent over and laid the book open on the floor. ‘You can go now. I’ll have to get some sleep. I’m doing OK with my firewood. Somehow people seem to know it’s my mam who’s missing and they’re buying more and bringing me all sorts of treats.’

  ‘You can’t miss out on them then, can you?’ Lucy watched him snuggle down. Then she kissed his thatch of fair hair, blew out the candle and left the room.

  She dreamed that night of diving under the murky, oily waters of the Mersey and finding her mother’s violated body, made heavy with chains, lying on the sandy bottom. She woke, gasping with the effort of trying to rescue her, and lay feeling the silence and the darkness around her like a weight.