by Anita Waller
Anna paused for a moment to look at all their faces. Jenny was inscrutable. Mark looked pensive, and Tim grinned at her. Caroline had tears in her eyes.
‘I have to make a decision about Lindum Lodge. If you decide to come back to Lincoln, Mark, you are very welcome to live here. You can do what you want with it, redecorate, add extensions, whatever, to make it your home for you four. If you don’t want it, I am going to sell it. I won’t be returning here. I live in Sheffield now. It will always be my property, if you decide to live here, and will have to be sold on my death so it is split equally between the three of you, but by the time that day arrives, you will probably be in a position to buy the other two out, and make it yours, in every sense of the word. It will be up to you to make sure the business thrives, and that needs to start now. If you decide it’s not for you, I will be selling the business. I can’t run it from Sheffield. All this, of course, depends upon Dad not having changed anything because I walked away. We won’t know until tomorrow, but I wanted to give you all a heads up tonight so you can sleep on it. Anybody want to say anything?’
‘Whoosh!’ Mark said. ‘That’s a pretty big decision you’ve landed on our doorstep, Mum.’
‘It certainly is, ‘Jenny added. ‘I’ve never thought about returning to Lincoln...’
‘Well, the decision needs to be made sooner, rather than later. If you want to look at the accounts, Mark, I can show you them. We have the computer back from the police now, and I’ve sorted all the wages out for the workforce so everything is up to date. And it’s a good workforce and a good business. You would be mad not to take advantage of it, but I am aware of all the other issues. If Dad had died of natural causes, I don’t think you would have hesitated, but he died here, in the front garden, and that has to have an effect. You could, of course, buy another house in Lincoln and run the business from there, but this is set up for it. The choice is yours; it makes no difference to me. I can sell Lindum Lodge now, or you can sell it or buy it when I die.’
‘Well, I don’t know if this helps, but I think Dad made exactly the right decision, if this is what his will still states.’ Caroline’s voice was a little weak, but she felt she had to say something. ‘Tim? How do you feel? Would you have wanted to share this with Mark?’
Tim laughed. ‘You’re joking. I don’t even live in the country now, and nothing would make me want to work here. I say go for it, Mark. Make it even bigger and better than Dad did, and give Adam and Grace a future.’
They chatted for another hour, and then, one by one, drifted off to bed, leaving Jenny downstairs with Anna.
‘I don’t know what to say, Anna.’
‘I know. Will you be able to live here? I really would like you two to take the business on; I can show you the admin side, and Mark will be a natural in Ray’s role. It makes sense.’
Jenny still looked troubled. ‘Ray’s death freed us. I’m just a bit worried it’s going to ensnare us here now. The first thing I would have to do is completely change that front garden, so I don’t see him every time I walk up that path.’
‘Then do it. We all need to move on, in whatever way we can, from this. You and I will find it so much harder, but that’s our penalty, isn’t it? The others will eventually accept he’s gone, and life will return to normal. Not for me and you.’
‘I’ll talk to Mark after the official will reading. He may have changed it anyway. This was never about profiting from his death financially; it was about profiting from it mentally. For both of us.’
She stood and moved towards the door. ‘I’ll see you in the morning, Anna. I suspect I have a conversation waiting for me upstairs.’
‘Night, Jenny. Love you.’
‘Love you too, my Kyra.’
Chapter 31
Jeff Simmonite arrived just after 10.00am the next morning, and by midday, he had gone. He confirmed the will was still as Anna remembered it.
Mark and Jenny had talked long into the night, and he asked for a couple more days to think things through and talk to the children before finalising their decision to move back to Lincoln.
Jenny stood by Anna’s side in the kitchen, making lunch for them all, before their departures at various times for their own homes.
‘Who decided yes?’ Anna asked her.
‘Mark, really. I’m going along with it because it will give stability in our lives, a good start for the children, and it takes us a bit nearer to you. The only drawback is living with what I did, and the fact I did it here.’ She held up a finger as Anna opened her mouth to speak. ‘No, Anna, I don’t regret anything. On a personal level, I feel liberated, and that has to be good for my family. Ray had to die. Eventually, everyone will start to feel less grief stricken, and life will go on. We will move in here, and I’ve made it a condition of living here that we turn the front garden into a parking area for our cars and change the double garage into accommodation for when you visit. That means you can come stay with us, without having to go upstairs where there are so many bad memories for you, and it will change things downstairs as well. Mark’s agreed to everything I want, so really the agreement to take over the business is more or less a formality. It will only be if the kids really kick off and come up with valid arguments against the move that things could change.’
‘Well, I’m glad. I would hate to see the business I built up, just as much as Ray did, go to somebody new. Let me know your final decision as soon as possible, we’ll bring Simmonite’s back in and get it made official, and I’ll take you through the administration side of it. It will certainly make things easier for you with childcare, because you’ll be working from home, and the salary is pretty good. I saved every single penny of my earnings for the fifteen years or so I was doing the job. Time for me to retire on my hard-earned wealth now.’
Jenny smiled. ‘Mine won’t be anywhere near as hard-earned as yours was.’ She reached across and kissed Anna on the cheek.
They took the sandwiches and drinks through to the lounge, placing them on the coffee table. Mark’s face looked slightly less drawn than it had done since the night he had turned up in Sheffield to bring the news about his father.
‘Have the police said anything?’ he asked.
‘Not a thing. They seem to be a bit in limbo from what I can gather. I noticed a police presence at the funeral yesterday, and Gainsborough came up to me to offer condolences on behalf of the department. But, there’s nothing on the investigation. No weapon for a start. They never close down a murder case so, I suppose, one day something will surface, but for now, there doesn’t seem to be anything.’
‘Mom, you coming over to us?’ Tim tried to steer the conversation on to lighter areas.
‘Not yet, Tim. I want to see about buying something in Sheffield and getting myself properly settled, and I need to be available for a while until Mark and Jenny are happy they can continue to run the business without me. As it stands at the moment, I’m the only one who knows anything,’ she said with a laugh. ‘But, I promise I’ll come over for a holiday soon. I’ll give you advance warning so you two can maybe arrange some time off to show me round.’
They started to drift away shortly after lunch; Tim and Steve were the first to leave. Their flight was scheduled to leave Manchester at 6.00pm, and after the longest hug ever, Anna watched their hire car disappear down the drive and turn on to the road. Tim’s head didn’t turn towards the spot where his father had died.
Mark and Jenny followed shortly after, with Jenny promising to ring her that night. Caroline was the last to go; she couldn’t hide her tears.
‘I miss him, Mum. So much.’
‘I know, sweetheart. We all do in our very different ways, but you have always been his special one. Just remember him with love.’
Caro got into her car and drove away, stopping for a couple of seconds on the drive to look across the garden to where her Dad had died. Anna turned her back on the garden and walked into the house.
Anna waited ten minutes or so, an
d then rang Michael.
‘It’s over,’ she said simply. ‘Everyone has gone home.’
‘Can I see you?’
‘Yes. But not here. People still look at this place; it’s become a bit of a tourist attraction. I’m heading back to Sheffield tonight, but we could meet up in Newark?’
‘In our cafe?’ She could hear the smile in his voice.
‘Yes, our cafe. Is it still there?’
‘It certainly is. What time are you leaving?’
‘I just need to pack the car, and then I’m ready. I can be there for two.’
‘A coffee will be waiting.’
Anna checked every room and carried her small suitcase downstairs. It occurred to her she would have to put furniture into storage, because Jenny and Mark would want their own, and it would have to be done quickly. She would have to arrange to meet Jenny at Lindum in a couple of days and go through everything; the business needed someone at the helm pretty quickly.
Anna loaded the car with a few items from the kitchen, and was just getting into the driving seat, when Gainsborough pulled into the driveway. She waited while he walked across to her.
‘Do you need to go inside, DI Gainsborough?’
‘No. You heading off out?’
‘I’m going back to Sheffield. I don’t want to be here on my own. Everyone’s gone...’
He nodded sympathetically.
‘I do understand how difficult it can be. I just popped by to check you’re all okay, and to tell you we’re putting all this on Crimewatch. Maybe it will jog someone’s memory, give us something to go on, however small. You should be here; it would add something to it, if they can interview you. And possibly Mark?’
‘When?’
’11 May. Next Monday. Is that okay with you? Can you be here?’
She nodded. ‘Of course I can. I’ll contact Mark. He works away during the week, so it’s not a certainty he can be here, but I definitely can.’
‘Thank you. I don’t mind admitting there’s not much to go on. We can’t find any connection at all between the three victims, other than they’re all from Lincoln. Somebody knows something, must have seen blood on clothing, that sort of thing.’
Anna had a brief flashback to a naked Jenny walking across to the bathroom while she herself held the bloodied clothing.
‘I’ll be here. It won’t be easy, but I can do it.’
He smiled. ‘We don’t give up, you know. We’ll get him.’
‘I hope so. We need closure.’
He turned and walked back to his car. He folded his tall frame into the passenger seat and rolled down the window. ‘See you Monday, Anna. Nine o’clock?’
She nodded and held up a hand in agreement. The car reversed down the drive, and she sank slowly into her own driving seat. Crimewatch always brought results. How many times had she watched the programme, and thought how good it was that all those people had rung in, because their memories had been triggered about that crime?
Anna drove to Newark with mixed feelings. This could be a difficult weekend in front of her.
She walked into the café, which had been ‘their’ cafe all those years ago, and saw him immediately. Tall, grey hair now replacing the dark blonde of their early years, but still the bright blue eyes she remembered so well. Anna would remember them anywhere, of course; both her sons had the same eyes. He wore a pale grey suit, and the sight of him stopped her breath.
He stood as soon as he saw her and walked towards her. He opened his arms, and she walked into them. They stood for an indeterminable amount of time, and only moved when the waitress stopped what she was doing to watch them. He led her to the table, held the chair out for her, and she sat down. She hadn’t said a word. Neither had he.
And then they both spoke at once.
‘Michael...’
‘Anna...’
And they laughed.
And all was right between them.
They talked about inconsequential things while consuming three coffees and a scone. Afterwards they walked through a park, as they had done before; the day they had decided to split up they had said the awful words in that park. It would now hold good memories for them, instead of bad.
Anna spoke of her returning to Lincoln on Monday for the Crimewatch programme and her handing over of the house to Mark and Jenny.
‘I consider Sheffield to be my home now,’ she said. ‘I absolutely love where I am living, it’s the right size for me, and if one of the apartments comes on the market, I’m going to look at buying it. If I can get one the size that my friends have bought, that will be even better. Their home has three bedrooms, mine only has two.’
‘Can I see it?’
Anna nodded. ‘Of course. Let’s get all this Crimewatch and business transfer out of the way and back to a normal sort of living, and you can come over. But not until then. It would be wrong. I’ve only just lost Ray.’
‘Did you love him?’
She shook her head. ‘No. Not in any way. I was scared of him. I didn’t want him dead, and I do wonder if I’d been there, would he still be alive? I’m sure he would. He didn’t go out drinking at night; that only started after I left.’
She didn’t add that other factors had conspired in Ray’s death. Some secrets were just that, secret.
They parted soon after; Anna needed to get home, needed time to think. Michael didn’t start his own car until he had seen her drive safely out of the car park and head in the direction of Sheffield.
He now knew the love he had held on to for so many years hadn’t just been imaginary; it was real, and life could have been so different for both of them. He hated the thought she had been scared of Ray; she hadn’t said why, but he knew she would, one day.
Michael drove home with his heart singing. For now it felt like an affair, but he had hopes one day they could be open and enjoying each other’s company.
Chapter 32
The people at Crimewatch were very gentle with her. Mark was there in support – as he said, what could they do, sack him? He was leaving anyway. They spoke of the emptiness within the family, the loss felt by the men he employed at Carbrooks, and the changes they were now being forced to make. Mark ended his short speech by asking anyone who knew anything at all, who may have seen something out of the ordinary on that dark night, to come forward with it.
Jenny had arrived with Mark, and after the cameras had disappeared to film the other two locations, all three of them sat down with a coffee to discuss what would happen next.
‘Well,’ Anna began, ‘I thought I would crack on with some packing today. There are some things I’m going to take to Sheffield with me, and if there’s anything you three want that belonged to your Dad, then just take it. The bigger stuff, the furniture, needs to be put into storage or sold, or whatever. I don’t really care. I’ve set myself up in Sheffield, so there’s nothing here that will be of use. Do you two want anything? This house is much bigger than yours, so you might want to hang on to some things.’
‘We’ll keep the office as it is; you’ve set that up well. And maybe the furniture in the guest room can stay, because we won’t have anything to put in there.’ Mark smiled at his mother. ‘Is that okay with you?’
‘It’s absolutely fine. Jenny?’
Jenny looked grey. ‘Yes, it’s good. Mark’s right. This all seems very... sudden.’
‘I know,’ Anna said gently. ‘And if there wasn’t the business to consider, we wouldn’t have to rush. In fact, if there wasn’t the business, I would simply be selling the house. Look, I believe this is what we have to do. Let’s clear the bedrooms. Then, bring Chris and John, our two best decorators in and get yours, Grace, and Adam’s rooms done. Have them re-carpeted, or whatever you want on the floors, and then it will feel like your home and not ours. No ghosts.’
Jenny nodded. ‘Okay. Shall we make a start? Mum and Dad are at ours packing for us so we can stay latish.’
They concentrated on the three bedrooms, and manage
d to dismantle and move all three beds down into the garage. Anna sorted things and blessed the day she’d agreed – been told – a double garage was a good idea.
She had an area for charity shop furniture, an area for general charity shop stuff, and an area for bits she was going to take with her. As Mark and Jenny came across items they wanted, they moved them into the guest room for sorting at a later date.
They stood back and surveyed the empty rooms. ‘Okay, I want colour.’ Jenny was adamant. ‘These carpets are going nowhere, they’re what I would buy anyway, and they’re cream, so we’ll use colour on the walls. We’ll have new curtains, new bedding, and our bed is new anyway. It will be ours.’
‘Right.’ Anna looked around the room she had shared with Ray for so many years, and felt nothing. Had she hated him that much? Wasn’t she supposed to be grieving?
‘If you want to be moving quickly, we have to speak with the lads tonight. They have to be starting by next week at the latest.’
Anna went to the office to find out where Chris was likely to be and realised he was working fairly close by. She rang him, and he said he could be there in ten minutes.
Chris was a little bit overwhelmed when he arrived. The bedrooms had been decorated some six months earlier, and he hadn’t thought he would be back so soon.
He made notes of everything Jenny wanted, including a wallpapered feature wall in the master bedroom. She would provide that, if he would tell her how much she needed. They moved into the office, and Chris gave Jenny shopping lists for all three rooms. Anna checked and confirmed he could start the following Monday, although John was tied up until Wednesday.
Chris left, and the three of them sat down and ordered a pizza. Nobody had the strength, or inclination, to cook.
Mark loaded up Anna’s Audi before leaving to head back to Leicester. He pulled his mother close and held her. ‘You’ve changed,’ he whispered. ‘A different person.’