HIDDEN SECRETS

by Catherine Lambert

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  ONE HOUR LATER

  Ben and Kate worked side by side in the vast kitchen preparing sandwiches and tea.

  Conversation was light on the ground, and basically limited to the events of the morning.

  “Do you think Alex was supposed to have been in the car?” Kate asked as she carefully sliced another tomato with an extremely sharp knife.

  “I think so, but we’ll never know will we? I don’t have much faith in the police.”

  “Have you finished making the tea?” Kate placed the last sandwich on a tray.

  “Just about.”

  “Come on then, let’s go.”

  “After you,” Ben opened the door.

  Inspector Salt had taken a seat at the back of the room, and rose to his feet as they entered the room.

  “Hello, its Mrs. Preston isn’t it?” he asked.

  “Yes, and this is my husband Ben.”

  “We’ve already met,” he replied.

  “Are you looking for Alex?” Kate asked.

  “No not really. I believe Patrick Hinds has something interesting to say, so I thought I’d stay around and listen.”

  Ben placed the tray onto the table and took a seat next to his wife. Five minutes later, Alex arrived, followed shortly by Pat who immediately spotted Inspector Salt at the back of the room.

  “Well what a surprise; Patrick Hinds without a drink in his hand. I never expected to see you sober. What are you doing here?”

  “You’ll soon find out Inspector; and yes you’re right I am sober, just over two weeks now,” he replied smugly.

  “I think we all know each other. We’ll begin shortly,” Pat turned away from inspector Salt.

  “I hope this won’t take too long; I have an appointment at two o’clock so I need to leave here by one o’clock at the latest,” Alex checked his watch.

  “It shouldn’t take too long, but I was expecting a guest. I had hoped he’d be here by now, but we can begin without him,” Pat replied.

  “A guest, what do you mean?” Ben asked.

  “Oh just get on with it man, I don’t have all day,” Alex replied impatiently.

  Pat’s mobile phone was ringing, and he answered it immediately.

  “I’ll be right there,” he dropped the phone back into his jacket pocket.

  “Our mystery guest has arrived. You don’t mind if I let him in do you?” Pat looked at Alex.

  “No just hurry up man, you’re just wasting time.”

  Pat hurriedly left the room and returned a few minutes later with an elderly man, whom both Ben and Alex recognised. Alex smiled, obviously pleased to see him but Ben appeared to be very uncomfortable and avoided his gaze, as Stanley Austin stared in his direction. Kate’s first impression of the man was one of a cuddly grandfather with a more than ample waistline. She imagined him surrounded by young children giving them sweets and chocolates. He was a tall man, whom Kate guessed to be around sixty five years of age; or possibly slightly older. His clothes were somewhat eccentric consisting of a dark red sweater, woollen blazer and cream trousers. An open necked cream shirt revealed a black cravat with an emblem embroidered on the corners. Surprisingly, he possessed a full head of hair, which was obviously dyed. Stanley was clean shaven and his over-all appearance gave one the impression of vanity.

  “Stan, how are you, you old rogue?” Alex stepped forward and shook his hand heartily.

  ”It’s nice to see you as well you old charmer,” Stanley replied in a gruff voice.

  “Where’s Simon by-the -way?” he added, glancing round.

  “He’s not here at the moment,” Alex replied reservedly, this was not the time or place to divulge personal information.

  “He phoned me a few days ago, said he was thinking of buying a car.”

  “Oh, did he?” Alex was taken by surprise. “Can we talk about it later?

  “Of course,” he replied.

  “This is Inspector Salt,” Alex introduced him to Stanley.

  “You didn’t tell me the police would be here,” he turned to look at Pat.

  “There’s no need to worry Sir, if you’ve got nothing to hide that is?”

  “Of course I haven’t.”

  I believe you know Ben, and this is his wife Kate.”

  Stanley threw Ben a discerning look.

  “Did you think you could alter the past by changing your name? What were you expecting to gain by that Gerry Parish? I never thought I was capable of hating anyone as much as I hate you, and I never expected to set eyes on you again. You destroyed my family. I had two granddaughters and you let them die, I’ll never forgive you for that.”

  “You bloody hypocrite, one visit was all you ever paid to us after the girls were born. You couldn’t stand the sight of me, couldn’t accept that Anne was happy. I was never good enough was I?” Ben defended himself.

  “I begged her not to marry you, I knew what you’d do to her,” Stanley continued to berate him.

  “But you were wrong; so you tried to get rid of me with money, but you underestimated me; and when Anne refused to leave me you vowed never to speak to us again. You kept your word; you never even came to Helen’s funeral, did you?”

  Stanley had nothing to say because he knew Ben was telling the truth.

  “Can you discuss your personal grievances later?” Alex asked.

  “I asked Stanley to come here today. He’s got something to tell you that not even Ben knows about,” Pat spoke up.

  “Do you think there’s any chance you could tell us sometime today?” Alex’s patience was wearing thin.

  “Shall we all sit down?” Pat suggested.

  After taking their seats at the table, all eyes turned towards Stanley in silent anticipation. Inspector Salt remained at the back of the room surveying the scene, as Stanley Austin began to speak.

  “I too had twin daughters Gerry, or should I call you Ben? He asked a rhetorical question. “You married Anne, but you never met Judith. Anne was the oldest by twenty minutes, but she was still the first born child. Their mother Marjorie died of leukaemia when they were young; they should not have seen their mother die in such pain. The girls were almost were thirteen at the time and needed her; we all did. There were things I found I couldn’t talk to them about, women’s problems and adolescence. I wasn’t much use and my business was just beginning to take off. I employed a housekeeper, Evelyn Baines to help out. The girls eventually accepted her, and I could concentrate on my business. You have to understand, I wasn’t evading my duties as a father; I just wasn’t able to run the business and rear them at the same time. They needed a mother figure, and Evelyn fulfilled the role. The business was to be their inheritance; they had missed out on having a mother and I wanted to be certain they’d be financially secure in the future.”

  “That’s very noble of you,” Ben jeered.

  “Have you any idea what I went through; how hard it was to make the right decisions. I could have walked away from my business; and believe me there were times just after Marjorie died when I wanted to give up; but I had two daughters to think about so I had no choice.”

  “You’re not seriously expecting me to believe that Anne had a twin sister, and she never mentioned her to me?” Ben interrupted again.

  “She had very good reason not to; if you’ll let me explain.”

  “It was just after the twins’ seventeenth birthday that things began to go wrong. Anne was at college; I forget what she was studying; and Judy was working in the accounts department of the local council offices. Judy was good at her job and learned quickly, although she had never been academically gifted at school; she was a genius with figures and numbers.

  The twins may have been identical in looks, but their personalities were quite different. Anne was the academic type and generally quieter than Judy, who was content to take a menial job and waste all the money she earned on clothes and going out in the evenings. The girls both received a small allowance and were never short of mone
y, but Judy squandered hers while her sister saved whatever she could. This is when the arguments started; and Judy became very defiant. The more I tried to prevent her from doing something, the more rebellious she became. It was a battle of wills which Judy generally won. She became friendly with a group of students who she met in a bar somewhere. I only met them once when she invited them back to our house one Saturday night. I didn’t like them, and made it clear to her that I didn’t want them in my house again. It may sound harsh to you, but I wasn’t being vindictive. These people had very strong opinions on political and social issues, and Judy was easily led. She became a vegetarian and made offensive remarks to me and her sister whenever there was meat or poultry on the table. It became intolerable, and the arguments were never ending,” Stanley paused and asked for a cup of tea.

  “I think there’s still some left in the pot,” Kate stood up.

  Inspector Salt took advantage of the lull in the conversation and spoke.

  “What did Anne think of her sister’s behaviour?”

  “She tried to reason with her but she wouldn’t listen. Their relationship began to change at this point, they used to be so close, but now Judy was becoming a stranger to us. I was losing her, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.”

  “I think I know what’s coming next,” Ben butted in again.

  “I don’t think so; this was only the beginning of a horrendous nightmare. As I’ve already mentioned, Judy was familiar with a group of students, I don’t recall all their names but one in particular I’ll never forget; Toby Lawrence, I despised him. He was an arrogant young man, a few years at university and he thought he knew it all. He was six years older than Judy and he’d just finished a course in Humanitarian Studies; whatever that’s supposed to mean, I don’t know. I can’t remember which University he attended; but he filled Judy’s head with all kinds of nonsense. He manipulated her and brain washed her until we hardly recognised her anymore. Even her appearance changed. She began to wear short skirts and low-cut tops, I don’t like to say it about my own flesh and blood, but she looked like a cheap whore. The last straw came when she dyed her hair blonde; it looked awful. Her hair was beautiful just like her mothers’ and she had it cut short and bleached. I was losing control of her; she wouldn’t listen to anything I said. Following this transformation, she began to stay out all night, and then for entire weekends. When I questioned her about it, she said she loved Toby and when they had enough money, they were moving in together. I was horrified; but there was worse to come. Toby was heavily in debt; he’d taken out loans and used credit cards during his time at University. I know Judy used to give him money; but I had no idea where it was coming from. He used to wait outside the house for her, he never once came in. For months he drove an old banger; and then one day he turned up in a brand new Rover. I couldn’t believe it. When I questioned Judy, she said he’d got a job and bought the car on credit. It sounded feasible so I didn’t give it another thought.

  Not long after this, Toby began to attend demonstrations, anti-nuclear protests and animal rights rallies; he was generally anti-everything. Of course wherever he went, Judy followed. They were arrested time and time again and cautioned, but the police became familiar with them and my reputation was compromised. I then found out that Judy had lost her job and refused to tell me why. I went to the office and demanded to know the reason. The humiliation that followed was unbearable; she’d been caught embezzling funds. No one knew exactly how much she’d stolen, but after a lot of grovelling, her Office manager agreed not to press charges if I paid back an agreed sum of money. I hoped that Judy would see how close she’d come to being arrested and finish her relationship with Toby, but she was besotted with him. He became more extreme and began persecuting any companies or organisations that tested products on animals. They protested quite peacefully at first with the occasional egg-throwing attacks on cars, and owners of laboratories, and then Judy and Toby disappeared.

  He paused at this point and Inspector Salt spoke again.

  “I can’t understand what drives these people to behave the way they do; but they always turn to violence. They’re quite prepared to kill and destroy people’s lives for their beliefs,” he paused, “please continue Mr. Austin.”

  “Thank you Inspector. I didn’t see her again after that for a few years, and by this time Anne had married you, and the twins had been born. I made Anne promise that she would never tell anyone about Judy, or acknowledge her existence.”

  “I still can’t understand why you were so against Anne marrying me,” Ben asked.

  “I had dreams of her marrying a wealthy man. I’d already had one big disappointment in my life; I wasn’t prepared to see Anne marry a lowly factory worker.”

  “You really are a conceited bastard. You’re the cause of all the misery that we’ve all suffered and,

  Stanley refused to let Ben finish his sentence, and continued to blame him for his problems.

  “Anne would have had a good life if she’d never set eyes on you.”

  “You know what she was like Stanley, she drove me away. If you’d have stayed out of our lives things would have been totally different. You’re responsible for how things turned out.”

  “You walked away Ben, not me.”

  “I’m not prepared to discuss it again. I’ve lost both my daughters now; I can’t turn back the clock.”

  “That’s a real shame Stanley,” Ben scowled.

  “Do you think I’m invisible Ben, I’m sick of hearing about your bloody wife,” Kate spoke up.

  “We all are,” Alex agreed.

  “So Anne died in a car accident and Judy is now pretending to be her; is that right?” Kate turned her back on Ben, and spoke to Stanley.

  “Yes, Anne was a passenger in a car that lost control on a bend, she was killed instantly. The driver received minor injuries, and was charged with causing death by dangerous driving,” Stanley explained.

  “Why would Judy pretend to be her sister?” Kate asked.

  “I’ll come to that later. After Claire’s death, Anne’s personality changed, she began to drink heavily and her marriage broke down. Gerry or Ben whatever you call yourself, walked away.”

  “You’ve got no idea how difficult she was to live with. I nearly had a nervous breakdown. I had to leave because she didn’t want me there, she made that clear,” Ben protested.

  “Oh shut up Ben,” Kate turned and glared at him

  Totally ignoring his words, Stanley continued.

  “I found out shortly after the marriage break-up that Anne had been seeing Judy. I don’t know how she found her, but they met up and Anne moved away with Helen. It didn’t take long for Judy to persuade her sister to join their radical animal rights group. Anne was a gentle girl and loved animals; it would have been easy to convince her. The last time I saw her I thought she was Judy, she’d cut and coloured her hair the same as her sister. She came to my showroom to tell me she was living with Judy and she was happy. I asked her to come home but she became angry and left; the next time I saw her she was lying in a mortuary.”

  Ben listened to Stanley and noticed how his expression softened whenever he spoke of his daughters. Perhaps his life would have been totally different if this man could have swallowed his pride and allowed his daughters to live their own lives, instead of using his dictating tactics to alienate his family. He was right about Anne though; she had been a gentle person when he was first married to her. She would have filled their home with stray cats and dogs if he had allowed her to. He remembered the time when she had found a litter of kittens in their garden shed. Their mother had disappeared and Anne had bought them into the house and spent three weeks feeding and caring for them. When they were old enough to be weaned, he had insisted she find new homes for them. Anne cried for a week when they eventually had to go, even though they all went to good homes, she was heart-broken. How had that placid young woman turned into a murdering callous activist?”

  “If
you knew Anne was involved with such an extreme group, why didn’t you go to the police?” Pat asked looking up from his notebook.

  “The police were well aware of their activities, but until they committed a criminal offence their hands were tied. Their actions weren’t extreme at this stage, but Toby was a very dangerous and manipulative person. He was, and still is capable of murder with no hesitation or a hint of a conscience,” he replied through tight lips.

  “As I said earlier, I didn’t see either of them for years; I’d wiped my hands of them. They attended protest marches, and were arrested for throwing a brick through a car windscreen. The owner was a laboratory worker name Alan Firth; he bred animals for The Medicure Drugs Company, who were testing a new cancer drug on animals. I don’t remember the full details, but the police charged them with criminal damage. They were released after paying a fine. Not long after this incident the President of the same drugs company Doctor Andrew Lawrence-Hill disappeared. He was found three days later floating in a river. The police said his death was accidental; but I’ve always had my doubts. It wasn’t until six months later when another body was found, that the police became suspicious. He was a young chemist working at the same lab, I can’t re-call his name, but he was found strangled in his home.”

  “How long ago was this?” Alex asked the question.

  “Just before Anne died, and the odd thing is that until a few weeks ago, no more murders connected with animal testing occurred. Believe me Alex there will be more deaths,” he warned.

  “The bomb that killed Charles and Tony was intended for me, I know that for a fact, but whether they’ll make another attempt, I don’t know.” Alex spoke up.

  “They’ll assume you’re already dead until the police release the victim’s names,” Pat pointed out.

  “It could have been intended for Charles, his wife was killed a few days previously, it could quite easily be an unrelated incident,” Inspector Salt pointed out.