by Penny Grubb
Annie spun on her heel. Barbara was about to throw in the towel. This was their reputation down the tubes for sure.
‘No, Barbara, wait!’
They both leapt for the phone. Annie, at a slightly greater distance was a fraction of a second ahead as Barbara struggled to get her bulk into motion. Annie clutched the handset as Barbara fell on top of her; her senior colleague’s ten stone weight advantage pinning them both to the desk. Annie could only gasp for air and hold tight against Barbara’s scrabbling hands, praying for the ringing to stop, signalling the call through to voicemail.
When the handset fell silent, Annie blew out a breath as she felt Barbara relax her grip. Barbara struggled to pull herself upright, and Annie squirmed free.
Barbara’s face was blotchy red. Annie watched her panting hard; saw the struggle for breath to vent her fury, was aware of the alarm in Pat’s eyes as she looked at her sister.
Inside Annie, something broke. ‘You stupid cow!’ she shouted. ‘I have a copy. I wasn’t making it up. I’m not wrong. When have I ever been wrong?’
She marched to the cabinet in the back office, yanked open the bottom drawer and fished out a piece of paper, which she flung down in front of Pat before she stormed out.
A furious power-walk took Annie into the centre of town in minutes. Her mind raged with imagined arguments. She knew if she’d stayed, she’d have slapped Barbara. That would have been the end of things and that wasn’t how she intended the end to be.
Barbara never admitted to being in the wrong, even when the smoking gun was in plain sight in her hand, and Annie knew just what the woman’s tactic would have been had she stayed to argue. It would have been to harangue Annie for her clandestine copying of the document in the first place; an iffy act for sure, but one that would pull a spectacular result out of this case.
Almost without conscious decision, her footsteps took her to the library. She needed to calm down, to immerse herself in something that would take all her concentration. For her own peace of mind, if not Eliza’s, she would find William Digby.
It took a long time. Not all the relevant news reports had been digitized and she had to squint through reams of microfiche files. No easy search facility here. But she found him, and was astonished as the story unfolded.
The biggest surprise was to find that Digby had died soon after the Jawbone Gang had walked out on him. But in talking to Annie, Eliza had been clear she’d neither seen nor heard of him from that day on. Was it credible she never knew; that none of them ever knew? Annie sat back and considered.
They were all young. The newspapers were full of impending war. Maybe they didn’t read the papers themselves, certainly that could be true of Eliza, the youngest of them all. Their parents surely noted the death of the Sunday-school supervisor, but maybe they kept it from their daughters. That was what you did in those days, kept children in ignorance of what they were deemed too young to know.
As the story unravelled, Annie’s eyes widened further. Yes, this would have been kept from the young Eliza, and maybe Digby hadn’t got away with it after all.
Annie became aware of a movement as a figure slumped into a chair next to hers.
‘Thought I’d find you here,’ said Pat.
Annie acknowledged her with a nod, but said nothing.
‘So, has she offered you a job? Is that why she rang?’
Annie looked at Pat and shrugged. ‘I don’t know what she wants. I’m waiting to hear back.’
‘But if it’s a job offer, you’ll take it, won’t you?’
There was no point in avoiding the truth. ‘Very likely, yes.’
‘When will you go?’
‘I’ll work my notice if that’s what you want. I’ll tie up the current cases. They’re all but done, anyway.’
Annie had to look away. Pat was going to be fine about it. She wouldn’t make things awkward or try to stop her. Probably she’d wish her luck when it came to it. It might have been easier to leave on the back of a blazing row.
‘I won’t hold you to a full notice period,’ Pat said. ‘But I’d like the loose ends tied up. I know what you are for leaving the paperwork.’
Annie smiled. The rebuke was justified.
‘So what are you after here?’ Pat’s tone changed as she looked at the screen in front of Annie.
‘William Digby. I’m going to Eliza Ellis with this. Whatever she thought at the time, she must have gone through her life assuming Digby carried on his nasty little ways.’
‘And didn’t he?’
‘No, he died. It happened very soon after they walked out on him, but I don’t think they ever knew. Certainly Eliza didn’t. Imagine the chaos of a war starting, people joining the forces, being called up, whatever … And Hull was one of the big ports. The whole place must have changed. Digby’s death just got lost.’
‘It was reported in the papers though, wasn’t it?’
‘Yes, but Eliza was really young, only ten or eleven. May might have known. I hope she did. She and Eliza met up again a couple of years into the war, but they never talked about what had happened, not until Susan put them back in touch when May was eighty.’
‘How did he die?’
‘He was murdered.’
‘You don’t mean those kids killed him, after all?’
‘Hell, no. It wasn’t done by a couple of kids. The reports say he disturbed an attempted robbery at the church.’
Pat gave her a quizzical glance. ‘But you don’t buy that?’
‘Maybe it was as simple as that. Who’s to know after all these years? But look at this.’ She ran her fingers over the keyboard to bring up an indistinct scanned document. ‘Have a read of that. It was brutal.’
‘That doesn’t give a name.’
‘No, but I’ve linked it through the stuff that’s still on microfiche. That’s Digby’s murder. Now tell me, is that someone disturbed mid-robbery or is it maybe one of the girls’ fathers or brothers taking the law into their own hands? You couldn’t report stuff like that back then, not without bringing so-called shame on the kids. And there wouldn’t have been any protection of their identities. No, I think someone found out and did what Yates thought he was doing. Only this one had the right target.’
Pat’s lips pursed as she read the report. ‘Are you sure your old woman wants to see this?’
‘I’m not going to show her the detail unless she asks, but I want her to know that the kid May tried to protect never fell into Digby’s clutches.’
‘When are you going to see her? Now?’
‘No, I’ll go tomorrow morning.’
Her research into William Digby sustained Annie most of the way home, but thoughts of Barbara kept intruding and she was annoyed to find herself on the brink of slamming the outer door behind her.
She slung her jacket at the settee and headed for the kitchen, stopping as the red pin in the cork board caught her eye. She could have sworn she’d put it back on top. If she was losing it, it was all Barbara’s fault. Annie had handed her a superb result with her copied document, but knew Barbara would squander the opportunities it should provide.
Chapter 33
Annie slept fitfully and although she woke as usual with the dawn, her limbs felt heavy. She washed and dressed and set straight off into the crisp morning air, promising herself a leisurely cup of coffee just as soon as she arrived.
Halfway to the office, she realized she’d left behind the copies she’d made at the library; the reports on William Digby, but she didn’t go back. She could take them to Eliza any time.
Twenty minutes brisk walk energized her after her disturbed night, and she made it to the office before seven. She opened her email and felt a rush of anticipation to see Pieternel’s name against a mail marked as urgent.
As she’d half hoped, half expected, Pieternel had a new business venture on the go. Better than that, Pieternel was specializing in investigating insurance fraud – just the direction Annie had always wanted the sisters to
take. And if Annie could come up with the financial stake, she could go in as a partner; someone who would have autonomy and a say in the running of the venture.
It would mean finding capital. Her aunt had offered to back her years ago, but she’d never taken the offer seriously. How could someone without money to spare back anyone? Now Charlotte and Nicole had opened her eyes to options she’d never considered before.
I know you’ll have stuff to check, the email ended, but I need you to tell me by Friday if it’s a definite no. If it is, I need to look elsewhere.
It was tempting to reply at once, because how could it be a definite no, but she decided to give herself time to think about it.
When Pat arrived some hours later, Annie’s head was full of plans she couldn’t share. Not yet. She scrabbled round in her mind for a reason to leave the office, but it was Pat who gave her the excuse by saying, ‘I thought you were off to see that old biddy this morning.’
Annie stood up and reached for her jacket. ‘Yeah, I’m on my way now.’
She left with no intention of going to see Eliza, because that would mean a round trip to her flat to pick up the papers. She would make time at the weekend to let her know about Digby. For now, she had phone calls to make, people to contact, and there was Pieternel’s story to be checked out before she made up her mind.
By the evening, Annie felt as exhausted as if she’d done a shift of close surveillance on a difficult quarry. She picked up a sandwich on the way back to the flat and looked forward to unwinding with a few hours in front of the television.
‘Did that woman find you?’ one of the neighbours greeted her as she went in.
Woman? He must mean Nicole the other night. ‘Yeah, she did.’
In the office the next morning, Pat asked, ‘How did the old biddy take it?’
‘I didn’t get round to going. I got sidetracked. I’ll go later.’
Annie glanced at Pat, hoping not to be asked what she’d been sidetracked into, but Pat yawned and said, ‘Yates is back in court for sentencing today.’
‘Not before time. What do you think he’ll get?’
‘After what he did? Locked away in a loony bin, I should think. I mean, it’s about–’
The shrill of the phone cut through Pat’s words. She reached forward and answered it, passing the handset to Annie with the words, ‘Donna Lambit.’
Annie kept her voice impersonal. ‘Mrs Lambit. What can I do for you?’
‘You said you’d tell me what you found, remember?’ Donna’s voice was nervy.
‘I’m under no obligation to report anything back to you, but yes, I did say I would if I could.’ Annie was surprised Donna had come back to her. She must know the truth by now, but Annie was not loath to take the chance to ram what she’d done down the woman’s throat. ‘I don’t have the time to come out to you. You’ll have to meet me in town.’ She named the coffee bar at the far end of the street.
Donna was effusive in her thanks and promised to be there.
‘Why didn’t you just tell her on the phone and be done with it?’ Pat said.
‘I want to see her face when I spell out to her what she did.’
Annie arrived to find Donna huddled in a corner, sipping Diet Coke through a straw. She jumped up and offered to buy Annie a drink, but Annie waved her back to her seat and placed herself in the chair opposite so she could look directly into her face.
‘Michael Walker was innocent, you know.’
Donna’s gaze dropped and she put her head down. ‘I know what I heard.’ The voice was a whisper that Annie had to strain to hear.
‘May was talking about someone else. Someone who died over seventy years ago.’
‘But she said–’
Annie cut roughly across Donna, not letting her finish. ‘It was a different Charlotte. Someone she’d known when she was young.’
At last Donna raised her eyes to meet Annie’s. ‘Then why would they let me have that old box?’ There was defiance in her tone.
‘Because you told them it was for your daughter. It wasn’t. It was the Charlotte whom May had known decades ago. If you hadn’t put your oar in, May’s daughter might have gone to one of May’s old friends and found out the truth. How could you ever have thought that May meant your Charlotte? She’d never even met her.’
Annie could see that Donna was close to breaking down, but the flash of defiance remained. The woman was not going to admit to Annie that she was in the wrong. Why was she here at all? It was obvious this wasn’t news to her. Annie wondered if Donna had heard the tale from Charlotte and had come to Annie hoping to hear a different version. If so, she would be disappointed. Annie had no intention of letting her off the hook.
‘How could you have thought that what you overheard was about Michael Walker?’
When Donna didn’t answer, Annie allowed her anger to show. ‘A man’s dead because of what you did.’
‘Joshua Yates is a madman,’ Donna blurted out. ‘I didn’t know … how was I supposed to …?’ She stopped on a sob.
‘Heaven knows if Charlotte will ever look you in the eye again.’
At that, Donna looked up. ‘I’ll make it up to my Charlotte. I’m going to help her set up her business. I’ll see she makes a go of it. We’re going into business together.’
‘You and Charlotte? Going into business together?’ Annie was amazed. Then she thought of the ruthless streak she’d seen in Charlotte and could see the woman playing this situation for all it was worth. She would get what she wanted: her business off the ground; Michael out of her life; her mother subservient and compliant under the weight of what she’d done.
Annie didn’t like any of the players in this case. Nicole was no better, having some sort of affair with Charlotte’s partner behind her back, and planning to run off with him. How she ever saw the business venture surviving that, Annie couldn’t imagine.
‘She’d never have gone into it with Michael,’ Donna announced. ‘She was all set to leave him.’
‘I know,’ said Annie. ‘And wasn’t he planning to take up with Nicole?’
She knew she might be making trouble for Jennifer’s friend by referring to this, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.
Donna’s mouth curved to a sly smile. ‘Oh, you know about that, do you? No, he didn’t want her. He was terrified of Nicole getting her claws into him again. Charlotte used to laugh about it. That’s how come Nicole agreed to put so much into the business, because she thought she’d be in it with him. Michael Walker couldn’t stand the doe-eyed tart. Just imagine the problems if they were all tied together and trying to keep a new business afloat.’
There was a ring of truth to Donna’s words, which gave yet another layer of deceit to this web of relationships. Somehow, it was Brittany Booth now who came across as the only decent human being in the whole tangled web. Brittany at least had the excuse of extreme youth; of her infatuation with the insane Yates; and she had accepted the truth of what had happened.
Annie left Donna without any goodbyes and went out into the street to head back towards the office. Partway along, she stopped and spun round, scanning the street behind her. Nothing untoward. Plenty of people milling about. She looked for Donna’s face, but didn’t see it in the crowds. There was no reason why Donna should come after her, but it took the rest of the way back to throw off the feeling she was being watched.
‘Have you heard about Yates?’ Pat greeted her.
‘No, what’s happened?’
‘Broadmoor. And they’ve thrown away the key.’
The next morning, Annie headed towards Eliza’s care home. The old woman deserved to know that Digby had been stopped.
The uniformed woman who opened the door to her, said, ‘Eliza’s not been feeling too well. She’s still in bed.’
Eliza, looking frail and insubstantial against the soft white pillow, stared balefully up at Annie. ‘I thought I’d seen the last of you. I’ve caught a chill with being kept outside too long.’
Ungrateful cow, Annie thought, but said, ‘Sorry to hear that, but at least you can rest easy about your promise to May.’
Eliza acknowledged this only with a slight curl of her lip and then asked, ‘What do you want?’
‘It’s about William Digby.’
‘No! We had an agreement. You can’t come back pestering for more.’
Annie jumped to reassure Eliza as she saw the old woman’s hand fumble for her alarm pad.
‘No, no. It isn’t that. I’ve found out something that I thought you’d want to know.’
Eliza stared towards Annie, her eyes unable to focus, but radiating suspicion. ‘What? What have you found out?’
‘William Digby died. A long time ago. Quite soon after you walked out on him. Whatever he did to May. Whatever he planned to do to Charlotte, he didn’t. He never had the chance. He died.’
Eliza remained silent for a moment. Then, ‘He’s dead. How do you know?’
‘I traced it from some old newspaper reports.’
‘I never saw any newspaper reports.’
‘Well, you were very young. Your parents would have kept them from you, wouldn’t they?’
Annie wasn’t sure she understood why Eliza was so antagonistic towards her. She had, after all, allowed her to destroy the papers that had been preying on her mind. Maybe it was that Annie was now the only person left who knew what the old secret was really about and Eliza didn’t want her anywhere near.
‘Do you want to see them?’ she asked.
‘No! Of course not!’ Eliza’s clouded eyes opened wide in panic. ‘I want nothing to do with him. Why are you pestering me still?’
‘I just thought you might want to see for yourself that …’ Her words tailed off. What was it that she thought Eliza might want to see? That justice had been done? There’d been no justice in any of this.
As Annie left Eliza’s room, the old woman shouted after her. ‘I don’t want you back. Promise me you won’t be back.’
‘I won’t, I promise,’ Annie shouted back, as she headed for the front door.