by Anita Waller
Pam’s beautiful blue eyes clouded over. ‘His adoptive parents kept the names I gave him, then?’
‘They did, and he had a wonderful childhood according to his wife and his aunt. Your selfless action in giving him up wasn’t detrimental in any way. His parents have died, but his aunt is still alive, a lovely lady who I’m sure you will meet one day.’ Mouse smiled. ‘We were a little undecided about taking on this case, because Tom had died and it all seemed a little pointless, but then we realised, after reading the letter you wrote to him when you gave him up, that you might need closure as well.’
Doris nodded in agreement. ‘There are three of us at Connection, and we all felt the same. It became more about you and less about Tom.’
‘And his wife?’ Grace asked.
A shrewd one, Mouse thought. She’s picked up on something being amiss.
‘She’s our client, so we can’t reveal details of her. She is aware we are seeing you, and obviously she would like to meet with you, but that is why we’re here. We refused to give her anything until we had spoken to you, found out how you felt about it.’ Mouse unzipped her document case. ‘I have something for you.’ She handed over the photograph of Tom, taken just before he became ill.
The blue eyes turned to grey as tears flowed down Pam’s cheeks. Grace stood and moved to sit on the arm of Pam’s chair, placing her arms around her friend’s shoulders. They saw a man of around six feet in height, dark brown hair, and a smile that would light up any room. There was no doubt about it, she knew, that she had given birth to a handsome man.
‘He’s beautiful,’ she said softly, stroking the picture. ‘May I keep this?’
‘Of course,’ Mouse said. ‘I had a copy done of the original, as the picture belongs to his Aunt Alice.’
Pam passed the photograph up to Grace, who stood and moved back to her own chair with it. She studied it, and said, ‘He has your chin but that’s all I can see. He’s certainly very good-looking.’
‘You didn’t know his father?’ Mouse probed, keeping her voice in gentle mode.
‘N… no…’ Pam said hesitantly. ‘I have flashbacks even after all these years, and I’ve never been able to say it was so-and-so who attacked me, but sometimes I think…’
‘You know him?’
‘Oh, I don’t know. If I did, it’s way in the past now. Knowing the father won’t give me back my son. I loved him so much, my Tom.’
Doris smiled. ‘We know. We’ve read your letter. Do you remember leaving something else with Tom?’
‘Oh, I do. A small silver cross and chain. I bought it with the only money I had.’ Pam looked around her. ‘How times have changed.’
Mouse reached into her document case and took out a small blue box. She handed it to Pam.
Her eyes showed shock. ‘Is this…?’
Mouse nodded. ‘Open it. I can’t leave it with you, because again it belongs to Alice. He gave it to her when he knew he was dying, as a keepsake. It’s the only thing she has of him, apart from the documents he managed to acquire in his search for you.’
Grace leaned forward. ‘Alice has the documents, not his wife?’
Mouse was saved from answering by Pam opening the box, and this time it wasn’t just tears, it was full-blown heartbreak and sobbing. There was no consoling her, so Doris stood and poured her a second cup of tea.
‘Drink this, Pam,’ she said quietly. ‘It will help.’
There was a huge long drawing-in of breath, followed by a hiccup, and Pam began to recover. She lifted the teacup to her lips and sipped at it, still staring at the tiny silver cross and chain.
‘So many years wasted,’ she said. ‘Not knowing where he was or even who he was. They could have changed his name very easily. I’m so grateful they didn’t. it means my Tom has always been my Tom.’ She put the piece of jewellery back into the box, and stroked the lid before handing it back to Mouse. ‘Please, return this to his aunt. Alice, did you say?’
Mouse slipped the box into the document case. ‘I did. She’s lovely, cared deeply for Tom. It’s obvious with every word she says about him.’
‘And now to the big question,’ Pam said. ‘Did Tom have children? Do I have grandchildren?’
Mouse took a deep breath. ‘Tom and Judy didn’t have any children.’
Pam’s face fell. ‘Oh… I had no other children after Tom, but I would have loved grandchildren.’
‘I need to know what you want to do, Pam, but I don’t need to know today. Our client is no relation to you now, and you have every right to say no to meeting her. Take as long as you need to think this through, talk it over with Grace. Contact me when you’ve made your decision, and then I will know what information to pass on to our client.’
‘I have a question.’ Grace spoke quietly. ‘Why does his Aunt Alice have the documents Tom applied for? Why not his wife? Didn’t he want his wife to know what he was doing? Because if that is the case, why is his wife pursuing it now?’
‘Mrs Carpenter came to us saying that she wanted to have closure on Tom’s last wishes. Unfortunately, Tom isn’t around to confirm or deny that she should be involved.’
Mouse felt Grace’s eyes remain on her, and knew it was time to go. She stood and picked up her document case. ‘Thank you for seeing us, Pam, and I’ll look forward to your call.’ She handed her card to Pam. ‘Ring any time if you have questions. I’m sure there will be some, once we’ve gone. There always are.’
Pam shook both their hands and Mouse and Doris went to leave the room.
‘I’ll see them out, Pam,’ Grace said. ‘You stay and rest. I’ll make us a fresh pot of tea in a minute.’
The three of them walked outside to Mouse’s car. Doris got into the passenger seat, and Mouse turned to Grace. ‘Is Pam okay?’
‘She will be. It’s time for her painkillers, and this has been an emotional morning for her. She hasn’t asked any questions about the adoptive parents, and I know that will come once she’s had time to put her thoughts in order.’
Mouse nodded. ‘I didn’t want to overburden her, but all these questions can be answered, obviously. Get her to make a list of any queries that occur to her. We will facilitate any meeting if she decides she wants to meet her daughter-in-law.’
Grace shook Mouse’s hand. ‘Thank you for coming today. There’s one thing I do need to tell you, so that this is in the forefront of your mind when you are facilitating anything about this strange meeting – and I do believe it’s strange. Pam Bird is worth much more than this.’ She waved her hand to show the extent of the house and land. ‘So much more. And I’m not talking thousands, or even hundreds of thousands. I won’t disclose any figures, obviously, but I’ll protect this woman and what is hers with every breath in my body. You understand?’
‘I do indeed,’ Mouse said. ‘And so will Connection. You can be very sure of that.’
Chapter 18
The three women sat around the kitchen table and listened to the recording of Bobby Outram’s plea for help. They listened twice, not wanting to miss anything, making notes when they felt it was necessary.
Eventually they sat back, all temporarily quiet, while they digested what they had heard.
‘She didn’t come across as an evil cow who simply wanted to pay her sister back for some slight she had suffered at her hands?’ Mouse asked Kat.
Kat grinned. ‘Trust you to think up that scenario. No, she seemed almost apologetic as she talked to me. I believe every word she said. Judy thought her sister wouldn’t blab about it, but Bobby seems to be a bit different to her sister. What do we do now? Do we give Judy her money back and tell her we can’t work for her any longer? That’s not really the answer though, is it. If we turn her down, she’ll go somewhere else, if she’s really hell bent on getting Pam’s money. Ethically, we can’t tell Pam about this while Judy is our client. We’re going around in circles. And what would we say to Pam anyway? Your new daughter-in-law who isn’t really your daughter-in-law because your son is de
ad, wants to take you for everything you have. So is the answer for us to go and talk to her? Tell her we’ve sussed her out, and we’re going to be telling Pam?’
Mouse looked troubled. ‘I think it’s arrived at that point. We’ll make up our invoice for the time we’ve spent on this, plus our disbursements, take that away from her advance, and give her a cheque for the difference. I don’t want anything to do with this woman. She’s bloody evil.’
‘Don’t swear, Mouse,’ Doris said absently, working through the notes she had taken. ‘We have a baby in the house.’
‘She’s up in her bedroom!’
‘Kat doesn’t swear. She’s a deacon.’
Mouse frowned. ‘Kat, do you swear?’
‘Course I bloody don’t.’
Mouse walked over to the fridge, took out the bottle of wine and topped up their glasses. ‘I rest my case.’
Kat looked at the meagre amount of wine in her glass and sighed. It seemed that having a baby also turned you teetotal. ‘So, where do we go from here? See Judy? And let’s not forget the issue of little Henry. He’s Pam’s grandson; his actual DNA would prove or disprove that if it came to a court battle. And after having seen that photo of Tom, there’s no doubt in my mind that he is Tom’s son. Unfortunately, I bet Judy is able to see that too. All of this gives me an uncomfortable feeling, which I suspect is because of what we’ve been through with Leon. He would have solved it by taking people out.’
Mouse laughed. ‘I think we all know Judy is a conwoman, but I don’t see her as a murderer.’
‘But money is involved, and after what Grace told you, it seems we’re talking millions in the purse. People do stupid things for money.’ Kat sounded troubled. ‘I think we have to resolve this, but while we have Judy as a client we can do nothing. She may be planning to take Pam’s millions one way or another, but a plan isn’t a crime. She would actually have to do the deed, and we can stop that by dumping her, then telling Pam about her. We have confirmation of a kind on this recording, so let’s do the right thing and go and see Judy.’
Doris had been quiet, but she nodded. ‘I fully agree. If you two don’t need me to be there, I’ll watch the little one. Take my advice on this; wear something smart… a suit or something, it will intimidate her. And it will also show her we mean business. Make sure the invoice for her charges is accurate to the last penny and the cheque is countersigned by both of you. Let’s show her she can’t mess with Connection, not now and not ever again.’
‘Okay,’ Kat said. ‘No ponytails tomorrow, the woman won’t know what’s hit her.’
Power dressing was the order of the day; Kat and Mouse looked at each other and collapsed into gales of laughter.
‘You two scrub up well,’ Doris said with a grin. ‘I can’t remember the last time I saw either of you dressed in anything other than jeans. Even when you had the huge bump you wore jeans, Kat, and you both look amazing.’
Kat groaned. ‘Yes, but I’ve still got some baby belly left, and these trousers are a size twelve, so I hope we don’t have to sit down when we get to Judy’s. I can undo the button in the car, but it won’t look very professional doing that in Judy’s house when we’ve gone there to call her a con artist, will it.’
‘Kat, you look stunning. Keep your button open, and walk behind me,’ Mouse said, unable to hold in the laughter. ‘Come on, the sooner we’ve done this, the sooner we can get back into our jeans. We need to call at the office first to raid the safe for the cheque book, and then we can go. Have we ever used the cheque book?’
Doris shook her head. ‘No, it’s really just for special one-off things like this. So let Kat write it, the bank will never understand your scrawl.’
‘You’ll be okay with Martha?’ Kat asked. The baby responded by waving a hand from the depths of her crib.
‘Kat Rowe, get on your way. I’m old, not senile. Besides I’m going to teach her a new nursery rhyme.’
‘Oh dear,’ Kat said, and headed for the front door, followed by Mouse. They paused before going out as they heard Doris start singing. Roll me over, roll me over, roll me over, lay me down and do it again.
‘Is that really a nursery rhyme,’ Kat whispered.
‘Don’t think so,’ Mouse responded. ‘That’s going to be one open-minded baby when she grows up.’
Kat wrote the cheque while Mouse hunted out an envelope. She handed it to Kat, who grinned at the hieroglyphics on the front. ‘Just pass me a blank one, Mouse, maybe I’ll write her name.’
Mouse looked around the office while Kat secured the safe, and felt justifiably proud. The business had been successful from day one, and with the acquisition of contracts for investigative work from several large businesses in the Sheffield and Manchester areas, their turnover was increasing. Kat had already mentioned that maybe it was time to start thinking about paying rent for the shop as Mouse owned it, but Mouse didn’t really want to go down that route. She owed Kat so much; she owed Kat her life. And what she owed to her nan was immeasurable, so no, she didn’t want rent from the business, she wanted to ignore it.
They climbed back into the Range Rover and headed for Hope, a short ten-minute journey on a good day. On a bank holiday it could be half an hour, both places enjoying many tourists as visitors.
They turned off before reaching the centre of Hope, and pulled up outside Judy and Keeley’s houses. Both cars were there; Kat and Mouse had decided against warning Judy they would be visiting, they wanted her to invite them in as if it was part of their routine, not suspect they were about to tell her to get lost, and keep them on the doorstep.
Keeley saw them arrive, and waved from her kitchen window. They both waved back, and headed down the path to Judy’s front door. The air was still, the sun warm, a beautiful day, and they both felt hot in their suits. Kat quietly grumbling about high heels made Mouse smile.
Mouse rang the doorbell and waited patiently.
After a minute, she rang it again. There was still no response so she bent down to call through the letterbox. Silence.
‘I’ll nip next door and ask Keeley if she’s seen her go out,’ Mouse said.
Keeley saw Mouse open her garden gate, so dried her hands on her jeans and went to meet her at the door.
‘Hi, Beth. Good to see you. Can I help?’
‘Yes, Have you seen Mrs Carpenter leave? It’s just that her car’s here, and she’s not answering. If she’s asleep I’m happy to wait till she eventually hears us, but if she’s out…’
‘I’ve not seen her leave, and I’ve never seen her go anywhere without going in the car. We’re not exactly near any shops in this little area, and it’s quite a walk. I heard her about sevenish this morning in the garden, shouting at something that I assumed was a dog or cat because she was saying, “Get away from here” or something along those lines, but to be honest she actually woke me up so I didn’t get up to see what she was yelling at. I didn’t really care anyway, she’s not the first person I’d rescue in a fire, is she? Having said that, it would be odd if she was asleep, she was certainly up by seven.’
‘Thanks, Keeley. I’ll nip round to her back garden, make sure she’s not fallen or anything. I would hate to think she was injured because she chased after a cat.’
Mouse returned down the path and walked towards Kat. Judy’s house was the end terrace and therefore had side access to her back garden, so the two of them headed that way, fighting through pyracanthus plants meant to deter burglars, and out into the rear of the property. The front garden, with its layer of gravel used for parking Judy’s car, had been plain and boring with just a couple of planters to brighten up the uniform white layer, but the one that met their eyes as they emerged from the jungle of the side area was stunningly beautiful. So many flowers already in bloom, a pretty, small pond, paths leading around the garden to statuary that must have cost a fortune, a pergola shrouded in clematis and a climbing rose – Judy was obviously a talented garden designer. No wonder she had been shouting at a cat.
‘Kat!’
Kat hurried back towards her, and they peered into what was a small dining room.
‘Judy!’ Kat called her name loudly but there was no response. She moved further into the house, checked the lounge, turned to Mouse and shook her head. They moved onwards into the kitchen, with still no sign of Judy.
‘Should we go upstairs?’ Mouse asked. It was almost as if she needed the reassurance of an older person, and Kat gave her a squeeze. ‘I think we have to. That back door was ajar, which says something’s wrong. If she’s not there, we camp out in our car until she returns, and we tell her we’ve been in because the back door was open. Okay?’
Judy was in the first bedroom they checked out.
Kat rang DI Marsden and described the scene of horror they had walked into, and she told them to get out immediately provided they were sure she was dead.
‘She’s definitely dead,’ Kat said. ‘There can’t be any blood left in her, it’s on the walls, on the floor, it’s everywhere. We’ve not gone beyond the doorway but my fingerprints will be on the handle. I’m not wiping them off in case there are other prints on there.’
‘Okay, go outside now,’ Tessa said. ‘Don’t touch anything you haven’t already touched. There’ll be police there within a couple of minutes. I’ll be there in half an hour and talk to you then, so don’t go anywhere. Are you both okay?’
‘We are. Don’t worry about us. We can handle most things, it was just a bit of a shock because she’s a client of ours, and we came to give her a report.’ Kat crossed her fingers at the tiny lie.
They let themselves out of the front door, using a tissue to turn the Yale lock. They waited and watched from the front garden as three police cars arrived, explaining to them that they had come out of the front door and left it open for police to access the property easily. They added that it was definitely locked prior to that but the back door leading out of the dining room was slightly ajar. The PC taking notes looked suitably impressed.