‘I wasn’t suggesting that Evelyn and I’m sorry if I upset you. I didn’t mean it. I just like my studies and got a bit carried away. I haven’t dealt with many Simon’s in my time but yes, he is still your son and you deserve a bit of dignity. Do you want to carry on or shall we try again another time?’
A crash of a plate breaking on the floor came from the kitchen. Evelyn jumped out of her seat. Officer Pembrooke darted out of the front room and into the kitchen.
There was no one in there, but the back door was open. He looked outside of the door and out into the garden. It was pitch black. He turned on his torch and skimmed his eyes around, but there was nothing, not even a sound.
Officer Pembrooke closed the door and returned to the living room. Evelyn was still sitting there which surprised him. He half expected her to be cowering, or watching over his shoulder.
‘Well, I can’t see anyone out there,’ he said, puzzled. Evelyn didn’t even look at him.
‘Must’ve been the wind, perhaps I didn’t close it properly,’ she said.
‘Maybe’ said Pembrooke looking around. ‘Will you be ok here on your own Evelyn? Have you got anyone that could stay with you?’
‘I’ll be fine’ she said. ‘I’ve been on my own long enough now.’
Officer Pembrooke was thinking. Something didn’t seem right. An older lady on her own would usually be nervous about strange goings on in a house. Perhaps she is too broken even to care, he thought.
‘Well perhaps we should leave things there for tonight, but I would still like to talk to you some more if that’s ok with you Evelyn?’
She got up from her chair.
‘Oh, yes, anytime. Well, I had better get on and clear up that broken dish.’
She proceeded to go through to the kitchen and get out the dustpan and brush.
Officer Pembrooke found himself looking around for clues.
Old ladies don’t leave doors open. There isn’t a wind tonight. The wind wouldn’t have knocked that dish off the side anyway.’
This wasn’t sitting right with him. Evelyn came back into the room.
‘Well, I suppose you had better get on, Officer. You must have a family waiting for you to get home,’ she said, smiling up at him.
‘That I do Evelyn, but, crime never sleeps, unfortunately.’
He picked up the glasses they had been drinking from and took them through to the kitchen and placed them in the sink. He rinsed his hands quickly and picked up the tea towel to dry them off.
As he put the tea towel back, he noticed a glass on the side half filled with water. He looked back in the sink to where the two drinks were and then back at the worktop. He then looked at the dishes on the side. One knife, one fork and one glass. There would’ve been one plate had it not been smashed on the floor. He went back out to see Evelyn, who was hovering around in the living room.
‘Thirsty work all this talking, eh?’ he said to her, in a gentle quiz like manner.
‘Well, I guess it can be. I drank all mine. Did you drink yours?’ His mind started ticking over.
‘I didn’t finish mine, no. Never have been good at keeping hydrated.’
‘You could have finished mine instead of pouring another one. Save on the dishes.’
He said waiting with bated breath for what she would say next.
‘I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean, Officer.’
‘Well I just noticed another glass on the side in the kitchen and it’s half full or empty depending on which way you look at it.’
Evelyn looked confused.
‘Is there?’ she said, walking off to have a look. They both stopped and stared at the glass.
‘Well, so there is,’ she laughed nervously. ‘I must have made another one. I probably did it before you came.’
She turned to look at Pembrooke. His face had hardened a little.
‘Evelyn, did you make that drink yourself, or is there a chance someone else could have been here?’
The colour drained from Evelyn’s face. She began to stutter and looked frightened.
‘Mrs. Paterson. I think you had better come with me, to the station.’
Evelyn began to get upset. ‘Why? I don’t understand.’ She was shaking and became teary.
‘It’s for your safety more than anything else.’
Evelyn looked troubled and began to pace up and down the hallway. Officer Pembrooke felt helpless. Normally speaking, she could be holding a prisoner, therefore, she should be taken into custody, but she was as far as he could see, an elderly lady who didn’t have a bad bone in her body. He wished he could make it better for her, but his primary role was to protect the public and in this case, find Simon and get him back into a secure unit.
Evelyn looked up to Officer Pembrooke with pleading eyes.
‘I know what you think. You think I’m housing Simon. I’m not.’ she tried to assure him, begging for his belief in her. ‘I promise you I have not opened up my home to him.’
Her posture changed now and she went from pleading to being assertive.
‘If he was here… if he was at my home tonight, then surely we are better off with me being here. He might come back once you’ve gone. And, if he does, then we have a better chance of… of getting him back in that place where he belongs.’
She looked at the ground in a state of defeat. She wished she could help her son. She wanted to wrap him up and tell him it was all going to be ok. Nothing would ever change that, he was her son and she wanted to believe in him and wish it was all one horrible, awful dream.
Officer Pembrooke placed his hands gently on Evelyn’s upper arms.
‘Evelyn, that is what I am concerned about. You know Simon is dangerous. What if he comes here and puts you in danger? I don’t want that. I want to protect you and get Simon off the streets again.’
She didn’t respond to his affectionate touch and he felt awkward, so he removed his hands, but didn’t know what to do with himself next. She had him in a puzzle which was not something that happened to him very often.
Normally he would have a clear hunch, and it would just be a case of proving it, but this time he wasn’t sure if she was honest or if she was covering for her son. All he knew was that he had to take the right action to get the best possible results. He needed to be on the same side as her. He needed her to cooperate with him. If she were hiding him, it would be easier if to catch Simon if he was on good terms with Evelyn. If he pushed her too far, it might push back the inquiry.
‘Evelyn, I wouldn’t normally do this, but I can see where you are coming from. I would normally take you in because I am worried about your safety, but to be honest, all I can offer at this time of night would be a cell and that doesn’t sit well with me. A decent woman like yourself can’t be in a cell this evening. No, that’s it, I’ve decided. You can stay here but if anything and I mean anything, happens that concerns you, you call this number right away. This number will be picked up by the station master and if you call it, I will be around here in a flash.’
Evelyn’s demeanour improved drastically.
‘Oh, thank you, Officer Pembrooke, that makes me much happier,’ and this time she reached out to him and touched his arm.
‘I think I will be fine. I don’t believe that anything will happen here, tonight, but I appreciate everything you have tried to do.’
Officer Pembrooke went on to thank her for her time that evening, reassured her that he was there if ever she needed him, or thought of anything that might be useful in the investigation, and then bid her goodnight.
He left the property feeling frustrated. He was more confused by the time he left than he had been when he arrived. It didn’t sit well with him, the way the evening had panned out. He decided to do a quick walk around the property and up and down the street, just to see if he could find anything at all that seemed suspicious, and to give him time to collect his thoughts.
Chapter 9
A few days had passed since Peter had made h
is move on Martha in the kitchen that night.
The morning after, he had acted as though nothing had happened again. He wasn’t dismissive of Martha; he was quite pleasant, but he didn’t make any more moves, he didn’t stare for a second too long, he didn’t strike up any unnecessary conversation. In fact, he hardly gave her any attention at all.
Initially, that pleased Martha, the elephant in the room that she had been expected was nowhere to be seen. Martha was more confused than ever.
Luckily, Mae still seemed to have not noticed a thing. She was obsessed with keeping Martha and David together. Her interest in their relationship was a welcome distraction from the guilt that Martha was feeling. Martha had barely stepped a foot out of line in her whole life. She prided herself on being a good person with her morals intact, but over the last few weeks, she had become embroiled in one of the biggest sins possible for a person to commit.
Occasionally she would wonder what would happen if Mae found out what had been going on right under her nose. Obviously, Mae would be upset and Martha didn’t like the idea of getting on the wrong side of her, but she couldn’t help but wonder what Peter would do. Martha would have nowhere to go if Mae threw her out but then, would Peter let that happen? Maybe he would seize the moment and say that it was Martha he wanted. But then, where would Mae go? And Charlie? No good could ever come of what had happened. A family would be ruined and someone would be out on the streets.
Martha was glad that Peter had left her alone the last few days. She was seeing David tonight and she was, surprisingly, really looking forward to it. He lived with his mum and dad and younger brother, and from what she could gather he was the man of the house. His parents were getting older and although they were still mobile, they relied on him a lot for his help and to keep the property running. From what she had heard of his younger brother Michael, David was very proud of him and loved him dearly, but it sounded like David was more of a guardian to him than a big brother.
Tonight, Martha was going to meet all of them. David had invited her over. He was going to pick her up at 6 pm which meant Mae would be putting Willy to bed, but she was more than happy to do so because she was so keen for their relationship to develop. Mae had planned an afternoon of pampering to prepare Martha for her date. She was going to give Martha a makeover.
‘He won’t be able to resist you.’ she beamed.
Martha wasn’t there yet. She was very taken with David and she knew she could do a lot worse but she wasn’t ready to give herself to him, she wasn’t bothered about the marriage side of things. She had already been married once; it didn’t seem the same to her now, to wait and do it all over. She couldn’t imagine marrying again but she did crave intimacy and passion. She wasn’t in a rush with David, but she could imagine them being together soon.
Tonight was about meeting his family and she was pretty sure she wouldn’t feel sexy by the time Mae had finished with her. She had a feeling she may end up being a little tartier than she was comfortable with, but Mae had this way of just making Martha go along with her plans.
The night before, Mae had washed Martha’s hair with water mixed with baking powder followed by rubbing raw eggs into her scalp.
‘This will give you that salon shine.’ she squealed with pure delight.
She was in her element. Martha was sure Mae would have loved a daughter. Martha didn’t mind being Mae’s guinea pig; she enjoyed being pampered. She had no one to take care of her and it was nice to have Mae’s attention. Mae was much better at the glamour side of things than her. Martha was very beautiful anyway, so she didn’t need much work; neither did Mae for that matter but Mae knew all the latest tips and tricks. The women that Mae was friends with would share secrets with each other on how to be glamorous during the tough times of rations, and to give credit where it was due, they always did look very glamourous.
After Mae had washed Martha’s hair, she spent a good hour wrapping it up in rags to create those perfect curls. The two women sat on the bed in Martha’s room.
‘We’ll make a ‘Rosie Riveter’ out of you in no time,’ she said, carefully selecting locks of hair and tying them up in neat little sections.
‘Women. Taking power back. Men might think they rule the world, but when you step outside tomorrow and David takes one look at you, the power will be all yours, my girl.’
Martha never felt like she needed to be in control, in fact she preferred to be guided. It was easier that way, but Mae was the opposite. She enjoyed the power and she enjoyed having her way.
‘You know, this is like the time you took me to that rugby match,’ Martha said to Mae. ‘Do you remember? You told me about it perhaps a week before and you said you were going to find me a man? We spent the whole week trying to make ourselves pretty and then I met Johnny.’
The room seemed very quiet.
‘I remember Martha. Those were wonderful times. Oh. What fun we had. But, you can have that fun again. Why do you think I’m doing all of this? I just want to see you happy again, and I know you can be.’
Mae had almost finished wrapping up her hair which she had done with great precision and finesse. Martha’s eyes were fixed on the wall and had glazed over. Her face was blank and looked as if she was daydreaming.
‘I know you miss him, Martha. We all do. It’s a terrible shame. But, look at it like this, you have the chance to have all that excitement again. Not like me. I’m stuck with Peter.’
They both let out a slight laugh at Mae’s joke, although it made Martha’s heart flutter with fear. She felt compelled to say all the right things to cover her guilt.
‘Peter’s not bad really. Look at the life you have together. This beautiful house, you have more than most. A beautiful child together. I can see Peter can be moody at times but you both love each other and that’s more than some have.’
Martha smiled at Mae and didn’t know whether if she blinked she would look guilty or whether she was ok to blink. How does my face look when I am a good person? Can she tell I am hiding something? she thought to herself. She couldn’t remember how to act when these conversations cropped up.
Mae had finished her hair and looked at her.
‘I don’t know if Peter does love me anymore. He has changed recently. His moods seem different. Normally he is either at work or with us, but lately, he hasn’t been spending as much time with us. He doesn’t touch me much anymore and when he does, he seems rougher or less interested.’
Martha could feel her temperature rising.
‘Really? You both seem happy together?’ she said, but wishing they could talk about something else.
Her guilt levels were rising to extremely high levels now.
‘I think we are happy, but I think this is it now. He has finally lost interest. He’s bored. We’ve been together for almost 20 years and he just doesn’t fancy me anymore I think. Take last night, I tried to have sex with him and he wasn’t interested. He said he wasn’t in the mood. So, as much as I couldn’t be bothered really, I tried to get him in the mood. I went down on him and he instantly got hard and I thought I was doing the trick. I had only been at it for a couple of minutes I think and you know… he… well, he finished. I didn’t do it for that. I did it so that he would have sex with me. He finished and just rolled over and didn’t even say thanks. Oh, I don’t know.’
She began to become teary and now Martha wanted the ground to swallow her up there and then. The guilt resided within her as if a stone had been tied with a piece of string and was hanging off her heart.
She put her arms around Mae and soothed her.
‘Sssshhh, there, there. I’m sure you are reading too much into it. Perhaps he was just tired. Don’t upset yourself. I’m sure he will be back to normal soon, maybe he has things on his mind.’
Martha decided from this moment on, nothing would ever happen between her and Peter again. She had been so selfish up until now and now that she thought about it, she didn’t believe she had ever seen Mae cry befor
e. Well, not real tears anyway. This reminded Martha of how human Mae was.
When she had been with Peter, it was as if Mae didn’t exist. She didn’t enter her brain at all. She was consumed with excitement, passion and desire. It was as if she was in another world when he put his hands on her, a world that only they knew existed. Martha had never felt worse and didn’t get that much sleep that night.
Her mind was racing with a magnitude of thoughts.
She was racked with guilt and didn’t know how she could have ever got wrapped up in something so sordid. She was immersed in curiosity and wondered what was happening between the three of them. Why was Peter rejecting Mae? Does he want me? Is he making advances at me because his relationship with Mae is breaking down? Am I nothing to him? Just a floozy who happens to be under his roof that he thinks he can have? Or does he like me? Oh, shut up Martha.
She pulled her pillow over her head as if it would work to suffocate her thoughts. The only thing that would put a stop to her ideas would be a bullet to the head. This situation couldn’t continue. She was worn out by pretending all the time.
She was exhausted by her treachery. Life couldn’t continue this way. How she was ever going to get out of this tug of war of love, she didn’t know. Her state of desperation was interrupted by a knocking next door.
She listened carefully and realised Peter and Mae were having sex. Her turmoil was soothed by the sound of their lovemaking. With every knock and every gasp, she could hear it was like a little bit more of her anguish was being released, like a pressure cooker. The noises were becoming louder and it sounded like Peter was determinedly making up for his behaviour the night before. Martha felt like she had had a close escape, again. She listened to the two of them until she fell asleep.
Cupidity Page 10