An Independent Woman

by Anna Jacobs

“My poor son, how are you feeling now?”

  “I’m feeling fine, just as I was until your men kidnapped me this morning.”

  Fleming turned to Crandall. “You see. He’s delusional, needs protecting because he can’t tell what’s real and what isn’t.”

  The magistrate stared at the slight young man.

  Aubrey looked back steadily. “I’ve been under the supervision of several doctors for the past few months, first as I was recovering from my injuries and then when I worked as an orderly in a convalescent home. I think they would have known if I was mentally unstable, don’t you? I’ll be happy to give you their names and the address of the convalescent home.”

  “And I think that Tolson, who’s been your doctor for years, would know you better than any of them could,” Fleming said.

  Crandall nodded. “Good fellow, Tolson, very sound.”

  Marcus seized the opportunity to go and stand by his wife. “You all right?”

  She whispered, “Marcus, keep away, save yourself!” then as Fleming swivelled round to stare icily at her, she bowed her head again and pressed her lips together.

  Fleming took a couple of steps back to stand between her and her husband. “You shouldn’t encourage your brother, Serena. He could harm himself. And you’ve been in a very fragile state yourself since your mother’s death, or you wouldn’t have married a near stranger who only wants your money.”

  Crandall stared at Marcus distastefully. “He’s Lonnerden’s cousin and that’s no recommendation. The fellow was a loose fish if ever I met one, and his father wasn’t much better.”

  “I’m prepared to forget what Graye has done this time,” Fleming said, “if you’ll just get him and Redway to leave. My family and I need to talk. We’ve a lot of time to make up with Frank.”

  “I’m not staying here,” Aubrey said at once, “nor is Serena. We’ll leave as well.”

  Fleming smiled at him. “Your sister is definitely staying here. You might think about joining her.”

  Aubrey stared at her. “Serena, surely not?”

  “I can’t leave,” she said in a toneless voice.

  Justin put out one hand to restrain Marcus from going to her. “I don’t think you can do anything at the moment.”

  “I’m not leaving without her,” Marcus said, folding his arms.

  “You’ll leave now or I’ll call in the police,” Crandall snapped.

  Serena looked at her husband. “Go. Now. Please, Marcus.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I want you to.”

  He let Justin pull him into the hall and after a moment’s hesitation, Aubrey turned to join them.

  “You’d better stay here until Tolson arrives, young man,” the magistrate called.

  “I’d rather be in a police cell than here,” Aubrey said. “My father’s a liar and my sister doesn’t really want to stay, you know.”

  Fleming made a soft tutting sound. “You see, Crandall? And he’s just heard her say she does.”

  “Poor fellow. We’d better keep him here, for his own sake.”

  Hudd moved between Aubrey and the door to the hall.

  Justin said in an urgent undertone to Marcus, “We can do more if we’re free—for both of them. Come on!”

  So Marcus, after one last glance backwards at Serena, walked towards the front door.

  Hudd shoved Aubrey back into the sitting room, so that he tumbled to the floor, and followed Marcus, grinning. As Justin opened the door, however, four men pushed their way in and two of them grabbed Hudd, quickly muffling his cries. The man who was clearly their leader looked at Justin and Marcus. “What’s been happening?”

  “This is Aubrey’s friend Jim,” Marcus explained and then told him quickly what had occurred.

  “I think we need to go back. I have a few things to say to Fleming and for that I need witnesses. And perhaps when your wife hears what I have to say, she’ll think differently about staying.”

  “I’m more than happy to return,” Marcus said grimly. “What about him?” He gestured to Hudd.

  “He can come too, but my brothers will keep an eye on him.”

  Jim led the way into the sitting room again, where Fleming and Crandall were now sitting down, looking very cosy together, while Aubrey stood beside Serena, who was shaking her head to something he was whispering. Everyone turned to see who had come in.

  Fleming jumped to his feet. “I don’t know where you found reinforcements, Graye, but you can just take your men and leave. She’s not coming back to you and I have a magistrate here to witness what’s going on.”

  Crandall nodded vigorously.

  “I’m not connected to Mr Graye,” Jim said mildly. “And if you don’t mind, I’ll sit down too.

  I’ve been a long time recovering from war injuries and I’m still not myself.”

  “Whoever you are, I wish you to leave!” Fleming snapped. “I’m too busy to see anyone.”

  Jim looked across at Aubrey and Serena, smiling. “What I have to say is going to shock you, Serena, and I’m sorry I have to do it so publicly. When I tell you that my name is James Lang, would it mean anything to you?”

  She stared at him open-mouthed, then nodded. “Yes. Mother told me about you. But if you weren’t dead, you ran away and left her, so I’m not sure I care whether you’ve come back or not.”

  Jim looked across at the magistrate who was frowning in an attempt to follow this. “I’m Serena’s real father.”

  Crandall blinked in shock.

  “She looks like him,” Justin pointed out.

  Reluctantly, Crandall nodded.

  “And she also looks like her mother,” Jim said in a low voice, smiling at Serena but with sadness clear beneath that smile.

  “I don’t know why he’s trying to cause trouble, but it’s a pack of lies and I want him out of this house,” Fleming said. “Of course he’s not her father. I am. Everyone knows that.”

  Crandall shifted uncomfortably, staring from one man to the other. “They do look very alike and I remember the talk at the time. She was born only six months after the marriage.”

  “They don’t look alike. And he’s not her father, probably not even James Lang!” Fleming shouted, but when he tried to move towards Jim, one of the other men stepped forward.

  “I’m Jim’s brother and no one knows better than me who he is.”

  Jim turned back to the magistrate, “I have papers back where I’m staying which prove who I am, but it’s more important now that I tell my daughter what happened, why I left, and I’d like you to be a witness to that.” When the other man nodded, he went on, “Over thirty years ago, I was going to run away with Grace Illingham and marry her, because I loved her dearly and because she was carrying my child. I didn’t care about her money, only about her.”

  Fleming made a loud scoffing noise.

  “Let him continue,” Crandall snapped.

  “Ernest Fleming paid some men to capture me and prevent me from meeting Grace. They took me to Liverpool and put me on a ship bound for Australia. I had to work my passage and the voyage lasted several weeks.

  When I got there, I sent an urgent telegram to my brother, so that he could tell Grace what had happened. I tried to find a job on a ship going back but my brother’s reply showed me it was useless. Grace had married Fleming and was expecting a child. He said they seemed happy enough together. Later he told me she’d had a baby girl and that the child was well looked after. I knew if I came back, I’d upset everyone’s life to no avail. As far as the world was concerned, the baby was Fleming’s. And Grace was legally his too.”

  Fleming glared at him. “The baby was mine and you can’t prove differently. I was married to the baby’s mother. You weren’t even in England, from what you say.”

  Jim looked at Serena. “What I’m saying is true. Come away now, love.”

  But she stayed where she was.

  “Serena, you can’t stay here with him,” he pleaded.

  Fleming
looked at them all triumphantly. “You see. She wants to stay with me. She knows I’m her real father.”

  Everyone turned to stare at Serena but she was looking at Marcus, her love showing clearly in her eyes. “I can’t leave him,” she said, anguish in her face.

  “Why not?”

  “Because she doesn’t want to,” Fleming interjected, putting one hand in the pocket where he kept the gun and staring at her.

  Serena could have wept but if she once started she’d not stop crying, so she didn’t allow herself that luxury. She knew that if she tried to leave the house with Marcus, it was tantamount to signing his death warrant. Better he stay alive without her than be a target for Fleming’s hatred.

  There was silence in the room, then Aubrey went across to Jim and held out his hand. “I wish you were my father.”

  Serena swallowed hard, feeling Fleming’s hard gaze on her. She held holding fast to her determination to save Marcus’s life.

  In the hall, the woman who’d been half-carried inside the house pushed her two companions aside. “He has to be stopped and I’m the only one who can do it. Wait for me outside. It’ll be better for you if you pretend to know nothing of what I intend to do.”

  “But you can’t walk without help,” Ada protested.

  “I think I can walk far enough with my stick.” Pamela fumbled in her pocket. “Go.”

  As they left the house, she somehow found the strength to walk towards the door of the room from which voices were coming, pausing in the doorway to regain her breath as they all stared at her. “I need to sit down,” she announced.

  No one who saw her could doubt that, but she waved away offers of help. “Near the fire.” She moved across the room leaning heavily on her stick. Only when she got close to Fleming did she stop again, raise the hand that had been hidden beneath the dangling ends of the fox fur round her neck and look at him. “I’m doing this for Lawrence and for all the other people you’ve hurt.”

  As Crandall opened his mouth to order her to stop, she fired at point blank range, giving Fleming no time to move away.

  As he crumpled slowly to the ground, she stood there, swaying slightly, her face a yellowish white but her expression one of satisfaction.

  The room rang with shouts and exclamations of shock.

  “Secure her!” Crandall ordered.

  She smiled and held out the revolver, butt first. “I shan’t try to escape.”

  Jim took the weapon from her, while Crandall went to peer down at Fleming’s body and the bloody mess of his chest.

  “Fellow looks dead,” he muttered.

  There was a hammering on the French windows. “Let me in! I’m a doctor,” Den called. Justin went to unlock the door and Den came into the room, soaking wet and shivering. “I was watching what happened.”

  He knelt beside Fleming, examined him quickly then shook his head. “He’s quite dead. Why did you shoot him, Mrs Lonnerden?”

  “Because he was both evil and insane,” Pamela announced in a steady voice, her expression calm. “He made my son’s last weeks unhappy and when I heard what he was doing to my nephew and his wife, I realised that only I could really help them. Even if they’d escaped today, he would have got his revenge on them later.”

  “He had a gun in his pocket and had threatened to kill Marcus if I tried to leave,” Serena said suddenly.

  “You see.” Pamela smiled round radiantly. “I was right to do it. I’m dying, Mr Crandall, have only a few weeks to live at most, so it doesn’t matter what they do to me now. But these young people have all their lives ahead of them.” She fumbled for a seat and subsided into it.

  There was a buzz of low-voiced conversation and Hudd tried to leave the room, but one of Jim’s companions barred his way.

  Crandall scowled round. “No one to leave without my permission. Someone fetch the police.

  Redway, will you do it?”

  Justin nodded and left the room.

  Marcus went across to his aunt. “Can I get you anything? A drink of water?

  “Go to your wife.”

  “You’ll be all right?”

  “Of course I will.”

  Marcus drew Serena to one side. “Could you not have trusted me to look after myself?”

  “No. You’re an honest man. And even if we went away from here, he’d have traced us. I knew him too well, Marcus. He would have stopped at nothing, waited for years, if necessary. When I ran away I was risking my own life, but I wasn’t going to risk yours. I’d intended to use my inheritance to get as far away as I could. I didn’t know then that he’d stolen my money or I’d probably not have dared leave.”

  As she looked at him, love glowing in her eyes, he crushed her to him, kissing her and hugging her close. She raised her face and kissed him passionately, putting her arms round his neck, needing to feel the living warmth of him.

  “Have a bit of decency, you two!” Crandall’s voice thundered out.

  With a smile, Marcus moved his head back, put his arm round her shoulders and they turned to face the room.

  “Mrs Lonnerden, you may consider yourself under arrest for murder,” the magistrate went on.

  “Yes, of course.” Pamela smiled at Marcus. “Dear boy, could you please send Ada to wherever they take me with some clothes. And don’t worry about me. I shall die happy now.”

  Crandall shook his head, as if unable to believe what he saw and heard.

  Serena kept a tight hold of Marcus’s hand but looked across at her real father, standing protectively next to her brother, and smiled.

  She had a family now.

  EPILOGUE

  The funeral of Pamela Lonnerden was held two months after the burial of Ernest Fleming. It was attended by a strange mixture of people. Those who considered themselves “county” gentry and had only come out of pity for the poor woman stared in amazement when they saw that her family and servants were standing together, making no pretence of weeping but were smiling at one another as if this was a happy occasion.

  When her nephew delivered a eulogy praising her as a brave woman, not even pretending to hide the fact that she’d committed a murder, eyebrows were raised.

  After a brief reception at the Hall, Pamela’s county acquaintances left, but Marcus had already invited those he considered real friends, whether old or new, to stay behind.

  Gladys hovered near the door, still wearing her apron, uncertain whether to join them as invited. Serena winked at her husband and went across to their maid. “Come and sit over here, Gladys.”

  “Are you sure it’s all right for me to be here, ma’am?”

  “Very sure. You’re mentioned in the will, so you have to be here for the reading. And why don’t you take off that apron? You’re not here as a maid.”

  Looking relieved, Gladys took a seat next to Ada and Pearl, while Vic, Den and Jim sat behind them.

  Marcus looked round, then nodded to Justin, who picked up the will and the letter he’d kept with it. He began to read Pamela’s last words:

  I want to thank my nephew for his help during the last difficult months of my life. I may not have expressed my appreciation adequately, but it was sincere, believe me, Marcus.

  I have some money of my own, left to me by an aunt and this I’d like to share among you. I kept this money secret from both my husband and Lawrence or they’d have spent it. Whatever is left after the other bequests have been paid, is to go to my nephew, Marcus, and I will trust him and Mr Redway to see the following bequests paid:

  To Ada, who has been with me a long time, two hundred pounds with my thanks for her loyalty in troubled times.

  To Gladys, who has also been loyal and hard-working, one hundred pounds.

  Ada smiled and nodded as if this was no surprise to her, but Gladys let a squeak of shocked delight, then clapped one hand to her mouth.

  To Pearl and Vic, to pay for a really good wedding, twenty pounds.

  They beamed at one another and reached out to hold hands.


  To Jim and Aubrey, who don’t need any money, I leave my very best wishes and hope they have a happy life.

  I’ve left instructions for two bottles of champagne to be opened for everyone to drink to the future. When the reading is finished, Ada will show Marcus where we hid the wine so that Lawrence couldn’t drink the cellar dry. I think you’ll find some pleasant surprises there, Marcus.

  And finally, I wish it understood that I have no regrets for what I did. That man did not deserve to live and if he had, would have hurt many more people.

  Even if I’d had to pay the full penalty of the law, I’d have done so gladly.

  Pamela Lonnerden

  When Justin folded up the papers and sat down, Ada stood up. “Gladys and I will go and get the champagne now.”

  Marcus went to open the door for them. “As long as it’s understood that you come back to drink a glass with us.”

  She nodded and the two women left.

  Jim turned to Aubrey, with whom he was still staying. “What are you going to do with yourself now?”

  “Go to university and study to be a doctor. I can’t think of any more worthwhile career. I’m hoping Marcus will take over Father’s business and make sure all the houses are properly repaired and maintained and the tenants treated fairly.”

  His brother-in-law nodded.

  “And I’m hoping that you’ll buy the bookshop from Ted and settle down in Tinsley. After all, you’ve no one waiting for you in Australia.”

  “How did you know I was staying on in Tinsley? I haven’t said anything.”

  Aubrey grinned. “Think I don’t know that you’ve been seeing Mrs Beamish at the Weaver’s Arms?”

  “Can’t keep anything secret from you, can I, lad?”

  The two men smiled at one another.

  “I’m glad you’re staying,” Aubrey said softly. “One day I’ll find a girl and marry, then you can be granddad to our children.”

  Jim nodded and blew his nose vigorously.