Vanessa and I stood on the footpath in front of Phoebe and Stuart’s house.
I shook my head. ‘No matter how drunk George was he’d remember that the front door of Phoebe’s was to the right of the windows not the left. And Bridget’s house has a huge tree in the front and Phoebe’s hasn’t.’
It was after midnight when I got home. Before going to bed I made a few notes. Now that George and Olivia were eliminated as suspects, I focused on Bridget and those who hated her. Suddenly my thoughts jumped to Elaine. Had the anonymous messages caused a serious enough rift in their relationship for her to want to kill Bridget? To me she sounded unhinged. If she thought that the messages were true, was she unhinged enough to kill?
14
SHARON
I fought my way out of sleep and finally woke from the nightmare. Not that it was a nightmare, more of a replay of my experience. I still feel battered when I remember that day. I’d been visiting my mum and dad. I’d left their flat and was walking to my car when I heard someone scream. I took out my mobile and ran in the direction of the screaming. I turned a corner and saw two men trying to rob a girl who looked about the same age as me. She had a toddler in a push chair. He was crying. Food had fallen from her carrier bag. Tins of baked beans, tomatoes and soup rolled on the path.
One of the men was holding a knife at the girl’s neck. After phoning 999 I charged towards her attackers.
‘Police! The rest are on their way,’ I yelled.
The skinny one, who was holding the knife, froze. The taller, stronger looking one ignored me. He grabbed the girl’s handbag. ‘Money. Where’s the money?’
‘Haven’t got none left!’
He tipped her bag upside down. Tissues, keys, make-up and a purse fell out. He bent down to pick up the purse. I grabbed him and yanked him into an arm-lock. ‘You’re under arrest!’ I heard the sirens.
The knife going into my shoulder hardly hurt. The pain was excruciating when he pulled it out. He raised it above his head. I saw the flashing blue lights of the police cars as they drove onto the estate. The knife was heading towards my chest. The girl picked up a can of baked beans and smashed it over his head. Deflected, the knife tore into my upper arm. I felt it hit the bone.
The rest was a blur. I was taken to hospital by ambulance. I had two operations to repair the damage to the tendons and muscles in my shoulder and arm. I’d lost a lot of blood, but the knife had missed my artery.
After intensive physiotherapy I was fit for work, physically at least. But I’d lost my confidence. I saw danger everywhere. Being alone in my ground-floor flat in Hackney unnerved me. Walking down the street in daylight frightened me. Counselling helped, but not enough. To try and make light of my experience I often told myself that I owed my life to a can of baked beans.
I was determined not to let my nightmare wreck the day. It was five when I woke, so instead of going back to sleep I had a shower and got dressed. I made coffee and toast and sat at my computer trying to work out how we could solve this case without getting a confession. When Robert arrived I made him coffee and then he outlined his new theory about Elaine. I agreed she needed investigating.
‘I don’t think she’s unhinged,’ I said, ‘but I do think she’s a bully, confrontational and has no idea how to manage people. We certainly need to find out more about her. She should be out of hospital by now. I’ll e-mail her and ask if we can visit.’
Robert looked thoughtful. ‘We could say that we want to talk to her about the chap who punched her – throw her off guard. I want to know what sort of a place she lives in. She seems to have zero social life. Her mother might be like Mrs Bradley. Or she might live alone. If she’s as unpleasant at home as she is at work she’s probably got no friends.’
‘What about family?’
‘They might all be like her – or if they’re not they probably don’t see much of her.’
To make it official, we sent the e-mail from my computer at the station. She replied immediately. She was at home, but her jaw was still wired up. She gave a long list about her liquid diet and the way she had to suck her food through a straw. She didn’t say whether or not we could visit. Sounding sympathetic I replied that she wouldn’t have to talk to us, but we wanted to tell her personally. She agreed that we could visit that afternoon. On the way to her house we stopped at the hospital and asked the ward clerk if Elaine had had any visitors. She hadn’t, which didn’t surprise us.
Her terraced house in St Austell was in a dreary treeless street. The front of her house was paved, there were no bushes or grass, and a car that was about a year old was parked outside. It was as polished and clean as if it had just come out of the showroom.
Elaine’s face had been covered in blood the last time we had seen her, and now I was surprised to see that, even with the fading bruises and missing teeth, she was attractive. Her eyes were deep blue. Without the grey streaks in her hair she would have looked younger, but I put her age at early forties. She was overweight, but not fat.
We followed her into the lounge and sat on the sofa. The colour scheme was beige and brown. Her clothes were beige and brown, although unlike the uniforms she had made her staff wear, they were good quality. The furniture was modern with a real leather sofa and chairs. Her television was huge. The walls were bare and there were no photos or ornaments on the surfaces. I thought how much Robert would hate the lack of character and books.
He was charming and sympathetic. ‘You don’t have to speak, just nod or shake your head. This must be an ordeal for you. Do you live alone?’
She nodded.
‘Do you have any family who could help you until – ’
She shook her head.
‘While we’re here is there anything we can do for you? Can we get you a cup of coffee or tea?’
She nodded, giving us a reason to go into the kitchen. She led us into the modern and immaculate kitchen and gave him a jar of instant coffee and a mug. When the coffee was made she put a straw in the mug and we went back to the lounge.
‘Did you visit Bridget in her new house?’
She nodded.
‘Did you see Phoebe?’
She nodded and held up three fingers.
‘Three times,’ said Robert.
She was looking impatient, so I said, ‘We’ve no news about the whereabouts of Leslie Hooper yet, I’m sorry to say. But we’ll let you know as soon as we do.’ I stood up and, as if I’d just thought of it, I said, ‘A few of the medical records staff mentioned that Bridget was taking a lot of time off work when she returned from maternity leave. Is that true?’
She nodded.
‘They also said you were angry with her and – ’
She made sounds of protest and her face went red.
Robert said calmly, ‘They just said that you had berated her in front of them. Don’t worry about it now. E-mail us. It might not be important, but could you also give us details about the anonymous messages you were getting.’
We got into the car.
‘That provoked a response,’ said Robert.
‘Do you think she looked guilty?’
‘Hard to say, but she certainly didn’t like it. I’ve just had a thought. Can we try something?’
‘What?’
‘The neighbours. See what they think of her.’
He got out of the car and I followed him up the neighbour’s path. A woman with a baby in her arms answered the door. A little girl aged about four stood next to her.
Robert smiled. ‘I just wanted to let you know that Elaine, your neighbour, has a broken jaw, she was in an accident – ’
‘Good,’ snapped the woman. ‘Hope it hurts like hell.’ The vehemence was startling. ‘Always picking on my kids, she is. Complaining they make a noise. Of course they make a noise. They’re kids – it’s what they do. She even rang the police once.’
‘Well,’ said Robert. ‘You won’t hear much from her for a while – her jaw’s wired up.’
The woman
giggled. ‘Serve her right. Are you her friends?’
‘No, we’re the police investigating the accident,’ I said.
‘Figures. Didn’t think she’s got any friends. Never seen anyone visit her.’
We got a similar response from the neighbour on the other side of Elaine. We went back to the car.
‘Is she obnoxious because she lives alone or does she live alone because she’s obnoxious?’ Robert said.
‘You’re on dodgy ground there, Sergeant. We both live alone.’
‘Yes, but we’re younger than she is.’
‘Do you think living alone is bad for our mental health?’
He nodded. ‘That’s why there should be more places like Pengelly House – company when you want it and privacy when you don’t. Humans weren’t meant to live alone.’
I really wanted to ask him how long he’d lived alone, but hesitated. Then I decided to risk it. ‘How long have you lived alone?’
‘Too long.’
‘You don’t like it?’
‘I hate it.’
‘Then why do you?’
He pulled away from the kerb and avoided my question by asking, ‘Where to now?’
‘Bridget’s. And I hope her mother’s out.’
She was in, and as belligerent as ever. ‘Have you arrested Phoebe?’ she asked as soon as she saw us.
‘No, Mrs Bradley,’ said Robert.
She folded her arms. ‘Why not?’
He barely hid his surprise when I said, ‘Phoebe has been eliminated from our enquiries, because she was miles away in the company of dozens of people when the fire started. We need to ask Bridget some questions. You can stay and not interrupt or we can do this somewhere else. What is it to be?’
Looking furious, Mrs Bradley went into kitchen and slammed the door. Bridget looked pale and even more thin. We all sat down.
‘Bridget,’ I said. ‘Your colleagues told us that there was a disagreement between you and Elaine over the amount of sick-leave you were taking when you returned to work after having the baby. Is that true?’
‘Yeah. She told me off in front of everyone. She shouldn’t of done that.’ Her voice was weary and disinterested.
‘How did they react?’
‘They enjoyed it. I could see them all smirking.’
‘What happened then?’
‘Elaine went into her office and left me standing there with all them looking – ’
‘I mean – did your relationship with Elaine deteriorate – go wrong?’
‘Yeah. I started looking for another job then. One closer to home. But it would of been hard.’
‘Hard? Why?’
‘She wouldn’t of given me a good reference.’
‘Why ever not? It’s perfectly reasonable that you’d want to find a job closer to home.’
‘She’d never see it like that.’
‘How would she see it?’ asked Robert.
‘She’d say I was letting her down.’
And unlike Phoebe you had no one you could ask for a reference, I thought.
‘I suppose that with you gone she would no longer have anyone to back her up,’ said Robert. ‘Did you ever visit Elaine at home?’
‘Before I was married I did.’
‘How many times?’
‘A few times. Can’t remember how many.’
‘Is she married?’
‘No.’
‘Has she ever been married?’
‘No. She lived with her dad. When he died she got everything. She didn’t have no brothers or sisters. Always saying how lucky she was to have no mortgage.’
‘How long ago did he die?’
‘Not sure. Before I knew her.’
‘Was she single by choice?’
‘Don’t think so. She pretended she were, but she fancied some of the men at the hospital, you could tell. But they wasn’t interested in her. She really liked one of them who worked with us, but he hated her. She tried to get him on her side, but when he made it plain – he were very crude about it – that he weren’t interested, she went the other way and picked on him. He were the one that went crazy.’
That Bridget had said something against Elaine for the first time since the investigation was interesting.
‘How did you get on with Leslie Hooper?’
‘Okay – till I got promoted. We all got on okay till I got promoted.’
‘Are you on compassionate leave?’
‘Yeah. Elaine wouldn’t let me have longer than a week, but I went to the doctor and got a certificate for a month. He said I can have one for another month when that runs out.’
‘Are you going back to the hospital?’
‘Don’t think I will. When I get Declan’s life insurance money I won’t have to work.’
‘The house Elaine lives in now – is that the one that belonged to her father?’
Bridget nodded. ‘She were born there. Never lived anyplace else. She told me she spent lots doing it up when he died. There was lots of rubbish to chuck out.’
I wondered if ornaments and photos had been what Elaine classed as rubbish. Although I had no ornaments or photos I hadn’t lived in my house very long. And I’d certainly never get rid of any photos my parents had.
‘Did she get on well with her father?’ Robert asked.
‘Don’t know. She never said.’
‘Do you know what happened to her mother?’
‘She died. Cancer. Why do you want to know all this?’
‘Bridget,’ Robert said carefully. ‘During our investigations we’ve discovered that you have a lot of enemies.’ He held up his hand to quell her protest. ‘It’s also clear that many people are very fond of you. Your colleagues at the hospital liked you before Elaine became the manager and promoted you. But in view of your dwindling relationship with Elaine we have to consider that she is a suspect.’
Bridget look shocked. ‘Never thought of that. I still think it’s that Phoebe – even if she did – ’
‘Let’s consider all the aspects,’ Robert said. ‘You visited Elaine before you were married. You no longer do. That’s understandable, but she may see that as a rejection. I’d say she’s lonely. And there are the anonymous messages she was receiving. All the staff knew about them. Margaret said Elaine held them up and even threatened to call the police.’
‘Bet it were Margaret who sent them – trying to turn Elaine against me.’
I decided to ignore the fact that she’d originally said it was Phoebe. ‘Did it work?’
‘The first one didn’t. She showed it to me and we laughed about it. She called a meeting and demanded to know who had sent it. No one said nothing. But she got more upset about the others, when they kept coming. She went right off me – got cold with me. Stopped telling me things. That’s why I took lots of sick-leave. It were them letters making her go off me. And the others – they was so happy about it – I couldn’t stand the looks they was giving me – Margaret were the worst. Elaine stopped sitting with me in the canteen – that was the worst bit – had to sit at a table alone and watch them all giving me funny looks.’
‘So you weren’t really sick?’
‘I were sick of Elaine and the way she treated me. And I’d worked lots of unpaid overtime so it’s not as if – ’
‘Elaine told us the unpaid overtime was voluntary. Is that true?’ I asked.
Bridget frowned. ‘Depends what you mean by voluntary. If I’d said no she would of punished me.’
‘Like she punished Phoebe?’
‘Yeah.’
‘So she would have made you redundant?’
She nodded. ‘Or she would of got me promotion took off me – the first year was . . . ’
‘Probationary?’ Robert supplied.
‘Yeah. Or she might of sacked me.’
I couldn’t resist the opening she offered me. As gently as I could I said, ‘In siding with Elaine you gave her excessive power. You lost your friends – ’
‘What else w
ere I to do?’
‘Well, if you’d fought against her like the others did her position would have been weak. If everyone had complained about her she might have got sacked or at least disciplined. Her methods of managing staff seem to have been draconian.’ Realizing that she probably wouldn’t know what draconian meant I went on, ‘Threatening people with the loss of their jobs goes against modern ethics. Especially, if what we’ve heard is true, the medical records department had previously been well run and there were no complaints.’
Bridget looked sullen.
‘Before Elaine came, had there been complaints?’ Robert asked.
Bridget was trapped. ‘No,’ she finally admitted.
Robert warmed to my theme. ‘Inspector Richardson is right. If the department had been badly run with missing files and uncooperative staff and a new manager improved things then complaints would have been ignored. But from what we’ve heard it was well run and managed. If all the staff, including you, had formally complained, your grievances would have been taken seriously. I’m not criticizing you, Bridget. I’m sure your position was difficult and the prize she was offering was tempting.’
‘Did you like Elaine? I mean really like her?’ I asked.
Bridget looked guarded.
‘Did she visit you in Farrier Way?’ Robert asked.
His question surprised me until I realized he wanted to see if Elaine and Bridget’s stories tallied.
‘Yeah. I never invited her – she said she come to see the baby. But she never come with any presents for him. And she kept asking me when I were coming back to work.’
‘So you didn’t really like her,’ I said. ‘I can understand that. Everyone else we’ve spoken to hates her. You’ve done very well for yourself. You were an ordinary clerk who ended up as the assistant manager. It has been said, by more than one person, that you only became friendly with Elaine to safeguard your job and get a promotion. You dumped Phoebe as a friend because she would have hindered your progress. Is that true?’
Suspicion Points Page 19