‘Bit remote,’ said the driver, concerned for his vehicle’s suspension as he negotiated the numerous pot holes on the private lane. ‘Will you be wanting me to pick you up later?’
‘I don’t know,’ replied Doyle. ‘I’ll give you a bell when I know what my movements will be. And make sure you keep hold of those details I’ve given you. And if you don’t hear from me by five pm, ring the number I’ve underlined.’
‘Nice house,’ added the driver as he drove through the rusting wrought iron gates. ‘Must have been very impressive in its day.’
After travelling 100 yards or so down the drive, he swung the car around a small central circle of overgrown shrubs and came to a halt outside the front door. Doyle was in no rush to leave the car. He paid the driver in cash, including a handsome tip, then took his time opening the door and stepping out on to the gravelled drive. He looked up at the house. It appeared quite shabby close up, almost semi-derelict. Barnard’s House – the name peeped put from the mass of vegetation on the left side of the entrance - stood three storeys high and was covered in ivy and Virginia creeper, some of the upper windows being half-covered by the neglected but vigorous tendrils. It appeared rather down at heel, as if its former glory had been deliberately allowed to fall away thus revealing the bare bones of its quintessential dignity. What, he thought, was Julia doing in such a place?
The taxi-driver waved to him, started the engine and drove away. Doyle watched him disappear down the drive. He looked about him for any sign of life. There were no other vehicles to be seen. He climbed the single step and approached the front door. He was about to lift the discoloured brass knocker when the door opened and Jules stood before him. She looked rather drawn but his heart leapt at the sight of her.
‘Hello Michael,’ she said, but she spoke coldly. ‘You’d better come in.’
He felt almost awkward and not a little afraid.
‘You promise me, Jules, there’s no-one else here?’
‘We are quite alone, I assure you.’
‘What is this place?’
‘Barnard House? It belongs to someone I know. I wanted to be well away from prying eyes after the trial. The Press people have been very intrusive.’
‘But a bit inconvenient, don’t you think?’
She did not reply but stepped back as he passed through the front door. She made no attempt to embrace him. He hesitated, then moved towards her but she backed away. An awkward silence followed as they gazed at each other. Did she feel nothing for him? She led him into a sitting room on the left of the substantial hall. He was surprised how well it was furnished, in marked contrast to the external appearance of the house.
‘Are you intending to stay here?’ he eventually asked.
‘That hasn’t been decided.’
‘Do you have a car? You’ll need one out here, I would have thought?’
‘No. But if I want anything, all I have to do is ring.’
‘Ring? Ring who?’
‘No-one you know.’
‘And you’re not going to tell me?’
‘As I said, it’s no-one you know.’
He looked at her intently.
‘Where’s little Michael? I would like to see him.’
‘He’s with my mother in Portugal.’ She took a deep breath. ‘I need to speak to you about him.’
‘Don’t bother. I already know. He’s not mine, is he?’
He did not even try to hide his disappointment. She seemed surprised that he had already worked it out for himself.
‘How do you know?’
She had the grace to appear uncomfortable.
‘I had some tests done, when I was in hospital. I’ve always had doubts about him, especially after you wouldn’t agree to take my calls when I was in prison.’ He paused. ‘They tell me I’m infertile.’
She tried her best to appear sympathetic.
‘I suspected you might be. I stopped taking the pill two years ago, you know.’
‘You never said. Why?’
She turned away for a moment.
‘I wanted to have your baby.’
He choked as he tried to speak and became quite emotional. He could hardly get his words out.
‘You never mentioned it.’
‘I thought you weren’t interested in having a child. But I wanted one. You have no idea how much I wanted a baby – your baby.’ She paused. ‘I meant to surprise you.’
‘You’ve certainly done that! Who’s the father if it’s not me?’
‘I can’t tell you.’
‘Why not?’
He raised his voice. She noticed he was getting angry. That worried her. She was alone and she knew from past experience how unpleasant he could become if he lost his temper.
‘He doesn’t want it to be known.’
‘So, you do know who it is?’
That hurt her. She didn’t quite understand why. She reacted indignantly.
‘Of course I do. I don’t sleep around as you well know.’
‘So, when did you get pregnant? It must have been when I was stuck in hospital in Hull or were you at it with someone before then?’
She did not reply. Tears were forming in her eyes. He continued to press her.
‘Why did you tell me the child was mine? Why register me as the father? You must have known the truth all along?’
‘I hoped he might be yours,’ she whimpered. ‘I really did. Anyway, I told you he wasn’t yours when I last saw you – in Leicester Prison.’
‘And you know he isn’t, do you? You could be wrong. The doctors didn’t exclude the possibility of my becoming a father, you know. They just said it was very unlikely.’
She regained control of herself.
‘Michael, I know he isn’t yours.’
‘How can you be so sure?’
‘There’s been a DNA test. You were excluded.’
He shook his head.
‘I don’t think so. I’ve never given a sample to anyone for a DNA test, apart from the police.’
‘You have, although you probably don’t know it.’
‘What do you mean?’
She turned away, anxious to avoid his eyes which drilled into her.
‘Tell me.’ He sounded insistent. ‘Surely I’m entitled to know?’
She looked at him and sighed.
‘Remember when you cut your hand in the workshop at Draycott Heath?’
He appeared stunned.
‘That was when Dudley Manning bumped into me. I was using the circular saw. How do you know about that?’
‘You’d be surprised what I know about.’
‘Go on.’
‘Dudley Manning obtained a sample of your blood. You passed out, remember? It was easily done. He was well paid for it.’
Doyle shook his head in disbelief.
‘But he helped me. He bound up the wound. It was after that we became mates.’
He seemed genuinely confused.
‘Who would pay him for a sample of my blood?’
‘You don’t need to know that.’
‘Tell me!’
He took hold of her shoulders and shook her vigorously. She tried but failed to push him away.
‘It was Michael’s father.’
He released her and she moved away from him and sat down.
‘How did he know Manning? He’d been in prison for nearly two years - well before I arrived at Draycott.’
‘He made it his business. He has connections everywhere.’
‘How did he contact him?’
‘That I don’t know.’
He sat down heavily on the sofa opposite her and put his head in his hands.
‘I’m sorry Michael. I really am.’
She got up, moved closer and knelt on one knee
in front of him. She was surprised how her feelings for him seemed to be returning.
‘I didn’t mean this to happen, it just did. Believe it or not I was trying to help you while you were laid up in hospital in Hull. Trying to sort out the money you owed Grayling. That’s when I met him.’
He looked up at her, his anger hardly diminishing.
‘Tell me who he is.’
‘I can’t.’
Silence.
‘Why did you call the boy Michael?’
She stood up. Her back was towards him as she replied.
‘He’s named after his father. As I said in court, there’s nothing unusual in calling a child after his father.’
‘You also said in court that he was mine. I read the details of the trial every day in the newspapers, you know. And you were on oath when you said it.’
She turned and faced him. Being on oath meant nothing to her.
‘I lied. It was an essential part of my defence. I couldn’t reveal his true father. I’d have had no chance of being acquitted if I’d done that.’
‘I don’t follow.’
‘You don’t have to. And believe me, Michael, you don’t want to know.’
‘But I do. And I’m not leaving here until you tell me.’
‘I can’t. If I did, there’d be consequences.’
‘For you, you mean?’
She shook her head.
‘No, Michael; for you!’
He looked uncomfortable.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I can’t say any more. It would be too dangerous for you. And I don’t want anything to happen to you, I really don’t.’
His anger returned.
‘I could have you back in prison in no time if I was to reveal what I know about you. Don’t forget that!’
A look of alarm crossed her face.
‘What have you told them?’
He spoke more calmly.
‘Nothing – yet.’
Julia sat down again. She thought it wise to change the subject.
‘Tell me, Michael. How did you manage to get released? You still had another seven years to do before you could apply for parole, didn’t you?’
‘That’s my business.’
‘The only thing I can think of is that you must have provided some really solid information to the police. That’s what people think.’
‘People? Which people?’
She shook her head and did not reply.
‘What if I did?’
‘But it wasn’t about me?’
‘If it had been, don’t you think you’d have been re-arrested on the way out of court? You’ve made them look very foolish by getting off those charges, you know. They’ll be watching you like a hawk from now on. Are you sure they don’t know you’re here?’
‘Quite sure.’ She paused. ‘So, if you haven’t dropped me in it, that leaves Duffy. You must have told them who he really was?’
‘Did I?’
‘You do realise it was only because of what Duffy told the police that I was prosecuted?’
Doyle did not reply for a moment. When he did his temper was under control and he spoke softly.
‘I only told them about Duffy to protect you. I had no idea what he was going to say to the police after he was arrested. I just wanted him out of circulation, so he couldn’t get to you.’
‘Protect me?’
‘Yes. Hood wanted to prosecute you for the Charnwood robbery and he also reckoned that Grayling or Duffy were going to have a go at you if they couldn’t get to me after I was moved to Wakefield. Hood told me Grayling was dying but that left Duffy. Hood told Trevor Parker that they’d arranged to have me stabbed in Welford Road and might have succeeded if I hadn’t been transferred. I was stuck on remand, remember? Refused bail.’ He hesitated. ‘I thought it was the only way I could make sure you were safe.’
‘And you believed him? Because of what Hood said to Trevor?’ She shook her head. ‘But Michael, I was in no danger from Grayling or Duffy. Not until Duffy opened his big mouth and he only did that because you got him arrested!’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Grayling and Duffy were helping me with the abduction. Why would they want to hurt me?’
‘So, you did go to them?’
‘Who else? I contacted Irish Bernard and his brother but they weren’t interested. Too risky they said. It was Duffy’s daughter who suggested Grayling. I didn’t know he held a grudge against you until later.’
‘Well they made a right Horlicks of it, didn’t they? Taking the wife and kid to somewhere so obviously associated with me. Not very clever that, was it?’
She looked away.
‘There was a change of plan.’
‘A change of plan?’
‘Yes. Grayling had it in for you over the Charnwood robbery – which I swear I didn’t realise at the time. He was really wound up about that, Michael. You should have told me.’ She paused. ‘The idea was to make it look like you were involved – that it was all for your benefit - and then let the police know before the judge gave his ruling. That’s why they were taken to Orley Farm. To implicate you. Just like the prosecution suggested to me in the trial.’
Doyle shook his head.
‘That’s what Trevor thought. He reckoned that was what you might be up to.’
‘He’d worked it out, had he? He was no fool, Trevor.’
‘Yes, but I didn’t believe him. It sounds like I should have listened to my solicitor after all, but I never thought you’d do that to me, not after I got your message. I was convinced you were trying to help me.’
She smiled.
‘We’ll always have Paris.’
He nodded.
‘Yes. That wasn’t what it seemed either. Just to keep me sweet, I suppose?’
‘But I had no choice. Honestly. It was out of my hands by then. I was just carried along with it all. When Hanlon got involved I was really scared. He kills people you know.’
‘Does he? So, Duffy was telling the truth in court, was he? He said you were part of it and that you saw Grayling in Hastings.’
She paused.
‘That’s why he was so dangerous to my defence. That’s why his evidence had to be undermined.’
‘And Hanlon? What does he have to do with all this? He’s an IRA man, isn’t he? How did he get involved?’
He paused.
‘Don’t tell me, he’s Michael’s father. That would be too much. That I couldn’t bear.’
‘No, of course not. You don’t seriously think I’d fall for someone like him? Give me some credit.’ She took hold of his hands. ‘Like everyone else, Hanlon did as he was told. He was Grayling’s man on the ground. He led the kidnappers, but it all went wrong because Duffy grassed them up over the Retford robbery. And he ended up getting an enormous sentence. More than double what you got. It was looking like he’d spend the rest of his life in prison. The idea was that he’d give evidence against me, then be exposed as a liar and escape before the trial finished. It was all organised for him. He just had to do as he was told.’
‘And if it had gone wrong?’
‘Fortunately, it didn’t. It ran like clockwork. They nearly dropped the case against me when he went over the wall.’
‘Where is he now? The police must be looking for him.’
‘I don’t know. He’s abroad somewhere. I haven’t been told where.’
‘So Hanlon’s not the man? Someone else organised all this? Whoever it is must be very well connected.’ He paused. ‘Who’s taken over from Grayling?’
She released her grip. ‘That’s not for me to say.’
‘Tell me, Jules. I need to know.’
She looked away.
‘I can’t tell you, really I can’t.’
<
br /> ‘And Dudley? Was he part of the set-up too?’
‘I assume so. He’ll have been well paid for his efforts, I’m sure. Not that it did him any good in the long run.’
Doyle shook his head in disbelief. He obviously had not taken in all of what Julia had just said.
‘I thought he was my mate. I trusted him. Just like I trusted you. I must need my head examining! And you’re telling me it was all a con? I must be losing my touch. I’m supposed to be seeing him tonight. I’ll be having a few words with him, I can tell you.’
‘I wouldn’t bank on it.’
‘Why? Bought him off too, have you?’
‘You weren’t listening to what I said, Michael. Haven’t you seen the news?’
‘No. I don’t watch much TV as you know.’
‘Dudley Manning was pulled out of the River Trent yesterday. He’d been shot. The police want to speak to you about it, apparently.’
Doyle couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
‘Shot! By me? That’s rubbish! Who’d want to kill Dudley? He was a dentist for Christ’s sake. He wasn’t a threat to anyone.’
‘Perhaps he knew too much?’
He stood up and started to pace the room, searching his pockets for a cigarette. He’d forgotten for the moment that he’d given them up.
‘Your name was mentioned specifically. “The police want to speak to Michael Doyle.” That’s what they said. They also said that the public should not approach you. You were considered too dangerous.’
‘What? Me? Dangerous?’
‘Haven’t they been round to your flat?’
‘I didn’t stay at my flat last night.’ He glared at her. ‘Is this something to do with Michael’s father?’
She shook her head.
‘I can’t say, but if it is, it could mean you’ll be in danger as well.’
‘Why?’
‘Because you know I was involved in the Charnwood robbery. He doesn’t like anyone having any sort of hold over me - apart from him. Then there’s the money.’
A Private and Convenient Place Page 41