Strategy

by Anita Waller

  Caroline was stunned at the suggestion her mother could possibly be involved, and she had provided Jenny with an alibi. Her lovely mum, complicit in a murder? Three murders? She didn’t believe it for one second, and they had talked through everything, neither of them able to sleep.

  When Erin left to take the car in for testing, Caro showered and dressed, and went in search of Adam.

  She found him staring out of the office window, the tears running down his face matching the raindrops running down the window pane. Caro knew he was thinking about Grace, and she went to hold him. He pushed her away.

  ‘I hate this,’ he said quietly. ‘Everything’s changed, and it’s all because of Mum, isn’t it? They think because I’m a kid, I don’t need to know anything, but I want to know why Grace is dead, and did my mum kill her?’

  Caro stared in horror. ‘Oh, my God, Adam, no, your mum didn’t kill Grace! Grace died because she had an accident. She smacked her head on a rock, and fell into the water. She wouldn’t have known anything. Wouldn’t have felt any pain.’

  Adam stared at Caro, unsure whether to believe her. He’d lived with whispers for the last few days, and knew they were keeping things from him. Should he believe Aunty Caro? Or was she as bad as the others, feeding him half-truths.

  ‘Have you had breakfast?’

  He shook his head. ‘I don’t want anything. Nan and Granddad aren’t telling me the truth, either, so I’m going to keep away from them.’

  She smiled. ‘I’m keeping nothing from you. If you want to know anything, you ask me. I maybe won’t know the answer, but I won’t bull-shit you. If I know, I’ll tell you; if I don’t know, I’ll tell you that, too, but I’ll try to find the answer. How does that sound?’

  He looked at her, weighing her up. ‘Okay. Promise?’

  ‘Promise,’ she replied. ‘Breakfast at McDonald’s?’

  ‘Really?’

  She nodded. ‘Nothing better for drying up tears. Go and get your coat. It’s throwing it down. I’ll tell everybody what we’re doing, and meet you by the front door.’

  He ran from the office, and she went in search of Sally and Mark. She found Tim, so asked him to tell relevant grandparents and parent that she had taken Adam with her, and she didn’t know when they would be back.

  ‘You have your phone with you?’

  She nodded. ‘Yes, just ring, if there are developments. This young man needs some normality in his life, so I’m going to play it by ear and see what he wants to do, but we’re starting at McDonald’s.’

  Tim watched the car pull out of the driveway, and continued to stand there, staring out of the office window. He, too, hadn’t slept. His lengthy conversation with Steve had put paid to that. And now, he had to talk to Mark.

  Steve had decided to open the brown envelope; he wanted no surprises on his return flight to England, like nosy customs officers. If the contents were inflammatory, he would post them back to his parents, with his name on the front, and pick them up when he got back to Lindum Lodge. He could pre-warn them he had an envelope coming, and they would just hold it for him until he turned up.

  He decided they weren’t inflammatory; they were beyond that. He skyped Tim, and he read every letter out to him. Tim had said very little, until Steve had finished, but his first words were, “Don’t risk them in your suitcase”.

  Steve explained what his plan was, and they had said goodnight with agreement on Steve’s actions.

  He felt Mark’s presence rather than hearing him.

  ‘Tim?’ Tim turned around and stared at his brother. ‘Did you ever intend telling me?’

  There was a brief hiatus, and Mark spoke. ‘Steve has read them?’

  Tim nodded. ‘Yes, he had to. He didn’t want to be completely unprepared for any problems bringing them back to England. For fuck’s sake, Mark, why didn’t you tell me? I sent him off with those letters in his suitcase!’

  ‘In my defence, Tim, I didn’t imagine for a minute you would do that. It was a smart move, in view of the search that happened, but I had no reason to think you would send them with Steve.’

  In a few sentences, Tim explained how Steve was going to get them back to England, without risking being stopped at the airport. ‘But, now we’ve sorted out yesterday’s debacle, we need to talk about the bloody contents. How long have you had them?’

  Mark sat at his desk, and indicated Tim should pull the other chair over.

  ‘We stop talking, if anyone comes in,’ he said. ‘I’ve had them since the day Mum died. Michael opened the envelope holding the three smaller envelopes, and saw Murders 1, 2 and 3 written on the front. Mum had told him they were letters for me, you, and Caro, to be opened on her death. He realised that was far from the truth, when he saw the words on the little envelopes, but he jumped to the wrong conclusion. He assumed I was the murderer, and he brought them to Lindum Lodge, waited until Jenny had left the room to make us a cup of tea, and handed them to me. That was when I found out he was our real father, because he told me he would support me, no matter what. I took those bloody letters out of the envelope, completely in the dark about what they were, and Jenny walked back in. She knew what they were. She screamed and fainted.’

  ‘And you didn’t hand them to the police, clearly.’

  ‘No, I couldn’t. I didn’t want Adam finding out the circumstances surrounding his birth. He’s my son, not my half-brother. But, that’s going to come to an end, now, isn’t it? Gainsborough now knows Jenny is the killer. She’s going to tell all, including the rape and Ray fathering Adam. All my protection has been for nothing.’

  ‘It may not go to court.’

  Mark laughed. ‘Oh, they’ll find her. At the moment, they don’t have a motive, beyond some rather tenuous one about getting rid of him for Mum’s sake, but that won’t hold water. Mum would have just divorced him. And I can’t hand these letters over to the police, now they’ve searched both properties, because I can’t say I only just came across them. That was my hold over Jenny, and when she took Grace, she wanted to swap Grace for the letters, which, to be honest, I would have done.’

  ‘God, it’s a mess, Mark.’

  ‘That’s an understatement.’

  Mark walked to the window, staring out at the spot where Ray Carbrook had died. He couldn’t help but reflect how easy it had been to stop calling him Dad; he hadn’t deserved that name since raping Jenny.

  The silver Lexus pulled back on to the parking lot, and Erin climbed out. She walked to the front door, and seconds later, she had joined her half-brothers in the office.

  ‘It passed,’ she announced.

  ‘Erin, you’ve only been gone forty-five minutes, so we kind of guessed it had passed,’ Mark said with a smile. ‘No problems, then?’

  Erin grinned. ‘Yes, he said it needs a run out, and it’s pretty urgent. The engine might seize up, if it’s not taken out for a lengthy drive.’

  ‘In that case, you’d better go. Heaven forbid we should allow the engine to seize up. You must remember to tell Dad that. I’m sure he’ll believe you.’

  ‘Thought I’d take Adam with me. Is he around?’

  ‘No, he’s gone out for breakfast with Caro. You’re on your own, if the engine blows up.’

  Erin laughed and waved the keys. ‘See you in a bit, boys.’

  Jenny stood under the shower and tried to shut down her mind. She wanted to die. Wanted to join her daughter. What sort of world would it be without Grace in it? Was this God’s way of paying her back for what she had done?

  Her mind refused to switch off, and she turned the control to cold, just as she had done that night in Anna’s flat, as she washed away the blood from Ray Carbrook and James Oswoski.

  She was shivering, as she wrapped herself in a towel; as she walked across the bedroom to dry her hair, she heard Sebastian call up the stairs to tell her he was going out to get some milk.

  ‘Is there anything else we need?’ he called.

  ‘Grace,’ she muttered under her
breath. ‘I need Grace.’

  ‘Can’t think of anything,’ she called down to him. ‘Hurry back, won’t you?’

  ‘Ten minutes,’ he said. ‘I’ll only be ten minutes.’

  Sebastian jumped in his car, travelling through rain for the first time in a few weeks. The windscreen wipers swished, initially obscuring his view until the rain had cleaned all the dust away. He drove to the small Tesco, and stocked up on a few things, running across the car park and climbing back into his car.

  He didn’t see the Lexus entering the car park, as he was driving around towards the exit, but the driver of the Lexus saw him.

  Erin decided against going into the store. She knew she needed closure, and this would be it. She would follow him to his home, and ask him a very simple question. Are we through? She drove out into traffic behind him, keeping her distance.

  Sebastian stopped at traffic lights, and waited patiently for them to change to green. He thought nothing of the silver car in his rear-view mirror, his view obscured by the rivulets of rain trickling down the back windscreen. The lights changed, and he set off.

  His thoughts switched to Jenny. She was in a bad place. Her confidence was shattered, and she was locked into mourning the daughter who would have a funeral without her mother being present. In two days, she had changed from a confident, out-going personality, into a shell of the original. She had become dependent on him to a massive degree, and he knew she would be counting the seconds until he arrived back home.

  Maybe he should take her away for a couple of weeks, keep her away until the funeral was over. Sometime in the future, when she had grown used to the idea of Grace being gone, they could visit the plot and take some flowers. And she could say how sorry she was.

  It was a further two minutes before he switched on his right indicator, signalling his intention to pull into a drive. He didn’t notice the silver car’s left indicator light up, as it slowed to a halt by the side of the road.

  He checked there was nothing coming towards him, and he steered across the road and into his own driveway. He drove the car up to the closed garage doors; if Jenny agreed, they could go out later and consult a travel agent. He didn’t need to put the car away. He reached across to the passenger seat and picked up the two carrier bags.

  Erin started to get out of her car, and saw the front door of the house open. She climbed swiftly back in, and watched as a woman in a dressing gown came outside. She crossed immediately to Sebastian, and he folded her into his arms.

  Despite the rain, they stood there for some time, and he bent and kissed her. As she lifted her face to be kissed, Erin gasped, and picked up her phone. She managed to get six shots of the woman before both disappeared into the house.

  Erin felt shaky. She remembered Grace’s words, as she sought to describe the woman she had recognised as her mother – she’s got short brown hair now. If this was Jenny, then, this was a time bomb waiting to explode.

  She put down her phone, restarted the car, and slipped it into drive. She drove until she found a turning place, heading back into town. As she passed Sebastian’s house, she slowed, but all was now quiet. Her thoughts were turbulent, chaotic. If this was Jenny, and deep down she knew it was, how had this happened?

  The pleasure of driving the Lexus had now become secondary; she needed to see her father. He had seen Jenny face to face through the damn windscreen of the little black Fiesta. He would know if it was her.

  She had to wait ten minutes before a parking space became available at the hospital, and her impatience began to overwhelm her. She drove into a spot, and ran across to the ticket machine, grumbling about her father not carrying an umbrella in the car. By the time she returned with the ticket, water was running off her nose and chin. She stuck the ticket on the windscreen, locked the car, and ran across to the entrance.

  She pushed on the ward door, and it didn’t move. She glanced around and spotted the pushbutton for speaking to the nurse’s station.

  When the disembodied voice spoke to her, she responded with, ‘I’m here to see Michael Groves, but I can’t get in.’

  The voice said, ‘Visiting time is 2–3.30 p.m. It’s only eleven o’clock.’

  ‘Oh, God,’ she wailed. ‘I’d forgotten! We could come anytime when he was in intensive care.’

  ‘Look,’ the voice said, ‘I can let you in, but it’s for five minutes only. Then, you have to go.’

  Erin heard the click of the door release, and almost ran to the side room where Michael was reading a newspaper, and enjoying a cup of tea.

  ‘Erin!’ He stared at his daughter, normally so placid and impeccably groomed, and wondered what had gone wrong. She was dripping water everywhere, her hair was plastered to her head, and she was clearly unhappy about something.

  ‘Dad,’ she began, ‘I need you to look at something …’

  ‘Not until I’ve had a kiss from my only daughter, and for goodness sake, dry your face and hair. And good morning!’

  She stared at him. ‘Oh, sorry, morning.’ She picked up his towel, and wiped her face, giving a perfunctory rub to her hair. ‘Right, will that do?’

  ‘Kiss,’ he repeated, and she leaned over and kissed him. ‘Now, why are you here at the wrong time? What’s going on?’

  ‘The first answer is, because I’m stupid. I forgot you had strict visiting times now, and the second answer is this.’ She waved her phone at him. ‘When the bitch aimed her car at you, did you see her face?’

  He nodded. ‘I can’t get it out of my mind. She was grim, I can tell you. And Grace looked terrified.’

  She clicked on the pictures icon, and opened up the first picture. ‘Scroll back through about half a dozen pictures, and tell me if this is Jenny.’

  Michael did as instructed, and she saw his face stiffen. He didn’t speak until he had seen all the photographs. He lifted his eyes to her. ‘Yes, it’s Jenny. How did you get these?’

  ‘I saw Seb, and followed his car. Now I know why he never took me to his place. She’s there with him.’

  Shock flashed across his face. ‘No …’

  ‘Yes …’

  ‘Does Mark know?’

  ‘Not yet. I thought you would recognise her, so I came straight here. I’m going to Lindum Lodge now, to show him. Everything’s falling apart, Dad.’

  He squeezed her hand. ‘Go now, before they come and throw you out. If you can, come back at two o’clock, we’ll talk more then. And bring Mark with you.’

  She moved towards the door, blowing him a kiss. ‘Love you,’ she said, and left the room. She mouthed ‘thank you’ towards the nurse’s station and headed for the lift.

  It was still raining heavily, and Erin ran across to the car, realising as she climbed into it she had conveniently forgotten to confess to driving it.

  By the time she reached Lindum, the rain had eased slightly, turning into a drizzle rather than the torrential downpours of earlier. She felt slightly put out by the absence of Mark’s car, before remembering he had said he would do some food shopping – with so many bodies in the house, the fridge and freezer were somewhat depleted.

  There was only Tim in the house; Tommy and Sally had accompanied Mark, and Caro was still out with Adam.

  ‘This place is starting to feel like home,’ she remarked.

  Tim smiled. ‘I know what you mean. It didn’t feel like this when Mum and Ray lived here, there was always a …’ he searched for the right word, ‘sterility about it. Mum was always quite withdrawn, but in view of what we now know, a lot is explained.’

  ‘You any idea when Mark will be back?’

  ‘They left just after you did, so shouldn’t be long now. Coffee’s on. You want one?’

  She nodded. ‘Yes, please. And I’ve got something to show you and Mark, but I can’t show Tommy and Sally. Let’s sit in the kitchen, shall we?’

  Tim poured them both a cup and sat down by her side. She took out her phone and passed it across to him. ‘There’s about half a dozen shots of
her.’

  Tim looked at the first picture. ‘But, that’s Seb, isn’t it?’ He has a wife? And you had no idea?’

  ‘If only,’ she laughed drily. ‘It’s not that simple. Carry on scrolling.’

  He moved on to the next photo, and hesitated; at the following picture, he looked up. ‘It’s Jenny.’ His tone was flat, unbelieving.

  She nodded. ‘I took the phone into the hospital and got Dad to look at them. He saw her just before she knocked him over, and he confirmed it was her. All I had to go on, really, was hearing Grace say her mummy had short brown hair now. We had quite a lengthy chat in the garden one day, because I think it was playing on her mind Jenny was obviously looking for her, and yet, she was under instructions from Daddy not to have anything to do with her.’ She sighed. ‘How right was Mark?’

  Tim squeezed her hand. He had no words. He scrolled through the remaining shots and handed the phone back. ‘So, now what?’

  ‘Well, my first instinct was to tell that pushy policeman. My second instinct was not to.’

  Tim nodded. ‘We need to speak to Mark. When he comes back, I’ll get him into the office. You join us when you can, without Tommy and Sally thinking we’re shutting them out. They can’t see these, though,’ he said, pointing to the phone.

  ‘’What I don’t understand is how she knows Seb. How long as he been with her? Let’s face it, I’ve been with him for about four months now, and I didn’t pick up on a thing.’

  ‘You travel a lot, Erin. It would be easy for him to live a double life. And if he told Jenny he was travelling a lot, he’s got the perfect situation.’

  She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. ‘I’ve been such an idiot. I actually thought maybe we had a future. It was why I finally introduced him to Dad.’ She picked up her cup and sipped at the coffee, deep in thought.

  ‘A lucky escape, then,’ Tim said mildly. ‘Don’t worry about it. It will give you a small smirk of satisfaction in years to come.’

  They sat in silence for a while. Finally, Tim spoke. ‘Didn’t Seb recognise you when you followed him? Just a bit concerned they might take off, if they know you saw them.’