Forgotten Voices

by Jane A. Adams

  He glimpsed Yolanda coming down the path and a moment later she was standing in the doorway. Mac nodded to her. ‘Meantime, Yolanda and I are going to take Jeb and Megan out of the way while the two of you talk—’

  ‘You can’t do that—’

  ‘You have no right—’

  ‘I can. Or I can give social services a call and tell them the children are at risk.’

  ‘I’ll get my solicitor involved,’ Diane told him.

  ‘Be my guest,’ Mac told her. ‘From what I’ve heard, getting your solicitor involved hasn’t exactly helped so far, has it. Frank will give me a ring when he considers the two of you are fit to have the children back. Meanwhile. Sit the fuck down and talk.’

  He didn’t wait to see the results of his pronouncement. Mac turned on his heel and left, Yolanda in tow.

  ‘Wow,’ she said as they reached the pavement. ‘You will be in so much shit for this.’ She was trying hard not to laugh. ‘I can’t believe you just did that.’

  ‘Well, you’d better bring Kendall up to date,’ Mac told her. ‘I’ll get the kids into my car. We can collect yours when we come back later … or something.’

  What had he been thinking, Mac wondered as he walked Jeb and Megan to the car. This would be all round not just Kendall’s HQ but all along the South Coast by morning. He glanced at his watch. Six o’clock and already getting dark. There would be rain soon, he thought. Yolanda hurried up behind them as Mac got the children into his car. ‘Kendall wants to know where we’re going,’ she said.

  Up until that moment Mac had given it very little thought. ‘Rina’s place,’ he said. ‘Kendall knows her.’ He gave Yolanda the address and hoped Rina wouldn’t mind four other guests for dinner.

  ‘I just lost it, Rina,’ Mac said quietly.

  Bethany was teaching Jeb and Megan to play a card game he didn’t recognize and Eliza was plying them with cake. They still looked tearful, but Megan, at least, seemed willing to be distracted. Jeb kept looking Mac’s way as though for reassurance.

  Yolanda had seated herself at the piano and was leafing through the sheet music.

  ‘You were angry. We all get angry. Especially where the innocent are concerned.’

  ‘Which is no excuse. Not really.’

  ‘Do you play, dear?’ Stephen Montmorency asked.

  ‘I used to. Got my grade-eight piano, but I’ve not done in oh, five, six years.’

  ‘And why ever not. Here, try this one.’

  Rina smiled fondly. ‘Well you came to the right place,’ she said. ‘I hope Frank is coping,’ she added mischievously.

  ‘Well, he’s got back up if he needs it. He’ll be fine.’ Mac closed his eyes, relaxing for a moment and savouring the somewhat chaotic but loving atmosphere of Rina’s eclectic household. To the sound of Yolanda playing the piano and, surprisingly, Stephen Montmorency softly singing.

  Then his phone rang. It was Frank.

  ‘Time to go home,’ he told Jeb and Megan.

  He took a moment to talk to Rina while the children collected their coats and put their shoes back on. He still had the diary and letters he had taken from William Trent in his pocket. It seemed like years ago and he had to remind himself that it had only been that morning.

  ‘Rina, can you do something for me and make copies of these. Have a read and see what’s in them.’

  ‘Is it to do with …?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ he admitted. ‘But I’d be grateful if maybe you and Tim could take a look.’

  ‘Of course we will. You take care how you drive back. You’re still upset.’

  Mac smiled at her and kissed her cheek and then he and Yolanda packed the children back into the car.

  ‘Are they still shouting at one another?’ Jeb asked.

  ‘Frank … Sergeant Baker assures me they’ve calmed down. You have to go back sometime I’m afraid.’

  Jeb nodded reluctantly.

  Looking at the boy through the rear view mirror, Mac could see that he looked back, hungrily, at Peverill Lodge until they reached the end of the road, as though wishing himself back there.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  Yolanda had taken the children upstairs to watch television in Daphne’s room. Mac had left them, perched nervously on the bed either side of Yolanda. She had an arm around each one, much to Mac’s surprise. She was doing OK, he thought, for someone who didn’t like kids or old ladies.

  Diane, Daphne, Frank and the young officer he had seen posted outside were all gathered in the front living room and Frank was serving coffee. He should have called family liaison, Mac thought, and then decided that Frank was probably doing as good a job.

  ‘Would you like to tell me what all that was about?’

  ‘Are they all right?’ Daphne asked.

  ‘No,’ Mac told her bluntly. ‘Of course they’re not. They’ve lost both parents. One of them they watched die from cancer, one they discovered with her face blown off on the kitchen floor.’

  ‘Mac,’ Frank reproved quietly.

  Mac heard Diane gasp and saw Daphne blanch. He knew he was out of order but he wasn’t sure he cared. ‘You are now all they have left. Diane, you know how it feels to suddenly lose everything. Ellen made certain you were never alone, didn’t she. Daphne, you know what it’s like to lose a child, and, I suspect, to feel excluded and helpless when you thought that child should have needed you the most. The fact was, he needed his wife more. You didn’t like that, did you?’

  Daphne’s stony face turned from him. ‘How dare you,’ she whispered. ‘How fucking dare you.’

  ‘That’s enough, Daphne,’ Frank soothed. He looked across at Mac reprovingly.

  ‘And you,’ Mac said, turning his attention to Diane. ‘I don’t doubt you want the best for your sister’s children but have you actually given a moment’s thought to what that might be?’

  ‘They want to live with me,’ Diane said hotly. ‘Ellen wanted them to live with me.’

  ‘According to her will, yes. But I don’t imagine she ever thought the two of you would be so full of enmity it would cause this much pain to the people she wanted to protect.’ He paused and looked at the two women. ‘Or did she?’ he asked. ‘Did she know how much you hated one another?’

  ‘We don’t,’ Daphne said hastily. ‘And I had nothing but respect for—’

  ‘Respect! Really?’ Diane spat at Daphne. ‘For the woman you accused of ruining your son’s life? Turning against the family? If you could have found a way to blame her for the cancer, I’m bloody sure you would have done.’

  ‘Enough!’ It was Frank this time. ‘Ladies, I thought we agreed to a truce, here. So settle down and drink your tea.’

  ‘And while you’re doing that,’ Mac said, aware he was about to throw another match into the powder keg, ‘Daphne, perhaps you’d like to tell me why you lied about Ray still being in New Zealand?’

  Frank and Daphne both looked stunned. Diane opened her mouth as though to accuse him of betraying her.

  ‘We checked with passport control at the border agency,’ Mac said. ‘He was in the country the day Ellen was shot, wasn’t he?’

  It was a bluff, of course. Mac had put in a request for a trace on Ray Tailor and phone calls had been made to New Zealand police, but he’d had no news yet. But from the look on Daphne’s face, he knew he had hit the target.

  ‘Ray didn’t kill her,’ Daphne said.

  ‘We’re going to want to speak to him, Daphne.’

  Daphne Tailor placed her cup back on its saucer and set both carefully back down on the table. She looked Mac full in the face. ‘I don’t know where he is,’ she said. ‘And I wouldn’t bloody tell you if I did.’

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Day five after the murder

  Mac waited for Rina on the promenade the following morning and she brought the journals and letters to him.

  ‘Tim and Joy copied them last night,’ she said. ‘They’re going to take a look, later, and he’ll have a chat to his Uncle Charles,
see if he can make sense of the entries, but I don’t see—’

  ‘That it has anything to do with Ellen Tailor’s death. No. I doubt it has at all. If I’d thought that I’d not have brought them to you. I’ve bent enough rules without all out breaking them.’

  ‘Stephen and Matthew have taken a shine to Yolanda,’ Rina said. ‘Did you manage to get things settled for the children?’

  ‘As settled as we could.’ Mac sighed. ‘I suppose it gets to me,’ he said. ‘Adults, theoretically at least, get the option to walk out of a situation. Kids don’t even have that theoretical option, you know? And the truth is it’s hard enough for an adult to break away from a bad situation, what chance do you have when you’re that age?’

  Rina gripped his arm gently. ‘I know,’ she said. ‘You’d best get off to work, you know. I’ve seen Andy come to the door twice now to look for you. I think your friend Dave Kendall is there too. I caught a glimpse of him just now.’

  Mac laughed. ‘I’d best get an extra coffee then,’ he said. ‘See you later, Rina. Have a good day. At least one of us ought to.’

  Kendall first took the proffered coffee and then Mac’s seat behind the desk. Mac considered this the first stage of the coming reprimand.

  ‘I suppose I should ask what the hell you thought you were doing,’ Kendall said. ‘You know she’s filed a complaint?’

  Mac nodded. ‘I had Yolanda take her through the forms,’ he said. ‘I told her, if she wanted to complain, she should do it right.’

  ‘What’s with you, Mac?’

  ‘Truthfully? I don’t know. I just seem to have less and less patience with stupidity. With cruelty, maybe.’

  ‘Then you’re in the wrong job, Mac, and neither of us believe that. Look, I’m going to have to let this run its course. You might face a suspension, you know that?’

  ‘It won’t be the first. I’ll get over it. The woman was and is being obstructive. I suppose that’s not an issue though.’

  ‘Of course it is. But that’s a separate issue. Anyway, while you’re still part of the team, you and Frank had better bring me up to speed.’

  Frank Baker sank carefully into the third chair and Andy took up his usual position by the door, ready to return to the front desk should anyone urgently require help with a lost dog.

  Mac took a swallow of his coffee and gestured to Frank to begin.

  ‘Well,’ Frank Baker said. ‘It all began with the reading of the will, yesterday afternoon. Diane had been privy to the information, but to Daphne it was all a bit of a shock. It seems that Ellen left the guardianship of her kids to Diane. The farm and everything in it to the kids to be sold and split between them, should that be what they wanted. Diane was to be allowed a certain amount from the proceeds not exceeding ten per cent of the sale price, to help support the kids. Daphne not only was to get nothing from what had been family land, but was to be excluded from caring for the children. Ellen had said she could visit and be visited, but not be considered a full-time carer in any sense. And from the sound of things, she’d had the solicitor go over it with a fine-toothed comb to make sure the will couldn’t be challenged.’

  ‘I can see why the grandmother went ballistic,’ Kendall said.

  ‘Well, quite, especially as it seems the kids had already been asking their aunt if they could go and live with her. In the grandmother’s hearing.’

  ‘Did the children know about the will?’

  ‘Apparently not, but it seems they couldn’t hide the fact that they were pleased, which must have gone down like a lead brick.’

  ‘So, what’s wrong with the grandma?’ Andy asked. ‘Mine used to spoil me rotten as a kid. They used to try and outdo one another. Drove me mam mad.’

  ‘Apparently she insulted Ellen on a regular basis and made it clear that she’d never approved of the marriage. She apparently told Jeb that now Ellen was gone they could get the farm back on track but, granted, that bit of information was filtered through Diane, the sister. So we have to take it with a large pinch.’

  ‘So, the solicitor delivers the glad tidings, and—’

  ‘And things kick off in his office. The kids are in the waiting room. The secretary goes in and asks if she should call the police. The solicitor tells them to take it somewhere else and throws them out. They all go back to Daphne’s place and the argument continues, gets so loud the neighbours try to intervene. Daphne tells them where to go and they call us.’

  ‘And has anyone checked in with them this morning?’ Mac asked.

  ‘I had Yolanda do a welfare check. It seems the injured parties are now not speaking to one another and Diane has been asked to leave. She says she’s not going without the kids, so things are … uncomfortable but stable, I suppose you might say.’

  ‘And Ray Tailor. What are we doing about him?’ Mac asked.

  Kendall produced his notebook. ‘Returned to the country, alone, ten days ago. We’ve spoken to his wife. She says Daphne arranged the trip, but just for him. She bought the ticket. From what the wife said, the marriage hasn’t survived the trip to New Zealand very well and she’ll not be sorry if he doesn’t come back. She gave us his mobile number, but it seems to have been disconnected. Probably switched off or the Sim changed, or it’s easy enough to buy a pay-as-you-go phone.’

  Mac nodded. ‘I’m betting Daphne knows where he is.’

  ‘Agreed, and we will apply pressure, bring her in for interview under caution. Ray Tailor is a legitimate suspect. But I think finding him will be something we have to do without his mother’s help.’

  Mac nodded. ‘She insists he’s innocent. We know they fought over the farm and that Ellen’s husband cut Ray out of the will. We know that Ray is always short of cash and that he’s careless with money. But does all that really add up to murder?’

  ‘People have been killed for a lot less.’

  ‘I know that, but the Tailor family don’t seem to have even garnered a speeding ticket between them. It seems a leap.’

  ‘Passions run high when there’s an inheritance at stake,’ Frank noted. ‘It must have hurt like hell, seeing what you’d always believed was your birthright go to some outsider, just because she happened to have married your brother.’

  Mac conceded the point. ‘And Philip Soames?’

  ‘His alibi for the day Ellen Tailor was shot seems watertight. He appears on the CCTV cameras at work at regular intervals. The video is all time-coded, saved on to a hard drive, the hard drive is locked in a computer, locked inside a purpose made box. So—’

  ‘And the night Ellen was scared out of the house?’

  ‘He seems to have been in the pub until nine, but no one can be totally sure what time he left. He’s still in the frame for that.’

  ‘Where were the kids that night?’ Andy asked.

  ‘At the grandmother’s. Why?’

  ‘So, the relationship was OK at that point?’

  ‘Seems to have been,’ Mac said. ‘I spoke to William Trent about Ellen and Daphne’s relationship and also Terry Bridger, the part-time farm hand, they both agree that the relationship had been stormy, but seemed to have settled down this past year.’

  Andy nodded. ‘Did they do it regularly? Stay over with Daphne Tailor for the weekend?’

  ‘Apparently not. The Richardses told me this was the first time Ellen had been alone for the weekend since her husband died.’

  ‘So—’

  ‘So, yes. It is an interesting coincidence. Though, according to the Richardses the silent calls had been going on for a while. They were inclined to blame telemarketing companies, but—’

  ‘So, we have two suspects and a broken family,’ Mac said. ‘Where from here?’

  ‘Track down Ray Tailor, look deeper into Ellen Tailor’s life before she came down here, check and recheck Soames’ alibis. I’ve sent the copy of the card Soames claimed to have received from Ellen for analysis. We’ve got samples of her handwriting from the farm, so we’ll see what that brings up. My guess is that Ellen
knew nothing about that card.’

  ‘If that’s the case, then who sent it? Who was intent on bringing Philip Soames back into her life?’ Mac wondered. ‘I’d like another word with Diane Emmet.’

  ‘No,’ Kendall told him. ‘The questions will be asked but not by you. Mac, you’ll stay away from both Daphne Tailor and the sister for the time being. Is that clear?’

  He could have argued, Mac thought. Strictly speaking, Kendall didn’t outrank him, but he was lead officer on the case, so … Mac nodded. It really didn’t feel worth the extra hassle. ‘I promise to stay out of their way,’ he said.

  Aunt Diane and their nan seemed set on outdoing one another in the surveillance stakes and it was only when Jeb had set up the chess board in his room and invited Megan to play that they had finally been left alone.

  Jeb was not, in fact, very good at chess and he didn’t rate it much as a game either. Had his games console and all his games not still been back at the farmhouse he would have selected something noisy and violent and turned the volume up high. But, you had to work with what you had, didn’t you.

  Megan, on the other hand, was a member of the school chess club and was actually a pretty good player. Figuring out Jeb’s strategy had also been easy and after a few interruptions from Diane and Daphne, Megan had got impatient and tearfully begged both women to go away.

  ‘I want to practise,’ she said. ‘Dad taught me to play and I want to practise. It makes me feel like he’s still here, you know?’

  Jeb had looked on admiringly as Megan had summoned more tears and Daphne had found a few of her own before retreating downstairs.

  Diane had shrugged and left them to it as well.

  Strictly speaking it was true that their dad had taught both of them to play chess. Megan had only been about five at the time and Jeb could vividly recall the circumstances. A prolonged power cut in the middle of winter and parents at the end of their tether trying to keep the kids entertained. Their dad had known how the pieces moved and the basic rules, but that was about it. Megan, on the other hand … well, Jeb knew he could never beat her.