Forgotten Voices

by Jane A. Adams

  Funerals make everything real, Mac thought. His professional life had brought him to more than a few and he had seen the effect many times. Too many times.

  ‘Any comment, Inspector?’ A familiar voice at his elbow caused Mac to turn and smile. ‘Thought you might be here. How’s Simeon?’

  ‘My brother is as fine as he ever is,’ Andrew Barnes said. ‘But he’s no worse and for that I am grateful. It’s a bad business, isn’t it?’

  Mac nodded. ‘Who are you representing today?’ he asked. Andrew wrote for a couple of small locals, but he was also a stringer for a few of the nationals these days which was a change due in no small part to his coverage of some of Mac’s earlier investigations.

  ‘Actually, though I will no doubt write about it, I’m here on my own account. I knew Ellen’s husband really well so I thought I ought to come and pay my respects.’

  ‘I see,’ he said. ‘What was he like?’

  Andrew laughed softly. ‘A genuinely nice man,’ he said. ‘Down to earth, kind, loved Ellen to bits and the kids too. Fell for her hard and never fell out of love. Same for her, I’d have said.’

  ‘So you must know Daphne?’

  ‘So I must know Daphne,’ he agreed. ‘She’s an odd one, our Daphne. Can be the kindest woman you’d ever want to meet. Can also be the most bloody-minded and awkward and miserable sod you could run into. Trouble was, not even her kids knew which one they were going to get.’

  ‘Must have been tough?’

  The journalist nodded. ‘She married another moody bugger. Jeb’s father was as changeable as the proverbial. I wouldn’t say he was an unkind man, just a bit of a loner. Preferred his cows to his kids, Jeb always used to say. He died when Jeb was just sixteen, you know.’

  ‘I didn’t, actually. That must have been tough, too.’

  Mac saw Dan Marsden arrive with an older woman he assumed must be his mother. An older man got out of the car straight after. He walked with two sticks. ‘You know Dan Marsden too?’

  ‘Oh yes and Carrie and the rest of the Breed Estate lot. We’re all of an age, went to the same schools, and Dan, of course, I interview on a regular basis about whatever scheme he’s involved with.’

  Something in his voice made Mac ask, ‘Do you like him?’

  ‘Dan? No not that much. He’s … too glib, too consciously good if you know what I mean … or maybe I’m just an old cynic.’

  Mac waited, sensing there was more.

  ‘He’s married now, of course, got a couple of kids, but he’s always been a bit of a womanizer.’

  ‘Is he still?’

  ‘I really wouldn’t know. I should be getting inside, seeing as how I’m a participant and not an observer today. Take care of yourself, Mac. My best to Miriam.’

  Mac nodded, making a mental note that he should have a further conversation with Andrew Barnes – or maybe he should ask Rina to do so; she was much better at wheedling the gossip than Mac. Frank, across the road from him, was chatting to the press corps. Kendall’s men mingled with the crowd. The flower-arranging committee arrived together. William Trent came alone. He spotted Mac and came over. ‘Are you going inside? I feel a bit awkward.’

  Mac was slightly surprised. He nodded. ‘I may as well go in now,’ he said. ‘I’ll be staying at the back, though.’

  ‘Best place to be,’ Trent agreed. ‘I take it the family have arrived? I hoped to say hello to the children. Maybe as they leave.’

  Mac remained close by the door as William was, reluctantly, directed to a seat. The little church was full and Mac supposed that those he didn’t recognize must be local people who had known Ellen and the Tailor family. He found that he was looking for Philip Soames, however unlikely that might seem.

  A young man slipped into the church just as the service was about to start and stood at the back close to Mac.

  Mac recognized him from a photograph he had seen at the farm. As the first hymn began he sidled over.

  ‘Ray Tailor, I presume?’

  ‘And I believe you are Inspector MacGregor. Inspector, I’m not going anywhere. Can we just wait until after the service? Then I’ll come along and you can ask me anything you like.’

  Mac hesitated and then nodded. ‘I take it your mother doesn’t know you are here?’

  Ray smiled wryly. ‘I told her I was coming, but she didn’t believe me. And I’d sooner not get embroiled, if you know what I mean.’

  Mac nodded again. The organ had begun to play and the congregation rose to sing the first hymn. He stood in silence beside Ellen’s brother-in-law, watching the two women, so at odds with one another, either side of the two children. Jeb’s shoulders were rigid, Megan leaned into her aunt and Diane’s arm was wrapped tightly round her shoulders.

  ‘Ellen was a lovely woman,’ Ray said quietly. ‘It should never have ended like this, no matter what our mum thought.’

  Diane approached Frank Baker after the funeral. ‘I though DI MacGregor was here.’

  ‘He was; he’s just had to go. Something came up. Will I do?’

  Diane nodded. ‘I just wanted to let him know that the kids and I are leaving tomorrow morning. Make sure he’s got the address.’ She handed him a slip of paper. ‘I think he’s already got all my contact details, but just in case.’

  Frank thanked her. ‘I imagine Mrs Tailor isn’t best pleased about that?’

  Diane shrugged. ‘The kids and I spent the last few nights in a hotel,’ she said. ‘It seemed easiest. I agreed to ride in the same car with her today just for the look of things. I don’t want to give the gossips more ammunition. Daphne can do enough of that, all on her own.’

  ‘Does she still plan to challenge the will?’

  ‘Oh, yes. Of course she does. My solicitor says there’s nothing she can do and he’s spoken to her solicitor who agrees and is trying to get her to see sense. But if she wants to waste her money, that’s up to her. The only trouble is it ties everything up until it’s all gone to court or whatever. It’s going to make things harder for us all.’

  ‘She’ll probably back down. I figure she’s just angry and hurt. Give her time.’

  ‘Maybe. Frank, do you know when we’ll be able to get into the house? I mean, not the kids, but all their stuff is there. Clothes and games and whatever. It would be really helpful if I could collect some of it? Or maybe arrange for someone else to.’

  ‘I’ll have a talk to the boss,’ Frank promised. ‘What would probably be easiest is if I could get Yolanda to gather some bits together for you. You could give her a list?’

  She smiled. ‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘That would be a big help. It’s sorting out all the little stuff that’s so hard.’

  Ray had been shown into an interview room and cautioned. Mac set the tape running, reporting his own presence and that of Kendall.

  ‘Why did you come back to the UK, Mr Tailor?’

  Ray sighed. He looked, Mac thought, a lot like the pictures he had seen of his older brother. The same dark hair and eyes and slightly square chin. Ray looked a little rounder; a tad softer, maybe, but the family resemblance was strong. Jeb junior had his father’s eyes too, Mac recalled.

  ‘Mr Tailor?’

  ‘I came back because she summoned me,’ he said at last. ‘I told her, I didn’t want anything to do with it, but she was throwing a hissy fit and in the end it seemed better for me to come back and settle things once and for all than to let it all build up again. I came back because I thought I owed Ellen and the kids and I know what my mother is like when she gets an idea in her head. But I told her. This would be the last time. I’d got a new life and I wasn’t going to be at her beck and call after this. I’d had enough.’

  ‘I understand she helped finance this new life,’ Mac commented.

  ‘She helped a bit. Chucked a grand into the pot. Ellen and Diane did a lot more. Ellen split some of the money from the land sale with me. I didn’t deserve it, but she did and Diane managed to get a cheap deal on tickets and even fixed a place for us
to stay while we got sorted out. She works for a travel firm. Some little family company, specializes in holidays for the “independent traveller”.’

  Mac could hear the inverted commas. He hadn’t known that was what Diane did; he hadn’t asked.

  ‘So she used her contacts.’

  Ray nodded.

  ‘And are you and your wife settled there now? You’ll be wanting to go back.’

  ‘Go back, yes. But we’ll be getting a divorce, I think. We thought, fresh start, new life … we might be all right. But all it showed was how far apart we’d drifted. Thank fuck we’ve no kids. And we’re not fighting over anything, just want to go our separate ways.’

  ‘You say your mother “summoned” you.’

  Ray laughed. He sounded uncomfortable. ‘Sound like a right mummy’s boy, don’t I. Look, Daphne called. Again. She said Ellen was selling off stuff that was rightfully hers. Something she’d found at the farm. Daphne was in a right state, said Ellen had found some money or something and now Ellen was refusing to let her into the house and refusing to give her whatever it was she’d been selling or … I don’t know, she wasn’t making any sense.’

  ‘So, on the strength of a garbled accusation, you came all the way back here?’

  Ray shook his head. ‘No, on the strength of a threat I thought she might actually carry out I came back. I owe Ellen. No, more than that. I loved Ellen. If Jeb hadn’t got to her first, I might have—’

  ‘Hence the cracks in your own marriage?’

  ‘I should never have even got married. It wasn’t fair, not to either of us. I thought I could make it work out. I was wrong.’

  ‘Did Ellen know how you felt?’ Mac asked.

  Ray shook his head. ‘I don’t know. I never told her. But she might have.’

  ‘And these threats your mother made.’

  ‘Were just noise. She’d never have carried them through.’

  ‘You were worried enough to come all the way from New Zealand. You must have thought she might.’

  ‘She says a lot of stupid stuff.’

  ‘Like what? Did she threaten to kill Ellen?’

  ‘No, of course not. I mean, not that she ever meant. Daphne is volatile. She says stuff, flies off the handle.’

  ‘But Ellen is dead.’

  Ray closed his eyes and was silent for a few moments. Mac prompted him again.

  ‘Mr Tailor. What did she threaten to do?’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know. She said she’d see to it that Ellen was ruined. That she’d accuse her of ill treating the kids. That she’d take her to court over … whatever it was Ellen had found and was now profiting from.’

  ‘And did she say what that was?’

  ‘She didn’t make a lot of sense. One minute it was money and the next minute just something that belonged to my dad. Look, I’ve only seen her once since I got back. Twice if you count today. I stayed away, called her a few times, but I realized as soon as my plane touched down. Maybe sooner than that. The truth was I didn’t want to be here and I didn’t want to be sucked back in. I called Ellen a couple of times, told her to be careful. Ellen said I was welcome to visit, but I never went.’

  ‘Was Ellen scared? Did your mother threaten to harm her?’

  ‘Mum says things. Things she really doesn’t mean.’

  ‘Did she threaten Ellen?’

  Ray shrugged. ‘A couple of times, yeah. But she didn’t kill her. She wouldn’t really have done that.’

  ‘But the threat was made?’

  ‘Yes, I suppose the threat was made. She can be a dumb bitch at times, she really can.’

  ‘And what did she want you to do?’

  ‘Go to the farm, search the place, see what Ellen had found. Persuade her to hand it over, maybe. I don’t know.’

  ‘She must have had something specific for you to do, otherwise why want you here. You’re telling me she didn’t spell it out?’

  Ray laid both hands flat upon the table and studied his fingers as though this might be an exam and the correct answers might be written there. ‘She said she’d had the kids over to stay with her one night. Ellen had agreed because like she always said, her quarrels with Daphne were hers not theirs. She said they had to make up their own minds. Anyway, she got them settled and asleep and asked a neighbour to keep an eye and then she went over to the farm. Parked a little way off and went across country to get there. She said she wanted to frighten Ellen out of the house. I think she’d been ringing her and sending letters and generally winding her up for a couple of weeks before. This time she actually broke into the house. I told her, if Ellen had actually confronted her, she’d have been in real trouble.’

  ‘But Ellen didn’t. She ran. She was scared.’

  Ray nodded. ‘At first I think she was. Ellen told me about it a couple of days before she died. Like I said, we spoke on the phone a few times. That’s when I really decided not to have anything more to do with whatever Mum wanted. She’d lost it as far as I was concerned. Lost it big time.’

  ‘At first?’

  ‘Yeah. You see Ellen saw the car, didn’t she? She said she dragged on some clothes and got out of the house. Her first idea was to get to her car and drive to the village.’

  ‘Her car?’

  ‘Yeah. You see Ellen parked the car at the bottom end of the lane, in the field closest to the road. We all did. That lane is on a slope. Midwinter and it can ice up like … anything less than a four-by-four and you’re skating. So we all just got in the habit. You park close to the main road and it saves a lot of trouble. Mum must have assumed she’d run straight across the fields. Not cut back to the lane. But Ellen didn’t. She saw the car and knew who it was.’

  ‘So, why didn’t she call the police right then?’ Kendall asked.

  ‘Because you can’t get a signal in the lane,’ Mac said.

  ‘Exactly. Ellen said she gave up on the idea of driving anywhere then. She wanted time to think. I don’t think even Ellen had thought Daphne was that crazy. So she went by road to the Richardses’ place.’

  So, no mud on her shoes, Mac thought. ‘Why didn’t Ellen let the Richardses call the police?’

  ‘I think because she didn’t want to cause more conflict in the family. She maybe planned to confront Mum later, I don’t know. I asked her but she said she just wanted time to think. I think she’d reached the stage where she didn’t know what to do for the best. Then it was too late, wasn’t it?’

  ‘And it never occurred to you that you might tell us this before?’

  ‘She’s my mother. I tried to make her see sense, leave Ellen alone. Then Ellen was shot and I knew you’d have Daphne in the frame for it.’

  ‘Actually,’ Mac said. ‘You were top of our list. Once we knew you were back in the country.’

  Ray nodded, seeming to accept that. ‘I suppose Mum told you?’

  ‘No, it was Diane. Jeb overheard Daphne speaking to you on the phone and told his aunt. The children don’t know what to think or who to trust, Ray.’

  ‘I don’t suppose they do. We’ve made a right hash of it all, haven’t we?’

  ‘Yes, I think you have. You seem very certain that your mother didn’t shoot Ellen.’

  Ray laughed. ‘Daphne? With a shotgun? She couldn’t hit a barn door.’

  ‘I’m not sure she’d need much in the way of accuracy, not from such close range,’ Mac said. ‘It’s hard to see how she, or anyone else, could have missed.’

  Ray paled a little and leaned back from the table as though Mac had just threatened him with contagion. ‘I can’t believe she’d go that far. She doesn’t have a shotgun anyway.’

  ‘I’m not sure that would stop her,’ Mac said. ‘Your mother is a very determined woman and right now, Ray, I’m still inclined to put the two of you top of our list. I’ll be bringing her in for questioning. See what she has to say about all this.’

  ‘She didn’t do it.’

  ‘Then who did? You?’

  ‘No! Of course not. I’d n
ever hurt Ellen or the kids. Never. I—’

  ‘Loved your sister-in-law. So you said. Did she reject you? Did you turn up out of the blue and—’

  ‘No! Nothing like that. Look,’ Ray took a deep breath and tried to keep his emotions under control. ‘I came here today because I wanted to clear things up. I knew you’d want to talk to me so here I am. Now, if we’re going to talk about this any more, I—’

  ‘Want a solicitor present,’ Kendall said flatly. ‘For the record, Mr Tailor has just requested legal counsel. Interview terminated at three fifty-five.’

  TWENTY-NINE

  Daphne arrived ‘under protest’ as she put it. Actually, Mac would have described her as incandescent. He had arranged with Kendall that Ray would be moving from the first interview room into a second, at the same time that Daphne was brought through into the corridor. Ray stopped in his tracks, but his mother merely glanced at him and then looked away. Then she looked at Mac. I’m better than that, the look said. You can’t force me to say anything I don’t want to say.

  Ray’s solicitor had arrived – the ostensible reason for his move to a larger room – and Daphne’s had been summoned. Whereas Ray had to wait for the duty solicitor to make his way, Daphne had demanded her own. He was, he said when called, already examining the matter of her daughter-in-law’s will. He didn’t, Mac thought, seem terribly keen on attending Daphne Tailor at the police station.

  Daphne was shown into the room her son had just vacated and offered tea or coffee. She refused both and so they left her alone until her legal counsel decided to show up.

  Mac had the odd feeling that Paul Montague, Daphne’s solicitor, would not be hurrying. He felt tired and oddly dispirited and wondered if Kendall would want him to stay for the interview. He wanted to call Miriam, needing to hear her voice and know that she was all right when so much of his world was not. He was still scared, Mac realized; afraid of losing her. Afraid of the world impinging on their lives again. Afraid of the violence he knew was out there. He found his mind drifting to the journals and letters and mementoes Lydia had gathered for the exhibition. People living every day with the level of fear he recognized within himself. A more acute level in all probability. He could call Miriam any time he wanted to; hear her voice, know that most nights he would be going home to her, know that the likelihood of the violent world he had so nearly lost her to infiltrating again was actually very remote. The individuals who had written those letters, made those records, been in that time, there had been no possibility of escape and Mac could not help but marvel that it had not driven them all insane.