by Paul Kelly
“Frieda had been married before,” replied Daniel, “but only once as far as I know and that only lasted about six months, but I know she has been unfaithful many times in her past and I wouldn’t be surprised at anything I hear about her now. Please help me if you know her present address?”
“Yes, of course Mr. Roberts, she is living with a much younger man than herself at 52 Trafford Road. Do you know that address?”
Daniel grinned again,
“Yes I think I do Miss Bradley-Smith. but thank you anyway. There will be no further trouble I do assure you, Goodbye.”
“Au revoir, Mr. Roberts and remember what I said I could do if you want my help,” the Headmistress continued, but as a parting shot, Daniel was surprised at the question she put to him.
“Mr. Roberts ... forgive me as I know it is none of my business, but do you have multiple sclerosis?”
Daniel was surprised at how much of his life had been discussed with this Headmistress person, but the he presumed that Frieda had used all she could to discredit him.
“Yes, I have Miss Bradley-Smith, but it is totally under control and it would never be detected unless I told you I had it.”
“But why on earth did you think to marry such a person as this Frieda woman. You sound so nice and very practical, but she was a venomous creature, if you will forgive my expression.”
“Frieda knew my health situation before she married me, but I had one small relapse which lasted about two weeks and in that time, I think she realized what she might have to endure if she stayed married to me.”
“For better or for worse; for richer, for poorer, Mr. Roberts,” quoted the Headmistress as she replaced her telephone.
Chapter Thirty Nine
ALISON stretched her arms above her head and yawned as she glanced at the alarm clock beside her bed. It was ten past eight and the clock danced about her tiny table as it shouted its call for her to rise and shine. She put her tongue out at it before she calmed it’s noisy protest and threw her house coat over her nightdress. It was at that moment that the telephone rang.
“Hello ... hello ... Oh! it’s you Daniel. I wondered what you were up to when you told me you had something in mind regarding St. Michael’s young ladies and I hope it was honourable ...” she jested and she could hear Daniel laughing.
“I have made a pact with the Headmistress there,” he said, “and I wanted to tell you all about it yesterday evening, but your phone was dead.”
“Yes, I disconnected it at the wall switch as I was getting so many calls where nobody would speak to me and I thought they might be some of those strange calls that people get from time to time and which can be very worrying. Sorry Daniel, I just forgot to connect it again before I went to bed and then I got up at one o’clock this morning and reconnected it again, but tell me about this affair with the Headmistress? When I spoke to her she sounded a right old bat and no mistake, so you must have some special charm to get though to her.”
“She thinks I’m lovely, if you really must know,” replied Daniel and grinned as he spoke, but Alison blew him a kiss into the telephone and explained that she never worried about conquests as they only deepened the passion and made it more real, she insisted and Daniel laughed again.
“I know where Frieda is living now and I think I can guess who she’s living with,” he went on and Alison pricked her ears up at that information.
“You’re having me on,” she replied astonished that he should have acquired such detailed information from the old bat of a Headmistress ... or had he charmed the soft spoken and light hearted secretary. “Where is it?” she asked, “in some high falootin’ place in Belgrave, I should imagine, but with who?”
“With whom,” Daniel corrected and Alison didn’t hear him as he went on, “the address is Trafford Road ... number ...”
“Number 52,” shouted Alison in her excitement,” and not with old Royle, for goodness sake, is it?”
“Spot on, “ replied Daniel and Alison sighed heavily into the telephone.
“She’s come down somewhat in the world, hasn’t she?”
“Maybe, but I thought it strange when I heard the connection and she is using several names now. Not just old Roberts, although that was what they knew her as at St. Michael’s.”
“She is a total fabricator, is that one,” replied Alison, “living in a dream, poor sod.”
“Did I tell you that Dillon is coming home to be with me this weekend?” Daniel went on, as if the previous news was of no great concern.
“Well, that’s wonderful, but why has he been avoiding you lately. He still loves you doesn’t he?”
“Of course he does and he hasn’t been avoiding me. I have agreed to let Rene have him for some of the time he is free to visit us, as that was what she wanted, but I think she must have found him something of a ‘handfull’ as she telephoned me last evening to ask if he could come and stay with me this weekend, as she has to go away somewhere and I think she will be a way for months, by the way she speaks.”
“Bully for you. It will be nice to see Dillon again and then I can come and tell him how much I love him as well as I love his father, eh?” replied Alison, emphasizing her love for the two men in her life. “but what are we going to do about this Frieda affair?” she added hastily.
Daniel scratched his head and closed his eyes to have a good ‘think’, but he was no wiser or nearer any conclusion when he opened them again.
“I’m not sure at the moment, but I’m sure I’ll think of something and anyway, she is the least of my concerns at the moment and if she couldn’t turn up at our Court session, I don’t think I need to rush into anything on that score, at least for the present, don’t you think?”
“I guess you’re right, but she is a thorn in the flesh wherever she is and whoever she’s with, but I don’t envy her if she has Royle as the love of her life. Neither he nor she will have their sorrows to seek, I would say.”
“Frieda will never settle to one man in her life, Alison. She is too self centred and to her, variety is the spice of life. I don’t know what I ever saw in her, but then as we know ... love is blind or so they say and I needed not one, but two white sticks, I imagine.”
Alison laughed as Daniel was talking. She was content to listen to anything and everything he spoke about, regardless of whether it made sense or not and the nearness of his voice was enough for her, as she sighed and wished the telephone conversation would never end, but sadly it did ...Daniel broke into the conversation to announce that Dillon had arrived at the flat and he would have to go, but Alison made her immediate plans to make a visit to 14 Sunrise Close.
Chapter Forty
DILLON came on his visit to Daniel and Alison came to visit Daniel, in that order and they had a wonderful time, as always with Alison throwing herself around the room as they danced together or getting down on all fours while Dillon played with her as a horse.
“You’re getting a bit too big for this, you know young man,” Alison called out to him in a breathless tone as she struggled to get up from the floor, “I think I’ll teach you how to dance in future. That would seem to be more fitting for when you bring a girl friend home to see us, eh?” she gasped, but Dillon only laughed all the more.
“Girl friend, you say, “ he smirked, “not one like those that daddy has had ... that’s for sure.”
“Well, I’ll always be here for you,” added Alison with a great smile on her face
and Dillon laughed.
“You’ll always be my number one, Alison. I thought you knew that,” he replied.
“Of course I do, but I like to be reminded,” she grunted as she blew the little boy a kiss. “I’d like a cup of coffee,” she sang into the air, “Would anyone like to join me?”
“I would,” replied Dillon merrily, joined by his dad who said that he w
ould have preferred tea but coffee would do and Alison called him a ’spoil sport’, but as they were drinking together in the lounge, the telephone rang and Dillon ran to answer it.
“”No, there’s no one here by that name,” said Dillon as he glanced at his dad with fear in his eyes and Daniel and Alison looked up in alarm when they heard Dillon say that. Daniel moved across to where the little boy was standing and took the telephone from him as he nodded for his son to go to the other side of the room and stay with Alison.
“Yes, can I help you?” he asked and the voice on the other end of the phone; a male voice enquired if he could speak to Mrs. Roberts ...” “Who are you and why do you want to speak to this person?” Daniel continued and the other voice stated that he wanted to speak to Mrs. Roberts and that he was a policeman making some enquiries where she might be involved.
Daniel looked across to where Alison was sitting with Dillon cradled up against her knees and he raised his eyebrows.
“Mrs. Roberts no longer lives here,” he said and Alison put Dillon down as she came towards the phone. “I am ... or rather I was married to this lady, but we are awaiting a divorce.”
“Mr. Roberts, may I enquire if you know where your ex. wife is living now?” came the next question which Alison also had heard having moved closer to the phone. She signalled to Daniel to say nothing and Daniel changed the phone from one ear to another.
“No, I am sorry I don’t have that information.” he lied and looked to Alison for her approval. She nodded and he returned to the telephone conversation “She may be at the school where she teaches music, but I understand she hasn’t been taking her classes for some time. May I enquire why you want to get in touch with her?”
There was a drawn out silence on the phone before the voice spoke again.
“At the present I am unable to answer your question, Sir, but may I just ask you as a final question ...has your ex.wife married again, or does she have a partner, would you know?”
Daniel looked at Alison who shoved her ten fingers in the air and made a face.
“As you say, Sir,” answered Daniel, “I am unable to answer that question, but if you do get in touch with her, don’t ask her who she is living with at that moment ... find out the last dozen idiots she has seduced. Good day Sir.”
Alison danced around the telephone and threw her arms in the air as Daniel put the telephone down.
“That’ll show them,” she said, “but what do the police want her for now?”
Daniel looked grave when she asked him that question and Alison looked at him with fear in her eyes, “Maybe ... maybe ...” she stuttered, but Daniel put his hand in the air.
“Maybe that was the police on the phone and then again, maybe it wasn’t ... who knows ...” he replied and immediately dialled the 1471 to check the caller’s number, but the only reply he got was that the caller did not leave either a name of a number ...
Daniel stroked Dillon’s ear as he came back to his coffee and the little boy looked anxiously at him.
“Is there something wrong, daddy,” Dillon asked and pressed his hand firmer into Daniel’s.
“No, no nothing we should worry about,” said Daniel but he beckoned Alison to accompany him into the kitchen when Dillon returned to the settee.
“What is it Daniel? There is something you aren’t telling me, isn’t there?”
Daniel took Alison’s hand and her eyes opened wide at such a tender response to her question.
“Nothing I can think of,” he replied, “but somehow or other, if that really was the police on the phone, there is some problem with Frieda. It is strange why she hasn’t been seen around since she was sacked from the school.”
Alison kept her hand in his and hoped he would leave it there forever ... but after a few moments, the telephone rang again and Daniel rushed back into the lounge to answer the call himself.
“Yes, yes, I am Daniel Roberts ...” Alison looked on and slowly crept up towards the telephone, hoping she might overhear what was being said, but Daniel kept the telephone close to his ear. “I am sorry to hear that,” Daniel continued, “ but how did you know where she was living? ... Oh! I see, the school of course, I didn’t think to tell you about that, but ...”
Daniel stopped talking to listen to the caller and Alison grasped by this time that he was speaking to the policeman who had rang earlier.
“Is everything alright?” she whispered to Daniel but he put his hand in the air as he continued to listen to his caller.
“No, I haven’t seen Frieda for quite some time now. The last time was when she came here for some information on the divorce, but she didn’t stay long, why?”
There was another long silence whilst Alison waited impatiently for some news.
“Thank you, Goodbye.”
Daniel replaced the phone and Alison tugged at his sleeve.
“There is something wrong. I know it,?” she whispered and young Dillon rushed towards them cradling them with his outstretched arms.
“Daddy ... Are you alright? You look very pale.”
Daniel said nothing for a few moments but moved towards the settee and sat down, stroking his forehead as if in deep thought.
“I think Frieda is in some trouble,” he said and Alison stared at him with wide eyes.
“What has she been up to now?” she asked, but again Daniel raised his hand and beckoned her to sit down beside him.
“I don’t know, but the police are anxious to trace her. Apparently someone has phoned the police ... a woman, they think and asked them to go to where Frieda is living ... and that’s why they wanted to know if I knew where she lived. They traced her address from the school and I wondered if that ’woman’ was Miss Bradley-Smith? She said she would help me in any way she could when it came to the divorce, but ...”
“But what, Daniel? What else did the police say? Have they been to see Frieda at Trafford Road?”
“I don’t think they have been to see her yet and that is why they wanted to confirm that she was living where this woman said she was ... so that woman must be someone who knows Frieda, surely.”
Alison pulled a face when Daniel pushed his hair back from his forehead,
“Woman ... Don’t you mean WOMEN, plural. If Frieda is living with Ken Royle, you can bet your life he has had several other women there too. Royle has a woman for every day of the week and two on Sunday, if I know him and I wasn’t married to him without knowing what he’s like, so that could have been ANY woman who spoke to the police on the phone. Any one of the Royle harem”
Dillon by this time was sitting quietly beside his father and Alison could see the apprehension in his little face.
“Come on big boy,” she called out, “Let’s go down to the shops and see if there’s anything left for us to buy for supper, eh?”
It was after she and Dillon had left the flat that Daniel decided he would phone the local police station to find out if he could get any information there, but the constable on the desk couldn’t give him much information at first, however after a few seconds, he excused himself from the phone for a moment as an inspector had come into the station and the constable felt this officer might be able to help. Daniel waited ... and the constable returned. ”Inspector Ray would like to have a word with you Sir, if you would hold on please.”
Daniel waited anxiously as the few moments it took for the Inspector to speak to him seemed like hours.
“Mr. Roberts?”
“Yes Inspector, I understand you wish to speak with me?”
“Yes, Mr. Roberts ... I am afraid I have rather bad news for you. I have been to the house where your wife had been staying only to discover that there has been a disastrous happening there” Daniel could feel his pulse race as he listened further and the Inspector continued. “It would seem that your wife .. er, so
rry I believe the lady is your ex ...she has been murdered Mr. Roberts.”
Daniel flopped into a chair when he heard that news and wished Alison had been with him at that moment.
“Murdered?” he asked and the Inspector confirmed his statement
“Would it be agreeable for me to come to see you Mr. Roberts, as there are one or two things that have to be straightened out?”
“Yes, yes of course, Inspector, but I have never been to this house. I only know of it from a friend.”
The Inspector took a little while to speak again but when he did, he assured Daniel that he was in no way under suspicion for Frieda’s murder, but that was not what was on Daniel’s mind. He never knew that house in Trafford Road, but Alison did ... and he began to fear that she might in some way be involved in this latest tragedy. She didn’t like Frieda ... She had wished her dead on several occasions ... and she could have taken this as an opportunity to get closer to the man she professed to love ... and after all, it was a woman who telephoned the police about Frieda in the first place. It was all a muddle and Daniel wanted to be sick.
Ten minutes later Alison returned to the flat with Dillon.
“Lasagne and chips for tea, O.K?” she asked as she hung her coat on the hallstand, but Daniel did not reply. “Lasagne and chips,” she repeated as she went into the kitchen, but it was Dillon who noticed that his dad looked pale as he went up to him and took his hand.
“Are you alright daddy? You still don’t look too well,” he said and with that, Alison came out from the kitchen to see for herself what was wrong.
“You don’t look at all well, Daniel. If you don’t like lasagne, I can get something else,” she went on, but Daniel shook his head and held out his hand.
“The police have been on the phone,” he said, “Frieda ...”
at that he asked Dillon to go into the music room and get him some papers that were lying on his desk.
“Alison, I didn’t want Dillon to hear, but Frieda is dead. She has been murdered and the police are coming here to speak to me about it.” he said and as he spoke, he watched Alison’s reaction, but she appeared as baffled and as stunned as he was.