“Neither can I. The chief constable has been talking to the head of Manx National Heritage about that, actually. Of course, he wasn’t even living on the island in the late sixties, so he can’t explain why no one has been in that space in all those years.”
“What does Henry say?”
“Henry? Do you mean Henry Costain?”
“Yes, he’s been working for MNH for more than thirty years. He may have some idea about that tower.”
“He simply said that he’d never needed to go in there. He remembered a time, several years ago, when they went through the whole site, clearing out old boxes and things, but no one had the key for the padlock on that tower, so they simply skipped over it.”
“And they didn’t bother to change it when they changed all the other padlocks?”
“Henry said they were one padlock short of being able to do every lock on the site, so they missed that one out. When they bought more locks at a later date, no one remembered to change that one. I didn’t get a feeling from Henry as if anyone were deliberately trying to keep people away from that tower, although that has to be considered.”
“She was murdered?”
“The coroner can’t determine the cause of death,” was the disappointing reply. “Because of the location of the body, we’re assuming that it was murder. If it wasn’t murder, someone locked the body in the tower after her death.”
“Could she have been locked in before she was dead? Could someone have left her there to starve, for instance?”
“A possibility, and a very unpleasant one at that.”
Bessie nodded. “I don’t suppose she could have just wandered into the tower and been locked inside accidentally?”
“Again, it’s a possibility to consider, but unless she’d gone in and taken a nap or suddenly fallen ill, surely she would have shouted when the door was shut behind her.”
Bessie shivered as she imagined waking from a nap to find herself locked inside the dark tower. “Horrible,” she murmured.
“And unlikely. What seems most likely is that she was murdered or died somewhere else on the island and then the body was hidden in that tower. Whoever hid the body has been very fortunate for the past thirty-odd years, but his or her luck just ran out.”
“Assuming that person is still alive.”
“Thirty years isn’t that long. The victim was in her mid-twenties, so her contemporaries will be close to sixty now.”
“She may not have been from the island, of course.”
“I think she was,” Anna said firmly. “I think she was from the island, that she was murdered, and that her body was hidden at Peel Castle. I also think that, with your help, I’ll be able to solve the case.”
“I’ll do what I can.”
“Who was she?” Anna asked. “There can’t have been many women that age who disappeared from the island at the right time. Young women were more sheltered in those days. Make me a list of anyone you can think of who would have been about the right age and who left the island and never returned.”
Bessie nodded. “I’ll ring a few friends, as well. Among us we should be able to come up with a few names.”
“Don’t ring anyone until the local paper is out. I’m not meant to be sharing any of this information yet.”
“I’ll start my list as soon as you leave and then add to it when I’ve spoken to my friends.”
“I appreciate this. It may turn out to be a wild goose chase, but I have to try.”
Bessie nodded. “More tea?” she asked as she got up to top up her own cup.
“Yes, please,” Anna replied. Bessie was surprised. She’d thought that the inspector was getting ready to leave, but now Anna sipped her drink and helped herself to a biscuit.
“It isn’t easy, being a woman in a male-dominated workplace,” Anna said after a moment. “I’ve always felt as if I’ve had to be tougher, harder, more demanding than my male counterparts. I’m good at my job, but I felt as if I had to be better, work longer hours, take the shifts no one wanted, all the same things that all women complain about, I suppose.”
“I can’t imagine.”
Anna shrugged. “You chose to live on your own at a time when women were expected to marry and have children. I’m sure you dealt with a great deal of negativity about how you lived your life.”
“Some, certainly, but I didn’t let it bother me.”
“You’re stronger than I am, then. I’ve moved five times in my career. Three of those times were to get away from gossip and rumours. I know you don’t care for me, so maybe you’re the perfect person to hear my miserable life story.”
“If you feel the need to talk, I’m always happy to listen.”
Anna shrugged. “I never talk about myself. That may be part of my problem, of course. The chief constable wants me to talk to a therapist. I tried that recently, but it felt contrived and awkward. This does, as well, but at least you’re giving me tea and biscuits.”
Bessie laughed. “I have cake, if you’d prefer.”
“Cake?”
“I made a Victoria sponge yesterday. Would you like a slice?”
“I’d rather have the whole thing and a fork, but a slice will do,” Anna told her.
Bessie tried not to look as surprised as she felt. Anna Lambert didn’t seem the type to indulge her sweet tooth to that degree.
“I’m always incredibly careful about what I eat, of course. Staying fit is important in my job, especially as a woman. I don’t need to give anyone any extra ammunition against me.”
“Why do you do it?” Bessie asked as she cut them both generous slices of cake. “Why don’t you find another job? I’m sure there are plenty of other things you could do with your life.”
“My father was a police inspector.” She stopped as Bessie put the cake in front of her. “This looks wonderful,” she sighed. “I really shouldn’t, but I’m going to eat every bite.”
“Sometimes we all need a little treat,” Bessie replied. “So your father encouraged you to join the police?” she asked, bringing the conversation back on topic.
“No, not at all. It was the opposite, in fact. He encouraged my brother to join the police. I was meant to be a schoolteacher or maybe a nurse. Policing wasn’t for women, as far as my father was concerned. That just made me more determined to pursue it, of course. My brother, who’s two years older, joined the police right out of school. I did the same. My father was proud of my brother and annoyed with me.”
“Oh, dear.”
“When I got my first assignment, all I heard from everyone was that I was only there because my father had pulled strings to get me there. It was as far from the truth as it could be, but no one believed me. I ended up moving away from home, joining another constabulary on the other side of the country, just to prove that I could advance on my own merit.”
“How did your father feel about that?”
“Oh, he didn’t really care. He was too busy bragging about my brother’s accomplishments to notice what I was doing.”
Bessie frowned. She’d never had children, but she’d always thought that if she had, she’d love and support them all equally, no matter what.
“I was young and foolish, though,” Anna continued. “I was all alone in a strange city and I made the mistake of falling in love with another constable. Dean was handsome and smart and I was certain we were perfect for one another.”
“More tea?” Bessie asked, beginning to feel as if something stronger might be more appropriate.
“Yes, please.”
Anna waited until Bessie had refilled both cups before she continued. “There was only one problem with my happily-ever-after fantasies about Dean. He was already married. He never talked about his wife, didn’t have pictures of her on his desk or anything. I convinced myself that they’d fallen out of love and that Dean and I were soul mates. Dean said all the right things about how his wife didn’t appreciate how difficult the job was and how they barely spoke to one another
when he was at home. We had an affair. There, I’ve said it. It was passionate and crazy and I thought it was love. I found out later that Dean had a reputation for sleeping with every new female constable, but no one bothered to mention that until I was already madly in love.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It happens. I know I’m not unique and I know I was wrong for getting involved with a married man. At the time I was sure that true love was the most important thing, but I was wrong, obviously. Once I discovered the truth, that Dean was never going to leave his wife and that I was nothing but a conquest to him, I moved again. I was embarrassed about the entire incident. This is the first time I’ve talked about it in twenty-five years.”
“Sometimes talking about something painful can be healing.”
“You may be right. Thank you for not giving me a lecture about married men and affairs.”
“It isn’t my place to lecture you. We’ve all made poor choices in the past. All we can do is learn from them and move on.”
“I thought I had, learned, I mean. I moved again and I promised myself that I wouldn’t get involved with anymore work colleagues. I might not have been able to stick to that, except not long after I moved, I met an amazing man. He’d been burgled and I took his statement. After I was done, he asked me to have dinner with him. I was already falling hard by the end of that meal.”
Bessie could see tears in Anna’s eyes again. This part of the story wasn’t going to have a happy ending either, of course.
“He proposed after a week. I laughed and told him it was too soon. Then I said yes. We waited almost a year to get married, though. My parents were there. My father congratulated me and then asked me when I was quitting work to start a family.”
“What did your mother think?”
“I’ve no idea. We’ve never been close. She was devoted to my father. After they married, she quit work and dedicated the rest of her life to making his life as wonderful as possible. It never mattered how late he got home from work. She made him a feast every night. My brother and I were fed at five and usually sent to bed before my father got home. Eventually my brother began to be included in our parents’ evening meals, but I never was.”
“My goodness.”
Anna shrugged. “My mother felt that being a good wife was her calling. Being a mother came second, or maybe even third, after the volunteer work that she did. My brother, even though he was clearly the favourite child, didn’t feel any more loved than I did, really.”
“Are you and your brother close?”
“I wouldn’t say close, but we do talk. I haven’t spoken to my father in years. It wasn’t a conscious decision. We simply drifted apart and neither of us care enough to reach out to the other now.”
“And your mother?”
“She passed away about six years ago. That was the last time I saw my father. He was devastated and my brother and I worried that he might struggle to cope on his own, but according to Alan, he’s doing just fine.”
“Alan is your brother?”
“Oh, yes, sorry. I ring him about once a month or so. If I forget, he rings me. I suspect his wife reminds him. She’s close to her family and I think she worries about me.”
“Do they have children?”
Anna nodded and smiled. “They have a boy and a girl and I love them both very much. I actually speak to them a good deal more frequently than I do their father. They’re both in their early twenties and doing really well.”
“And is Alan still with the police?”
“Oh, no. He moved into private security after a few years. It paid better and had better hours. Our father wasn’t especially happy about it, but Alan was still the golden child, so he was quickly forgiven.”
“But you were telling me about getting married.”
“Yes, I was. Doug and I got married and settled down together. It was going to be perfect. We were both going to work until we’d saved up enough for a house and then we were going to start a family.”
Bessie took a sip of her tea. She could tell that the next part of the story was going to be difficult for Anna to tell. “You don’t have to tell me anything else,” she said softly.
“I may as well tell you the whole story. This part is the worst. Doug and I were incredibly happy. He was working in a large department store, managing the men’s clothing department. We were both doing well with our careers. We were really happy.”
Anna stopped and then angrily swiped at her eyes, brushing away tears that were clearly unwelcome. Bessie got up and found a box of tissues. She put them in front of Anna and then sat back down.
The other woman wiped her eyes and then took a sip of her tea. Sighing deeply, she looked at Bessie. “This should be easier. It was a long time ago.”
“Let’s talk about something else,” Bessie suggested. “I’ve one idea of whom we may have found at Peel Castle.”
“Really? I thought you needed to think about it.”
“One name popped into my head immediately. I believe she’d have been around the right age, and I’m certain she disappeared in the late sixties.”
“Go on, then,” Anna said. She pulled out her notebook and nodded at Bessie.
“Her name was, or I should say is, Emma Gibson. She was a schoolteacher in Ramsey. Her mother was from Laxey, but she married a man from Jurby. They lived in Douglas when Emma was small. Emma’s grandmother still lived in Laxey, though, so her mother used to bring her to play on Laxey Beach. That’s how I know the family.”
“And she disappeared one day?”
“I’m not sure about that. I was told that she’d left the island, but I never heard that she’d come back, not even for a visit.”
“Would you have heard if she’d visited?”
“If she’d come to see her grandmother in Laxey, I may well have heard. The woman used to live on the road that leads down to the beach and I used to see her when I walked up to the shop at the top of the hill.”
“Used to? What happened to her?”
“She passed away about fifteen years ago. I believe her daughter still lives in Douglas. She should be able to tell you what happened to Emma. She’ll be somewhere around eighty now, Emma’s mum, I mean.”
“It seems likely that Emma simply moved away.”
“She probably did. I’m only mentioning her because I don’t know for certain where she went or why. The island was smaller in those days, or it felt smaller, anyway. When people left, we all talked about them for weeks on end. I don’t remember anyone talking about Emma leaving.”
“Surely, if that’s the case, then people talked about her disappearance?”
Bessie shrugged. “I have a vague recollection of her going on holiday and not coming back. I wish I could remember more than that, but I’m afraid I can’t.”
Anna made a note and then shut her notebook. “I would imagine that her mother would have reported her missing if she’d never come back from her holiday, but I’ll definitely check it out.”
“I’m sorry. I know it seems unlikely, but, as I said, hers was the first name that popped into my head.”
“And you never know what little bit of information might break a case wide open. Perhaps your Emma is alive and well but will remember a friend who also left the island at the same time, never to be heard from again.”
“I’m sure I’ll be able to suggest some other, more likely candidates in a day or two.”
“I’d appreciate that. Now I’d better finish my sad life story and then leave you in peace. Doug and I were happily settling into a tiny flat when I found out I was pregnant. We hadn’t planned for a baby yet, but I was thrilled. Doug was less excited, but I knew he’d come around once he got used to the idea.”
She stopped and wiped her eyes again. Bessie sipped her drink, not wanting to interrupt.
“We had a little girl. She was gorgeous. She looked a lot like her father. We were both over the moon. I stayed home with her for six weeks, but taking more time off
would have hurt my future prospects. After a long talk, we decided that Doug would stay home with the baby for a year while I worked. It seemed the perfect solution.”
“I understand more and more families are doing such things now.”
“Yes, well, it was a good deal more unusual in those days, but it was what we both wanted. Three months later, Doug rang me at work. He’d put the baby down for her nap and when he’d gone back in an hour later, she’d stopped breathing. He’d rung for an ambulance, but they…they couldn’t…there was nothing…” she trailed off, tears streaming down her face.
Bessie patted her arm awkwardly for a moment and then got up and prepared more tea. Anna had stopped crying by the time Bessie had refilled her cup.
“Thank you. I’m sorry. I don’t like losing control.”
“Considering the circumstances, it’s understandable. I’m terribly sorry for your loss.”
Anna nodded. “It isn’t any easier, even after all these years, talking about her, remembering her. She was the best thing that had ever happened to me, and I lost her. I blamed myself, of course. The doctors said it was cot death, that nothing could have prevented it, that the same thing would have happened no matter who had been there, but I didn’t believe them. I was certain that if I’d been looking after her, as I should have been, that she would have been okay. I failed her.”
“You didn’t fail her. You were out doing your job, trying to secure her future. You left her with her father, who was as devoted to her as you were. There was nothing you could have done to prevent what happened.”
“In my head, I know you’re right, but in my heart I still feel a tremendous amount of guilt. Doug blamed himself, and I’m afraid I wanted to blame him, too. Her death was the beginning of the end for us, although we struggled along for six months or so before we finally separated. I left Doug and the area after those six months. I couldn’t stand the sympathetic looks from everyone and I needed to get away from the memories that seemed to be everywhere around me. I ended up in London. That’s a good place to hide from everyone and everything.”
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