by Anita Waller
‘He died the width of a wall away from me. I saw the doctor come, and I knew. The next day his wife came around and told me. She actually smiled. I’m sure she knew about us. But, it didn’t matter, we loved one another and we had the child he longed for. Tom’s mum and dad couldn’t have children and they adopted him. Tom was so happy when Henry was born. It added something to our relationship, and it gave him a blood relative. Henry looks a lot more like his daddy than he does his mummy,’ Keeley added, pride in her voice.
‘That must compensate in some way. However, you’ve taken me a little bit by surprise.’ Mouse hadn’t anticipated Keeley being quite so forthcoming, and knew that she had to tell her that Judy Carpenter had employed them. If it came out later, it could be catastrophic.
‘Tom’s wife, Judy, is our client. Everything you’ve just told me hadn’t occurred to me at all.’ She offered up a silent wish that the lie would never be discovered. ‘I obviously can’t tell you why she is our client, but I promise I will never speak of you to her. The case she has asked us to check out doesn’t impinge on your life.’
Mouse saw Keeley’s face relax slightly.
‘That’s a relief. It’s all very well me saying she suspects, but she doesn’t know for definite. And I’ve no intentions of admitting anything to her. She’s a nasty piece of work. If she found out, I would have to move. I don’t want to leave my memories of what I shared with Tom behind, and those memories are all linked to this house.’
Mouse breathed a sigh of relief. She felt she had covered the bases; Keeley trusted her.
They talked of inconsequential things, including how Tom visited her by going up into his loft and down through hers. The whole row of six terraced cottages, typical Derbyshire homes, had a huge shared loft space.
Keeley’s tone was wistful. ‘I remember the night he told me about the cancer. We cried together. That was the last time he used the loft route to see me, he wasn’t well enough. He tried to spend time with Henry, but Judy was always there, watching his every move. He only lived eighteen weeks after getting the terminal diagnosis. I loved him so much, but he didn’t have time to make provision for Henry, and to be honest, I didn’t even think about it until Henry needed new school shoes. Tom had bought his shoes right from the very first pair of Clark’s, and I had to think twice about whether I could afford Clark’s for him any longer.’
‘I’m pretty sure you would be able to make a claim against Judy, but it would mean having a DNA test done.’
Keeley shook her head. ‘Not an earthly. I’ll manage.’
Mouse smiled. ‘I knew you’d say that.’ She finished her drink and stood. ‘I’ll head back now. Thank you for the cuppa, and have a lovely holiday.’
Keeley walked Mouse to the door, and watched until she had driven away. Keeley wondered what the invoice was that Beth Walters had brought her to sign. She certainly hadn’t signed one; hadn’t even seen one.
9
Kat laid Martha down in the crib and just for a moment, Kat stood and gazed at her perfection. All the bad things that had happened over the last year were still hovering over them, blighting their lives, but this one tiny individual had brought sunshine.
Doris came and stood beside Kat.
‘Look at us,’ Kat said. ‘Grinning like Cheshire cats. I’ve been up twice in the night with her, and smiled through it all.’
‘She seems to be a good baby so far, Kat. You go and have a rest while she’s sleeping, we can take care of her if she wakes. I’m working on the Carpenter case, hoping some information has come in, but until it does I can multi-task and listen out for this little one. I left a programme running overnight, so it should be delivering something soon.’
Kat held up her hand in mock horror. ‘I don’t want to know. Just tell me the results, not how you got them.’
The front door opened and they heard Mouse speaking to the officer stationed on the driveway. She walked through to the lounge, crossed the room and looked down into the crib. ‘Perfect,’ she said. She turned to Kat and Doris. ‘I have news.’
‘Good. I’m hoping I do, as well,’ Doris responded. ‘But let’s move into the kitchen, then we won’t wake Martha. Kat, go and rest.’
‘Are you kidding?’ Kat raised her eyebrows. ‘I’m going nowhere if everybody has news. I promise I’ll not do anything, but I’m staying down here.’
Doris gave in, and made coffees for all four police officers tasked with keeping them safe, before joining Kat and Mouse around the kitchen table, cradling their own drinks. Both Mouse and Doris opened their laptops.
There was a sharp intake of breath and Doris punched the air. ‘Tom Carpenter’s birth mother, Pamela Bird, lives or lived in Buxton. I’ll do the electoral check, find out if she’s still alive, where she’s living now, that sort of minor detail,’ Doris added, a huge smile on her face. ‘Then we need to tell Judy Carpenter we will make the initial contact by letter, not just go in with heavy boots on.’
‘And now, of course, there’s a further complication.’ Mouse’s face held no smile. ‘Little Henry Roy is Tom Carpenter’s son. He would have a very legitimate claim on his father’s estate, and it’s quite possible Tom’s birth mother will want to be a part of her grandson’s life. She loved Tom very much, we could tell that by the letter she left for him. It’s too late for that relationship, but it’s not too late for her to bond with his son.’
Kat sipped slowly at her coffee, her thoughts playing with the information rolling around the table. ‘Why does Judy Carpenter want to know who Tom’s birth mother is? There’s something not right here.’
‘Hey,’ Mouse said with a clap of her hands. ‘Our thinker is back. Talk us through what you mean, Kat. I also feel we need some brainstorming on this one, something’s not sitting right, as you said.’
Kat marshalled her thoughts. ‘I just can’t see what Judy gains from knowing who the mother is. Judy and Tom had no children, so it’s not even as though she wants a grandmother figure for anybody. I think we need more facts on Pamela Bird before we let on to Judy that we’ve found out anything.’ Kat leaned back. ‘And all that is without recourse to a laptop.’
‘You’re right. We’ll send her an interim report telling her we’re following several leads, and we’ll get back to her with full results as soon as we can.’
Doris exhaled slowly. ‘Wow…’
‘Nan?’ Kat stood and moved behind Doris to look at her screen. ‘Wow is the right word. Where’s that?’
‘It’s where Pamela Bird lives,’ Doris said. ‘My thoughts, for what they’re worth, are that Judy Carpenter knows this. She simply doesn’t know how to approach Pamela Bird without it looking as though she’s in it for Pamela’s money. If the initial approach comes from a reputable agency, it makes it so much more official and acceptable. I’ll bet anything that when we tell her we have nothing to report yet, she just accepts it. All she has to do is wait for us to furnish her with Pamela on a plate, and she’s in. There’s no rush, as far as she’s concerned, as long as it all looks above board. Do you two agree?’
‘Unfortunately I do,’ Kat said.
‘Me too.’ Mouse’s frown said more than her words. ‘Alice said that Tom wanted her to look after the stuff he had accumulated about his adoption, and it was really because he didn’t want Judy involved in it. What if Judy had already seen it? I bet if we could get sight of Judy’s phone, we’d find pictures of all the documents including Tom’s birth certificate with his mother’s name on it.’
‘It’s been easy finding this house, and Google Earth provided the picture,’ Doris explained for Kat’s benefit, pre-empting Kat’s next question.
Kat dipped her head to look at the picture once more. ‘If she owns this, she’s loaded.’
‘Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll let you know,’ Doris said, her fingers already flying across the keyboard.
There was a tap on the kitchen window and the taller of the two officers held up empty mugs. Mouse left her seat and we
nt to the door. She took the cups and leaned against the jamb, chatting.
Kat looked at Doris and grinned. ‘It’s love.’
‘You think?’
‘She follows him with her eyes. Quite funny really.’
Doris waggled her fingers. ‘Not funny at all. You have any idea how much working outside the box that girl does to get the results we need? And she’s fancying a policeman?’
Mouse closed the door gently, then locked it before returning to the table. The two women looked at her.
‘What?’ she said. ‘Stop looking at me.’
‘What? What?’ Doris tried to keep a serious face. ‘He’s a policeman.’
Mouse giggled. ‘I know. I love a uniform. You found anything about that house?’
‘I have. It just came through. Pamela Bird owns it outright. Her late husband was CEO of a manufacturing company in Derby, died eighteen months ago. I’ll track down his will, see what we can find out about their family.’
‘Okay. What about we tell Judy we’ve found the birth mother’s identity, but we now have to contact her for permission to release her details as it is Judy’s late husband who is the relative, and not Judy herself.’ Kat spoke slowly, thinking things through as she talked.
‘I think it’s vital we don’t tell her too much,’ Doris agreed. ‘Not at this stage, and certainly not if we get proof of what we’re all thinking about her. Maybe we should do a bit of a side-track now and have a look at her – we’re uneasy about her motives, aren’t we?’
Mouse lifted her head from her screen. ‘It’s not only us, though, is it? Alice Small didn’t have anything good to say about her. She knew the relationship between Judy and Tom had run its course.’
‘Then here’s what we need to do,’ Kat said. ‘Firstly, we need to interview Judy, explain we can’t just pass the name over, but we’re happy to broker the meeting between her and the birth mother. We don’t need to admit at this stage that we know who she is, we’re paving the way for the next stage once we do have a name. We’ll see what reaction we get to that. Plan?’
Mouse and Doris bobbed their heads in unison. ‘Plan.’
‘And I think it’s important we’re there to see her face, rather than email her. If this had been straightforward, an email would have given the information we’re going to tell her, which is basically nothing at all really, but I for one would like to see her reaction.’ Kat paused, waiting for the inevitable you’re not ready yet.
‘Then we’ll go together,’ Mouse said. ‘You’re doing nothing without back-up until loony Leon is caught.’ She turned to look out of the kitchen window. ‘We’ll take two of our protectors with us, and leave two here with Nan.’
Kat grinned. It didn’t take a genius to work out which one Mouse would like to be their driver. She pulled her own unopened laptop towards her. ‘You want me to start filling in the results sheet?’ It was one of the necessary actions she had actually mastered.
‘Yes, please, Kat,’ Doris said. ‘But bear in mind you’re officially on maternity leave…’
‘Martha’s asleep,’ Kat said.
10
10
Leon opened a tin of soup and poured it into a pan. He warmed it using a small gas ring, craving steak and chips washed down with an expensive bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape.
His thoughts flickered to the fourth wedding anniversary meal he had shared with Kat, seeing that night as the beginning of the end of their marriage, their love. He wondered how Kat had reacted to the news that she was pregnant. Had there, at any point, been thoughts of an abortion? Had she hated him that much?
His mind flashed to the sight of her on the bedroom floor, blood pouring from the head wound he had caused. She had reason to despise him, and as everything about his life had come out, he guessed she must be regretting ever having met him.
The soup started to bubble; he lifted the pan and poured chunks of vegetables into his plastic dish. He dipped in Ryvita, detesting the cardboard taste and sensation but knowing he had no chance at all of going outside during daylight hours to buy bread. His dessert was two digestive biscuits and a black coffee, but once the hunger pangs had been sated he felt more positive, more in control.
He needed to find out when the baby was due. That was a priority.
The baby in question was hungry just like her daddy had been, and eagerly took the milk Kat proffered. Doris and Mouse remained in the kitchen, allowing Kat to have a modicum of peace.
Kat finished feeding Martha and sat her upright, grinning inanely as the burp rattled out of the baby. Who would have thought that such an anti-social activity as a burp would cause her so much happiness, she mused.
She replaced Martha in her crib then carried the Moses basket up to her bedroom, placed it in the cot, switched on the monitor and said, ‘Night, God bless, my little one.’
Returning to the kitchen carrying a nappy and the empty baby bottle, she was surprised by a cup of tea waiting for her.
‘We heard your conversation on the baby monitor,’ Mouse explained. ‘And tonight I’ll have Martha in my room, if you’re okay with that. I’ll feed and change her and you can sleep all night. How hard can it be to look after a baby?’
Kat and Doris looked at each other, and Doris shook her head, bemused. ‘You’ll probably find out tonight,’ she said.
Kat hugged Mouse. ‘You’re a star. Thank you so much. I’m trying to ignore the exhaustion.’
‘Will you be okay to go and see Judy tomorrow? We’ll only be an hour, so if we go after Martha’s feed, she should sleep till we get back, and Nan won’t have any worries.’
Doris looked up. ‘Can I just explain to you two numpties, I am the only one in this room with experience in babies? Bethan Walters, I’ve cleaned up your arse more times than I care to think about, mopped up your sick, made endless bottles for you – and I did the same for your mother. And, what’s more,’ she said with a finality that invited no argument, ‘I bet I know twice as many nursery rhymes as the two of you put together.’
Kat turned to Mouse. ‘She’ll be fine,’ she said, trying desperately to keep the serious expression on her face.
Mouse looked horrified. ‘She called me Bethan Walters. I must be in trouble, she only calls me by my proper name when I’ve done something wrong.’
Doris said nothing further on the subject; she quietly sang Humpty Dumpty, and Kat continued with the reports she had to type. Mouse slipped out into the garden to organise the police escort for them for the following day, and came back in feeling disgruntled.
‘He’s not on duty tomorrow,’ she said, her back to Doris and Kat as she locked and bolted the kitchen door. She missed seeing the grins on their faces.
‘Told you it’s love,’ Kat whispered.
There was quiet for a time, and then Mouse closed her laptop. ‘So, let’s just talk a couple of things through. We’ve had no word about one-handed Rowe then?’ The reference was to the fact that Doris had blown away his left hand with a well-placed bullet.
‘None at all. Marsden hasn’t been in touch,’ Kat confirmed. ‘He’s definitely got a hideaway somewhere. He was only using the empty shop to keep an eye on me. He’s gone back to his first place, and nobody’s safe until they find him. I know she thought he might be having to replace his camping stuff, but I know Leon. He wouldn’t leave anything to chance. Wherever he is, it’ll be well set up for him. And he’ll have had it years.’
‘Kat, did you ever notice any strange payments coming out of your joint account? Things that you queried at the time?’ Mouse’s mind was in overdrive.
‘I never saw any statements. Leon dealt with everything. All the household bills came out of the joint account. I had my own personal one that was really for me to spend on what I wanted, when I wanted it. He had an automatic top-up set up on it when it dropped below five grand.’
‘Kat, please tell me there isn’t still a joint account!’
Kat shrugged. ‘I suppose there must be. I’ve never use
d it, so wouldn’t know. But he’ll not have access to it. When he went, I withdrew the contents, and I’ve not touched it since. I know the police blocked his business accounts, but nothing was ever said about me taking out that money. I used the cash for a while then put the last few thousand into my account. That all happened six months ago and nobody queried it.’
Mouse rolled her eyes. ‘Kat Rowe, you scare me. I’ll get the statements. Let’s not make waves that could drown us by going down official channels. We’ll have a look at them, if that’s okay with you, Kat. This is your personal life…’
Kat laughed. ‘The whole world knows my personal life, thanks to Leon.’
‘Then I’ll get them up on screen.’ Mouse saw the panicked look on Kat’s face, the same look that appeared every time screens were mentioned. ‘Stop worrying, Kat, you’ll simply have to scroll.’
The relief was evident in Kat’s exhalation of breath.
Doris watched her two girls chatting, and shook her head. She had taught many people the intricacies of assorted computer activities, but she couldn’t teach confidence. Each student had to find their own level of that. Kat knew so much more than she had when they first met, but her insecurity refused to let her believe it.
Doris reached her hand across the table and squeezed Kat’s fingers. ‘Sit next to me, Kat, you’ll be fine. We’ll be examining every entry; in particular, look for utilities. Gas, electric, water bills, because if he has a bolthole he’ll need some kind of power.’
Mouse lifted her head and looked at them. ‘I figured that, but I reckon Leon’s too smart to leave that trail. A generator and camping gas take care of gas and electricity, and bottled water covers water. We’re really going to have scrutinise every little entry, debit or credit. Somewhere there has to be something that tells us where he’s hiding away. Don’t close your minds to other things by concentrating on utilities. He may pay rent on a property, may even have bought one. And tonight we’re only looking at the joint account. Did he have a personal account, Kat?’