by Anita Waller
Tessa shook her head. ‘Slowly. We seem to be ruling people out rather than ruling anybody in. I’ll keep tinkering away at it until I know. Will you tell them I’ll call in sometime tomorrow afternoon. It’s only for a general chat, so if they’re not there, it doesn’t matter. It’s strange, but when I talk to them, particularly Kat, it leads my mind in different directions. It’s probably because they’re not police. They’re not constrained by anything. I can talk to Hannah, or any of my team, but we’re trained to think in a certain way. Kat, Beth and Doris are off the grid. And besides, they make good coffee, and feed me biscuits. What’s not to like?’
He laughed. ‘I’ll tell her. I’ll even provide some buns. See you tomorrow, Tessa.’ He walked across to his car and climbed in, watching Tessa get to hers and start to drive away, before he started his own vehicle. It briefly occurred to him how lonely she had appeared; perhaps it would have been a good idea in retrospect, if he had invited her to go back to Eyam with him for a meal. Kat wouldn’t have minded…
He slipped the car into first gear and began the long journey home.
With the clouds covering the moon, the night was velvet black. The streetlights, super-efficient new installations that didn’t actually cast a glow, helped to give Jeremy cover, and he sat outside Ed Danver’s new house. Jeremy felt this was meant to be. He had followed the purchase of the property by the lottery winner, but then realised it was being bought in joint names, Ed Danvers and Alyson Read.
When Alyson Read’s name had showed up on the genealogy site Jeremy gravitated towards every night, he checked out her profile and knew he had struck lucky. It was preordained, written in the stars, and every other cliché out there. They would be friends, names he could drop in conversation; like the two footballers who had bought houses through the Derbyshire Homes Estate Agency.
He had connected with his new friends for over an hour. The rain was starting to fall heavily, and he was cold, so he decided it was maybe time to go home.
He turned on the ignition, and eased away from the kerb. He thought the following night he could maybe bring some flowers, leave them stuck into the gate. It would let them know he was thinking about them, and meant them no harm.
Kat placed the paperwork on the coffee table, then handed one of the items, the letter from Jeremy Peterson, to Carl. She’d told him the story, stressed that there had been no contact, but spoke of the young couple’s worries that their address had already been discovered despite their precautions.
Carl read through the letter and sighed. ‘You want me to make this official?’
Kat shook her head. ‘No, and I don’t think they want it either. However, we do know he works for an estate agency, the same people who found them their house. Thoughts?’
‘He’s a stalker. Probably collects celebrities. I can make an unofficial visit if you like, but I do think it’s important the estate agency is told. Particularly as it’s this agency. They find homes for people in the public eye: footballers, TV stars, and all the properties they deal with are expensive. I’ll bet anything he stalks more people than your young couple. His mistake this time was in trying to contact them. He perhaps thought he could take his stalking a step further as they’re new celebrities, and really befriend them.’
‘Can you hang fire for a couple of days? What you’re suggesting makes perfect sense, and he really does deserve to lose his job, but Ed and Alyson are our clients, and I need to keep them informed. I’ll ring them and ask them to come into the office tomorrow. I’ll be on my own; Mouse and Nan are heading off to Scarborough again. And there we come to our second problem. I know you can’t help with it, but I do want to talk it over. That okay?’
‘Is it a brandy or a hot chocolate discussion?’
‘Hot chocolate, I think. My brain’s fried enough without adding alcohol into the mix.’
Carl headed towards the kitchen, then paused in the doorway. ‘You want to tell me how you know where he works?’
‘No.’
‘Okay.’
The hot chocolate went cold. It was clear to Carl how upset Kat was, and together they went through everything.
‘So why do you think the man Mouse and Nan met impersonated the real Michael Fairfax?’
‘I can only guess, but I think it was to close down our investigation. And it would have done. In our heads it was out of the question that Ewan could be Michael’s father. It was only when Ewan spoke of Carla’s photograph, and the child with blonde hair, that we realised somebody was steering us away. But that leaves us with a real problem, because Ewan is our client. He has tasked us with finding his son and has paid a considerable amount of money to do that. We have this new information from Carla Newton and it was clear from the photo that the child was probably Ewan’s. It’s a black and white snap with the baby held up towards Carla’s face, so there’s no doubting that.’
‘But all of this is irrelevant, isn’t it?’ Carl said gently. ‘The only thing on your mind right now is Nan. She’s started seeing a man who has violent tendencies, and you two have to tell her. Am I right?’
‘You are. And she’s shooting off to Scarborough in the morning, so it will have to be tomorrow afternoon. We have to fill her in as soon as possible, although maybe we won’t be the ones breaking it to her. If they track down the real Michael Fairfax tomorrow, she will find out from him, if what we’ve been told is true. Helen Fairfax ran away from Ewan, Carl. She must have been terrified. She’s never let him anywhere near her baby, not even now that baby is fifty years old. You think she told Michael? I do, and because she is quite close to death, he’s following her wishes that he doesn’t ever see his father.’
‘You’re probably right, it does make sense. But what happens when she dies?’
‘No idea. I wish we’d never heard of this bloody man. He seems so nice, but leopards and spots and all that…’
Carl pulled her to him. ‘Maybe we should have had brandy. Do you want me to go and see this estate agency tomorrow?’
‘No, I need to run it by the others first. I won’t see them until tomorrow afternoon, so hold off on that until after we’ve had a meeting.’
‘Oops, I almost forgot. Tessa’s calling in at Connection tomorrow afternoon. Think she needs input. Every avenue she follows turns out to be a dead end. She’s a lot like you, talking it out usually shows the solution.’
‘That’s good. I’ll text Mouse in the morning, let her know. They maybe won’t swan off into Scarborough for fish and chips if they know Tessa is coming.’
‘You feel any better for the chat?’ Carl felt concerned for his fiancée. It seemed to him she looked… haunted.
‘I’m fine.’ She flickered a smile. ‘Hearing about Ewan and his violence towards Helen Fairfax brought the whole situation with Leon back to me. He only hit me once, but it certainly counted. Every so often it overwhelms me, but I get through it. And you help, you know you do.’
Carl pulled her into his arms once more and kissed her. ‘Would it help if we moved? It must be a constant reminder, living here.’
‘I don’t want to move. We’d probably have to leave Eyam, and I don’t want to do that. I love this village, its history, the people who live here. But houses coming up for sale are a bit few and far between, so I’ll have to get him out of my mind. I can do it.’
‘Whatever you say. Bear in mind I’ve accepted an offer on my house today, so we could buy somewhere bigger, or move just for the hell of it, if we wanted. I need you to be happy, to forget all the bad stuff.’
‘The bad stuff goes into the background a little more every day. And life will be a lot better when we sort out this with Nan. I bet Mouse doesn’t sleep too well tonight. Maybe I’ll give her a ring later, check she’s okay.’
26
Doris chose to drive; Mouse chose to think. Her mind refused to close down to everything they had learned about Ewan, but of one thing she was sure. It was better to wait until today’s expedition was over before approaching the s
ubject with all three of them there.
After fifteen minutes of silence, Doris broke it. ‘You okay, sweetheart?’
‘I’m fine, Nan. It’s a bit early. I don’t think I’ve surfaced properly yet. And we’ve no idea how today is going to pan out, my mind’s careering through all sorts of possibilities.’
‘Then close your eyes for a bit. It doesn’t need two of us to drive this car. And I’m a better driver than you.’
‘No, you’re not.’
‘I am.’
‘Nan, if I close my eyes, you’ll be doing eighty in about ten seconds.’
‘So? You won’t need to worry about it, you’ll be asleep.’
‘I’ll stay awake, thanks.’ Mouse turned to look out of the window. ‘Lovely scenery, isn’t it?’
‘Mouse, we live in lovely scenery. Grab that cushion out of the back, and lean your head on it. I’ll have us there in no time.’
‘That’s what I’m worried about.’ Mouse reached behind her for the cushion. ‘No speeding,’ she warned her nan, and tucked the pillow comfortably behind her head.
Doris smiled.
They pulled onto the cul-de-sac, and Doris switched off the engine. ‘Now we wait,’ she said, and glanced at the car clock. ‘I reckon he’ll be on the move in about half an hour. You still want to tackle him here and not at work?’
‘I do. I think he’ll be taken by surprise here and that’s what we need. Get him to work and he’ll have security around him, and I suspect we wouldn’t get in a second time. I’ll put the bonnet up.’
She reached down and pressed the bonnet release, then got out of the car and stretched her body before walking round to the front and anchoring the raised bonnet in place. She reached down and picked up the cushion that fell out of the door as soon as she opened it, and threw it onto the back seat. ‘I’m awake,’ she announced.
Doris smiled at her. ‘Good. Do we need to go over what we’re doing?’
‘We could, if we actually knew what we were doing, but I reckon if a different man to the one we’ve already met walks out of that property there,’ she pointed, ‘we get out and cross over the road. He needs to hear us call Michael, that will tell us if we’ve got this right.’
They settled down to wait, and when the tap came on the side window, Doris didn’t flinch. They hadn’t driven all this way to be side-tracked by a neighbour wanting to know if they were burglars. Mouse dealt with him.
She smiled sweetly and lowered the car window.
‘Do you need help?’ The small dog to which he was attached gave a low growl.
‘No, we’re fine, thank you. We pulled onto this cul-de-sac so we didn’t affect other cars on the main road. It’s jumping about like a kangaroo, so we’ve called the AA. They’ve said they’ll be here in the next ten minutes.’ Once again she smiled.
‘Oh, okay… I’ll leave you to get on with it then. Can’t be too careful these days,’ he said, and let the little dog drag him away.
It was two minutes later when the door they were watching opened. A man with light grey hair stood in the open doorway.
Doris and Mouse moved fast. Doris, who was closest to him, immediately headed across the road, and Mouse dropped the bonnet. She caught up with Doris, and they watched as the man walked to his garage.
‘Michael!’ Mouse called, and he stopped and turned to face them. His head dropped as if in surrender, and he made no further moves towards getting his car out of his garage.
Doris held up her ID, and he shook his head.
‘I don’t need to see that. I saw you both on CCTV the other day at Fairfax.’
‘You are Michael Fairfax?’ Mouse asked.
‘I am.’
‘Then who did we speak to on Monday?’
‘My half-brother. My mother married a man called Walter North. Patrice was their child.’
‘We really need to speak with you, Mr Fairfax. We can head to your offices if it will be easier for you.’
‘No, I’ll call and tell them to cancel my appointments for today. I get the feeling I may not want to go to work. Please, come in.’ He moved towards his door, defeat written across his features.
He had a beautiful home, and they moved into the lounge. He headed towards the kitchen to make drinks.
Mouse walked around the room, occasionally picking up photographs. If the one on the windowsill was Helen Fairfax, she was a good-looking woman. As Michael walked in carrying a tray, Mouse turned to him. ‘Is this Helen?’
‘It is. She’s beautiful, isn’t she?’
Mouse moved to sit down, and she smiled at him. ‘We haven’t come here to upset any apple carts, or cause any bother. We’re here to give you some facts, and then we’ll leave you to decide what you want to do. If you want to do nothing, that’s fine.’
‘Maybe I should give you some facts, as a starting point. When you called at the office on Monday, Patrice and I panicked. We’d sort of known this would happen one day, and to be honest, if it had happened in six months’ time or so, there would have been no need for subterfuge. We thought we could close down your investigation by Patrice saying he was Michael Fairfax. Where did we go wrong?’
‘Your mother had a friend, and shortly after you were born, a photograph of you in Carla’s arms was taken. Carla still had the photograph.’ Mouse took out her phone and found the picture. She handed it to Michael.
He stared at it. ‘I’ve never seen this before. I expect Mum sent her the only copy. But there’s no way this baby is anything like Patrice,’ he said with a rueful expression clouding his features. ‘As I said, it was a spur of the minute thing on Monday, and we actually thought we’d pulled it off. It came as a shock to see you outside my door this morning.’
‘I’m sorry, we don’t want to cause you any upset or grief, but we have a client, your father.’
‘Ewan Barker,’ he said quietly.
Mouse felt Doris stiffen and she turned to check she was okay.
‘You’ve been told about your birth?’ Mouse asked Michael.
‘I have. Do you know, my mother is near to the end of her life, and she’s still terrified of him. It’s why neither of us have any presence visually on the Internet. His treatment of her when they were together was horrific, and while it’s a kind of reaction in me to meet up with him and batter him senseless, it would be pointless. Mum’s coming to the end of her life, I don’t want to rock the boat in any way. She’s still quite mobile, although every day she seems a little more fragile.’
There was the sound of a key being inserted followed by a door opening at the back of the house, and a woman’s voice called out. ‘Michael? Are you okay? I watched for your car leaving…’
Michael’s sigh spoke volumes. ‘I’m in the lounge, Mum.’
Helen Fairfax entered the room, and even at such an early hour, she looked beautiful. Michael stood and walked towards her.
‘Mum…’
Mouse rose to her feet and held out her hand. ‘Mrs Fairfax. I’m so pleased to meet you.’
Helen looked first at Mouse, then at Doris. ‘Who are you?’ Her body stiffened, and Mouse knew Helen was adding two and two together.
Nobody spoke, and Mouse looked to Michael for assistance.
‘Mum, come and sit down. Do you need anything? You’ve had your pain medication?’
‘I have. Is this to do with… him? Ewan is it? Have you looked for him?’
‘Mum, slow down and I’ll tell you what I know, which isn’t very much because we’ve hardly started talking. These ladies have been hired by… him… to trace me. Not you, me. You don’t need to fear anything. He can’t hurt you.’
Mouse shot a quick glance towards her nan, but Doris’s face was like stone. To continue to be professional was imperative, but Nan wasn’t reacting too well to what she was seeing, that much was clear.
‘Nan,’ she said quietly, ‘would you like to go out to the car? I can deal with this.’
Michael turned round at Mouse’s words. ‘Are you oka
y?’ he asked, but one look at Doris’s face could tell him she was far from okay.
Doris took a deep breath. She had to know what had happened all those years ago to cause such fear in this woman, a fear she had presumably lived with all her life, and was taking to her grave.
‘I’m fine,’ she announced. ‘Mrs Fairfax, come and sit down, please, and we can talk, then we can get out of your son’s house. I hope you’ll feel easier in your mind when we’ve finished.’
Helen stared at the woman who she presumed to be of a similar age to her, and nodded. ‘Tea, please, Michael,’ she said, and sat by Doris’s side.
Michael carried his mother’s cup of tea through, and placed it on the coffee table in front of her.
‘Right,’ she said, ‘let’s hear what you all have to say. Michael, tell me how you met these two ladies.’
Michael gave a short bark of laughter. ‘They shouted me from across the road this morning, as I was leaving for the office.’
‘And is this connected with Ewan Barker?’
‘It is, Mrs Fairfax,’ Mouse interrupted. ‘But he has no idea we’re here, and he doesn’t know we have located you. I give you my word that we will not be telling him we met you. He has paid us to track down his son. However, it is up to Michael whether he sees him or not. We’ll not be disclosing where he lives if he says he doesn’t want Mr Barker to know.’
‘That man,’ Helen Fairfax almost growled, ‘very nearly killed me and Michael. He was the most controlling person I have ever known. He wouldn’t let me speak to anyone, and if another man so much as glanced my way, I paid for it with a good hiding. I was seven months pregnant, scared of my own shadow, and he insisted I go over to his house where he lived with his mother. He said he wanted to talk about our wedding. I didn’t want to marry him, but I couldn’t make him see that. I caught the bus, and he was waiting at the stop when I got off.’
She paused, the tears in her eyes evident.
‘I said thank you to the conductor who steadied me as the bus pulled up. It was obvious, of course, that I was pregnant. I paid for saying thank you with the hammering of my life. I was almost unconscious when he kicked me in the stomach. Luckily his mother came back from wherever she had been, and rang for an ambulance. They kept me in hospital for over a week, and I prayed every day my baby would be okay. They saved his life, but nobody knew if he would be damaged by the kick.’