Tales of Retribution

by Fiona J Roberts

  Thinking back over his conquests, Tim knew already that Caroline was different. What was it about her that made him sure of that? It was the small things that others may not notice. The way she carried herself, her dignity, her serenity and style. Had the lightning bolt finally struck?

  The conversation with Brad was called to mind. Asking whether any of the ladies had made him want to settle down, Tim had laughed. Brad didn’t know how his marriage had ended, so he didn’t know how ridiculous that suggestion was. Or how ridiculous it had seemed then. Now he wasn’t so sure.

  Chapter 25

  Over the years, Anna had lost contact with Heather and Beth. Turning up every couple of weeks to tell them that she had nothing to report had become redundant. Checking on Beth and how she was settling in with Heather had stopped being a requirement too. At some point, she had made the decision to withdraw from their lives.

  That did not mean that the case of Timothy Travers was closed for Anna, or any of the other officers involved. Just because he had got away with murder so far, didn’t mean that they would shrug their shoulders and give up. Mechanisms had been put in place to flag up if Tim put his head above the parapet.

  It was unlikely that he would use his real name for anything. That would be offering an invitation for the police to come calling. Had Tim managed, somehow, to get abroad, and was living quite happily elsewhere? Anna hated to think that he was happy and contented in any part of the world.

  Anna and Beth were linked on social media. They didn’t contact each other, but it gave them a window into each other’s lives. Anna was able to follow the important moments in Beth’s life, and she had been delighted to see her good exam results and learn that she was going to attend college.

  Although she had never voiced it, Anna felt that Beth knew she was always there in the background, should she need help or advice. As the first officer on the scene after her mother was murdered, she felt like she had a special bond with Beth, even if they did not talk or send messages all the time.

  At the time of Alison’s murder, she was Police Constable Anna Murphy. She’d only been a couple of years into her police career at that stage. Now, she was an inspector. Her working life was busy, with socialising definitely taking a back seat. There had been less and less time to call in on Beth for a cup of tea and a chat.

  Catching sight of Beth as she looked at social media always made her stop and think. At ten years old, the girl had been more or less orphaned. Her grandmother had taken her in, but had been reluctant to do so. Somehow this child had grown up, worked hard, and risen above the tragedies in her life.

  The news that Beth was going to study journalism at college had pleased Anna. Beth had talked about becoming a police officer at one time, but that was because she wanted to find her father. As usual, as she read about the girl, Anna would think that she ought to go and visit her at some time. Then life got in the way and another couple of months would pass.

  Anna made herself a promise. She must go and see Beth in the next few weeks. Be it a quick hello or a long chat, contact had to be made. Flicking through her diary, Anna pencilled in a couple of dates that would work for her. The phone was ringing and she answered a call from her office reluctantly. The timing suggested that she would be off to another crime scene.

  Chapter 26

  Beth took one look at Nana and knew that she was dead. It looked like she had tumbled off a chair onto the floor. Legs bent and arms splayed, it appeared that rigor mortis had set in. Beth, once more, had to check whether one of her relatives was dead. Nana was cold, and it seemed unnecessary and undignified to carry out any further investigation. She would leave that to the professionals.

  The fact that the kitchen floor remained unwashed was one of the main giveaways. Beth seriously considered mopping it, because she knew that Nana would be horrified at the thought of people in what she considered a filthy house.

  Although this was not likely to be a crime scene, Beth decided not to touch anything else. Dialling the emergency services on her phone, she waited for the friendly, calm operator to answer.

  “Hello. I’ve just come home from college and I’ve found my grandmother – well, she appears to be dead.”

  “Have you checked to see if she is breathing?”

  Beth had been through all of this before. There was sadness at the loss of Nana, but she couldn’t muster up any tears. Another person had left her and she could only think about what might happen next. Waiting for the police to arrive, she watched an episode of Tales of Retribution. The one where the man who killed his wife was caught.

  Anna was asked to attend the incident, as she had prior contact with the family, and she made her way to the house she had visited many times before. Seven years had passed since the murder of Beth’s mother. No trace of Timothy Travers had ever been found, and Anna had not called on Heather and Beth for a few years. The ambulance arrived at the same time and she entered the house with her colleague and the paramedics.

  “Hi Beth.” Anna was looking at a girl of seventeen, not the child she remembered.

  “Oh, hi Anna. I hoped it would be you. Nana’s in the kitchen.” Beth managed a small smile.

  Another officer stood patiently watching the pair talk and feeling redundant. All three of them entered the small kitchen with the paramedics and looked at the woman sprawled on the floor. One of the medics felt for a pulse and then shook his head.

  “She’s gone, I’m afraid. We’ll get the medical examiner and he will arrange for her to be moved. Let’s go in the other room, Beth, and you can tell me what happened,” Anna said.

  “It’s a short story, really. I went out to college this morning. Nana was still in bed when I left. She’s not a morning person. When I got back twenty minutes ago, I found her on the floor like that. She hadn’t done any cleaning, so I suspect she died sometime this morning.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Oh, Anna, I don’t really know. I’m sad that she has died, but we were never really close. You know what she was like. I’m just worried about what will happen to me next.”

  “Did your grandmother leave a will?”

  “She talked about it at one time, but I didn’t really listen. It was one of those conversations that she was having with herself, you know? There is a box file upstairs that she keeps paperwork in. I could check that.”

  “I’ll go.” Anna went in search of the file. Hopefully, Heather had done the right thing for once and left everything to her granddaughter. If it could be found it might be the thing that could set Beth’s mind at rest. It might be a bit morbid, immediately looking for the will, but Beth needed stability and reassurance and this would, hopefully, be the best way to provide it.

  As Anna walked upstairs, she took a deep breath and said a silent prayer. What if she found the will and Beth wasn’t mentioned? As a relative she could try to go through the courts to get something, but that would take time and cause great anxiety. Her fingers were crossed. A box file, Beth had said. There were four of them crammed full of paper and Anna shook her head. This was going to take some time.

  “Beth.” Anna called down the stairs. “Come and give me a hand with these files.”

  Anna and Beth sat on the floor in the lounge and began to sort through the paperwork. It was a way to distract the girl whilst the gruesome task of removing Nana’s body was happening. Opening the first file, they both knew that the important stuff would be in the last one they looked at.

  Bank statements going back years, recipes clipped from magazines, utility bills, details of several types of diets – the first box was not very interesting. The second file had information about investments, share certificates, and years of tax forms and pension paperwork. The third box file was all about Alison.

  Beth slowly leafed through the school reports and certificates. Second in a swimming gala. Ballet exams. Photographs of Alison from baby to woman. A wedding photo showing Alison and Tim looking happy and perfect. Tears sprang into Beth�
��s eyes as she peered at the image and then recalled the reality.

  The final file was opened and this was where the most important papers were. Divorce papers. A will dated five years before. It was what Anna hoped it would be: everything left to Heather’s granddaughter, Beth. It would make things much easier going forward.

  “Thanks for helping me with this, Anna.”

  “No problem.”

  “I don’t know what to do next. Will you help me sort everything out?”

  “Of course I will. Now, we will get something to eat and forget about all the legal stuff. That can wait for another day.”

  Anna stayed with Beth late into the evening. They watched an episode of Tales of Retribution together and Beth visibly relaxed once the programme started.

  “Will you be alright on your own?” Anna dallied by the front door, worried about leaving.

  “Anna, I’m fine. Anyway, I’ll have to get used to it, won’t I. I’ll be on my own, but I don’t mind that.”

  A house full of arguments and violence had been followed by a house full of manic activity. Beth looked around the hallways and then wandered into each of the rooms. The silence of her home didn’t unnerve her, it made her calm. Nana had gone, and she felt relieved.

  Chapter 27

  Anna became a frequent visitor at Beth’s house again. She was not there to bring the news that there was no news in the hunt for her father. Her role was now as adviser and, to a certain extent, mentor. Her first job had been helping with the paperwork and legal matters that had arisen after Heather’s death.

  Beth fired up her laptop and checked her bank statement. A crash course in finances and running a home had been forced upon her by circumstance. Already fairly self-sufficient, it had not been too daunting. Anna had supplied the answers to a diverse number of questions, everything from paying bills to cooking.

  After mastering her domestic situation, Beth had other things that she wanted to learn from Anna.

  “My dad… he’s not been caught, and it’s been eight years since he killed Mum. What do you think has happened to him?”

  “I think we can assume that he is not using his real name. That’s not as easy as it sounds. He won’t have any ID. That means no proper job, no bank account, no benefits. Life won’t be easy for him.”

  “Could he be dead?”

  “I don’t think so. A body would initiate an enquiry. If he was murdered and his body hidden, we wouldn’t know about that.”

  “So, the case is still open.”

  “Of course. It will stay open until we find him. I have to be honest though, Beth, it becomes harder with each passing year. He will look different and, if he has managed to hide for this length of time, it will be hard to find him.”

  “I hate to think that he is out there somewhere, living a good life. To be honest, I hate to think that he is living any kind of life.”

  “Sometimes you need a bit of luck. We won’t give up. One day we might get a phone call, a tipoff, and who knows.”

  Beth would often think about her father. All her thoughts and imaginings would be about finding him and getting retribution. A number of fantasies played out in her head. Walking down the street and seeing him; watching the television, and as a news reporter spoke to the camera he would be passing by in the background; a photograph would appear in a newspaper; he would do something wrong and someone would snitch on him.

  It was never the police who found him in her dreams. Seeing him in the dock in a courtroom would be okay, but he deserved a real punishment. Beth wanted to have that moment, like in Tales of Retribution, where the masked detective listed the crimes before dispatching the villain.

  “Do you worry about him turning up, Beth?”

  “No. If he hasn’t bothered with me all these years, he’s not going to appear now. I hope he is found one day. It would finish things off, if you know what I mean.”

  “It would, but you have to accept that he may never be found. I don’t want you putting your life on hold. If you are only focused on revenge, life will pass you by. Finish your education, go out and party, get a job, meet a boy.”

  A rueful smile was all that Beth could manage. Anna was right. Retribution had been her obsession, but it would have to take a back seat for a while. Timothy Travers would always be in her thoughts and, if the opportunity came, Beth would get her revenge. Now, she had freedom and money. It was not in her nature to go off the rails, but a little fun was long overdue. The trouble was, she had forgotten how to relax and enjoy herself.

  Chapter 28

  Anna had been pleased to reacquaint herself with Beth. Sadly, it was another death that had brought them back together. Mother, father and grandmother had all gone from Beth’s life. The circumstances had been tragic in every case and yet the girl had survived it all. Another, weaker, person would be broken by what had happened.

  Recalling the girl, aged ten, Anna had seen her resilience even back then. A tough childhood seemed to have inured Beth to the traumatic events around her. Used to avoiding the chaos and arguments between her parents, she had learned to isolate herself and her feelings. Beth cried, laughed and worried like other people, just to a lesser extent.

  Seeing the teenage Beth had revealed that, whilst she had grown, her placid nature had remained. Just a few tears for her grandmother, and then understandable anxiety about her future, were followed by the usual grim determination. Anna was happy to be able to help find the will and start to put her mind at rest. But her work wasn’t finished.

  Aware that being seventeen and having no adult guidance would be tough for Beth, Anna would have to step up. The first tasks were to arrange the funeral and then help with the legal work of winding up Heather’s estate. It soon became apparent that much more straightforward assistance was necessary.

  Maybe another teenager would have developed a number of skills that Beth was lacking. All Anna knew was that basic things like cooking, managing money, laundry and food shopping were a mystery to Beth. If the girl was going to live on her own, a crash course in life was required.

  Approaching the problem, Anna had two goals in mind: give Beth enough knowledge to cope on her own; and equip her with the skills to relax about her life and have some fun. Anna was a friend, but Beth needed people her own age to socialise with. She needed to go out and live a little. She needed to find a boyfriend.

  Some of the things were easy. Boiling an egg, cooking chops, preparing vegetables – you could teach those things. How do you persuade someone to enjoy themselves? The solution would, surely, be achieved by some sort of therapy. The suggestion that Beth might benefit from talking to someone was rejected. Anna needed a new plan.

  The only plan B that Anna could come up with was to carry out the treatment herself. She would become Beth’s de facto psychotherapist. Nothing fancy or difficult would be attempted, they would just talk it out.

  “How have you been since Nana died?” Anna was starting a discussion.

  “Okay.” Beth barely looked up as she replied.

  “No, not good enough. ‘Okay’ doesn’t tell me anything.”

  “Hmm, I am a bit sad sometimes, which is surprising. Nana was difficult and self-centred but she did take me in when I needed a home. Life with her wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad either. Mostly I’m feeling lost. Similar to how I felt after Mum was killed.”

  “What do you mean by ‘lost’?”

  “Like I don’t have a place anywhere. When Mum was murdered, my home and family were gone. I didn’t belong with Nana, I just stayed here. Now I have inherited this house and it still doesn’t feel like it’s mine.”

  “At the moment it doesn’t feel like it’s yours because it reflects Heather. Change things, get new stuff, decorate, make it yours. Or, if that seems impossible, sell it and buy a new place.”

  “I’m caught in a – what do you call it? – catch-22. It’s still Nana’s house so I can’t change it, but to make it mine I need to. I can’t face moving somewhere else
, so I have to do something.”

  “Right, what in this house do you really not like?”

  “Oh God, loads of things.”

  “Pick one.”

  “The artificial flowers. They’re everywhere.”

  “Okay, grab a bin bag and we’ll get rid of them. Step one.”

  The rooms were toured and the offending articles were removed. Already the place looked less twee. Beth stood back and admired their work. Then she smiled. Over the next few weeks, traces of Nana were removed and Beth looked happier. The house was becoming her home.

  And with her own home, Beth was finding that she now had a place. Security gave her the space she needed to relax. Relaxing meant that she was ready to find friends and have fun. Anna was rather pleased with her work. Not a proper therapist, she had got to the heart of the problem and encouraged change. Of course, nothing was that easy. There would be many more conversations and a lot more troubles shared in the years to come.

  Chapter 29

  Blazer, shirt, jeans and shiny shoes: Tim was ready for his date with Caroline. Two months into the relationship, things were going well. Not normally looking for anything long-term, he’d had not one thought about moving on, not one doubt about what he was doing. No one was more surprised about it than him.

  Caroline had been on her way out of the abyss when she went on the voyage. Breast cancer followed by divorce. The two problems had been intertwined, her illness magnifying the problems in her marriage. Her husband had spent little time with her before she became sick, but, not able or willing to cope with it, he was barely around once her health failed.

  Her husband had been described as an automaton. Caroline said that as he progressed in his career, he had become work obsessed and focused less on his family and more on his job. The fight for promotion had become the most important thing in his life. He could not see that he was neglecting his wife and son.