The Secrets of Tenley House

by Patricia Dixon

  It was such a drag to have to talk and even though Georgie could hear her own voice, it sounded like that of a stranger, gravelly and weary, and so bloody old. This thought depressed her, educing a large sigh before she spoke.

  “Vanessa darling, are you feeling unwell? You seem terribly pale, is everything alright?”

  “I’m fine, Georgie. Don’t exert yourself. Now, would you like something to eat? I’ve made you some soup.” Vanessa smoothed the covers on the bed, allowing another faint smile.

  “That would be lovely, darling, but not too much.” Pushing herself upwards, Georgie watched as Vanessa brought the over-bed table and placed it in front of her.

  Taking her seat by the bedside, Vanessa watched as Georgie sipped her soup. At the same time, Georgie observed Vanessa whose demeanour always gave her away. She was being shifty and coy. Something was up so Georgie played the game of old, circumventing the issue to give Vanessa time to show her hand.

  “Has Sandy calmed down now? What on earth was the matter with her earlier? I’ve never seen her that way, not in all these years. Really, her behaviour is most out of character. I shan’t have her speaking to people like that so she will have to apologise, when she’s sober. Have you dealt with her for now?”

  It was then that Vanessa let out a slight chuckle which she corrected quickly, but she was definitely amused by something, excitable even. Her voice confirmed any suspicions Georgie had.

  “Oh yes, Georgie, I’ve dealt with her, and Sandy won’t ever speak to anyone like that again, not ever.” Vanessa was becoming bolder and looked Georgie straight in the eye.

  “What do you mean you’ve dealt with her, have you dismissed her?” Georgie was beginning to worry because even though Sandy had been drunk and out of order, after years of loyal service, she deserved another chance. Not only that, they needed her to run the house.

  Vanessa didn’t answer straight away and instead she went over to the window and drew the curtains, shutting out the early evening, closing them inside. In that precise moment, Georgie knew Vanessa was hiding something, working out an excuse, just like when she was a child. What had she done this time?

  When she turned, Vanessa’s smile sent a slight chill through Georgie’s weakened bones. The girl looked rather odd, there was a strange look in her eye, like she had a secret to tell and one she was bursting to share and get Georgie on side. Like the time she put bleach in the fish pond after she tumbled in and got covered in green slime. Poor fish, even though Georgie had mentioned they were smelly and the water attracted midges, there had been no need to kill them. Yes, that was how she had looked that day, as though she wanted praise for her actions.

  Of course, Georgie had kept the secret and was rather glad when the pond was filled with soil and planted with lovely flowers, but still, it was rather cruel and she cautioned Vanessa against causing pain to any living thing, making her promise never to do it again. Something about the way Vanessa stood tall and walked slowly over to the bed, confident and yes, amused, reminded Georgie of that day, and a prickle of unease accompanied the chilling of bones.

  Vanessa picked up her chair and moved it closer to the bed so that when she sat, her body was right by Georgie’s side, much too near, oppressive even. “Now I don’t want you upsetting yourself but I have something to tell you and you must listen very carefully to what I have to say.”

  “Oh dear, it’s about Sandy isn’t it. What’s happened? Has she been rude again?” Georgie placed the spoon in her bowl and looked perplexed.

  “Yes, it’s about Sandy.”

  It was there again, that look. Georgie rested back against her pillows, for some reason wishing to create distance between her and Vanessa. Her manner was very unnerving.

  Vanessa broke eye contact as she pushed the table nearer to Georgie, indicating that she should eat before Vanessa answered the question.

  “There’s no need for you to worry about anything. I have made sure Sandy won’t cause any more trouble or go sharing secrets. We will manage quite well without her and from now on it will be just the two of us, you and I against the world.” Vanessa took hold of Georgie’s hand, stroking the back of it with her free clammy palm.

  “What do you mean? What have you done?” Georgie tried to pull her hand away but it was held in a firm grip while the stroking was making her skin crawl.

  “Now please don’t panic or distress yourself but Sandy is dead. She drowned in the swimming pool.”

  “Dead? Sandy’s dead?”

  “Yes. I found her in the orangery, staggering about with a bottle of brandy in her hand, talking rubbish and going on about God and miracles. It was like she’d lost her mind.”

  Georgie could not speak at first. Her lips felt numb and a cool liquid was swirling around in her stomach while a maelstrom of fear and disbelief confused and fogged her brain. During the enforced silence, Vanessa chose to continue with her confessional.

  “She was there, you see, the day Daphne died. Sandy told me it was her fault that Daphne tripped and banged her head. That odious woman was peering through the window of the swimming pool like a creepy snooper and startled Daphne, Sandy admitted it to me.”

  Somehow managing to form words through the haze of confusion, Georgie spoke in a hushed, incredulous tone.

  “Sandy was responsible for Daphne’s death…? Oh dear God, all this time she’s lived under our roof and kept such a dreadful secret. I can’t take it in, or believe she would do such a wicked thing. You should have called the police and had her locked up.”

  “No! I can’t call the police not yet. I’ll ring them in the morning and tell them I found her there. It will look like an accident but we have to get our stories straight otherwise they might suspect foul play. Do you understand?”

  “Yes… I think so. But what do you want me to say? I’m confused, Vanessa. What’s going on, why can’t we just tell the truth?” Georgie’s heart was racing and that uneasy feeling was spreading through every part of her body and she so wished Vanessa would let go of her hand.

  “All you have to do is say that Sandy brought our food upstairs, she was very drunk and we were cross so dismissed her for the evening and that’s the last we saw of her. I will discover her body in the morning and make the necessary phone calls.”

  “But why do we have to lie?”

  “Because if I tell them what she said about Daphne, I have a motive for killing her and it’s not worth the risk. This way is best, you have to trust me.”

  “Yes, I see that now, I understand.” Georgie felt relieved when finally, on hearing what she wanted, Vanessa let go of her hand and released her from a trap.

  “But that doesn’t explain why she was there in the first place. What was she doing? Did she try to hurt you, Vanessa? And how did she fall in? Did you try to save her? It must have been terrifying.”

  “Georgie! You need to keep up… Sandy didn’t fall in, I pushed her. It was my fault she drowned. She knew too much and had been telling lies. All this time she had been keeping a secret so she had to be punished and silenced.” Vanessa’s spoke quickly and not in a gentle way like earlier. “Now do you understand?”

  The sharpness of Vanessa’s voice betrayed anger and impatience, causing Georgie to start and shrink back slightly. Vanessa’s face was awash with irritation and it was there again, that hint of amusement, an eagerness to share. Despite her growing sense of unease and with a certain amount of dread, Georgie asked her to continue.

  “I’m sorry, Vanessa, I am listening, I truly am, so why don’t you explain.”

  Vanessa smiled, glad to have Georgie’s full attention and this time, in a soothing tone, eerie even, she answered as if talking to a fool, or an innocent child who believed in the tooth fairy and Father Christmas, and it was time for them to grow up and leave such nonsense behind. Cruel to be kind.

  “I told you, she saw what happened, she was there. She knows I killed Daphne.”

  As the words fell on Georgie’s ears, it was as tho
ugh they were being sucked through a vortex, a swirling spinning cyclone of disbelief and horror, the ferocity of which made her swoon, only just able to cling on to consciousness. Tears swam before her eyes and as Georgie’s pill-soaked brain grappled with whatever erudite thoughts remained, the only thing it came up with was that Vanessa was disturbed, perhaps by the sight of another floating body or the loss of her father and some psychotic episode had taken hold, haggling her brain.

  “What do you mean you killed Daphne? Please, Vanessa, stop this nonsense at once. I don’t believe you would do such a wicked thing, you were just a little girl at the time.”

  “It’s not nonsense, it’s true and I’m not wicked, I’m not. You just don’t understand. It wasn’t my fault, it was all their doing… Daddy and Granny and that nosey parker Sandy. They made me do it and Daphne deserved it; she was going to have a baby and I didn’t want one, then she slapped my legs so I made her a picture to say sorry…” Vanessa was in a rage, her face puce, forehead dripping with sweat while her eyes burned, full of anger. And the voice, it was that of a petulant child, speaking from the lips of a grown woman.

  Tears spilled onto Georgie’s cheeks that were frozen by horror while her ears rang with the voice of triumph, unable to block out the sound of Vanessa’s eager confession. All Georgie could do was listen, the truth of the past bearing down, crushing her chest and paralysing her body with fear.

  Vanessa

  It was cold sitting by Daphne who was motionless, lying on her side on the swimming pool floor. Vanessa had been mesmerised for a time by the rivulets of blood that leaked from the cut in her mother’s head. It ran along the tiles and over the edge before trickling down the side and into the water which turned a misty pink, clouds of blood spreading across the surface. It was a bit creepy in the poolroom. Vanessa’s voice echoed when she spoke and outside in the grey gloomy morning light, a mini gale was blowing. The summer storm had blown in overnight, breaking through the humidity of a sweltering July. As the rain lashed down, it sounded like fingers tapping on the windows of the orangery and it was beginning to scare Vanessa.

  “Please, Mummy, wake up, wake up now so I can show you my drawing… stop being a big baby and wake up.” Vanessa implored Daphne; after all it was just a bit of blood, like when she cut her knee on the terrace. That’s what everyone told her when she had cried, so Mummy was no different.

  Vanessa prodded her mother, a firm poke, temper and impatience at the fore. From deep within her unconscious state, Daphne responded just slightly, barely opening her eyes before groaning in pain then slipping back into blackness.

  “Mummy. Wake up, wake up now!” Vanessa shouted and pushed Daphne hard which caused her to roll onto her back, her right arm slipping from her hip and hanging limply over the side of the pool, fingertips skimming the water.

  Exasperated, Vanessa sat back onto her bottom, her bent legs were stiff and her knees hurt from the hard tiles. Tilting her head to the side, she observed her stupid mummy who was sleeping like a big baby. Perhaps Mummy needed a plaster for her cut, but they didn’t give Vanessa one when she hurt her knee. Instead they cleaned it with stingy antiseptic and said the air would make it better.

  Stretching out her legs, Vanessa placed her feet against Daphne’s left arm and kicked out in temper. “Mummy, Mummy, Mummy.” Nothing.

  Vanessa kicked harder, really angry. She was cold and hungry too. On the last kick, she saw Daphne’s shoulder tip downwards, tilting into the water below. Vanessa giggled, thinking how funny it would be if Mummy went in. That’d teach her. Resting her wet feet against Daphne’s midriff, Vanessa pushed hard against her mother’s cold damp skin and instantly the weight of the overhanging body caused enough momentum for her to tip and as she entered the water, making a small splash, a delicate plop.

  Nudging across the tiles on her bottom, Vanessa watched from the side of the pool as Daphne’s submerged body was enveloped in pink swirls, her arms flapping gently like a swan, hair swishing gracefully outwards as bubbles popped to the surface. Sitting cross-legged Vanessa was transfixed by Daphne who, while still sleeping, began rising to the surface. When her body emerged at the edge of the pool just close enough for Vanessa to touch her, she slid her feet over the side and rested them on Daphne’s shoulders, pushing downwards, sending the body back below the surface. This time it moved further away and bobbed up out of reach so Vanessa watched in silence as Daphne floated face down across the pool on a pale pink tide.

  A flash of lightning streaked across the grey sky, making Vanessa jump and become fearful of what she knew would come next, thunder. She hated it more than the lightning and as she heard the slow rumble and the tapping fingers on the window, she scrambled to her feet, covering her ears as she made for the door. Standing on her tiptoes, she tried to grab the handle and pull open the door but it was too heavy so she thumped and kicked instead, crying out in terror. While lightning crashed behind her and thunder rumbled overhead, Daphne’s body glided serenely across the pool, bathed in pink, illuminated by bright flashes of silver.

  The rest was history and had been reported in the press, local and national, and everyone grieved for the tragic family who had lost a wife, mother and unborn baby. The star of the story was the poor little girl who had found her mother drowned in the pool and then, to add to the horror, had become trapped.

  Traumatised by her ordeal she was absented from the funeral and ever since treated with kid gloves, indulged and forgiven many transgressions, not least by Georgie. Vanessa had thrived on the drama, took advantage of her father’s grief and capitalised on her grandmother’s spite, suffering a stream of incompetent nannies and just about tolerating Sandy. The only person she truly loved and admired was Georgie and for her she would do anything, absolutely anything.

  Georgie and Vanessa

  Vanessa was illuminated, quite clearly energised by the telling of her tale and finally unburdening herself of such a thrilling and well-kept secret. Georgie was, however, horrified and as she swallowed down bile and begged her hammering heart to be calm and not burst through her chest, waited for Vanessa to continue as right at that moment, words failed her.

  “You look shocked, Georgie, but you have to understand that Sandy was there, she told me she was looking through the window and saw everything. It was only a matter of time before she started blabbing to anyone who would listen… The woman was a drunken liability who I fear was about to expose me. She was unhinged. I had to do it, you do understand, don’t you?”

  Unhinged, the word sounded hollow but came with warning lights and flags that were flashing and waving in Georgie’s face because the true mad person was sitting by her side, smiling like a deranged angel, convinced of her own saintly mission. Shock was beginning to perform its own sobering miracle and perhaps the desire for survival aided her brain which began assembling its thoughts, grappling amongst a mound of information.

  When she needed it the most, Georgie remembered she was an actress, always had been, always would be and now was the time to put on her very best performance and earn herself an academy award.

  “Yes, of course I do, Vanessa. You were so little I’m sure you didn’t understand the consequences of your actions and nobody would blame you, I certainly don’t. But what about Sandy? We have to ring the police or the doctor tonight. It’s not right that we leave her down there. Perhaps once you’ve explained she was drunk they’d understand that it was an accident, I’m sure they would.”

  “No! Pay attention, Georgie, have you not been listening? None of it was an accident, not Daphne or Sandy… Don’t you see I did it on purpose, it’s quite easy. Actually I’m rather good at it. I can kill anything and anybody just like that.” A click of the fingers, a slow smile, then she continued.

  “I’ve always had to protect myself, you see, and us. I’d do anything to keep you close to me, just anything. So I kept my ears and eyes open and believe me, in this house it was necessary, you can’t trust anybody.”

  Whatever
bravado Georgie had felt moments earlier was fast escaping her and like a starlet caught in the footlights waiting for a prompt from the wings, she strained her ears and waited. When it came, her voice was barely audible, gripped by stage fright.

  “What do you mean, you did it on purpose, and why did we need protection? Dear God, Vanessa, what have you done?” Georgie swallowed down her terror and placed a trembling hand to her throat. Her lips could barely move, fear was seeping into her bones but she forced out a question, spoken in a whispered voice, full of dread. And as she waited, Georgie knew the next words would haunt her forever.

  Vanessa inhaled deeply, then let out a deep sigh and rolled her eyes as though she were addressing a fool. She was enjoying the drama of the moment. Tilting her head to one side, Vanessa observed Georgie who had no idea how instrumental she had been in all of this and how hard she had worked to secure a wonderful future for them both. It was time she came clean. How proud Georgie would be of her clever, willing devotee who had watched and learned from the very moment they met.

  “Shush now, Georgie. Don’t distress yourself because I have it all under control. I will leave Sandy where she is and tomorrow, when Mrs Coombs comes in to clean she will find the empty bottle of whisky in the kitchen and another one floating in the pool with Sandy. I will explain that after dinner, which we ate in here, we both went to bed and at some point afterwards, she must have drunk herself into a stupor and toppled into the pool. We will be bereft at the loss of a loyal member of staff although it might be prudent to mention that her drinking was becoming a worry of late. The delivery boy will back us up. After all, he saw what a state she was in earlier. I promise, it will be fine, trust me.”

  “Vanessa, Sandy was our friend. She looked after you all these years. How can you hope to get away with it and lie to the police… What if you’re found out? You’ll go to prison, we both will.”