Father Unknown

by Lesley Pearse

  Daisy only knew what Ellen did to her because the nurse had told her when she first came round. She certainly wasn’t up to discussing it yet.

  She lifted the hand without the drip in it, and tentatively touched the bandages around her head. ‘Have they cut off my hair?’ she asked in a whisper.

  ‘Some of it, round the wound,’ Lucy said. ‘But don’t worry about that, it will soon grow again. You’ll be as good as new in no time.’

  Even through the fog in her mind Daisy was aware Lucy was terribly afraid she wouldn’t be. ‘I’m so glad you came,’ she managed to get out. ‘I’m sorry if I’m not really with it.’

  ‘Just to see you awake and hear you speaking is enough,’ Lucy blurted out, and bent closer to her. ‘That’s why I came alone. You see, when I thought I was going to lose you, it made me see how much I love you. I knew I must tell you.’

  Confused and groggy as Daisy was, Lucy’s words struck right through to her heart. She was deeply touched that her little sister who was always in control, so unemotional, could be moved enough to express her feelings.

  ‘Bless you, Lucy,’ Daisy whispered, and her eyes filled with tears.

  The nurse came back and said they’d had long enough. Daisy felt Lucy kiss her cheek and squeeze her hand and she was gone.

  By the time Tom and John came in much later in the day, Daisy was a little more alert. Some of the events of Saturday afternoon and early evening were coming back to her, though a little jumbled, and she wanted them to fill in the gaps. After reassuring them she was feeling better, she asked a few questions.

  Her father ran through what he’d found out from Mavis’s granddaughter, and told her how he rang Joel for his advice.

  ‘It was Joel who went over to Ellen’s and kicked the door in,’ John explained. ‘Thank heavens I phoned him, Daisy. If I’d just rung the police they would have told me to wait at least twenty-four hours.’

  He didn’t have to add that would have been too late. Daisy could see it in the concern on his face.

  ‘So he found me?’ she said. ‘One of the nurses said something about my boyfriend, but I was too dopey to take that in. After the way I treated him I didn’t deserve rescuing.’

  ‘He still loves you,’ Tom chimed in. ‘If you’d heard his voice when he rang to tell us you were in hospital! He sounded like he was crying.’

  Daisy mulled that over for a moment or two. ‘Do you know what happened to Ellen?’

  ‘Joel wants to tell you that when he comes in tonight,’ Tom said. ‘But you’d better start calling her Josie. That’s who she really was, not your mother.’

  John took Daisy’s hand in both his and stroked it. ‘It’s going to be hard for you to come to terms with all this,’ he said soothingly. ‘I know you got very attached to her, but remember we are your real family, and we’ll be there for you through it all.’

  After they’d gone Daisy lay there trying to piece everything together. She could remember driving to Askwith Court and the events with Mavis which preceded it. She also remembered suddenly realizing that Mavis had been right, the woman she thought was her mother had to be Josie or she wouldn’t be packing to run off somewhere. Yet she didn’t remember being attacked.

  The doctor had said earlier that head wounds like hers often resulted in complete amnesia and the fact she could remember most of what happened was an excellent sign. Yet Daisy almost wished she had lost her memory, it was embarrassing to think how she’d raved to her family about the woman, and now she’d turned out to be a murderess. So much for her judgement of character!

  Yet after cringing with shame for some time, Daisy came to see that embarrassing was all it was. Not painful really, for now she could look back objectively on the time spent with Ellen/Josie, she could see with some relief that she hadn’t exactly bonded with her. She had liked her, admired her business acumen, her taste and her aura of glamour, but there wasn’t anything about her that had made Daisy feel ‘Now I know where that came from’ or the sense of completeness she’d expected. In fact the woman had been something of an enigma right from the start.

  By the time Joel came into the ward at seven-thirty that evening, Daisy was feeling very much better. Her head ached, she didn’t like lying down flat, but her vision was perfect again and she was far less confused.

  Yet as she saw him coming in hesitantly, almost dwarfed by a huge bouquet of flowers, she suddenly felt choked up. He looked more handsome and fit than she remembered, a tight black tee-shirt and jeans showing off his muscular body. A drastic hair-cut emphasized his rugged face. He had rushed to her aid without a second thought. She had made some very bad judgements about him too.

  ‘Hello, Action Man,’ she said as he approached her bed. ‘I should be sending you flowers for rescuing me, not you bringing them to me.’

  ‘I’m not the flower kind.’ He smiled a little shyly and she noticed that his brown eyes were still as lovely as she’d thought when they first met. ‘I’m just happy that you look pleased to see me. Or is that just a polite facade?’

  ‘No, it’s not,’ she said, and blushed furiously. ‘I’m sorry I was so…’ She paused, unable to think of the right word.

  ‘Stroppy?’ he suggested, and grinned. Daisy thought he looked gorgeous.

  ‘That’ll do,’ she smiled. ‘Now, put those lovely flowers over there and sit down. Dad told me you were going to tell me about what happened to Josie.’

  He put the bouquet down on the bed table, and pulled up a chair. ‘How are you feeling, first?’ he said.

  ‘Sore head, getting bored already,’ she replied flippantly. ‘Tell me.’

  A shadow crossed his face. ‘I thought I knew how I was going to tell you when I came in,’ he sighed. ‘But now I’m here, it’s tougher.’

  ‘She’s been nicked and she’s in prison?’

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘She’s dead, Daisy.’

  He told her about it all in a rush. Early on Sunday morning, Josie’s car with her still strapped into the seat-belt was found stuck in the mud at a place called Point about four miles from Truro. She had drowned.

  ‘Point is on the Restronquet creek. Apparently there’s a little old quay there from the times of the tin mines. She must have driven over the edge of it at high tide.’

  Daisy knew roughly where that was, she’d been to a pub called the Pandora Inn on that creek while she was staying at St Mawes.

  ‘Are you saying it was accidental?’ she asked.

  Joel shrugged. ‘I spoke to one of the team down in Truro that fished the car out and they don’t think so. It was tipping down on Saturday night, and there’s no street lighting at Point, but the sea is always visible and the quay at least partially fenced off. They said that even if she’d got on to it by mistake, or used it to turn the car, it’s too wide for an accident to happen. Besides, if it were an accident she’d surely have made an effort to get out of the car.’

  ‘But why kill herself that way? It must have been so slow waiting for the car to sink,’ Daisy said.

  ‘I think she must have been out of her mind,’ Joel said thoughtfully. ‘I’ve been thinking about it ever since I got the news. She must have intended to run for it when she left London, or she wouldn’t have taken so much stuff. But it was crazy going to Cornwall, the one place where people were likely to recognize her. So I reckon she flipped on the way. Maybe she’d kind of blanked out that she set that fire, but attacking you brought it all back with a vengeance. She must have known the game was up, and perhaps that freaked her out completely.’

  Tears trickled down Daisy’s face.

  ‘I don’t know why I’m crying for her,’ she said, trying to stop. ‘She killed my mother, and did her best to kill me.’

  Joel took out his handkerchief and tenderly wiped her eyes. ‘I’d have been disappointed in you if didn’t see a few tears, after the mammoth effort you made to find her and all it meant to you.’

  Daisy looked at his face. She saw no animosity, nothing but concern for
her, and she felt soothed.

  ‘If I hadn’t searched her out, no one would have ever known she was responsible for the fire. So why didn’t she tell me to get lost when I turned up?’ she asked him. ‘That would have been the smartest thing to have done.’

  ‘Maybe she was like me and didn’t see you were potential trouble straight off.’ Joel grinned. ‘Maybe because she’d acted out the role of Ellen for thirteen years, she actually believed she was her. Or maybe she was lonely and liked the idea of a daughter. She could also have been afraid you’d make waves if she sent you packing. But whatever her reasons, I think she must have been mad. What sane person would burn three people alive?’

  Daisy remembered when she first called on Mavis and she’d said something to her about mad relatives. That reminded her what a turn the old lady had had when she recognized Josie.

  ‘Do you know how Mavis is?’ she asked.

  He nodded. ‘I went to interview her this morning with another officer. She was of course very upset that you’d been hurt, but I think glad in a way to be proved right about Josie. She said both she and her husband had always thought there was something very fishy about the fire. She said in her opinion the police should have been more thorough in their investigations. But she’s a strong, bright old girl, she’s going to be fine. She said she was going home tomorrow and sent you her love.’

  ‘No one has told me when I can go home,’ Daisy said plaintively.

  ‘It won’t be for a while,’ Joel said. ‘You’ve had a very serious head wound. They have to check for brain damage.’

  ‘What brain?’ she said, and began to cry again. ‘I don’t see any evidence I’ve got one, losing you, chasing murderesses, alienating myself from my family.’

  ‘You haven’t alienated yourself from your family at all,’ he said stoutly. ‘And nor have you lost me. I’m here, aren’t I?’

  ‘But I’ve spoilt it.’

  ‘We’ll see when you are better.’ He bent down and kissed her on the lips. ‘Maybe we’ll have to start at the beginning again.’

  Daisy’s recovery didn’t come as quickly as she’d expected. Shock set in soon after Joel’s visit, bringing with it nightmares, a high temperature and a very bad sore throat. After a fortnight in hospital she was sent on to a convalescent home in Sussex for a further three weeks. She tired easily, there were vicious headaches to contend with, and now and again she found herself falling into fits of deep depression when she didn’t want to speak to anyone and spent hours just staring into space.

  ‘It’s just nature’s way of giving you time to come to terms with what’s happened to you,’ one doctor explained. ‘Don’t try to fight it, Daisy. Just go with the flow of it.’

  Gradually she began to understand what he meant as she found herself sifting through her mind, picking up previous incidents, experiences and even conversations and examining them. She thought it was a bit like sorting out her bedroom, chucking out the rubbish, polishing up the things which were of value to her, rearranging it all in a tidy fashion. She found she wasn’t sorry she began looking for Ellen any more, she knew the truth now, and however bad it was, the cobwebs had been cleared.

  She knew the value of her adopted family too. She loved them, and they loved her. Nothing else mattered.

  When Josie’s death was announced, the press were desperate to discover what the connection was between Daisy and her, and made a real nuisance of themselves, waylaying, Lucy, Tom and John at the house and the hospital for information. But John, with Joel’s help, eventually managed to convince them it was just a friendship which had turned sour, and insisted they left Daisy alone. Fortunately the once famous model’s resurrection after being thought to be dead for so long, and the fact that she had murdered her family, was more than enough for them to feed on, and they soon lost interest in Daisy.

  John kept all the press clippings for her to read once she was able to cope with them. Along with all the old stuff about Josie’s past, there was a great deal about Ellen too. Old friends from Bristol had been interviewed, and there were photographs of Ellen and children she worked with at the school. It was heartening to read how distressed they were to hear what had really happened to her. Many of them told touching stories about what she had meant to them.

  Through this, Daisy was able to put a few further pieces back into the jigsaw to complete the picture of her mother.

  The police in turn had sifted through the records and reports on the fire at Beacon Farm, and it seemed that Mavis’s theory of how Josie engineered it was probably a fairly accurate one. In the Fire Officer’s report there was a mention of an unusually large amount of paraffin stored in the farmhouse, but at the time this had been put down to Albert’s eccentricity, as he was known for keeping fuel for his lamps indoors.

  The reason why the coroner had found no reason to consider that the body of the younger woman found at the farm was anyone other than Josie was because of a lack of any dental records. It seemed neither girl had ever visited a dentist.

  Yet throughout all this, it was the love and concern Daisy received from her family and friends that helped her on the road to full recovery. And above all it was Joel to whom she felt most indebted. He had not only rescued her in the nick of time, and supported and protected her family under the barrage of press interest, but he’d been a constant visitor, making her laugh again and encouraging her to talk through her feelings about Ellen and Josie.

  Daisy told him about the book Josie had claimed to be writing, and expressed her fears that if it existed it might fall into the wrong hands when her belongings were disposed of. Joel used his connections to discover which solicitor had been appointed to wind up her estate, and got an assurance that if it was found, it would in due course come to Daisy.

  With his work commitments, Joel couldn’t visit Daisy so often in Sussex, but he telephoned her daily. When she returned home, hardly a day passed without him popping in.

  In late July, when Lucy and Tom finally saw that their sister really was on the mend, they decided to go off on their planned round-the-world trip. Seeing them off with her father at the airport, Daisy knew the time had come to start on some plans of her own.

  Her first priority was to seduce Joel.

  It had become more and more obvious to her that she did truly love him. The misgivings she’d had in the past seemed absurd now, for since waking up in hospital, all the fine qualities – his strength, kindness and sense of humour – which had attracted her in the first place seemed to have been expanded. She knew without any doubt that he was the only man for her, but although she was sure she could always count on his friendship, she wasn’t convinced he still fancied her the way he had. She guessed it was hard to feel desire for someone with their head bandaged, but she was afraid she might have hurt him too badly for him to take the risk again with her.

  So it was up to her to make the first move, and as her father was going away for a week’s sailing, and Joel had a few days off starting around the same time, she invited him to come round for a meal that Saturday night.

  Saturday arrived with the promise of another long hot day, and Daisy spent most of it lying in the sun in the garden, contemplating the night ahead. She was only making a simple meal, pasta with a creamy prawn sauce, salad and garlic bread, strawberries and cream to follow. But food wasn’t on her mind, that was secondary to how she had to look for Joel.

  She wanted him to see the girl he’d fallen for nearly two years earlier. In those days she’d been pretty sensational – slinky dresses, four-inch heels, a femme fatale by anyone’s definition. But as time had gone by she’d modified her appearance. She had always claimed this was because he didn’t approve, but in her heart she knew the truth was that she’d grown lazy.

  It wasn’t going to be that easy. After the operation her hair had been a mess, for she had a large shaved area on the left side of her head. A visiting hairdresser in the convalescent home had cut the other side short to even it up, and cropped her cur
ly hair on top so it partially covered the bald section. For a while, she felt ill every time she looked at herself and despaired of ever looking nice again. But the hair had begun to grow at last and now the scars were hidden.

  She had washed her hair that morning and let it dry naturally in the sun and for the first time since she left the convalescent home, she could see the old Daisy was coming back. She stayed out in the garden until four o’clock, then went in to prepare the food, tidy up and lay the dining-room table. She opened the French windows wide, moved the table closer to the doors, and cut a bunch of heavily perfumed pink roses as a centrepiece for it.

  Later, as she lay back in a scented bath, she felt happy and secure in herself, the way she used to when her mother was alive.

  Daisy smiled to herself as she remembered how in her late teens she had rejected all her mother’s standards and thought her parents were so terribly starchy and old-fashioned. She could remember watching her mother preparing for a dinner party, wondering why when it was only neighbours and old friends coming in she found it necessary to polish the silver, arrange flowers and have candles on the table – not to mention scrub out the bathroom, polish the furniture and put new pot-pourri in dishes everywhere. Daisy had once stated that no one would ever catch her doing such unnecessary things. But now, a few years on, she seemed to have acquired those same values, wanting the whole house to look beautiful, the dinner to look and taste perfect.

  She supposed she had finally grown up. The last year might have been fraught with sadness and hurt, but she had probably learned more about herself, her family and the world in general than she’d learned in the previous twenty-five.

  ‘Wow! You look gorgeous!’ Joel exclaimed as Daisy opened the door to him at seven-thirty.

  Daisy blushed. Her emerald-green lacy dress was an old one, and she had been a bit shocked by how tight and revealing it was, but by the gleam in Joel’s eye, it was going to have the desired effect.

  ‘You look pretty gorgeous yourself,’ she retorted. He was wearing a white polo shirt and chinos, his face and arms golden from the sun. She kissed him on the cheek, and he smelled as delicious as he looked.