‘Winifred? No, not married, or not officially. She did have a close friend for some years but that must have ended and we never spoke of it. She doesn’t have any close family, just an ancient aunt somewhere up north.’
She listened to Alex trying to decide how the Burke sisters should be told about Winifred. ‘The police are going to ask me questions soon, sweety. Don’t worry, I’ll mention Harriet and Mary and find out if James can be the one to tell them. He isn’t just their doctor, he’s their good friend. He’ll make sure they’re all right – not that I don’t think they’re stronger than the lot of us. Try to get some sleep yourselves. I expect Tony can give Lillie Belle something to calm her down. Tell him his dad’s coming to me … yes, all right, I’ll let you know what the police say. Now I’d better hang up. I see Dan and LeJuan coming along the path.’
She turned the kettle on and stood at the door while they picked their way over uneven crazy paving.
Dan looked up and raised a hand in greeting. ‘Hello, Lily,’ he said. ‘Bad night all around. We’re sorry to keep you hanging around like this.’
‘I understand. Coffee or tea? The kettle’s on.’
‘Tea,’ the men said in unison.
Were there things she should avoid saying, Lily wondered, if only for selfish reasons. Winifred had been Gladys’s close friend and they must have talked about so many things. Sometimes she couldn’t decide how much Gladys remembered of Lily’s early days in Underhill and Folly but she’d rather they were not brought up with strangers like Dan and his people. She had a disturbing thought that it no longer mattered what Gladys might have told Winifred.
The men came in looking tired. Dan sat immediately and rubbed his hands over his face. She had kept the kettle close to a boil while she waited for them so the tea was quickly made. Again, using Winifred’s things while she lay dead at the bottom of the garden caused a nasty sensation. Lily couldn’t bring herself to look for biscuits.
‘Just routine questions for now,’ Dan said.
It was LeJuan who took out his notebook and began to write. He gave her a reassuring smile.
‘The dog woke me,’ she said. ‘Poor girl howling like that must have woken up the village. I thought she’d got locked outside. The light was on in here so I knocked. When Winifred didn’t come, I opened the door but she … she wasn’t in here, was she? Lillie Belle ran back and forth on the path and that’s when I saw another light in the shed window – there’s a window in the door – and I found her.’
‘That’s all very clear, Lily,’ Dan said while LeJuan scribbled rapidly.
Tears shocked Lily, first stinging her eyes, then pouring. Her throat burned and she coughed, couldn’t stop coughing.
LeJuan steered her into a chair and brought her some water. She heard the two of them murmuring but not what they said to her. With tissues pressed to her eyes and face, she gradually caught her breath. The tears took longer to stop.
‘Hey, there, Lily.’ She looked up into James’s face. He rubbed the back of her neck and her shoulders. ‘Take your time. These things are shocking.’
‘She’s a trooper,’ Dan said.
‘We want James to tell Harriet and Mary,’ Lily said. If she sounded odd, so what? ‘I told Alex I’d ask. She’s worried the upset will be too much for them.’
‘Understood,’ Dan said. ‘But you accept we’ll have to be there, too. First reactions are important.’
Lily nodded, yes.
They went through all the simple questions she’d expected and her muscles began to relax a little. James stood beside her. She had never needed anyone to help her get through, even if she might have liked stronger support sometimes, but she needed this man now.
‘We’re finished for now, then?’ she asked.
Dan helped himself to more tea. ‘Not quite. What time did you come over?’
‘Well before midnight. Lillie Belle had been barking a long time.’
‘Make sure Molly knows that,’ Dan told LeJuan.
‘Switching gears a bit. I’m told Gladys Lymer was her best friend.’
TWENTY-NINE
Doc James knelt on one knee before the fireplace in Lily’s tiny sitting room to set chips of wood and logs on top of firelighters. Alex and Tony sat on the couch, Alex with Lillie Belle in her arms while the dog drowsed from the sedative Tony had given her.
In one of the chairs near her Chinese chest, Lily huddled into a corner with her face averted from all of them. ‘Mum?’ Alex said.
Lily didn’t respond or even register she’d heard.
After so many years, her mother was still shamed by the thought of people talking about her being a teenaged single mother. Despite how little that meant now, it had the power to embarrass her. And although they had agreed that the police had to know about their history, Alex was sure Lily blamed her for telling them. She hadn’t said as much, but Alex knew it was so.
‘We came because you said you wanted to talk about this evening,’ Alex said to her mother. ‘I know it’s been horrible but we can help each other.’
‘You don’t understand,’ Lily said. ‘How could you? You told the police about me and our history, but it wasn’t as if you were talking about yourself. It’s different when you tell someone else’s story.’
‘I’m sorry you feel like that. I thought it was my story, too. I’m sure Dan wouldn’t try to make you uncomfortable. I’m not sure why your past came up tonight anyway. You had the horrible experience of finding Winifred’s body. I’d assumed they’d only be asking you about that.’
‘I thought so, too. We were both wrong. They’ve been digging around into Beverly Irving already. I knew she should never be mentioned. I tried to hide that but you kept pushing for information, Alex. Now look what’s happening.’
The fire sent lively flames up the chimney and Doc James stood before it, dusting off his hands and looking directly at Alex. If he was trying to send her a message, she couldn’t tell what it might be.
‘We’re all very tired,’ Tony said. ‘Do you think we should call this a night and talk about it all later?’
‘You can if you want to,’ Lily said. She chewed a fingernail. ‘I can’t stop you but I won’t sleep until I know where they’re going with all these questions. Dan talked about Beverly and Gladys and how Gladys was Winifred’s best friend. He asked me if I knew Esme Hill and her family before the night you were there at the fire, Alex. I feel as if I’m losing my mind. What is he thinking, and how do I come into all that?’ She shook her head repeatedly.
‘Let’s talk it out, Lily,’ Doc James said. ‘As much as you can, anyway. Why don’t you tell me everything that was said? It may come clearer that way.’
‘I’m not leaving either,’ Alex said, knowing Tony would also stay. ‘But I’ve got an idea about all this. It’s not fair to leave you or any of us hanging like this and I don’t believe Dan would do it deliberately. He started this, he should finish it. At least he should explain where he’s going with these questions.’
‘Oh, sweetheart,’ Tony said, scratching the now sleeping Lillie Belle’s head. ‘Dan doesn’t have to explain anything unless he wants to. This is an official investigation.’
‘Why did he ask Mum if she knew Esme Hill and her family before the fire? What possible connection could Mum have to any of that?’
‘None, I should think. Only that all of this, the approaches by Beverly, Gladys’s odd behavior at the Black Dog and now the death of Gladys’s best friend started coming to light around the time of the fire. He’s just trying to connect the dots the same as we are.’
Lily leaned toward Tony. ‘I just want it all to go away again. We were fine before it started to happen.’
‘People are always fine before things happen,’ Doc murmured.
‘Don’t be so reasonable, James.’ Lily’s voice rose. ‘I did my best to carry on and build a fresh life and I don’t want to look back. I don’t want anyone poking around or finding things out about me. That’s why I too
k the plate with my name on it … Alex’s baby’s name …’
Tears stood in her eyes and she looked at her hands in her lap.
Alex saw Tony shake his head at his father, warning him not to ask what Lily had just meant.
‘I’ll tell you why,’ Lily said. ‘Then you won’t have to ask. Alex had the bench put in the churchyard as a remembrance to her baby, Lily Mary Edwina. That was the name on the plaque, so I took it. I didn’t want anyone else to find it and make a connection to us – find us. Silly of me. Beverly wasn’t likely to stumble over it even if she went to the churchyard, and she has no way of knowing your baby’s name or why you used it. Neither does … well, I don’t think anyone else knew the name really. Not all of it.’
Alex tensed. ‘Neither does who, Mum? Neither does who? You were going to mention someone else who might find it, weren’t you? Someone else you didn’t want to know about the name and its connection to you.’
‘No! Now leave it alone. I’ve told you all about it, stupid as it was.’
A firm rap at the front door silenced them all and they looked at one another. ‘Who can it be at this hour?’ Tony said. He glanced toward the windows. ‘With all the lights on down here they know we’re awake.’
He got up and went into the hall. A few moments later he returned with Dan O’Reilly and LeJuan Harding.
Neither detective smiled. Both appeared tired and drawn.
Doc went to Lily and said something quietly. She nodded and said, ‘Please sit down. Bring over that bench.’
While Doc James went into the kitchen, Tony and LeJuan shifted Lily’s heavy, dark, wood bench from beneath the window. By the time they had the long cushion replaced on top, Doc had returned with a bottle of Glenmorangie and a fistful of scotch glasses, their stubby stems threaded through his fingers.
Clacking his handfuls on the glass-topped chest, Doc dispensed more than suitably substantial doses of the whisky and handed it around. ‘Doctor’s orders,’ he said, his expression dour. ‘I’m too tired myself to minster to the fading – or fainting.’
They accepted their glasses and found seats, all in silence while they took their first tastes.
‘Good idea, Dr Harrison,’ Dan O’Reilly said. ‘If we don’t need it now, we may later. Lily, does everyone here know something of the woman we discussed earlier? The one from your earlier years.’
Alex noted how carefully he chose his words. She swallowed more whisky.
Lily said, ‘Yes,’ in an even voice, her eyes on the detective. ‘Beverly Irving, if that’s who you mean. They all know now.’
‘You said she called you recently. How did you know it was her?’
‘She told me who she was and knew everything about me. Right down to my movements on the day she made the call. She seems to have been watching me all this time.’
‘You haven’t seen her, though, so you don’t know where she’s been or how she found out all this information about you.’
Lily frowned. She put her hands beneath her thighs and rocked back and forth. ‘I told you I haven’t seen her, and I don’t know how she’s found out so much.’
‘This is very important or I wouldn’t ask,’ Dan said. ‘Do you have any photos, anything at all of Beverly?’
‘I could have an old one somewhere. I’m not sure though. Do I have to look for something? The idea of seeing her face truly bothers me.’
‘Please start looking, Lily. We need to have a police artist work on an age progression sketch and do some potential disguise pieces. The artist will need to talk to you and to Gladys. I’m sure she’ll be delighted to help.’ Sarcasm wasn’t his usual thing. ‘These sketches have to be circulated. Also, we might flush out someone else who knows Beverly although I doubt it.
‘We’ve had a number of our people tracing her since Alex came to me. They’re very good at their jobs. You both have a considerable amount of clear information. We do know that any correspondence sent to you was forwarded to Beverly Irving at a post office box and picked up. There was a request for your mother’s effects to be sent there. That request was denied. Evidently it must have struck someone in Child Protection Services that they ought to actually see you and that it wasn’t appropriate to continue the arrangement they’d had with this Beverly.’
‘They should have figured that out years ago,’ Alex said. ‘It’s disgraceful they never checked after such a long time.’
‘So it is,’ Dan said. ‘Lily, I think you believed the story you told me. What I don’t understand is why you didn’t check it out sooner.’
‘I had no reason to,’ she said, her face set.
‘I’m afraid you did,’ Dan told her. ‘This doesn’t go beyond these walls, but so far the only Beverly Irving who fits your description, the age she would be, and so forth, died almost eleven years ago.’
THIRTY
‘Aye, aye, look what we’ve got here,’ Longlegs Liberty said, sotto voce. ‘Mr Crowley in the flesh. Slimy bastard.’
Four hours sleep followed by a busy morning so far had left Dan bleary-eyed and in a foul humor. ‘Bugger,’ he muttered. He stayed behind his battered desk in Folly’s parish hall and flicked a biro back and forth between his fingers. ‘Good morning, Mr Crowley. Nice of you to join us again.’
Longlegs got up and wandered toward Dan, murmuring, ‘Do I cuff him?’ as he passed.
‘Wish you could. Can’t – no reason to yet,’ Dan said, equally nonchalantly, while Vince Crowley watched him from the doorway. ‘Come and join us,’ Dan called.
‘Thought I’d stop in on my way by,’ Crowley said, shoving away from the door jamb with a shoulder. ‘I’ve got business to attend to in Winchcombe.’
‘That so?’ Dan said. He pulled a lined yellow pad toward him and made a couple of notes. ‘I didn’t think it went well the last time you were there. Scared you so badly you started jumping out of bathroom windows. Would you like to explain that one?’
‘Didn’t know where I stood then, did I? I’d had a run-in with the silly moo in Darla’s place and I expect I was a bit shook up.’
Dan bit back a comment about the ease of burning female adversaries with cigarettes. ‘I expect that was it.’
‘You thought you could pin Darla’s murder on me, didn’t you?’
Looking into the man’s dark eyes, Dan decided this wasn’t a fool who came out with comments that might lead him into trouble, but a sly manipulator with a plan designed to benefit himself. ‘Did you hear that, Liberty?’ Dan said loudly and laughed. ‘A man who hasn’t been accused of anything suggesting he might be linked to a potential murder charge.’
‘Is that supposed to make me nervous?’ Crowley said. ‘I haven’t done anything so I don’t have to be nervous. Darla and me were still married, see. We used to have our little spats, mostly because she couldn’t keep her legs together. Sure, that upset me but I still loved her and she loved me. One of the reasons I stuck with working the cruise lines was because the long trips agreed with me. When we got back together, it was a honeymoon and by the time she started getting bored and looking around, I was off again. It wouldn’t have suited a lot of men but it suited me. And the money’s really good.’
‘Why are you telling me all this?’ Dan genuinely wanted to know but doubted he’d ever get a straight answer.
‘I don’t know why. Just getting it off my chest, I suppose.’
They’d left the front door open to flood the place with fresh air. It got stuffy from being closed off most of the time. Coming out of the light and into the hall – Mary with her cane rather than the walker – were the Burke sisters. They entered the hall without saying a word and sat on two of the seats by the front wall.
For an instant that quickly passed, Dan thought of taking Vince Crowley into the storage room at the other end of the parish hall where interviews were occasionally conducted. There was nothing going on that had to be private.
‘I’m glad you and your wife had such an agreeable marriage,’ he told Vince.
‘Yeah, well we did. Now, what I want to know is, what happened to all of Darla’s papers and her other things? I expect they’re evidence till you catch her murderer but I need to look through the papers.’
Longlegs coughed and said, ‘Sorry about that. I’m getting the winter crud.’
Dan thought Crowley’s request had caught Longlegs as much off-guard as it had him. ‘What papers would those be?’ he said.
‘All of them,’ Crowley said, managing to sound innocent. ‘I want to make sure all her bills are paid and her affairs are taken care of. She didn’t have anyone but me. Darla was particular about not having any outstanding debts. And then there’s the house payments. They can’t be allowed to fall behind.’
Well, well, if he wasn’t the slow one today, Dan thought. Finally, the reason for this chummy little visit began to make sense. He was aware of Harriet and Mary but avoided looking at them. ‘You’re an honorable man, Mr Crowley,’ he said, trying for sincerity. ‘I’m afraid case evidence isn’t something I can discuss. You can be sure you’ll be hearing from the appropriate department in due course.’
‘Not good enough.’ Vince Crowley planted his hands on the desk and glowered into Dan’s face. ‘Don’t give me that crap. I wasn’t born yesterday and when I say I want to see my wife’s papers now, I want to see them now. There are things that need to be taken care of. And while you’re at it, you can tell me who she was seeing when she died. I haven’t seen anything about you taking someone into custody. About time you did and it seems to me her latest fancy man would be number one on the list of suspects. Who is he, tell me that!’
The man really didn’t know. Pullinger’s name hadn’t been officially linked with Darla’s but leaks were getting ever more commonplace in all cases.
‘This is an officially open investigation. There’s nothing I can do to help you. And surely you know her family. Have you contacted them?’
‘I don’t know if she had any family and if she did they didn’t do anything for her.’ Crowley made a fist with his right hand and his face reddened. ‘Who was her solicitor then? Tell me that. You can’t say I don’t have a right to know who dealt with her affairs.’
Whisper the Dead Page 21
