The Murdering Wives Club

by Sharon Thompson

  The fire worked out for the best and got us back on the boat home quicker than I anticipated. And all these complications are things a canny woman can work with. This danger of being found out in lies and deceit makes it even more exciting. Sad, I know. But a woman in search of adventure uses any means possible to get it.

  Chapter 10

  Norah Walsh

  Davenport has its own small flock of hens. There’s also a vegetable garden and these days the groundsmen share out the spoils amongst all those who rely on the manor. This means that the house itself only gets a small share of its own produce. Cook knew I wanted one of the newly brought-in eggs fried but she overcooked it and then let it go cold before I ever arrived into the kitchen. Eggs aren’t easy to come by but when she left to get more rationed supplies I cooked the last one from the basket.

  “She’ll let you off this time,” Giles says as I pop the top of the cooked egg and watch the yellow ooze onto the fried bread. “I must tell you again that we both are very grateful to you, my dear. You saved Mr Davenport from that fire. He can talk of nothing else. He survived enemy guns to be almost burned in his bed.” He shudders.

  I want to take credit for the rescue but instead I try to put him at ease. “It was nothing more than a bit of smoke. All was fine. He just cannot see and that makes it harder for him. His imagination is his downfall.”

  “You’re a calm, brave girl,” Giles says, patronising me with a pat on the sleeve. “And you had to rush back here before you got to see your own family?”

  “I didn’t mind that,” I say, slurping some sweet tea.

  “Did they even know that you were in Ireland?” he asks. “I hope they don’t worry about you. Reassure them, won’t you, that you’re in a good household now, with people to look out for you.”

  I swallow the food and say, “They know I can take care of myself. It’s only my dad left anyhow and he’s found himself a new woman to court.” Saying that aloud does sting more than I thought it would. It’s ten years since my mother passed away, so it’s not as if he jumped into another woman’s bed in a matter of weeks. But still – he should stay miserable, for my mother will have to stay dead.

  “And Mrs Davenport …” Giles says in a whisper. It’s as if talking about her might bring her into the kitchen. “It’s wrong of me to say this, but I will anyhow. We’ve never liked her – but we wouldn’t want anything to happen to her all the same.”

  “But she goes missing a lot – she’ll turn up,” I say, dabbing the corner of my mouth with a hanky. I want to say a great deal but hold my tongue and dig a nail into the palm of my hand.

  “The police seem to think it is different this time,” Giles says, his eyebrows raised in worry. “Poor, poor Mr Davenport!”

  “He’s fine. Or he should be. I don’t think there’s much love lost between them, is there?” My patience is low since the fire and the debacle at the prison and I’m sounding harsh. “I’m more worried that he’ll let this set him back. We all have to make light of these events or he’ll sink into another bout of fear and not want to come out of the house.”

  “True. You’re right. And you think Mrs Davenport is alive and well and there’s nothing to worry about?”

  I grimace and say, “Yes. I do. She’s just trying to get Laurie’s attention. Isn’t that her form?”

  “Oh, that’s just it! You’re right!” Giles says, patting me on the arm again. “Yes. That’s her. Always causing drama. Never happy with anything. Always looking to be centre stage. We’ll not let her win. Norah, I see that you put Mr Davenport’s welfare above your own. We think you’re marvellous. We really do.”

  I blush and pull my arm away in fake modesty. “Arrah now, I don’t do much. I just know that the war is making us all a little tense. There’s no need to go up to meet the rain and worry unnecessarily, that’s all.”

  “We were glad to see you come back here. We were afraid that if you got home to Ireland you might not come back, and Mr Davenport would miss … the company. I’ll go check on him now and reassure him that all will fine and dandy.”

  “Do,” I say with a smile.

  When I came to Davenport Manor, I expected to be repulsed by a scarred toff. But Laurie has grown on me. He’s nothing like Fredrick – which in a way is a blessing. Where Fredrick elbowed his way to the top, Laurie doubts his ability to even live a full life.

  Women like Charlotte could never appreciate a man like Laurie Davenport. Yet, society will throw a spoiled brat like her into the arms of a meek man and expect it to work. I know that I could make him happy and I could help him find ways of making me happy.

  “You’re not the clinging type, Norah, but we’re together almost a year and it’s wartime,” Fredrick Ashfield said three months ago. “No matter how practical a woman you are, I need to move you on, old girl. You’re getting too comfortable and will expect things of me. Things that I cannot give you. Even though I’ve been straight with you from the beginning, I know how you females think. You’ll want me to settle down and that’s not the life for me. Someone like Laurie Davenport would be a fine match for you instead.”

  He patted my arse and kissed the top of my head.

  Right then and there and him naked in my bed was when I really understood why there were Sinful Roses in the world. Some men just call out to be murdered. They ask for it.

  Ashfield is an attractive forty-five-year-old man with a good salary and prospects, and he thinks that he’s the best, and only, catch for a girl like me. Yet he couldn’t see that I was the one using him. That never entered his little pea-brain. I was a woman, so naturally I was smitten and lying in wait for him to make an honest woman of me. The cheek of it! The anger bubbled inside and I thought of Lord Wester too and his moving me on in case I told his wife or made demands.

  Fuck-’em-all! I can see why there’s a need for a support group for women who wish to murder the men in their lives. I really can.

  Chapter 11

  Laurie Davenport

  Norah links my arm and leads me out into the garden. I’ve not been out in the grounds in months. Possibly years, if you take my time away into account. Before Norah came, Giles attempted to take a breath of fresh air with me. It ended in disaster. He tried to push me in that dreadful wheelchair, and we got stuck and I was manhandled back into the house by the few elderly groundsmen that are left. Their own sons no doubt are dead, and I’m living to burden them further. I was too mortified to ask Giles to take me out again.

  Norah didn’t try cajoling me or asking me what I wanted. She just opened the double doors from the drawing room out onto the terrace and took me like a child by the hand and marched me down the steps into the heart of the garden.

  “We were right to get out of the house to read Eve’s epistle,” Norah says encouragingly. “It’s a nice sunny day. Let’s sit on that bench near the pond and then we can go inside for some of Giles’ tea.”

  We go and sit.

  “You are bossy, you know,” I say, glad of the light breeze and the sound of the birds chirping.

  “Is that water deep?” she asks.

  “I’d not drown in it. If that’s what you mean.” I try a chuckle and she joins me. “How are things looking? Have the gardeners been busy?”

  “All is tidy. Green. Pretty. I wish you could see it.”

  I nod for I do wish it wasn’t all dappled light and shade and morphing shapes.

  I whisper, “I’ve been wondering if Charlotte took off and is now gone missing because she didn’t succeed in killing me. Is she afraid of the Roses?”

  “She might have disappeared because she’s afraid of them or they might have found her. Who knows? If these Roses even exist at all? I’m not sure I believe Eve Good.”

  The grass is soft underfoot and a cool breeze fills my lungs as I surreptitiously shuffle my bum over in the seat to be nearer to Norah. Her disbelief in the existence of the Roses has shocked me slightly. She was the very one who wished for us to take off on this adventu
re. If she thinks it’s a wild goose chase, then what are we doing?

  I should attack her stance on this, but the day is nice, her being near me is pleasant and I don’t want to ruin the moment between us. I wonder how to get closer still to her arm, her side, her body. How might I seduce her? The thought of us naked flits across my mind now at all hours of the day and night. I can almost sense how it will be. Will be? What wishful thinking! A young woman does not need to be burdened with a cripple. However, I’m not disabled in the ways that matter. I feel desire rise in my groin.

  “Comfortable?” she asks me and I hear a rustle of pages. “Let’s see what this Eve Good has to say for herself now.”

  Sunshine and warmth should make everything beautiful. If I was like Freddie I’d have something seductive to say, some flirtation that would bring her into my arms. I’ve never been good with romance. I try to make words form. I pray that I can make her see me as a whole man. A man with a ... what do my wife’s horrid books call it? Wanton desire? A throbbing member?

  I cough for she is reading now and I must focus on being read to. But then I recall the reason for me listening and all of the anxious worry returns.

  Chapter 12

  Eve Good

  I turned up at the appointed time at their den of sin.

  Lydia rubbed her temple and shook the bun in her hair to and fro. “We brought you back here because we’re worried that you might not be fit to finish this. Are you able to continue?”

  It was then I realised that if I didn’t go through with killing John I was in danger. I knew too much. I should have realised this before, but I was without friends, without family and I didn’t think ahead like I should have.

  I stared at Alice and thought that though she was much the same size as me, she was sturdy and vicious. Lydia was older and greying but I couldn’t cope with both of them if they decided to attack me. I considered that if they came at me one at a time, I might swing things in my favour, but I had no weapons and nothing around me looked sharp or heavy enough. It wasn’t only fear that made me tremble then. It was the excitement that I was lacking in my life. The thought of danger that worried but also thrilled me.

  “Would you harm me?” I asked them.

  “To protect ourselves, we would,” Alice replied without hesitation. “We need to ensure you’re putting things in place.”

  “I was a little overwhelmed. But I’m putting the steps in motion.” It was a lie of course.

  “Why were you standing in the rain staring up here on Wednesday? That is prohibited in our list of instructions,” Lydia said in a very aggressive manner. “Were you trying to draw attention to us?”

  “No. I don’t know why I did that. I suppose I felt lost.”

  “It’s all overwhelming,” Lydia said. “There’s where my worry lies, Eve. I was downtrodden and afraid of my own shadow. I made mistakes despite all of the guidance I received. I fear that you will make mistakes, just like I did. My lack of confidence was what got me imprisoned. You must be ready in your mind and in your heart for this and not slip up.”

  “How many times have women like you done this?” I asked.

  Lydia looked like she might answer, then stopped herself. She patted my arm. “My mistakes have taught me that each Sinful Rose must be fully prepared. We all learn from the mistakes of others. That is why we are here, to guide you and help you through it.”

  “Lydia, you made very few mistakes!” Alice snapped. “It was your husband’s family who caused all of your woes. Eve will not have that worry. Her poor husband hasn’t got any family here. Only a sister in Norfolk.”

  “You know that you must make it all happen soon, Eve,” said Lydia. “You remember that, don’t you? There may be an extension given, but three months slips by quickly and it is a deadline that it is good to stick to.”

  I nodded.

  “Because of your manner, I think it is a good idea to go through it all again. We will try to support and advise on how best to prepare yourself and what should be said to the authorities. There must never be a mention of this place to anyone when John dies. No matter what the outcome, you must not let us down. We will contact you if you are in trouble – but,” she held a finger up at me, “you must never come here again or stand outside or mention us. We will know if you do. You understand that if we hear of you saying anything there will be consequences?”

  “Of course.” My palms went clammy. I couldn’t breathe. I pulled at my collar and tried to stop my heart from pounding. Why was it that I enjoyed being this close to the edge of everything? “But what if I can’t go through with it? Can I just forget all about this? I would never tell a soul. I would never speak of this place or anything. I am not stupid. I can be discreet.”

  Alice started ranting. “You see! You see! Just like I said! She’ll ruin us all! I’ll kill you myself if you don’t go through with things! Do you hear me?”

  Lydia took no notice of Alice’s outburst.

  “She’ll drag all of us down with her!” Alice said. “Give her the ultimatum. Tell her that she must do this within three months because I don’t trust her. You have three months from the first day you came here to do what you came here for. Do you hear me, Eve Good? We’ve never had to use this threat before but for you we will make an exception.”

  Lydia held her hand up, palm towards Alice. “There’s no need for that. All of us normal folk asked such a question. It shows that she is a moral person and that is a good thing. Sit down now please, Alice, and let her alone.” She turned to me. “Listen carefully. You must keep things simple. It must look like it is an accident. Plan it for when you don’t seem to be in the house or where there are no witnesses. All roads must lead his colleagues to see it as a tragic accident. You are a weak woman in their eyes. Keep it that way.”

  I was speechless.

  Lydia went on like it was a recipe for jam. “John will have told all who will listen that you are weak – this is good. They will never suspect anything but find someone who can vouch for you, befriend them and make yourself invaluable. Reveal no possible motive. All is wonderful in your marriage. Financially you will have the insurance policy and the house and maybe his pension, but you must be heartbroken, worried and upset for the future. Practise this. Over and over. What you will say and how it will seem to them. Think of every angle. Cover it with a story or a line you’ve practised. Look in the mirror. Does it seem real? Believe it was a travesty, a tragedy. It was all totally out of your control and you are devastated.”

  Lydia had said all of it before, but I got a deeper understanding then. I couldn’t think of it being this simple – but it seemed to be. Her recipe for the perfect murder continued. I’d dreamt of being without John every day for years, fantasised about a life without him. I’d been unable to think of anything else some days but it had always seemed impossible, unobtainable and too great a task. Seeing these women again and knowing they had achieved it helped immensely. If the likes of them could do it, well then, I could too. Sitting there, I realised that killing my husband was achievable. I would finally be free. It was evil but I had to do it now. I was involved and couldn’t reverse time.

  “We also try to avoid each other in public,” Lydia went on. “If we ever bump into one another we must pretend that we have never met. We told you all of this the last day, but we felt with you mooning about outside you hadn’t heard anything at all. If we meet in society, or in the future, you don’t know anyone and we don’t know you.”

  I decided then that it might be a good time to come clean about Tim. I had been savouring this juicy titbit.

  “There’s something else that I should tell you,” I said. “You mentioned desires, I think, the last time I was here. There may be a slight issue with that ... I have something I need to say …”

  Lydia encouraged me with a slight smile. “If this is important, Eve, you must tell us now. If we’re not aware of all the facts, the Sinful Roses will not be able to help you later. I disclosed everythin
g and that helped me when I needed it in the darkest of days. Whatever you’re embarrassed about, it is probably something we’ve heard before.”

  “I have a lover.”

  Alice’s laugh was loud. When she stopped I’m sure I was bright red. I could feel my cheeks were glowing despite the cold.

  “Who knows about him?” she asked.

  “No one knows about Tim. No one. His name is Tim Harbour, a twenty-year-old mechanic.”

  “Twenty?” Alice squeals. “Younger than you then? What else?”

  “That’s all I know. His mother is dead. I’ve no idea where he lives other than he is with his father and many siblings and they are dirt poor.” I stopped and tears started to roll down my cheeks. Thinking of him and how awful it was that I knew this little about him. If I cared, really cared, I’d know everything there was to know about him. Shouldn’t I know every detail about someone I loved?

  “Would John have any idea at all about this?” Lydia asked.

  “No.”

  “She could pin it all on Tim and walk away,” Alice said, lighting another cigarette. “Her lover kills her husband. Not her fault.”

  “No,” Lydia said quietly. “The police will not let Eve get away with having a lover. They’ll not like her deceiving John and dig more into the case. This is not good. You were right to tell us this.”

  “I’d find it hard to tell him to leave,” I said, but when I saw their expressions I knew they were sure that I must end it. “How will I say to him that he must go? I can’t. He’ll wonder at my sudden change of heart. I can’t just ask him to leave me. How will I do that?”

  “Tell him that you aim to leave John but that you need time and you need him away from the house,” said Alice. “Explain that you will contact him later. Tell him that he must not burden you until you can be free or else you will lose everything, and John will have a case to leave you penniless.” She seemed well versed in lovers. “Explain that you need him to be strong no matter what he hears and that, if he cares for you at all, he must keep your secret for the relationship to continue.”