The Silent Children

by Carol Wyer

  ‘Steph told me she’d spoken to you about Gerry, my ex-husband – well, soon-to-be ex-husband. She’s got a right bee in her bonnet about it and wants to press charges. I can’t dissuade her. Please, can you? Can you tell her how much pain it will put her through to go ahead with it, and how we’ll have to face up to Gerry in court? Explain how dreadful it will all be – dissuade her. Please.’

  Robyn beckoned Juliet over to the table. ‘Come and sit down, Juliet.’

  Juliet’s head shook rapidly. ‘Please, just talk to her. She likes you. She’ll listen to you. I can’t let her go through with it.’

  ‘Steph said her father hit her too. It’s a serious allegation, and if Gerry was abusing you both, it ought to be reported. You shouldn’t hide from it. He may well go on to attack others in his life.’

  Juliet hung her head. ‘It was only the once,’ she said. ‘Gerry hit her the once. That was the day I found the strength to leave him. I’d been planning to run away with the kids for ages. Somehow, I could never get the courage up. I was too weak and part of me believed I deserved the treatment he gave me. He’d be so apologetic after each time – so sincere – I actually believed he’d change. Or he’d try and reason why he’d hurt me and that I’d deserved it. He only ever went for me. It wasn’t even frequently, only now and again, and when nothing would happen for a few months, I’d begin to think we’d come through it. Then, for no reason, he’d fly off the handle.

  ‘He’d never hit either of the children before. I don’t even think they knew about what was happening. Until they got older, they didn’t understand it was Gerry who’d broken my wrist, or blackened my eye.

  ‘That night was different. I caught him swinging for Steph. I went for him and he turned on me instead. I can still see Steph’s expression as she watched her own father punch and kick me. She tried to make him stop. I yelled for her to get out of the room. If I’d lost consciousness, I had no idea what he’d do to her. She ran off. When he’d finished, he stormed off to the pub. I told the kids to collect what they needed, cleaned myself up, packed a bag, called a taxi and we went to a hostel. I got support there. I pulled myself together and we moved away to stay with a cousin for a while before coming here, to the countryside, far away from Gerry.

  ‘We’ve moved on and I’d like to keep it that way. I don’t want to see Gerry ever again.’ Her eyes shone damply. ‘You understand, don’t you?’

  Robyn covered Juliet’s hand with her own. ‘I understand. I can send an officer specially trained in this field to talk to her. That would be better than me saying anything. This isn’t my area of expertise, and I want you both to have the best advice possible.’

  Juliet spoke sharply. ‘No. No. That’s not what I want. You have to stop Steph going ahead with this. I never want to see him again.’

  Robyn attempted to see it from Juliet’s point of view but she was mystified. ‘You won’t have to face him or talk to him, if that’s what’s bothering you.’

  ‘You don’t get it. I don’t want this to happen. I have a plan and we’ll be rid of him forever. I just need to wait for my decree absolute to come through and then it’ll be over.’

  ‘Being officially divorced won’t change what he did to you, or how Steph feels. Gerry will still have rights and access to his children. You’ll have to let him see them. You can’t get rid of him. What if Terence decides he wants to see his father?’

  Juliet let out a soft groan. ‘No. This isn’t going the way I planned it. We’re going to get away for good and start a life abroad, somewhere where he can’t ever find us. I want them to forget about him altogether. I had it all worked out. This will mess it all up. Steph can’t start proceedings against him.’

  Robyn wasn’t sure what she meant. She had a home, a job, and she’d already started a new life in Hamstall Ridware. Why would she want to go abroad? Then it struck her. There’d only be one way Juliet could take her children away, and why she wanted Gerry out of her life before he found out about it. Like Tessa and Anthony, Juliet also had money hidden away.

  Robyn watched the frantic woman pace the room before speaking calmly. ‘Juliet, tell me about the money.’

  Forty-Six

  DAY EIGHT – TUESDAY, 21 FEBRUARY, AFTERNOON

  * * *

  Robyn asked Anna to join her and Juliet in the interview room. She arrived with a smile and a cup of tea for Juliet.

  ‘Tell me about the money, Juliet,’ Robyn asked again, once Juliet had taken a sip of tea.

  Juliet’s face remained impassive, and then with a sudden movement her shoulders slumped forwards and her head lowered.

  Her voice was little more than a whisper when she next spoke. ‘I should have guessed it would come out in the end, especially with Tessa being murdered and then Anthony dying.’ She rested the tips of her fingers against her forehead. The silence seemed to stretch for a long time with only the incessant tick, tick, tick of the clock on the wall filling the void.

  ‘What do you mean, Juliet?’ asked Robyn, her voice even and low.

  ‘We were members of a lottery syndicate,’ Juliet said with a slow sigh, ‘and our numbers came up in December.’

  ‘Was it a big win?’

  ‘Huge. It was a rollover week. Over six million jackpot.’

  ‘Gosh, that’s quite a win,’ said Anna. ‘You must have been ecstatic.’

  Juliet appeared not to hear her. With her head hung low, she refused to meet their eyes.

  ‘It’s not that simple. When you suddenly come into such a life-changing amount, it comes with complications, and none of us were prepared for those. We didn’t know how to handle them, or how to spend the money. We’d won it but we couldn’t spend or enjoy it.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘For me it was Gerry, my ex. If he’d got wind I had a fortune, he’d have pushed for half of it. I didn’t want Gerry to have a bean, not after how he treated me. I told the others how I felt – I wanted to keep it secret until I was well shot of that man. I applied for a decree nisi. I’m waiting for the decree absolute, and then we’re leaving for good – Spain – I want to go to Costa del Sol. The kids will love it there. Steph will easily find a job somewhere and Terence will finish school soon anyway. There’ll be enough money for us to live on.

  ‘It turned out a few of us had valid reasons for keeping it under wraps for a while. Roger was having relationship problems with Naomi, and didn’t want her to find out. Anthony’s brother was going to stay with him over Christmas and Anthony wanted to wait until he’d left before he started spending his money. And Liam didn’t want the lottery people to find out he was part of the syndicate because the ticket had come from his shop. He wanted to wait for the dust to settle. Tessa was the only one who was happy to spend her share but we dissuaded her. We made a collective decision to keep shtum about it. Gossip gets out so quickly when you live in rural communities, so we made a pact that all of us would keep quiet until the dust had settled.’

  ‘Were all the lottery tickets bought at MiniMarkt?’

  Juliet fidgeted uncomfortably and avoided Robyn’s gaze. ‘No, it depended on who bought them. Ella volunteered to buy them and she got them at MiniMarkt.’

  ‘Why Ella? She wasn’t part of the syndicate.’

  She shrugged. ‘She asked if she could. It was no biggie. It didn’t matter who bought the tickets as long as we had them.’

  ‘And you weren’t worried she’d steal the money?’

  ‘No. Why would she? If we won anything on the lottery, Liam would get a share. She had no reason not to buy them.’

  ‘It seems a strange arrangement. How did it come about?’ Robyn asked.

  ‘It all started when we won our first quiz together. We won forty pounds. Anthony suggested instead of dividing it among us, we should buy lucky dip lottery tickets with it and have a chance of winning proper money. It seemed a good idea. We were all struggling for money one way or another, so why not? After that, we either put in money ourselves or used any
quiz winnings to buy tickets. We won sixty pounds at the beginning of December and decided to blow the lot on lottery tickets. One of those won.’

  ‘So, what happened to your share of the lottery jackpot? Is it in your bank account?’

  Juliet shook her head. ‘First, Ella phoned the lottery commission, claimed the ticket and arranged anonymity for us, and then Anthony set up everything through a financial advisor – somebody he’d known for years. The lottery committee placed the money into a collective account, and from there it was distributed into individual offshore accounts, one for each of us, except for Anthony, who had his share transferred into a bond. He didn’t trust banks one bit. We met the advisor – Dario – at Anthony’s house. He was really nice and very professional. He explained how we could “hide” the money until we were ready to use it, and where it would attract the best interest but not attract attention from the tax office. He’d done the same for many wealthy clients. It seemed the sensible solution and allowed us to keep our winnings under the radar until we wished to spend them.’

  ‘Do you have Dario’s full details?’

  ‘I’ve got his card.’ She rooted through her handbag, pulled out her purse and extracted a business card. ‘The kids don’t know. I didn’t want them to find out until I’d officially divorced Gerry. It won’t hurt them to learn the value of money before they suddenly discover they’ve got mountains of it to spend on whatever they want. Steph’s recently got a part-time job at one of the cafés in town, and Terence, he helps out at the Heart Foundation shop on a Saturday.’ She gave a proud smile. ‘They’ve come a long way in the short time since we left Gerry.’

  ‘Was anyone else part of the syndicate or just the quiz players?’

  ‘Only the five of us: me, Tessa, Anthony, Liam and Roger.’

  ‘And no one knew about the big win?’

  ‘Nobody. I didn’t tell anyone and I can’t imagine the others would have either.’

  ‘Did you discuss the win in a pub where someone might have overheard you?’

  ‘No. Definitely not.’

  Robyn took the business card from the table and stood. Could the lottery money be the reason for Tessa’s and Anthony’s deaths?

  ‘If you don’t mind, I’m going to leave you here for a moment with PC Shamash. I’ll be back in a moment,’ she said.

  She headed back to the office and spoke quickly to Matt, David and Mitz.

  ‘Tessa Hall and Anthony Hawkins were both members of a lottery syndicate that won several million. What do you think to the idea that somebody might have found out about the win and be targeting the winners? Killing them off, one by one?’

  ‘You mean some nutcase who has it in for people who are lucky?’ David asked. Robyn considered his words. It was feasible.

  Mitz thought carefully before speaking. ‘I can’t see it myself. It’s not like the killer can get their hands on Tessa’s or Anthony’s money, is it? What would they have to gain?’

  Robyn gritted her teeth and made an exasperated noise. ‘It’s a crazy idea, isn’t it? It’s not reason enough for murder.’

  ‘Anything’s possible.’ Matt offered open palms and a shrug of concession. ‘We’ve come across stranger situations.’

  Mitz spoke again. ‘If it were the case, we’d need to offer the others in the syndicate some sort of protection.’

  ‘I can’t see DCI Flint agreeing to that. You know how short-staffed we are,’ said Matt.

  Robyn screwed up her face. ‘I know. He wouldn’t be keen, would he? Especially as I don’t have a strong enough argument to persuade him.’

  ‘Sorry, guv, I don’t think he’ll swallow this particular theory. Want us to have a word with the other syndicate members, see if we can find out more? Maybe somebody had a grudge against Anthony and Tessa, and the lottery win tipped them over the edge,’ said Matt.

  Robyn thought that was better reasoning than she’d offered.

  David swivelled round in his seat and offered his thoughts. ‘But then, that would depend on the person knowing about the win. Who knew about it apart from the syndicate involved?’

  ‘Naomi Povey, Roger’s girlfriend, might have known, although Juliet thinks Roger wanted to keep it from her. Ella Fox, Liam’s partner, certainly knew about it because she phoned the lottery commission to claim the winning ticket. That leaves any other loved ones the syndicate members confided in, anybody they might have blurted it to, and a financial advisor. Here are his details. We’ll need to interview him.’ She passed Mitz the card.

  He studied it and started tapping his keyboard, searching for information.

  Matt picked up the conversation thread. ‘There are a few potential suspects. If we’re right, it’d have to be somebody who knew all the people involved and also about the win.’

  ‘Juliet said they were all keeping quiet about it for the time being.’ Robyn ran back through what Juliet had told her.

  ‘A lottery win doesn’t seem a powerful enough reason to kill somebody, or indeed two people. There must be more to it,’ said Matt, his forehead creased in thought.

  ‘You’re right. There are too many people keeping secrets in this case. I’m going to see if I can squeeze anything further out of Juliet.’

  ‘I’ll get hold of this chap – Dario Pelligrini.’

  Robyn marched back towards the interview room. The team had pointed out the flaws in her argument. It made little sense for anyone to kill off the lottery syndicate members. She entered the room again with a sense of determination. Juliet was looking more composed.

  ‘Sorry to have left you. Are you feeling up to answering a few more questions?’

  ‘I suppose so.’ Juliet shifted in her seat. Anna gave her an encouraging smile.

  ‘I’m somewhat concerned that two people involved in this lottery syndicate have died. It’s imperative you tell me anything you can think of that might help us track down the person responsible. It’s very important, Juliet. I have to stop this person in case they strike again.’ Robyn didn’t want to unnecessarily scare Juliet but she needed more information. She had to have good reason to go to DCI Flint and request protection for Juliet, Liam and Roger. ‘Can you think of anybody outside of the syndicate who might have known about the win?’

  Juliet repeatedly shook her head. ‘No. I can’t. I don’t want to talk to you any more. I want to go now. I only came to ask you if you’d speak to Steph for me.’

  Robyn dropped her voice. ‘Of course. I didn’t want to alarm you. I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t ask you all these questions.’

  Juliet wouldn’t look at her. She pushed back her chair and marched towards the door. She hesitated there and Robyn thought she might say something; instead, she took a deep breath, opened it and walked out without looking back.

  ‘She didn’t say a word while you were out,’ said Anna. ‘Not a word.’

  ‘I’m pissed off with all these people keeping silent. Somebody knows something. We’ll get there. I’m not giving up yet.’ Robyn stared at the shut door, convinced Juliet had been about to talk again and enlighten them further. She sighed in annoyance, trying to decide if Juliet’s life might be in danger. If she didn’t share her thoughts with DCI Flint and something happened to Juliet, or the others, it would be her fault. She squared her shoulders, turned around and headed for Flint’s office. She wasn’t going to take any chances.

  * * *

  ‘Sir, I really think—’

  ‘I’ll discuss it with you tomorrow.’

  With that, DCI Flint rang off. Robyn clenched and unclenched her fists several times until she felt calmer. DCI Flint had been out of the office, and the brief conversation with him over the phone had resulted in him refusing to do anything until he’d thought about the matter.

  Once she’d put down the phone, David called across. ‘We’ve got a match on the DNA we sent to Harry McKenzie’s lab. Turns out Roger Jenkinson is the father of Tessa’s baby.’

  ‘What about the fingerprints?’


  ‘Just got off the phone with the lab. The prints lifted from the Valentine’s card and others found in the house are also Roger Jenkinson’s.’

  Robyn sighed. Roger Jenkinson, a man with a temper, who’d owned guns in the past and had rowed in the pub with Anthony over Tessa Hall. Had he killed Anthony because of his relationship with Tessa? Was he also responsible for Tessa’s murder in some way? Was Robyn looking at a crime of passion, or was it related to the jackpot win? Or was there something else she had yet to uncover? At least it ruled out the possibility of Lauren killing her husband because he’d fathered a child with another woman. It was too late to do any more today. She was fatigued, drained and fed up. In the morning, she and Matt would talk to Dario Pelligrini. He knew about the win – and that made him a suspect.

  * * *

  Robyn returned home to find Schrödinger eagerly waiting by the front door. She had hardly opened it before he wrapped himself around her ankles, weaving a figure of eight, all the while purring like a small car engine.

  ‘Well, hello you,’ she said, turning off the newly installed alarm. She scooped him up and he nuzzled against her face, his whiskers tickling her cheeks.

  It wasn’t fair to keep him inside the house for such long periods of time without anybody here with him. He’d have got used to having Tessa around and now he was alone for hours on end. For now, however, he seemed content to sit on her lap as she stroked him and thought about the investigation, and she was very grateful for his company.

  Forty-Seven

  THEN

  * * *

  It’s the first time Sid’s left him in charge of the betting shop and he feels bloody marvellous. He whistles as he clears the desk, ready for another day of takings. Sid’s had to go to the doctor’s. He hopes the old boy’s okay. He’s been looking a bit drained recently.