by Anna Jacobs
When Angus and Janey got back, she explained and asked for another sample. ‘Can you wait for the first set of results?’
‘Yes.’ Janey said. ‘Oh, yes please. And I’ll be praying it shows he’s not my father.’
‘Don’t quote me on it, but I don’t blame you,’ Edwina said.
When she left them in the waiting room, Edwina went to grab a snack bar from her emergency stash and found David waiting for her again.
‘Wayne Dobson’s started singing nice and loudly to us,’ he said abruptly.
‘About what?’
‘About what he’d hinted at before, being hired to cause trouble for the old lady Janey lives with. We need to track down that car you saw. It allegedly belongs to a Mrs Dorothy Dobson.’
‘I doubt it. She’s Janey’s mother and she’s in a refuge. She won’t have had access to any vehicles lately. But I’m happy to phone and ask her about the car. I know the woman who runs the refuge, so I can probably get through to her more easily than you could.’
‘OK. Go for it. I’ll get on with the paperwork.’
She went to find him a quarter of an hour later. ‘Dorothy Dobson says she’s never owned a car or learnt to drive. Her husband wouldn’t let her. I checked and there’s certainly no record of her ever having a driving licence. What’s more, she hasn’t left the refuge for the past few days. Lots of witnesses to that. She says her husband’s cousin owns a car like the one I described, though.’
David looked thoughtful. ‘Curiouser and curiouser.’
‘I wonder if this watcher ties in to the harassment of Miss Parfitt at number 5. Over the past few weeks, she’s been mugged and had the summer house in her back garden burnt down. She’s pretty sure someone is trying to force her to sell her home. A developer could get three modern houses on a piece of land that big. Angus may know something about it. He’s a family friend. He’s still here with Janey.’
‘Let’s go and talk to him.’
Angus confirmed the harassment, explaining about the way he’d nearly caught the mugger in the first incident, and the security system he’d extended for Winifred. ‘I’ve also got the latest brochures from two estate agents I’ve never heard of in my car. They were posted to her. Janey may be able to tell you about other incidents.’
He went out to get the brochures and Janey joined them to discuss the ongoing harassment.
‘There’s one developer who’s been warned before for hustling old people in this town and buying their houses at knock-down prices. He’s made a lot of money from small developments,’ Edwina said thoughtfully. ‘He’s the one doing that new one they’ve called Cinnamon Gardens.’
Angus nodded. ‘My partner just sold your aunt’s house to him, but willingly. You must have seen what a bad state it was in. I helped her hold out for a decent price, though.’
‘She was lucky. He isn’t usually generous. Unfortunately we’ve never been able to pin anything dishonest on him and his developments go through the planning procedures very quickly. I’d guess he has someone in the council helping him navigate the shoals of bureaucracy.’
‘I’m dealing with a similar case on the other side of town, only this time it’s the son of the house owner who came to us to report harassment to his elderly father,’ David said thoughtfully.
‘Who’d have thought a kidnapping could suggest links with this sort of thing?’ Edwina shook her head. ‘Perhaps Nolan’s getting too confident.’
‘I think I’ll go and have another word with Lionel Dobson,’ David said. ‘He’s very eager not to be charged with incest and to get off as lightly as possible from the kidnapping charges, so I’m sure he’ll co-operate.’
‘Who’d be stupid enough to hire him to harass anyone?’ she asked scornfully. ‘He’s not the smartest person in town, goes at things like a bull at a gate. I doubt even Nolan could be that stupid.’
They looked at one another thoughtfully.
‘Maybe it’s his cousin who’s being hired?’ David said slowly. ‘Wayne Dobson hasn’t got any police record. In fact, he lives a very quiet, private life.’
‘Hmm. Well, however loudly this Dobson sings about his cousin’s doings, I’m still going to charge Lionel with assault. Have you seen Janey’s face?’
‘Yeah. He’s only about twice her size, the sod.’
‘Can I sit in on your interview with him?’ she asked.
‘Be my guest.’
They took their places in the interview room, with Lionel opposite them together with a bored-looking duty lawyer.
After the preliminaries, David waited a moment to ask his first question, studying Lionel thoughtfully. Then he said quietly, ‘We’d be grateful for your help in figuring out what was going on tonight, why your cousin wanted to go to Miss Parfitt’s house.’
‘How grateful?’ Lionel asked at once. ‘Will it be taken into account?’
‘Oh, I’m sure everything will be taken into account.’
‘Someone’s paying Wayne to harass that old lady, someone who wants to buy the house. He wouldn’t tell me who, though.’
‘But you went there to kidnap your daughter.’
‘She’s not my daughter. I keep telling you that.’
‘OK. Kidnap Janey.’
‘Well, Wayne said since what I wanted would frighten the old lady as well as anything else, he’d help me to get Janey.’
The lawyer whispered in his ear, but he waved the man away and stared at the two police officers.
‘Your cousin Wayne doesn’t have a record, Mr Dobson. We checked. Why should we believe you?’
Lionel hesitated, then said, ‘You could check out his smallholding. There’s a valuable green crop at the back, though he’s probably destroying it as we speak.’
‘As in?’
‘Marijuana.’
‘Interview closed,’ David said abruptly and led the way out of the room.
Edwina smiled as she left him talking to his inspector. This was getting even more promising.
He came rushing into the staff room. ‘Let those two go home, but keep Lionel Dobson here. I’m going after his cousin. We knew someone round here was growing, but not who.’
She went off to do as he’d suggested.
When they got to the smallholding, David smiled as he got out of the car and waited for a second car to pull up.
‘OK. Let’s go.’
They had to wake Wayne up and he was a bit dopey as he answered their questions.
‘I think he’s been smoking his own weed,’ one man said.
It was all over in a few minutes, with two men staying to guard the crop till it could be taken away and Wayne refusing to answer any more questions till he got a lawyer.
‘It’s my cousin’s crop,’ he insisted. ‘What do I know about growing that stuff?’
When they got back, further questioning elicited only the same responses. Each man was claiming the other was responsible for the illegal crop.
It was Edwina who thought of a way round this during a break in questioning. ‘I wonder whether Janey’s mother knows anything about this?’
‘Do you think they’d let me come into the refuge with you, Edwina?’ David asked.
‘If I vouch for you.’
Dorothy, who was now insisting on being called Hope, had plenty to tell them after years of watching what her husband and his cousin were up to. She even knew the name of the man who came to take away the crops.
‘Did they never guard what they said in front of you?’ David asked in surprise.
‘I don’t think they even noticed me most of the time, and that was the way I wanted it, so that I could protect Janey. Only I didn’t, did I? Lionel’s friend raped her. He was in on the marijuana, too.’
Edwina looked at her in surprise. ‘That didn’t come out in court.’
‘Lionel said if I gave one hint about it, he’d maim me permanently. I believed him.’
‘Will you testify in court about the marijuana now?’
‘Ye
s. I hope they keep Gary in prison for even longer because of it, and my ex with him.’
‘You’ve been very helpful, Mrs – um Ms Redman.’
‘Any time. Will you be seeing Janey?’
‘Yes.’
‘Give her my love.’
‘I will.’
‘Have you seen the baby?’
‘Yes. She’s a lively little thing.’
‘I’m hoping to see her soon.’ It was the first time she’d really smiled.
When they were in the car, Edwina thumped the steering wheel. ‘Why do women let men turn them into such meek, helpless creatures?’
‘Beats me. I bet no one would do it to you.’
‘You can be certain of that.’
‘Good for you. Anyway, let’s go back. We may have the DNA results by now.’
Chapter Twenty
Edwina knocked on the door of number 5, surprised when Nell answered it. She’d expected her cousin to have gone back to Dennings with Angus.
‘I’m hanging around till things are sorted out,’ Nell said in a low voice. ‘Miss Parfitt is still a bit nervous. Mr Shackleton is going to continue sleeping here but he’s a bit shaken tonight. Who did you want to see?’
‘Janey. We have some news for her.’
‘The DNA tests?’
‘Yes.’
‘Come in. She’s been on edge, waiting to hear.’
Janey was sitting in the kitchen, where Winifred was doing some baking.
‘Shall I leave you on your own?’ Nell asked.
‘No, please stay. You’re involved in all this,’ Janey said.
‘What did the tests show, Officer?’
‘Dobson can’t possibly be your father … or even a distant relative.’
Edwina had expected Janey to burst into tears of joy, but instead the girl grabbed Winifred and waltzed her round the kitchen. Then she picked up her daughter and danced her round, too, smacking a couple of big kisses on her cheek. ‘Isn’t that wonderful, Uncle Dan?’
‘The best news you and Millie could have.’
The baby grabbed her mother’s hair and laughed at her.
Then Janey sat down. ‘I’ll have to talk to my mother. I don’t know what I’ll do if she won’t tell me who my father is.’
‘I could phone and see if she’s happy for you to visit her. There’s a room where you can talk privately.’
‘I can drive you over there,’ Nell offered. ‘And Miss Parfitt can come along for the ride.’
‘I’ve got a cake in the oven,’ Winifred said. ‘I’ll be all right here with Dan to keep me company. We’ll keep all the doors and windows locked.’
Hope was waiting for them in an arbour in the back garden of the refuge. ‘I’ll take you through,’ the woman who’d opened the door said.
Janey took the baby out of her car seat while Nell got the buggy out of the car boot.
‘I’ll phone for a taxi when we’ve finished talking, Nell. I don’t know how long I’ll be.’
‘All right. I’ll get back to Miss Parfitt now.’
Janey walked forward across the smooth lawn at the rear, her mother’s tense expression making her suddenly certain what she wanted to do. When the buggy got stuck in a soft patch near the edge of the lawn, her mother came forward and helped her push it into the arbour.
But Hope’s eyes were on the child. ‘She’s beautiful and looks such a happy baby. You can always tell when they’re loved and well cared for.’ Her face crumpled and she began to weep. ‘I didn’t look after you very well, did I?’
For a moment Janey wondered what to say, then it came to her. ‘Don’t cry, Mum. You did your best and we had some good times when Dad was out of the house.’
‘It wasn’t good enough. I lost heart, you see, could only try to survive towards the end.’
‘Well, you’ve a lot to look forward to now, we both have. Pick up Millie and get to know your granddaughter. We should look to the future instead of the past. We’ve both done enough crying to last a lifetime. To hell with him! We won’t let him spoil our lives.’
‘You’re right.’ When Janey put Millie into her arms, Hope hid her face for a moment by hugging the child.
‘Perhaps you’ll be able to babysit her for me sometimes,’ Janey said casually.
Hope gasped and her eyes lit up with joy. ‘Do you really mean that?’
‘Yes. I have a lot of studying to do. If they lock him away, you can come out of here and get yourself a flat. And you’ll be able to get another job easily, I’m sure. I’ll help you find second-hand furniture and—’
Hope grabbed her and pulled her close and the three of them stood cuddling for a moment, till Millie wriggled and gave a little whimper.
‘Sit down and I’ll tell you,’ Hope said.
‘About my father?’
‘Yes.’
‘Is he still alive?’
‘I don’t know. He was going to Australia, said he’d send for me, but I never heard from him again. When I found I was expecting, my parents threw a fit and Lionel was the only one who was kind to me. So when he asked me to marry him several months later, I said yes.’
‘I can’t imagine him being kind to anyone.’
‘It didn’t last long. I soon realised he’d wanted a housekeeper and slave, and when I tried to stand up for myself after I’d had you, he beat me so badly I was in bed for days. After that he was careful not to be so heavy-handed – and to hit me where the bruises didn’t show.’
‘Why didn’t you run away?’
‘He made it seem as if it was my fault for being stupid. Gradually I lost heart, Janey. It’s a common pattern of behaviour in abused women, they tell me. I did what he wanted and made sure you were looked after physically. I just … survived.’
‘You used to hug me sometimes when he wasn’t at home. When I was little. Not so much later.’
‘No.’
‘What was my father’s name?’
‘Adam. Adam Torrington.’
‘I don’t suppose you have a photo of him?’
‘No. I burnt them all, I was so angry with him for not writing to me, not even to let me know he’d arrived safely. I regretted that later.’
‘We can search the Internet. It isn’t a common name.’
‘Not yet!’ Hope sounded panicky. ‘I have to get myself together again, make a new life. What if you found him and he saw me like this?’ She gestured to herself.
‘All right. I’ll wait.’ But not too long. She wanted to see her birth father, if that was at all possible. That’d make everything real about Dobson.
‘I think I’ll change my name to Redman, too,’ Janey said.
‘That’d be wonderful. We’d still sound like a mother and daughter.’
‘We are a mother and daughter.’
Millie crowed with delight just then and grabbed hold of her grandmother’s shoulder length hair, and after they’d disentangled her little hands from it – no mean feat – Hope changed the subject firmly. Janey didn’t push to talk about her birth father again. At least it wasn’t Lionel Dobson and she knew her real father’s name.
Instead she told her mother about her ambition to become a doctor and Hope was delighted, offering to babysit any time she could, once she had her own home again.
‘The people here managed to save the furniture, you know, when the house was repossessed, and they’ve put it in storage. There will be some of your things among it, I’m sure. And they’re keeping an eye on the legal situation. The bank foreclosed on the house, but there will be something left after it’s sold because we’d been paying off the mortgage for years.’
When Janey left, she was very thoughtful and pleased that she’d started building a bridge to her mother.
She was pleased too with her mother’s new name and the class she was taking in assertiveness.
In fact, it was a long time since she’d felt so good.
When Nell got back to number 5, she saw a car she recognised parked outside the ho
use. Instinctively she pressed speed dial for Angus, but only got his reply service. So she called Edwina and told her that Jeffries had turned up again.
‘I’ll be along in a few minutes. Don’t put yourself in danger.’
She didn’t know why she felt threatened by Jeffries visiting Winifred, but she did. Well, she’d not find out anything by sitting here. She got out of the car and walked into the garden, going round towards the back and peering round the corner of the house.
Why had Winifred let Jeffries inside? That didn’t make sense.
Nell crept forward a little and peeped through the kitchen window. He was talking earnestly to Winifred who wasn’t saying anything. The old lady was sitting at the opposite side of the table from him. Her expression gave nothing away, but her body language indicated that she was anxious.
‘Psst!’
Nell looked round.
Angus showed himself briefly on the other side of the kitchen window, then made urgent gestures to her to get back.
Nell did this, puzzled. What was going on?
She waited, wishing she could overhear what Jeffries was saying. And where was Dan? Why wasn’t he with Winifred?
When she heard the sound of a car pulling up, she walked quietly back to the front and intercepted Edwina and her colleague.
‘Angus is there and he wanted me to keep out of sight, so I think we might wait a minute or two before interrupting. Come and have a peep.’
Edwina did that and Angus made the same gesture to her, telling her to keep back and putting one finger to his lips.
‘I’m tempted to march in,’ she muttered to Nell. ‘What the hell does he think he’s doing?’
‘I can’t work it out, but he didn’t seem upset.’
‘He seemed almost triumphant,’ Edwina said. ‘Do you think …’
