“Tell you what, Bev.” He winked, raised the glass and drained the last of the malt. “I’ll think about it.”
Bev was whistling an old Tears for Fears number as she strolled past the front desk. Vince Hanlon lifted his glance from the sports pages. “Can’t argue with that, Bev.”
“What’s that, Vincie?”
“It’s a mad world, right enough.”
She laughed. “Sure is.” Mind, it could be worse. It was Friday night. In a couple of hours, she’d be whooping it up at Frankie’s gig in the Jug of Ale. Her hopes weren’t high, but Oz hadn’t ruled out dropping in for an hour or so. There was serious sorting still to do but they had to start someplace. Either way her young friend, Jules, would be there. Bev had stopped off at the Texaco earlier in the week to invite her along. Apart from a promise to herself she’d keep in touch, Jules was a reminder that a cop’s job was still worth doing. Sometimes.
She swung her bag over her shoulder. “I’m off, Vince. Catch you Monday.”
“You haven’t heard, have you?”
There was something in his voice that made her look back and reluctantly return.
“Heard what?”
“What do you want first? The good news or the bad?”
She folded her arms, tapped a foot.
Vince glanced in both directions than leaned forward conspiratorially. “The guv’s not going anywhere.”
She frowned. That was quick. It was less than an hour since she’d left him cogitating in his office.
“Just between you and me, right?” Vince paused for a nod of agreement. “He let it slip the other night in the Prince. He’s knocked the retirement idea on the head.”
“That definite, is it?” Bev was picturing Byford, perched on the desk promising, a tad patronisingly as she recalled, to give it some thought.
“Horse’s mouth.” He tapped the side of his nose. “You know what the guv’s like when his mind’s made up.”
She certainly did. “I’ll have my tenner back, then.”
“Tenner?”
“The collection.” She held out a hand.
“Please yourself.” So why was he looking put out? “I thought it was a nice gesture, considering.”
“Gesture?”
“Yeah. It was the old man’s idea. A whip-round for Danny Shields. She’s only been here five minutes but the guv thought we should get her some flowers or something. She’s off next Friday.”
She pursed her lips. “Tell me, Vince. Do I look gullible?”
A wavering hand suggested a close call. She gave a wry smile. What the hell? The guv was staying. As news went, it didn’t get much better. Vince could keep the cash – as long as he put it towards a bunch of daffs.
They both glanced round when the main doors shot back. Oz saw Bev at the desk, headed over like a man on a mission.
“Have you heard?”
She was about to mention echoes and déjà vu. Oz couldn’t wait to share.
“DI Powell’s in the clear. He’s back. Monday week.”
Vince opened his mouth but Bev lifted a hand. “Don’t tell me,” she said. “That so has to be the bad news.”
Epilogue
Faint light flickered from a corner of the room as Bev parked the MG and walked towards the house. Through the window, she could see Maude Taylor watching television. Must be a good programme; the old woman was rapt.
Bev raised the knocker then stilled it, loath to butt in, but she’d been spotted. Maude was reaching for her stick and struggling to her feet.
“Sorry to disturb you. I just wanted to return this.” She proffered Sophia’s journal. Maude took it, returned Bev’s smile. “Thanks for letting me see it, Maude. Your friend must have been quite a woman. I wish I’d known her.”
Maude opened the door and stood to one side. “Come in, dear. I’d like to show you something.”
A half-packed suitcase and several boxes littered the hall floor. “When are you off?”
“Tomorrow. First thing. Do go through.”
Maude hadn’t been watching television. Bev’s heart sank when she saw the screen and the projector. Holiday slides or home movies she could live without.
“I know what you’re thinking, but humour me.”
She hid a grin. The old woman never had missed much.
There were several metal canisters on the table but Maude rewound the film already in the machine.
“The others I’ve seen lots of times, but I didn’t even know this existed.”
Bev perched on the arm of a chair, waited patiently while Maude cued the old footage. The colours had faded to soft pastels over the years. Bev watched as the camera panned across extensive lawns, decorated with the palest of daffodils, before steadying and focusing on two figures on a bench.
“I think I can guess who took it,” Maude said. “Only one other person in the world knew about the baby then.”
“The father?” Bev asked
Maude nodded.
“And you’ve no idea who he was?”
“None.”
Bev wasn’t sure she believed her. “Where was it filmed?” Why am I whispering?
“In the grounds of the nursing home.” Maude pointed with her stick. “Look, you can just see the edge of the building.”
Bev was more interested in the woman and the tiny baby. Both were warmly wrapped against what was presumably a chill in the air. The child was swamped in a thick ivory shawl, her pale face and dark hair just discernible under a pink bonnet.
Bev felt an unutterable sadness as she imagined how often Sophia had watched this film, lingering over every frame, savouring every precious second of the motherhood she’d felt forced to sacrifice. Christ. The past wasn’t a foreign country; it was an alien universe. Bev knew fourteen-year-olds around these parts with three kids by three different blokes.
Sophia was gently stroking her daughter’s cheek.
“Did she want to keep her baby, Maude?”
“More than you can ever imagine, my dear.”
Both women watched as Sophia Carrington lifted her glance to the lens. A gust of wind snatched at the blue beret. Maybe the cold was stinging her eyes, but it could just as easily have been a tear on the young doctor’s cheek as she smiled for the camera.
Table of Contents
Cover
Begin reading
Title page
Copyright page
Contents
Author’s note
Acknowledgements
Dedication page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Epilogue
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