‘I think it’s time to move on,’ she said a few moments later. ‘Lowri is beginning to ask too many questions. Gossip flies like a whirlwind in a place like Cwm Derw and Lowri working at the post office gives it the best start. Your wife could easily pick up on a few suspicions.’
‘We need a while longer. Just a few weeks and everything will be sorted and we can leave.’
‘I’ve told her I’m leaving Badgers Brook.’
‘Where will you go?’
‘With you. Won’t we be leaving soon?’
‘Not yet. There are still some arrangements to make. But very soon.’
‘Back to Mam’s then, I suppose.’
‘It won’t be for long,’ he promised, holding her tight, kissing her cheek, her chin, her lips. ‘Just a few things to sort out and we’ll be together without having to hide.’
Breathlessly, she asked, ‘Have you bought the boat?’
‘Not yet, but I think I’ve found the right one. She’s in good condition and the owner has died. His widow wants a quick sale and she’s no idea of the real value. I think I’ll have a bargain. That means more money to get us started when we reach Spain. You’ll have to buy her though, just in case I’m seen and word gets back to “she who must be obeyed”. She’d take everything if she found out I was leaving.’
‘I’m so excited. I only hope Sandra will be happy and won’t miss Mam and the others too much.’
‘You’re her mother, of course she’ll be happy.’
Before he left, she handed him some money. ‘This is the money from cashing in my savings certificates.’ He hugged her. ‘It’s going to be so wonderful, my darling, just you and me, and our lovely daughter.’
‘Soon?’
‘Very soon,’ he promised.
*
True to her promise, Lowri planned to go and see Katie as soon as the post office closed. She bought a pair of slippers for each child and also some sweets and two small, locally made floppy dolls. As well as wanting to please Katie and Sarah-Jane, she knew she would be glad of the distraction before facing Dic and apologizing for mistrusting him. She had to tell him she was sorry, and hide that uneasiness, that niggle of doubt about his honesty. She wished she could be so sure of him that pretending would be easy, but she wasn’t. She mistrusted him and at the same time, grieved for the loss of his support.
She stepped outside as Stella locked the door behind her and from a car at the kerb, Ken stepped out with flowers in his arms. ‘These are for you. I’m sorry I behaved like a spoilt child the other evening – I’m truly sorry. Will you come out and let me show you just how much?’
‘Ken, I can’t. I’ve promised to go and see Katie, she’s ill and I… I promised,’ she ended lamely.
‘I see. Dic is more important that the man who loves you and wants to spend all his life with you.’ He laughed then and thrust the flowers towards her. ‘There I go again. I have to confess it, I’m jealous of your affection for Dic and his little brood.’
‘There’s no need. I’ve known Dic Morris all my life, and he’s like a big brother. That’s all.’
‘As long as you’re sure. Shall I meet you tomorrow? Pictures maybe? No more talk about marriage until you are ready. All right?’
‘Please, Ken. I’d like that.’
She refused a lift, trying to keep Dic and Ken as separate parts of her life and he waited until her bus arrived. The bus seemed unusually slow, rumbling through the streets and along the country roads, anxious as she was to arrive before Katie had been put to bed. The second part of her journey seemed to last for ever but eventually she knocked on the side door of the shop. It was opened to the sound of laughter, as the two girls listened to a record of ‘The Laughing Policeman’ – an old one but still one of their favourites.
Dic’s eyes lit up when he saw her and he stood back to allow her to enter. She had no time to make her apologies. ‘Katie, Sarah-Jane, look who’s here,’ he called and the girls ran to hug her while the infectious laughter of the policeman continued in the background. Dic hugged her briefly. ‘I’m so pleased you could come.’
‘I’m sorry about—’ she began but he hushed her and shook his head.
‘There’s no need for explanations. I understand,’ he said.
There was no time for more. As the record ended, she took the presents from her basket, one at a time, and laughed at the pleasure they brought to the little girls. The slippers fitted perfectly and the dolls were taken to the toy box where clothes were selected for them. Lowri was not a good needlewoman but she managed to alter a few dresses to fit the floppy dolls. It was late before everything settled and the girls were in bed, their slippers tucked under the bed, the new dolls on their pillows beside them.
Instead of another attempt at an apology, Lowri said, ‘Marion and I have had a terrible row. She’s leaving Badgers Brook at the end of the month, in fact, I don’t know whether she’ll be there when I get home.’
‘Will you be all right on your own, if she isn’t?’
‘Of course. I feel completely safe and happy there. Even after someone searched my room, I’ve never felt a moment’s unease. The walls seem to wrap themselves around me and cushion me against any fears I might have.’
‘What was the quarrel about? You and Marion seem so compatible.’
‘We are, as long as I tell her everything and ask her nothing. She’s so secretive and I thought we’d been friends long enough for her to trust me.’
‘Is she embarrassed abut her family? There are eight children there and perhaps she finds that people criticize her parents in some way? You know better than most how children suffer because of their parents. Maybe having a two-year-old sister is embarrassing?’
‘Well, actually, Marion told me in confidence that Sandra is her child. The father being this mysterious man who is married and promising to leave his wife for her.’
‘You doubt that?’
‘Dic, I’m in such a miserable state that I doubt everyone.’
‘I can understand that, but why me?’
‘You smell of the mud and dead fish I smelt in the hut when I was attacked and locked in.’
He laughed and she reluctantly joined in. ‘Whatever happens don’t doubt me. I care for you very much and would never do anything to harm you in the slightest way. I promise you.’
She felt a blush colouring her cheeks. Was this what she wanted to hear? That he cared? Auntie Cathy said he loved her. What an overused word. Love was offered on many levels and didn’t necessarily mean a thing.
‘I’m going to see Jake again on Wednesday,’ he told her. ‘Will you come? He has some wood that I might be able to use. He’s an interesting man, we can have a cup of tea and a chat.’
‘Only if we take a flask!’ she replied with a smile. ‘I’ve seen the way he “washes” those filthy mugs of his.’
He couldn’t drive her home as the children were in bed and he watched from the doorway until she climbed on to the bus, carrying Ken’s flowers, waving until the bus was out of sight.
He felt light-hearted, thankful that she had faced him after her unfounded fears and he lay awake for a long time wishing futile wishes, dreaming impossible dreams. Eleven years difference and a marriage and two children. It was hopeless to dream of more than being her big brother, but dreams are impossible to control and he slept and dreamed some more.
*
The house was empty and dark when she reached Badgers Brook. It seemed Marion had moved out already – not even giving it until the end of the week. Using her torch to guide her in, she lit the gas light in the kitchen and then the living room. Despite her assurances to Dic, it was strange knowing there was no one there but herself, and the darkness was a little intimidating. She turned on the wireless and felt better when the sound of dance music filled the room.
She prepared for bed, hugging her dressing gown around her, then made her usual cocoa. Forgetfully, she took down two cups and felt a deep sadness as she returned one to it
s shelf. She would have to find another lodger but until then she would manage on her own and treat it like a challenge. She told herself that she must never refuse a challenge.
She used a candle to light her way to bed and couldn’t resist glancing into Marion’s room. In the flickering candlelight she saw the bed was made, the wardrobe doors were flung wide and the rails and shelves were empty. All the personal knick-knacks that Marion had brought to make the room her own, were gone. It was the lack of them that brought it home to her how absolutely on her own she now was.
Ken’s proposal looked momentarily tempting, but she just didn’t know if she loved him in the way Marion had described love, as an all consuming emotion, that would make you do things you wouldn’t normally dream of doing. She didn’t have such feelings, certainly not strong enough to marry him. She decided that this was another turning point in her life and tomorrow she would tell him how she felt. As for Dic, he was just a protective big brother. Wasn’t he?
Ken was waiting the next afternoon as she closed the post office and they went to Stella’s country cottage, an arrangement made between Ken and the mysteriously absent Stella without telling her. Tea and sandwiches served in the peaceful gardens relaxed her and afterwards they went to the pictures, then on to a restaurant for an evening meal. Back at Badgers Brook they put on records and danced. When it was time to leave, Ken didn’t want to leave, and she was reluctant to let him.
Was he her future? She was never more content than when they were together. They laughed a lot and seemed in accord with practically everything they did. So what was holding her back? It couldn’t be a misplaced loyalty to Dic – he was love of a different kind and even that had been lessened by suspicion. Perhaps Stella was right and love needed to grow, to be nourished by the passing days. She had to give it time.
*
Next Wednesday, as planned, Dic arrived early and they set off for the seaside town of Barry and Jake’s boatyard. Jake came to meet them and offered them tea, which they smilingly declined, instead offering him a drink from their flask and a share of their packed lunch.
‘No better news of your father, then?’ Jake asked Lowri.
‘No, and there won’t be, unless Ellis Owen miraculously turns up.’ She was unaware of the scruffy, bearded man pausing and turning to look at her, before getting on with his work. He brushed more slowly, dragging the task out and listening to what was being said, but no one noticed.
‘Lowri thought she saw him and it’s hard to accept she was wrong,’ Dic explained.
‘Where did you think you saw him?’ Jake asked and Lowri explained, but briefly, light-heartedly, as though convinced now that she had been mistaken and it had been nothing more than wishful thinking.
Dic selected the wood he could use and there were a few minutes of jocular haggling before he promised to buy Jake a drink later and they left. Lowri waved to the young apprentice and to the old man whom Jake had casually introduced as Alun Harris. Alun was now leaning on a yard broom, watching them from the door of Jake’s office. As they drove away, with the boot filled with odd-shaped, old and new timber, he came down to talk to Jake.
‘Did I hear that girl mention Ellis Owen?’ he asked, his voice surprisingly well modulated.
‘The man who died after fighting on Mumbles pier, yes. She’s Jimmy Vaughan’s daughter, Lowri. Jimmy and Owen were fighting, Jimmy accused Ellis of stealing from the firm, but no one believed him. The evidence pointed at Jimmy and with Ellis dead, there’s no way of proving otherwise. Jimmy was almost charged with killing the man, but there wasn’t sufficient evidence for that. The suspicion still hangs over him though.’
‘Ellis Owen robbed from this Jimmy Vaughan’s business?’
Jake shrugged. ‘No one could prove that and it’s Jimmy who’s serving a sentence for fraud. All the evidence pointed at Jimmy, not Ellis Owen.’
‘And Ellis Owen is really dead?’
‘Drowned when he fell into the sea while he and Jimmy were fighting. Although the body was never recovered. Young Lowri’s so upset by her father’s imprisonment. She can’t believe he’s guilty, and thinking she’s seen Ellis Owen, who’s supposed to be dead, well… as she admitted, it must have been wishful thinking.’
‘Tell me about it, will you? I knew Ellis Owen and I didn’t know he was dead until a few months ago when I came back from France. If he’s alive I want to kill him myself!’
‘What d’you mean?’
‘A man called Ellis Owen worked for me. A brilliant accountant he was, even though he wasn’t fully qualified. He took over every aspect of the financial side of things, leaving me free to concentrate on the business. I was very pleased. Until the day I received a letter from the bank to tell me the account was empty and there were serious debts.’
‘That’s more or less what happened to Jimmy Vaughan and his partner Jack Morris.’
‘I had to sell everything I owned and still work for six months to clear the debts he’d left. He disappeared and there was nothing the police could do. In fact, he’d covered his tracks so well they didn’t believe me.’ He looked away into a distant place, reliving despair and sadness. ‘My fiancée left me, and I was rudderless, without an aim or a hope of starting again.’
‘What did you do?’
‘Once all my debts were paid I went to France and stayed there until a few months ago. I had no heart to try and rebuild my business.’
‘What business was that?’ Jake asked.
‘I had a restaurant. I trained as a chef and with my fiancée, planned to go for the upper class clientele. Specialize in top-class French cuisine. But everything was ruined by that man. I tried to find someone to back me but the suspicion that I stole from my own business in the hope of an insurance claim, meant no one trusted me.’
‘Did you claim?’
‘No. There was no chance of a successful claim. He’d made sure of that. The evidence showed that I was the culprit. Then Rachel left me and I gave up. So you can understand why I’d love to think Lowri Vaughan is right and the man is still alive.’
‘Not much chance of that.’
‘Where can I find her? I’d like to talk to her anyway. Perhaps if I go back to the police and remind them of what happened to me, they might look again – sympathetically – at her father’s case, maybe mine too.’
Jake hesitated. Although Alun Harris had worked for him for a few months, he didn’t know much about him. He didn’t want to send someone to find Lowri without being sure she wasn’t at risk. The man could be unbalanced, the story a nonsense.
‘I think you’d better talk to Dic Morris,’ he decided. ‘Dic’s father was Jimmy’s partner and he knows as much as anyone about what happened.’
Alun left the boatyard with Jake after making sure everything was securely locked. Then, promising to talk to Dic at the address Jake had given him, he left. A tall, powerful figure, his eyes clear and far-seeing, the clothes giving a false impression of an ageing, dispirited man. He thumbed a lift from a passing lorry driver and was soon knocking on Dic’s door.
Jake had forewarned his friend by telephone, and Dic had taken the girls to stay with his mother until he called for them at bed time. Lowri was sitting beside the fire having insisted on staying. They greeted their visitor and waved him to a seat. Then they waited for the man to explain the reason for his visit. Alun went over the same ground he had covered with Jake, and then Dic, and occasionally Lowri, filled in their details.
‘Your father believed Jimmy Vaughan was guilty?’ Alun asked Dic.
‘At first, but when the anger cooled and he began to think more clearly he had doubts. My mother never believed it,’ he added, glancing at Lowri. ‘Ellis had been given full access to every part of the business and, well, he could easily have altered the books to implicate Jimmy.’
‘That’s what he did to me. Fortunately, I didn’t have a partner so I couldn’t be charged with fraud. There was only the accusation that I was intending to cheat on the insurance
. But even that was stretching the evidence too far. So I was left with nothing but debts and a name no one would trust.’
He questioned Lowri about the times she had believed she’d seen Ellis and he also heard about the time she had been locked in the hut.
As Alun stood to leave, he wrote his address on a piece of paper. ‘Can I ask you to let me know if you think of anything else?’
‘Such as what? There is nothing to find. The truth died with Ellis Owen.’
‘If he’s dead,’ Lowri added defiantly, glaring at Dic.
Dic gave Lowri a lift home before collecting his daughters but first he offered Alun a lift to the railway station where he could get a train to Cardiff, where he had a room.
Lowri was so excited she thought she’d never sleep again. Could this be the miracle she had hoped for? She wrote to her mother to tell her Alun Harris’s story, warning her not to say anything to encourage her father to hope, until she had learned more.
*
Alun found out from Jake that Lowri worked at the post office in Cwm Derw and as he was paid for the time he worked rather than regular hours, it was easy to absent himself from the boatyard and wait for Lowri outside her work. So at one o’clock the next day, he was waiting outside the post office wearing his best suit and a trilby hat, a pair of shiny shoes on his feet.
She didn’t recognize him at first and he smiled and reminded her, ‘Alun Harris from Jake’s boatyard?’
‘Of course. You look different today.’
‘Miss Vaughan, please excuse me approaching you like this, but if you’re willing, I’d like to talk to you a bit more about what happened to your father.’
‘I only have an hour,’ she began. ‘I have to be back here at two o’clock and I need to eat.’
False Friends Page 20
