Croft’s approach changed. ‘I must tell you, sir, that you are not obliged to say anything, but anything you say may be given in evidence. Do you understand? Now, were you aware that your mother claimed several hundred pounds on Richard Feeney’s purported death?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did you receive any of that money?’
‘No!’
The officer went on, ‘I know it’s a long time ago but can you tell me what you remember about your movements on that day?’
Sonny told him that he had spent most of the afternoon at his studio painting. Later he had met his brother in a public house, then both had gone to the family home … ‘When we arrived the house was already ablaze. My parents and my grandmother were standing outside with my sister, her husband and many of our neighbours. My father was attempting to get into the house, but all the doors were locked. He told us that my wife and children were inside and I began my own attempt to break the lock on the front door, aided by my brother.’ The police officer cut in here to ask whether there were any windows open and Sonny replied in the negative.
‘Eventually we succeeded in breaking in. Richard, my brother, went in, managed to find the children and brought them to safety. He said he had seen my wife unconscious and dashed back in for her. There was an explosion. We were informed later that a gaspipe had ruptured but we didn’t realise this at the time. Everyone had to run into the road to avoid falling debris. I never saw my brother again … until he turned up last December.’
‘Didn’t he communicate with you in any way?’
Sonny decided that some lies were necessary. ‘No. Not until I received a letter from him last year saying he was coming home.’ He was asked if he still had the letter and replied that he had burnt it.
‘Mr Feeney, I believe you were the one to identify your brother’s body and also that of your wife.’
Sonny corrected him. ‘They were too badly burnt to be able to tell who they were. My wife had been wearing a locket which I had bought her and which was used in identification. In the case of the other body, there was a gold hunter watch which I knew my brother to own. Naturally I assumed that the body was Richard’s.’
‘You had no reason to doubt that your brother was dead?’
‘None.’
‘When your brother came out of the house with the children and told you that your wife was unconscious, did he say he had seen anyone else in the house?’ Sonny said he had not. ‘And yet there must have been a body, must there not?’
‘Yes.’ Sonny looked down at the table.
Croft rubbed his chin. ‘You see, sir, if this body wasn’t your brother’s, then it must have been somebody else’s, mustn’t it?’ Old police files had been uninformative. There had been no male reported missing around the time of the fire. Possibly the victim was from another town or his family just couldn’t give a damn that he had never come home. Croft didn’t particularly care either about an incident that had happened before he was out of frocks, even if it might reveal murder, but he had been asked to investigate this and he would do so with good heart. ‘Have you any idea who it might have been?’ Sonny shook his head. ‘Surely in the present knowledge that your brother is alive you must have wondered who it could have been?’
‘Yes, I have … But it’s only theory.’ At the officer’s smiling nod of encouragement, Sonny disclosed his assumption. ‘Well … I can only think that my wife must have had someone with her. A man.’
‘Forgive the indelicacy, sir, but you mean a lover?’
Eyes averted, Sonny nodded. ‘That’s the only explanation I can give.’
‘Uh huh, so you were aware that your wife was in the habit of bringing her lover into the house.’
‘I most certainly was not!’ Sonny’s face reddened. ‘I had no idea.’
‘Yet, you’ve just put this forward as an explanation for the other body being there.’
‘Up until last year I still believed that it was my brother’s body. It was only when I found out he was alive that I began to wonder who it could be – but I have no proof and I definitely didn’t realise that she’d brought her lover into my house otherwise I’d have …’ Sonny broke off and studied his nails.
‘Otherwise what, Mr Feeney?’
Silence.
‘Otherwise you would have killed her?’
Sonny jumped to his feet. ‘That’s monstrous! I was going to divorce her – I had no need to kill her!’
The officer’s voice remained calm. ‘On what grounds were you going to divorce her? You just said you had no proof she was unfaithful.’
‘I want to see my mother,’ announced Sonny in firm tone though his insides were churning.
‘All in good time, sir. I’ll send someone to see if the lady has finished her tea … When did you first discover your wife’s infidelity?’
Sonny shook his head in exasperation. ‘I really can’t see that this is relevant but I’ll tell you if it helps to clear up this madness. A couple of months before the fire I came home earlier than usual and my wife wasn’t there. When she arrived she said she’d been to visit her mother but from her state it seemed she was lying.’ He was asked what he meant by her state and made haphazard gestures around his head. ‘Her hair was all tousled and her face flushed … as though from excitement. When I questioned her she denied she’d been with a man, but later admitted it. I didn’t divorce her immediately, but after she made no effort to mend her ways I decided I couldn’t live with her any longer. Look,’ he beseeched the policeman, ‘what has this to do with the fire?’
‘You say she made no effort to mend her ways – did you ever actually see her with another man?’ Sonny shook his head. ‘And did you know whether she brought any men into the house in your absence?’
‘I can’t say for sure. It did cross my mind but then I discounted it because if she’d been doing that it would have reached my ears somehow. For one thing, the children would have noticed.’
‘Ah yes, the children … Had you been aware that they were in the house on the day of the fire?’
‘Naturally, they were always there. At one time my wife would take them out in the afternoons but she gave that up… that was another reason how I discovered she’d been meeting other men instead.’
‘Were the children unconscious too?’ Croft was told no. ‘Didn’t you think that was odd?’
Sonny looked bewildered. ‘They were in a different part of the house where the fire wasn’t so fierce.’
‘Mr Feeney, divorce is an unpleasant business, isn’t it?’
‘It certainly is.’
‘Wouldn’t it have been far more convenient if your wife were to depart some other way?’
Sonny was horrified. ‘Are you saying I set that fire? You’re mad! Even if I’d wanted to, would I have done that with my own children in the house?’
The inspector spent several minutes referring to a document on the table. ‘I see from the assessor’s report that the fire had been smouldering for some time …’
‘Do you see anything in that report that says it was started deliberately?’ volleyed Sonny. The inspector did not reply, but seemed to be studying the document intently. ‘Well – do you? Because if you don’t I’d be pleased if you’d allow me to go.’
The man continued reading. ‘Just a few more questions, sir …’
* * *
About an hour after her brother-in-law had gone, Dusty returned; with her were Francis, Thomasin and her elder son.
‘Oh, glory be to God!’ Erin flew to her mother, who looked desperately frail, and led her to a seat. ‘Ye’ve been gone so long I feared they were going to keep ye there.’
‘We’re remanded on bail.’ Thomasin raised a weak smile as she sank into the chair. ‘Your father’d think it was hilarious.’
‘So you’ve been charged?’ Erin bit her knuckle.
‘Oh, we’ve been through everything short of torture,’ replied Thomasin. When Erin shook her fist under Dickie’s nose and
snarled that they should have left him locked up, her weary mother begged her not to start all that again. ‘What we need is some construction …’
‘How about a gallows?’ sniped Erin.
Belle tried to inject some sense. ‘Top priority is a lawyer.’
She was told by her grandmother, ‘It’s all in hand. While we were still at the police station, Dusty went to see Francis and he contacted my solicitor.’ She reached for her friend’s hand and squeezed it. ‘Otherwise we might still be locked up. I’ve been released on my own personal security of five hundred pounds. Dickie had to have an extra surety of two hundred and fifty.’
‘Francis helped there,’ Dusty told the listeners. ‘We’re going to have to wire America for some more cash, we’ve hardly any left.’ She and the others paid homage to Francis for his support.
The old man felt undeserving of their thanks. Where now was his determination to prevent Richard from hurting his mother again?
Erin turned to Dusty. ‘I’d like to know why you weren’t charged. It seems to me you’re more guilty than Mother.’
‘I was rather surprised too,’ admitted Dusty. ‘I asked your mother’s solicitor and he explained, but don’t expect me to repeat it. I think it’s something to do with the Law regarding husband and wife as one person.’
‘Huh! I’ll wager it’s the only time being married to my brother could be classed an advantage.’ Erin pumped her mother for more information.
‘Well, I continued to swear Dickie was my nephew for a while … till they told me he’d been identified by a person who once worked for him. I’ll give you three guesses who that was.’ When her daughter looked irritated, she told her, ‘Amy Forsdyke.’
Erin shot an astounded look at her brother. ‘My God, where did they dig her up from?’
‘It wasn’t hard when you think about it,’ replied Thomasin. ‘She was the last person to work for Dickie, her and the other maid. Of course once Amy’d poked her oar in there was no point in continuing the charade. I was rather glad, truth be known. I feel as if a lot of the weight’s off my shoulders, even if there is worse to come.’ But it hadn’t all been relief. Unmasked, she had offered to pay the money back but the police officer had looked at her with near scorn and said it was far too late now. The shame!
‘So what about Sonny?’ asked Erin. After a show of blank looks, her alarm soared. ‘He went down to the station to see what was happening!’
‘But … we never saw him.’ Thomasin’s eyes widened and took in her other son. ‘Nobody told us. He must still be there!’ She made to rise but Francis argued that there was no point going back, they would just have to sit and wait.
And wait they did. Eventually, Francis decided that perhaps Thomasin had been right and he himself went down to the police station.
Much later he returned with Thomasin’s younger son who looked as if he were suffering from a dose of influenza.
‘Oh, lad, what have they done to you?’ Thomasin held out her arms in pity. ‘Erin, send for some tea for him.’
Sonny capsized into a chair and sat head in hands. ‘Thank God you’re all right,’ he said to his mother. ‘They said you’d been charged.’
‘We have – but why did they keep you there so long?’
‘Because I’ve been charged, too.’ Sonny passed a tart look to his brother. ‘I’m lucky it was only conspiracy to defraud; for a moment I thought it was going to be murder.’ At the sounds of horror his attempt at nonchalance collapsed. ‘God, it was awful … awful! They were trying to say I set the fire deliberately to kill Peggy and her fancyman.’
‘But how did they know that that’s who he was?’ asked Thomasin.
‘I had to tell them.’
‘Sonny, you daft eejit!’ Dickie was exasperated. ‘They asked us that an’ all, we just insisted we didn’t know.’
‘It’s all right for you!’ yelled Sonny. ‘But I didn’t know what the hell was going on. I was worried about Mother. I started off by saying you were my cousin, but when they told me that Mam had confessed I thought I’d better come clean too. I thought if I told them everything it’d take the heat off… but I just got in deeper and deeper.’ He rubbed his hands vigorously through his hair. ‘Was I glad to see Francis. I thought I was going to be there all night.’
After the cries had died down, he looked at his brother again. ‘Are you still classed as a British citizen?’
Dusty answered for her husband. ‘We’ve both been naturalised.’
‘Pity he wasn’t done years ago,’ lunged Erin.
Sonny looked vexed at her petty interruption. ‘So you hold an American passport. Have they taken it off you?’
Dickie raised a grin. ‘No, they appeared to overlook that.’
‘Don’t you dare entertain any ideas about skipping the country!’ shot his brother. ‘You’re not leaving us to clean up your mess this time – and I hope you haven’t got that pettifogger who dealt with your will handling your defence, otherwise I don’t give much for our chances.’
His brother beheld him warily. ‘Ye didn’t say anything about seeing my will?’
Sonny’s head moved in negation. ‘I maintained that I didn’t know you were alive until last year.’
‘Thank Christ for something.’
Sonny jumped to his feet. ‘Anyway, I’d better telephone Josie and let her know what she’s in for.’ He left them to mull over the gravity of the situation.
‘So, when’s the fire going to be?’ Erin gave a sarcastic look at her brother. ‘My God, I hope you’re proud of yourself.’ Dusty came to sit beside her husband, laying an arm over his shoulders. Everyone else was against him, a wife should show some support.
Erin seemed to want to make everyone smart, turning now on Belle. ‘Now ye’ve got full evidence of what sort o’ person he is! I don’t see ye doing too much laughing.’
Belle, used to her mother’s histrionics, ignored them. ‘When will the trial be?’
Her grandmother said they had to go before the magistrate to be given a date. ‘We’ll find out more the next time we see the solicitor … ah, here’s the tea.’ The tray of tea which the maid brought provided Dickie with a brief respite from his sister’s rantings.
Erin sipped from her cup, then turned to her daughter. ‘I forgot to ask in all this, did ye go and see Brian?’
Not wishing to go into detail at this moment, Belle lied and said she hadn’t. She glanced at Uncle Dickie over her cup. The incident seemed to have bled his attractiveness. He looked quite deflated, poor man.
At last, Dickie spoke. ‘We have to work out what we’re gonna say.’
‘What lies you’re going to tell, you mean!’ Erin’s tea slopped over the sides of her cup and she issued a curse, spending the next few seconds trying to dispose of the puddle in her saucer.
‘We have to make sure we all say the same thing,’ reasoned her brother.
Thomasin looked stern. ‘We want no more inventions, Dickie. I know I’ve been to blame for a lot of this, telling Rufforth you were my nephew, but I told the truth in my statement to the police and I hope to God you did.’
‘Sonny didn’t though, did he? I’ll have to get onto Sutcliffe and warn him.’
Thomasin had to agree on the point about the will, but said that apart from this they would just have to keep on insisting that she and Sonny truly believed that Dickie died in that fire. ‘We must be able to dig up witnesses from Monkgate to tell the jury that our grief was genuine.’
‘But what about him?’ Erin gestured at Dickie. ‘How does he explain the fact that he is alive? And what reason had he for wanting us to believe he was dead? It’s better we should hear it before the trial.’
All looked at Dickie. ‘You’ve never really been specific on that, Richard,’ said his mother. ‘Isn’t it time you were?’
Dusty left her seat and wandered to the french windows. She did not want to give the game away with her face when her husband lied – as he was bound by nature to do.
‘Just what did you tell them?’ asked Erin.
He bit his lip. ‘I’m sorry, Mam, I had to tell them about my little brush with the magistrate – OK, OK, I know it’ll look bad in Court… but not half so bad as the real reason, and they’d probably have dug it up themselves if I hadn’t volunteered it.’
‘I’m glad you’ve warned me,’ said his mother acidly. ‘Now, would you care to divulge the true story?’
He hung his head. ‘Ye know when I was missing for those three years an’ I came back well-off?’
Thomasin nodded. ‘I didn’t quite believe the explanation you gave us then.’
He looked pained. ‘’Twas true enough! I was left that money in the old lady’s will, but… well, I didn’t mention this, but the police got their teeth into it, thought I stole the cash. One o’ them came looking for me – don’t worry, he was a West Riding fella, there’ll be nothing to connect in the local files, specially with it being twenty-six years ago. Anyway, that’s when I saw the fire as an opportunity to escape.’
‘Well, there’ll be no fires this time,’ sighed his mother. ‘We’re well and truly in it. Dickie, I wish you’d told me this earlier. Your inheritance may well cost us all very dear.’
More dearly than you imagine, thought Dusty, feeling numb. In all this turmoil the three children seemed to have been overlooked. She rose. ‘I’d better go and relieve Vinnie of the children, they’ll be driving her mad.’
‘Don’t bother,’ said Belle. ‘I’ve sent them home.’
* * *
‘If the truth gets out, you realise what the consequences will be?’ murmured Dusty, lying beside her husband that night, neither being able to sleep.
‘I couldn’t tell them, could I?’ He let his hand lie on her breast.
‘You could’ve done but you didn’t. If it comes out at the trial …’
He covered her mouth. ‘It won’t. Christ, it was twenty-odd years ago!’
‘So was the fire and the truth about that’s come out.’ She turned her head into the pillow. It wasn’t until a shuddering intake of breath emerged that he realised how badly this had affected her.
Dickie (Feeney Family Sagas Book 4) Page 30
