by Anne Bone
The flat was elegant and indicated that the woman had good taste in her decoration as well as her dress. She showed them into a pristine sitting room and invited them to sit down, excusing herself while she went to remove her outside clothing.
When she returned a couple of minutes later she sat on the edge of a woven tapestry covered chair. The chair looked as uncomfortable as the woman who now sat on it. ‘What did they want to know and why?’ she enquired.
Jane began by asking if she was could tell them more about her friendship with Maureen Davenport.
‘Yes, she could do this,’ she answered. She went on to outline her memories. It was following Maureen’s father’s death, she had felt heart sorry for the woman and they had started chatting in the street one day. They had something in common as Susan felt that she had some empathy with her as she had also been bereaved having lost her husband recently. From this conversation, they had struck up a friendship and Susan had enjoyed the woman’s company. They had gone together for the occasional visit to the theatre and spent some weekends visiting art galleries. The only irritation for Susan was that it was she who always had to make suggestions and then organise the outings. Maureen never seemed to be able to take the lead. But there was little else about Maureen that would irritate anyone; she was a calm, very quiet and amenable woman who was extremely unworldly. Susan described how the woman have never had any fun, as she seemed to have spent all of her years caring for her parents; she had been devoted to her mother, and had been despondent when her father had died so suddenly.
‘She was, however, gullible and that became clear when she met… That Man.’
Des found he was leaning forward slightly hoping that this woman was about to reveal details about this mystery man.
Jane posed the question, ‘Could Susan tell them about the man, where they met and his name… ?’
It was clear from the change in Susan’s body language that she did not like this man; she stiffened her back almost seeming to be bracing herself to speak about him. ‘Oh, we met him at one of the bereavement support group social outings. We didn’t attend that often, then he turned up at one of the meetings, claiming to have recently arrived in the area. He first claimed he was in Edinburgh on business. There was something about him, he spoke in an affected English accent, and he made reference to being educated at public schools, but whenever you asked anything about which school, or what business he was in he would quickly change the subject.’ Susan settled back into the chair slightly and continued, ‘He was always questioning everyone else about their lives, but it was always a one way system, as he never seemed to tell us any details about his life.’ She paused for a moment recalling the other part of the question which had been put to her. ‘Oh, his name, now, that was something else. I only knew him as Larry and to tell you the truth I was not convinced that this was his name at all.’
‘Oh?’ interjected Des, now really interested. ‘What caused you to be unconvinced?’
‘One day I found myself standing directly behind him in a queue at Jenners’. I called his name several times and he never responded. I then tapped him on the shoulder and when he turned around he was surprised. Now I know he was not deaf, before you ask, it was as though he was not used to this name or responding to it. There were other things which caused me to be suspicious of him.’
‘Go on,’ encouraged Jane.
‘He claimed that he had lost his wife, that was why he was at the support group. It was common that we would speak about our deceased relatives, after all, that was why we were there in the first place. Now this Larry, come to think if it, he never told us anything about his wife. He would, when asked, suddenly pull his handkerchief out of the breast pocket of his and bury his face and eyes into it. I was not convinced this show of emotion was genuine, it was a flamboyant gesture which had the effect of putting an immediate end to asking any further questions.’
‘Can you tell us what happened between you and Maureen You said when we first arrived that she was now an ex-friend.’
‘Yes well… I tried to tell the silly woman, who was absolutely besotted with the man. I suggested that she checked him out before she entered into anything serious with him, but would she listen, no, she went head first into a relationship with him. She was like butter in his hands. Within a month of meeting him he had moved in, and that’s when we really fell out. I tried to tell her that I thought he was a fraud and that he might just be taking her for a ride. But no, she just would not listen, she told me in no uncertain terms that she had no reason to doubt him at all, and if I could not accept him then she wanted nothing further to do with me. That was that. There was no way I could be a hypocrite and pretend to like the fellow, so we stopped speaking. I was rather surprised when it could only have been about a month later that I saw the For Sale sign go up, then the house sold really quickly and they left. Silly woman.’
Jane tried to get a further feel of what it was that caused such distaste for this woman, who appeared to be a sensible personable woman and who clearly had got some real negative vibes from this man. ‘Could Susan think of what it was that made her feel as she had done?’ she asked.
‘It was just that, he gave me the creeps. He was smarmy; he made me feel as though he was undressing me every time he looked at me. He seemed to think he was God’s gift to women, and was always looking at women’s chests and legs. I remember that there was a really young pretty girl who came to one of the support meetings. She had recently lost her sister. He could hardly stop himself from drooling, it was embarrassing, yet Maureen just couldn’t see it.’
‘Just one more question, I don’t suppose you have any photographs of him do you?’ Jane asked, almost holding her breath hoping for a positive reply.
‘No, I am aafraid not. That was a funny thing. I remember once when someone did try to take a photograph of us all, when he saw the camera pointing at him, he jumped up like a scalded cat and said that he hated having his photograph taken. The reason why it stuck with me was that it was strange, as in every other way he always seemed to enjoy being centre of attention. It seemed incongruous somehow. So, no, I don’t have any photographs.’
Jane and Des thanked her for her help and exchanged telephone numbers, asking her to call them if she recalled anything else. She seemed surprised when they replied to her questions as to why they were interested in Maureen that it was in connection with two missing children. Maureen would never be involved in harming children, that she was absolutely positive of.
Chapter 23
It was just a week before the wedding and Beth was occupied in getting herself and Marty ready for the event. It certainly provided a distraction from fretting about the children. There had been some consideration given to arranging for outside caterers to come in and provide the food for the small reception. However, Beth thought this was a waste of money when she and Molly were quite capable of providing a sumptuous buffet for the twenty or so guests they had invited.
Molly relented when she saw how this would provide an outlet for Beth, and both of the women were good cooks. Beth had spent some time walking up and down the road to the library in Victoria Road where she returned with an array of recipe books, showing all sorts of interesting food for buffets. Many of the ideas were very simple and Molly had to admit that she would never have thought of presenting ordinary food in such an interesting manner.
Molly was an excellent baker. She produced a wonderful fruitcake which, after she finished icing, was as good as any professional wedding cake. Lists were drawn up and Molly and Beth spent several days shopping for the ingredients. The plan was that they would start the big cook up three days before the wedding day. The radiator was switched off up in the front bedroom and this would ensure that everything stayed fresh and ready for the big event.
When Beth had pointed out that they did not have enough glasses, Marty had burst out laughing. ‘Oh, don’t worry about that, Aunt Molly has someone who no doubt would be delighted to le
nd us glasses, as well as giving her a good discount on the drink we need, don’t you Aunty?’
Molly had coloured up and gave her nephew a filthy look. ‘I take it you are referring to James McFall and, yes, of course, he can help us out.’
Beth looked from one to the other waiting for an explanation. ‘You see, Beth, Aunty Molly has an admirer. James McFall owns the Deeside Bar; you know the one just across the bridge. He has always been sweet on Aunty, hasn’t he?’ he nodded to Molly, who still had the tell-tale signs of embarrassment across her face.
‘Don’t take any notice of him, Beth. James and I are friends from school, and there was never anything between us like the bold hero here is suggesting.’
James McFall did agree to provide the glasses, and the alcohol to go in them, and when he called to deliver them two days before the wedding, Beth could not help observing that Marty was dead right because, like it or not, James could not hide his admiration for Molly.
It was clear that Molly was also aware of it, and whether she chose to try and hide that she was aware of it, she could not help responding to the man’s warmth and attention. She sort of responded in a flirty kind of way, her persona seemed to change in his company. James offered to act as the barman at the reception and would also get a couple of his waitresses to come along too, to help out.
Although Molly started to refuse, Marty had intervened and told James that they would be very grateful to him; it would mean that his aunt and his new wife could enjoy the reception rather than dashing around making sure everyone had something to eat.
James’ eyes twinkled. He would be delighted to help out. It would mean that Molly could relax and he was up to helping her relax in any way he could.
Molly gave him one of her looks and he left still chuckling as he made his way back to his car.
Beth and Marty continued to tease her all evening until she turned and told them both to leave it alone. They did as they were bid, even though both thought it might be quite good to see how the two of them got on after she had had a couple of drams.
The eve of the wedding arrived and the house was in a frenzy of cleaning and cooking. Midway through the morning Now, this is a surprise,’ she told him, her heart leaping in anticipation as it did every time the detective appeared.
He followed her down the passageway to the back sitting room. ’Wow! Nice smells,’ he said.
Molly poked her head around the kitchen door; she was never sure whether a visit from the police was going to be good or bad. But the young man looked upbeat. ‘Cup of coffee?’ she asked him.
When he replied, ‘That would be great thanks,’ she disappeared again into the kitchen shutting the door behind her to ensure that the cooking smells did not penetrate the entire house.
Des sat down on one of the armchairs, while Beth perched uneasily on the arm of its opposite partner. She waited for him to begin.
‘First things first, Jane and I are hoping to come along for a while tomorrow, thanks for the invite. I wanted to come along today though to give you an update, so that tomorrow you can concentrate on your big day,’ he smiled reassuringly at the young anxious face.
Molly appeared then carrying a small tray with two steaming mugs of coffee on it, alongside a plate of fancy pieces. ‘You might also like to try a couple of these, we’ve made enough to feed the whole of Aberdeen, haven’t we Beth?’
Beth nodded distractedly, she was focused on Des willing him to give her the update. ‘Des is going to give me an update, you might as well take a seat Aunty and hear what he has to say.’
Molly plonked herself down onto the chair, on the arm of which Beth was still perched; she did this so that she could stroke Beth’s back to offer some reassurance to her.
‘Right, now,’ Des cleared his throat. ‘The good news is that we have managed to identify the woman who we suspect is the female who has the children, the children we hope that are yours, of course. Anyway, her name is Maureen Davenport and as far as we can be sure is not someone who would harm them in anyway.’ He coughed again. ‘The bad news is that we haven’t located her, or been able to identify the man she is with. But at least we have our first real lead. We have circulated a picture of her with her name and details.’
Beth stared at him, her eyes urged him to go on and provide her with more information. Molly became her voice. ‘Can you tell us what you know about this woman, any idea why she has done this?’
Des had been waiting for questions just like this. She is forty-three years old and as far as we can ascertain never had any children of her own, so we believe the motive is that she wanted children. If you recall, your father said that this couple said they wanted to adopt, but they had been turned down as they were too old. We don’t know whether they had applied to an adoption agency, however if she was in her forties, as far as we can make out she would be too old to adopt through a bona-fide agency.’
He took another mouthful of coffee and thought about taking a mouthful of the delicious looking cake, but thought better of it, he knew that he would need to finish imparting the rest of the information he had. He went on to tell the two women as much as he knew about Maureen, telling them about his and Jane’s visit to Edinburgh. He advised them that Liz Morran, the woman from the Borders, had made a positive identification from the photograph they had secured in Edinburgh, and that it was the woman she had known as Hazel Brown.
Des did not add some of the information which had not proved quite as positive; they had drawn a blank when they had enquired at the bank which Maureen had been with prior to her leaving Edinburgh. It seems that she closed the accounts she had had, which had contained a considerable amount of money. She had requested that the money was given to her in the form of a bank draft. She had told the bank that she was planning to move abroad and that she would be setting up an account out of the country. So they were left with no forwarding addresses or bank details.
When he eventually finished updating the young woman he had added that, as far as he and Jane were concerned, it was the first real breakthrough on the case, he wanted Beth to be boosted by the news. He left shortly after saying that he was looking forward to the reception tomorrow and wished her the best of luck for the ceremony.
Chapter 24
On the morning of the wedding, Marty awoke in his mate’s flat in the West End of Aberdeen. Little did he realise that as he peered out of the window, his soon to be wife was also doing the same from the window of their room at Harbour View. The sight they were both greeted with was of thick white flakes of snow falling onto an already well-coated ground.
Marty had been banished from his home to stay with his pal Andy, who was also to undertake the role of best man for the event. Molly had been adamant that they had had enough bad luck for a lifetime, without adding to it by tempting more bad luck by seeing each other before the ceremony. She won, of course, even though neither Marty nor Beth believed that by Marty being under the same roof on their wedding day they could add anything more devastating than they had already experienced.
Marty had been taken out by Andy and a couple of other mates the night before, who had insisted that he should have a few pints and drams on his last night of freedom. He now regretted being daft enough to agree as the inside of his mouth felt like the inside of a very messy parrot’s cage, and his head felt like it had been bashed up against a brick wall.
Just as he was beginning to feel sick, Andy appeared with a large glass of fresh orange juice and two pain killers, which he managed to swallow and wait for their magic to take effect.
Meanwhile, back at Harbour View, there were no signs of any headaches or sickness. Molly had been up at the crack of dawn, busying herself with the last minute arrangements. She had crept about, ensuring that she did not make a noise to awaken Beth, believing she should awake from a natural sleep.
When the sleepy-headed girl appeared in the kitchen at eight, she was handed a large mug of steaming tea and advised to sit herself down while Molly coo
ked a large Scottish breakfast. Beth made an attempt to say no, she would have a bowl of porridge as usual. She gave up when she was told she would have no such thing. Molly was certain the young woman would end up not eating anything during the day, she was going to ensure she had something in her stomach and a large plate of fried bacon and eggs would keep her going through the day.
The ceremony was set for two o’clock. This meant that they had all morning to lay all the food out. James McFall’s two waitresses were due to arrive about midday and would help set up the bar in the corner of the dining room. They would be ready to greet each of the guests with a glass of champagne; they would then circulate with the trays of canapés. The plan was that the waitresses would urge all the guests to make their way through to the large mahogany dining table, which was almost groaning from the weight of the plates it held all piled high with various cold meats, thick buttered bread and pies, surrounded by plates holding dainty vol-au-vents and sausage rolls. It certainly was a feast to be admired, just as Molly and her future niece-in-law were doing now. ‘Do you think we have enough lass?’ Molly enquired.
