by Paul Kelly
“What?” she asked, “My God, is this true. We know she deserved to be punished for the way she treated you, but to be murdered ...”
Daniel watched Alison carefully as she walked about the room ringing her hands.
“Do they know who killed her Daniel?” she asked, but he could only shake his head and at that moment, Dillon came into the room carrying the papers that Daniel had asked him to get from the music room.
“Daddy... I don’t believe it. Is it true?” he asked, having obviously heard the conversation between his father and Alison. Daniel nodded and reached out to scoop Dillon up in his arms. The little boy cried and Alison came nearer to stroke his hair.
“Darling, you mustn’t worry about this,” she said as she looked into Dillon’s eyes, “Frieda wasn’t a very good person and she gave your daddy a lot of worries, but she didn’t deserve what has happened to her. We know that and the police will soon unravel this problem for us. Please don’t worry. Daddy and I will be here to help you.”
That afternoon Inspector Ray arrived at the flat accompanied by a lady police officer, both in plain clothes and Alison made to leave the room, thinking the policeman wanted only to speak to Daniel, but the Inspector asked her to stay; a gesture that set off renewed alarm bells in Daniel’s head. If Alison was in no way involved, why did the Inspector want her to stay, he thought ...?
“Mr. Roberts, may I offer my sincere regrets over what has happened and I am sorry to bring the subject up again, but there are some things we still need to know and probably you would be the best person to help us.”
“I am willing to help in any way I can, Inspector,” said Daniel, “but I thought it would be best if my friend here took my young son out for a little walk. I don’t think he should hear anything we have to say.”
The Inspector turned to his companion, “That is why I have asked detective Grayson to come here with me for such an eventuality,” he said and the detective smiled as she took Dillon’s hand and escorted him into the bedroom whilst Alison stood aghast.
“Mr. Roberts ... may I call you Daniel?” the Inspector asked and Daniel guessed from the way he spoke that he had made thorough investigation on him before he made his visit. Daniel nodded.
“Daniel, may I ask how long you were married to this lady, Frieda ... I am afraid I do not know her maiden name?”
“Just over a year, but we had lived together for nearly two years before we married.”
“And you had no idea that she was about to leave you?”
“No ... it was a surprise, but I am not unhappy about the incident now.” Daniel replied and Alison looked at him with wide eyes as if to warn him of anything he might say that could incriminate him in any way with Frieda’s death.
“I can take it that you were not very happy in the marriage then, is that correct?”
“I was until she walked out, but I should have known what she would do a long time before she did it.”
“You were warned in some way, Daniel?” the Inspector asked with a frown on his tanned face and Daniel ran his fingers through his hair.
“Frieda was never well liked by many of our friends, Inspector, but they say love is blind and I only saw what I wanted to see,” said Daniel as he glanced for a moment towards Alison, but she lowered her head.
“Quite so,” added the Inspector and raised his eyebrows as if he knew the situation only too well.
“You have never had any children by this lady then, I presume?”
Both Daniel and Alison raised their heads in surprise when the Inspector said that, but when his next statement came out they could understand why he asked such a question.
“You see, your ex. wife was pregnant ... about six months pregnant when she died.”
Daniel shook his head in despair. Frieda had never wanted children when she was with him and now this ...
“The father?” asked Daniel as Alison gasped and thrust her hand to her mouth “The father ... do you know who is the father?”
The Inspector looked at Alison before he spoke again.
“I think perhaps you would be the best person to answer that, would you not?” he asked and Alison nodded after a few moments.
“I would say it was Kenneth Royle,” she replied. “I cannot be sure, of course, but I think you asked me that question as you already know that I had been married to this man and am now divorced from him, yes?”
The Inspector nodded.
“And you lived with him at 52 Trafford Road, yes?” he asked and again Alison answered in the affirmative. “And he was a wife beater?” the Inspector went on and Daniel closed his eyes. This man had certainly done his homework, he thought as Alison nodded in his direction.
“How do you know all this Inspector?” she asked, “I have never told anyone about Ken’s cruel streak ... except my friend Daniel here.”
The Inspector rose from where he was sitting and surprised both Daniel and Alison when he asked them if it was possible for him to have a cup of tea as well as his companion who was with Dillon in the room opposite. Alison apologised immediately and went into the kitchen.
“You have made quite a study of this case, Inspector,” said Daniel, “have you been on it for some time? I thought that Frieda ... and her maiden name was Knust by the way as she is of Austrian birth, had only recently met her death.”
“Yes, that is quite so, Daniel. It is eight days now since she was murdered, but we move fast in cases like this. That is why we have been so hesitant in coming to see you. We had to get some facts clear before we could do that, you understand.”
“This Royle fellow, Inspector,” said Daniel as he looked towards the kitchen, but Alison had closed the door ... partly and she could not be seen. “Is he in any way connected to this case?”
The Inspector ran his hand over his forehead,
“We believe so, Daniel, because he has admitted that he struck your wife and gave her a black eye as well as having broken her nose.”
Daniel looked surprised as Alison came in from the kitchen with a tea tray.
“She wouldn’t have liked that, Inspector,” he said with a wry smile on his face, “ Frieda was very vain and wouldn’t go anywhere without her make-up.”
Alison giggled as she poured the tea for the Inspector and took the tray with two cups into the bedroom.
“I have yours in the kitchen,” she called out to Daniel, knowing that he took his tea or coffee black with only the trace of sugar.
“Mr. Royle has been in prison before, Daniel,” the Inspector continued, as Alison reappeared from the bedroom.
“For being a drunken bully and beating up women,” she snapped as she went into the kitchen again.
“Mr. Royle has admitted that he beat Frieda on several occasions, but he denies killing her.”
“He would,” replied Alison as she came into the room with Daniel’s tea. He nearly killed me once and then there was that affair with Rosie.”
The Inspector put his cup down on the table as Alison was speaking.
“Rosie?” he enquired, “I don’t think we have any Rosie in our enquiries,” he went on, but Alison shook her head.
“I don’t think you would have, Inspector. Rosie is my friend and we were waitresses together at a nearby cafe, but she stupidly enough, fell in love with Ken Royle and got herself pregnant by him.”
“Did she now? How interesting ... and did she have the baby?”
“No, that bastard Royle insisted she should get rid of it.”
Inspector Ray made a note in a little diary before he closed it and put it into his pocket, without making any further comment on Rosie or her relationship in the case.
“I think we have enough to go on Daniel, he said, but I may need to have some more conversation with your good friend here ... Alison, yes?”
/> Daniel lowered his head as he mumbled something under his breath.
“What was that you said, Daniel?” The Inspector asked, but Daniel only shrugged his shoulders and made a comment about how trying and irritating he thought the whole thing was, especially as he was no longer involved with Frieda and neither was Alison, but he didn’t sound too convincing as he spoke.
Chapter Forty One
Rosie telephoned Alison the following Tuesday after the Inspector had been to visit Daniel, to tell her that she herself had a visit from the police.
“Was his name Ray, Inspector Ray, Rosie?” Alison asked, but Rosie was unable to tell her who the officer was as he hadn’t given his name to Rosie and he was only at her flat for about twenty minutes. “What did he ask you Rosie?” Alison went on excitedly and hoped that nothing had been said at the interview that might incriminate Daniel in any way, but again, Rosie was vague about the questions she was asked, as they mostly concerned Frieda and Ken Royle, with hardly anything said at all about Daniel.
“Oh! he did ask me about our friendship Alison ... especially when I told him that you had been married to Ken before he got me pregnant.”
Alison listened to what Rosie had to say, but she wasn’t surprised at the officer’s questioning as the police already knew what they had enquired of Rosie. It was just a little surprising to think that they asked very similar questions on each occasion.
“And they didn’t say anything about Daniel? Are you sure Rosie?” Alison went on, but Rosie assured her that their was very little reference to Daniel at all. Yes, they had mentioned him in passing, so to speak, but with no particular reference.
“The policeman wanted to know when I had seen Ken Royle last and had I ever visited his house,” said Rosie and Alison wanted to know why they had asked her that question as she was in no way involved with Ken Royle now that they had parted.
“I don’t know Alison, but I would like to see you sometime again soon, as there is quite a lot we have to talk about.”
Alison agreed to see Rosie, but as there was to be a court hearing in the next week, she thought it best to wait until that was over before they met, in the event that either she or Daniel might be called to give evidence or anything else that may be necessary and Rosie agreed, but added that she too was expected to be at the court hearing.
Meanwhile Daniel racked his brain to think of any way that Frieda could have involved him in any way that could have contributed to her untimely death, but he could think of none. Alison visited him regularly to ensure that if they were called to the court, they would know what to say, as it was imperative that they both had the same story to tell, if they were expected to speak at all., but as the days went by, only Alison was asked to attend the hearing, together with Rosie and Daniel couldn’t understand why only they had been invited, since Frieda was ... or had been more connected to him than to Alison ... or Rosie.
When Alison did eventually arrive at the hearing, she was hardly questioned at all until the session was nearly over and then Inspector Ray stood up and asked her to go into the witness box.
“Miss Ford?” asked the large, bald solicitor as an introduction to what he was about to say and Alison was surprised that he even knew her surname as she had never mentioned that to him before. “Miss Ford ... we understand that you were married to the defendant for some time. Would you tell us please how you found this gentleman to be as your husband.”
Alison picked at her finger nails before she spoke and she knew she was appearing nervous.
“I was only married to him for a short while, Sir,” she replied, “and in that time, I would say that we were never suited in any way. I fell in love with him because I thought then he was the most handsome man I had ever met and soon .. very soon, I found that I was pregnant.” she looked across the courtroom to where Ken Royle was sitting, but he ignored her stare and kept his head down. It was Rosie who stared at Alison with wondering eyes.
“You had his baby?” asked the solicitor, but Alison told him that the pregnancy had never materialized .. she had a miscarriage after about six weeks.
“I am sorry about that Miss Ford. I know that can be a very traumatic time in any woman’s life, but may I ask ... was everything else alright in the marriage apart from this unfortunate disaster?”
Alison stared across the courtroom to where Rosie was sitting, but the latter did not return the eye contact.
“No, the marriage was certainly not alright,” she snapped as she stared at the floor. “Kenneth Royle is nothing more than a predator to women and I am sorry that I discovered that too late. He never treated me like a woman ... and any prostitute could have served his purpose.”
The Magistrate raised his eyes with concern as Alison was speaking, but the solicitor continued with his questions.
“Would you say that there was any love at all in this marriage, Miss Ford?”
Again Alison stared across at Rosie, but her friend continued to look down.
“LOVE,” she barked ... that man doesn’t know the meaning of the word. He beat me and he raped me several times, but there was never any love.”
The solicitor bowed gently to the magistrate announcing that he had no more questions for the witness, but another solicitor demanded that she stay in the witness box as he had something to say to her and the magistrate waved his approval with a yawn.
“Miss Ford ...it is all very well for you to tell the court now, how it was in your marriage to my client, but I put it to you that you weren’t exactly the perfect wife.”
Alison glared at this new speaker and Rosie gasped.
“I don’t know what you mean by that?” she said and the solicitor drew his robes around his waist as he swung round to make his next accusation.
Did you refuse him his conjugal rights when you went to bed with him?”
Alison could not believe what she was hearing and Rosie started to cry.
“I was a perfect wife to him,” Alison replied in a firm voice,” until I found out that all he wanted me for was sex. Conjugal rights to him was sex on tap, whether you were ready or not. I told you I loved this man when I first married him. It was he who destroyed the marriage. He destroyed the love, not I.”
“But you were his wife and he had demands on you that were his by right, regardless of what you might think.”
“Yes, the right to rape me at lib ... to force me to have sex with him at any time of the day or night and even then, his idea of sex was perverted. Do you want me to describe his mind and his actions at that time?” she asked, but the solicitor waved his hand in the air.
“I have no further questions for the witness, your Honour,” was his conclusion and the jury was dismissed to form a verdict.
Rosie met Alison outside on the courtroom steps.
“I didn’t know you were pregnant,” she said, but her voice was hardly audible.”
“What?”
“PREGNANT,” screamed Rosie into Alison’s ear, “You never told me that, did you?”
Alison fidgeted where she stood and regretted having admitted her pregnancy in the witness box. She knew it had nothing to do with the case, but she regarded it might sway more heavily against Royle and to show what a bastard he really was. She looked at Rosie who had tears in her eyes,
“Rosie, it meant nothing to me and I didn’t think it worth while mentioning that to you at the time when you were pregnant. My pregnancy was such a messy affair and you seemed so happy at that time, with a glow in your eyes when you spoke about Ken. How could I have disillusioned you at that time. I had no right to spoil what I thought was your happiness.”
“But you knew I was unhappy when Ken suggested I should have an abortion, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I knew then what you were going through and I could relate to that state from my own experience, but there was a
time, as there was with me, when you thought that Ken was the ‘bees knees’ and better than sliced bread.”
Rosie broke down and Alison put her arms around her.
“Alison,” she sobbed, “You have been such a good friend to me and I should never have distrusted you. I only wish you and Daniel could have a relationship as I know that is what you want more than anything else in the world.”
Alison was about to tell Rosie that all that was in the past, but Rosie insisted in telling her more.
“I knew Ken had beaten Frieda,” she said and Alison raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“You knew ... but how? I didn’t think you ever saw Frieda for any length of time.”
Rosie dried her eyes and threw back her shoulders,
“I went to see her when I knew that she and Ken were together, because like a fool, I telephoned Ken one evening not so long ago and Frieda answered the phone.”
Alison threw her head back in despair,
“My God ... what ever came over you, woman?” she snapped. “You must have known what Ken would be like with ANY woman and he had dozens of them who could have told you what he was like in bed and out of it.”
Rosie looked sad as she continued to speak.
“I realized how Daniel and you were such lovely people. I wanted you both to be happy and I knew what a swine Ken could be, but I wanted to ask him to leave you both alone and I went to his flat to bargain with him, regardless of what that would mean.”
“Even if you had to sleep with him again, Rosie?”
“Yes, even that, Alison. I wanted you to be happy at all costs, but I didn’t realize that Frieda would be at the flat when I phoned.”
Alison knew how tender she felt towards Rosie when she told her how much she cared for her.
“I don’t think there could be any ‘relationship’ for me with Daniel Roberts,” she sighed, ”Frieda had ruined his life and it will take a long time for him to get over that, if he ever does.” she said and Rosie gripped her hand tightly.
