Thursday con, then Friday.
The file Gary now had in front of him held a familiar name:
Daniels. He would get Nigel to ask Colin Peck, who was in charge of the police
archives, to look up the name and fish out any relevant documents or files. He
recalled that Cleo’s agency had been involved in a similar case a while back,
so she would also have data. Cleo wrote down everything of any importance about
all the protagonists she encountered and included structured character
analyses. In the current case, Daniels had almost beaten his wife to death and
kicked her in the stomach so long that he had killed the baby she was
expecting. It was a repeat of what Cleo had suffered in her first marriage, so bringing
the guy to justice was especially important to her.
Gary would have had good reason for keeping Cleo out of the
case. Not only was she expecting twins, but there was only one difference
between her case and that of Mrs Daniels: she had survived. Mrs Daniels had
almost died from internal bleeding the first time and this time Daniels’
brutality had killed her.
Gary found that kind of crime upsetting. Whereas he had once
just thought of crimes as examples of human evil to be dealt with and routinely
forgotten, he could now empathize with the victims and appreciate the horror
and grief of relatives and friends. He was glad that he had no urge to commit
such terrible deeds. In the end taking a life did not bring one back. Homicide
was senseless.
***
That afternoon Gary also made a far-reaching personal
decision. His contact with his parents had been sporadic once he left home,
mainly because they had mapped out an academic career for him and he had defied
their wishes and gone from university to police training. His step-father had
died bitterly disappointed in Gary. His mother, a free-lance journalist now
based in Oxford, was still hoping Gary would change his mind and join the
academic community. He would phone her. He did not do that often enough, he
reflected, and she left him to lead his own life, suffering in the process, but
determined not to interfere.
Soon, there would be more room at the cottage, Gary
reflected. His mother could stay with them and meet the woman he loved who had
changed his life so much, and get to know sweet PeggySue. Charlie would be delighted
to see her grandmother again. Grit Hurley would be excited about the new babies
and might even hit it off with Gloria. Grit had once been the wife of an influential
political adviser. She was astute and more than a match for Cleo’s mother, he
was sure. She was also diplomatic. Gary did not anticipate any ugly scenes
between the two grans and he was quite sure that Grit would love Cleo as much
as he did.
By about five, with the comforting realization that Brass
and Roger had hit it off, Gary was back
in his office attending to his personal coffee-maker, his answer to the ‘swill’
that the coffee machine in the corridor outside produced and ten times better
than anything the canteen chose to call coffee, when the phone rang.
***
“Robert here,” said the voice.
“Hi, Robert! I have a meeting pending. Can I ring you back?”
Nigel looked at Gary in surprise. Gary signalled that he
just wanted to get rid of the bloke on the phone.
“I’ll make it short, Gary. It’s D-Day.”
“I can’t even hazard a guess at what you mean, Robert.”
“I’m seeing Edith this evening.”
“Are you? She won’t
have escaped, so she has been released already, I expect.”
“They decided to believe her, Gary,” said Robert. “There was
a very short appeal, and she won.”
“I still have my doubts about her guilt. You don’t slug a
teapot with deadly poison unless you want the recipients to die.”
“I have my doubts too, Gary, but at least she’s at home with
the boys.”
“At home being the vicarage, I assume. Are you going there?”
“I don’t want her in my flat, Gary. I must tell her that our
relationship is over.”
“Is it? It doesn’t sound like it.”
”I’m anxious to put the past behind me.”
“You can’t, Robert. Whatever junk we experience in life goes
along with us for the rest of it. The trick is to find the positive side and
build on that.”
“You may be right.”
“I am right. Edith was over-enthusiastic about your intimate
relationship, but she was not trying to frighten you off. That was your
reaction.”
“Wouldn’t you have been appalled? I was raped by a tiny
woman and she did it time and time again.”
“I’ve no idea how I would have reacted,” said Gary. “I would
probably have got the hell out of it. One thing is clear: if you can’t take the
initiative in bed, she obviously can and will continue to.”
“I don’t want sex with her, Gary.”
“Tell her, Robert. That’s my advice.”
“Thanks for your honesty, Gary. I’ll take your advice, I
promise,” said Robert.
“Don’t promise me. Promise yourself, Robert. Good luck!”
***
Nigel was still fussing around hoping to hear the
nitty-gritty of that conversation, but the timing was wrong. As Gary rang off,
Brass knocked unexpectedly on his office door. Roger was not with him. That was
a good sign, Gary decided.
“I’d like you two to meet. Nigel is my current assistant,
Brass.”
“Current?” said Nigel in a panic. “Are you going to send me
away?”
“Do you want me to? Cool it, Nigel. You can show Brass
around the computer resources and be on his rota for Upper Grumpsfield.”
“Not patrol cars again, Gary. Please, no patrol cars.”
“No Nigel. Brass is opening a sub police station. It should
be open round the clock if need be. Brass has had bitter experience of small
police stations that close officially at teatime. I expect he’ll tell you about
the horror of a superior he had there. I think Brass’s overtime was longer than
his regular working hours.”
Brass nodded.
“I don’t mind office work, Brass,” said Nigel, “and I’m
happy to work at night, too, if I don’t have to work all day as well.”
“We’ll sort that out,” said Gary. “Can you think
spontaneously of anyone you can share the load with?”
“How about Mia?”
“Mia Curlew?”
“Yes. She’s very competent. I’m a bit afraid of her, but
she’d fit the bill, I’m sure,” said Nigel.
“Ask her, Brass. Nigel will introduce you. Coffee everyone?”
Gary’s coffee was pronounced superior. Nigel produced a
packet of biscuits to dunk.
“No sugar,” he said. “I have to watch my figure.”
“So do I,” said Gary. “I’m starting to lose sight of my
waistline.”
Brass wondered if Gary was also one of the others. The fruity
smell was rather provocative, too. He had already classed Nigel in that
category. But where did Cleo come in?”
“I’ll take you round, Brass,” offered Nigel. “Is that your
real name?”
“No. It’s Fred Bradley, actually, but everyone calls me
Brass.”
“I’m going to call you Fred, Fred.”
Gary smothered a smile. Nigel was the limit, really, but a
sincere guy, not designed for practical police work at all, but helpful and
kind. Brass would get on well with him without tolerating any nonsense. He
would soon find out that Nigel was a part-time cross-dresser, but it was of no
interest to Gary, and Brass would know how to cope.
“I’m going home now, you guys,” said Gary, picking up the
Daniels file and a couple of others. “I’ll be back in the morning to deal with
the Daniels case. I need to question Daniels urgently, but I must read all the
new and old data first. Cleo will have more on the first case written from her
viewpoint and I’ll discuss the new case with her before the morning. Get
Daniels here for 10, Nigel. Brass, you’re cordially invited to the occasion.
The guy is a brutallo and a drunk. I’ll bring Cleo to the interview. She
usually asks very pertinent questions.”
“Where does Daniels get the alcohol?” Brass asked.
“Warders, Brass,” said Gary. “One or two are open to
bribes.”
“Shouldn’t someone clean up that act?” Brass asked.
“Who? The warders are loyal to one another. No one is going
to split on a colleague.”
“No wonder you felt at home in Frint-on-Sea,” said Brass.
“Or was it simply the balmy air and that lovely woman you were with?”
“Not quite at home, Brass. There’s unfortunately sleaze
everywhere. It’s part of our job to tackle it, but Cleo did make Frint-on-Sea
more attractive, I must admit.”
“It’s time Miss Hartley was on the advisory board here,
Gary,” said Nigel. “She knows her
onions.”
“I’m working on that, Nigel, but she’s pregnant. She needs
to give birth first! Phone me later, Brass.”
“Will do.”
“Go home Nigel!” said Gary. “I thought that’s what you
wanted to do an hour ago.”
“I have a date,” said Nigel.
“If you need me to rescue you, phone Cleo. We’ll both come.”
“Georgio is respectable, Gary.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” said Gary, thinking Giorgio must be
Roman’s pizza cook. “And don’t eat too many pizzas!”
Nigel laughed.
“I didn’t know you knew him,” he said.
“I don’t, but his pizzas are great, Nigel.”
“Leave that ethereal oil off tomorrow, Gary. It damages the
concentration.”
“Will do – or should I bring you some?”
***
Brass and Gary parted at the HQ main door.
“He’s quite nice,” said Brass. “I didn’t think…”
“Well, think again, Brass. You can steal horses with Nigel.”
***
yyyyyAt home, Gary found Cleo helping Charlie with her
homework. Middlethumpton Comprehensive had a fast lane for brainy kids and
Charlie was certainly one of them. Not many English pupils were bilingual. The
Welsh often were and a few Irish and Scottish were, but bilingualism like
Charlie’s with a continental European language was rare and Spanish was not on
the curriculum at her school. Add to it the girl’s aptitude for maths and she
really was high-flying scholar material in a world where it was only too easy
to avoid versatility.
Today, Cleo was listening to Charlie’s English essay. Gary
was happy to entertain his small daughter, who was into Russian doll assembly,
having been given a set for her birthday by Gloria, who had been given them by
a Russian customer at the shop, who apparently sold them on Middlethumpton
market every Saturday. Now the dolls were lined up in a row and PeggySue was
looking at them carefully, one by one, turning them round and upside down with
her dimpled hands.
“Cleo, we have to talk,” said Gary.
“Go ahead!”
“I’m going to phone my mother,” he announced. “I want her to
know I care about her and show her what a wonderful family I have.”
“That’s a great idea,” said Cleo. “Do it now!”
“Well…”
“Now, Gary, before you think better of it.”
“But we have nowhere for her to sleep yet, Cleo.”
“We’ll sort that out,” said Cleo.
“Another problem is Joe Daniels,” said Gary. “Remember him?”
“How could I forget? He sold one of his twin babies with the
help of a corrupt midwife, and beat his wife nearly to death,” said Cleo. “And
he killed her baby before it even had a chance to be born. How come he is out
of prison?”
“Weekend leave, I think.”
“Long enough to mishandle his wife again?”
“He killed her this time, Cleo.”
“So Mrs Daniels took him back, despite everything.”
“Presumably.”
“Are you sure? You only know that a Mrs Daniels is dead.”
“It’s the same Mrs Daniels. I checked.”
“Was she pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“So he again assumed he was not the father.”
“We’ll have to ask him, but it’s a possible motive and we
never did find out what kind of a woman Mrs Daniels was.”
“I don’t think she was unfaithful, Gary. She would have been
too scared.”
“Not too scared to take him back, however.”
“Or too scared NOT to take him back.”
“He went home for the weekend, that’s all. Rehabilitation programme.
Popular but often fatal.”
“So he got her pregnant again during one of his outings.”
“You said it, unless she really did have some other beau in
tow.”
“But suspecting her of being unfaithful is no excuse for
violence, is it?”
“No. There is no excuse for violence.”
“How terrible it all is. It reminds me so much….”
“I know. That’s why I did not want to involve you, but I
need the data you recorded on the first case.”
“No problem…and Gary…”
“Yes?”
“Don’t worry about me,” said Cleo. “I’m over that now. That
terrible hurt has almost gone away. Nothing can bring my firstborn back, but I
have Charlie and PeggySue and two more babies on the way!”
“Robert has signed all the adoption papers for PeggySue,”
said Gary. “We can get them from your lawyer for you to sign, then it’s just a
matter of weeks, I should think.”
“And after all, I am PeggySue’s real father.”
Cleo put her arms round Charlie, who had just come into the
room. Cleo hoped the girl had not heard the conversation about Daniels.
“Of course, you can’t marry me while you are married to our
friend Robert,” said Gary.
“I’m almost a free woman, so will you marry me? Think hard.
You are taking me and a few others on, remember.”
“Go on, Daddy. Say yes!” said Charlie.
“I’ve thought,” said Gary. “I will marry you, a hundred
times if necessary.”
“Once will be enough.“
***
“I expect you’d like to be at Daniels’ questioning tomorrow,
wouldn’t you?”
“Who’s Daniels, Daddy?” said Charlie, who had been playing
with PeggySue, but listened attentively to what the grownups said.
“A very nasty man,” said Gary. “You don’t need to know more
than that.”
“He’s going to be in prison for a very long time, Charlie.”
“Good,” said the little girl.
“Shall I cook, Cleo,” Gary asked.
“There isn’t much to do. I’ll print out the records I have
on the Daniels case.”
“What’s on the menu? I have to watch my waistline,” said
Gary.
“Wow! Has Nigel been telling you that? It’s cauliflower cheese
with ham, tonight,” said Cleo. “Not exactly calorie-free.”
“Fortunately I’m only dieting from tomorrow. I think I’ll
phone my mother while the cheese is under the grill, err gratineeing.”
“That isn’t a word, Daddy,” said Charlie.
“It is now, Charlie!” said Gary. “I’ll phone your
grandmother.”
“Invite her to stay, Gary. Our marriage gives you a good
reason for phoning her.”
“Can I talk to her, Daddy?”
“Of course, Sweetheart. She’ll be delighted.”
“Robert says the decree nisi will to go through fast,” said
Cleo.
“Can I come to the wedding, too?” Charlie asked.
“Sure,” chorused Gary and Cleo.
“We’ll go shopping for new clothes, Charlie,” said Cleo.
“Don’t dress up for me,” said Gary.
“We will be dressing up for us, won’t we, Charlie?”
Essay forgotten, Charlie went to the girls’ room to draw the
outfit she wanted to wear.
***
“Robert phoned,” said Gary in a low voice.
“What did he want, apart from that business about the
divorce?”
“For one thing, he said that you would get mail in a day or
too,” said Gary.
“Awesome! All this talk about us getting married has been
theoretical for far too long.”
“That’s almost in the past now.”
“So what other thing did Robert phone you about?” said Cleo.
“I didn’t know he was in a hurry to get the divorce over. Being still married
to me shielded him from Edith.”
“He wanted advice on how to deal with that lusty lady.”
“Not again.”
“He has severely ruptured self-esteem.”
“Don’t make me want to scream, Gary.”
“He sounded very miserable, considering Edith is now free
and he can sort things out with her.”
“So Edith has been released,” said Cleo. ”I hope she has
calmed down and won’t jump on him at the drop of a hat.”
“I wouldn’t bet on it. Robert was very nervous. I’m not sure
he could fight her off.”
“She weighs about 7 stone, Gary. That’s less than 100
pounds. Robert weighs at least three times that.”
“But he’s a gentleman, Cleo.”
“Ladies first, do you mean?”
“It would not surprise me,” said Gary.
If Cleo had ever loved Robert at all, she certainly didn’t
now. The only emotion she could summon up was irritation.
“What did you advise him?”
“The same as last time with a bit of Hartley philosophy
thrown in for good measure.”
“Water off a duck’s back, I should think,” said Cleo.
“Robert’s a fearfully timid beau.”
“Don’t say any more. I’d really rather not know,” said Gary.
“We both have pasts, Gary. We had lives before we fell in
love. It’s our futures that we are spending together.”
***
It is doubtful whether Robert Jones would have really
understood what Cleo meant. He had always had a problem with her aphorisms. His
past was almost a blank sheet, emotionally speaking. Robert had fallen for Cleo
for all the wrong reasons and she had been grateful and fell in with the kind
of relationship he could deal with: conservative, comfortable and complacent.
***
Robert was torn between facing the music and running away.
He wanted to stay in the refuge of his little flat, but with Gary’s advice
ringing in his ears he pulled himself together and knocked on the front door of
the vicarage.
Beatrice, the late vicar’s sister, invited him in.
“I’m so glad to see you, Mr Jones. It’s really hard for
Edith being back here.”
“It’s hard for me to come here to put an official end to our
relationship,” said Robert. “Do you think it would be better if I left now
before she notices that I’m here? I could phone her.”
Beatrice understood Robert’s dilemma and would probably have
sent him away, but Edith heard his voice and came downstairs towards him. She
was dressed in one of her dead husband’s voluminous bathrobes and smelt of
roses.
“Nice of you to come, Robert,” she said, offering her hand
in a Queen Mother gesture.
“I just wanted to welcome you back,” said Robert. “I’ll
leave now I’ve done that. I have work to do.”
“Come upstairs to my utility room,” Edith invited. “We can
talk better there.”
Robert did not want to talk, but he was as naive as Gary
thought he was. Now he found himself following her up the vicarage stairs.
In the utility room with the door closed and locked, Edith
said “Beatrice does not have to hear everything”.
“She’s very kind, Edith. She and Oscar have been very good
to the boys.”
“I thought you would be sleeping here while I was away,”
Edith said.
Anyone who did not know the truth would think she had been
on a health cure.
“Oscar and Beatrice slept in the big bedroom,” said Robert.
“I went home to my flat, Edith, and that’s where I belong.”
“They were here last night,” said Edith. “I slept here,” she
added, patting the daybed. It had wrought iron sides and back with the front
open, and was really only made for one person. “It’s small, but we could
squeeze in together.”
“I’m not planning to resume our affair, Edith.”
To Robert’s horror, Edith started to undress him.
“I don’t believe you, Robert. Why, your shirt is already
undone.”
Robert started to button it up again.
“And your trousers. Look! You’ve lost weight, Robert,” said
Edith, fondling him in a way he later described as indecent.
“Stop that,” Robert shouted at her, not caring if anyone
heard him. “I don’t want it, do you understand?”
“I can see you do, Robert. Bodies don’t tell lies.”
With those words Edith opened her bathrobe to reveal her
nakedness.
And then it happened. He did not want it to, but he found
himself subservient to this voracious woman. Before he could resist, the rest
of his clothes had been ripped from his body, he had been pulled onto the
carpet and Edith was making love to him in a forceful and passionate outburst
that gave her superhuman strength and sapped his. He found resistance
impossible.
Eventually, Edith’s energy was spent and she rolled away
from him. Robert was shocked and dazed, bruised and battered. He had the awful
feeling that he had been attacked by an animal.
“I locked the door,” said Edith. “There was no danger of
anyone coming in. Why were you so slow to get into the flow of things?”
Robert stood up, found his clothes and started to get
dressed, though Edith kept pulling his garments off
“Don’t you want to run your fingers over my naked body?” she
said, taking his hands and pulling them onto her breasts.
“No, blast you, and I don’t intend to go through any of this
again,” said Robert, removing her hands with his as if from an open flame. “You
are worse than a whore.”
“I am a whore, Robert, but I don’t want your money. I just
want your body.”
Robert was humiliated. Edith was out of her mind, of that he
was sure. He decided to get out as diplomatically as possible. There was no
alternative. She was in a manic state.
“Open the door, please, Edith,” he said. “I have to go to
the bathroom.”
“All right,” said Edith reluctantly. “But come back, won’t
you? I’ll be waiting. I want you, Robert. Don’t take long.”
Robert walked deliberately slowly out of the utility room
taking as much of his clothing as he could while Edith stood at the window
writhing obscenely in anticipation. He closed the door, dressed as fast as he
could and flew down the stairs into the kitchen, where Beatrice was fixing high
tea for the boys. He sat down at the kitchen table and put his hands over his
face. He was crying.
“What’s the matter, Robert?” Beatrice asked as Edith called
“I’m waiting” from upstairs.
“She raped me, Beatrice.”
“Nonsense, Robert. Women don’t rape men.”
“She did and she’s done it before.”
Beatrice was horrified.
“I’m going to report her this time. She is not safe to be
around those boys, Beatrice. She might abuse them.”
“Rubbish, Robert. She loves them.”
“She says she loves me, but it isn’t love. She’s sexually
perverse, insatiable, repulsive,” he sobbed.
Beatrice could see that Robert was serious. Had her dead brother
also been a victim? Is that why he kept himself to himself, brooding,
meditating, sharpening pencils? Did Edith herself know that she had manic
phases of uncontrollable sex drive?
“Explain, Robert! What is this all about?”
“I’ll get a doctor to confirm the bruising on my genitals
and the bite wounds at the top of my legs,” said Robert, and Beatrice looked
aghast. “I’ll go to the police with the Doctor’s report and have her arrested
because she is a danger to herself and even more to her children. Lock her in
her room until I get help, Beatrice!”
With those words, Robert fled from the vicarage hoping Edith
would not notice in time to stop him leaving. He would at least spare Beatrice that
scenario. Dr Mitchell’s general practice would still be open. He would be
examined, the bite wounds tended to, and a report written. Robert had every
intention of making good his promise to go to the police. There was no time to
lose.
Beatrice went upstairs to Edith’s utility room and knocked
on the door. Edith had seen Robert leave and moved to the door to follow him.
She was naked.
“I’m waiting for you and I’m ready for you,” Beatrice heard
Edith say. “Did you oil your lovely gentleman?”
Beatrice sped up the stairs and pushed the Edith back into
her utility room, where the naked woman sprawling on her bed and started making
obscene gestures.
“Do you want it now, Beatrice?” she said.
“You are a disgrace to humanity,” screamed Beatrice. “Get
your clothes on and behave decently.
Beatrice realised that Edith was in some kind of manic phase.
She pulled the door key out of its hole, left the room and locked it from the
outside.
“You insolent, depraved hussy,” she shouted through the door.
“I’m going to keep you in here until help comes. You can go to the bathroom,
but you’ll have to call out if you need to. You are not safe to be around
anyone.”
“You need not be afraid, Beatrice,” edith shouted back while
rattling the locked door. ”I don’t really do it with women.”
Beatrice was horrified. Whatever evil spirit had taken over
in Edith’s mind, she was not going to be allowed to misbehave in this way
again. She belonged in a mental institution and Robert deserved all the support
he could get.
Beatrice phoned Oscar and told him what had happened. He did
not act as a psychiatrist except at his surgery, but this was an exception.
Oscar closed his surgery and got to the vicarage as fast as he could. He told
Beatrice that he had always thought Edith was a dark horse and on a knife edge
psychologically. Now Parsnip had gone, her true nature was finding release. He
would wait till the boys came home from school and take them home with him.
They should pack for a few days and he would take them to school and back and
to whatever else they had to attend. They could not possibly stay in the same
house as Edith for even one night. HE would get a locum to run the surgery
while he dealt with the current situation.
Beatrice was afraid Edith would scream and shout at being
locked in her room, but she was silent. Beatrice told the boys that their mother
was not well and would probably have to go to hospital.
“But she’s only just come home,” they protested.
“That can’t be helped,” said Beatrice. “Be brave and stay at
our house until we know what’s going to happen. I’ll stay here with your
mother.”
The boys came home from school and were satisfied with
Beatrice’s explanation. She would phone Dr Mitchell and get him to examine
Edith next morning. By then he would know what Edith had done to Robert and she
would ask if her brother had been subject to the same humiliation. Beatrice was
quite sure that Edith would be an inpatient at the psychiatric unit of
Middlethumpton General before the following day was over. Oscar approved of the
arrangement.
Robert was as good as his word. He went to Dr Mitchell’s surgery
immediately after leaving the vicarage. Dr Mitchell was horrified at Robert’s
injuries.
“Do you know that a human bite is actually more poisonous
than a dog bite?” he had said.
Dr Mitchell sent his
assistant home and tended to Robert’s wounds. He could see that Robert wanted
to talk.
Robert found himself describing in detail the horror of what
he had experienced. He was going over the scenario with Edith as if it had been
a scene from a decadent movie, but without mentioning her name.
“Who inflicted these bites, Mr Jones?”
“I’d rather not tell you.”
“Well, whoever injured you must have a voracious libido or a
cruel streak. It looks as if you were raped, Mr Jones. I don’t think I’ve ever
come across anything like it before, except once,”
“I was raped,” said Mr Jones, overcoming his shame. “It’s
happened before, but I thought…”
“…since Edith Parsnip has been released from prison, Mr
Jones?”
“Has the news got around so fast?”
“Yes it has. This is a village and news always gets round
fast.”
“You say you’ve experienced this kind of injury before?”
said Robert.
“Yes, Mr Jones. I should not tell you, since we are
referring to the late vicar’s wife, but since the vicar is dead, I am going to
break my Hippocratic Oath. Mr Parsnip came to me with similar injuries. He was
humiliated and ashamed. I told him there was nothing to be ashamed of. He refused
to report her behaviour to the police, although it is a police matter when
someone subjects another person to such sadistic abuse. Unfortunately I did not
go to the police myself because I thought the vicar would deny the accusation
and I would be accused of betraying a confidential medical report and struck
off.”
“No wonder she wanted to kill him,” said Robert. “He might
have threatened her with the revelation of her misdeeds.”
“Although I would have thought it more likely that the vicar
would kill her,” said Dr Mitchell.
“He wouldn’t have hurt a fly, but Edith really could be
guilty, even if the court decided there was no proof of a motive. She was
responsible for his death. I’m sure of that, and it’s my fault, Dr Mitchell.”
“No one would blame you, Mr Jones. Mrs Parsnip has a bipolar
condition.”
“I thought she loved me when all she wanted was to satisfy
her own primitive urges.”
“To achieve her release, she must have put on a terrific act
before the appeal court,” said Dr Mitchell.
“She must have been acting a lot of the time, Doctor. I’m
finding it hard to believe that poor, stressed Edith had such a dark side to
her nature.”
“Most of us do not stoop to depravity, Mr Jones.”
“Now I know about the vicar’s experience, that he did
threaten her with exposure before he left,” said Robert reluctantly. ”Mr
Parsnip was respectable and anxious to be thought good and holy. Having a mad
wife was something he would want to keep a secret and I know she was desperate
to have another baby. She even told me that. But if he was leaving, he would
want to clear things up, wouldn’t he?”
Listening to himself talking, Robert mused on how much he
had learnt from his marriage to Cleo. He had admired her reasoning, and now he
was arguing as if she had told him what to say.
“It’s possible, Mr Jones.”
Dr Mitchell was at pains to pacify his irate patient who was
having as much a struggle with himself as with Edith’s attack.
“She wanted another child and the vicar refused, so she
tried to help herself,” said Robert. “That’s insane.”
“You’re speculating, Mr Jones. She might not have been sane,
but she was passive for much of her life.”
“She can’t have been,” said Robert, not knowing whether
compassion or repulsion was the order of the day. “She was pregnant 4 times.”
“I don’t know if the vicar was attacked more than once, Mr
Jones,” said Dr Mitchell.
“But I was, Doctor. How could such a small, slight, kindly
woman be such a Jekyll and Hyde?”
“I wish I could answer that. She molested the vicar because
he did not want her to have more children. He told me that when he came here in
an abused state. In future he was going to make sure she never got near enough
to touch him, let alone force her sexuality on him.”
“I wish I’d known all that,” said Robert. “Then I would have
understood the vicar wanting to get away from her.”
“Rape by a woman is not something to which a man normally
confesses, Mr Jones.”
“No, but it does explain her behaviour with me and her obvious
dislike of the vicar. In fact, they were like cat and dog towards the end,”
said Robert.
“What a sorry state of affairs. And he a man of God.”
“I suppose the dream of having another baby became reality
again when she saw that I was interested in her. I don’t think there had been
many suitable candidates before, though she had made up to Mr Morgan, the
organist, in a shy way. Even I noticed that, Dr Mitchell. She must have been in
a manic frame of mind when she came to me in my flat the day before the vicar
was due to leave and seduced me. I’m ashamed to say that I was flattered. And
all the time she was looking for someone to father a child.”
“If getting pregnant was her aim, she picked the wrong man,
Mr Jones.”
“I’m glad I can’t become a father thanks to that accident I
had a long time ago. What if she had got pregnant through raping me? It doesn’t
bear thinking about.”
“Go to the police. Tell them what you’ve told me and I’ll
confirm that she raped the vicar as well since he is not here to tell the tale
himself.”
Dr Mitchell gave Robert an antiseptic ointment to treat the
bites, a tetanus shot, and a sedative to restore his equilibrium. Then Robert
went back to his flat. He wanted to talk to Gary before reporting Edith’s
violence to the police, but he fell asleep thanks to the sedative and did not
wake until early next morning.
***
Startled that he had slept round the clock, Robert phoned
Gary immediately. Gary knew the predicament in which Robert had been since he became
an intimate of Edith’s, but the extent of the vicar’s widow’s depravity would
be a shock, Robert was sure.
Gary would have preferred to go on sleeping, but took the
call at that uncivilised hour because he knew Robert was desperate.
“Can we talk, Gary?”
“I’m not up yet, Robert. Do you know how early it is?”
”Oh, sorry.”
“I suppose you do realise that six a.m. is not the best time
for personal chats. I’d rather not talk now, Robert.”
“When can I talk to you then? It’s urgent.”
“Not now, Robert.”
“Are you still in
bed?”
“Yes. That’s where I spend my nights.”
“When can you talk, then?” Robert insisted. He would have
been surprised to know that the whole world was not on its feet. In their days
together Cleo had buried her head in her duvet until Robert nagged her out of
bed. Cleo now buried her head in Gary’s duvet and commented on what a paradise
it was to live with someone who ticked according to the same biological clock.
“I’ll phone you when I’m free at the office, at about
eleven, I should think. Are you at the shop already?”
“I will be then. Thanks.”
***
Gary joined Cleo for a few more precious minutes.
“Robert sounded distraught,” he said, but Cleo just drew him
to her and told him to think of something else.
But Cleo was also shocked by what she also considered Robert’s
helplessness.
***
Raped again, I shouldn’t wonder,” she said. “He sees you as
an advisory commission.”
“I hope Edith did not get near enough. I told him to fight
her off,” said Gary. “But I’m not about to fight you off, Cleo.”
“I’d be curious to see how you went about it, Gary.”
“I’m not risking it.”
“Robert could not fight off Edith without injuring her, and
he would not do that,” said Cleo.
“On reflection I’m glad he’s a gentleman, Cleo. I could not
have stood for him injuring you in any way.”
Cleo found that rather amusing.
“I know a good way of dealing with men who try it on,” said
Cleo. “Hookers told me it always worked.”
“Now you are frightening me,” said Gary.
“I offered to demonstrate. I’d only pretend. I’m not
planning to mutilate the father of my children.”
“No thanks. I’ll get PeggySue ready for her day and give her
some breakfast.”
Gary leapt out of bed and looked around for Cleo’s kimono.
“Get the mail in first, please, Gary. I heard Mr Smith’s
bicycle brakes squeaking a moment ago. He’s even earlier than usual. He should
get in touch with Robert. They are both live wires at an ungodly hour.”
“I think we should present him with a new bike,” said Gary.
“Isn’t the Post Office supposed to do that?”
“Not that I know of. Royal Mail coaches are reserved for
royalty, I should think, and postmen are supposed to have sturdy legs or bikes
that don’t creak.”
A minute or two later Gary bounded back into the bedroom.
“This is from Robert’s lawyer, I think. Open it quick!”
Cleo drew out an official looking document and read it.
***
“Will you marry me, Gary?”
“Is that your decree nisi?”
“Sure, but you haven’t answered my question yet.”
“Yes. When?”
“When what?”
“When do we tie the knot?”
“Soon, if you want the twins to be legitimate,” said Cleo.
“OK. We’ll post the bans after that Daniels interview. Is
that soon enough?” said Gary.
“As far as I know, you only do bans in churches, Gary.”
“We’ll have to phone the registry office to make an official
appointment then.”
“OK. It’s a deal. Can
you get PeggySue’s breakfast and the coffee on?”
“Don’t I get a hug first?”
“Look at the time! We’ll
have to postpose ‘the lovin’ and get the kids ready for their day.”
“But I can stay under your duvet for a bit while you get
busy, can’t I?” said Gary.
“But you won’t will you? I can hear PeggySue.”
***
Gloria arrived early to take PeggySue to nursery. She would
bring her home round midday. Robert might not be at the shop all morning, so
she had to open up, but he would definitely be there from noon for the rest of
the day. It would not be a problem if something kept Cleo and Gary away longer.
***
As soon as the registry office opened Gary made a hasty
appointment for that day since there was nothing to stop the marriage going
ahead, but Gloria did not know about that. She would find out soon enough.
Charlie caught the school bus with her friends. She
preferred that to driving in the car even though she loved her Daddy to bits.
Business inevitably took over from domesticity. Gary and
Cleo drove to HQ together, discussing Robert’s trials and tribulations. Gary hoped
Robert would not chicken out. He must report Edith. Getting Edith locked away
was urgent since she was uncontrollable, sexually predatory and potentially violent.
She was, Cleo commented, also a danger to herself. The discussion was still
going on when they entered Gary’s office.
“In the end, Robert’s only got himself to blame,” Gary was
saying.
“No, Gary. He is a victim of circumstances.”
“What happened to your ex, Cleo?” Nigel asked.
“He was raped,” said
Cleo.
“That big guy?”
“A big guy who would not hurt a fly or defend himself,
Nigel,” said Cleo.
“I didn’t know women raped,” said Nigel.
“I have no statistics, but I expect there are quite a few
out there in the big bad world,” said Gary.
“I’ll give you the details later, Nigel,” said Cleo. “Gary
is expecting the latest update at eleven.
Nigel wondered if he could cope with a woman telling him
about sexual aberrations.
“There’s probably more to come, Nigel,” Cleo explained. “We
think that she molested him again very recently. That’s what we were referring
to just now.”
***
“Get Daniels here now, Nigel,” said Gary. “Make sure he’s
handcuffed and bring a second officer. We may need to restrain him.”
***
Brass arrived rather breathless because he was late. His
landlady had kept him waiting with breakfast and he had not been able to hurry
her along. He was to be an observer. The officers accompanying Daniels would
deal with him.
***
Daniels was brought in by a tall, muscular guard officer who
had such a tight grip on Daniels’ arm that no attempt to get away would have
succeeded. The prisoner was allowed to sit down, but the handcuffs stayed on.
The officer stood close behind Daniels’ chair the whole time. Brass and Nigel
observed the proceedings.
Daniels could not resist insulting Cleo.
“What’s she doing here?” he said. “She isn’t a cop.”
“No,” said Cleo. “I’m a woman who lost a baby through brutal
mishandling by a brutal husband. But I survived, Mr Daniels. Your wife did
not.”
Daniels asked for a drink and was given a glass of water.
“No alcohol here, Mr Daniels,” said Cleo. “Your brain is
addled enough.”
Daniels was handcuffed to the front, so he was technically
able to drink.
“You’d better drink that,” said Gary. “Throwing the water at
anyone would give you a week’s solitary confinement.”
Cleo thought that was exaggerating, but it certainly stopped
Daniels from demonstrating his foul nature.
For safety, Gary removed the empty glass to a safe place. His
questioning was short and to the point.
“Why did you beat your wife to death, Daniels?” he asked.
“You’d beat a woman like her,” said Daniels. “Bloody whore
and she couldn’t cook, either.”
“I’m sure I wouldn’t,” said Gary. “I’m surprised that you
can judge food at all seeing as you have numbed your taste buds with alcohol.”
Daniels made a rude gesture to Gary.
“Was that a confession, Mr Daniels?” said Cleo.
“What’s it to you, woman?”
“Everything, Mr Daniels. I’m here because Mrs Daniels can no
longer defend herself or her unborn child and presumably couldn’t the day you murdered
them.”
“I want a lawyer,” said Daniels to Gary. “I don’t like that woman’s
intellectual twaddle.”
“You’ll have to put up with it, Daniels, but you will get a
lawyer,” said Gary. “You are in my office now because I am charging you
officially with causing the death of an unborn child and killing your wife. I am
cautioning you about saying anything that could be used as evidence against
you.”
Nigel made a note of the arrest and caution. Daniels did not
care what he said.
“That kid wasn’t mine. She was having it off with someone
else.”
“So you consider that to be a motive for murder, do you?”
said Cleo.
“What’s it to you?” Daniels repeated.
“I’ve answered that question once,” said Cleo.
“I’ll answer it now,” said Gary. “You are a brute, but in an
age when DNA can prove or disprove parentage, you are also at the mercy of the
scientists, Mr Daniels.”
“I don’t believe in DNA,” said Daniels. “It’s just more
twaddle.”
“You’d better, Mr Daniels. You cannot put any reasoning
forward as a valid reason for violence,” said Cleo. “There is no excuse for
violence and when it leads to a death, it’s murder.”
“To hell with the lot of you,” said Daniels.
“You heard, Daniels. Even if the child was not yours, it
does not excuse your vile conduct,” said Gary. “Take him away!”
***
“Scum of the earth”, commented Gary when Daniels had been
removed. “I need some fresh air.”
“We all need fresh air,” said Nigel. “That smelly man was
not wearing ethereal oil.”
Brass looked wide-eyed at Nigel.
“Just a little joke, Brass,” said Gary. “I’ll phone Robert
now.”
“We’ll get some fresh air, won’t we, Fred?”
“I need a smoke,” said Brass.
“That’s the way smokers think,” Cleo commented as the two
went off to get their smoke-infested fresh air.
“Nigel doesn’t smoke, Cleo. He says it would make him
unattractive if he smelt like a chimney.”
“And he’s right.”
***
Cleo made coffee in Gary’s cubby-hole. Gary, who had once
been a heavy smoker, pressed the appropriate key on his mobile for Robert’s
shop number.
“I’m glad to talk to you, Gary,” said Robert.
“What’s up?”
Gary heard Robert telling Gloria to chop up some lamb cutlets.
“Gloria is not to hear this,” he explained. “I’ll go
outside.”
It took a few moments of Robert to get out of earshot of
Gloria.
“Sorry I kept you waiting, Gary. I don’t quite know how to
say this,” said Robert.
“Just spit it out, as Dorothy would say.”
Cleo listened in to the ensuing conversation with increasing
horror.
“Edith attacked me again yesterday, this time with much more
violence. I went to Dr Mitchell after I got away. He was appalled. Armed with
that medical report I can get Edith put away.”
“Put away?”
“Dr Mitchell said it wasn’t the first time he’d seen such
injuries.”
“The problem is that she’s only just been released,” said
Gary. “I think everyone at the prison clinic was glad to see the back of her. According
to a short phone call I made to the prison some days ago, she was making
obscene passes at any male who came anywhere near her. I don’t think they’ll
want her back.”
“I can’t help that, Gary. The verdict last time was reversed
because of a formal mistake in the trial, whatever that means. But she is
dangerous and I’m worried about what she could do to her children.”
“Surely not,” said Gary.
“She might take it out on them that I got away from her.”
Robert hesitated, so serious was his accusation of the woman
he once thought would be his future partner. Finally he expressed softly and
slowly what he was afraid of:
”What if she abuses those boys sexually? She’s capable of
it. I know now,” said Robert.
“If you seriously believe that, why did you wait all night
before telling me?” said Gary. “You could have just called the police.”
“Dr Mitchell gave me a sedative that put me out for the
whole night, Gary and you did not want to talk this morning. I am too weak for
such a woman and too ashamed to tell anyone else.”
Gary felt sorry for Robert and his predicament.
“You are not weak, Robert,” he said. “The woman is mentally
sick. I agree that she should not be given an opportunity to molest anyone, let
alone her sons.”
“The boys are safe with Oscar. He took them away from the
vicarage. Beatrice is keeping Edith locked in her utility room,” said Robert.
“Together with several sharp sewing instruments,” said Cleo.
She had not wanted to let Robert know that she was listening, but if Edith was
in a manic depressive state, who knows what she would do?
“You heard that, Robert,” said Gary. “I’ll ring off now and
report back later when we’ve been to the vicarage, which we will do right now.
I will take immediate action and I’ll take this as your official complaint
about Edith.”
“Dr Mitchell said she raped the vicar,” said Robert.
“Did she now? What a voracious woman Mrs Parsnip is,” said
Gary. “I expect the vicar wanted to keep up appearances so took a grin and bear
it attitude.”
“Rape to get pregnant,” the doctor said. “The vicar told the
doctor that he would never go near her again. The doctor did not call the
police because the vicar said he could cope. But he didn’t grin or bear it in
the end, did he?”
Cleo rolled her eyes. Robert tended to take adages
literally.
“Rape is a capital offence and should not be kept a secret
by anyone, and we have enough evidence that Edith is capable of anything. You
should not go anywhere near her again and that is an order, Robert.”
***
Gary rang off and ordered a patrol car to collect Edith
Parsnip for questioning. He would meet the officers at the vicarage but they
need not wait for him if he was delayed. Edith Parsnip would be held at HQ
until he could question her.
“I’m sorry, Cleo. That visit to the Registry Office may have
to wait.”
“I’ll come with you to the vicarage, Gary. I have a pretty
good idea what we’ll find there.”
“Meaning?”
“Edith is violent and I don’t suppose she cares much who she
injures.”
“You mean that she could turn on herself?”
“It’s happened before.”
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