Four Silences Broken, page 17
“Joan, sir,” supplied Jo swiftly.
“Joan stated that she spoke to you in the kitchen of Hartwell Hall.”
“Yes, she’d come to fill my freezer, bless her. We didn’t know if we’d be able to see each other during lockdown and she knows I’m a terrible cook,” Lucy began to explain then quickly shut up as Jo shot her a warning glance.
“And your friend, the local schoolteacher, was also there with you.” This time Lucy simply nodded. “Then I agree at least in part with you, Spencer. Even if Rupert Hanley did die in the grounds of the Hayloft. I don’t see how his wife could been involved in moving his body to the cave that night.”
“She was still the last person to see Hanley alive, sir,” argued Spencer.
“Actually. Sergeant, I would suggest that title could belong to our photographer here. Guy Lovell. A man who has recently been found guilty of several crimes concerning Lady Hanley and whose obsessive behaviour clearly stretched back to the time of Lord Hanley’s disappearance. These photos place him at the scene, and he had the motive and quite probably the strength to not only kill but also to move Hanley by himself.”
Lucy held her breath. This is exactly the point Jo had wanted to make. To give Spencer another name to go after, but her boss was doing the job for her.
“Did he have an alibi for that evening?” the chief constable asked.
“He told us he was at home discussing defence committee business with Seb Devizes, his special adviser, sir,” replied Dawson promptly.
“So, Seb Devizes supplied his alibi as well as these photos. If anyone should be here for questioning, I’d say it’s him. Sergeant Spencer, I told Inspector Palmer I had misgivings about you coming here when the Hanley investigation was closed. You have failed to prove the two men connected to the stolen guns were ever in North Yorkshire, let alone in Hartwell. Today’s events feel like you are clutching at straws, and I shall be saying as much to your superiors in the Met. Ormond, can you arrange the release of Mr Harrison? According to the call handlers, half of Hartwell have phoned to say they saw him in the pub on the night in question. The last thing we need is them all turning up to make a statement.”
Lucy had to really struggle to stop herself whooping with joy.
“I’ll see to it straight away, sir,” said Jo, then nodding to Lucy and Caroline: “Why don’t you follow me down to the custody suite,” she continued sounding very formal.
As soon as the three of them were out of earshot, Lucy let out a huge sigh of relief.
“Oh my goodness, Jo that was amazing. It worked out just like you said it would. How did you know Devizes had given his photos to Spencer?”
“A hunch,” replied Jo with a flicker of a smile. “We had a lucky break with the chief turning up like that, and that he remembered so much about the original investigation. Spencer couldn’t argue with him.”
“Dawson was great too.”
“He was. I think I may have underestimated him.”
“As appalling a man as Guy may be, I can’t allow him to take the blame for something I did.” It was the first time Caroline had spoken since arriving at the station and Lucy had never heard her voice sound so weak and shaky.
Jo didn’t look at her as she replied. “I don’t think it will come to that. The CPS won’t think there’s enough evidence to charge him. Even if they did, he’ll never stand trial. Devizes might get charged with providing a false alibi, which would serve him right—the smug, arrogant sod.”
By now they had arrived in the custody suite, Lucy and Caroline hung back and waited in silence while Jo went to speak to the sergeant on duty. She returned to them after a few minutes.
“He should be here soon. They’re just completing the paperwork.”
“Oh, Jo, that’s wonderful! I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”
Jo opened her mouth as if she was about to reply, but instead the colour drained from her face, and she crumpled to the floor in a heap. Caroline immediately dropped to her knees and attempted to bring Jo round, gently shaking her, and saying her name over and over again, as Lucy screamed for someone to call an ambulance.
The ambulance arrived at the exact moment Rob was released. Lucy had rushed over and flung her arms around him.
“I can’t believe you were going to take the blame. You could have been sent to prison,” she whispered in his ear, aware they were still surrounded by police hurrying towards Jo.
“You’re worth it,” he whispered back. “What happened?” he asked, suddenly noticing Jo.
“I don’t know. One minute she was talking to us, then she collapsed. I’ve been trying to call Jack, but he isn’t picking up.”
They watched as Jo was carried out on a stretcher. Lucy was torn between wanting to stay with Rob and be with her friend.
“Go with her,” Rob insisted. “I’ll keep trying Jack and come and find you.”
*
Caroline and Lucy sat side by side on plastic chairs in the hospital corridor. A fluorescent light flickered above their heads. Dawson had driven her and Caroline to the hospital, following the ambulance carrying the semi-conscious Jo. Jack had arrived ten minutes later, looking terrified. They had watched silently as doctors and nurses hurried in and out of the room she was being treated in.
“I wish you had told me. Not only about what happened with Rupert but about everything,” Lucy said finally.
“I thought I’d dragged enough people into my problems.”
“You sound like Jo. She’s very good at keeping people at arm’s length or at least she was before she arrived in Hartwell. You know, the more I think about it, the more I realise how alike the two of you are.”
“We are certainly both fond of you, even if I haven’t always shown it. I’m very pleased you decided to withdraw from the election. I would have missed you and Freddie very much if you had moved to London.”
Lucy smiled. This was by far the nicest thing Caroline had ever said to her.
“I only stood in the election to get funding for the Rosemary Centre. What I don’t get is why Devizes passed those photos to Spencer, when his family’s bank had already set up the funding. Do you think it was because I said I was backing Heather?”
“The endowment came from me, or rather from Joseph’s estate. He named me and his aunt as executors in his will. We set a charitable trust up in his name and donated to those causes we thought he would approve of. The Devizes Merchant Bank arranged the anonymous donation. It wasn’t for entirely altruistic reasons though. I didn’t want you to leave Hartwell.”
Lucy was struck dumb for a second. She really didn’t think there was anything else that could shock her today, then she remembered something more that had been said.
“What else haven’t you told me? What did Shirley mean about you being ill?”
“I have cancer. There’s no cure.”
Her mother-in-law’s voice was calm, and she stared straight ahead.
“I’m so sorry, Caroline,” said Lucy quietly. “I should have realised something was wrong. I did wonder why Meera seemed to be visiting you so often.”
“Dr Kumar has been trying to persuade me to undergo treatment for my condition.”
“I wish you would at least try.”
“I don’t deserve to live any longer. I killed one of my children and rejected another, and I wasn’t brave enough to publicly admit either until today.”
“I think you are the bravest person I know. You only did what you did to protect us all,” protested Lucy. “Jo from Alexander, and me and Freddie from Rupert. I feel sick thinking about what could have happened to us if you had let him get his hands on that gun. We both know what he was capable of. If you won’t have treatment for yourself, will you at least consider doing it for Freddie? He loves you very much.”
Caroline gave her head a brisk nod and she blinked rapidly as her eyes filled with tears. Lucy reached across and took her mother-in-law’s hand. Her skin felt thin and papery.
“I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye, but you’ve been an excellent granny. Don’t you think it would be wonderful if you could meet your new granddaughter?”
Down the corridor a door opened, and Jack suddenly appeared. The two women sprung to her feet and hurried towards him.
“How is she?” she asked.
“Okay. A bit weak. Her blood pressure is still low. That’s why she fainted.”
“And the baby?”
“They are still running some tests, but the heartbeat sounds good, and the scan didn’t show any problems.”
“Oh thank goodness,” gasped Lucy throwing her arms around him.
“I want to go and phone Mum and let her know. I thought I should go outside to do it in case my mobile interferes with any of the equipment Jo’s hooked up to. Will one of you go and sit with her?” he asked.
Lucy turned to Caroline. “Why don’t you go?”
“She won’t want to see me. She didn’t want to speak to me in the car—she could barely look at me. Not that I blame her at all.”
“You won’t know if you don’t try,” prompted Lucy.
“It’s times like this you need your mum,” added Jack.
Caroline’s eye filled with tears again. “She told you?”
“She did.”
Caroline took a deep breath, slowly opened Jo’s door and stepped inside.
Chapter Eighteen
Jo lay with her eyes closed, listening to the beep of the monitor she was wired up to. Her left arm was sore where they had taken blood for various tests and her forehead was bruised from where it had hit the floor as she fainted. None of that mattered though. All that mattered was that her baby was okay. In the ambulance, she’d convinced herself there must be something very wrong. She could barely bring herself to look at the screen when they took her for a scan, and it had taken several minutes for the radiologist and doctor to assure her all was well.
Then the doctor had started talking to her about the possible causes of her low blood pressure and the tests they wanted to conduct, but she hadn’t really listened. All she had wanted to concentrate on was the squirming image on the screen and the strong, steady heartbeat of her little girl.
At the click of the door handle, she opened her eyes expecting to see Jack, but instead it was Caroline standing there. She stepped into the room and took a seat in the blue plastic chair next to Jo’s bed. Jo turned her head away. She hadn’t let herself think about everything she’d been told as she sat by the fire in Lucy’s library. After all these years, to have the story of how she’d come into this world revealed in a matter of minutes had been too much. Her brain hadn’t been able to take it in, and instead she’d focused on what she knew best—her work and getting Rob out of trouble.
For what felt like a very long time, neither of them said a word. Finally, Caroline broke the silence.
“I knew as soon as I saw you.” Her voice was so quiet, Jo was forced to turn and look at her so she could hear what she was saying. “It was your eyes. As soon as I saw those green eyes I knew. You have your father’s eyes.” Then she had felt Caroline softly place her hand over her own. Jo could feel the cool, smooth skin touch her own warm flesh, bruised from the drip that had been put in her vein. The realisation suddenly hit her. This was the first time she’d ever felt her mother’s touch. Hot tears fell from her eyes on to the white, paper pillow. Silently, Caroline took a tissue from the box on the stand by the bed, reached over and gently wiped her face.
“What was he like?” Jo asked between sobs.
“Wonderful,” replied Caroline simply. “And he was so happy when I told him I was expecting you. He wanted us all to live together at the Grange. He thought Alexander would understand.” Her voice cracked. “I’m so sorry for leaving you. I really did think it was for the best. Alexander had already taken Joseph from me. I couldn’t risk him harming you too. If I tried to leave him and keep you with me, I was sure he’d find me. Joan even offered to look after you, raise you as her own, but I was scared the truth would come out one day. Removing any connection between us seemed like the best way to protect you.”
Caroline, who Jo had only ever known to be controlled and measured, sounded frightened and so unsure, just like she must have been all those years ago. Jo took a deep breath and managed to gulp back her last sobs.
“I understand,” she said.
Caroline stared at her for a moment. Her pale blue eyes filled with tears too and her lips trembled. “I wish I could believe that, but I don’t deserve your understanding or your forgiveness.”
Jo opened her mouth. She wanted to explain that she knew that fierce feeling of needing to do everything in your power to protect the life growing inside you, that she could only imagine how desperate Caroline must have been, but before she could find the right words, Jack opened the door and Lucy followed him in, carrying paper cups of tea for them all.
“Oh my goodness, Jo! You gave us such a fright,” declared Lucy swooping down to plant a kiss on Jo’s forehead.
“Sorry,” muttered Jo. As she handed out the cups, Lucy’s gaze darted anxiously between Jo’s tear-stained face and the damp tissue Caroline was holding.
“But everything is okay, isn’t it? Jack told me everything is fine with you and baby Charlotte.”
Jo looked from her friend’s slightly strained smile, to Jack’s concerned face, to Caroline’s hand still holding her own. Suddenly she knew exactly how to convince her mother that there was nothing to forgive.
“Charlotte Caroline,” she said quietly. “That’s going to be her name. Charlotte Caroline.”
Caroline’s hand flew to her mouth and Lucy immediately burst into noisy sobs. When Rob arrived a few minutes later to collect Lucy and Caroline, he found all four of them in floods of tears.
Chapter Nineteen
It was dark when Rachel finally returned to the cottage. After Jo, Caroline and Lucy had dashed off to the police station, she had stayed back at Hartwell Hall, to help Joan keep Freddie distracted. In between watching the latest Jurassic Park film, she had discreetly telephoned Dan, her uncle Frank and anyone else she could think of who might be able to support Rob’s alibi. Then the call came from Rob himself to say that he had been released, but Jo had collapsed and was now in hospital. She and Joan waited until Lucy finally let them know that she and the baby were all right and Jo was being discharged.
As she stepped through her front door, she felt exhausted from all the worry, but also from the nagging little voice in the back of her head that wouldn’t shut up. She flicked on the light switch and jumped when she saw Sarah sitting on the sofa. Her knees were drawn up beneath her chin and she had a blanket over her shoulders.
“Why didn’t you call me?” she asked. Her voice was quiet and her eyes red-rimmed.
“Did you give Spencer that spade because you wanted to get Lucy and Rob into trouble?”
There. The nagging little voice had spoken. Sarah stared at her for a moment then slowly nodded her head. Rachel felt sick.
“Why?” she asked. “Why would you do that? They’ve both been so kind to you. Especially Rob—he couldn’t have been more understanding. He never once pushed you to finish the dig, so he could sell the Hayloft.”
“I know, I know. It wasn’t really about him. It was about Lucy. When Spencer started asking questions the other day, I wondered if he thought Rob and Lucy could have been involved in Rupert’s death. If they had been an item secretly while he was still around. I found the spade and…” she paused “…I thought I’d found a way to get her out of our lives. It feels like she’s always in the background. Like she could pull you away from me at any time.”
Rachel felt anger rise inside her. “That’s so stupid. And it wasn’t Rob or Lucy who threw it down there it was me. If he’d continued not to defend himself, I would have to have told the police that—and it could have been me in the cells.”
Sarah stared at her. “You threw it in? Why? When?”
“The night Rupert disappeared. Lucy met him outside the Hayloft and told him she didn’t want him to stay with her at the Hall during lockdown. He turned violent and she used the spade to defend herself, then ran. When she returned to the Hall, she was terrified she’d killed him, so I went to check. There was no sign of Rupert, but the spade was still there, and it had blood on it, so I threw it where I thought nobody would find it.”
“You see,” Sarah’s voice cracked. “She does have a hold over you. You incriminated yourself for her and you never told me.”
“I was trying to protect you. If what I’d done ever got out, I didn’t want the police asking you questions and you feeling you had to lie for me. But I was honest, when I told you how I used to feel about Lucy and that it was all in the past. She does not have a hold over me. I don’t regret what I did for her, and I would do it again if I had to—and not only for Lucy. I would do the same for you or for Meera or Jo if they needed me to. You are all an important part of my life here in Hartwell.”
“I know that,” said Sarah quietly.
“Do you? Because you don’t seem to want to get involved with any of them. It’s like you say you want to be part of Hartwell, but you’re not interested in the people here, and it’s the people that make the place, every bit as much as the history and the old buildings and the legends. I love you and I really thought we had a future here, creating the heritage centre, building a life together.”
Sarah threw off her blanket and leapt to her feet. “That’s what I want too. I’ve let my jealously of Lucy get in the way. I know it sounds childish, but I wanted you all to myself. I’ve never been any good at sharing.” There was a note of desperation in her voice as she reached out to Rachel. “I’m so sorry. Please give me another chance.”
“It isn’t me you owe an apology to,” snapped Rachel shrugging off Sarah’s hand on her arm. “Rob and Lucy are both back at home by the way, in case you were wondering.”
Sarah stepped back as if she’d been slapped. “I was going to ask. I’m sorry. I guess I was so focused on you and me.”
