Read Unsafe Convictions Online
Authors: Alison Taylor
‘Much as we sympathise with Mrs Newton’s position, I’m afraid we cannot involve ourselves,’ McKenna said. ‘This is essentially between Mrs Newton and the newspaper.’
‘
I’m not asking you to involve yourselves!’ Linda’s solicitor barked down the telephone. ‘I’m asking you to postpone tomorrow’s interview, in view of what happened to her father. She’s distraught, and therefore in no fit state to withstand police interrogation, especially as she’s nothing to answer for in the first place.’
‘
How is Mr Jarvis?’
‘
Rallying,’ the other man admitted with reluctance.
‘
So I heard,’ McKenna said. ‘Did Mrs Newton ask you to approach me?’
‘
I act in her best interests.’
‘B
ut did she ask ?’
‘
Not specifically.’
‘
If she does, please get in touch immediately. Otherwise, I’ll expect to see you both at the appointed time tomorrow.’
‘
You were a bit hard on him,’ Jack commented, when McKenna hung up.
‘
I’ve had a bellyful of these solicitors and their shenanigans. He’s no doubt part of Pawsley’s magic circle, doing his own bit to scupper our job.’
‘
The Federation called while you were out. Lewis refused to have another brief, so they want to know our intentions.’
‘
We proceed on the basis of her being unrepresented, as that’s apparently how she wants it.’
‘
You know it isn’t,’ Jack chided.
‘
I will
not
be manipulated! This is a blatant attempt to blackmail us into letting Pawsley back on the scene.’
‘
I know that, but we can’t let Lewis be without a solicitor.’
‘
She’s been offered an alternative, so it’s her choice. She’s a grown woman, not a child in need of protection. For heaven’s sake, Jack! Wendy Lewis is two years
older
than you! Try that perspective.’
Sitting cross-legged on her sitting-room floor, her face almost scorched by the fire, Wendy snatched another tissue from the box beside her, and snivelled. The telephone was slippery with her tears. ‘They can’t do this! They can’t take you away from me!’
‘
They’ll try, dear,’ Frances replied. Beyond her office window, the lights of the city sprang to life, piercing the winter twilight. Her left ear was ringing from Wendy’s assaults, and she moved the receiver to her other hand. ‘But we gels must stick together. Us against the world, eh?’
‘
I’ve told them I won’t have anyone else!’ Wendy exclaimed.
‘
Was that wise? You need somebody.’
‘
I need you!’
‘
Have they said they want to see you again?’
‘
No. Not yet, anyway.’
‘
They’ll probably be back with the statement transcript for you to sign, but that’s not a problem. Just make sure you read it carefully, and if there’s anything you’re not happy about, don’t sign it. I’ve got a copy of the tape, remember.’
‘
When are you coming to see me?’ whined Wendy. ‘Tonight?’
‘
I don’t think I ought, dear. McKenna told me to stay away, and I wouldn’t put it past him to have you under surveillance.’
‘
He can’t do that! You’re my friend.’
‘
Of
course
I’m your friend!’ Frances tried to summon a smile into her voice, but felt as wearied, had she known it, as a mother might by the incessant demands of a spoiled toddler. ‘But McKenna’s very powerful, so it wouldn’t be sensible to cross him.’
‘
But you must do
something
!’ Wendy insisted. ‘Can’t you talk to your police contacts?’
‘
I’ll try, dear.’
‘
Can I ring later to find out?’
‘
I’ll call you when there’s something to report, but I think you should try for an early night. You must be quite worn out with stress.’
‘
I won’t sleep a wink! And I’m sure I was awake most of last night.’
‘
All the more reason to try to make up for it tonight, then. I really must go, dear. Someone’s been waiting to see me for the past half-hour.’
Sitting on coloured plastic chairs outside the cardiac care unit, with the end of Fred’s bed just in view, Craig and Linda waited for the nurses to finish their half-hourly observations.
‘
Fred’ll be alive and kicking at a hundred, and getting a telegram off the Queen,’ Craig commented. ‘I’ve never seen such a fighting spirit.’
‘
He’s like that ‘cos there’s unfinished business.’ She leaned her head against Craig’s shoulder, and closed her eyes. ‘I feel like I could sleep for ever.’
He
put his arm around her. ‘Stress does that to you. What say we go home? My mum said she’ll keep the boys overnight, if we want.’
Comforted
by the closeness of his big, strong body, she let her thoughts drift to the carefree days of marriage before the boys arrived, before she noticed her father looked as if he would follow her mother to an early grave, and especially, she remembered, before her poor dead sister dropped her guard and the pretence of a happy marriage. Linda grew up knowing about the viciousness hidden behind net curtains and pumiced doorsteps, because Rene and her like would purse their lips and frown over the sight of one housewife or the other with her right eye blacked that week instead of her left, but she never imagined such horrors might cross her own family’s doorstep. They were too decent, too conscious of the scrutiny of others, and therefore too afraid of losing face by showing bruised flesh to the world and, from the deep and enveloping sense of safety which was the most potent memory of her early years, she knew that nothing other than honest, loving transactions had passed between her parents. Fred Jarvis grieved long and hard for his dead wife, but never with the sly face of guilt.
Linda
stopped inventing convoluted reasons to explain the obvious, but mysterious, decline in her sister’s well-being on a rain-washed summer day when she called unexpectedly at the house and, about to open the front door, heard Smith’s hysterical ranting. She wavered on the doorstep, flinching when the crashing and shattering noises began. In the brief silence which followed, she found she was holding her breath, then there was another sound: a gurgling, hardly human cry, like an animal in mortal fear. She barged through the door and into the room where Trisha was later found burned to a crisp, to see Smith, eyes alight, a froth of spittle at each side of his mouth, gloating over the splinters and shards of his tantrum, while Trisha crouched against the wall, hands clutched to her bloody face.
‘
Get out, bitch!’ Smith moved on Linda, fists raised. Trisha launched herself at him, clawing his back. ‘Leave her alone!’
He
swatted her, drawing more blood, then pushed past Linda and ran upstairs. Within seconds, he ran back down, through the front door, and out into the lane, and even now, the memory of it made Linda’s heart stop dead.
*
‘Hey!’ Craig kissed the top of her head, and squeezed her trembling shoulders. ‘Fred’s going to be fine. We’ll bring the boys again later if he feels up to it.’
‘
He’d like that.’ Joints aching, Linda rose, trying to banish the ghosts, at least for the time being. ‘I’ll ring Rene. She’ll want to visit.’
‘
She won’t be home yet.’
‘
I’m sure those coppers are human enough to pass on a message.’
‘
You don’t have to see them tomorrow if you don’t want.’
‘
I do want. Sooner the better, as far as I’m concerned.’
Rene knocked on the office door, walked in without invitation, laid a tray in the middle of Jack’s desk, then retreated to the doorway, folded her arms, and looked down on the four souls around the room. Trying to evade the cold, which crept outwards from every corner, Ellen and Janet both huddled inside heavy sweaters.
‘
Decent of you to let me speak to Linda,’ Rene said, to the room at large.
‘
Not at all.’ McKenna smiled. ‘How’s her father?’
‘
Better than a body’s any right to be, in the circumstances, and he wants to talk to you.’ ‘Why?’ asked Jack.
‘
Why d’you think?’ Rene sighed.
‘
Perhaps we should wait until he’s a little stronger,’ McKenna suggested.
‘
That won’t be long, then,’ Rene said. ‘I’ll tell him later, when I visit.’ Unfolding her arms, she stuck her hands in her apron pockets, and fidgeted. ‘I know you think I’m a gossip, but sometimes, things need to be said.’
‘
And?’ McKenna asked.
‘
Well, there’s been a lot of toing and froing today, what with people going to the hospital, and ringing to ask about Fred, and the like. He’s always been respected, but people took a lot more interest in him after Trisha was killed, and now, with that Smith on the loose again and the newspaper rubbish and his heart attack, well, nobody’s talking about anything else, are they?’ She paused for breath. ‘Linda said there’s been a couple of reporters at the hospital, and Fred’s next-door neighbour, the one who rang Linda this morning, had a man from the
Manchester
Evening
News
leaning on her doorbell.’
‘
I’m sure the hospital would get rid of the press if they’re bothering people.’
‘
That’s not what I mean,’ Rene said. ‘Linda can sort a few hacks. After all, they were crawling all over during the trial.’
‘
Then what’s the problem?’ asked Jack, making inroads on the tea tray.
‘
The town’s thick with reporters, and some folk don’t mind opening their gobs for a few five-pound notes or even just for the attention. Barry Dugdale’s next-door neighbour’s one of them, apparently.’
‘
I see,’ McKenna said. ‘And what’s she been saying?’
‘
She heard Barry and Sue rowing last night till well past midnight, the kids didn’t go to school this morning, then Sue drove off in her car with the kids and their toys, and a load of suitcases.’
‘
Who told you?’ McKenna asked.
‘
Linda heard it off somebody else, and she said if Sue’s left Barry it’s another nail in Smith’s coffin.’
Shivering on the doorstep, while the wind whipped around her and snapped at the hem of her jacket, Ellen looked into Dugdale’s blank face and bloodshot eyes. ‘D’you remember me? I’m Ellen Turner. I was here yesterday. Superintendent McKenna’s asked me to make an unofficial visit. He’ll decide later if a formal interview is necessary.’
Holding
the door wider, Dugdale stood aside, then followed Ellen into the front room, his feet making trudging noises on the carpets. The room was almost as cold as the doorstep, the fire unlit, the big radiator under the window fighting a losing battle with the plummeting temperature.
‘
What is it?’ His speech sounded as if he were drugged. He stood before the dead fire, trembling from head to foot.
‘
Shall we light the fire?’ Ellen suggested.
‘
What?’
‘
The fire. It’s freezing.’
‘
Oh.’ Casting around as might a stranger, he knelt down slowly, moved aside part of the decorative front plate, and pushed the ignition button.
Crouching
beside him, Ellen said: ‘You have to turn on the gas first.’ She twisted the knob, and the fire sprang to life. ‘That’s better, isn’t it? May I sit down?’
‘
Sue usually lights the fire.’ Dugdale still trembled.
‘
Where is she?’
‘
Gone to her mother’s.’
‘
Why?’
He
collapsed into an armchair, as if someone had clouted the back of his knees, and drooped forward, hands dangling.
‘
Why has she gone, Mr Dugdale?’
‘
I’m supposed to say her mother’s ill.’
‘
But she isn’t?’
‘
Sue’s left me.’ Tears filled his eyes. ‘And she’s taken the children.’
‘
What happened?’
‘
I had to tell her about Julie.’
‘
I don’t quite understand.’
‘
I
had
to. I’d told Superintendent McKenna.’
Wondering
if she had missed some crucial disclosure the previous day, Ellen said: ‘You said you and Julie went together years ago.’
‘
Yes.’
‘
Didn’t your wife know?’
‘
No.’
‘
I see. Did she know about Linda?’
‘
Yes.’
‘
Did that bother her?’
‘
No.’
‘
So, what’s the problem with Julie?’
He
gazed unseeingly at the fire. ‘I’m not sure. It all got terribly muddled up. I think it’s because we slept together.’ Pausing, working his mouth, he went on: ‘Or, perhaps Sue thinks we’re
still
sleeping together.’ He stopped speaking yet again, then said: ‘Or maybe, because I didn’t tell her about Julie, but told her about Linda, she thinks there’s something sinister there.’
‘
Has she any grounds to suspect you’re being unfaithful?’
‘
No, and I’m not. I haven’t been, ever.’
‘
Why didn’t you tell her about Julie?’ He looked at her, face gaunt. ‘Because I was ashamed.’
‘
Of what? Going with a girl who had a bad reputation?’
‘
Of helping to give her that reputation, and I’m not the only man in town with the same cause to be ashamed of himself.’
‘
You were very young, and behaved rather thoughtlessly, but at least, you accept that, where most wouldn’t.’
His
features twisted into a haggard smile. ‘Julie was my first love, you know. She could break your heart with just a look.’
‘
Does your wife know that?’
‘
God, no! She reckons Julie’s a dirty trollop.’
‘
Did she say that when you were rowing?’
‘
Yes, and I told her to be quiet. People think they can say what they like about Julie, and it’s not right.’
‘
That’s probably why your wife’s angry. Women hear with their instincts, not their ears.’
‘
How did you know we’d been rowing?’
‘
Bush telegraph.’
‘
As in Rene Minshull and Linda?’
Ellen
nodded. ‘You need to know there’s been a sudden upsurge of media interest in the Smith case, partly because of Gaynor Holbrook, and partly because Linda’s dad had a mild heart attack this morning.’
He
covered his face with his hands. ‘Oh, God! I didn’t know. How is he?’
‘
Recovering.’
‘
That’s a blessing. They’ve already had more than enough tragedy.’ He frowned. ‘Who’s Gaynor Holbrook?’
‘
She’s writing about Smith for one of the popular national papers. You’ve not seen her articles?’ When he shook his head, Ellen said: ‘Well, yesterday, she did a résumé of the murder, trial and appeal, and suggested Superintendent McKenna’s strings will be pulled by vested interest, and today she interviewed Smith. It’s Beryl’s turn tomorrow.’ She watched him. ‘If you read the articles, under no circumstances must you react to anything in them.’
‘
Why should I?’
Without
responding, Ellen said: ‘I’m surprised Hinchcliffe hasn’t brought them to your attention. By the way, have you told him your wife’s left?’
‘
No. Should I?’
‘
Yes, and be prepared for a lot of gossip and speculation. The media bandwagon’s rolling, and they’re waving cheque-books, so you might see some lurid headlines associating your wife’s departure with our investigation.’
‘
They can write what they like as long as they leave Julie alone.’
‘
When did you last see her?’
‘
Two weeks before I got engaged, to say I was planning to get married.’
‘
Why didn’t you tell us this yesterday? You rather played down the relationship.’
‘
I don’t want Hinchcliffe knowing. He prattles like an old woman, and I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could chuck him.’
‘
Isn’t that rather unfortunate?’
‘
He’s a necessary evil. He’ll probably do what he’s paid to do well enough, but the less he knows about my personal affairs, the better.’
‘
Unfortunately, in a situation like yours, you can’t pick and choose what to disclose,’ Ellen concluded. ‘You’d better warn your wife about the media, in case they find out where she’s gone.’ She smiled. ‘She might decide staying away isn’t worth the potential scandal.’
‘
You think?’ His eyes were almost dead. ‘She’s far more likely to decide to stay away for good.’