Terry put down the phone and rubbed his eyes. He couldn’t take in what he’d just heard. Alison’s words had shaken him to the core. He’d known some dodgy characters back in the days before he’d met Linda and sorted himself out but he’d never come across anything like this. He’d have to get back home to tell her at once.
It had been pure luck that he hadn’t already set off on his next batch of deliveries when his boss had taken the call. He’d had to get a new bulb for one of the brake lights and by the time it was fitted he was running late, but it had been a blessing in disguise. He could have been anywhere – some days he was away all day and on others he was off overnight.
His boss waved him away, saying he knew what had gone on and to take as much time as he wanted, so Terry rushed home by the most direct route. His mind was whirling. This would cut Linda to the quick. She loved her sisters, different though they were, and felt close to them despite the distance between them. He himself had always got on with Hazel, even if he thought she was a bit rough on Alison most of the time. She couldn’t hold a candle to Linda but then nobody could. Yet however unfair she’d been to the youngest in the family she hadn’t deserved this. What had possessed Neville?
Linda would have got back from nursery with June, but the little girl might have gone to a friend’s house. Or she might have someone back to play with her. He hoped not. He couldn’t remember what today’s arrangements were – they usually passed him by in a blur in the mornings. He hoped there wouldn’t be a house full of four-year-olds waiting when he got back.
As he rounded a corner a police car drew up and two officers got out. He quickened his pace. If Linda opened the door to find the police on the doorstep, she’d likely imagine it was something to do with the boxes and he didn’t want that. Today’s news was going to be enough of a shock as it was. He hurried to catch them before they went up the garden path, and explained who he was and that he already knew about his sister-in-law. Once they heard Linda was pregnant they agreed their presence would make things worse and agreed to wait outside in the car while he broke the news to her himself.
None of them noticed a black van pull over on the other side of the road.
Alison finally managed to cry when Vera came round. They settled in the living room while Fred took David for a walk to give them some time on their own. ‘I don’t know why I’m crying,’ she sobbed. ‘I didn’t even like her most of the time. She was horrible to me but I can’t believe she’s gone.’
‘She was still your sister,’ Vera said. ‘That goes deeper than liking someone or not. I often don’t like my mum much but I’d be heartbroken if anything was to happen to her. That’s family for you.’
Alison wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her cardigan. ‘I know. And that’s another thing. Mum wouldn’t be helped earlier, just wanted to be on her own. I don’t think that’s right, she looked awful, but she was dead set on it.’
Vera sighed deeply. ‘You can’t force her, she’s a grown woman. Give her time. You’re all still in shock. Everyone copes in different ways.’
Alison nodded. ‘You’re right, as usual. I’ll give her a bit of time. She’s got food in, I took her some. Anyway, Linda rang me back from Terry’s office and said she and June would be coming up tomorrow. If Mum won’t have them at her place they can stay here. There’s plenty of room. As if it mattered.’ She started sobbing again, digging in her pocket for a handkerchief.
Vera found her own first and passed it over. ‘Here. Have this. Staff discount’s finest. God, in all of this it’s Neville I feel sorry for. You might think it’s terrible of me to say that.’
Alison shook her head. ‘No, the daft thing is I know what you mean. It’s a mess, isn’t it? It can’t have been much of a picnic being married to Hazel. There was only one way of doing things when she was around, and that was her way, and heaven help anyone who didn’t agree … God forgive me for speaking ill of the dead. But it’s true. I didn’t see much of her but you get to hear things, you know how it is. Everyone was saying how much she’d changed.’
Vera turned to look out of the window. ‘She never liked me. She was one of those who believed everything she heard and spoke behind my back every chance she got. So I felt sorry for Neville. But that’s all I did, I purposely kept away because I knew if Hazel found out we’d had the one drink it would make things worse for him. From what I heard it wasn’t what you’d call a happy marriage.’ She stared at the darkening sky outside. ‘Poor Neville. It must all have got too much for him.’
‘He might get the death sentence,’ whispered Alison.
‘He might.’ Vera turned back to look at her friend. ‘I can’t begin to think about it. But it’ll depend what he’s charged with, won’t it?’
‘The police this morning say he claimed he didn’t know what he was doing,’ Alison said. ‘So it might not be murder. But he still won’t get off, will he?’
‘No, he might spend years in prison. But you don’t want him to get away with it, do you?’
‘No. That wouldn’t be fair. I just keep thinking about his family. They must be going through hell and I can’t help feeling sorry for them, but Neville killed my sister!’ Tears rolled down her cheeks again.
‘I know,’ said Vera. ‘It’s such a terrible mess.’
Linda arrived the next day, not her usual efficient self and very shaky. Her bump was very visible; the baby was due in about three months and she was beginning to struggle to get around. It didn’t help that June was hopping up and down with excitement at the thought of seeing David. She was too young to understand what had happened to Hazel and as far as she was concerned it was another trip to Battersea, where she usually got lots of attention and presents.
Alison did her best to welcome her niece, showing her where David slept and where he kept his toys. June was delighted and started making up a story for her baby cousin, so Linda sighed with relief. The two sisters went into the kitchen, and hugged. Alison couldn’t help crying again. Then she felt bad because Linda was so heavily pregnant and she didn’t want to upset her further.
‘I went round to see Mum before I came here,’ Linda said, ‘but she just seemed to want rid of us.’
‘She was the same with me, but that isn’t surprising. You know how she doesn’t really like to be in the same room as me, even now.’ Alison knew it was true – even though she’d done as her mother wanted, married Fred, produced a grandson, and been a constant source of top-quality free food, her mother still didn’t enjoy her company. Cora was beginning to be more understanding of Alison, now she was a mother herself, but it didn’t change how she reacted to her youngest daughter. ‘Also, she probably did need to sleep after the shock of it all. I’m worried about her though.’
‘I’d better go round there right now,’ said Linda. ‘I won’t take June this time. If she’s all right, we can both go over there later and stay there. June’ll be all right here, won’t she?’
‘Of course,’ said Alison. ‘She can get to know her cousin and get used to what babies are like. I can show her how he takes his bottle – that’ll be useful for her to learn. If Mum still wants to be on her own you can both stay here, there’s plenty of room.’
‘Thanks.’ Linda hugged her again and then set off, the sound of her daughter’s voice floating out from the baby’s room. She didn’t say goodbye. She felt she needed all her emotional energy to face what was to come.
Rounding the corner of Ennis Street, she could see a big removal van pulled up opposite Cora’s house. She stopped to see what was going on, and found herself face to face with one of the women from down the road who she’d known since she was a girl. ‘It’s Linda, isn’t it?’ said the woman, eagerly turning bright eyes on her. ‘Come to see your mum, I expect? Terrible business. Do give her my condolences. Just as well that lot are going.’ She nodded towards the van.
‘What! Is that for the Parrots?’ asked Linda. ‘Are they moving house?’
‘Gone already,’ said the woman, ‘and more’s the pity they ever came here in the first place. This lot are just collecting their stuff. Won’t say where they’re going, but they aren’t wanted round here, that’s for sure.’ She sniffed and drew her threadbare cardigan around her. ‘We won’t see no more of them.’
Linda didn’t know what to think. She had liked the Parrots, but now that their son had killed Hazel she never wanted to see them again.
‘I’d better see how Mum is,’ she said. ‘Don’t let me keep you.’
She turned and stood at her old front door. Now that she had her lovely new house in Kent this one seemed even shabbier, with its tired, peeling paintwork and narrow window facing directly onto the street. She noticed the curtains were still firmly shut. Usually there would be a twitching of the nets, but not today.
She knocked and tried the door. It was locked. She hadn’t brought her own key, and cursed her lack of forethought.
‘Mum, it’s me. Linda. Open up, will you?’
A minute passed.
‘Come on, Mum, I’m dying for a cuppa. Let me in and I’ll put the kettle on.’
It was another few minutes before she heard a shuffling on the other side of the door and then it opened. Cora drew her in and shut the door behind her firmly again, and she found herself in the gloomy front room, the only light coming from the kitchen at the back.
‘I was sleeping,’ said Cora. ‘It’s all I seem to be able to do.’ She sighed. ‘Good of you to come, Linda, but I’m all right, as you can see.’
Linda couldn’t see very much at all, but strode through to the kitchen and took out two cups. ‘You’ll be glad of some tea, then, to wake you up a bit. I know I will.’
Now that she could see her mother properly she thought how gaunt she was. Her eyes were dead, her skin was slack, and she was hunched over like a woman twice her age. No wonder Alison was worried. ‘You had anything to eat, Mum? Alison said you had some food in.’
‘Spying on me, is she?’ snapped Cora. ‘None of her business. If I feel like eating then I’ll eat. Don’t you go talking about me behind my back.’
Linda took out the milk and sniffed it. ‘This is off, Mum. You can’t drink this. I certainly can’t.’ She picked up her bag again. ‘I’ll run to the corner shop and get more. Here, bung the tea cosy round the pot and it’ll do for when I get back. Do you want anything else? What about some bread?’
‘No thanks.’ Cora wouldn’t look at her.
Linda dashed out, turning her gaze away from the lorry that was now nearly full of the Parrots’ belongings.
It took longer than she’d planned as she kept bumping into people who knew her and who wanted to talk. By the time she got back, the tea was cold. Cora complained as she set about making more. ‘It’s a waste, that’s what it is. I don’t need no tea. I’m all right as it is.’ She stopped and glanced suspiciously at her daughter. ‘You didn’t talk to no one, did you? They all want to know what went on but I ain’t telling them nothing. And did you shut the door tight? I won’t have that family,’ she almost spat, ‘them lot opposite looking in here. To think I thought of them as friends. Just goes to show.’
‘Mum, they’re gone. There’s a dirty great lorry out there taking everything away and they’ve gone already.’
Cora pursed her lips. ‘You sure? You aren’t havin’ me on?’
‘Honestly, Mum. Why would I lie?’
Cora seemed to come to her senses. ‘Thank God for that. I couldn’t stand to see any of their ugly faces ever again. To think they were all smile, smile, smile and they brought up that murderer, that killer, that bastard what did for our lovely Hazel.’ At the name she stopped and broke down, great heaving sobs shaking her tiny body. ‘Our Hazel. Who never did no harm to anyone. That beautiful girl. So pretty, especially at her wedding – to that bastard.’
Linda hugged her mother as best she could against her bump, thinking it was probably a good thing that she cried. ‘That’s right, Mum, you let it all out. Here, have my hanky. You don’t have to worry about them now, they’ve gone. You can open those curtains and let some light in.’
‘No.’ Cora sat upright, her sobs subsiding. ‘No, I don’t want any of them nosy busybodies looking in here. You mind you keep them shut. They want entertainment, they can go elsewhere.’
‘Mum, that’s not fair. People are worried about you. Everyone’s asking after you.’
‘I hope you told them to mind their own business.’
‘Mum, come on. People are concerned.’
‘Well, I don’t want their concern.’ Cora slammed down her cup. ‘I’m doing very well on my own without any help from them, thank you very much. I won’t be no laughing stock for them. You can tell them that when they ask.’ Tea sloshed over the kitchen table. Linda went to wipe it up.
‘I’ll tell them no such thing, Mum. You need good neighbours at a time like this.’
‘Neighbours? What good have they done me? I thought them lot opposite were friends, see how wrong I was then. No, they can all keep off. I won’t have them interfering.’
Linda sat back and took all this in. She supposed it was still the shock talking, as this wasn’t like her mother at all. ‘Don’t suppose you’d like to come and stay with us for a bit, until it all calms down?’
Cora immediately shook her head. ‘Thanks, Linda, but no thanks. I belong here. This is where … I feel closest to Hazel. I don’t want to be away. You got your own life down where you are. My life is here.’
Linda felt slightly relieved at this. She didn’t know how she’d cope with her mother in this mood as well as settling June into the new nursery and the last stages of her pregnancy. She hadn’t discussed it with Terry either. ‘Well, how about I go and collect June from Alison’s and then we both stay here tonight? I can make up the beds and everything.’
Cora stiffened. ‘No, no, don’t do that. I don’t want her to see me like this. She’s at an impressionable age, I don’t want her to think of her old granny in a state like this.’ She sighed. ‘Linda, I know you mean well but I’d rather be on my own. I’m closer to Hazel then, can’t you see? I don’t want no one around. And you can stay with Alison, can’t you? God knows she’s got enough room in that grand flat.’
Linda shook her head. ‘I’d rather stay with you here. June can stay there, she loves it with David. But I’d be happier with you, to make sure you’re all right.’
Cora’s eyes blazed. ‘I keep telling you I’m fine. I’m telling you again. And I want to be on my own, is that clear? I don’t want help from you or anyone else.’ Cora reared to her feet. ‘Just go will you. I want to be left in peace to grieve for my Hazel.’