A Family Scandal (27 page)

Rhona tried to hide her dismay. At this rate everyone would know something was badly wrong. ‘Hiya,’ she said, deliberately cheerful. ‘Aren’t you going to let me in?’

Penny mumbled something and turned to go back inside. Rhona couldn’t help noticing that she didn’t smell too good.

‘Why don’t we sit in the back yard?’ she suggested. The late summer sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud to be seen. ‘Put a bit of colour in your cheeks.’

‘If you like.’ Penny didn’t seem to care either way. ‘As long as none of those nosy old bags who live either side of us see me or hear us talking. They’d love to know I’m pregnant. It would give them something to gossip about.’

‘We’ll keep our voices down, though can I have something cold to drink first. I’m parched.’

‘We’ve got some lemon barley water. Will that do?’

‘Lovely. You having some?’

Penny pulled a face. ‘I can’t keep anything down, not even that. Anyway it tastes funny.’

Rhona shrugged and accepted the cold drink, downing most of it in one gulp. ‘Come on, let’s go outside.’

‘So, have you had any ideas?’ Penny asked, almost whispering as she sank onto a wooden bench that was close to the back door.

Rhona hesitated. There was no going back now. She’d better just come out and say it straight. ‘Not yet, but I’ve got some news,’ she began carefully, keeping a close eye on her friend. ‘Jeff came to see me yesterday evening after work.’

‘Jeff?’ Penny sat up in surprise. ‘Didn’t know you knew him.’

‘Well, I don’t, not really. I met him once at the basement bar and well, he … he had news about Gary.’

‘Gary? I haven’t been to the club so has he sent me a message?’ Penny asked eagerly.

Rhona took a deep breath and then said in a rush, ‘Penny, you’ve got to prepare yourself. Gary’s gone. He’s got into a group as a guitarist and they’ve left to go on tour.’

Penny stared at her as if she was talking a foreign language. ‘What? Don’t be daft. He wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t go off without telling me. He loves me, he said so.’

‘Yeah, well, he’s fond of telling girls that he loves them,’ said Rhona, ‘me included.’

‘Don’t be nasty, Rhona.’

‘Penny, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make it worse, but he’s gone, love. He didn’t leave a message for you, or for anyone. He just went off the moment he got the chance and as they’re touring, he won’t be back any time soon.’

Penny stared at her. She had gone even whiter and the purple bags under her haunted eyes stood out like fresh bruises. ‘He can’t have,’ she whispered. ‘He loves me. He does. He says so all the time. He wouldn’t do this to me. It’s a mistake.’

‘Penny, it isn’t a mistake.’ Rhona put an arm around her. ‘Listen to me. It’s the truth. I’m really sorry, but that’s what has happened. Gary’s gone off to be a pop star and he’s left his old life behind.’

Suddenly Penny gave a loud howl and pushed Rhona away. ‘Stop it! You’re lying to me! It’s all a plot so you can get Gary back. Well it isn’t going to work! He loves me, not you! He hasn’t gone away, he wouldn’t. He loves me and chose me over you. Get away from me and stop telling me these horrible lies. It’s not true, he hasn’t gone!’

‘He has, Penny,’ said Rhona as she tried to rub Penny’s back to comfort her.

Tears of anguish began to flow down Penny’s cheeks. ‘He can’t have gone, he can’t have left me.’

‘He has,’ Rhona insisted again, ‘and I’m really sorry.’

‘No …’ wailed Penny, burying her face in her hands. She rocked to and fro while Rhona continued to rub her back, thinking that if the neighbours were in earshot and hadn’t known before, they certainly would now.

‘Come on, Penny,’ she urged after a while. ‘If Gary had loved you, he wouldn’t have just gone off without a word. He’s not worth your tears and I’m not just saying that because he dumped me, it’s the truth.’

‘Oh, Rhona, what am I going to do?’ Penny sobbed.

‘We’ll think of something,’ Rhona said gently, but in truth, she had no idea what advice she could offer.

The sun beat down on them and flies buzzed about the dustbin by the back wall, their drone audible between the sobs, but then suddenly Penny abruptly stood up and leaned forward, clutching her stomach as she cried, ‘Rhona, something’s wrong. Oh, it hurts!’

Rhona saw it then; the pool of red liquid that was seeping through Penny’s dirty dressing gown. When it began to run down the inside of her legs, Penny saw it too and screamed, ‘What’s wrong me? Why am I bleeding? Help, Rhona!’

Rhona felt panic rising in her chest but knew that somehow she had to do something. She put her arm around Penny and said as calmly as she could, ‘Come on, we have to get you inside. Lean on me.’

Penny moaned in pain with every step but she kept going, trembling and unsteady on her feet but held up by Rhona. With her free shoulder, Rhona shoved open the back door and almost dragged Penny inside, where she collapsed onto the floor beside the small kitchen table.

Rhona saw a tea towel and hoping it was clean she grabbed it. ‘Here, we need to put this between your legs. It’ll stem the bleeding,’ she said, frightened for Penny and though trying to stay calm, she couldn’t put coherent thoughts into order.

There was a gasp then, and looking up Rhona saw Penny’s mother in the doorway, looking in horror at the scene before her. ‘What happened?’ she cried. ‘What’s wrong with Penny?’

Rhona could have cried with relief and at last her mind cleared. ‘Penny needs to go to hospital. I’m going to ring for an ambulance,’ she said hurriedly and ran out of the kitchen, down the short hall and out into the sunny street, trying to remember in which direction to turn for the phone box. For a moment Rhona couldn’t see it and panicked, but then noticed its bright red paintwork further down the road.

She sprinted towards it, and once inside with shaking hands she picked up the handset to dial the emergency services. It was only when she was told that an ambulance would be sent, that Rhona slumped. She leaned against the glass in the telephone booth, reliving what had just happened. Anger rose that Gary had buggered off without even knowing that Penny was carrying his baby and it was probably the anguish and distress that caused Penny to miscarry.

But slowly Rhona’s anger subsided as she realised that though it was awful, losing the baby was probably for the best.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Tommy sat on the narrow concrete ledge with his head in his hands. The small cell was stiflingly hot, the only light coming from a tiny barred window high up one wall. There was hardly any furniture and the place smelt of strong disinfectant with an undercurrent of something deeply unpleasant. In the distance he could hear muffled voices but there was nobody within calling distance. Not that it mattered because he had nothing to say.

He couldn’t believe the events of the past few hours. He’d been asleep in bed early on Saturday morning when the police had pounded on his door. He’d let them in without much concern, but now wished he’d played it differently; that he hadn’t been so offhand, but it most likely wouldn’t have altered things. He’d still have ended up in a cell.

He’d laughed in their faces until they told him who they’d talked to. The Devon police had been busy, after a tip-off. They’d spoken to Mrs Hawkins. She’d informed them that before dinner last evening he had ordered a taxi to take him somewhere – she thought for something to do with work. The police had poured scorn on that because they’d talked to the taxi driver, who told them exactly where he’d gone and how long he’d had to wait. In fact it was the driver who had come to them, after recognising the picture of the dead man in the papers, and reading about the appeal for witnesses. He’d seen the man in an altercation with Tommy on the cliffs so had come forward.

They’d asked to check his shoe cupboard and taken away the pair of sandals that he’d bought while in Torquay. There was still sand clinging to the soles which they’d checked very carefully and he was deeply worried because after what the taxi driver had told the police, he couldn’t deny that he’d been on those cliffs and that he’d met Alec there.

Tommy wasn’t sure exactly what the taxi driver could have seen, but maybe when interviewed again he’d be able to persuade the police that it was just a heated discussion. How he wished now that he’d asked the driver to go after dropping him off, and then found some other way of getting back to the pub.

He didn’t know when he’d be interviewed again. For now they had left him in this gloomy hot cell in the local station, probably to make him sweat. He knew that in all likelihood he’d eventually be put up before the magistrate and hoped then that he’d be allowed bail. On a charge of murder it would be set high, but somehow, rather than be stuck on remand, he’d have to raise it. Bearing in mind what he had been prepared to offer Alec Pugh, he could find a decent amount, but even that might not be enough. Tommy groaned. He dreaded to think what Mavis would make of all this. Would the police think that she was an accomplice? No, surely they wouldn’t arrest her as well? Angrily he stood up and paced around the cell, just a few steps long and two steps wide. He hit out at the wall in frustration, wincing when he saw the blood on his knuckles.

He had to face it: this might mean he couldn’t marry Mavis. Even though they’d waited for it for so long, would it be better for her if he broke off their engagement?

Pete had been expecting an empty house when he got home. Instead the flat was full of people: Grace and Bobby upset because the picnic hadn’t happened, James and Greg sullen for the same reason but taking their disappointment out on a football in the yard. Jenny looking stricken and Mavis was in floods of tears.

Loudest of all was Lily, furious about something and saying before he could get a word in, ‘You’ve got to do something about this, Pete.’

‘Hang on, hold your horses,’ he said, taking a step back. ‘Do something about what?’

Lily told him.

Pete felt the room tilt and he grabbed on to the table to steady himself. On top of the injustice of the arrest, there was his last hope gone. Tommy would be in no state to help him financially if he was locked up.

‘Oh, Pete, it’s awful, isn’t it,’ exclaimed Jenny, mistaking his reaction. ‘We don’t believe a word of it. Tommy wouldn’t do such a thing.’

‘Course not.’ Pete tried to pull himself together. ‘It was an accident, stands to reason. They’re trying to make something out of nothing. They’ll have to let him out ’cos I don’t believe there’s any evidence against him.’

‘That’s just what I said!’ Lily insisted. ‘Tommy wouldn’t hurt a fly and we all know that.’

Mavis nodded through her tears. ‘Thanks, Mum. It has got to be some sort of crazy mistake,’ Mavis said, but in her head she kept thinking back to that moment when she realised Tommy had known Alec was in Torquay. She cast her mind back to all the times he’d promised to keep her safe and now couldn’t help fearing about what he’d been doing on that last evening in Devon. Had he really been to a business meeting? Then she berated herself. Tommy was a good man and she refused to doubt him. Somehow she had to stay positive. She had to prepare herself: Some people were going to think the worst of him, but she wouldn’t be one of them.

Whatever Tommy was doing that last evening, he’d have had his reasons – but killing Alec would not have been one of them.

Rhona spent the weekend in a state of anxiety, waiting for news of Penny. She’d run back to the house and held her hand waiting for the ambulance, as Penny’s mother had almost collapsed with shock when she realised what was going on. Rhona could tell that she was going to be very angry with her daughter when all this was over, but for the time being she rallied and by the time the ambulance arrived she told Rhona very curtly that her presence wasn’t necessary and that she should go home. Not being a relative, Rhona didn’t have a leg to stand on when it came to riding in the ambulance or visiting her friend if Penny’s mother was set against it. She didn’t even know which hospital they were headed for.

Not knowing what else to do, Rhona thought about ringing Jeff. She had to talk to somebody and he seemed the least likely to gossip. He’d even asked her to ring him once she’d broken the news of Gary’s betrayal, to let him know how it went. She’d never met a man who was so concerned and because part of her thought it was too good to be true, she didn’t call him straight away.

On Sunday after tea Rhona went to the nearest phone box to her house and took out the scrap of paper with his number on it. Jeff had told her he had his own flat so at least she wouldn’t have to cope with an angry stranger picking up the shared phone in the communal hall, as she’d had to when ringing Gary. They were probably used to the calls coming in at all hours for him and resented every one of them.

This time Jeff answered almost at once. He sounded pleased to hear from her.

‘So, how was it? Did you tell her?’

‘Yeah, of course I did.’ Rhona wound the flex from the receiver around her finger. ‘It was awful though.’ She told him as simply as she could what had happened. ‘And now I don’t know how she is, because her mother wouldn’t let me come with them in the ambulance and she doesn’t want to see me at the hospital. I don’t even know if Penny’s been kept in or which one it is.’

‘Bloody hell,’ Jeff sounded shocked. ‘The poor girl. I don’t know what to say. All I know is, even if she had told Gary about the baby, I don’t think it would have changed his mind. He’d still have gone with the group.’

‘Yes, I think so too,’ said Rhona. ‘Nothing else would have mattered to him and if she’d told him he would probably have told her to get rid of it.’

‘At least she’s got you,’ Jeff said.

‘That’s not saying much, is it?’ said Rhona bitterly. ‘I don’t know. I just feel helpless. I didn’t know what to do when I saw the blood and I panicked. I’ve never seen anything like it.’ Then she stopped herself saying anything more. Maybe Jeff was one of those men who didn’t like to think about such things.

‘You did what you could, and it seems unfair that you’re not allowed to see her,’ he said, not sounding offended or put off. ‘I may be able to help you there though. My brother used to work in a hospital and I know how things work. Why don’t I ring the local hospitals in your area to see if she’s in any of them? I can pretend to be a relative if they ask.’