Megan of Merseyside (30 page)

Neither of them noticed the intrusion until Myra Thornton burst out apologetically, ‘I’m sorry, Mr Walker. I know you said you were not to be interrupted, but Megan wouldn’t listen. She pushed past me and …’

‘That’s all right, Myra. Please leave us.’ Martin Walker’s voice was curt, and he was frowning as he looked up.

‘So, can we take it that you have come back to work, Megan?’ he asked abruptly.

‘No! I’ve come to demand an explanation for what has happened to my father.’

‘Your father?’ Martin Walker frowned. ‘I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.’

‘Don’t try and evade the issue,’ she snapped angrily. ‘You must know that he has been arrested and charged with setting fire to your house in Wales.’

Bewildered, Mr Walker turned to Miles. ‘Is this true? You said the police had apprehended
someone
, but you never mentioned any name. Why wasn’t I told who it was?’

‘I thought it was better if you weren’t worried by the details at the moment,’ Miles said evasively. ‘If he was found guilty then of course you would have been told all about it.’

‘What the hell are you going on about, Miles? Surely the police don’t detain someone unless they have pretty sound evidence?’

‘Oh, they have,’ Megan said contemptuously. ‘Miles has made sure of that. It’s hard to believe that he can take personal spite to such lengths,’ she added bitterly.

‘I don’t understand. What do you mean, Megan?’

‘Since you are bound to find out, I would prefer to be the one to tell you,’ Megan said in an icy tone. ‘Miles and I were lovers for quite a long time. He promised to marry me as soon as he was made a director of the company.’

‘Marry you!’

Martin Walker looked bewildered as he glanced from his son to Megan and he was taken aback by the hatred that gleamed in both their eyes.

‘You wondered why I was able to find my way to Tynmorfa the day you asked me to drive you there, and why Jason was so friendly towards me. Well … it was because I had been there before … with Miles,’ Megan went on relentlessly. ‘After he married Carol Brocklehurst, I refused to have anything more to do with him, and this is his revenge.’

‘Is this true, Miles?’

‘It’s all lies!’ Miles exploded angrily. His blue eyes were icy, his mouth twisted in a sneer.

‘There’s not much more,’ Megan said bitterly. ‘I don’t hold Miles responsible for my sister’s death, neither does my father. That was an accident. I do hold him responsible for two-timing us both. Lynn knew him as Flash and she was as much in love with him as I was,’ she added bitterly.

‘Good God! What has been going on? Miles …’ The words ended in a gasping, choking sound.

Megan watched in dismay as the red flush ebbed from Mr Walker’s florid face. A vein on his temple throbbed, his eyes bulged and his breathing became laboured. A convulsive shudder shook his body as he collapsed across the desk.

Miles stood transfixed.

‘Help me!’ Megan gasped as she struggled to loosen Mr Walker’s tie. ‘Tell Olive to send for an ambulance.’

His hand trembling, Miles picked up the phone, his eyes fixed on his father.

‘Is he going to be all right?’ he asked hoarsely.

‘I … I’m not sure …’ Her voice dropped to a whisper as she looked up at Miles. ‘I can’t feel his pulse!’

Chapter Thirty

TRYING TO KEEP
the news from Kathy Williams that Watkin had been arrested was impossible. Although Megan had hidden the
Liverpool Echo
that evening, she was still feeling so upset over the way Martin Walker had collapsed and died that she completely forgot about it the next day.

Megan felt devastated when she saw her mother pick up the paper and moved swiftly to take it away, but her mother grabbed her arm and stopped her.

‘Leave it!’

There was a fanatical gleam in Kathy’s grey eyes as she sat on the edge of her chair, mouth open, reading the report.

Megan’s spirits sank. ‘Mam … let me explain …’

‘Explain! You mean fob me off with more lies, don’t you?’ Kathy exclaimed bitterly.

‘No, of course not! I only want to tell you the truth about what’s happened.’

‘Don’t bother. I know more than you give me credit for, my girl. You and your dad hoodwinked me after our Lynn was killed. All that talk about it being an accident! The pair of you sticking up for that Miles Walker, when all the time you knew he was responsible. I couldn’t stand any more of it, that’s why I began drinking.’

‘Mam. Please!’ Megan knelt beside her mother’s chair, a hand on her knee.

‘I know I’ve been a burden to you all.’ Kathy sighed heavily. ‘None of you understand!’ She rocked to and fro, her face contorted with distress. ‘I’m to blame for Lynn’s death. I knew all about this Flash and I knew she was seeing him. I should have put my foot down. Or else told your dad to have a talk to her and stop her going out with him.’

‘It probably wouldn’t have made any difference,’ Megan murmured.

‘I had my suspicions that he was no good. The fact that he refused to come and meet any of us should have put me on my guard but I did nothing about it.’

‘It’s all in the past, Mam …’

‘At least she didn’t bring any other worries home to our doorstep. I know you didn’t either,’ she went on garrulously, ‘but if you hadn’t gone ahead and done what you did then we might have had that to deal with, as well.’

‘Mam …’ Megan let out a long low breath of distress. ‘I didn’t think you had any idea … I …’

‘No, you think your old mam is a bit simple. You’re a cut above her with your education, fine job and smart clothes. I’ve got eyes in my head; I know the signs. I should do. I got caught myself when I was about your age.’

‘Mam, please … don’t go on like this.’

‘You didn’t know that, did you? A one-night stand and he sailed off next day. I was lucky, I suppose, because he came back in time to marry me
before
you were born. But that’s all in the past, I don’t want to talk about it.’

Megan remained silent, astounded by her mother’s outburst.

‘They probably thought that setting fire to Walker’s place was Watkin’s way of paying them back for their son killing our Lynn,’ mused Kathy.

‘Dad didn’t do it, Mam! He was sitting here with us the night their place was set on fire.’

‘And who is going to believe that?’ snapped Kathy, her eyes glinting angrily. ‘The police are looking for a scapegoat and he’s got plenty of reasons for carrying out such a crime. Walker’s son killed one of our daughters and turned the other one into a whore.’

‘Mam!’ White-lipped and shaken, Megan drew back as if she had been struck. Her mother was suddenly a stranger. She couldn’t believe she was hearing aright.

‘I’ll make us some tea,’ her mother said, rising from her chair. ‘You look as though you could do with something stronger, but I don’t suppose there’s any drink in the house.’

‘No … there isn’t … and you know why.’

‘Of course, I do,’ her mother retorted. ‘Can’t trust your own mam, can you?’ She gave a raucous laugh. ‘Funny, isn’t it, you preaching to me about how I should behave. Making me feel guilty!’

‘Mam, I haven’t meant to.’ Megan’s voice reflected the anguish she was feeling.

‘Rubbish! You always have. Right from when you were small you would look at me with those big dark eyes, just like your dad’s, and make me
feel
guilty whenever I enjoyed myself.’

‘Mam, I’ll make the tea. You sit still, you’re not well … you’re in a state of shock …’ Megan stood up and tried to press her mother back into her chair, but Kathy shook her hand away.

‘I’m as well as I’ll ever be and I think you are the one who has had the shock this time. You’re like your dad, Megan. You can’t bear for people to know you have any weaknesses. Always so well behaved, saying the right thing and doing what is expected of you. Paragons of virtue, the pair of you! Lynn wasn’t like that. She enjoyed life and liked a good laugh. I never needed to hide anything from her. I wonder what your dad would say if I told him about you having an abortion?’

‘He knows. I’ve already told him,’ Megan said shakily.

For a moment Kathy stared at her in disbelief. Then she threw back her head and laughed hysterically. ‘In that case, he probably did set fire to Walker’s place,’ she crowed.

It was three days before Watkin was brought before a magistrate. Three endless days for Megan, tortured by her mother’s revelations and accusations as well as filled with concern over her father’s well-being.

It was almost as though their roles were reversed. Kathy was the one who cooked and tidied around. Megan stayed slumped in a chair trying to decide what to do for the best.

‘Sitting there staring into space isn’t going to do any good. Go and find yourself a job. You might
need
some money to pay your dad’s fine,’ Kathy told her cynically. ‘If he gets sent down then you’ll be the bread-winner, remember.’

‘Dad’s innocent. You know that! We can prove he was right here.’

‘I’ve already told you that our word won’t carry very much weight!’

‘How can you be so complacent about it? I don’t think you really care.’ Megan rounded on her mother furiously.

‘I’m just facing facts. When they learn how you were carrying on with Miles Walker until he decided to dump you, they’ll put it all down to revenge.’

‘Dad wasn’t anywhere near there that night. He was with Robert all day, making a delivery in Doncaster, and he came straight home after work. Robert’s the one person who can prove Dad is innocent.’

‘Poor dab! Playing on his feelings as usual, are you?’ her mother taunted. ‘The only time he ever hears from you is when you are in trouble. Use him, don’t you.’

‘I’ll do anything to see that my dad is set free,’ affirmed Megan vehemently.

In face of the cast-iron alibi from Robert, the case against Watkin was dropped. Megan’s relief was tempered by her father’s bitterness.

‘Well, there’s one good thing come out of all this,’ Kathy commented later that evening after Robert had gone home and the three of them were on their own.

‘And what’s that?’ Watkin frowned. His dark eyes were puzzled.

‘We’ve finally finished with the Walkers,’ she declared triumphantly. ‘You won’t be going back there to work and our Megan won’t be working there, either. So that’s the end of it.’

‘Plenty of other jobs about, Dad,’ Megan told him in an over-bright voice when he said nothing. ‘I wonder which of us will get fixed up first, eh?’

‘I don’t know. Better start looking, I suppose.’ He tried to match the optimism in her voice as he reached out for the
Echo
and turned to the ‘Situations Vacant’ pages.

Kathy’s eyes narrowed as she watched them, a satisfied smirk on her mouth.

Finding work took time. There were plenty of driving jobs advertised, but after the first two or three interviews Watkin found that the moment he gave his name, and stated that he had been at Walker’s, interest in his application vanished.

‘Don’t contact us again, we’ll get in touch with you if we need you,’ became such a standard response that he grew disheartened and embittered.

‘Robert will probably give you a reference … if Megan asks him,’ jibed Kathy.

‘That’ll do!’ Angrily, Watkin turned away, his hands balled into two tight fists to control his feelings.

He had still not grown used to the change in Kathy. In some ways it had been easier when she had been in the depths of despair and speaking to no one, he thought irritably. Now she was as touchy as a wild cat and with claws to match. Everything he said or did brought a verbal attack that shattered his nerves. And it wasn’t directed only at
him
. Megan was getting the sharp end of her tongue as well.

‘Why are you getting on at the girl so much?’ he asked when they were on their own. ‘She’s got enough on her plate as it is.’

‘Has she? More intrigues, more things she’s kept hidden from me, you mean,’ sneered Kathy. ‘You are as bad as one other with your dark secrets.’

‘She didn’t want to worry you,’ he protested.

‘Only because she couldn’t bear for anyone to see her in a bad light,’ Kathy said contemptuously. ‘She pulled the wool over your eyes and no mistake! Letting you think she was the good little girl, the studious one, out to better herself,’ she taunted. ‘And all the time she was carrying on with that Miles Walker. Well, she got her just deserts there and no mistake, now, didn’t she!’

‘That will do, woman!’ Watkin’s voice thundered out in anger.

‘Always dressing to kill, flaunting her airs and graces, too good for the likes of me and Lynn. Always telling poor little Lynn off for enjoying herself. Looked down on her because she worked in a café. She couldn’t help it if she had no brains. Took after me, did our Lynn. She was pretty, though, and liked a laugh and a good time. There’s enough misery guts like you and Megan in the world, blighting everyone’s life …’

‘Will you pipe down!’ Watkin’s roar brought Megan hurrying through from the kitchen to see what was wrong.

‘What’s the matter now?’ She looked from one
to
the other, perplexed. She was not used to her parents quarrelling in this way. Usually, her father ignored Kathy’s petty nagging.

‘I was telling your dad what a dark horse you are,’ Kathy said slyly. ‘You quiet, studious types, always with your nose in a book, are all the same.’

‘I don’t think there is very much you can tell Dad that he doesn’t already know,’ Megan told her quietly. ‘Why don’t you leave him alone? He’s worried enough at the moment about not getting a job …’ She stopped, frightened by the menacing look on her mother’s face.

For a moment it seemed that her mother was about to strike her. Then, with a sharp cry, Kathy crumpled onto the floor, convulsive sobs racking her body.

‘Ring for the doctor, Megan!’ Watkin ordered as he knelt down beside his wife and cradled her in his arms, stroking her hair, murmuring words of comfort.

The doctor diagnosed Kathy’s collapse as being caused by depression, brought on by feelings of guilt, ill-health and severe shock. ‘In the normal way I would recommend she was treated in a hospital,’ he told them. ‘In this instance, I think Mrs Williams needs to have her family around her. Nursing her won’t be easy. She’ll have spells when she is extremely lucid, and may say things you find hard to take. There will be other times when you will find it impossible to communicate with her, she will be so withdrawn. She will need expert counselling, which I can arrange. Most of all, though, she is going to need constant
supervision
. Will you be able to manage that?’