Private Sorrow, A (36 page)

Charlie was getting fed up with this woman. ‘Actually, Etta, you have committed a serious offence by striking Miss McQueen with a stick.’

‘I didn’t know who she was. When she came to the farm a few weeks ago, I didn’t see her face as she was in the kitchen with Dad. I caught her peering into the house and I only meant to frighten her, not hurt her like I did. Can I say sorry to her?’

At that moment, Charlie knew he wouldn’t get any more from her. She seemed grief-stricken about the assault and there was no way he was ever going to get proof of Etta’s guilt.

‘I want to leave after the funeral, Detective Johns. Is that all right?’ she said.

‘We’ll have to wait and see, Miss Barton.’ He looked at Vera, who was now sitting by the fire with her arms wrapped around herself as if she was cold. ‘When is the funeral?’

‘Not for a few days. There’s to be a post-mortem, then it will be a family affair at the crematorium. Dave always said that was how he wanted to go, back in the days when we were a family.’ Tears ran down her cheeks but she brushed them away while Etta moved over to the window and looked out.

When he left the house, Charlie was so angry. He wasn’t the type of person to get mad very often but, on this occasion, he felt a deep resentment toward Etta Barton. Her mother had spent a lot of her savings trying to trace her, she had been knocked down and pushed under a bus, Peter Walsh was still lying in the hospital and Molly had almost been suffocated with smoke and hit over the head, and he didn’t have one ounce of evidence to point the finger at her.

It could still have been Miss Price who was the culprit. After all, she had looked on innocent pleasures as sins and thought retribution was needed to cleanse the soul, but looking through her cell-like flat with its one suitcase, he got the impression she wasn’t a woman of action. She may have spouted on about her religion but he couldn’t see her as a person who would conduct this vendetta against innocent people. But maybe he was wrong. He would never know now.

A week later, Dave Barton was cremated, along with all his secrets. The mourners were Vera and her daughter. Charlie stood at the back of the empty crematorium chapel and watched with sadness as Vera bowed her head at another funeral. When they came out, Charlie saw that Etta was dressed in a brown pinstriped suit, which looked severe with the cropped grey hair. She looked more like a sixty-year-old than forty.

Etta marched right up to him. ‘I’d like to leave now, please.’

‘I would like a copy of your address, just in case some new evidence turns up,’ he said. He knew he was being churlish but this woman annoyed him. She didn’t even have the decency to take her mother’s arm upon leaving the chapel, instead leaving that small courtesy to the minister who conducted the short service.

She handed him a copy of her address and he saw it was a small village near Dumfries. ‘That’s where the cottage is and I’ll have a small piece of land to work. It means I can keep my hand in with growing vegetables and keeping some hens.’

‘I’ll come with you to the railway station tomorrow, Miss Barton, just to make sure you catch the right train.’

She laughed. ‘You want to make sure I leave, don’t you?’

Charlie didn’t return the smile but said he would meet her when her train left at ten thirty in the morning.

Back in the house, Vera had made some dinner and tried to persuade Etta not to go. ‘You can stay here and get a job. We have so much to catch up on, Etta.’

Etta wasn’t in the mood for cosy chats but she didn’t want her mother to be left with no hope. ‘It would never work, but I’ll leave my address and maybe you can come and visit any time you like.’

The next morning was cold but dry. Etta said she didn’t want her mother to see her off. It was bad enough having that policeman standing watching her. Charlie got to the station early and waited till she appeared. She carried a small suitcase. When she saw him looking at it, she said, ‘I’ve ordered a removal van to bring all the things from the house. It should arrive in a few days.’ She started to walk away. ‘Goodbye and please say I’m sorry to Miss McQueen for hitting her. I hope she understands it wasn’t meant.’

She moved over to the ticket office and Charlie stood beside her. ‘One single ticket to Dumfries, please,’ she said, handing over the money.

Then she was through the barrier and onto the platform. The train was on time and arrived at the station with a huge belch of steam and various metallic noises. She stepped onto the train, giving him a small wave as she did. Then the train slowly made its way along the track. Charlie made sure she hadn’t come out of her compartment and then he turned and went back to work.

The first thing he did when he reached his desk was to phone the removal company. The young woman on the other end of the line said yes, Miss Barton’s belongings would be delivered to her address in Dumfries in two days’ time. There was no more he could do. He knew he was being cautious seeing her onto the train but he didn’t want a repeat of the attacks on Vera, Peter and Molly. He thought about going to see Vera but she wouldn’t be in the mood for more questions. It was bad enough to find your daughter only to lose her again, and Charlie was suddenly tired of this whole case. There was so much deception and he could do nothing about it – at least not at this moment.

Etta settled back in the carriage. Luckily she was the only occupant. She savoured the moment when she had outsmarted that policeman, although it had been touch and go for a while. She knew he suspected her but he had no proof and she had been so meek and passive when apologising to the nosy Molly McQueen. She almost burst out laughing when she recalled her actions. She had been very lucky and she knew it.

She couldn’t believe her good fortune when she had accidentally met her Aunt Robina. She had been spying on Peter Walsh’s movements when the older woman had approached her. ‘It’s Etta, isn’t it?’ she had said.

Etta had panicked for a moment but then she realised this woman was on her side. ‘How did you recognise me, Auntie Robina?’ she asked her, more in curiosity than anything else.

‘You are the image of my late mother. I look like her as well, so we have that in common. What are you doing here?’

Etta decided to be truthful and she told her. Robina’s face grew red and she said that sin should be punished. Etta remembered the last time she had seen her. She was fifteen and her dad had put her aunt out of the house because she had made her mother cry. She went on about paying for one’s sins.

Etta didn’t care about sins but she did have a deep and fervent desire for revenge that had been lying dormant for all these years. She asked if Robina would help her by scouting around and checking out Peter’s movements, as well as those of her mother and that pestering woman Vera had hired to trace her.

She thought about her mother. She suspected her mum knew the truth and maybe Dad had told her before he died. Her mother had frightened her before she left when she said quietly, ‘Why was Lenny wearing Dad’s watch? It was the watch that made me identify your father. He loved that watch. I don’t know why he would have taken it off.’

Etta had said. ‘I don’t know why Lenny had it. I wasn’t there.’

Her mother had remained silent and Etta knew that she had worked out the truth. But Etta wasn’t worried. She knew her mother would never say a word. How fortunate she had been that Dad had confessed and then died. And Robina had died as well. What great scapegoats.

She had adored her father but recently he was beginning to annoy and worry her by always asking where she went, especially at night in the car. Lately, he had taken the battery out of it, saying it was flat, but even that had worked in her favour. She had sent the letter to her mother, knowing it was the farmers’ day in the centre of the town. It was so simple to give her a hard push. Too bad the bus had managed to stop. Then that old woman who stopped to help her had made it impossible for Etta to try to finish the job, but that had also worked in her favour because the stranger would muddle the police’s description of suspects.

Etta’s earlier attempt to hit her mother with the car had also failed, but she had succeeded in making Vera a nervous wreck living on sleeping pills. The fire at Molly McQueen’s flat had been carefully planned but then those young lads had arrived in the nick of time. She hadn’t even succeeded with Peter Walsh, though his injuries would serve as good enough punishment for the way he had treated her.

When the train reached Edinburgh, instead of staying on it, she got off and waited for the train to London. She hadn’t mentioned this to the policeman but that was where she and her dad had gone when they left Dundee. There was a farm a few miles from London; Lenny had been due to start work there but they had taken his place. Luckily, her father had kept the small cottage with the two acres of ground when they sold the farm to move to the Borders.

She had been annoyed when he suggested buying Sidlaw Farm but that’s when she decided to pretend to be a man. This gave her so much pleasure because she could come and go and no one was any the wiser. Once again she smiled. She could just imagine the faces of the couple who now lived in the cottage at Dumfries when the removal van turned up. The poor men wouldn’t know what to do with her things and, as far as she was concerned, she didn’t care what they did with it. She bought a paper from the newsagent’s stall and a takeaway cup of tea from the buffet. Her train was due in ten minutes, so she sat down on a bench and waited.

She had been sick again that morning and her dad had heard her as she retched over the bowl in the outside toilet. Of course, he knew what was wrong and she had to confess she was expecting a baby.

She had gone to see Peter. His face blanched when she told him they would have to get married. He was frightened. ‘I can’t get married, Etta. We’re both just sixteen. And anyway, everyone knows you can’t get pregnant the first time.’

But she had and it hadn’t even been an enjoyable encounter. She had tried to see him twice again that week but he was dodging her. She thought her dad would go and see Peter but, instead, he suggested taking the train to Arbroath. ‘The sea air will do you good, Etta.’

She wasn’t fooled. He was going to see that Sasha Lowson and ask her for help in solving her problem. She had made up her mind and the last person she wanted to see was that stuck-up trainee doctor.

Then fate had stepped in on the way to the station. Standing at the entrance, looking at the departure board was Lenny Barr. Dad was so pleased to see him. ‘Where are you off to then, Lenny?’ said Dad, eyeing the big suitcase.

‘I’ve got this new job on a farm near London, Dave, and I’m just checking the times of the train. I see it’s nine o’clock tonight.’

‘Then come with us to Arbroath. Vera’s in hospital and we have to be back by one o’clock, so come along and we’ll catch up with the news.’

‘What about my case?’ asked Lenny.

Dad said, ‘Give it to me and I’ll put it in the left luggage office.’ He put the ticket in his pocket, meaning to give it to Lenny but the train drew in, so they hurried along the platform to catch it.

Etta was delighted to be with Lenny. Her sickness had passed but she still looked peaky. Lenny asked her how she was and if she liked her job. Etta made a face. ‘Not really. In fact, I hate it.’

Lenny spoke to her father after that. ‘I’ve landed this great job. The woman who runs the farm is needing a man to manage it.’

Dad asked if he had been down for an interview but Lenny said no, he hadn’t; it had all been done by letter and a couple of phone calls. He also said he was frightened of missing his train so Dad had taken his watch off and told Lenny to wear it until they were back in Dundee.

When they reached Arbroath, they decided to walk along the cliff path to see the wonderful views. It was a cold day but it wasn’t raining. Dave walked along in front while Etta kept Lenny well behind. Suddenly, Etta grabbed his hand and said she was in love with him and could he please take her away with him. Lenny was shocked. ‘I can’t do that, Etta. For a start, you’re just a child and I’m almost twice your age.’

‘But you don’t look it, Lenny, and I’ve always been in love with you.’

Lenny glared at Etta, a look that frightened her, and sounded firm when he told her, ‘I don’t love you. In fact, I love someone else very much and that’s why I’m leaving. She’s married and she can’t leave her husband and family.’

The truth had hit her right between the eyes. ‘You’re talking about my mother, aren’t you?’

He said ‘no’, but he was evasive and she knew she was right. Her mother was in love with another man. A deep anger grew in her as she realised that another man was rejecting her. She swung her hand to give him a slap on the face but he grabbed it. She used her other arm to give him a shove and then, to her horror, Lenny disappeared over the edge and she heard him scream as he fell hundreds of feet into the foaming water beneath the cliffs. Her father had run back. He had taken off his jacket and he was just wearing his shirt and trousers. His face was one of horror and fright. He peered over the edge but there was no sign of Lenny. ‘I must go down and see if he’s lying injured,’ he said, but she had cried and clung to his arm.

‘It was an accident, Dad. I didn’t mean to push him.’

He said it was all right. The best thing to do was for her to get the next train back and he would follow behind, after making sure there was no hope for Lenny. She did as she was told and managed to get into the house without being seen. Her dad had arrived later when it was dark and told her there was no hope of finding Lenny alive. Some other people had heard the scream and the police were out searching, but there was no sign of the body.

She then told him about Lenny and her mother. Dad went quiet, then he said, ‘The police will think it was done deliberately and you’ll go to jail.’ Etta had howled when he said that.

Later, he decided that he would take Lenny’s place on the train and when the body was found and identified, he would come back and tell them he did it and that it was an accident. Etta wanted to come as well but he had tried to dissuade her. ‘Your mother needs you, Etta.’