A Deadly Deception Read online

  ‘Aye, well, it’s him that should be made to feel sorry, hen.’

  ‘I’ll feel better once the divorce goes through. And I think I’ll take a leaf out of Rita’s book and threaten him with the police and even better, let everyone know – all his neighbours and friends and work mates – what he did to me, shout it from the rooftops. When I think of it, that’s the very worst that could happen as far as he’s concerned.’ She laughed. ‘Gosh, yes. I can imagine his face if I threatened that. He’s a civil servant, of all things.’

  ‘Aye but no’ very civil to you, eh?’

  ‘Do you know, I suddenly feel so much better. I think I’ll even be able to sleep tonight without one of my sleeping tablets.’

  ‘It’s the drink, hen. Nothin’ to beat it.’

  ‘Talking of sleeping,’ Janet yawned, ‘I think it’s time we were all in bed and enjoying a good night’s sleep after all the merriment, not to mention the excitement with Rita.’

  ‘Aye, an’ the drink.’

  ‘Will you stop talking about drink, Mary?’

  ‘Ah never touched a drop, hen. Honestly.’

  ‘I know but you must learn to banish all thoughts of it from your mind.’

  ‘Aye, OK, OK. Anything you say.’

  ‘I’m so glad about Rita,’ Alice said.

  ‘Aye, I bet she’ll be able to get up enough nerve now to have a go in a house on her own. She was offered one, remember, but at the time was too frightened to leave here.’

  ‘Yes,’ Janet said thoughtfully. ‘One does get very dependent on Betty and Dorothy. But at least I’ve spoken to my solicitor and started divorce proceedings now.’

  ‘Ah don’t know about Betty and Dorothy, hen, but I’m dependent on you. You and Sandra.’

  Sandra put her arm around Mary’s shoulders. ‘You’d manage great on your own. You’ve a very independent spirit, Mary. You’ve always had a wonderful spirit.’

  ‘For pity’s sake, will ye stop mentioning that word.’

  They all laughed then.

  ‘Seriously though, I always had a spunky nature but nowadays … I mean, look at me wi’ Chrissie Cumberland. If it hadnae been for you two … No, I’m nae use without ma pals and I know it.’

  Janet hugged her then. But both she and Sandra felt worried.

  29

  ‘A cup of tea, please.’ Mabel smiled at the woman behind the counter.

  ‘Milk and sugar’s on the table. Hang on, I’ll come round and carry the cup over for you.’

  ‘Thank you, you’re very kind. I’d like to sit at the window, if you don’t mind.’

  Mabel’s stick clicked on the floor as she followed the assistant along to a table from which she could watch not only all the passers-by in Drymen Road but also any customers at the bakery counter. With a sigh of relief and another smile at the assistant, she propped her stick against one of the chairs and relaxed back as comfortably as she could. Then she took a grateful sip of the tea.

  This cup of tea would have to last her a long time. She planned to have another cup and perhaps a sandwich and that would serve as lunch. That way she could sit for an extra hour or two.

  It was difficult to relax and get back to her feelings of happy anticipation of this visit to Bearsden. She was still upset and worried about Cheryl.

  Mrs Patterson had taken her back downstairs after Tommy had arrived.

  ‘Now, don’t you worry, Miss Smith,’ Mrs Patterson told her. ‘We’ll find Cheryl all right. There’s bound to be some perfectly simple explanation. Nothing for you to get so upset about.’

  In actual fact, it was Mrs Patterson who looked so upset. Even her voice was shaking.

  Mabel said, ‘You’ll let me know if anything’s happened to Cheryl?’

  ‘Of course.’

  Mrs Patterson had not let her know anything. Mabel took it to mean that, thankfully, no accident or anything bad had happened to Cheryl. Perhaps Cheryl might pop in to see her this evening after she finished work. If she’d time, of course. Cheryl would be very busy getting ready for her move to Byres Road and also looking for a job in the West End. It had been so kind of her in those circumstances to take time to help.

  ‘It’s not fair of me to expect the girl to get back to me,’ Mabel thought. ‘She’s got enough on her mind just now without bothering about my shopping.’

  She took another sip of her tea and peered out of the window. It was a busy main road and a steady stream of people kept passing to and fro. Sometimes a woman would stop to speak to another. Sometimes people would come into the shop. Mabel turned her attention towards the bakery counter. One of the customers was a man. It wasn’t John. This man was short and stockily built and he was wearing filthy boots, a dirty pair of denims and a huge, hooded, yellow waterproof jacket. Mabel guessed he was one of the workmen digging up the roads. John was very tall and slim and had described himself as being ‘a respectable businessman’.

  Some people, mostly women, came in and collected tea, coffee or soft drinks at the café extension of the bakery counter. Then they settled down at one of the tables to enjoy a chat.

  After a time, a very long time it seemed, Mabel’s chair had become so hard and uncomfortable that she decided to get up and take a short walk along Drymen Road to stretch her legs. She could take it slowly. There was no hurry. She had all day. Next to Auld’s Bakery and Coffee Shop, as she discovered it was called, there was an optometrist’s. Then the Royal Bank of Scotland, then a barber’s shop. Mabel remembered when barbers always had red and white poles sticking out above them. You didn’t often see that nowadays. Long ago, barbers used to act as surgeons and the colours of the pole represented blood and bandages. Next to the barber’s, there was a clothes shop called ‘Classic Contour’. It had a sale on and there were very nice garments displayed in the window that had prices considerably reduced. All too expensive for her to think about, of course. She sighed to herself and moved on. A sportswear shop stretched around the corner on to the New Kirk Road. After resting for another minute or two, she crossed the road to where there was a paper shop at the opposite corner. She passed another bank, a restaurant called, oddly, 55 BC, and a card and fancy goods shop. She stopped to peer into a charity shop. By that time, she was too tired to go any further and so she turned back towards Auld’s Bakery and Coffee Shop.

  She was glad to get a seat again and to be served with another cup of hot tea. This time she treated herself to a sandwich. Later on, she might even have one of their delicious-looking scones. She used to be good at baking scones. She used to bake a good ginger cake as well. Her mother and father both enjoyed her ginger cakes. A faint mist of bitterness came back to haunt her when she thought of all she had done for her parents – devoted every minute of every day of her life to them. And oh, how they had taken her life for granted.

  But what was the use of allowing them to spoil any small chance of happiness she had now? She banished them from her mind. She was happy at the moment – or as happy as she could be in the circumstances. The sandwich was tasty, the tea comforting and reviving, the surroundings cheerful and companionable. Most important of all, she was in Bearsden, near to John. Her heart warmed at the thought.

  Her tea was almost finished. She had eaten every last crumb of her sandwich when she actually saw him. She saw John. She recognised him from his description right away. He was very tall and thin with a long-nosed, gaunt face and black hair that hung down over one side of his face. He had a slight stoop as if purposely trying to disguise his height.

  Her heart quickened so much that she thought she was going to faint. He was standing in the queue at the bakery counter. She couldn’t help feeling a pang of disappointment. Pity too. He was not an attractive man. He’d said that himself, of course. She realised now that she hadn’t believed him at the time. Now, she even experienced a feeling of repulsion. She immediately quelled it. Poor man. She of all people should be able to sympathise with him. Wasn’t she ugly too? Always had been.

  ‘Two cheese
rolls, please,’ he asked the assistant.

  It was him all right. She recognised his voice.

  Her heart went out to him as it had done so many times when they had been speaking on the phone. He was a lonely man, as she was a lonely woman. Here he was buying his meagre lunch to eat on his own, as she was eating on her own. All her gratitude for being here, for being near him, returned. She could have wept with it. Her reason for living returned. There were no longer his phone calls to look forward to but this was even better. For as long as she was able, she would come here every day and be near to John.

  She watched him leave the shop and turn right along Drymen Road. She strained closer to the window but a group of women standing gossiping outside blocked her view.

  She relaxed back in her chair again. She had seen John. Her poor, dear John who’d had to phone a stranger to find even an illusion of love. She had been close to him, first on the phone and now here, in the flesh. He had been only a few feet away from her. Next time, she’d try to be ready to follow him out of the shop and hopefully discover where his business was and what kind of business he owned. Next time, as soon as he entered the bakery, she would struggle up, leave the shop before he was served and then pretend to look in another shop window while she waited for him to reappear from the bakery.

  The more she knew about him, the closer to him she’d feel. And the happier. She looked forward to many return visits. She sat for a long time after seeing him, savouring her thoughts and her memories of their many phone conversations. She was so glad she had now seen him in the flesh. Sometimes she used to feel that it was all a dream. That somehow John wasn’t real. Now she knew beyond all doubt that he did exist in reality. It was exciting to the point of being overwhelming. She had to sit for quite a time, even to have another cup of tea, before she felt fit enough to struggle to her feet and leave the shop. Unfortunately, she just missed a bus. She saw it coming but she was unable to hurry in order to catch it. As a result, she had ages to wait for the next one. Or so it seemed. Then of course she had to catch another bus from town to take her back to The Heights.

  It seemed a miracle that she managed to arrive back in her flat without collapsing with fatigue. Through in the sitting room, she relaxed back in her easy chair and gave a sigh of relief. Tonight she would have an early night. As it was, she dozed off in the chair before she even had taken her coat and hat off.

  She awakened with a start and it took a few seconds before she realised that the phone was ringing. It lay on a little table at her elbow. She picked it up, thinking it would be John. But, as she became properly awake, she realised it couldn’t be.

  ‘Hello?’

  ‘It’s Mrs Patterson. Thank goodness I’ve got you at last. We’ve never been off Tommy’s mobile all day, phoning and phoning you.’

  ‘Oh, I’m sorry. I had to go out. I’m not long back.’ Then a thought struck her. Her voice turned anxious. She had become aware of the distress in Mrs Patterson’s voice. ‘Has something happened to Cheryl?’

  ‘That’s what the police want to ask you about.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You were the last one to see her. The police want to question you. They’ve been trying to contact you all day as well.’

  30

  ‘Now I don’t want to hear any “I told you so” from you.’ Betty fixed Rita with an unusually stern eye. ‘Especially to Kate. She’s in pain, physically and mentally, and doesn’t need you to be humiliating her and making her feel worse.’

  ‘OK. OK.’

  ‘Promise?’

  Rita raised her hands. ‘I promise.’

  ‘She’s having a cup of tea with Dorothy in the office just now. I’ll bring her through in a couple of minutes. She’s got fractured ribs so don’t go hugging her either.’

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Alice said. ‘She’ll be fine with us, won’t she, Rita?’

  ‘Yes, of course.’

  But after Betty strode away, Rita said to Alice, ‘A man of honour, she said. Just because he’s a judge.’

  ‘Rita, you promised.’

  ‘I’m only saying to you. I’ll not say anything to the poor cow. She must be feeling terrible.’

  Kate Smythe-Bellingham looked terrible as well. Her face was grey and there were dark shadows under her tragic, staring eyes.

  ‘You’re all right now,’ Rita said. ‘You’re safe.’

  Betty was carrying Kate’s suitcase. ‘I’ll put this through in your room, Kate, and I’ll pop back later on to make sure you’ve settled in. All right?’

  Kate nodded. Then she sank gingerly into one of the cushioned chairs beside the fire.

  ‘Do you want another cup of tea?’ Alice asked.

  ‘No, thanks. You must think I’m very stupid.’

  Rita lit a cigarette. ‘No, no. It happens all the time. We all love the bastards at first and can’t believe what they’re really like. We all trust them at first.’

  ‘I won’t make that mistake again. I’m so glad I managed to get away. He nearly killed me.’

  ‘Well, as I say, you’re safe now.’

  ‘You missed a great night out.’ Alice’s young face lit up, remembering. ‘We went to the Holiday Inn for a meal and a few drinks. Then just as we were coming away, who did we bump into in the foyer but Rita’s husband. She gave him a right showing up. It would have done your heart good to hear her.’ She laughed. ‘I bet he won’t try anything on her again. You should have seen his face.’

  ‘Good for you, Rita.’ Kate attempted a smile. ‘I admire your courage.’

  ‘Och, I don’t think I could have managed it if all the others hadn’t been there. It was a great night, right enough.’

  ‘How is wee Mary?’

  ‘She’s fine. Talk about courage? She’s the one with the courage.’

  ‘And Janet and Sandra?’

  ‘Just the same. Janet’s still the perfect lady and Sandra’s still a drama queen.’

  Kate smiled.

  ‘Once I feel a bit stronger, I’ll go and see them.’

  ‘Don’t worry.’ Alice jumped up eagerly. ‘I’ll tell them you’re here and they’ll come to see you.’

  In a few minutes, Alice was back with Janet, Sandra and wee Mary in tow. Sandra rushed over to hug Kate but Alice’s shout stopped her just in time.

  ‘Kate’s ribs are fractured.’

  ‘Oh, how awful. Oh Kate, I’m so sorry. Are you all right?’

  Kate sighed. ‘Well, I’m all right now, thank goodness.’ She looked around the room. ‘In a way, it’s so strange to see this place again. I mean, it’s so different from anywhere else, isn’t it? All the lilac and green.’

  ‘The suffragette colours,’ Rita told her. ‘They fought for their freedom and their rights and now we’re fighting for ours.’

  Kate sighed.

  ‘I’m afraid I’m not much use as a fighter. I give up too easily.’

  ‘You’ll learn.You won’t go back to him again, will you? You won’t believe all that about him being a man of honour and being sorry, will you?’

  ‘I sincerely hope not. He was worse. He was furious at me.’

  ‘Oh yes, because other people know about him now. All the Women’s Help people, not to mention all of us.’

  Sandra’s eyes widened dramatically.

  ‘You didn’t tell them this address, did you? When my husband found out this address, he came …’

  ‘Yes, all right, Sandra,’ Janet interrupted. ‘We all know about that. We don’t want to be reminded.’

  ‘No, I didn’t tell him. I pretended I didn’t know where the Women’s Help people had taken me. Then today, while he was in court, I phoned Betty on my mobile. I didn’t even use the house phone in case he might trace the call.’

  ‘Good for you,’ Rita said. ‘See, you are learning.’

  ‘He wouldn’t have come near here anyway. Not with him being a judge,’ Alice said. ‘Betty says men like that never want anybody to know that they’re abusers.’

&n
bsp; ‘Your husband was different, Sandra,’ Janet got in quickly before Sandra could open her mouth. ‘And he was mad with drugs. Or whatever the expression is. And your sister told him where you were – she admitted it to you.’

  ‘I know. I thought I’d never forgive her for that but she’s been inundating me with letters and phone calls ever since, telling me how sorry she is. She’s even pleading with me to go through to Edinburgh to stay with her.The last time I told her I might think about it – at least until I get some place of my own.’

  ‘That sounds like a good idea,’ Janet said. ‘I hope we’ll keep in touch, though.’

  ‘Of course. I’d come through for the get-together every second Friday.’

  ‘That would be great, hen. Janet and me’ll miss you but it wouldn’t be so bad if we could keep in touch like that and keep up with all the news.’

  ‘Talking about news …’ Alice said. ‘Have any of you spoken to Monty today?’

  ‘No, we haven’t been out for a few days.’

  ‘Well, he was telling me that the police have been in the building.’

  Wee Mary said, ‘Och, that’s nothing new, hen. Them young folk are always doing something to make Monty send for the local bobbies. Kicking balls against the door. Doing their graffiti – all sorts of things.’

  ‘No, this was about Cheryl.’

  ‘Something to do with Tommy again?’

  ‘No, it was Tommy who reported it, apparently.’

  ‘Reported what?’

  ‘She’s gone missing.’

  ‘Cheryl?’

  ‘Yes. They’ve been looking for Miss Smith as well.’

  ‘Miss Smith?’ Janet gasped in astonishment. ‘That old lady from upstairs?’

  ‘Monty says she must have had something to do with it.’

  ‘Don’t be daft,’ Mary said. ‘The poor old soul’s half blind and can hardly walk.’