Dark Rooms

Chapter Twenty-Three

After a long time getting through Customs at Heathrow, Jane and Tim eventually climbed into a black cab to take them back into London. They were both exhausted and Jane suggested that they take what was left of the day off and be at the station fresh on Tuesday morning.

After dropping Tim at a convenient Underground station, Jane got back home just after four and couldn’t wait to have a long soak in her new bathtub. Although she hadn’t had time to think about Eddie much in Australia, she now found herself looking forward to seeing him again. She had promised to contact him when she landed, so that he could collect her, but she had decided that she just wanted to get home as quickly as possible.

Stepping out of the cab, Jane was dismayed to see her front door was wide open, and to hear the noise of the various different radio channels blasting out into the street. But she forgot her annoyance as soon as she walked into her hallway. The new wallpaper was up, the floorboards had been sanded and varnished and the stair banisters were gleaming with a coat of white gloss.

Eddie hurtled down the stairs. ‘I’ve been waiting for you to call!’ he said, taking her in his arms.

‘I’m sorry,’ Jane said. ‘The flight was an hour late taking off and we were delayed in Customs, so we just got into a taxi.’ She held him at arm’s length. ‘I can’t believe all this... it looks incredible.’

Eddie beamed with delight. ‘Wait till you see the sitting room. We’ve been working around the clock to get as much done as possible. You might want to start looking at getting some new furniture now!’

True to his word, Eddie and his team had done a remarkable job. As he led her from room to room, Jane ran out of compliments.

‘Do you feel like going out for dinner?’ Eddie asked.

‘I would really love that, Eddie, but to be honest we were booked into the most ghastly, seedy hotel and I didn’t even have time for a decent shower... the communal bathroom was pretty disgusting... and I’ve got a thumping headache from the journey and everything.’

‘OK, how about I make you a cup of tea?’ he asked.

Jane really just wanted to have that longed-for bath, but he was so eager to please her that she agreed, relieved when he turned off the radio that had been left on in the kitchen.

After Eddie’s team left, she told him as much as she thought would interest him about her trip to Australia, but her eyelids were soon drooping with weariness.

‘Listen, you go up and have a bath,’ Eddie said, seeing the state of her. ‘I’ll clear up in the kitchen and maybe we can get together tomorrow night instead? The lads and I have a lot of snagging to do, and we still have to finish your second bedroom.’

Eddie had taken her overnight bag up to her bedroom which, despite the strong smell of fresh paint, was looking amazing. Jane now regretted that she hadn’t even considered buying Eddie a bottle of scotch in duty-free.

She didn’t bother unpacking her notebook or the envelope containing all the photographs they had taken from the Thorpes’ boathouse. She left everything in her bag to take to the station the next morning. Jane was so tired that without any memory of having got into bed, the next thing she knew was being jolted awake out of a deep sleep by her alarm going off at six. She had slept soundly for nine hours.

Sipping a cup of coffee in her kitchen, she made a few notes to remind herself that she still needed to arrange for blinds to be fitted in her bedroom, and to get some curtain fabric for her sitting room. She was just rinsing out her coffee cup when she noticed the overflowing ashtray. She picked it up gingerly, about to tip it into the waste bin when she noticed the charred ends of some rolled-up cigarette papers among the cigarette butts. She sighed, knowing exactly what they were, and placed some of them on a paper towel before tipping the rest into the bin.

Jane knew she would have to confront Eddie with the evidence, and ask if it had been him smoking cannabis or one of his guys. Jane was already concerned about the stuff that had come ‘off the back of a lorry’ but dope being smoked at her house was even more serious. Did Eddie not understand that she was a police detective? Or perhaps he didn’t really take her job seriously.

And on top of all that, Jane she knew she was going to have a confrontation with DCI Wayne Carter that morning. She certainly had a bone to pick with him about his choice of hotel.

She got to the station by eight thirty and began typing up an extensive report on her Australia trip, providing concise details of her conversations with Beatrice, and mentioning that she might be coming to England for the funeral of her sister. She was still typing when her door swung open, and Carter breezed in, neglecting to knock as usual.

‘So how was Sydney, Detective Tennison?’

‘It would have been a lot better if I had been in a decent hotel. Whoever had the audacity to book me in there...’

He laughed, then held up his hands. ‘Hey, it wasn’t me. Do you really think I’ve got the time? Check with Barbara... I think she was handling it with someone from Scotland Yard.’

Jane pursed her lips. Yes, she thought to herself, it had to have been her. She must have gone out of her way to ensure she could find the worst hotel in Kings Cross.

Carter sat on the edge of her desk, swinging his leg.

‘So, our prime suspect, now deceased — actually, she was deceased before you even left — has been fingered by her sister as the baby-killer. Do you have a signed statement?’

Jane knew he must have already spoken with Tim Taylor. ‘Not as yet, but...’

Carter slapped his palms on his thighs. ‘What a waste of a fucking trip... especially if she’s now going to be coming to England for her sister’s funeral. How the hell am I going to justify the expense of you schlepping over to Sydney?’

Jane glared at him. ‘I will compile a detailed statement to be sent to Mrs Thorpe’s solicitors in Sydney for her to sign and return in the post. If she is here for the funeral, she could possibly come into the station and make a formal statement in person.’

He casually stood up from her desk and glared back. ‘Anything else you want to tell me about, Detective Tennison?’

‘Not that I can think of, sir,’ she said.

‘I guess in all the excitement you must have forgotten to tell me about the post-mortem you asked Sussex police to do on Helena Lanark.’

‘I didn’t get a chance before I left and no firm time was set for it,’ Jane said defensively. ‘Also, as far as I was concerned, it would be a Sussex investigation.’

‘Well, you better hope they don’t send us the pathologist’s bill... as it will be coming out of your pay!’

‘What was the result?’ Jane asked, trying to keep her voice level.

He pushed the half open door with the toe of his elegant boot. ‘The post-mortem is today, as it happens. It seems the death of an sixty-one-year-old woman who resided in a care home for ten years is not exactly a priority.’

‘But her pearl necklace was missing from her room, so there’s a case for saying her death was suspicious...’

‘Maybe, Detective Tennison, if you thought her death was so suspicious, you should have made it a priority, instead of wasting your time and my money going all the way to Australia.’

Jane took a deep breath and asked Carter if he had any pressing cases he wanted her to work on.

He turned back to look at her. ‘There’s a number of domestic situations you can run your lovely blue eyes over, Tennison.’

The door swung closed behind him and Jane sighed. There was no way that she was going to be able to keep working with Carter. She would put in for a transfer and didn’t care where to, as long as it was nowhere near him.

Jane made herself focus on completing her report and then filed it. She called Sussex police to find out when the post-mortem was and was told it had been scheduled for that morning and that she should call back after lunch.

Glad of the opportunity to get out of Carter’s way, Jane decided she would go to the mortuary in person. On her way out, she passed DC Taylor standing at the incident board, writing up details of a car and driver wanted in a hit and run.

‘Shouldn’t traffic or uniform be dealing with that?’ she said quietly.

He shrugged. ‘Carter has got it in for me. I just do what I’m told.’

‘Thank you for giving Carter the information regarding our Australian trip,’ Jane went on. ‘In future, Tim, make sure you’ve spoken to the senior officer accompanying you before you start giving out details.’

‘I’m sorry, ma’am, but he was very insistent... and he creased up laughing when he asked me about the hotel. But I never mentioned anything about the photographs, ma’am,’ he added.

‘And you had better keep it that way,’ Jane said. ‘I’m going to Helena Lanark’s post-mortem if anyone needs to know where I am.’

Before making her way to the mortuary, Jane took several detours to John Lewis, Harrods, Selfridges and Liberty, choosing stair carpets, blinds and curtain fabric, not arriving at the labs until almost three. As she was walking along the corridor she met her old friend, DS Paul Lawrence.

‘Hey, how are you doing, Jane?’ he asked, affable as always. ‘I was hoping to see you. DCI Carter asked me to attend the post-mortem on Helena Lanark. You got the supersleuth pathologist working today so you’re in luck, but if you wanted to talk to him, you just missed him.’

‘Shit,’ Jane said.

‘I have all the details if you want. Do you fancy a cup of coffee?’

Jane realised she hadn’t even had lunch, so agreed to join Paul at a coffee bar not far from the labs. When they got there she ordered a toasted cheese sandwich and a cappuccino, and he had a BLT with a black coffee.

‘I hear you went to Australia?’ Paul said.

‘Yeah, I was still making inquiries about the deceased’s relatives,’ Jane said. ‘One of her sisters lives out there.’

‘Oh, I know, this is all about the baby in the shelter, isn’t it?’ Paul asked.

Jane nodded. ‘I managed to find out what actually happened. It turned out that Helena Lanark’s young sister gave birth in the shelter and, even though the baby was born alive, Helena smothered it, intentionally or not we will never know. At least that part of my investigation can be put to rest now. So, what was the outcome of the post-mortem?’

Paul took a bite of his BLT and reached down to his briefcase. He rested it on his knee and opened it as he continued to eat.

‘Well, the lady was actually in surprisingly good shape — physically, anyway. The prof said that she must have fallen face forward onto the floor. Her nose was dislocated, both eyes bruised, particularly the right eye, and her eyebrow was cut. She had been lying face down for a considerable time because of the way the lividity showed when she was examined by the doctor at the care home. He reckoned she possibly could’ve been lying there unconscious for hours before she died. Cause is partly suffocation, plus she suffered a major stroke due to the fall.’

Jane finished her sandwich. ‘What about the two bruises around her neck? What did the prof say about them?’

‘He said they came from two of her left-hand knuckles. When she fell her hand had been beneath her neck. So, end result is natural causes.’

‘But you said suffocated?’ Jane asked, draining her cappuccino.

‘Yeah, now I think of it, it’s a rather grim coincidence, isn’t it? She must have been wearing a pale blue cashmere shawl, so when she fell, she had fallen on to the knot of the shawl that must have been round her shoulders.’ He cocked his head to one side. ‘That little baby had ingested wool fibres, hadn’t it?’

Jane pulled a face.

‘Not what you wanted to hear?’ Paul asked, half smiling.

‘Not really. I thought the two bruises on her neck may have come from a pearl necklace being snatched. Are Sussex paying for the post-mortem?’

Paul smiled. ‘Although you raised it as a suspicious death, they requested the PM, so the prof said they have to foot the bill.’

‘That’s a relief,’ Jane smiled.

Paul closed his briefcase. ‘Listen, I have to go. I have another case over in Islington.’

‘Thank you, Paul. I really appreciate your time, and as soon as my house is straight, I’d love you and your partner to come over for dinner.’

‘That’d be nice, thank you. Are you seeing anyone at the moment?’

Jane laughed. ‘Actually, I am... he’s my decorator.’

‘Well, I look forward to meeting him.’

After Paul had gone Jane sat thinking, wondering if there was any way the professor could be wrong. As it was now almost five, Jane decided she would go home and call in to the station from there to see if there was anything they needed her for.

Jane was surprised to find that the house was empty. There was a note from Eddie to say he was collecting new paint samples for the spare bedroom, and could she give him a ring at his flat later if she wanted dinner. She had just changed into her dressing gown and was making a cup of tea in the kitchen when her phone rang.

‘Good afternoon. Am I speaking to Detective Tennison?’ Jane recognised Arnold Hadley’s voice.

‘Yes, Mr Hadley, it’s me. I was actually going to call you about the post-mortem examination that has been completed on Miss Lanark.’

‘Yes, I know. I have already been informed. I’m calling to say that I received a message from my chambers that Beatrice Thorpe called to speak to me. I hadn’t let her know that I had retired. Apparently, she has asked for them to organise the funeral. It’s not something a legal firm is often asked to do, but as her sister had been a client for so many years, they have agreed. I felt I should let you know, in case you wanted to attend.’

‘Thank you,’ Jane said. ‘Mr Hadley, how long had you represented Helena Lanark?’

There was a slight hesitation before he replied. ‘I’d known Helena for some years before I started representing her when she was in her early thirties.’

‘How did you get to know her?’ Jane asked.

‘She was a neighbour of my mother’s. She was very kind to her when she became ill.’

‘I see. Were you aware that Jason Thorpe sold Helena’s Stockwell property well below the market price?’

‘Yes, I raised it with him at the time. He said it was because he wanted a quick sale and was acting in Helena’s best interests. There wasn’t much more I could say or do as he had power of attorney.’

‘Did you know Jason bought shares in the development company?’

‘No. If he did it wasn’t with money from the sale as I know it was paid into Helena’s bank account.’

‘Do you think the developer might have given Jason cash or shares as an incentive to drop the price of the Stockwell property?’ Jane asked.

‘I suppose that’s a possibility. No doubt Jason will say he bought them with his own money or as an investment for Helena’s benefit... and proving otherwise would be difficult.’

Jane decided not to pursue it further. She was fairly certain now that if there had been any kind of fraud, Hadley wasn’t involved.

‘When is the funeral going to take place, Mr Hadley?’

‘I believe it will be on Monday, at St Martin’s Church, with a small reception at the Gore Hotel.’

‘Just a thought, Mr Hadley, is Helena due to be buried?’

‘Yes, there’s a family crypt at Highgate.’

‘In that case, I was wondering if you would like me to see about arranging for the baby to be released for burial as well? I’ve discovered that the youngest Lanark sister, Marjorie, gave birth to the baby and I thought it might be some sort of closure for the family as—’

Hadley quickly interrupted. ‘That won’t be possible.’

‘I’m sorry?’ Jane said.

‘Marjorie wasn’t buried in the family crypt. She was cremated. However, I will forward your suggestion on to Mr Thorpe.’

Jane ended the call. If Marjorie had been cremated, then when Beatrice had said that Marjorie’s strand of pearls had been buried with her, that was another lie. Jane wondered how many other lies Beatrice had fed her. She checked her watch and put in a call to the Sussex police, who she presumed would now be investigating the theft of the necklace. The duty officer she spoke to could give her no further details as he wasn’t involved in the case but suggested that if she called the station the following morning she could speak to a DS Simpson, who had been at the care home making inquiries.

Jane still felt very jet-lagged, but in the end agreed to dinner with Eddie. They went to the Italian restaurant they had been to previously and Jane perked up as soon as they sat down, even though she didn’t have the energy to contribute much to the conversation.

As they were being served coffee, Eddie gave her a quizzical look.

‘Can I say something? You seem quite distracted... I mean, I’m sure you’re probably feeling jet-lagged, but if there is anything wrong with any of my work, I need you to let me know.’

‘Oh, Eddie,’ Jane exclaimed, ‘I can’t fault anything you’ve done for me. In fact, I can’t believe how little time it’s taken to get the house into such fabulous condition. We must be nearly finished now?’

He nodded. ‘Yeah, I would say by early next week. If you’ve decided on the stair runner, blinds and curtains.’

Jane grinned. ‘Fantastic. But I do need to bring something up,’ she said, her grin fading. ‘I’ve just been thinking about how to say it.’

He shrugged. ‘I’m all ears. Anything that’s bothering you, I’m sure I can fix.’

‘It’s not about your work, Eddie. It’s just that I found the remains of some joints in the ashtray.’

He looked aghast. ‘You are kidding me.’

‘No, I’m not. Now, I don’t know who was doing it, but you have to realise how it looks, smoking cannabis in my house. I am a police officer, for God’s sake, Eddie.’

He frowned. ‘It’s not me, but I think I might know who it is and I’ll have words with him or fire him if it comes to it.’

‘Well, I don’t think you need to go that far. Just make sure it never happens again.’

‘Done. I won’t be using the full load of guys again anyway, unless you want your garden sorted? I won’t be doing that, but I know a bloke who does that kind of work.’

Jane yawned. ‘Yeah, OK... whatever. I need to throw out a lot of the furniture and look at replacing it with some more contemporary stuff. I can wait for the garden to be sorted though.’

‘It’s up to you.’ Eddie signalled for the bill.

Jane hardly said a word on the drive back to the house. When they parked up, Eddie rested his arm along the back of the seat and rubbed her neck.

‘You sure everything is OK, Jane? I’ll sort this cannabis situation tomorrow first thing.’

‘It’s nothing to do with that, Eddie, it’s just this case. I’m starting to feel there’s going to be some serious backlash from my Australia trip. My boss has really got it in for me. Everything in the police is now about budget, budget, budget and he’s already suggested I’ve wasted valuable funds by going. But I just wanted to find the truth about what happened in that shelter.’

‘So, did you find it?’ Eddie asked.

‘In a way. And it was pretty unsavoury.’

Eddie got out of the car and opened the door for her.

‘You could do with a couple of days away... take a break.’

She laughed. ‘I’d like that. But right now, if DCI Carter found me asking for a couple of days’ leave when I’ve only just got back from Australia, he’d blow his top.’

‘What about the weekend?’ Eddie asked, as he unlocked the front door. They walked into the kitchen and Jane put her handbag down on the kitchen table.

‘You know I said it was unsavoury, what had happened? It was actually much worse than that. I discovered their father had more than likely been having an incestuous relationship with his daughter who committed suicide.’

Eddie put the kettle on as Jane opened her briefcase and took out the envelope of photographs.

‘He was a keen photographer and had a darkroom in the basement. This is what I found when I was in Australia.’ Jane laid out the awful photos of Marjorie hanging from the swing. She then showed Eddie some of the nude pictures of Henry Lanark’s daughters. He glanced at them briefly, shaking his head.

‘He must have been a monster of a man to do this to his own daughters. I think they were home tutored, and probably very naïve, with a mother who, as far as I can make out, was immature herself, having been married off at a frighteningly young age.’

Eddie placed a mug of tea down on the table in front of her. ‘So, what’s your point?’ he asked, returning to the kettle to fill his own mug.

‘What do you mean, what’s my point?’ she asked, curtly.

‘Well, it all happened so long ago... aren’t two of them dead? Why are you getting so worked up about it?’

‘I am not getting worked up,’ Jane said.

‘Yes, you are. I mean, if you know how the baby died in the air-raid shelter, then isn’t that enough?’

Jane pursed her lips, gathered up the photographs and put them back in the envelope.

‘Yes, you’re right,’ she said in a cold voice. ‘Sorry if I’m boring you.’

‘For Christ’s sake, Jane, you aren’t boring me. I’m just concerned about you. Maybe you’re having trouble with your boss because he thinks, like I do, that there are more pressing crimes out there needing your attention...’

‘He doesn’t think like that. If you must know, the dirtbag even insinuated that he could get into my pants if he accompanied me to Australia. And for your information, I don’t care if a crime was committed yesterday or twenty, thirty or forty years ago, it still deserves some kind of justice.’

Eddie held his hands up in a placating gesture. ‘You are absolutely right. Look, I’m not going to get into this, but if you want my humble opinion as a lowly decorator-plumber-electrician, you say this lawyer bloke has known the old lady you think was murdered for years. So he must have handled all her legal documents and would know how much money she had and who she left it to and all that.’

Jane looked at him. ‘Firstly, you are not a “lowly” anything. Secondly, I wish I’d thought of that. I’m going to call that lawyer right now.’

‘Jane, it’s half past eleven. I think you’d be better off leaving it till the morning. Plus you’ve had more than three quarters of a bottle of wine. I’m going to leave you to have a good night’s sleep.’

‘I’m sorry if I go on about my work too much. I want you to stay, Eddie.’

He put his arm around her as she stood up from the table.

‘And showing me those photographs was unprofessional, if not illegal, so I’ll have to arrest you,’ he said tilting her head back and kissing her. She responded instantly, and even more so when he lifted her up and carried her out of the kitchen. She almost fell and, laughing, they walked up the stairs together.

Jane woke up, disorientated, then found the warmth of his body beside her and snuggled closer. She could see from her bedside clock that it was a quarter past four. She tried to go back to sleep, but then began to think about what Eddie had said to her in the kitchen. She knew she needed to talk to Hadley first thing, and also to call Sussex police again.

Eddie murmured in his sleep and she slipped her arm around him.

‘Is it time to get up?’ he muttered.

‘No, not yet...’ she said softly.

He turned towards her as she continued in a half-whisper, ‘How about you and I go off together somewhere for a couple of days? I was thinking about a romantic trip to Brighton?’

‘Whatever you say,’ Eddie replied, tenderly. ‘I can get my MG out of storage for the weekend.’

Jane closed her eyes. Brighton... which just happened to be where Arnold Hadley lived.