Dark Rooms

Chapter Twenty-Six

Eddie parked the car in the small back lane at the rear of her parents’ block of flats in Maida Vale. They had stopped en route to buy flowers and wine.

Using the block’s rear entry door, they walked up the stairs, not bothering to take the lift. Eddie was impressed with the decor, even more so when he saw a uniformed doorman helping an elderly lady out of the lifts on the second floor.

‘This is very posh,’ he said.

‘Not really. They don’t own their flat, but it’s on a long lease. They’ve lived here for about twenty years.’

They arrived at flat 210 and rang the doorbell. Her father opened the door almost immediately and gave Jane such a big hug that she had to push him away to prevent him from squashing the flowers.

‘Daddy, this is Eddie.’

Mr Tennison shook Eddie’s hand warmly and gestured for him to go ahead as he closed the door behind them.

‘I see you’ve got an MG. I was wondering if Jane would park in the back lane, so I was watching out for her. Lovely motor... always wanted one when I was your age.’

Mrs Tennison hovered in the hallway, wearing a white blouse and a pleated grey skirt, with a frilly apron.

‘Mother, this is Eddie.’

‘How nice to meet you... please come in. There’s sherry in the drawing room, and I hope you’re both hungry... it’s roast lamb... and I’ve made an apple pie for dessert.’

‘Sounds great!’ Eddie said, passing the wine bottle to Mr Tennison.

Jane was a little embarrassed by her parents’ over-enthusiastic welcome. They had set the dining table in the alcove, with all their best crockery, cutlery and cut glasses, but Eddie was quite at ease and within minutes her father had asked him about a hall light that kept tripping.

‘Jane said you’re an electrician. I have had a go at it myself, but I think it might be a crossed wire on the wall light. As soon as I put the switch up on the fuse box, it blows again.’

Eddie was quickly up on a ladder in the hall examining their wiring with her father beside him holding a torch. Mrs Tennison had poured sherry for everyone and was fussing around in the kitchen putting the flowers into a vase when Jane joined her.

‘We are looking forward to seeing all the work you’ve had done at your house, Jane. We’ve been waiting for an invitation.’

‘Eddie has been brilliant,’ Jane said. ‘I don’t think you’ll recognise it when you see it. I just need to organise the curtains and stair carpet, then I’ll have you both over for dinner, with Pam and Tony as well.’

Mrs Tennison moved closer. ‘So, it’s over with you and the architect, then, is it?’

‘Yes, Mother, very much so.’

Mrs Tennison lowered her voice and nodded towards the hall. ‘He’s a bit young, isn’t he?’

‘For heaven’s sake, Mother! To be honest, I’ve never even thought about it.’

Eddie soon fixed the wiring in the hall, then her father had him checking out the tap in their bathroom. Mr Tennison explained that it always took the building maintenance man weeks to get even the smallest jobs done.

Eddie had completed various jobs around the flat by the time dinner was ready to be served. Everyone agreed it was delicious and Eddie had a double serving of virtually everything. The wine glasses were refilled, and Eddie apologised for passing on a top-up as he was driving. Jane, however, made up for him and had several glasses as she described all the work that had been done at her house. She was on her fourth glass when her father asked about her trip to Australia.

‘Considering I probably spent more time on the plane than I did in Sydney, it was actually quite productive. I went out there to get the truth about what happened at the Stockwell property, and to uncover who did what and when.’

‘What case is this, dear?’ her mother asked.

‘It was the same one I told you about last time, Mother...’

‘Oh, the one where that poor girl was starved to death... dreadful! And those awful newspaper reports calling it the “House of Horrors”. I’d have thought it would be all over and done with by now.’

Eddie laughed. ‘It probably would have been if it hadn’t been for Jane. First, she thought a pearl necklace had been stolen from a care home, but then it turned up. And the old lady had died in suspicious circumstances, so Jane insisted on a post-mortem, but it turned out the old lady had died of natural causes. No offence but—’

‘Actually, I do take offence, Eddie,’ Jane said sharply. ‘I was simply doing my job to the best of my ability, and if certain things don’t add up then I make it my business to find out why.’

‘But I thought they knew who had left that girl to starve to death?’ her mother asked.

Jane pursed her lips. ‘That was only part of the investigation. The other part was finding out who had buried a newborn baby alive.’

‘I didn’t read about that; the truth is I couldn’t read all those wretched details. Did the girl that was starved do it?’

‘No!’ Jane snapped.

‘When did it happen, then?’

Jane took a deep breath. ‘Probably more than thirty years ago, Mother, but the amount of time is immaterial because it’s justice that I care about.’

‘There were three sisters... I saw their photographs in an album Jane brought to the house,’ Eddie said.

Jane frowned. ‘Eddie, why don’t we just drop the subject.’

‘Fine by me.’ He shrugged. ‘You’re the one bringing it up at every opportunity. We went for a special overnight break in Brighton, but Jane didn’t tell me about this lawyer she suspected of stealing money from the old lady in a care home, and she just happened to know he lived in Brighton! But then he turns out to be a decent old boy...’

Jane picked up her plate of half-eaten apple pie and stood up to take it into the kitchen.

‘If you must know, I have changed my mind about him as well. I think his behaviour is distinctly odd.’

‘If you don’t like apple pie, Eddie, I have some nice cheese and biscuits. And can you bring in the coffee tray, Jane? It’s all ready.’ Mrs Tennison cleared the other dessert plates and followed Jane into the kitchen, just as she opened the dishwasher.

‘No, dear, you know I always rinse the plates before putting them into the dishwasher. Just leave it on the side and I’ll do them all later. Take the tray in and some extra knives for the cheese, and I’ll bring in the coffee.’

Jane returned to the table, relieved to find Eddie and her father were now in deep discussion about maintaining an old sports car.

As the conversation moved on to Jane’s childhood, Jane poured the coffee and handed the cups around, while her mother proffered the cheese board and biscuits. It took a while for Jane’s feeling of irritation to subside, but eventually she found herself laughing at a story her father was telling Eddie about when her sister Pam had cut all her dolls’ hair and then had cut Jane’s two plaits off.

‘You should have seen the row between them! Pam had always wanted to be a hairdresser, but Jane got her own back when she cut the legs off her sister’s favourite jeans.’

Eddie turned to Jane. ‘Did you always want to be a policewoman?’

Mrs Tennison answered. ‘No, she didn’t. But she was always a perfectionist and very competitive. One time we were all doing jigsaw puzzles at Christmas, and there was a prize for whoever finished theirs first. We discovered that Jane had been cutting the pieces of the jigsaw to fit where she wanted them to.’

Jane laughed, remembering. ‘It was because the sky pieces were so boring!’

‘That’s the way you always were, though — you wanted to get things done. You were argumentative, even as a young girl. And she would ask questions about everything... it drove me to distraction! In a way, I can understand why she joined the Met because that’s all about piecing things together, isn’t it?’

Jane smiled. ‘In a way, yes, it is. But when the pieces don’t fit, I can’t use a pair of scissors to make them. So, I don’t rest until I have the answers. I’m sorry if you find it tedious, Eddie, but until I am satisfied, I keep on mulling things over. I have had to sift through so many lies on the Stockwell inquiry, and even though we have the answers to most of it, there’s something still bugging me.’

‘All right, tell us?’ Eddie said, cutting a slice of cheese. He reached over and touched her hand. ‘I’m serious, go on, what’s bugging you?’

Jane sighed. ‘Why did Jason Thorpe lie about the family album, saying that his mother wanted it? And why did he leave it in Helena’s room?’

‘Who’s Jason Thorpe?’ Mrs Tennison asked.

‘He is the deceased woman’s nephew. He lives in Australia with his mother, Beatrice, her sister,’ Eddie explained.

‘How old is Jason?’ Mrs Tennison asked.

Jane screwed up her eyes, trying to remain patient.

‘What’s wrong with asking his age?’

‘I don’t know how old he is, Mum. He seemed to be about thirty.’

‘Is he married?’

‘No! Mother, for heaven’s sake! My point is, why did he lie to me? He caused me problems at work as well.’

Eddie raised his hand. ‘What about this... maybe there was something in the album he needed to talk to the old lady about?’ He drained his coffee.

‘Eddie, she couldn’t talk... she was suffering from dementia. And there was nothing in the album of significance. I thought at one time it might have been her will...’

‘So maybe he paid her a visit and took it?’ Eddie suggested.

Jane was becoming increasingly tetchy. She had taken the album before Jason’s visit, so she knew there was no will.

‘It’s just the lies. Jason only discovered today that Helena had married Arnold Hadley and made a new will, which her solicitors have. If he knew he was the beneficiary of the first will then I get why he would want a copy of it—’

Eddie interjected. ‘Couldn’t he just ask the solicitors for a copy?’

‘They would never divulge the contents until after a funeral,’ Jane replied.

‘I’m sorry, dear, I don’t get why this Jason would want a copy,’ Mrs Tennison remarked with a bemused expression.

‘If he was worried that Helena had cut him out of her new will, he might want a copy of the first one to contest the second, perhaps and accusing Hadley of coercing Helena to make a new will while she wasn’t of sound mind.’

‘So, who gets her inheritance?’ Mr Tennison asked, now starting to get interested, despite not knowing who anyone was.

‘The bulk of her wealth was left to her husband, Arnold Hadley. She didn’t leave Beatrice or Jason a single penny.’

‘So, what has that got to do with the murder of the baby?’ Eddie asked, glancing at his watch.

Jane sighed, then pushed her chair back.

‘I don’t suppose it has anything to do with it. Like I said, it’s me just wanting to tie up all the loose ends and make the jigsaw pieces fit.’

Eddie stood up and thanked Jane’s parents for the fabulous dinner, saying that as he had a very early start in the morning, he thought they should be leaving.

Jane looked at him, puzzled. ‘I thought we were going to do some shopping?’

‘Yes, but later in the day. I have to do an estimate on a big extension first.’

After kissing her mother, Jane collected her coat and bag as her father shook Eddie’s hand and thanked him for helping fix the lights and the tap. As he shut the front door behind them, Mrs Tennison started carrying dirty dishes into the kitchen.

‘Well, I doubt that will last,’ she said. ‘She definitely didn’t like the way he cross-questioned her.’.

Mr Tennison sighed. ‘Pity. We could do with some decorating.’

Jane sat in silence as they drove back to her house. Part of her knew that Eddie was right and that she had become obsessed with this case.

‘I liked your parents,’ he said, trying to ease the tension between them.

‘Listen, Eddie, I’m sorry if I got a bit stroppy, but I can’t help going over things in my head. I just query everything. I mean, I was certain that Jason was not aware of our discovery in the shelter, but then when I read Helena’s confession letter...’

‘What letter?’

‘I told you, her lawyer gave me a copy of it. It was not to be opened until after her death.’

‘Oh right, yeah, yeah.’

‘But all the years that Helena sent money to her sister... and she told me that she had been forced to send begging letters.’

‘Who wrote begging letters?’

‘Beatrice Thorpe. She was blackmailing her sister and it would seem Jason was also involved. They got a lot of money out of Helena Lanark over many years. He was even able to acquire power of attorney to gain further access to her finances. It’s even possible Beatrice blackmailed Helena into making them the beneficiaries in her first will.’

‘So what is your point, Jane?’

Jane snapped at him angrily. ‘Helena Lanark paid up so she could get away with murder. And if I hadn’t gone to Australia no one would ever have found out.’

Eddie pulled up outside Jane’s house and got out to open the passenger door for her.

‘Sweetheart, the fact is that the old lady never admitted anything until after she died. And she paid the price for most of her life.’

Jane felt near to tears, as he put his arms around her.

‘Listen, I’m going to take off home to put the MG in the garage. I’ll be over tomorrow about eleven.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me about the new job?’ Jane asked.

‘It’s not confirmed yet, but as soon as it is, we’ll celebrate.’ He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her, before getting back into the car.

Jane watched him drive off, taking out her keys to let herself in. She felt bad about how argumentative she had been with Eddie, even more so as she headed up the stairs and could see how nice the house was looking.

She’d been so absorbed in her thoughts that she hadn’t seen the car driving past her house, then doing a slow U-turn to park on the opposite side of the road.