Death on the Downs

Forty-Four

Irene Forbes ushered Jude into the sitting room. She seemed unfazed to have a visitor, but then it was hard to tell what emotions lay behind that smooth Chinese face. Jude was moved by the woman’s beauty, and also by her appearance of youth. From what Carole had said of her history, Irene Forbes must have been at least in her late forties, but she could have been twenty years younger. Her skin, the colour of Rich Tea biscuits, was unlined, and there was no touch of grey in the black bell of her hair.

She was simply dressed in white trousers and brown jumper, but somehow contrived to look exotic, a hothouse flower in the Englishness of a Weldisham sitting room.

Jude refused the offer of tea or coffee and said, “I was very sorry to hear about your husband’s illness.”

Irene Forbes bowed acknowledgement of the sentiment. “I’m pleased to say he’s a lot better than he was at the weekend.”

“Good. People seem to make complete recoveries from strokes these days.”

It was unlike Jude to get caught up in this cycle of civilities, but there was something about her hostess’s serenity that unnerved her. Jude, a woman with her own inner strengths, could sense in Irene a matching or even stronger power.

“Look,” she went on, trying to be more assertive, “it’s very kind of you to invite me in when you have no idea who I am. We have a mutual friend, actually. Her name is Carole Seddon and she came to dinner a week or two back.”

“A charming woman,” said Irene. “She comes from Feth-ering, I believe. Graham very much enjoyed her company. I believe they have a mutual interest in the Times crossword…Something, I fear, that I could never master.”

“Nor me.” Jude found the woman’s stillness seductive. She felt the urgency within her seep away and it was with an effort that she continued, “Look, Carole’s gone missing, and I’m very worried about what may have happened to her.”

“I am sorry she’s gone missing. And if I could do anything to help you find her, of course I would. But I’m afraid I do not know your friend well. I only met her that one evening.”

Jude took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, this is difficult to say, but I’m afraid Carole’s disappearance may have something to do with the bones.”

“Ah.” The monosyllable was one of acceptance.

“The bones that she found at South Welling Barn. Carole had managed to discover a lot more about where those bones came from and, in doing so, she may have upset someone.”

“I would think that was very possible.”

“Mrs Forbes, I haven’t got time to beat about the bush. Carole thought the bones belonged to your husband’s first wife, Sheila.”

There was a silence. Then Irene Forbes slowly lowered her face, so that she was looking at the floor. “They always say it is impossible to keep anything secret in an English village.” She sighed and looked up again, with a trace of a smile around her lips. “Graham and I have had thirteen years together, three in Kuala Lumpur and ten here. We have been lucky. Many people do not have so much in their lifetime.”

“But how long have you known about…what happened?”

“About Sheila? Not long. Only a matter of weeks.”

“It must have been a terrible shock for you.”

“A shock certainly. But more a sadness.”

A detail fell into place. “My friend Carole told me she first saw you in the church. St Michael and All Angels. She said you were crying. Was that because of what you’d heard?”

The helmet of black hair hardly moved as the woman nodded. “Yes. Religion can sometimes help. Faith is so much more forgiving than morality. No, it was very sad. That for Graham and me to be happy, someone else had to suffer so much.”

“Did it affect how you felt about him…when you knew?”

Irene Forbes shook her head slowly, but very firmly. “No. You love what a person is, not what they’ve done.”

“And the police know about it, do they? About the murder?”

“They suspect. Soon they will know for sure. A policeman – Detective Sergeant Baylis – came to see Graham last Friday. He had phoned in the morning to say he was coming.”

“Which was why Graham didn’t go for his usual pre-lunch drink that day?”

A graceful inclination of the head acknowledged this. “I don’t think Sergeant Baylis had to come. I think he was just giving a warning, giving Graham time to prepare himself. He said there were suspicions about the bones belonging to Sheila, and that DNA tests would be conducted to try and make a match with other Helling relatives.”

“So, from that moment, your husband knew that his time was limited?”

“Yes.”

“Hadn’t he known before?”

“No. I tried to keep it from him. But when the police came, I could keep quiet no longer. That was the shock that brought on his stroke.” With sudden passion, Irene Forbes said, “I hope he will not live long. Graham has always hated the idea of being impaired, of doing anything at less than his best. He would make a bad invalid. And he would not enjoy court proceedings.”

“No.” Jude let a moment of silence hang between them, before going on, “I’m sorry to keep interrogating you, Mrs Forbes…”

“I am not really Mrs Forbes. Only in my soul.”

“Yes. But, look, I’m very worried about Carole. I’m sure she’s been abducted by someone because of what she’d worked out about the bones.”

Irene Forbes let out a humourless laugh. “Well, I can assure you it wasn’t Graham. He’s lying upstairs in bed, with only one side of his body working. He’s not capable of abducting anyone.”

“I wasn’t suggesting he was. I was thinking of Brian Helling.”

“Ah.”

“He was the one who dug up the bones in the old barn, wasn’t he?”

“Yes. And he was the one who came and told me about his discovery. He took pleasure in it. He liked the idea of having power over Graham. He liked the idea of having power over anyone.”

“Irene, I’ve got to find him!”

“I don’t know where he is.”

“I know you don’t, but I just wondered…when he came to see you…presumably he talked of blackmail…”

“Of course. That’s the only reason he’d dug up the bones in the first place.”

“But presumably he also gave you a promise that, if you coughed up the money, he’d hide the bones somewhere safe…somewhere nobody else except for him could find them.”

“Yes. He said he’d do that. I asked him to hand them over for us to dispose of, but he wouldn’t. He wanted to keep them, so that if he ever needed to raise his ransom demands…So that he would always have a hold over Graham…”

“Mrs Forbes…Irene…did Brian Helling say anything about where he might hide the bones?”

“No. Well, he didn’t say anything that meant anything to me.”

“What were his exact words?”

“He said, “Don’t worry about anyone finding the bones. Nobody ever goes to Fort Pittsburgh.””