The Little One

Chapter Twelve

Barbara unpacked the few things she’d brought with her and lay down on the single bed. She’d made no mention of the will. There had been no opportunity as they sat watching the television news about Margaret. Alan had become very distressed and had broken down in tears.

At six o’clock she heard the doorbell ring. Shortly after, Alan knocked on the box-room door.

‘There are two police officers downstairs. They want to talk to you.’

Detective Inspector John Douglas introduced himself as Barbara entered the kitchen. A female detective, Angela Collins, was with him. She shook Barbara’s hand and they took their seats at the kitchen table. Alan and Kevin hovered and Barbara wished they would leave them in private.

She told the detectives everything she could about Margaret.

‘So you went back to the manor house yesterday evening?’ asked Douglas.

‘Yes. I just said so.’

‘Did anyone see you arrive?’

‘I suppose the ticket collector might remember seeing me.’

There was a pause and then Detective Inspector Douglas nodded to his companion, who continued.

‘So Miss Reynolds gave you permission to return there, did she?’

Barbara hesitated and then nodded. Alan glanced at Kevin, knowing this was not exactly true, as she’d tried to stay with them.

The female detective asked how Barbara thought Miss Reynolds appeared. ‘Did she seem distressed? Nervous? Show any signs that she intended to kill herself?’

‘No, she was very relaxed. She said she would be seeing her solicitor.’

Now Detective Inspector Douglas resumed. They knew from Mr Sullivan that she’d gone to his office that afternoon. Barbara nodded, glancing at Alan and Kevin.

‘Yes, I kept the appointment at three fifteen.’

‘Did you see Miss Reynolds after that meeting?’

‘No. I came here and then caught the seven fifteen train.’

‘So you never saw her again?’

‘No, I didn’t.’

‘You’re sure about that?’

‘Yes, I’m sure. In fact, I went there because I presumed that she’d returned home.’

‘She didn’t call you or try to get in touch with you?’

‘No.’

Detective Inspector Douglas then dropped his bombshell.

‘You see, Miss Hardy, we have to make certain that it was a tragic accident, or suicide, rather than murder.’

Barbara turned to Alan and back to the detectives.

‘I don’t understand. From the news, it seems she committed suicide. She jumped in front of the tube train, didn’t she?’

Neither detective replied. Instead, they studied their notebooks.

‘Was it not an accident, then?’ Barbara asked.

Without replying to her question, Detective Inspector Douglas asked Barbara if she had found a letter of any kind at the manor house. Barbara answered that she had not.

‘So, Miss Hardy, when Miss Reynolds was at the tube station in London, you were heading for the manor house?’

‘Yes.’

‘You were not at the tube station?’

‘No. I’ve already told you I was on the train.’

Detective Inspector Douglas snapped his notebook closed, as if the interview was over. But it wasn’t.

‘You see, we have to question anyone who might benefit from Miss Reynolds’s death.’

Alan and Kevin looked confused.

‘And you are Miss Reynolds’s main beneficiary.’

Alan’s jaw dropped.

‘What? She couldn’t be! She hardly knew her!’

‘Nevertheless, yesterday morning Miss Reynolds altered her will to name Miss Hardy as her heir. That same afternoon, Miss Hardy, you met with Mr Sullivan, who told you about the will. Isn’t that right?’

Shaking, Barbara nodded.

‘Yes. But I had no idea of her intentions. She’d said nothing to me.’

Kevin stared at the detectives.

‘Is this true? Did Margaret really change her will the same day that she died?’

Detective Inspector Douglas nodded, keeping his eyes on Barbara.

‘We have a witness who was standing not far from Miss Reynolds at the tube station. She claims that Miss Reynolds was waiting very close to the edge of the platform. It looked to her, from the way that Miss Reynolds jerked forward on to the line just as the train arrived, as if someone pushed her.’

‘Did this witness see someone behind Margaret?’ demanded Kevin.

‘That’s unclear. The platform wasn’t crowded and it appears that no one was standing close to her,’ Detective Inspector Douglas said.

‘Then why does she say Margaret was pushed?’ Alan asked.

Apparently the witness thought Margaret was pushed in the small of her back and fell forward, unable to stop herself. They were waiting for CCTV footage to see if there was anything to confirm this.

The detectives thanked Barbara for her cooperation and asked if she would be staying with her friends in case they wished to talk to her again.

Barbara glanced at Alan and Kevin, saying that if she wasn’t at this address she could be contacted on her mobile.

As soon as the detectives left, Kevin confronted Barbara.

‘You really are a piece of work.’

He sat in the same chair Detective Inspector Douglas had used.

‘Right, Barbara, start talking, and the truth this time. Why did Margaret make you her beneficiary so shortly after meeting you?’

Barbara shook her head, saying it was exactly as she’d told the detectives.

‘She never talked to you about it?’ Alan asked.

‘No. And to be honest, I thought she was behaving strangely the night before. But when we got on the train she seemed fine. It never occurred to me that she was even thinking about suicide.’

She started to cry and Kevin leaned across the table in barely controlled fury.

‘Bit late for tears, isn’t it? Just what did you do?’

Barbara wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. She swore she hadn’t known about the will until she met Sullivan.

‘I couldn’t make it out. He asked me to sign all these papers. I even told him that it was ridiculous.’

‘You must have done something,’ Alan insisted.

Barbara hesitated, then took a deep breath.

‘If you must know, the previous night I really did think she was unbalanced.’

Kevin and Alan waited. Gradually Barbara told them about the time she’d spent at the manor house. She explained that she was certain someone else was living there, that Margaret constantly talked to someone but she’d never seen them.

‘She would lock me in the kitchen. I would hear her talking and playing the piano upstairs. It was really starting to freak me out. I wondered if her husband had survived the helicopter crash or if it was her sister, or her sister’s little girl. I was really scared... and the lights kept going off.’

‘You’ve got a vivid imagination,’ Kevin said, shaking his head in disgust.

‘I really thought she needed to see a shrink. She brought out this awful Bible, asking me to swear on it that I would never tell anyone what she was going to tell me.’

‘Go on,’ Kevin said.

‘It was mad... something about taking care of her sister’s child. But then she told me the girl was dead. She said she was scared to tell anyone because she thought they’d put her back into some mental institution.’

She paused.

‘There’s also something else.’

Barbara felt extremely uneasy repeating it, thinking that it might have been the trigger that made Margaret jump in front of the tube.

‘She told me her sister had admitted as she was dying that she and Armande had been lovers.’

‘I don’t believe that for a second,’ Alan said furiously, and began pacing around the kitchen. ‘I’ve never seen two people more in love. He wouldn’t have betrayed Margaret, and especially not with her sister. It’s all lies.’

Barbara became angry.

‘I’m only telling you what Margaret told me.’

Alan banged the table with his hand.

‘You’re making this up! You just want to get that article written now that Margaret is dead and can’t sue.’

‘I’m not making it up,’ Barbara cried.

Kevin jumped up now and the pair of them faced Barbara.

‘If you dare print a word of this...’

Now Barbara stood up too in a fury.

‘I’m not writing it. That’s the truth.’

Alan gave her a look of such disapproval that she felt like bursting into tears again.

‘You know what I think? As Margaret’s heir, you won’t need to write tripe for anyone ever again, because she must have left a fortune.’

Kevin joined in.

‘I think you blackmailed her into changing her will.’

‘I DID NOT,’ Barbara shouted back.

‘When the police asked you how Margaret was, you said she was relaxed and happy. Now you tell us she was unbalanced. Why didn’t you say that to the police?’

Barbara clenched her hands into fists.

‘Because I told them the truth. She did seem fine and happy, as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.’

Kevin leaned very close, his voice quiet and threatening.

‘You had a big motive to push her in front of the tube. I hope you were telling the truth, Barbara. If they find out that you not only lied about Margaret’s state of mind but were also somewhere near when she fell—’

‘I was on the train going to the manor house!’

‘Then for your sake I hope they’re able to prove it.’