Lizzie's War (29 page)

Lizzie stared at the letter in disbelief. She'd wondered why Beth's husband should hate her so much, thinking that his jealousy would surely not drive him to try and harm her, but now she saw that so much more was involved. Bernie's plans for the area had been thwarted because of her, and then Beth had moved in with her and turned Bernie down, because Lizzie needed her. He must have been feeding on his hatred of her all this time – but what sort of a man would want to hurt a woman he didn't even know, even if she had got in his way?

A very vindictive one. The sort who could insult his dead mother and inflict pain on a young woman he'd professed to love! It all made a horrible kind of sense that a man like that might be capable of anything…

Beth wasn't safe in that house. The sooner she made up her mind to leave, the better…

*

Beth looked around the house she'd been brought to as a bride. She'd done her best to improve it, but it would always be dull and dark – a mausoleum to the past in her opinion, with its photographs from Victorian days onwards, all of the women in Bernie's family and one of a Victorian man with a white beard wearing a dark suit.

She wouldn't be sorry to leave when the time came. Beth had so wanted to tell Lizzie what she'd overheard her husband telling that man in his study. She hadn't been able to at the funeral, and it wouldn't have done much good if she had; she'd already decided that Lizzie couldn't help – and telling her father was a big step. She knew that he would demand that she leave Bernie and come home immediately. In her heart it was just what she wanted but she feared what her father might do next.

He would surely go to the police and tell them the whole story. Yet perhaps he might doubt that she'd heard properly and the police would probably say it was circumstantial evidence unless she gave them the notebooks and the money. Beth wasn't too sure what they proved, but the police might have more idea. Perhaps they even suspected Bernie's nefarious dealings but just lacked the proof.

She just needed the courage to go to her father and tell him all she knew. Beth believed Bernie meant to have Lizzie murdered. She had to stop him, but once she left this house she couldn't return – and supposing her father didn't believe her? Surely he would?

Beth glanced at the clock. It was too late to go this evening, because Bernie would be home at any minute now…

*

Beth was just thinking that if she didn't take Bernie's supper out of the oven soon it would be ruined. It was well past the time he normally got home and she'd begun to wonder what was wrong, because although he sometimes went out after supper and didn't always come back until the next day, he never missed his meal in the evening.

She bent to look in the oven and decided to take the pie out, because it was already looking a bit too brown and she thought it would be dry and horrible if she left it any longer. She removed the dish from the shelf and placed it on the pine table and then moved the greens off the heat. If Bernie didn't come soon he would be getting bread and cheese for his supper…

Hearing the front doorbell ring, Beth hurried to answer it. Surely Bernie hadn't forgotten his key? She opened the door and stared as she saw her father and mother standing there looking anxious.

‘What's wrong?' she asked and stepped back, allowing them to come into the hall.

‘We've just heard there's a fire at the factory,' her father said. ‘I've been told there was a small explosion and it happened where they store the nitro-glycerine. It set off a chain reaction and then the whole building went up in flames. They've got several fire engines out there now…'

‘Some people have been taken to the hospital,' Beth's mother said. ‘As soon as your father heard the news we came round – I'll look after the twins, love. You'll want to find out more, and if Bernie's been hurt you'll need to get to the hospital. Your father will take you.'

‘Yes, of course,' Beth said, because it was expected of her and how could she tell her father that she didn't care about Bernie, would be relieved it he didn't come home for a while?

‘We'll go to the police station near the factory,' her father said as she took a coat from the hall stand. ‘They will have some idea of where the casualties have been taken – and then we'll see…'

‘Yes, Dad, thank you,' Beth said. She felt emotional because her parents had come to her at once. ‘I'm glad you came round. I was just beginning to wonder where he was…'

Her father looked at her oddly. He must wonder at her calm manner, but how could she explain now that she'd been on the verge of leaving Bernie? It would be wrong at such a time, and Beth felt concern for the others who had been caught up in the accident at the factory. She'd known girls in the office when she worked there, and been friendly with those who worked at their benches handling dangerous materials day after day; the chemicals turned their skin yellow and they all knew there was a risk of explosion and fire, and yet they stuck to their duty, because the country was at war and needed them. Beth prayed that those brave girls had escaped harm.

*

‘I'm very sorry, Mrs Wright,' the hospital matron said when they finally arrived at the ward they'd been directed to. ‘Your husband was alive when he was brought in, but his injuries were such that he died before we could help him.'

Beth gasped, feeling a shaft of guilt strike her. She'd thought more than once that she wanted to be free of Bernie's tyranny, but this was too horrible.

‘What about the others? I understand there were three young women caught in the blast?'

‘Yes, they've all been brought here to us and we have them in intensive care. It seems your husband pushed them out of the fire in front of him and went back in to the affected area to search for others that might have been trapped by the flames… people are calling him a hero for getting the women out…'

‘Oh…' Beth wanted to laugh wildly. Her husband a hero! If only they knew the truth!

‘It was fortunate that the day shift had mostly left. Your husband was one of the last to leave, and no one knows why he was in that part of the factory – but he undoubtedly saved lives by his swift actions.'

‘Do you want to see him, Beth?' her father asked.

She shook her head. ‘No, not yet. I'll say goodbye when they bring him back to – to the funeral parlour.' She couldn't have him in the house. She wouldn't, whatever people thought.

‘I'll take you back then,' her father said ‘Your mother will stay with you tonight – unless you'd rather come home with us?'

‘I'd rather do that, if it's all right?'

‘Yes, of course it is. We should all stick together at a time like this…'

*

Beth lay awake long after her children were tucked up in bed and her parents had said goodnight. Both her father and mother had given her some odd looks, as if they expected her to weep or have hysterics. Beth felt like laughing hysterically, because the whole situation was so farcical. Everyone thought her nice kind husband was a hero and the truth was that he was a cheat and a liar and worse…

Beth couldn't mourn the man who'd raped and humiliated her and made her children's lives a misery: Matt was so afraid that he'd screamed whenever Bernie bent over him. Yet she couldn't celebrate her release either, because a man had died and three innocent girls had been injured. Beth felt numb and uncertain of the future, because although Bernie couldn't hurt her anymore, she was going to carry the memory of what he'd done for a long time.

‘Oh, Beth,' Lizzie said when Beth went to her the next day, and they embraced. ‘You shouldn't feel guilty, love – none of this is your fault.'

‘I know, but he did try to save those girls… how can I tell anyone what he was really like, Lizzie?'

‘You can't for the moment,' Lizzie agreed.

‘Yes, I know,' Beth agreed. ‘What should I do, Lizzie? Everyone is talking as though Bernie is a hero, but he was a nasty bully – and I wish I'd never trusted him. My marriage was the worst thing I've ever done. He was a bully and a crook…'

‘Will you attend his funeral?'

‘I don't see how I can avoid it; I'm his wife…'

‘If you go I'll be with you,' Lizzie said and hesitated. ‘Why don't you let Ed give those things you found to your father? I think he would be upset if he knew you'd hidden it all from him. Ed knows more than we realize, but he won't tell me details. Shall I ask him to talk to your father?'

‘I think I'll tell him this evening and if he believes me he can ask Ed for the books and money and decide what he thinks is the best thing to do.' Beth drew a shaky breath. ‘I'm sure Bernie has asked someone to kill you – the police ought to know that…'

‘You don't know who it was?' Beth shook her head. ‘Don't worry. I'll be careful – besides, why would they bother now Bernie's dead? If he paid them, they've got the money for nothing, and if he didn't they wouldn't get paid.'

Beth sighed with relief, ‘Do you really think it's all right?

‘Yes, I think so.' Lizzie was thoughtful. ‘I guessed he was behind those other attacks and I was in danger then but they're both gone now.'

‘It's all horrid,' Beth shuddered. ‘To think I married a man mixed up with such dirty things; it makes me feel sick and… unclean.'

‘You couldn't have known,' Lizzie said and gave her arm a squeeze. ‘We all make mistakes, love. Yours was in trusting a man who wasn't worthy of your trust.'

Beth grimaced. ‘I don't seem to have much luck in men, do I?' She shook her head. ‘It was my own fault. I thought marriage to Bernie was the easy way out and I should've known better.'

‘Well, make a clean breast of it to your father and let him decide, Beth. Your parents wanted you to marry Bernie; they encouraged you and it's right that your father at least should know the truth. I'll come round and be with you if you like?'

‘No, it's all right,' Beth said and raised her head. ‘I can tell him – after all Bernie is dead and Dad can't go charging round there after him now…'

*

‘The filthy pig!' Beth's father exploded with fury as she haltingly reached the part in her story where her husband had raped and abused her. It wasn't easy confessing such awful things to her father but she'd had to tell him everything so he understood. ‘If you'd told me I'd have killed him.'

‘And where would that have left Mum and all of us?' Beth smiled at him mistily because he'd believed her immediately and she'd been afraid he might think she was making it up. ‘I didn't want you to hang for Bernie, Dad. I wanted to tell you and Mum so many times, but I couldn't – and it isn't the worst of it.'

Her father's expression grew grimmer by the second as she continued her story of corruption and brutality.

‘I'm almost certain it was Lizzie he was planning to kill and that he had her premises attacked and that awful man shadowing her; she was attacked but a young soldier on leave stopped her being badly hurt…'

‘He might have succeeded in having Lizzie killed. It's a pity you didn't let me go to the police, Beth…'

‘Yes, I know,' Beth said a little sob in her throat. ‘You and Mum were so keen on Bernie and I thought you might not believe me.'

‘And you were frightened of him, of course,' her father nodded. ‘I'm to blame as much as you, Beth. If you'd known you could rely on me, you would've come to me at the start – but I haven't always been fair to you. When I heard that you were pregnant I was so angry with you for letting me down. You know I love you, Beth. One shouldn't have favourites, but you were mine – and that's why it hurt because my precious little girl had stopped being a little girl and become a woman overnight…'

‘Oh Dad,' Beth gave a cry of relief as he took her into his arms and held her close for a moment. ‘I'm so sorry. I never meant to let you down, but I loved Mark and…'

‘Shush now. It's over and I've forgiven you – how could I not forgive when you've given me those beautiful grandchildren?'

Beth gulped and let him wipe the tears from her cheeks. ‘Thank you – so you'll talk to Ed then?'

‘Yes, and we'll look at the notebooks and then we'll take them and the money to the police. You know they will confiscate it if it's from unlawful earnings?'

‘I don't want a penny of it, Dad. I don't want anything of Bernie's – not his house or his money.'

‘Well, we'll see what the law has to say about things when they've investigated. You may be entitled to something as his wife.'

‘If I am I'll give it to charity.' Beth's chin went in the air. ‘I don't need dirty money.'

Her father smiled and nodded his head approvingly. ‘I'm proud of you, Beth. Leave it to me now – and the funeral. You won't need to attend. I'll go to represent you. I'll tell people you're not up to it – and when the scandal breaks, they'll know why you didn't go.'

‘People will think I knew what he was when we married – and perhaps I should have guessed about the black market racket he was involved in.'

‘I was fooled and so were most. Folk won't believe it for the start, but I'll make sure they don't blacken your name… You're my daughter, Beth, and if you want you can stay here with your mum and me. She'll look after the twins for you, at least some of the time.'

‘Lizzie told me I can live with her and work for her again – and she's giving me a quarter share in Oliver's workshops. I told her it was too much, but she insisted she wanted to do it and I'm grateful. I'll do part-time; it will give me more time with the children, but I'll still get the pleasure of going to work and seeing Lizzie often. Now that she's got two workshops to look after, she will be busier than ever.'