Peppercorn Street (26 page)

‘We’re working on it.’

‘Better work quickly, then. His sort are good at covering their tracks.’

He could see tears in her eyes as she turned away. That upset him. There had to be something he could do to help people like her.

‘You stay here with Millie,’ he told Janey. ‘I’ll go and find out what’s happening at the station, then come back and tell you.’

‘No. I’m coming with you. I just have to get Millie ready.’

He looked at his watch. ‘I need to get off straight away. Look, phone Dawn and see if she can bring you and if not,’ he fumbled through his wallet and shoved a couple of notes in to her hand, ‘catch a taxi again.’

After the police had gone, Winifred called a cleaning company and arranged for them to come round and go through her house as a matter of emergency. The upstairs was in a bad way too and had sickened her. She didn’t know what the intruders had used to make the bath dirty, or what they’d poured down her toilet, but she didn’t want to go near it.

‘Do you want to stay with me tonight?’ Hazel asked as they watched the cleaning company pack up and leave. ‘I’ve got a spare bedroom.’

Winifred hesitated, then gave in, just this once. ‘That’d be nice.’

‘I think it’d be better if we all stayed here until you’ve got a proper security system fitted and new window locks put on,’ Dan said. ‘I reckon that nephew of yours is desperate. He might burn the place down to get you out.’

Winifred looked at him in horror. ‘But he’s offshore now.’

‘Is he? Are you sure of that? Who does he work for?
Give them a ring and check. There should still be someone in the office. It’d not take a minute.’

‘You’re very shrewd,’ she said. ‘And I’ll do that, just to set my mind at rest.’

Five minutes later she put the phone down and filled in the gaps in what they’d heard. ‘Bradley hasn’t worked for them for over a year. They wouldn’t say why, but from the tone of that woman’s voice, she didn’t like him.’

‘So we’re staying here,’ Hazel said. ‘I’ll get Dawn to bring a few of my things round.’

‘I can run you home,’ Dan offered. ‘I’m still able to drive a car, thank goodness. It’ll not take more than half an hour. It’ll be light for a while yet, so you should be safe, Winifred. Then I can get my things, too. And we’ll order a Chinese takeaway tonight for tea after we get back. I’m feeling peckish even if you ladies aren’t.’

‘I’ve never had Chinese food,’ Winifred said. ‘My mother only liked plain food and cakes and afterwards – well, I didn’t bother to try new things. I should have. I will from now on.’

‘Good for you. And you’re in for a treat tonight,’ he said. ‘They do great food.’

While the others were away, Winifred started setting the table. She thought she heard a sound and stopped moving to listen, but everything was quiet and she’d locked the doors again. Then she heard a door closing with a quiet snick and knew she wasn’t alone in the house. If this was Bradley … She picked up a rolling pin and waited, with her back to the wall. The door of the kitchen swung open slowly and her nephew appeared in the opening.

He laughed. ‘All ready for battle, are you?’

‘What do you want?’

‘To get you out of this house, Auntie, dear. It’s the only asset I’ve got left.’

‘It’s not your asset, actually. It’s mine.’

‘What does an old woman need with a place this big?’

‘It’s my home. Everyone needs a home. Why should I give it up for you?’

‘Don’t you have any family feeling? I can make sure you live in modern comfort, which at your age should count for something, and still make a fortune from this place.’ She didn’t reply, because she didn’t want to risk driving him to violence.

‘I can do much worse things, though, if you won’t play ball,’ he said in a voice suddenly harsh. ‘You’ll not feel safe here from now on, not for a minute. And don’t think changing the locks will keep me out, because it won’t.’ He breathed heavily. ‘When did you change that damned power of attorney?’

‘After your last visit. I also changed my will then.’

‘
What?
’

‘Nothing has now been left to you, so if you hurt me in any way, you’ll not only be committing a crime, but sending my estate to someone else.’

‘You’re lying. You must be. You don’t have anyone else to leave it to. And anyway, if you’ve changed your will once, you can change it again. I warn you—’

‘I think you’ve said enough, young fellow.’

Bradley spun round and Winifred could see Dan standing in the hall behind him.

‘Do you think you’re going to change my mind, old man?’

‘No, but the police will.’ He gestured behind him and the same two police officers who’d been round earlier came forward. ‘They’ve been listening to you threatening your aunt.’

‘Bradley Parfitt, you’re under arrest …’

Winifred watched stony-faced as her nephew was led away, then turned to Dan. ‘How did you know?’

‘After we drove away, I realised I’d left my wallet in my jacket here. I saw that fellow fiddling with the front door lock and knew he was up to no good.’ He took out his mobile phone and looked at it in admiration. ‘To think I used to complain about these things.’ He gave Winifred a severe look. ‘And you’re not wearing that pendant, which you said you would do. You could have called for help if you had been.’

She could feel herself blushing as both Dan and Hazel looked at her accusingly. ‘You’re right. I have to get used to it.’

‘And now, since the police have taken away your nephew, we’ll lock the place up, collect Hazel’s and my things, then I’m taking you both out for a Chinese meal. It tastes so much nicer if you eat it in the restaurant.’

‘Our Dan’s a bully, isn’t he?’ Hazel said with a grin.

‘A dreadful bully,’ Winifred agreed. ‘You don’t need to stay now Bradley’s been arrested.’

‘Don’t you want company?’

She didn’t hesitate. ‘Yes, I do. Very much. Look I’ll show you to your bedrooms and get some clean sheets out, then I’d like to change my clothes. It’ll only take me five minutes.’

She felt a sense of exhilaration as she got out a dress her
mother had always hated, in a dull rose shade. The style was a bit out of date, but the colour suited her.

And tonight, she vowed, she was going to try every new dish offered her. This was the start of a new life for her. She hadn’t many years left, so every single day had to count from now on.

Beaming, she went carefully down the stairs and joined her friends.

Before Kieran got into his own car to go to the police station, he pulled out his phone and called his friend Jim to bring him up to date on what had happened now.

‘I’ll go down to the police station too and help you keep an eye on things there,’ Jim said at once. ‘I’ve been having some fun and games today. That social worker you told me about was up to her nasty tricks again.’ He outlined briefly what had happened to Miss Parfitt. ‘She’s a feisty old lady, that one. I don’t think they’ll get the better of her. But what if she was in poor health or losing it just a little? They could have cheated her out of everything she owned.’

‘I hate people who do that. Look, I’ll meet you at the station. I want to find out about Nicole’s son, as well as keeping tabs on Yarford.’

‘How do you always manage to find trouble?’ Jim teased. ‘You’re supposed to be retired now.’

And Kieran suddenly realised with a surge of joy that his life hadn’t changed all that much, injuries or not. Even if he never walked properly again, he could still do what he’d been doing all his life: seek out injustice and fight for the underdog.

As he drove, he decided he’d been very lucky in a way
that had eluded him for most of his life – because he’d also found a woman to love. Not one to have an affair with – he’d had a few of those – but one he wanted to share a life with.

So many things were going to change for the better once Nicole was in a fit state to think about her future.

Strange how quickly he’d fallen for her – and her son. Paul was a great kid. No need to rush things, though. She’d need to take things slowly.

He had no doubts about the outcome, none at all. He and Nicole were good friends already and he was quite sure from the way she responded to his touch that she found him as attractive as he found her. They could take their time, get to know one another properly.

He’d always gone with his hunches and this one said things would work out for them.

As for Paul, that lad was as hungry for a father figure as Kieran was for a son.

He wondered if her older son was treatable or if William would stay in la-la land. You never knew with drug users. Some drugs could damage the brain permanently. It’d take a while to get William back on track, and even then he might never reconcile with his mother.

Well, whatever happened, Nicole would not be facing it alone.

At the police station, Kieran saw his friend Jim standing to one side and went towards him first.

‘What’s the news?’

‘They won’t tell me any details.’ He grinned as he added, ‘But I’ve got good hearing and voices echo into this part of the waiting area. I gather they’re waiting for someone to back up Yarford’s story.’

‘Janey’s father. It must be. She says the two of them are thick as thieves.’

‘He’ll testify against his own daughter?’

‘Apparently.’

Just then the door opened and an overweight man came in, followed by a thin woman who didn’t meet anyone’s eyes.

‘That’s him,’ Kieran said. ‘And that must be his wife.’

‘Looks a right slob. As for her, if I ever saw a downtrodden woman, she’s it.’

‘He’s a nasty sod. I’ve a photo of him smashing up a
perfectly good printer rather than let his daughter have it.’

‘I’ve got an old printer she can have.’

‘I’ll hold you to that.’

They watched what was happening.

Lionel Dobson walked up to the counter. ‘I’m here on behalf of my friend Sergeant Yarford.’

‘If you’ll just wait a moment, sir, I’ll get someone.’

Jim stepped forward. ‘Could I have a word, sir?’

‘Who are you?’

‘Press.’ He held up his identity card.

‘Good. You can see what this country’s come to when someone doing a favour for a friend gets accused of sexual harassment. It’s a crying shame.’

His wife shot him an embarrassed glance and Kieran realised from his overloud voice and the way he was swaying that he’d been drinking.

A woman officer came into the waiting area. ‘Will you come this way, sir? I’ll just fetch Sergeant Yarford.’ She led the Dobsons into a room at the side, glancing at Kieran and Jim, but not saying anything to them.

Shortly afterwards Yarford came strolling in, stopping to scowl when he saw the two journalists. ‘Don’t let these two anywhere near the interview room,’ he called to the officer on the desk.

The man nodded, but didn’t say anything and from the look he gave at Yarford’s back, he wasn’t a big fan of the sergeant’s, either.

In the interview room the officer explained what had happened and Lionel immediately grew angry.

‘Yes, I did ask him to see my daughter. She won’t listen to us. It was the only way I could get a message to her.’

‘What message was that, sir?’

‘That doesn’t matter,’ Yarford said. ‘It’s private.’

‘Not if Janey’s complaining about harassment, it isn’t. It might be relevant. She’s a tart, officer. On the streets. How do you think that feels? My friend Gary agreed to tell her she could come back home if she mends her ways.’

Dorothy murmured a protest.

‘Did you want to say something, Mrs Dobson?’ the officer asked.

‘No, she didn’t,’ Lionel said immediately. ‘She’s just here to bear out what I’m telling you.’

‘Mrs Dobson?’

The woman shook her head.

After they’d gone over all the details several times and Mrs Dobson had winced but not said a word, the officer sighed. ‘It seems that Sergeant Yarford was doing just what he said.’

She looked at her companion, but the male officer shook his head. ‘We thank you all for coming here voluntarily. It’s always best to get these things sorted out properly.’

Yarford leant forward. ‘And sometimes it’s best to listen to older and more experienced officers and not go down the official track.’

‘Just doing my duty, sir.’

The look he gave her was not friendly.

‘We’ll go and take care of the paperwork at the front desk,’ the male officer said.

As they walked across the waiting area, Kieran looked at them and the woman gave a small shake of the head. He
felt sickened to think of Yarford getting away with this.

Just then the outer door opened and Janey came in, pushing Millie in her buggy.

Lionel roared, ‘It’s all her fault for causing this trouble and telling such lies about my friend and I hope you’ll charge her for wasting police time. You should take that baby away from her. It’ll stand no chance in life with a mother like that. The Social Services are already looking into it. It’s a crying shame.’

Janey let out a cry of anguish and started to back out. Kieran began to walk across to her.

Just then Dorothy darted forward to the desk and said loudly, ‘My husband’s lying and so is Yarford. I can’t let you do this to her, Lionel. You know Yarford raped her and even that didn’t upset you …’ She burst into tears, sobbing so loudly, her husband’s shouts were drowned.

The officer behind the desk smiled just once, then walked round to the waiting area. ‘Miss Dobson, is that true? Did Yarford rape you?’

‘Yes, he did.’ Janey winced as her father made a threatening gesture.

‘Gary Yarford, I’m arresting you for rape.’ The officer repeated the caution as Yarford stood there stunned.

Kieran put an arm round Janey while the female officer tried to comfort a hysterical Dorothy.

Protesting and demanding a lawyer, Yarford was taken away. Dobson managed to get past the police officers and thump his wife. In the struggle with the police, he managed to punch one of them too, so was also arrested and taken away.

‘He’ll murder my mother when he gets out,’ Janey whispered.

‘Do you want to go and see her?’

‘No, I don’t. She knew all the time that it was Yarford and still let me take the blame, let my father throw me out. I don’t want anything to do with her.’

‘Are you sure? She
is
your mother.’

‘She was always
his
wife first. I don’t care if I never see her again. But you’d better tell them to put her in a women’s refuge if they want to save her life. My father’s put her in hospital a couple of times already, but she refused to press charges.’

Kieran let out his breath in a long, low whistle.

It was a couple of hours before they could leave the police station, then just as they were about to leave, Kieran suddenly remembered William Gainsford.

He walked across to the desk. ‘Sorry to trouble you when I know you’re busy, but you brought in a young fellow called William Gainsford. His mother is a close friend of mine, so I was wondering if you had any information about him.’

‘You can’t report on this. He’s a minor still, by a few days.’

‘I won’t.’ Kieran smiled. ‘I’m doing this as the man who hopes to marry his mother.’

‘Ah. Someone’s caught you at last, have they, Jones? I’ve seen articles where you said you didn’t intend to marry.’

‘I must have been crazy.’

‘I admire what you’ve done. You’ve sorted out cases the police didn’t dare touch, so we were rooting for you – well, those of us who care about justice were.’ He cast an angry glance towards the door through which Yarford had been taken away, then looked back at Kieran.

‘They had to get the doctor in to that young fellow, he was behaving so wildly. The doctor got him admitted to a psychiatric hospital. It took three people to get him out to the ambulance even with sedatives pumped in. He’s in a bad way.’

‘Yes. I’d guessed that.’

‘I hate drugs.’

‘Me, too.’

Kieran drove Janey home, feeling tired now. ‘I don’t think you’re going to need to leave town. Yarford won’t come near you again. I should think he’ll spend quite a lot of time in prison. Don’t cry.’

She smiled at him through the tears. ‘It’s the relief. I can get on with my life now.’

‘And stay in Peppercorn Street?’

She nodded. ‘Oh, yes. It’s a wonderful place to live. Unless you think I’m too troublesome a tenant?’

‘No, you’re a perfect tenant, just the sort I like to have in my building. But if I can, I’ll put you in a ground-floor flat. I’ll see if the tenant in the flat next to me will change.’

‘I like where I am. It feels safer than the ground floor and I like looking out of the window. And Millie won’t always be in a buggy.’

Only when he’d seen Janey to her flat and told Miss Fairbie what had happened did Kieran go down to his own flat, feeling utterly exhausted now.

He could leave the reporting of this case to Jim, who would help the police unpin other details, he was sure. From what Mrs Dobson had sobbed out about that Stevenall, and the bribes they’d had to pay, the woman would be losing her council job.

He picked up his phone. ‘Nicole? How are you? Want to know what happened to William and Janey? Right. I’ll be round in a few minutes. Is it really only nine o’clock? It seems later. Yes, I’d love something to eat, and a glass of wine would be perfect.’

Nicole opened the door to him, smiling, looking much better than she had earlier. He couldn’t help it, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

As she melted against him, he closed his eyes and when the kiss ended, simply held her close for a few moments. ‘I needed that,’ he said huskily into her hair.

‘So did I.’ She laughed shakily. ‘I don’t know why we’re standing in the hall. Come in properly and sit down.’

He sat on the sofa, accepted a glass of wine and watched Paul switch off the television and turn to look at him enquiringly. ‘I’d better tell you about William first.’

Nicole was sitting beside him and her hand fumbled for his as he explained what little he knew. ‘We’ll ring the hospital tomorrow.’

She nodded.

‘Do you think they can help him?’ Paul asked.

‘I hope so. Nothing’s guaranteed, though.’

‘Even if they do, he’ll still be a bully and I don’t want anything else to do with him.’

Nicole looked at him sadly, then admitted, ‘I feel the same now, but if they manage to get him back to normal, we’ll see.’

After a pause for a few seconds, Kieran changed the subject. ‘About Janey, the news is much better.’

They were both smiling when he’d finished. ‘She
deserves to get her life together,’ Nicole said. ‘It’s going to be hard work rearing that baby on her own.’

‘She’ll cope. She now has Miss Parfitt, Mr Shackleton and Dawn’s mother as adopted grandparents, not to mention Dawn on her side. Not a woman to tangle with, our Dawn.’

After they’d eaten, Paul went to bed and Kieran pulled Nicole closer to him on the couch. ‘So … what about you and me?’

‘What about us?’ Her voice sounded breathless and girlish, and the little he could see of her cheek was faintly flushed.

‘Do you think I can start courting you now?’

She raised her eyes then, meeting his and smiling slightly as she nodded. ‘That sounds an excellent plan. Paul’s already given his approval.’

‘He has?’

‘Oh, yes.’

He smiled. ‘I hope that means he’ll accept me as a stepfather one day. He’s a great kid.’

‘Nearly a young man now.’ She cuddled up and they didn’t say anything for a while, just sat and enjoyed the peace and the feeling of being loved, even if that hadn’t been put into words yet.