The Ladykiller (15 page)

Lily straightened her hat and turned to face her mother-in-law.

‘Cars can’t go that fast, Nancy. We’re only doing forty-five, so all the others look fast to us.’

Joseph was aware that his wife was talking between gritted teeth.

‘Joseph! Slow the car down. Forty-five miles an hour. Oy! If God had wanted us to travel that fast he’d have given us legs like a cheetah!’

Joseph carried on driving. He knew that his mother played up her Jewish ancestry to annoy Lily. Sometimes her performance as the Jewish mama was so good he felt like videoing her in action and sending it to BT to use on their adverts. It was a far cry from when he was a child and her Jewishness could never be mentioned, even in passing. Their given name had been Markowitz, but his father had anglicised it shortly after his marriage. In the East End of London then, Jews were classed lower than the Irish. At least the Irish were Catholics. Now, though, his mother revelled in her Jewish ancestry, not because of any love for her religion but because she knew it annoyed Lily who was a Christian Scientist.

He saw the signs for Grantley and heaved a sigh of relief. Soon they would be at George’s.

Kate got in just in time for Christmas dinner. She took off her coat in the hall and listened to the sound of laughter coming from the kitchen. Dan must be on top form today. He was a born raconteur. Kate could see him in her mind’s eye sitting up at the breakfast bar, with Lizzy hanging on every word, looking for all the world as if he was in an expensive restaurant.

She shook herself. For all his faults Dan loved his daughter, she was sure of that much. But sometimes, seeing him brought it all back. All the pain and heartache he had caused her. Especially today, when she felt low, when she had so much going on with the murder inquiry and had to be lighthearted and gay because it was Christmas.

She walked into the warmth of the lounge and through the door to the kitchen. Dan’s back was to her but Lizzy and her mother were facing her. Both were laughing out loud. Seeing her daughter, in her best dress, her dark hair brushed to a shine, eyes alight with happiness, brought a lump to Kate’s throat. If she ever had to go through what Patrick Kelly had, she would die, she thought.

‘Come away in, Katie, I’ve got your dinner nice and warm here.’ Evelyn was off her chair and going to the oven.

‘I’ll do it, Mum, you sit back down.’

Evelyn waved a hand at her. ‘You sit yourself down, young lady, and have a glass of the excellent wine Dan brought. I’ve nearly finished me own dinner anyway.’

Kate sat beside Dan and he smiled at her.

‘Merry Christmas, Kate.’

His voice was low and while Evelyn was getting the dinner from the oven he brushed her lips with his. Lizzy giggled. Kate was stunned. She expected a lot from Dan, none of it good, but that was the last thing she had anticipated. And the worse part of all was she had felt a shiver inside her as he had done it. She forced a smile on her face and grinned at her daughter.

‘Merry Christmas, love.’

‘Merry Christmas, Mum. How was it today?’ Her face was concerned.

‘Oh, not too bad, we’re getting there.’ She deliberately kept her voice light. Dan had unnerved her and she had a sneaking suspicion he had guessed the fact. He was looking at her now, a smile playing around his lips.

Evelyn put a large dinner in front of her and Kate felt her appetite return.

‘Oh, Mum, that looks great. I’m starving.’

‘Dad was just telling us about when he was in Egypt.’

Kate took a mouthful of turkey and nodded.

Evelyn sat back at the table and winked at her daughter. Kate noticed the flushed cheeks and guessed she had been on the whiskey, or ‘Holy Water’ as her mother referred to it. Dan poured Kate a glass of wine and she sipped it.

‘Tell Mum about the Valley of the Kings, Dad.’

‘Your mother’s not interested in all that.’

‘Oh, but I am, Dan. You carry on with your story.’

Dan was where he wanted to be. He had an attentive audience and he loved it. He would try and impress Kate with his worldliness. She might deal with rapists and murderers and the lowest of the low, but he was an adventurer, a traveller, and that beat policing hands down!

‘Well, we got to Luxor. It was something else, you know, the Nile. I mean, it was just a thrill to be there. To be walking along the banks. Well, you get a boat and cross over to the Valley of the Kings . . .’

‘And Queens.’ Kate spoke through a mouthful of food.

‘Well, yes, and the Valley of the Queens. We went into Tutankhamen’s burial chamber. You would have loved it, Lizzy. The paintings on the ceilings . . .’

Kate let Dan go on. She felt like asking him why he hadn’t taken her with him; Lizzy would have loved it and Anthea’s boys had gone, she knew that for a fact. While Dan was describing the delights of Egypt, Kate drank her wine and carried on eating. She had heard it all before. Oh, not Egypt, but other places - all described in detail in the same sing-song voice. Kate closed her eyes and berated herself.

Dan’s kiss had affected her more than she liked to admit. She had been without a man for far too long, that was her trouble. There were plenty of men at work who had asked her out over the years, but they had nearly all been married. The few who had been divorced only wanted to talk about cases, with a bit of sex thrown in, and that had never appealed to Kate. One thing she had learnt in the police force: male police officers could be the biggest whores going but a policewoman, especially one in a senior position, had to be above reproach.

‘What’s the matter, Mum?’ Lizzy’s voice was concerned.

‘Oh, just thinking, poppet. That’s all.’

Dan put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her to him. ‘You leave that old job behind you now, Kate. You’ve got your family around you.’

She pushed his arm from her shoulders and looked into his face.

‘I’ve always had my family, Dan, thank you very much.’

The atmosphere at the table turned chilly. Kate carried on eating her dinner.

‘She’s always like this, Dad, with the big cases.’ Lizzy’s voice was placating and Kate felt mean for what she had done.

‘I think she does a grand job. How’s the young girl who was attacked?’ asked Evelyn.

‘In a very bad way, Mum. She took an awful beating.’

‘I’ve seen Mandy Kelly about. She’s really pretty, with long blond hair. Her dad’s a right one, always in trouble with the police.’

‘No, he is not!’ Kate’s voice came out louder than she intended and she bit her lip.

‘He’s been under suspicion but he’s never actually been charged with anything. He’s never even had a parking ticket, young lady, so just you get your facts right!’ Her voice was jocular now and Lizzy relaxed.

‘Well, Joanie’s mum said he owns massage parlours and places like that.’

‘And massage parlours and places like that are perfectly legal, love.’

‘More’s the bloody pity.’ Evelyn’s voice was disgusted.

‘Well, that’s the law for you. He’s done nothing wrong!’

‘I think men who live off women like that should be shot.’ Dan’s voice was low and hard.

Kate felt an urge to laugh.

‘There’s other ways for men to live off women than by putting them on the game, you should know that, Dan.’ Kate sipped her wine so she wouldn’t have to look at his face.

Dan pushed his chair away from the table and went into the lounge. Kate saw Lizzy bite her lip, her face a mass of confusion. But Dan was back almost immediately with a packet of cigarettes. ‘Let’s open our presents, shall we?’

‘Oh yes, let’s. We’ve been waiting for you, Mum.’

Kate placed her knife and fork on her plate and followed everyone into the lounge.

Dan gave Lizzy a large package which she opened slowly, taking off the paper carefully. Everything in their house was saved. Kate knew it was annoying Dan, who would have ripped the paper off regardless, and allowed herself a tiny smile from her seat by the fire. She heard Lizzy’s intake of breath as she took out a sheepskin flying jacket. It was the latest fashion, and for some unknown reason this annoyed Kate even more. Trust Dan to know exactly what a sixteen-year-old girl would want for Christmas! Lizzy threw herself into her father’s arms and hugged him.

‘Oh, Dad, it’s great, just what I wanted! Wait till Joanie sees this!’

Evelyn passed over Kate’s present and once more the slow ritual of opening began. Kate sat back in the chair watching her daughter with glee. As Lizzy took out the tiny box Kate caught her daughter’s eye.

‘Is it what I think, Mum?’

‘Open it and see.’

Lizzy reverently opened the box and squealed with delight. She threw her arms around her mother.

‘Oh, thank you! Thank you! I thought they’d be too expensive!’ She held up the sovereign earrings for all to see.

‘Come on, love, now open mine.’

Evelyn pushed a package into her hands and Lizzy opened it excitedly.

‘Oh, Gran!’

Evelyn laughed as Lizzy brought out a pair of Reebok bumpers.

‘I knew you wanted them so I thought I’d get them.’

‘Oh, Mum!’ Kate knew they cost over eighty pounds and shook her head at her mother. ‘You shouldn’t have spent that much!’

‘You only live once and money’s for the spending, I’m thinking.’

‘Hear, hear.’ Dan’s voice was wistful. ‘Now then, you two, here’s your presents.’ He gave Kate and Evelyn small packages.

‘Oh, you shouldn’t have, Dan, I never got you anything.’

Kate opened her present to find a bottle of Joy, her favourite perfume. Evelyn had a bottle of Chanel No. 5.

‘Now isn’t that grand? I’ve never had a bottle of real French perfume before. Thanks, Dan.’

‘You’re welcome. All women should be cosseted at some time, Eve, that’s my motto.’

Kate felt an urge to ask him how many he had cosseted over the years, but bit it back and instead smiled at him.

‘Thanks, Dan, it’s lovely.’

‘Still your favourite, I hope?’

‘Yes, it’s still my favourite.’

Kate watched as Lizzy shoved a present into her father’s hands. Then she went to the kitchen and poured herself out a glass of wine.

She stared at the perfume in her hands and sighed.

Oh Dan, she thought, why did you have to do this?

It brought back too many memories and she wasn’t fit to cope with them today. She had too much on her mind. She didn’t need to be reminded of how lonely she was.

Not today.

George watched his mother demolish a dinner large enough for two men. He smiled to himself. She could certainly put her food away. Gone were the days when her figure was the most important thing in her life.

‘Pass me the salt, someone.’

Nancy held out her hand and Joseph thrust the salt cellar into it. She belched loudly, holding her hand to her chest as if forcing her wind out. Lily and Elaine both pursed their lips in disgust.

‘Better out than in, eh, Georgie boy?’

‘Yes, Mother.’ He smiled at her.

Nancy poked her finger at him, a nasty light in her eyes. ‘Don’t eat too much stuffing now, you know it gives you constipation.’

George blanched.

‘Really, Nancy! We don’t want to discuss George’s digestion at the dinner table!’ Elaine’s voice was high. She could never understand her mother-in-law’s preoccupation with George’s bowels.

Nancy swivelled her huge bulk in her seat to see Elaine better.

‘George is a martyr to constipation. When he was a child it plagued him. Why, the hospital showed me how to give him enemas. Before that I had to give him what was called in those days a “manual”. I had to push my fingers . . .’

‘Oh, for God’s sake! We’re eating!’ Lilian pushed her plate away from her roughly. ‘Can we just for once . . . for one year at least . . . give George’s bloody bowels a rest!’

Nancy sniffed loudly and turned back to her food. ‘You know your trouble, Lilian?’ She shovelled a large forkful of vegetables into her mouth. ‘You’re too namby-pamby for your own good. Eighty-one years I’ve lived because I’ve always watched my bowels. They are the most important part of the body. They get rid of all the bad . . .’

‘Please, Mother.’ Joseph’s voice was strained. ‘As Lily says, let’s leave talk of bowels till later on, shall we? Now then, George, how’s work going?’ Joseph beamed across the table at his brother.

‘Fine.’ Oh, yes, Joseph, my work’s going so well they’re going to kick me out soon. I can’t afford a nice Daimler Sovereign like you. But you know that, don’t you? That’s why you ask me the same question every time I see you. Why Lily goes on and on about your large detached house. Well, it was your large detached house that lumbered you with Mother, wasn’t it?

‘George? Lily’s talking to you.’ Elaine’s voice broke into his thoughts.

‘He was always the same, Elaine, even as a child. Always in a world of his own. Always a dreamer, was my Georgie. That’s why he never got on like the others. Look at Edith, out in America. Her Joss is a surgeon. Living the life of Riley them two. Off to the Bahamas every few months. It does a mother’s heart good to know that at least some of her children did well.’

Her voice was reproaching George with every word she spoke.

‘Edith always enjoyed travelling, Mother. Do you remember when she ran off to Brighton with the travelling salesman?’

Elaine felt the tension she had created and was actually enjoying it. Edith’s foray down to Brighton was never mentioned. Neither was the child she gave up for adoption a year afterwards.

Nancy pushed her plate away from her, her heavily powdered face looking more wrinkled than ever with the deepness of her frown.

‘Only you, Elaine, would bring up something to break my heart. Joseph, George, help me into the lounge. I want to be alone.’

‘I’m sure Elaine didn’t mean anything by it, Mother.’

‘Shut up, George, and help an old woman to a comfortable seat.’

George and Joseph both rushed to their mother’s side, helping her heave her bulk from the chair. She leant on their arms as she slowly trekked from the kitchen to the lounge. Elaine and Lilian watched the three leave the kitchen. As soon as the door shut behind them Lilian whispered: ‘The woman is like a waking nightmare.’