The Lazarus Secrets (14 page)

Darrington looked at his watch, “Good heavens so it is, thank you for letting me know Miss Bevis and sorry to keep you. I was engrossed, I'd quite forgotten the time but I won't stay any longer, I shall be in trouble at home as it is. If you'll just give me a minute to tidy up.”

She remained at the door watching as he cleared his desk and packed papers into his briefcase, “Things seem to going well, but you mustn't overdo it. It's a very old case and there's no urgency.”

Why, Darrington wondered, did everything Alice Bevis said assume the mantle of threat or warning?

Closing the file on Rona McLean, he saw the small red star at the top right-hand corner.

Chapter Fourteen

As Max pulled into the driveway Sarah was waiting at the door, “Where've you been Max?” she asked anxiously, “I was expecting you a couple of hours ago.”

“Sorry darling, I should've phoned but they were closing the office and I didn't want to delay them further. What's the matter? Why have you got your coat on?”

“It's Alexander. He collapsed and he's in hospital. Your mother rang, she and Charles are with him and I promised you'd go as soon as you got home but you're so late. I rang Winchester Police Station, but they didn't know where you were.” Sarah watched his face for some reaction to the fact he was not where he should have been, but there was none.

Clarissa and Charles sat holding hands in the hospital corridor as Max approached the ward and he thought how fragile they looked. They were always so vibrant when the family was around but Charles was in his eighties and his mother in her seventies, it was easy to forget. Occasionally, if he arrived at the cottage unannounced, he would find one of them asleep in an armchair by the fire and their age and frailty would be more obvious.

Clarissa held out her hand, “Thank God you're here Max, he's had a very bad attack; he was in such pain and couldn't breathe. We got an ambulance quite quickly but he looked so very ill. We can't see him yet, but he's been asking for you.”

Max sat down beside her and held her hand, “All right, Mother. I'm here now and Sarah's just parking the car.”

Sarah had insisted on driving well aware that if Max had a failing as a law-abiding citizen it was his inability to keep to the speed limit in normal circumstances let alone a crisis. She couldn't decide if the blame lay with his days of legally dashing around in a police car or being the owner of a fast and furious MG in his youth.

Sarah arrived and Charles stood up and hugged her. “He was raising hell in the ward when we left, buggering and blasting at the nurses and doctors. Well, you know what he's like.”

“Sounds like a good sign to me, if he was behaving himself I'd be really worried,” said Sarah.

At last they were shown into a side ward to see a pale and heavily sedated Alexander. “I'm all right,” he said weakly, “don't all look so bloody miserable, they've given me something for the pain and I'm fine. I'll be home soon.”

The doctor signalled to Max and he stepped back into the corridor, “Are you his son?”

“No, his nephew, he has no family of his own, I'm his next of kin.”

“Well, you know the situation, he should have a few more months left but he's not an easy patient to deal with and he's not doing as he's been told.”

Max smiled, “I don't think he's done that since 1918 and he probably won't start now.”

The doctor nodded, “Yes, I know what you mean, he's already told me to bugger off. However, there are some things we can do to make his last months more comfortable and if he can be persuaded to do something for himself it will help. I'll put him on medication and the dosage can be increased as and when needed. Try to get him to stop smoking and cut down on the alcohol.”

Max nodded, “I'll get my mother to have a talk with him, she's the only one he takes any notice of.”

Sarah and Charles left the ward as Max went in. His mother sat by the bed with both her hands clasped in Alexander's, their faces were close together and they whispered then kissed intimately. Max was embarrassed and felt he was intruding but as he turned to leave his mother stood up and walked towards the door, she passed him patting his arm. “He's anxious to talk to you.”

Speaking breathlessly Alexander grabbed at Max's arm, “Max, that horse doctor gave me a shot of something and I'm very sleepy but I need to ask you to please take care of your mother. Charles says he will, but he's even older than I am. I don't want her left alone not again, not ever. Promise me Max, everything I've got comes to you except my share in the cottage and that's left to your mother and Charles, but take care of her.”

“Uncle Alex,” Max rebuked softly, “you shouldn't even have to ask but of course I'll take care of her. You have my promise she will never be alone again. Anyway, from what the doctor says you'll be home soon and on your best behaviour.”

“Fuck that,” said the old man as his eyes closed.

Driving home Max described the scene he had witnessed to Sarah. “Perhaps they are lovers,” she suggested.

“I don't think so, well not in the sexual sense, but they are in love. It's so obvious and it's an intense love that has gone on for decades since they were very young. They suffered so much over the death of my father and they became incredibly close. He saved her life and brought her and Charles back together again. I don't know for certain, but it seems that neither of them could move on and marriage to each other would have been a sort of betrayal of my father and so they stayed together without marrying. For people like them I suppose that meant without a sexual relationship, so they settled for something different. I used to think it was such a waste but not now; they were free agents and made their choice and as far as I can see lived happily in each other's company but it's not a subject for discussion. Not that they owe anyone an explanation, but at the first hint of any enquiry Mother changes the subject and Alexander gets aggressive.”

A week later Alexander was back at Top Cottage and his first visitor was Julia. Clarissa opened the front door and the embarrassed child stood silently in the porch her hands clasped nervously behind her back.

“Do your parents know you're here Julia?” Clarissa asked gently.

Julia shook her head and bit her lip.

“Do you want to see him?”

“Please Aunt Clarissa, no-one knows I'm here but I really do need to see him.”

Clarissa took her hand and led her through the house to Alexander, who lay on the sofa with a pillow at his head and a blanket over him. He turned and grinned at the sad, little face then reached out his hand. Julia ran to him throwing her arms around his neck and resting against his chest sobbed as if her heart would break.

“Don't ever leave me Grandpa Alex, I love you more than anyone in the world. I know I should love Mummy and Daddy the best, but I don't. I love you. Please don't leave me.”

Clarissa went into the kitchen to cry and make tea and listened through the open door as Alexander placated the distressed child with a gentleness most people would find impossible to imagine.

Julia didn't move. Her slim body lay across his chest. Her head resting beneath his chin as he spoke quietly, “I don't want to leave you because I love you too, but I must leave you some day, at least I hope that's the case. I'm a very old man and you're a very young girl. I've almost had my life, but yours is just beginning so it stands to reason I'll go first. Isn't that right?” The child's head nodded reluctantly against him. “But I'm not going anywhere just yet so don't you worry and I'm definitely not going back to that hospital ever. You wouldn't believe what they serve up as food there and the way they speak to you. I had to tell one or two of them just where to get off and you know me Julia, I'm not grumpy or rude to anyone.”

He felt the child's body laugh gently against his and she lifted her tear-stained face, “You are grumpy and rude really,” she smiled. He wiped her tears and then his own. “Have I made you cry,” she asked guiltily.

“I suppose so but that's just because I love you more than anyone in the world as well and I hate to see you sad.”

She rested on his chest again, “Vanessa says you only like me because I look like Aunt Clarissa.”

She felt him snort, “Well that's the sort of thing sisters say isn't it? You shouldn't take too much notice of her. Anyway, you're much more beautiful than Aunt Clarissa, but you mustn't say I said so, she gets very jealous and I would be in big trouble if she got to hear of it.”

“You do tell such big lies Grandpa Alex,” said Julia softly.

Listening in the kitchen, Clarissa smiled through her tears and wondered yet again how she would live out the rest of her life without him. She moved to the doorway and watched them, Julia was still cuddled against him, his arms enfolded her, his head rested on the top of hers and his eyes were full of sorrow.

While hating his invalid status, Alexander was surprised and pleased with the concern shown by the family. He knew he was regarded as a cantankerous and bad-tempered old man, but he could always spot the disingenuous and it cheered him to think they cared so much as his life neared its close. He feared neither death nor pain, having looked both in the eye and triumphed, but he feared pity and hoped when the end came it would be swift and undramatic.

Max worked at home for a few days to spend time supporting his uncles and his mother. David came home on leave and to the consternation of the adults and delight of the youngsters, arrived on a huge motorbike, having travelled from Dartmouth in record time.

Sarah watched from the window as he gave the Longfield children rides around the village green and had some anxious moments when he and Max took off together, aware neither of them was able to resist the temptation of speed, but it was good to see them communicating. They arrived back in one piece and David then roared up to Top Cottage reminding his grandmother of the days when Max would do the same in the MG.

At the end of the week, David sped away on his motorbike after promising his mother he would drive carefully. Max went back to Winchester to read the final document in his possession, the findings of the enquiry carried out in 1945.

Chapter Fifteen

Date: 18
th
March, 1945

CLASSIFICATION: CONFIDENTIAL

The following report was compiled at the behest of the Home Secretary's office to investigate the possible murder of six young women during the period from September 1940 – May 1941. The investigation was carried out by members of the security services assisted by officers of the Metropolitan Police Force.

The report on the enquiry held during the last months of the war was succinct and well written but experience told Darrington it had been doctored and the author was not identified. Like much of the material he had already read, it reeked of adaptation and adjustment. He read it slowly and carefully, endeavouring to probe the mind of the unknown writer. The text encompassed police reports and witness statements and listed dates and times but failed to highlight or explain the many obvious inconsistencies. He could envisage a small committee of bureaucrats picking carefully through the words leaving much ambiguity and very little of the whole truth.

The case of victim number one, Jenny Doig, was dismissed as unproven there being no witness statements and no police, medical or post-mortem reports.

The other cases were detailed briefly, evidence was accepted at face value and inevitably the conclusion reached was that, given the limited resources available at the time of the murders, the investigations had been carried out adequately. There were no obvious suspects and at the time the report was written, some four years after the events, it was impossible to ascertain whether or not the murders were committed by just one person or even connected in any way. After such an elapse of time many of the original witnesses could not be found. Many had relocated from London due to the massive destruction of houses by the bombing or had been killed in subsequent air-raids or on active service.

Darrington closed the folder containing the report and felt a mixture of resentment and anger directed as those who had covered up the monstrous crimes in the past and also toward those who now expected him to do the same. He examined the cover of the report and, as expected, found a red star affixed to the top right-hand corner. It was a summary of the report and he wanted to see the unabridged version.

At lunchtime, he locked his office, smiled pleasantly as he passed Alice Bevis sitting at the reception desk and requested access to the red files. The nicotine smile vanished instantly replaced by something akin to anger. “You actually wish to see the red files, Chief Inspector?”

“Yes, please, Miss Bevis,” he answered briskly, “I feel I can't complete my report competently without perusing everything to do with the case. I trust you'll make the necessary arrangements, so I leave it in your capable hands.”

She hesitated as if deciding which way to jump, “Which particular red files do you require?”

“Well, of course, until I know what's available it's difficult to say. Perhaps if I could look at what there is and then make a decision.”

The nicotine smile reappeared but without a trace of good humour, “I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific, Chief Inspector.”

Darrington suddenly felt tired of the games being played around him and spoke abruptly, “Very well, I should like to see the red files on Paula James and Rona McLean and the complete report written in 1945.” Miss Bevis scribbled the file names on a notepad as if she were likely to forget. “And also the details on the other two victims.”

“The other two victims?” she echoed.

“Yes, the report refers to six possible murders I have green files on only four so I'm assuming the other two are in red files and I would like to see those files.”