Cutting the Cord Page 10

  “Janie’s been through a lot herself, Bea,” replied Harry. “She’s experienced both the pain of losing someone she loves and the hurt those same loved ones can cause.”

  “I sometimes forget how much heartache Janie’s been through, Harry. She never complains or acts up. She just seems to have her cry then deals with it. She’s a strong little soul.”

  “She is, Bea, she is.” Harry took another swig of his beer. “Is everything sorted with Megan now? I mean about the car accident? Is she definitely here for good now?”

  “I had the final paperwork three days ago; there’s no need for either Megan or me to return to the States, unless of course we choose to.”

  “What actually happened, Bea, or should I just mind my own business?” asked Harry. Bea looked over at Harry. He was about to welcome Megan into his home and his life for the foreseeable future. He had a right to know the truth behind what had gone on. Besides, Megan wanted him to know, so that he’d understand why she wouldn’t be totally comfortable in either his or Charlie’s company, for the time being at least, anyway.

  “There was no car accident, Harry. I lied. We all lied to protect Megan. She was being sexually assaulted by her own father. Drew had told Megan that he would kill both her and her mother if she told a soul about their ‘special times’, as he called them. Amy, her mother, was working nights as a nurse at their local hospital. It seems the stress of her job had her turning to alcohol more and more. That fateful night Amy had been too drunk to go to work. Drew was angry with her and they got into a fight. He’d beaten her until she lost consciousness, then he’d gone into Megan’s room and began to viciously rape her. Amy came to, to the sound of her daughter’s screams. She took the handgun Drew owned from his bedside cabinet and shot him five times before turning the gun on herself. She blew her brains out right in front of Megan. The emergencies were on the scene within minutes of a neighbour making the call, on hearing gunshots coming from the house. Megan had to have emergency surgery on her womb due to the severity of the vicious sexual assault she’d been subjected to. With everything that Megan had gone through, those close to her decided a cover up story needed to put in place. A tragic car accident was decided upon. I’d like it to remain that way, please, Harry.” Harry was deeply upset by what Bea had told him; he couldn’t do anything but nod his head in response. A tear trickled down his face. Megan wanted me to tell you, so you’d understand why she may act oddly towards you at times or just simply not want to be alone with either you or Charlie. She doesn’t want you to think she’s ungrateful for all that you’re doing for her. She just wants to put it all behind her and start afresh. She’s only a month older than Janie. She shouldn’t have been subjected to such atrocities. She just wants to be a normal little girl.” The heat had dried the tears on Harry’s face. He finished off his beer and then helped himself to another before he’d finally composed himself enough to speak.

  “I’ll not tell a soul, Bea. I promise.” Bea smiled up at her brother.

  “I know you won’t. I also know that Megan has told Janie the truth too and that she’ll never repeat it to another living soul either. Megan knows it as well. Now, the girls have spotted you, Harry, so slap a smile on your face and tell me what’s been going on back home.”

  ***

  31st December 1976

  Bea sat alone in the darkened lounge of her brother’s house. It was just after 1am. This time tomorrow another year would be over and a new one would just be beginning. Bea prayed that it would be a quiet, uneventful year. This last one had been such a struggle at times. Thankfully, Megan had settled into school and her new home nicely. She still woke up most nights in a cold sweat, though, the shootings and assaults invading her sleep. But she no longer sought comfort from Bea. Instead, she’d climb into Janie’s bed. Janie would just budge over and go back to sleep. They’d become inseparable. It filled Bea’s heart with so much love for them both. Two little girls, helping each other carve a path through a world that had shown them so much hurt and pain. They were going to be a force to be reckoned with as they got older, these two.

  It had been a rollercoaster for Harry as well. Harry had had an unexpected visit from DCI Jack Wilde about Elsie. Seems he’d flown out to the Costa del Sol after a tip-off she was working out there. He’d managed to locate a bar she’d worked at in Torremolinos. From there she’d changed her name several times and had appeared to have hooked up with a young homosexual guy. He’d traced them both down as far as Fuengirola, but both his time and luck had run out there. He’d keep Harry informed on any new information he was able to find out. Between the news from DCI Wilde and Anne’s outburst Harry had been through the mill emotionally.

  Three weeks after bursting into Harry’s office demanding money, Anne had married Eric in a registry office with two strangers off the street acting as their witnesses, much to the annoyance of her aunt and gran. Immediately afterwards they’d left to start a new life in Derbyshire. Harry had received a birthday card out of the blue from them both in the July. Then, two months later, Harry, Charlie, Janie, George and Bea had all received letters of apology from Anne. She said, “Eric had made her see the error of her ways”. Anne had also told them she’d sent a letter to her aunt and gran, informing them that they were wrong about Bea and Janie and telling them to stop spreading their hateful lies around and she no longer wanted anything to do with them. Harry had promptly sent them off a cheque for a thousand pounds as a belated wedding present from them all. A big family reunion at the cottage in Talybont was planned for the coming summer. Anne wrote a letter addressed to them, including Megan, every fortnight telling of her new life as both a wife and greengrocer. Janie made sure everyone in the house wrote a little something back.

  The clock in the hall chimed 2am and Bea rose from her chair. It was going to be a very long busy day and she needed to get some much-needed sleep. In the dark, she silently made her way upstairs to bed and lay her head on her pillow. Her last thoughts as she drifted off to sleep were the same as always. Of her darling Arthur.

  DEREK

  October 1978

  Derek Collins’s legs were shaking so hard that he actually thought he was going to collapse in a heap on the visiting room floor. When Harry Arnold had requested a visiting order to see him, he’d happily obliged, but now seeing him sat at a table across the visiting room he’d suddenly become a physical wreck. He’d caused this man so much hurt, yet he’d never once spoken badly about him. Derek took a deep breath, then took the final few steps to the table. Once there, he quickly pulled out the chair opposite Harry and practically fell onto it. His legs had finally given way and now butterflies were churning up a storm in his stomach. Derek slowly lifted his gaze from the tabletop to meet Harry’s and was surprised to find him smiling.

  “I’ve not come to berate you,” began Harry. “I’ve come to say I hope your appeal next week is successful and, in the light of what DCI Jack Wilde has told me, you’ll be a free man in no time at all”. Now it was Harry’s turn to feel the flutter of butterflies. What he was about to say he’d never really voiced before, but deep down inside had always known to be true!

  “Elsie killed Freddy. That can be the ONLY reason for her to hide away like she has. Innocent people don’t hide in the shadows. They step out into the light. You stepped out into the light, Derek. In all this time, you’ve never wavered. You knew Elsie was alive and out there somewhere. She’d set you up, didn’t she?” Derek felt his own butterflies being settled at Harry’s words.

  Derek looked Harry straight in the eyes as he spoke.

  “I believe she did, too. From the moment, I first set eyes on Elsie, she lied to me. Oh! I know I was no saint, Mr Arnold, I’d been in trouble all my life. But Elsie, well, she’s in a different league. I mean, I know, I’ve done time in the past for GBH when my temper got the better of me. But, they weren’t harmless kids, Mr Arnold. They were grown men, out looking for trouble.
But Freddy, well, he was just a kid. He was no real threat to me. If he’d come looking for a fight I’d have given a good hiding, I’ll admit that. But I wouldn’t have killed him. I most certainly wouldn’t have stabbed him, Mr Arnold. A bust lip and black eye would have been all it would have taken. Then I’d have packed up me and Elsie and moved on, nothing more. Like I told ’um. I never carried a knife. My fists have always been my weapons, Mr Arnold. Elsie gave me that knife as a present. I had no interest it in. I said my thanks then slung it in the bedside drawer and forgot about it. Why she saw fit to buy me a knife, I’ve no idea. But, as I’ve lain in my cell all this time, I’ve come to the same conclusion as you, Mr Arnold. Elsie used that knife to stab Freddy. To stab Freddy and frame me. If she wanted out, why not stab me? Why kill your own son and set up your lover? There’s just no reason on earth that justifies killing your own flesh and blood. But she was they only one who knew about that knife, Mr Arnold. She’s the only one who knows why she did it.” In his haste to get it all out, Derek had forgotten how much his words must be hurting this poor man.

  “I’m so sorry, Mr Arnold, I just got carried away.” Harry held up his hand to stop Derek from speaking. Although tears were running down his cheeks he still managed to smile at Derek.

  “There’s no need to apologise to me, Derek. Elsie twisted you round her little finger, just like she’d twisted me and countless others round it. You weren’t the first affair she’d had. Christ! You weren’t even the first she’d planned on doing a runner with. I’d just got tired of getting her to stay. Tired of all the lies. Tired of being taken for a fool. Freddy came to me that night you pair took off to get me to stop her. I told him it was time to let her go. I told him everything she’d put me through. Freddy didn’t go to Blackpool to make her come home. Freddy went to tell her to never, ever come back. So why she chose to stick a knife in him and let you take the blame, as you’ve said, only she knows. This Douglas Moore chap has confessed to fleeing Blackpool with her. His story has checked out. DCI Wilde has found evidence of her on the Costa del Sol and, although progress is slow, I believe he’ll track her down eventually and she’ll be made to pay for her crimes.”

  “Do you really believe he’ll find her?” asked Derek. Harry smiled across at Derek.

  “DCI Jack Wilde always believed you was innocent, but the evidence against you was so strong at the time. He’s put a lot of time into finding Elsie, both on and off duty. He wants justice for Freddy. For me and my family. And he wants justice for you too, Derek. He’s a fair man. He’s asking to speak in defence of you at your appeal hearing. His evidence, along with Douglas Moore’s statement, will ensure you are freed. I’ve also written a letter in your defence to the board. But can I ask one thing of you now, Derek? Once you’re released, don’t go looking for Elsie. Don’t let her ruin any more of your life. She’s not worth it. Trust in DCI Wilde to bring her in. Stripping Elsie of her freedom is the worst thing that could happen to her, believe me. She got locked in an out-building once and she went ballistic. Spending the rest of her life behind bars in a poky cell will kill her.”

  Derek looked at the man before him with such respect and admiration. He’d stolen his wife. He’d been jailed for murdering his son. Now here he was, telling him to not waste the life he was helping to get him back. Why Elsie had chosen to cause this man so much grief was beyond him. He prayed that Harry Arnold would live to get the justice he so truly deserved. The bell signalling visiting was over interrupted his thoughts.

  Harry rose from his chair and waited for Derek to do the same, then he extended his hand out to him. Derek quickly shook the offered hand before a guard came to escort him back to his cell block.

  “I won’t go looking, Mr Arnold, I promise,” shouted Derek over his shoulder.

  “Go looking for what?” enquired the prison guard.

  “Trouble,” replied Derek. “Trouble.”

  HARRY

  Harry left Strangeways Prison with a heavy heart, not because he’d just visited Derek Collins but with what he was going to have to tell his family before word was leaked to the press. He drove home wishing the drive would take ten times longer. With every mile that took him closer to home, the heavier his heart felt. What he had to tell his children would change their lives yet again. And he feared for poor young Janie. Janie was such a forgiving child. Eager to please, happy to help and so full of love. He could not imagine what it would do to her if she learnt the real truth. The truth that both her biological parents were murderers! He prayed for all he was worth that she’d never find out and that by some miracle she’d not inherited the killer gene. Harry drove on, his resolve set to make sure that Janie turned into the beautiful, caring adult she was so clearly meant to be.

  Bea had made sure that Charlie, Janie, Megan, and Harry and Bea’s father, George, were all seated in the lounge for Harry’s return. He’d rung her from a phone booth expressing how important it was for them all to be there to hear what he had to say. Only Bea knew that he’d gone to visit Derek, but she had no idea what it was about. All she really knew was that some detective kept calling both the house and the garage more and more frequently. At last Harry entered the lounge, silence fell across the room. Whatever he was about to impart on them, they could tell from his face it was serious. Harry crossed the room and slumped down into his favourite armchair.

  “Tea?” asked Bea. Harry shook his head.

  “After, Bea, after,” Harry began. Then he wiped his hands over his face and through his hair before addressing his family.

  “I don’t know any other way of telling you this so I’m just going to come straight out with it, so here goes. For a while now, I’ve been having talks with DCI Jack Wilde. He’s the detective who dealt with our Freddy’s murder. He’s never stopped looking for Elsie, as he’s always believed she had something to do with Freddy’s demise. Well, a couple of years ago, a known IRA man was captured by the police in London. On his presence was a passport in the name of Morris Connolly. He also disappeared the day Freddy was murdered. DCI Wilde went and interviewed him. He admitted to fleeing Blackpool the day Freddy was murdered, for Ireland with Elsie. He said after getting her a new passport and identity she robbed him of thousands of pounds and fled to Spain. DCI Wilde investigated Connolly’s story and it all checked out. Elsie fled to the Costa del Sol under the name of Joanie Allen.”

  “That’s her best friend’s name,” piped up George.

  “Yeah, Dad, you’re right, it was.”

  “So, have they found mum?” asked Charlie.

  “Not yet, son, not yet.”

  “So why has this detective been contacting you, then, Harry?” asked Bea.

  “Because next week Derek Collins, as we came to know him, will have his appeal heard to quash his conviction, and it will be. He’ll be a free man.”

  “They can’t do that, can they?” enquired George.

  “They can, and they will, Dad, and rightly so.”

  “But he killed our Freddy, Dad, how can they—” burst in Janie.

  “BECAUSE he’s innocent, Janie.”

  “So, did this Connolly bloke kill Freddy then?” asked Charlie.

  Bea sensed where this was heading and her heart went out to Harry. She needed to help him out.

  “No, Charlie, it wasn’t him, was it, Harry?”

  Harry shook his head. Suddenly the penny dropped and everyone looked at each other to see if they had reached the same conclusion. Finally, George spat it out.

  “ELSIE. It was Elsie, wasn’t it?” Harry just nodded at first.

  “It seems that way. There’s no other reason for her not to come forward. Connolly picked her up at the train station in Blackpool the afternoon of Freddy’s murder. He said she had no luggage and was sporting a bandage on her arm. He also said it was the first time he’d ever known her to be jumpy. Investigations show that the call made to Derek’s workplace was from
the train station. Next week, Derek will be freed from prison and a warrant for Elsie’s arrest will be made public. First Connolly, then Wilde traced her to Spain so a televised appeal for her will be made here as well as there in the hope someone comes forward with information on her whereabouts. I’m sorry, kids, but it’s going to get rough for us all. The press will have a field day over this. As of Thursday next week we’ll be having around-the-clock police protection. Just when we thought this nightmare was over, its starting all over again.” Harry held his head in his hands and openly began to cry. Janie and Charlie rushed to their father’s side to comfort him as they shed their own tears. Megan, unsure what to do, stayed rooted to the spot, while George gently rubbed his daughter’s shoulder.

  “We’ll get through this, for Freddy’s sake,” said George. “He deserves justice and I for one hope to live to see the day that evil woman is made to pay for what she has done to not just Freddy but this whole family.” They all nodded in agreement. As hard at it was going to be coming to terms with it all, they’d face up to it for Freddy’s sake. He deserved that.

  An hour later, Harry replaced the phone receiver back on its cradle. Telling Anne over the phone her mother was a murderer wasn’t the easiest of things but there was no way he could get up to see her in person before everything came out. He was just glad that she had Eric to lean on. Under his breath, he cursed Elsie for every wrong doing she had bestowed on her family. He, like his father, hoped to live long enough to see her brought to justice. In fact, he wouldn’t rest until she was caught.

  ELSIE

  November 1978

  Elsie had just finished washing up the last of the pots from their meal. The percolator was happily spitting out its last few drops of freshly made coffee and Elsie was feeling very contented. She and Tommy had enjoyed a rare day alone. Usually, Carl or other hangers-on, as she referred to them, were with them. But yesterday evening Tommy had ordered everyone to stay away for a couple of days so that he could enjoy some alone time with his wife. They’d started the day browsing around the shops and then done some haggling in the market place before returning to their villa for a swim in the pool and finishing off the rest of the afternoon sunbathing on the terrace. After they’d both showered and changed, Tommy had cooked their meal of steak and chips. It had been a lovely day, then Tommy shouted from the living room.