Page 36 of Worse Than Murder (DCI Matilda Darke Thriller #13)

T he majority of people who had gathered on the shore head for The Frog and Toad once the excitement of the car being lifted from the lake is over.

Sitting at a corner table, Alison and Claire are chatting. Alison is on her second vodka and tonic, Claire is disappointingly sipping at yet another apple juice. Several of the drinkers at the bar keep turning around to look at them.

‘I feel like every pair of eyes in this room is watching me, waiting for me to burst into tears,’ Alison says.

‘The atmosphere isn’t as lively as it usually is, is it?’

‘No.’

‘Even the hoo-hah about Kevin cheating on the quiz has died down. Ally, can I ask you a favour?’

‘Of course you can.’

‘I know it’s only early. I mean, I’m not even showing yet,’ she said, sticking out her flat-ish stomach. ‘But I’m trying to get all the big things sorted before I end up being a big thing. I was wondering if you’d be godmother to whatever I’ve got growing inside me.’

Alison’s face lights up. ‘Oh, Claire, seriously?’

‘Yes. You’re my best friend.’

‘I’d love to!’ She reaches over and gives her a tight squeeze.

‘Geraint’s asking his brother to be godfather but we’re going to write a will and I’m going to say I want you to be in overall charge of the little one’s upbringing, should anything happen… you know.’

‘Shouldn’t you be thinking about cots and nappies rather than going all morbid thinking you’re going to die before the child is old enough to look after itself?’

‘Probably. I’m just… I’m really nervous about being a mum, Ally. There are times when I can’t even look after myself. How am I going to cope with bringing a child up who is totally dependent on me?’

‘You have nothing to worry about. You’ve got Geraint. You’ve got me. You’re going to be a wonderful mum.’

‘I hope so.’

‘Want another drink?’ Alison asked.

‘Sure. Just an orange juice for me.’

Alison went to the bar and returned with two orange juices. She really wanted a double gin and tonic but decided to abstain in front of Claire. She didn’t want to be seen to be indulging when Claire had to cut back.

‘Claire, you remember Travis, don’t you?’

‘Of course.’

‘What did you think of him?’

‘I thought he was lovely. I remember having an argument with Celia about which one of us was going to marry him.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes. It even got to hair-pulling stage. In the end, we decided to share him. We’d each have him three days a week and he could have Sunday off,’ she says with a smile at the memory. ‘Bloody hell, can you imagine if something like that were possible?’

Alison takes a long sip of her drink. ‘Do you think Travis took my sisters?’ she asks, eventually.

‘Oh, I don’t know about that, Ally.’

‘It’s his car at the bottom of the lake. Look, Claire, if I tell you something, you have to promise not to tell anyone, not your mum, not Tania, and not Geraint.’

‘I promise on my unborn baby,’ she says, cradling her stomach.

‘That’s good enough for me.’ Alison tells her about her mother’s second police statement, admitting to an affair with Travis.

‘Oh my God!’ Claire says. ‘No offence to your mum or anything, but her and Travis, that’s… well, it’s… I don’t know. It just seems wrong.’

‘Tell me about it.’

‘Eww,’ Claire shudders. ‘How do you feel about it all?’

‘I was angry. Then I spoke to Matilda. She reminded me that the early nineties were a different time. Things like depression weren’t talked about as openly as they are now, particularly by men. Maybe Dad bottled everything up. Maybe he pushed Mum away.’

‘It’s possible. Where do you go from here?’

‘Matilda is going to do some digging for me. She’s going to speak to my mum and Iain.

What I want to know is: why wasn’t Travis’s car reported as stolen?

I’ve been thinking and going back to that time before Celia and Jennifer went missing.

Whenever he had any spare time, Travis was always messing about with his car.

It’s been at the bottom of the lake for thirty years; it was there for three months before Travis left. Why did nobody notice?’

‘Maybe they did.’

‘Then why wasn’t it reported stolen?’

‘Maybe it was.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Alison asks, turning sharply to Claire.

‘Who was in charge of the police here, back then?’

‘Inspector Bell.’

‘And what do we know about Inspector Bell since he left the police?’

The penny drops. ‘We know that Inspector Bell isn’t the upstanding, law-abiding police officer everyone thought he was.’

‘Precisely. He took all that collection money, remember.’

‘I should tell Matilda about that.’

‘Well, good luck to Matilda trying to get anywhere near Lionel Bell. You know what Gill’s like.’

‘I do, but I also know how unstable Matilda Darke is right now. If Gill stops her trying to get to speak to her father, she’s liable to smack her teeth in.’

A smile spreads across Claire’s face. ‘I would pay thousands to see that.’