One phrase that Vince Godfrey said had stuck uncomfortably in his mind. ‘What my wife wants she gets.’ For all the fact that Vince had protested he loved his wife there had been some bitterness – resentment – in his words.
But Petula had not had all she had wanted – if a husband’s fidelity counted for anything. So how would a woman like that respond to a husband who broke his wedding vows and was unfaithful? Might she feel he owed her something?
They had no children. Neither had expressed any regret over this but had stated the fact baldly, without inviting sympathy. Perhaps a truly selfish person was better off having no children.
Alex winced. Personally he would love to have had children.
Alex had the feeling that Vince had said more than he had meant. If he consulted Martha and related the conversations, he argued, he might have a woman’s take on it. Maybe.
He rang Martha first thing Monday morning and wasted no time on preamble, stating bluntly, ‘I wonder if I might come over and discuss this case with you?’
‘Of course, Alex. You know you’re always welcome to talk about cases with me. How was Spain?’
‘Not hot but we did see a little sunshine and enjoyed walking round Malaga. And of course we simply had to visit a bar for some tapas . I’ll come straight over if it’s all right with you.’
‘Fine. I’ve got something to tell you too,’ she said.
‘I forgot. Sorry. How was your weekend with your friend’s husband?’
‘Dire,’ she said. ‘Even worse than I’d expected. Civil war in the Pendlebury household, I’m afraid.’
‘Oh dear.’
He was round in less than half an hour before she’d really got stuck in to her morning’s work. Jericho let him in with a sour, grouchy look. Alex took no notice but went straight into Martha’s office.
‘Not much of a tan,’ she teased.
‘No.’
‘Now what can I do for you?’
He sat down in the chair, stretching his long legs out in front of him. ‘At some point, Martha,’ he said, ‘we’re going to have to decide whether to pursue this case or drop it.’
‘Ye-es,’ she said. ‘I realize that. But you know I always want to find out what the truth is. It doesn’t help that Mark Sullivan can’t be absolutely certain of “a” how long ago the child died, and “b” whether it was born alive and “c” whether it died from natural causes.’ She hesitated. ‘I take it the visit to the Godfreys wasn’t an out and out success then?’
‘Not really,’ he said. ‘They certainly didn’t admit to anything.’
‘What were they like?’
‘He’s obviously made a lot of money. Money he doesn’t quite know what to do with. I wouldn’t like to say how exactly he made so much money. It might simply be hard work but he seemed a shifty sort of guy to me. He was certainly relieved to see us leave. They have no children and he practically admitted that he had been unfaithful to his wife.’
‘Oh dear,’ Martha said. ‘And before they lived in number 41?’
‘An elderly lady well into her eighties lived in the house before the Godfreys. She’d lived there for years and by the end was fairly incapacitated so obviously didn’t go into the loft in the last few years. If, say, one of her carers was pregnant, she could have hidden the baby up there without the old lady being aware. It’s possible. Vince Godfrey said she was demented by the time her relatives took her to live with them.’ He shifted in his seat. ‘Then there are the Godfreys themselves. Though they both said they had carried out extensive renovation to the property Vince Godfrey says he was not the one to box in the immersion tank. If Petula Godfrey had become pregnant there would have been no need and no point in concealing either the pregnancy or the baby. If she really hadn’t wanted a baby she could have had an abortion and if she was intending to keep the child she would have had proper antenatal care.’
He chewed his lip, frowning. ‘She admitted to having a couple of maids but denied that any one of them had become pregnant. She said she would have fired them.’ He stopped. ‘If one of her maids or one of her husband’s mistresses had become pregnant…?’
‘That’s a very sinister scenario,’ Martha said. ‘Do you really think? Are they capable of…?’ She looked at him. ‘You’ve met them,’ she said. ‘What do you think? That she murdered one of his mistresses and the baby too?’
‘It does seem incredible.’
‘Is there another body there? Or did the mistress escape leaving the baby behind? Surely not?’
‘I know, Martha, none if it does make sense but the fact is someone hid that body in the house.’
‘The Godfreys seem unlikely, surely?’
‘Ye-es except that I thought that Vince – Mr Godfrey – was trying to convey something to me when he said how determined his wife was, that she had to have what she wanted. He was telling me something, Martha.’
She was silent, unable to think of anything helpful to contribute.
‘Anyway. Enough of that. Tell me about your weekend. How did dinner with the vamp go?’
‘OK,’ she said. ‘She isn’t really a vamp. Just seems very young. She was much as I’d expected but no worse. Truth is I don’t think she’s a bad kid. Just not for Simon. That’s all. She’s wrong for him.’
‘Because she’s not like Evie?’
‘Give me some credit, Alex. No, not just because of that. It’s because she’s the wrong age, the wrong outlook, the wrong intellect. Even the wrong class. Everything’s wrong.’
‘You think she is a gold-digger?’
‘Not in the usual sense. I’m sure she doesn’t think of it like that. It’s more that she might love him now but when he’s older, more vulnerable, he won’t be the same man. Anyway, that wasn’t what I had to tell you. Alex. I know about the Message to Martha.’
‘What? You’ve solved it on your own?’
‘Not really. My stalker wanted me to know who he was and why.’
‘I am intrigued.’
‘Thought you would be.’
‘Go on then.’
She related Finton Cley’s story, finishing: ‘Quite simply he blames me.’
‘That’s ridiculous.’
‘We-ell. His point is that I put the family through a lot of unnecessary pain. He thinks I should have suppressed the letter and put in a verdict of misadventure. Then there would have been an insurance payout; he could have stayed at public school.’ She recalled Finton’s face. ‘I might even have become a lawyer or a doctor, like you.’
She carried on with the story. ‘His mother wouldn’t have been flung into penury and presumably his sister, in spite of her father’s suicide, would not have descended into depression and alcoholism.’
‘Very neat,’ Alex said, ‘but if there was a note and you had suppressed it you could, presumably, have been accused of insurance fraud.’
‘That’s right. I had no choice. I pointed this out to Finton but he was fairly unforgiving. His mother has since died and his sister has alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver. It’s a sad story.’
Alex touched her hand. ‘You’re not responsible, Martha.’
‘I keep telling myself that but a little voice inside me listens to Finton’s arguments and I do feel responsible.’
‘You are not responsible,’ he repeated, louder this time.
‘No, I know that. I don’t really see how I could have acted any differently but it is one of the difficult and sore points of the job.’
‘Is he going to leave you alone from now on?’
She nodded. ‘I think so.’
‘It’s a grim business. Talk about something else.’
Afterwards she could have bitten her tongue off but she’d said it by then anyway. ‘Did your wife mind you going away for the weekend?’