Page 85 of A Curious Ending

‘Yes, she started to write and then when I came out of prison she offered me a home with her.’

‘As her cleaner?’ Joe asked in surprise.

‘It wasn’t like that. I didn’t want anyone to know who I was. In a way it happened by accident. I was helping her move some things around and a cup of tea got smashed and I was in the hall on my hands and knees cleaning it up. The vicar came to call and he just assumed I was the help. Lilibet said I was just mopping, but he took her literally and thought that was my name. After that Lilibet insisted on calling me Mrs Mopping when others were around.’

‘And you didn’t mind?’ Sarah asked.

‘My goodness, no. It made me laugh. She could always make me laugh. And her way of living wasn’t the life for me. I could see how it was, the socialising and the parties. It suited her. She had become a very different woman and she loved it. The clothes, the money, even the way she now talked. But it wasn’t something I could get used to. I’d much rather look after her the way I liked to. And she looked after me. It suited us both. Richard was grown up and it was no one else’s business.’

Lara could not help feeling this last comment was aimed directly at her. She thought of the room in the attic, imagining this private existence that enabled the two sisters to be together in the way they wanted. It was true, life would have been very different if the world had known Margaret was Lady Porter’s sister. Margaret would have been treated very differently by the local community and people would have inevitably asked questions about their background – the very thing the sisters wanted to leave behind them. As it was, it felt like it had been their private joke against the world.

‘Did your sister kill herself?’ Lara asked the woman who had been her constant companion for the past thirty years.

‘She wanted to, but she found in the end she couldn’t do it. She begged me, Lara.’ Mrs M appeared to age before Lara’s eyes. ‘What could I do?’

‘So she knew she was ill?’

‘Most of the time she did. She didn’t blame you, doctor,’ she said, turning to Dr Patil, who had given an inarticulate groan. ‘She got it into her head it was Huntington’s disease, like Reggie and she’d seen how it had taken him. She didn’t want that. And whatever it was she could see where it was heading.’

‘So you killed her?’ Lara whispered.

Mrs M gave a slight nod. Abby thought she would never cease to be amazed about the many different forms murderers take.

‘She had an old bottle of sleeping pills Dr Patil had once given her and I ground them all up and added them to her morning tea.’

Lara suddenly recalled the mortar and pestle she had seen standing by the packing boxes in the kitchen.

‘I sat with her until she fell asleep and then I went out.’ Mrs M’s voice was a whisper.

‘Couldn’t you have nursed her?’ Lara felt she had to ask.

Mrs M rounded on her, a mix of rage and agony ravaged her face. ‘I would have looked after her to the very end. I would have protected her from the world and given anything for her. I would have taken her place in a heartbeat. But this is not what she wanted. You think I wanted to kill her?’ Mrs M’s voice broke and sobs racked her small, sturdy frame as if they would break her.

Sarah leant forward and put an arm around her.

Abby murmured, ‘Oh, Mrs M, in the end I believe you really were the strong one.’

‘But I don’t understand why then? I had seen her and she seemed so happy and was planning so much,’ Lara was desperate to understand.

‘Lara you didn’t see her on her bad days and it was getting worse and worse. And then there were all the problems with Joe.’

‘Me?!’ Joe exclaimed.

Lara shook her head. ‘I don’t get it,’ she confessed.

Mrs M blew her nose and tried to compose herself. ‘Lilibet began to think Joe was her grandson and she was talking about leaving everything to him, not just a legacy.’ Mrs M added grudgingly, ‘Despite his shortcomings, there was no doubt she loved Richard and the real Lilibet wouldn’t have wanted that. Her son didn’t always do his best by her, but then she wasn’t always the best mother.’ It was clear it was hard for Margaret to admit this about her sister. ‘You have to be taught these things,’ she tried to explain. ‘No one taught us,’ she said with awful truth. ‘With Richard, she tried so hard to give him everything we hadn’t had that she ended up spoiling him. She could never bear to discipline him and he became far too used to getting his own way.’ Mrs M clasped her hands together tightly. ‘Whatever else happened, Lilibet would have wanted Reggie’s son looked after. She set great store by family. After what happened to us, it was important to her.’

Lara thought she heard a stifled sob from Richard Porter. She looked around the room. Sarah still had her arm around Mrs M – their murderer. Kate was leaning towards her, a look of concern on her face. Julian had edged away from Pinky and was looking at Mrs M like she was something unpleasant. Pinky on the other hand was sitting closer to Richard, but not touching him. Joe looked confused and concerned. Only Dr Patil was not looking at Mrs M. He was frowning and gazing off into space.

When he spoke, his words dropped like a stone into a still pool. ‘But, my good woman, you cannot possibly have killed Elizabeth Porter.’

Chapter 42

Lara knew that Dr Patil’s statement had even taken Abby by surprise. She was certain she heard a quickly suppressed, ‘Well I never!’

‘It’s all right, Mo. It’s kind of you, but I said when everyone arrived I was ready for this. I said whatever happened next,’ Mrs M insisted.

‘No! You don’t understand,’ Dr Patil said impatiently. ‘You cannot possibly have killed your sister.’