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I don’t think Connie spots my hands gripping the arms of the chair that little bit tighter.
‘She made me promise to find you and tell you that,’ Connie adds. ‘Do you know who Tom is?’
I shake my head. ‘I’m afraid I don’t.’
Disappointment crosses her face. I have a feeling there is more to her appearance than she’s letting on. ‘You said you were her carer. Were you live-in, or part-time?’ I enquire.
‘I lived in the same village as her.’
‘So you weren’t there the night she passed away?’
‘No, but ...’ Her voice trails off.
‘Is something wrong?’
‘It’s quite a long story. Do you have time?’
‘It’s all I have,’ I say. ‘Shall I put the kettle on?’
‘Let me do it,’ she says and I oblige, pointing her in the direction of the kitchen behind me. This is turning out to be a most peculiar day.
CHAPTER 54
CONNIE
As the kettle boils, I look over my shoulder and watch Meredith staring out of the window. I imagine she’s gone back in time somewhere, reliving old memories and processing what I’ve told her so far. She looks quite content and now I’m about to ruin it. And I’m starting to doubt how far I should take this. Is it fair for me to tell a woman of her age the rest of Gwen’s story? Or should I just make my excuses and leave? After all, I’ve done what I’ve come here to do: pass Gwen’s message on to her cousin. If I went now, she’d be the none the wiser. But when I put myself in her shoes, I think I’d want to know. So I make my decision.
Back in the sitting room, I catch her face from a certain angle and register the resemblance between Meredith and Gwen. They share the same slim nose and defined jaw, but Meredith is smaller in frame and frailer than her cousin was. I assume she lives here alone. As far as I’m aware, she has never married and has no children and I wonder if this will be me when I reach her age. Will I too be going through the motions until death comes a-knocking? It’ll probably be no more than I deserve. I haven’t done much tomake the world a better place, have I? Instead, I did what I did to get by and at other people’s expense. At least, that’s how it was. They say a leopard can’t change its spots, but I’m determined to try on stripes for size.
‘There’s something else about Gwen’s death I need to tell you,’ I begin carefully. ‘Something quite important, but it might be difficult to hear. I don’t think it was an accident.’
Her forehead slowly crinkles. ‘Do you mean she took her own life or that someone hurt her?’
‘I believe that somebody hurt her. Shortly before Gwen died, she was befriended by a much younger man who took advantage of her condition and married her.’
Meredith removes the cup from her lips, mid-sip. She swallows quickly. ‘Married?’
‘Yes,’ I reply. ‘And I don’t blame her, it really wasn’t Gwen’s fault. She wasn’t thinking straight. Paul was a handsome, engaging man who lavished her with attention, which I think she really missed getting from Bill. There were many times when she even mixed the two of them up.’
I go on to fill in Meredith about the last year of Gwen’s life, although I stop short of revealing anything that paints me in a bad light. And then I explain to her, as gently as I can, what happened on the night Gwen died and its aftermath. I finish by telling her about how Fran Brown became Paul’s fifth wife, her suspicious death, and how I only heard about the police investigation while on my way here. ‘I hope it’s only a matter of time before they start looking into Gwen’s so-called accident and the others,’ I add hopefully. ‘I read online that the specific drug he gave them can remain in the liver for up to five years.’
‘I, I don’t know what to say,’ Meredith replies, genuinely stunned. ‘I can’t believe this Paul person got away with it for so long.’
I reach into my handbag and find a white envelope. I hand it to her. She opens it and removes the black-and-white photograph of herself and her cousin.
‘Oh my,’ she says and her bottom lip begins to quiver. ‘I remember where this was taken. Loch Lomond. Our parents would book family holidays and rent the same cottage each year. We spent a fortnight by the lake every summer for over a decade.’
‘I’m sorry for the scorch marks,’ I say. ‘Paul threw out almost all of Gwen’s possessions and burned her photographs. This was the only one I could save.’
‘May I keep it?’ she asks. ‘I lost all my own pictures in a flood back in the 1970s. This really is something quite wonderful.’
‘Of course.’
I give her the moment she needs to reflect before I continue. ‘I really do miss Gwen,’ I conclude. ‘I like to think we became more than just carer and patient. I’m supposed to keep a professional distance, but it’s hard to when you spend so much time with someone. I didn’t have the greatest upbringing and she was very much like a mum to me, despite her condition.’ I hesitate before I tell her the next part of my story. ‘And because she had no children of her own, she even rewrote her will so she could leave me her estate. I told her not to, that it was completely unnecessary, but she was very insistent.’
Meredith hesitates as if considering her words. ‘I do remember that about my cousin.’ She nods. ‘She was very headstrong when it came to getting her own way. What Gwen wanted, Gwen always got. And what a wonderful thing for her to do for you. You must have meant so much to her.’
‘It was. But unfortunately, because Paul married her, he inherited everything.’
