The House Across the Street Read online

  He paused at the gate, looking across to Gloria’s burnt-out house. The scorched timbers and the walls had all been pulled down now, but not taken away, and it remained a real eyesore.

  ‘The worst of it is, the attached house where Mr and Mrs Harding used to live is to be demolished, too,’ Katy said. ‘It was too badly damaged internally for them to return to it. They have been moved to a bungalow at Cooden Beach. So sad, as they were almost like grandparents to Rob and me. As soon as I can walk again, I must go down to see them.’

  ‘Any news of what is happening to the site?’ Charles asked.

  ‘Rumour has it the developer wants to build a huge detached house there. Some of the neighbours are protesting about it. But I think it’s better to have a big, smart house than flats or something.’

  ‘Someone always protests at change,’ Charles smiled. ‘I don’t know why people just can’t embrace it. In London there are so many projects getting started to clear away war damage and slum areas. I find it exciting. But many people see it as a threat.’

  ‘We’d better go,’ Katy said. ‘Or Mum will come out with a blanket to put over my knees. She does that – like I’m eighty!’

  It was warm in the sunshine and as soon as they got down to the seafront, Charles found a shelter out of the wind and wheeled the chair into it. ‘That’s better,’ he said as he sat down. ‘Now I can look at you.’ He leaned forward to kiss her lingeringly, and all the bubbly fizzing feeling Katy had experienced with her first kiss from him came back.

  ‘I thought of nothing but that on the drive down here,’ he said. ‘I can’t wait for the plaster to come off your ankle and arm and to whisk you away somewhere.’

  Katy felt a pang of fright at that. Did he mean he wanted to sleep with her? She wasn’t ready for that yet, and neither did she want to think that was all he wanted.

  ‘I’ve got news of Reilly,’ she said, moving on to safer ground. She told him what Michael Bonham had told her. ‘I’m a bit confused about the doctor’s wife, though. How did she come into the picture? And where is she now?’

  ‘I spoke to the officer who interrogated Reilly,’ Charles said. ‘It seems Reilly had known Margaret Foster since he did a small building job in her house in Hampstead. This was a few years back, and he had a brief affair with her. She told him at the time that her husband beat her but she didn’t know how to get away from him. Reilly said he really liked her, but what she told him made him scared: she had two children, her husband was a very ruthless, powerful man, and of course Reilly was married to Deirdre. So he told Margaret that although he’d like to help her, he couldn’t, and he ended the affair.’

  ‘Very gallant!’

  Charles smiled in agreement. ‘Anyway, he said in his statement it was another eighteen months before he saw Margaret again, still in London, and she confided she was about to leave her husband because she had been put in touch with two women who helped beaten wives start a new life. She told him their names and that they were in Bexhill. Reilly pretended he still had a thing for her and wanted to keep in touch, because he suspected these same two women might have helped Deirdre leave him.’

  Katy pulled a face. ‘How horrible, to use one damaged woman to find another one,’ she said indignantly. ‘And Margaret could’ve been signing her death warrant!’

  ‘Exactly, but the police officer doesn’t believe Reilly did anything to Margaret at all. In his opinion, and I’m inclined to agree, Reilly only visited her to pump her for information about Gloria and Edna. When Margaret read in the local paper about Gloria dying in a fire, she was scared and that’s why she did a runner.’

  ‘Funny she hasn’t let her parents know where she is, though.’

  ‘I’m sure she will now that the story about Reilly is all over the national news. There was a sighting of a woman who sounded much like Margaret, also with two children, on the cross-Channel ferry about the time she disappeared from Eastbourne.’

  ‘Let’s hope that’s the case, her parents must be frantic,’ Katy said.

  ‘He certainly was an excellent planner,’ Charles said. ‘He claimed he’d broken into Gloria’s house months before he set the fire, looking for information about where Deirdre was. But he didn’t find anything. He spent a lot of time watching and following both women, and it was anger that made him set the fire. Of course he said he didn’t think Gloria was at home, so he will plead not guilty to murder.’

  ‘I shouldn’t think a jury would believe that,’ Katy said. ‘But thank goodness he got caught before he tracked down anyone else in Edna’s book. Do you think he wanted to do that?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Charles looked thoughtful. ‘He’s never going to admit to it, even if that was his plan. If I was defending him, and thank God I’m not, I would suggest that he acted when the balance of his mind was disturbed. I have to say, it’s going to be tough on you when you are called to give evidence.’

  ‘I’m not too worried about that. I mean I haven’t got any dark secrets to be revealed under cross-examination.’

  Charles smirked. ‘That’s a shame. I was looking forward to interrogating you this afternoon!’

  Katy laughed. ‘More seriously, I would agree he was unbalanced; he was almost like Jekyll and Hyde. When he was calm he was really nice, charming even. I could see how a woman could be taken in by him.’

  They moved on then down the seafront and had some coffee, before turning back for home.

  ‘Are you still having nightmares,’ Charles asked as they turned into Collington Avenue.

  ‘Only occasionally now,’ she said. ‘It feels good to be back in my old room, at least until I’m all mended. Then I’ll come back to London; there’s only so much mothering I can take.’

  Charles laughed. ‘I could sense how intense she could be.’

  ‘There is a great deal to tell you about my family,’ she said, turning her head to look up at him. ‘But not all at once, or you might run a mile.’

  ‘I’m not running anywhere, except here,’ he said, breaking into a fast sprint and pushing her till she squealed.

  ‘This steak is so good!’ Katy said, later that evening, when they were at the Grey Goose. They had a corner table close to an open fire and, with the good food, the wine and Charles sitting opposite her looking so handsome, Katy felt she’d died and gone to heaven. They hadn’t attempted to take the wheelchair; she’d hopped with one crutch and Charles supporting her on her other side.

  ‘So tell me the family secret,’ he said. ‘I sensed something momentous had happened last week when I rang. Also, your mum didn’t seem to quite fit with what both you and Jilly had said about her.’

  ‘No wonder you went in for law,’ Katy said. ‘You’ve got a nose for intrigue. Now if I tell you, don’t let it slip to my parents, I think that would really upset them.’

  ‘My lips are sealed,’ he said, making a zipping gesture.

  She told the story as briefly and succinctly as she could. Charles looked shocked.

  ‘That must’ve been awful for you, and even worse for your poor mum,’ he said, putting his hand over hers on the table. ‘I’m so sorry.’

  ‘It was terrible when she first told me. But Dad made me see how it was for her, and what keeping such a thing inside her had done to her.’

  ‘You are remarkable,’ he said with a smile. ‘So much compassion, so much common sense too. Of course your father is a real hero, and I suspect much of your strength comes from him. I believe we inherit things not just from shared genes, but by living with someone.’

  ‘Yes, I think that’s true. I’ve always had a strong bond with Dad. I always knew how he would react to things. What was important to him.’

  ‘I think one of the most amazing things about him was that he wrote to your mother, telling her to register your birth in his name. He hadn’t even seen you then; he might have been killed in North Africa, but he was thinking ahead and wanted to protect you both, whatever happened to him. Such a noble man.’

 
; ‘He told me he fell for Mum the night he found her in the woods. Do you believe love can happen just like that?’ she asked.

  ‘Yes, I do.’ He smiled and reached out to run his finger down the side of her face. ‘I knew you were the one for me on that first date with you.’

  ‘You couldn’t have,’ she said reproachfully.

  ‘But I did. I couldn’t get you out of my head the next day. I wanted to see you on that Sunday so badly, that’s why I rang Jilly’s relatives. After hearing you’d gone out on Saturday night and vanished, I knew I wouldn’t rest until I found you. I was so scared he was going to kill you, but I hung on to the belief you were still alive. So did Jilly, she’s a great girl.’

  ‘She thinks you are pretty special, too,’ Katy admitted. ‘I don’t know what I’d do without her, such a steadfast, good friend. I can’t wait till she comes down next week, I’ve missed her.’

  ‘And what about me, will you miss me?’

  ‘I’m sure you know perfectly well I will.’

  ‘You looked a bit worried when I said about whisking you away somewhere to be alone. Why was that?’

  Katy blushed. ‘Because I haven’t ever done anything, you know, with a man.’

  ‘You mean you are still a virgin and you’re a bit scared of what it entails? Or that you are against premarital sex?’

  ‘You are very blunt. The first one.’

  ‘I will never push you into doing anything you don’t really want to do,’ he said. ‘But I do believe there comes a time when two people can’t help themselves any more.’

  Katy looked into his soft brown eyes and sensed she was almost at that point; only the plaster on her leg would act as a deterrent.

  On the way home, Charles pulled over to the side of the road. ‘I just want to kiss you,’ he said. ‘I know we won’t be able to when we get back to your house.’

  He was just the best kisser she’d ever known. Her whole body ached for more, and when he slid his hand inside her blouse, and cupped his hand around her breast and gently rubbed her nipple between his fingers, she wished they were in a hotel room with nothing at all to stop them.

  ‘We must go home,’ he said after a little while.

  The car windows were all steamed up, and Katy’s ankle was throbbing because she couldn’t stretch out her leg properly.

  ‘If we don’t go now, you’ll be getting the third degree in the morning. I shall be lying in that spare room tonight wishing I dared creep into your bed.’

  ‘You won’t, though? Mum has got ears like a bat.’

  ‘No, I won’t, but I shall fantasize about what I’d do to you if I was in there.’

  She wanted to get him to tell her what that would entail, but she wasn’t bold enough for that just yet.

  Charles left to go back to London on Sunday evening at eight. It had been the best birthday Katy ever remembered.

  Charles had bought her a beautiful silver bangle, and from her parents she had received a cream trench coat-style mackintosh, which she’d admired in a magazine while she was in hospital. Rob had sent her a tiny china teddy bear with a crutch.

  ‘A souvenir,’ she said when Charles looked puzzled. ‘When we were little we both liked little china bears, and we used to buy each other appropriate ones. He always had ones with footballs or cricket bats. I’m surprised he took time off from his studies to find a bear with a crutch.’

  They had roast beef with all the trimmings for lunch, then Charles and Albert took her for a walk in the wheelchair. When they got back, Hilda had laid the birthday tea: salmon salad, toasted teacakes, a birthday cake with candles, and trifle too.

  ‘I haven’t had a tea like this in years,’ Charles said gleefully. ‘My granny used to do what I called the Big Tea. I used to dream of it when I was at boarding school. My mum’s were poor affairs, just bread and jam and seed cake.’

  Albert lit the candles on the cake. ‘I can’t believe you are really twenty-four,’ he said. ‘It seems like only yesterday you were five and you had to kneel up on a chair to blow out your candles.’

  ‘Don’t forget to wish,’ Hilda barked out as Katy got ready to blow the candles out.

  Katy wasn’t going to forget to wish. She wanted to marry Charles, to live in a country cottage and have four children.

  She did wonder if that was a bit greedy.

  Epilogue

  Tunbridge Wells, 1972

  Katy came in from taking the dry washing off the clothes line, put the basket on the kitchen floor and with a huge sigh eased herself down on to a kitchen chair.

  It was July, yet another very hot day, and her baby was due in a week’s time. Her pale pink cheesecloth dress with its gypsy-style embroidery down the front was sticking to her with the heat. She fanned her face with an old envelope in one hand, and with the other she stroked her bump.

  ‘Won’t be so long now, little one,’ she said. ‘Daddy will be home soon and we’ll all go and sit in the shade in the garden and drink that home-made lemonade I’ve put in the fridge.’

  ‘Talking to yourself is a sign of madness.’

  Katy looked up to see it was June Pettigrew at the open door. She was smiling and holding on to her own bump. Her baby was due in a month, and she’d been staying with Katy and Charles, along with her two children, Matthew and Angela, since her husband beat her to a pulp some three months earlier.

  ‘The council have a house for me,’ June said jubilantly. ‘I have to hand it to you, Katy, you were right about pester power. I think they were so sick of seeing me at the council offices, they caved in.’

  ‘That is wonderful!’ Katy exclaimed. ‘What’s it like? Have you seen it yet?’

  ‘I went straight there. It’s lovely – three bedrooms, a garden – and it’s been looked after, a painter was just touching up bits while I was there. I couldn’t believe it was so nice, I thought they’d give me a hovel.’

  Katy explained to June that she would be able to get a grant from Social Services to cover essential items like beds, cooker and fridge. But she also had a contact with a second-hand shop owner who helped women in difficult circumstances with furniture.

  June suddenly leapt forward and hugged Katy. ‘What would I have done without you and Charles?’ she said, her eyes filling with emotional tears. ‘You took us in when we most needed sanctuary; you fed and clothed us, advised me of my rights, made the kids smile again. You gave us a new life. How can I ever repay you?’

  ‘You finally finding happiness is all the reward we want,’ Katy said. ‘You know the background of why we’ve helped woman in your position? Although we’re about to have a baby of our own, we hope we will be able to continue to help people. Luckily, thanks to people like Erin Pizzey in her Chiswick refuge for battered women, and all the publicity she managed to get about it, people are becoming much more aware of the kind of cruelty you had to live with. But now you’ve got a home of your own, it’s a brand-new start.’

  ‘And I must make a start on packing. I’m getting the keys tomorrow,’ June said. ‘The kids are having a sleepover at Marlene’s.’

  Marlene was another woman who had spent a few months with Charles and Katy, until she got a council place. She still helped Katy with cleaning and laundry at the Old Rectory, and befriended and advised the latest residents.

  Once June had gone upstairs, Katy sat down again and thought back to how her life had changed since her twenty-fourth birthday. At that time her biggest preoccupation had been waiting for the plaster to come off her leg and arm, and hoping the nightmares about Reilly would soon vanish.

  Charles and Jilly were responsible for her rehabilitation. They were on the phone, sending her letters and coming to Bexhill to visit her – her friends and comforters when she most needed it. Jilly made her laugh, painted her nails, told her tales of what her friends at the zoo were up to. Yet it was the wonderful feelings Charles evoked inside her that really pushed the darkness aside. The excitement of seeing him, just the touch of his hand, his lips on hers, mad
e her forget to be afraid. Instead of lying in bed remembering how it had been in the cellar, she found she could only think of how wonderful it would be to spend a whole night with him.

  As it happened, Charles wouldn’t hear of it until she was out of plaster, and back working in London. He made jokes about her irate mother catching them and throwing him out. But in her heart Katy knew he needed her to be absolutely sure it was him she wanted.

  Jilly found them a cheap but rather grotty two-bedroom flat in Camden Town, which they painted and smartened up, but Katy didn’t go back to Frey, Hurst and Herbert at the Inns of Court. Both she and Charles thought their relationship might prove problematic. Instead she found a legal secretary’s position with Whitehouse, Gibson and Alton, a firm of solicitors in Chancery Lane.

  The biggest hurdle in 1965 was Edward Reilly’s trial. Murder trials always attracted a great deal of interest, and the press were voracious. Fortunately, they never discovered where she and Jilly were living, or where Katy worked. But poor Hilda and Albert had a pack of journalists at their door when the trial began.

  Reilly’s claim that he’d committed the crimes while the balance of his mind was disturbed didn’t hold up. The eminent psychiatrist who gave evidence made it quite clear Reilly knew exactly what he was doing. Although he offered mitigating circumstances, in that Reilly’s youth had been blighted by cruelty from both his mother and her male friends, the man was sane.

  Katy was only in the witness box for an hour, but it seemed far longer to her. She hated the way Reilly never took his eyes off her, and she found it irritating that the defence barrister hammered home the kind acts Reilly had done, like providing a kettle and a fire. He even pointed out she’d used the kettle as a weapon to burn his face, directing the jury to look at the still scarlet wound.

  She wanted to shout out that no one in the court had any idea what it was like to be imprisoned, to be beaten and starved. Wouldn’t anyone use the only implement at hand to make their escape?