‘Considering I probably spent more time on the plane than I did in Sydney, it was actually quite productive. I went out there to get the truth about what happened at the Stockwell property, and to uncover who did what and when.’
‘What case is this, dear?’ her mother asked.
‘It was the same one I told you about last time, Mother...’
‘Oh, the one where that poor girl was starved to death... dreadful! And those awful newspaper reports calling it the “House of Horrors”. I’d have thought it would be all over and done with by now.’
Eddie laughed. ‘It probably would have been if it hadn’t been for Jane. First, she thought a pearl necklace had been stolen from a care home, but then it turned up. And the old lady had died in suspicious circumstances, so Jane insisted on a post-mortem, but it turned out the old lady had died of natural causes. No offence but—’
‘Actually, I do take offence, Eddie,’ Jane said sharply. ‘I was simply doing my job to the best of my ability, and if certain things don’t add up then I make it my business to find out why.’
‘But I thought they knew who had left that girl to starve to death?’ her mother asked.
Jane pursed her lips. ‘That was only part of the investigation. The other part was finding out who had buried a newborn baby alive.’
‘I didn’t read about that; the truth is I couldn’t read all those wretched details. Did the girl that was starved do it?’
‘No!’ Jane snapped.
‘When did it happen, then?’
Jane took a deep breath. ‘Probably more than thirty years ago, Mother, but the amount of time is immaterial because it’s justice that I care about.’
‘There were three sisters... I saw their photographs in an album Jane brought to the house,’ Eddie said.
Jane frowned. ‘Eddie, why don’t we just drop the subject.’
‘Fine by me.’ He shrugged. ‘You’re the one bringing it up at every opportunity. We went for a special overnight break in Brighton, but Jane didn’t tell me about this lawyer she suspected of stealing money from the old lady in a care home, and she just happened to know he lived in Brighton! But then he turns out to be a decent old boy...’
Jane picked up her plate of half-eaten apple pie and stood up to take it into the kitchen.
‘If you must know, I have changed my mind about him as well. I think his behaviour is distinctly odd.’
‘If you don’t like apple pie, Eddie, I have some nice cheese and biscuits. And can you bring in the coffee tray, Jane? It’s all ready.’ Mrs Tennison cleared the other dessert plates and followed Jane into the kitchen, just as she opened the dishwasher.
‘No, dear, you know I always rinse the plates before putting them into the dishwasher. Just leave it on the side and I’ll do them all later. Take the tray in and some extra knives for the cheese, and I’ll bring in the coffee.’
Jane returned to the table, relieved to find Eddie and her father were now in deep discussion about maintaining an old sports car.
As the conversation moved on to Jane’s childhood, Jane poured the coffee and handed the cups around, while her mother proffered the cheese board and biscuits. It took a while for Jane’s feeling of irritation to subside, but eventually she found herself laughing at a story her father was telling Eddie about when her sister Pam had cut all her dolls’ hair and then had cut Jane’s two plaits off.
‘You should have seen the row between them! Pam had always wanted to be a hairdresser, but Jane got her own back when she cut the legs off her sister’s favourite jeans.’
Eddie turned to Jane. ‘Did you always want to be a policewoman?’
Mrs Tennison answered. ‘No, she didn’t. But she was always a perfectionist and very competitive. One time we were all doing jigsaw puzzles at Christmas, and there was a prize for whoever finished theirs first. We discovered that Jane had been cutting the pieces of the jigsaw to fit where she wanted them to.’
Jane laughed, remembering. ‘It was because the sky pieces were so boring!’
‘That’s the way you always were, though — you wanted to get things done. You were argumentative, even as a young girl. And she would ask questions about everything... it drove me to distraction! In a way, I can understand why she joined the Met because that’s all about piecing things together, isn’t it?’
Jane smiled. ‘In a way, yes, it is. But when the pieces don’t fit, I can’t use a pair of scissors to make them. So, I don’t rest until I have the answers. I’m sorry if you find it tedious, Eddie, but until I am satisfied, I keep on mulling things over. I have had to sift through so many lies on the Stockwell inquiry, and even though we have the answers to most of it, there’s something still bugging me.’
‘All right, tell us?’ Eddie said, cutting a slice of cheese. He reached over and touched her hand. ‘I’m serious, go on, what’s bugging you?’
Jane sighed. ‘Why did Jason Thorpe lie about the family album, saying that his mother wanted it? And why did he leave it in Helena’s room?’
‘Who’s Jason Thorpe?’ Mrs Tennison asked.
‘He is the deceased woman’s nephew. He lives in Australia with his mother, Beatrice, her sister,’ Eddie explained.
‘How old is Jason?’ Mrs Tennison asked.
Jane screwed up her eyes, trying to remain patient.
‘What’s wrong with asking his age?’
‘I don’t know how old he is, Mum. He seemed to be about thirty.’
‘Is he married?’
‘No! Mother, for heaven’s sake! My point is, why did he lie to me? He caused me problems at work as well.’
Eddie raised his hand. ‘What about this... maybe there was something in the album he needed to talk to the old lady about?’ He drained his coffee.
‘Eddie, she couldn’t talk... she was suffering from dementia. And there was nothing in the album of significance. I thought at one time it might have been her will...’
‘So maybe he paid her a visit and took it?’ Eddie suggested.
Jane was becoming increasingly tetchy. She had taken the album before Jason’s visit, so she knew there was no will.
‘It’s just the lies. Jason only discovered today that Helena had married Arnold Hadley and made a new will, which her solicitors have. If he knew he was the beneficiary of the first will then I get why he would want a copy of it—’
Eddie interjected. ‘Couldn’t he just ask the solicitors for a copy?’
‘They would never divulge the contents until after a funeral,’ Jane replied.
‘I’m sorry, dear, I don’t get why this Jason would want a copy,’ Mrs Tennison remarked with a bemused expression.
‘If he was worried that Helena had cut him out of her new will, he might want a copy of the first one to contest the second, perhaps and accusing Hadley of coercing Helena to make a new will while she wasn’t of sound mind.’
‘So, who gets her inheritance?’ Mr Tennison asked, now starting to get interested, despite not knowing who anyone was.
‘The bulk of her wealth was left to her husband, Arnold Hadley. She didn’t leave Beatrice or Jason a single penny.’
‘So, what has that got to do with the murder of the baby?’ Eddie asked, glancing at his watch.
Jane sighed, then pushed her chair back.
‘I don’t suppose it has anything to do with it. Like I said, it’s me just wanting to tie up all the loose ends and make the jigsaw pieces fit.’
Eddie stood up and thanked Jane’s parents for the fabulous dinner, saying that as he had a very early start in the morning, he thought they should be leaving.