She lit the fire already laid in the grate, not because it was particularly cold, but because the rest of the room was a mess and it would give them something to look at. And because she knew Joe liked it. Her neighbours had bartered half a lamb for a load of apple logs with a guy in the Borders and had donated her some of the wood; she’d arrived home one night and found the logs neatly stacked in the lean-to at the back of her house. The couple were capable of these acts of kindness and she was grateful they were there, happily tolerated the occasional solstice party when dozens of odd people set up camp on the field in front of her house, turned a blind eye to their dope-smoking – even when it happened, thoughtlessly, in her home.
Vera left the curtains undrawn and fetched beer from the kitchen, a loaf of bread on a board, a lump of cheese. They sat on the two low chairs, their feet to the fire. Vera thought this was as happy as she would ever get.
Ashworth broke into her thoughts. ‘What do you make of this Elias Jones connection? Important or just a distraction?’
She considered for a moment, felt the metallic taste of beer and can on her tongue. ‘Important anyway,’ she said. ‘I mean, even if it doesn’t provide a direct motive. Because it tells us a lot about Jenny Lister.’
‘Like?’
‘She was efficient, organized. A control freak. She didn’t like mixing home and work. Principled. Principles don’t always make you popular. If she caught someone doing something she considered wrong, she wouldn’t keep quiet about it.’
‘You’re thinking about the thefts at the Willows?’
Vera took time to consider that one. ‘Maybe, though it seems very petty. More likely something going on in the village.’ She was thinking about Veronica Eliot and her pristine house and her model family. Nothing was ever that perfect, so what, exactly, was happening under the surface?
Ashworth looked at his watch.
‘It’s all right, Joe,’ she said indulgently. ‘You’re safe to go home now. The bairns’ll be in bed. Tomorrow, prise Holly away from the daughter and see if one of you can track down Jenny’s secret lover. A village that size, someone will know. They’ll have seen a strange car, bumped into them in Hexham.’
He stood up. His face was red from the fire. Or maybe the dig about the children had struck home. ‘What about you?’
She didn’t move. He could find his own way out. ‘Me, like I said, I’m going hospital visiting.’
Chapter Sixteen
Mattie was in a side-ward; a female prison officer sat in the corner with a pile of fashion magazines on her lap and a bag of Maltesers in her hand. God, Vera thought. I bet the woman can’t believe her luck. All this time off the wing! The officer looked about the same age as the patient in the bed, she was a dirty blonde and big-busted, the buttons straining on her white uniform shirt. Easy-going, the sort who’d really enjoy a good night out and a couple of days sitting on her arse with a load of trashy reads and chocolate.
‘Hiya!’ Friendly too. Vera was pleased about that. Whatever Mattie had done, Vera didn’t like to think of her terrified and friendless in hospital. ‘The sister said you’d be coming. I’ll make myself scarce, shall I, so you can have a chat? Tell you the truth, I’m desperate for a tab.’ Her eyes were inquisitive, but she set the magazines on the chair and disappeared, her craving for nicotine stronger than her curiosity.
Vera pulled the chair closer to the bed. The woman lying there looked very young. There was a fan on the bedside locker, but she was still flushed and feverish. ‘She’s still got a nasty temperature,’ the sister had said. ‘Was hallucinating in the night about all sorts. But the antibiotics seem to be starting to work this morning.’
‘What sort of hallucinations?’ Might be the temperature, Vera thought. But it could be guilt or fear. Nothing like guilt to bring on nightmares.
‘Oh, you know, monsters and devils. The usual stuff.’ And the sister had laughed. She’d seen it all before.
Mattie seemed to be dozing now. Vera called her name and she opened her eyes, blinked, confused.
‘Where’s Sal?’
‘She the prison officer?’
Mattie nodded her head.
‘Gone to get a fag. I just need a few words. My name’s Vera Stanhope.’
‘You a doctor?’ She had a little-girl voice too. You’d never think she was old enough to have had a child at school.
Vera laughed. ‘Nah, pet. I’m the fuzz.’
Mattie closed her eyes again, as if she just wanted to shut Vera out, as if she preferred her dreams of monsters and devils.
‘I’m not here to cause bother,’ Vera said. ‘Just for some information, for a bit of a talk. I think you can help me.’
Mattie looked at her. ‘I told the police everything the first time.’
‘I know you did.’ Vera paused. ‘Have you seen the news lately?’ There was a television on a stand on the wall, but it was coin-operated, the NHS making money where it could.
Mattie followed her gaze. ‘Sal got it to work for me. She used her own cash. But we haven’t watched the news.’
Of course, Vera thought. Mattie would like the kids’ cartoons, and for Sal it’d be Britain’s Next Top Model and Wife Swap.
‘Jenny Lister is dead,’ Vera said. ‘You remember Jenny?’
Mattie nodded. Her eyes seemed very big. ‘She came to visit me in prison.’ A tear rolled down her face. ‘What happened?’
‘She was murdered.’
‘Why are you here?’ Mattie seemed wide awake now, even tried to sit herself up a bit. ‘That had nothing to do with me.’
‘You knew her,’ Vera said. ‘I’m talking to the people who knew her. That’s all.’
‘You can’t blame me.’ Now the words were hysterical and so loud that Vera was worried they’d attract attention from the nurses’ station. ‘I was locked up. I couldn’t get out if I’d wanted to.’ And Vera saw that she probably wouldn’t want to. She would feel safe in prison, segregated probably on a wing for vulnerable offenders, comforted by kind prison officers like Sal and by the daily routine of education and meals. Besides, it seemed Mattie didn’t even know the date of Jenny’s death. She’d been in hospital, not in prison, when it had happened.
‘No one’s blaming you,’ Vera said. ‘I need your help. That’s why I’m here.’
Mattie looked confused. The idea that someone might need her was obviously alien. She’d always been the needy one.
‘I liked Jenny. I wish she wasn’t dead.’ A pause followed by another wail, an outburst of self-pity. ‘I’ll miss her. Who’ll come to visit me now?’
‘When did you last see her?’
‘Last Thursday.’ The answer came quickly.
‘You’re sure?’ Vera had expected some vague date in the past.
‘She always came on Thursday.’
‘Every week?’ Vera was astounded. For a busy woman, this was surely above and beyond the call of duty.
‘Thursday. Afternoon visits.’
‘What did you talk about on Thursday afternoon when she came to visit?’ Vera thought it couldn’t have been much of a conversation. Whatever had dragged Jenny to Durham jail every week, it hadn’t been the scintillating chat. Was it guilt? Had the social worker blamed herself for the death of the boy and Mattie’s imprisonment?
‘The same stuff as usual,’ Mattie said.