“Why don’t you like it? They all seem very pleasant.”
“Mrs. Pocock’s all right,” she said. “She’s kind. But she’s not always there.”
“What’s happened?” he asked.
“It’s Mr. Abbot,” she said, in a rush. “At first I thought he was just being friendly, making me feel welcome. You know.”
“But it wasn’t just that?”
She shook her head. “It’s the way he looks at me,” she said. “And he always tries to be on his own with me.” She turned away. “He touches me. Wandering hands, you know.”
The phrase was strangely prim and he was moved. “Couldn’t you tell anyone?” Hunter said. “That’s sexual harassment.” Listen to me, he thought. I never believed anyone’d catch me saying that. “Couldn’t you tell Mrs. Pocock?”
“I was frightened I’d lose my job,” she said. “I was so pleased to get it.” She hesitated. She was desperate to explain. “My sister’s training to be a nurse,” she said. “She was always brighter than me. Took A Levels. I was never much good at school. Mum and Dad wanted me to stay on into the sixth form. I did the first year but I couldn’t face exams. I’ve never stood up for myself much, but I stuck out for getting a job. In the end they said if I found one I could leave. When I got taken on at the Old Chapel at Easter I was over the moon. I was determined to make a go of it.”
“What about your parents?” Hunter said. “Couldn’t you explain to them?”
“It would have been like admitting I was wrong,” she said. “It’s not that they’d be horrid about it. They’re dead nice. But that’s part of the problem. I’d feel that I was letting them down.”
“Of course,” Hunter said.
“I don’t know what to do,” she said, her eyes brimming with tears.
“You did talk to someone about this, didn’t you?”
She nodded.
“Lily,” she said. “The girl who works in the health food shop. I met her in the cafe and she asked me how I was getting on, if I was enjoying it. She seemed almost to have guessed that there was a problem so it was easier to tell her.”
“And what did Lily say?”
“That I should tell someone. She asked if I wanted her to tell Mrs. Pocock. I made her promise not to. What would Mrs. Pocock think? Mrs. Abbot’s her daughter.” She hesitated. “She might think I’d been leading him on.”
“What else did Lily say?”
“That I mustn’t take it personally. It had happened before. He just fancied young girls.”
“When did it happen before?” Hunter asked.
“They had a girl working for them in the house. Her name was Faye. Lily said you could tell Mr. Abbot was let ching after her all the time she was working there, though Faye never noticed. She was too innocent, Lily said. Too naive. He didn’t try anything on then because she had a boyfriend. Peter Richardson. He went to school with my sister. Do you know him?”
Hunter nodded.
“Lily said Mr. Abbot was frightened of Peter. He knew he’d not stand him mucking about with Faye. He’s known for his temper. He had a scrap with Ernie Bowles once. But then she stopped going out with him and Lily said Mr. Abbot was all over her.”
“Lily saw that?”
Rebecca nodded. “They went away together. All of them. On some sort of course. Apparently it happened then.” She shivered again slightly. “They’re planning another course,” she said. “Mr. Abbot wants me to go…”
“Of course you won’t go,” Hunter said. “And you must speak to someone. If it’s happened before there’s proof that you’re not making it up.”
“No’ she cried, and he realized at last just why she was so frightened. “Don’t you see, there’s no proof! Faye’s dead. They said it was an accident but I can’t help wondering… Perhaps she threatened to tell someone… I’m worried that the same thing will happen to me.”
Ramsay had spent the morning trying to pin down Magda Pocock. She was at work and she spoke to him eventually on the telephone but she seemed reluctant to see him.
“I have patients all morning,” she said. “Actually, you’ve interrupted me now.”
“I’ll come at lunchtime then,” he said.
“No. There’s someone I have to meet for lunch.”
There was a brief silence, and she seemed to reach a conclusion. “I’ll come to you,” she said. “In the incident room. Fourish? Would that be convenient?”
And he had to leave it at that.
Chapter Twenty-eight
“The way I see it,” Hunter told Ramsay, ‘that gives us a motive.”
They were sitting in the back room of the pub. It was three o’clock and even the public bar was quiet. They were on their own. If they wanted a drink they had to call through to the landlord, who shuffled in with poor grace to serve them.
“Daniel Abbot tried it on with Faye at Juniper Hall. Perhaps it wasn’t a serious assault, but nasty, unwanted. She trusted him and if he’d called her into his room she’d have gone without question. Or if he’d suggested a walk by the pool or a midnight swim. She strikes me as having more fight in her than Rebecca, who’s a smashing lass but a timid little thing. I can see Faye throwing a wobbler, threatening to tell his wife or Mrs. Pocock. Even the press. They’d be on to the story like a ton of bricks. Wasn’t there all that fuss a while back about a doctor who took advantage of his female patients when they were under hypnosis? They’d have a field day with an acupuncturist and nubile young girls. She wasn’t a strong swimmer. We know that from the report, don’t we? She panicked if she got out of her depth. So he just pushed her in the deep end and waited for her to die. There would be no way of proving it was anything but an accidental death.”
He set his glass on the table triumphantly.
“It’s certainly plausible,” Ramsay said, slowly. “But I don’t quite see how that provides a motive for the recent murders. It might explain the attack on Val McDougal. She was at Juniper Hall. She knew Faye well and might have guessed what was going on. But Ernie and James weren’t even there. And why after all this time?”
“I was wondering,” Hunter said tentatively, ‘about blackmail.” He was enjoying this talk. It was like the old days, just the two of them working together. He had his complaints about Ramsay’s methods but that didn’t mean he wanted Sal Wedderburn and Rob Newell brown-nosing in and taking his place.
Ramsay said nothing. He waited for Hunter to explain.
“Ernie Bowles seems to me a classic blackmailer,” he said. “Always prying. You can imagine him listening at keyholes, reading other people’s mail. Lily Jackman said he was always hanging round the caravan at one time. She certainly knew that Abbot fancied Faye she told Rebecca as much. He could have overheard her discussing it with Slater, even speculating about murder. We know the farm was going down the tube. He was even considering holding a New Age festival to make some money. Perhaps he thought it would be easier to blackmail Daniel Abbot instead.”
“It certainly fits in with his character.” Ramsay’s voice was bland. Hunter was slightly disappointed that he wasn’t more enthusiastic. “What about Val McDougal and James? I’d hardly put them down as blackmailers.”
“Of course not,” Hunter said crossly, ‘but she was there, wasn’t she? She might have stumbled across them, worked out what was going on. After Abbot killed Bowles perhaps he wanted to make certain that no one could try it on again.”
“Perhaps,” Ramsay said. “And James?”
“As I see it,” Hunter said, ‘by this time Abbot’s in a state of complete panic. He’s not thinking properly
Ramsay pictured his last interview with the sleek and charming Abbot and thought that he’d hardly seemed panic-stricken. He said nothing.
“He hears that we’ve received an anonymous letter linking Faye’s death with the murders. Who could have sent it? If Val was the only person who saw him with Faye at Juniper Hall it must have been James. Everyone knew how close they were. Val would have told James everything. To be absolutely certain that his secret was safe he’d have to kill James.”