Weekend in Weighton by Terry Murphy

Author:Terry Murphy [Murphy, Terry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grinning Bandit Books
Published: 2013-11-16T11:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Sunday – 14:10

By the time we passed the Trafford Centre I’d updated Kate on Helen Porson’s “Tales of the Unexpected”. Kate listened but didn’t say much. Her focus appeared to be on the traffic, but I knew she was storing. As the traffic eased and she got into her driving rhythm, the download began.

‘So she saved the best ‘til last?’

‘The son?’

Kate glanced and nodded. ‘If you hadn’t picked up on the connection she wouldn’t have said anything.’

I laughed, though not in a good way. ‘Yeah. It’s getting to be a family trait.’

‘Being evasive?’

‘Shifty, anyway.’

‘You don’t believe her?’

‘Mostly, I do. And you have to make allowances. A dead twin and a death wish from Jimmy C – bound to mess with anyone’s mind.’

‘Even so,’ said Kate, as she steered the car between lanes, ‘sounds flaky to me.’

She had a point. The same thing had been on my mind since leaving Flixton Grange. ‘Yes and no. I put her on the spot. She had to weigh up quickly what to tell me. Or more to the point, what not to tell me.’

‘So she conveniently left out any mention of Robert? Or that she’d arranged for Elaine to see him as a surprise?’

‘It makes sense in a demented kind of way. She gambled I didn’t know about the fabulous Nkongo boys. There’s no way she could have known I’d already been up close and personal with them. Or about the attack on Clegg. The cops haven’t gone public on it yet – Bob says they’re giving themselves until Monday. Whatever her reasons, she decided to leave the Nkongos out of her story. She probably assumed they’d left town.’

‘But she knew they were going to her house that day. It must have crossed her mind if they turned up?’

‘Afterwards, maybe. But having seen Jimmy C bolt from the house, then discovering a dead Elaine, I don’t think those two were the first thing on her mind.’

‘And later?’

‘She probably thought she’d missed them.’

Kate checked her mirrors while making a sound that suggested the contrary. ‘But wouldn’t she have been concerned about them coming back when she was contriving her great escape?’

I turned up my hands. ‘I didn’t ask her, I didn’t think of it.’

‘And when she did the whole Out of Africa production you’d think she’d have mentioned the son then?’

My driver didn’t want to let this one drop, but I thought it through again and shook my head. ‘Not necessarily. She didn’t know about Robert until she got the letter. And she thought it was a scam at first. That’s what she said to Clegg. I think that’s what he came to tell me that night at the flat.’ The memory of his warm corpse pressing down on me elicited a shudder, but Kate didn’t notice. I went on processing out loud. ‘I think Helen churned out the original story as she’d always told it.’ At that point I nodded, but more to convince myself than Kate. ‘Anyway, a prodigal African son is one family secret she’d want staying that way.

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