A Family Scandal (26 page)

‘Yes. Or, well, no. He said it was the other way round; that they all wanted him and he was trying to decide between them.’

Jeff raised his eyebrows. ‘Maybe he thought that if he could get you to believe that he’d start to believe it himself. No, he’d always manage to talk himself into having an audition, but when they heard him play, they’d turn him down.’

‘Oh.’ Rhona was surprised. ‘But I thought he was good, and he taught me some guitar too.’

‘Did he?’ Jeff asked. ‘How many chords did you learn?’

‘Three or four.’ Rhona tried to remember.

‘And then did he tell you that you’d better stop before learning anymore, and to just practise those to begin with?’

Rhona stared at him. ‘Yeah, that’s just what happened. How did you know that?’

Jeff took a swig of his pint. ‘’Cos he doesn’t know many more chords himself. I’m not saying he isn’t musical, but he hates practising. He could be miles better if he put the work in, but he never does.’

‘So what’s he doing now then?’

‘He finally got asked to join a group and he jumped at the chance. They don’t care that he doesn’t play well. They like how he looks.’

Rhona snorted, remembering how Gary always maintained that women were in bands to look good while men did all the actual work of playing and writing songs. ‘And he’s up and left, just like that?’

‘Yeah, he said they didn’t want to wait around, they’re off on tour,’ Jeff explained. ‘He didn’t even give in his notice at work. He got the offer in the afternoon and was gone by the evening. If this all works out then there’s a chance that they’ll be asked to tour with Herman’s Hermits.’

‘But Gary hates Herman’s Hermits!’ Rhona exclaimed, almost knocking over her drink. ‘He says they’re for bored housewives and have no soul.’

Jeff spread his hands. ‘What can I say? It’s his one shot at the big time. He’s been given a chance and he’s grabbed it with both hands.’

‘Without telling Penny.’ Rhona sighed heavily and thanked her lucky stars that she was no longer involved with Gary. He’d only cared about himself, she saw that now. She’d been a piece of arm candy he was happy to be seen with, but no more than that. He’d have done the same to her, abandoning her without a second thought.

‘Yeah, without telling Penny,’ Jeff echoed. ‘So I thought somebody had better tell her, or she’ll turn up at the Talisman and wonder where he is. I didn’t like to think of her standing around, not knowing what was going on. I’m sorry to be the bringer of bad news. Gary’s impulsive like that, always has been, even when we were kids together at school. It’s just how he is.’

Rhona slumped in her seat. Jeff was being very sweet about this, and clearly was trying to be loyal to Gary while disagreeing with what he’d done, but he had no idea how much depended on this conversation. Penny was pregnant and had now been left high and dry. Even if Gary hadn’t known about it, he was still meant to be her boyfriend and they’d been together all summer. She looked up at Jeff. ‘What a bastard.’

Jeff shrugged. ‘Well, he’s waited a long time for this. In some ways I can’t blame him.’

‘I can,’ said Rhona decisively. ‘He’s dumped her without a backward glance. Bet he’s hoping to pull loads of girls on tour – they’ll be all over him like a rash once they see him on stage. He’ll be doing very nicely thank you and she’ll be breaking her heart over him.’

Jeff nodded. ‘Yeah, it’s tough on her, I do realise that. That’s why I came here. So are you going to give me her address so that I can break the news to her? The sooner she hears the sooner she can get over him.’

Rhona shut her eyes briefly. If only it were that simple. Jeff had only seen Penny in the Talisman when she was dressed up to the nines. If he saw her now, looking washed out and wan, he might guess and she didn’t think Penny would want anyone to know that she was pregnant, especially now that Gary had deserted her. There was only one thing for it. ‘I’ll tell her,’ she said. ‘It will be better coming from me.’

‘But won’t that be hard on you?’ asked Jeff. ‘I mean, I know you and Gary were an item for a while and I’m not daft. When you weren’t on the scene for a while, he soon gravitated to Penny and that must have hurt. Will you be OK?’

Rhona stared at him in amazement. She wasn’t used to such sensitivity from men and it temporarily disarmed her. She blushed. ‘Don’t worry about me. She did me a favour really, showing me what Gary was like underneath all the trendy clothes and big talk. Anyway, I’ve made up with her, so I’ll be fine. It’s her I’m worried about. The only thing I really miss about Gary is the guitar lessons.’

Jeff laughed. ‘And they wouldn’t have lasted long anyway. Are you serious about learning? Properly, I mean, not just strumming along to whatever’s in the top ten? If so, I could teach you.’’

Rhona’s eyes brightened. ‘Top ten? No thanks. You’ll be asking me if I like Herman’s Hermits next.’ She paused and shuddered, remembering what trouble she’d got into just trying to track down a guitar to buy. She was ready to give up the idea after that – the attack, on top of the glandular fever, seemed to be fate’s way of telling her girls weren’t meant to play music after all. However, something shifted and her instincts told her there was nothing dodgy about Jeff. She could trust him, she was sure, and he didn’t seem about to make a pass at her or offer her lessons if she’d sleep with him first. He cared about Penny, even if she was only his friend’s girlfriend, so he must be decent and she came to a decision. ‘If you mean it, yeah, I’m interested. When do we start?’

Chapter Twenty-Five

On Saturday morning Mavis was cleaning the kitchen, getting the chores out of the way before taking the children for a picnic. The sun was shining and it made her hope for a real Indian summer. Now they were closer to Peckham Rye Common and the park beyond they could easily carry their hamper over to the big stretch of grass, and the boys could take a football. Jenny was bringing Greg over to join them, and as Lily wanted to go to the hairdresser’s to get her roots done, she was only too glad to let Bobby come along too.

The doorbell went and Mavis assumed it would be Jenny. Humming to herself, Mavis ran down the stairs and flung open the door but it wasn’t Jenny on the doorstep. Instead it was two uniformed policemen.

‘Mrs Pugh?’ the shorter one asked.

Mavis wanted to reply ‘not for much longer’ but stopped herself. She hoped nothing had happened to Jenny and Greg on their way over. ‘Yes,’ she said hesitantly, her voice faltering. ‘What is it? Is somebody hurt?’

‘Just routine, ma’am,’ the taller one answered. ‘May we come in?’

Lily came down the corridor to see what was going on. ‘Is everything all right?’ she asked worriedly.

‘Yes, this is just routine, ma’am,’ was said again.

‘Then you’d better come through,’ said Lily, leading the way.

‘And you are …?’ the short one asked when they reached Lily’s kitchen.

‘This is my mother,’ said Mavis, growing increasingly worried. ‘Please, can you tell us what this is about?’

‘Mrs Culling, is that right? That saves us some time then as we want to talk to you too.’

‘About what?’

The tall one leant against the countertop and took a moment to get out his notebook. ‘We’re making enquiries about the holiday you just took in Torquay,’ he began, turning to look at Mavis. ‘We understand that while you were there, your husband died, Mrs Pugh.’

‘Yes, but we were separated. We didn’t even know he was there, did we, Mum? We only went there because our friends knew a good B and B.’

‘The bloody man buggered off and left her and the kids without two pennies to rub together,’ Lily said angrily. ‘He’s no loss.’

The short policeman leant forward with interest. ‘Is that right, Mrs Culling?’

Mavis put out her arm to restrain Lily. ‘Mum,’ she warned in a low voice. ‘That’s all water under the bridge.’ She turned back to the short policeman. ‘It’s sad that Alec died but we’d had no contact for two years.’

The tall officer checked his notebook. ‘We understand that you are now engaged to be married, Mrs Pugh.’

Mavis was startled but managed to answer. ‘Well, yes.’

‘And that your fiancé, Thomas Wilson, was also on holiday with you in Devon.’

‘Yes, that’s right.’

‘Now hold on. What’s this all about?’ Lily demanded.

‘There’s no need to get overexcited, Mrs Culling,’ the short officer said firmly. ‘We are simply making preliminary enquiries. What we need to establish is exactly when you learnt Mr Pugh was in Torquay.’

Mavis thought back to when Tommy had come to break the news to her. He had seen Alec in Devon but hadn’t told her, and some instinct told her not to pass on that bit of information. Anyway the policeman had only asked when they had learned he was there, not when anyone else had found out. ‘Not until we got back,’ she said. ‘I saw his photo in the paper. The
Daily Mail
, I think it was.’

‘We had no bleeding idea he was just down the road,’ Lily agreed. ‘I’m glad we didn’t know. He used to beat Mavis and the children and it would have ruined the kids’ holiday if they’d seen him.’

The tall policeman shut his notebook. ‘Very well, Mrs Pugh, Mrs Culling. We may have more questions for you at a later date. However, we can also inform you that your fiancé, Thomas Wilson, was arrested this morning.’

Mavis gasped and put her hands to her face. ‘Arrested? Why?’

‘For the suspected murder of Charles Collier, otherwise known as Alec Pugh.’

Pete stared at the envelope in his hands as he sat in the café, his tea growing cold in front of him. His hands shook. The letter of final notice from the bank had arrived that morning and he could no longer delay the inevitable. He’d been kidding himself that if he kept his fingers crossed a miracle would happen but it wasn’t to be. The bank wanted their money back and they wanted it now. He knew he didn’t have it.

He’d been first up at home and had checked the post, as he had done every day since they’d got back from holiday. Thank God Lily was too busy getting Bobby ready for the picnic and going on about having her roots done. He’d told her he had something to sort out at work and left early, and had come round to the café near the market to read the details of the letter. He didn’t want to risk a repeat of the other day, with Mavis or Lily catching sight of it.

‘Do you want a top-up?’ asked the waitress. ‘A drop of hot?’

‘Nah, I’m all right.’

‘Do you fancy something to eat; a fry-up?’

Pete shook his head, the thought of food turning his stomach. ‘No thanks. I had something earlier,’ he replied with a forced smile.

The waitress moved off as a group of shoppers arrived, struggling with heavy bags of fruit and veg. Pete slumped in relief. He didn’t want to be disturbed. He had to think hard. He’d kept going by robbing Peter to pay Paul, but now he’d been caught out. He hadn’t been able to drum up anything extra over the past weeks. His last hope had been that the council bigwig had returned to London by the time they all got back, but there was still no word. He had to face it: the major project wasn’t happening. Or, if it did, it would be too late for him. He’d be bankrupt before it began and if he wasn’t careful they’d all be homeless as well.

Pete began to run through his dwindling list of remaining options. No other bank would touch him – they’d see he was a bad risk, and he had no remaining family to ask for help. He prided himself on principle never to ask friends for a loan, and when it came down to it most of his mates didn’t have much in the bank at the best of times. Pete thought hard. What about Tommy? He’d said that he was doing well and that there had been a flood of enquiries just before they’d left for their trip, and he’d even done some business while they were in Devon. That must mean he was pretty successful.

With a small groan of anguish, Pete slumped over the table. He hated to do this, to ask Tommy for a loan, but he had no choice. It had to be done and he’d have to swallow what was left of his pride and go cap-in-hand to the younger man. At least Tommy was practically family now, and what were families for if not to help one another out in times of need.

That thought made Pete feel slightly better and, abandoning his cold tea untouched, he set off before he lost his nerve.

Chapter Twenty-Six

It was after ten o’clock that morning by the time Rhona left her house. She’d delayed visiting Penny until her conscience wouldn’t let her put it off any longer. She should have gone after speaking to Jeff yesterday, but her mum had her dinner waiting and she was late enough as it was. It was the excuse her mind provided and she had still been looking for excuses that morning. Her mother had asked her to run to the shops to get bread and milk, so that had served to delay her, and besides she reasoned, it would look funny turning up at Penny’s house before at least ten o’clock.

Rhona still didn’t know what she could say to soften the blow of Gary’s desertion. She’d been kept awake for ages fruitlessly trying to think of a way. Realistically she doubted that Gary would have stood Penny, though Penny wouldn’t want to hear that. She still thought the sun shone out of his arse, but Rhona cursed him for being a self-centred, fame-hungry coward who slept with women and then dropped them whenever it suited him.

She ran through the alternatives for Penny in her head. Have the baby, keep it, and get sent to Coventry by everyone. Have the baby, give it up for adoption, never see it again or know what became of it. Try to find a safe back-street abortionist … no, not an option. Try to find Gary … no, he was hardly going to drop everything and make an honest woman of Penny when he’d just been given the prospect of an endless line of fans and backing singers to get off with. Whichever way she looked at it, Rhona was stumped.

She had to ring the doorbell three times to get a response. Good, at least that probably meant Penny’s parents weren’t around. Eventually Penny came to the door, looking more bedraggled than ever in a grubby pale-grey dressing gown, her hair still flat and greasy. She couldn’t have been more different to the energetic young woman who’d loved to go nightclubbing. There were bags under her eyes and she looked twice her age.