Love Changes Everything (21 page)

The happenings of the last hours came flooding back into her mind. There'd been a loud knock on the door at home and the fright of finding a uniformed policeman standing there, telling her that her daughter was in hospital.

She'd been so upset that she hadn't known what to do. Sam wasn't home from work and she was unsure whether they would let Cilla into the hospital or not. She wished she'd asked the policeman but she hadn't thought about it till after he'd left.

In desperation she'd decided not to risk it because it would be terrible to arrive at the hospital and then find they wouldn't let her in, so she'd taken her round to the O'Malleys' place. When she told Ella what had happened she had said at once that she'd look after Cilla.

They'd been almost as shocked as she was by the news. Ivy had offered to come with her but Maggie had thought it was better for her to stay and help look after Cilla.

‘She knows you so well, luv, and she'll usually do anything you ask her,' she pointed out. ‘I'll be as quick as I can and I'll let you know how Trixie is when I get back. Perhaps you can go and visit her tomorrow; that's if she will still be there. I've no idea what has happened. The policeman said something about an accident but I was too stunned to ask him for details.'

Now, sitting at Trixie's bedside, Maggie was desperate to know how her daughter had come to be lying there unconscious and why her throat was so heavily bandaged.

She wondered if someone had tried to strangle her. She wished that she had let Ivy come with her after all. She would have asked the nurse all the right questions. Her own mind was in such a fuzzy state that she was afraid she was about to break down and cry if she didn't keep a hold on herself.

The nurse was back again so quickly that Maggie hadn't had time to pull herself together.

‘I'm afraid you must leave now,' the nurse insisted.

Trembling and dazed, her eyes misty with tears, Maggie preceded the nurse from the ward, feeling distraught because she'd asked none of the questions going round and round in her mind.

As she walked away from the hospital all she could think about was how lifeless Trixie had looked and that the nurse had said the police would want to talk to her. She wasn't even sure if they meant her or Trixie, but it must be her since they couldn't talk to Trixie at the moment.

She wondered if she ought to tell them about Sam taking Trixie away just over a week ago. She couldn't help wondering, though, if this accident might have something to do with Sam in some way, or else with the unknown man. If she told the police that, it might land Sam in trouble.

Perhaps if she had plucked up courage earlier and gone to the police and told them that Trixie was missing then Trixie wouldn't be lying in a hospital bed now.

When she arrived back at Horatio Street she was so upset that Ella insisted she sat down and had a cup of tea before she said anything at all.

They were full of concern when she told them about the state Trixie was in and agreed that it was certainly a possibility that whatever had happened to her must surely have something to do with Fred Linacre.

‘Andrew's been very helpful,' Ella told Maggie as she plied her with a second cup of tea. ‘Poor lad, he was so anxious to help because he's taken a real shine to Trixie. It's more than his job's worth, though, to say outright where this Fred lives but he took our Jake to Cavendish Road and pointed out some rooms up over a shop there and, let's face it, a nod's as good as a wink now, isn't it!'

‘So where is it in Cavendish Road?' Maggie asked. ‘I won't go there,' she added quickly, ‘but it might be useful to know so that if the police mention it I'll be able to put two and two together.'

They told her all they knew and begged her to come back and let them know exactly what was happening as soon as she could.

It certainly gave Maggie plenty to think about as she took Cilla home. She tried to work out what she would say to Sam. She knew she had to be careful because if she got his back up then he'd clam up and tell her nothing.

She was still taking her coat off when there was a sharp rap at the door and her heart pounded because she guessed that it was the police.

There were two of them, a burly sergeant and a youngish policeman. She asked them to sit down, knowing she'd feel less intimidated if they were on eye level instead of towering over her. Cilla started to cry and it took Maggie several minutes to pacify her before she could give them her full attention.

By then Sam was home. He'd walked in without realising that the police were there and the minute he saw them he turned as if to go out again, but the sergeant stopped him.

‘Sam Jackson? We need to ask you some questions in connection with an incident involving your daughter earlier today. Now what can you tell us?'

‘Incident?' He looked mystified. ‘What incident?'

He sounded and looked so surprised that Maggie didn't know whether to believe him or not when he claimed that he knew nothing about it.

‘Do you mind telling us where you've been since you finished work?' the sergeant persisted.

Sam pushed back his cap and scratched his head. ‘What the hell for? I've been in the boozer, if you must know, whetting my whistle after a hard day's work.'

‘So who were you drinking with? Can you tell us the name of anyone who can vouch for the fact that you were there?' The sergeant remained firm. Sam merely shrugged his shoulders.

‘One of the regulars; the foreman from the biscuit factory. He was drinking with me for half an hour or so,' he said evasively.

‘What time did he leave?' the constable questioned, taking out his notebook ready to record the answer.

‘I don't know, I didn't look at my watch. He left quite a while before me. I finished my pint and then I had a couple more before coming home.'

The sergeant checked the time on his own watch. ‘Just how long were you there for?'

‘Bloody hell, I don't know. It may have been two or three hours. It's thirsty work slugging your guts out down on the dockside. A man needs a pint or two to help him unwind.'

‘Did you go to Cavendish Road, by any chance?'

‘Where the hell's that?' Sam scowled, removing his cap and muffler and making for his armchair.

‘It's off on the right higher up Scotland Road, as I think you know. Isn't that where this drinking companion of yours lives?'

‘Fred Linacre, you mean?'

‘Yes, that's the name of the foreman at the biscuit factory you said you were drinking with after work.'

‘I think he does live somewhere around there,' Sam prevaricated. ‘I never go to his place, though, because we always meet up in the boozer.'

Maggie looked startled; so it did seem as if it had something to do with Fred Linacre after all. He must have been who Sam had meant when he'd said she was working as a housekeeper for some bachelor. Surely, though, he wouldn't have sent her there knowing how much she hated the man.

‘Are you also saying that you didn't know that there was a young girl living with him?'

‘How the hell would I know something like that?' Sam muttered, looking uncomfortable.

‘I thought he might have mentioned something about her while the two of you were having a pint since I understand that the young girl in question is your daughter,' the sergeant said blandly.

Dark colour flooded into Sam Jackson's face and he cleared his throat awkwardly. Maggie was about to speak but the sergeant held up his hand to silence her.

‘Are you categorically stating that you had no idea that earlier today your daughter Trixie Jackson was involved in a very serious incident of some kind?' the sergeant asked formally.

‘Incident? What do you mean? I don't know anything about any sodding incident,' Sam blustered.

‘Perhaps I should have called it an accident, then?' The sergeant frowned and looked enquiringly at the constable. ‘Would you say it was an incident or an accident?'

‘It could have been an attempted murder,' the policeman answered quietly.

‘What the hell are you two going on about?' Sam demanded looking more and more worried as the policemen continued their questions and suggestions.

‘We're talking about the young girl, whom your wife was visiting in hospital a short time ago, and who was admitted earlier drenched in her own blood and with her throat cut,' the sergeant said sternly. ‘Are you saying you know nothing at all about it?'

Sam passed his hand over his head in a gesture of dismay. ‘I know nothing about that!' He turned to face Maggie. ‘What do you know about this?' he demanded hoarsely. ‘What the hell have you been telling them?'

‘I haven't told them anything and all I know is that I've been to the hospital and that our Trixie's lying there unconscious and looking like a corpse. Her throat's all bandaged up as they've just told you and there are all kinds of tubes and wires attached to her,' she told him in an anguished voice. ‘They told me to come home and go back tomorrow and she might be awake and able to talk to me by then.'

‘Who on earth would do a thing like that to her?' Sam asked in disbelief.

‘That's what we want to know, Mr Jackson, and you seem to be the most likely person to be able to tell us. We understand you took your daughter along to Cavendish Road just over a week ago and left her there in the care of Mr Frederick Linacre.'

‘You mean Fred Linacre has done this to her?' Sam exclaimed.

‘We don't know about that; in fact, for the moment, we're keeping a completely open mind about what happened. It could have been you who injured her,' he mused speculatively. ‘Or it could even be that she tried to commit suicide. We think you'd better come along to the station and make a full statement. We shall be asking Mr Linacre to do the same.'

‘He'll tell you the same as I've told you. We had a drink together in the boozer like we often do and then he went home alone. I haven't been near his place today.'

‘But you did hand our Trixie over to him,' Maggie accused, her voice rising in anger. ‘You took money from him for her; you sold her to him like she was a slave.'

Her raised voice upset Cilla who up till now had been placidly looking at them all and sucking her thumb, but now she burst into tears and began screaming.

The sergeant nodded towards the young constable to indicate that he was to make a note of what Maggie had said.

‘Is there anything else you wish to tell us about your daughter, Mrs Jackson?' the sergeant queried, raising his voice so as to be heard above Cilla's crying. ‘Is there anything else you think we ought to know?'

‘No, not really,' she murmured as she cradled Cilla in her arms, trying to soothe her. ‘I don't think there's anything else I can tell you, except that Trixie didn't like this Fred Linacre. She didn't get on with him when he was her boss at the biscuit factory,' she explained.

‘Is that why she stopped working there?'

‘Oh no, it was because this Fred Linacre sacked her! He told her that they were cutting back and as she was the last one taken on then she'd be the one who'd have to go.'

‘And after that you say your husband found a job for her?'

‘That's right.' She glared at Sam. ‘He wouldn't say what it was or even where it was. He told her she was to pack a bag and go with him. I haven't seen her or spoken to her since because he wouldn't tell me where she was.'

‘And you say that was over a week ago?'

‘Yes, and I've been worried out of my mind about her, wondering where she is and what might be happening to her. She's only sixteen, you know.'

‘I'm sure you have been concerned. Well, you needn't wonder about where your husband is for the next day or two, Mrs Jackson. He'll be with us,' the sergeant said dryly.

‘What do you mean? You can't lock me up, I haven't done anything,' Sam protested.

‘I'm afraid we will be taking you in and detaining you till you've made a statement and helped us with our inquiries,' the sergeant told him.

‘You can't do this.' Sam struggled violently as the constable took him by the arm and began to walk him towards the door. ‘Maggie, say something,' he shouted, looking back over his shoulder. ‘Tell them I had nothing to do with it. You know I wouldn't hurt our Trixie.'

Maggie shook her head. ‘I don't know anything of the sort,' she muttered. ‘I didn't even know for certain where our Trixie was, not till this minute, because you wouldn't tell me where you'd taken her. If you had, then I could have gone to see her, made sure she was all right and then none of this would have happened.'

Chapter Nineteen

Trixie was kept in hospital for almost a week. Maggie went to see her every day but she could only stay for a very short time because she had to leave Cilla with Ella.

Cilla seemed to sense that there was something wrong and she cried incessantly for Trixie; nothing any of them said or did would pacify her.

Ivy also went to see Trixie several times and even Andrew and Jake went to visit her towards the end of the week. Their visits proved to be the best tonic possible; they lifted Trixie's spirits and she replayed them over and over in her mind.

Andrew only stayed for about ten minutes but he brought her some red grapes. She'd never tasted them before and wasn't even sure about how to eat them. When he picked one of them off the stem and popped it into her mouth she was afraid to bite into it in case she mightn't like it.

When she did, and the sweet juice flooded into her mouth it was so startling and refreshing that she'd gasped with pleasure, making Andrew laugh.