The Murdering Wives Club Read online

  The next day, Lydia, Alice and I were in the Ravenscairn parlour.

  “Why did you let me join if I’m so bad?” I asked Lydia.

  “There were many reasons. Your bruises, the meek nature you had – back then, the lack of nice things, the lack of children which I understand can break a woman, the longing looks you made when I mentioned freedom and independence. And …” She stopped.

  I forced the issue. “And what else made you go against Alice’s protests?”

  “If you must know, it was your address,” she admitted.

  I could tell that she didn’t want to discuss it with me. She had that tight-lipped look she did so well.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  There was no reply.

  “I’ve a right to know why and how you picked me,” I demanded.

  “You live beside a Mrs Marjorie Fellows,” Lydia said.

  The gasp from me was loud.

  “And before you ask, no, Marjorie doesn’t know me. I don’t know Mrs Fellows. But I know her nephew. Knew him.”

  “Cedric?”

  “Yes.”

  “He visits his aunt. You can’t leave it there and not say any more. How is Cedric significant?”

  “Cedric came to visit me in prison. He’s a special friend of mine.”

  My mouth fell open.

  Lydia went on. “He also did a lot to secure my release. I was grateful to him. He knows nothing of us here. Don’t lose the run of yourself. He’s merely a good man who read about me in the paper he works for. Nothing more than that. I felt it was a sign to help you. You lived near Cedric's aunt – and needed help. Your husband was a policeman too and I felt …”

  “Guilty.”

  “It was a sign and you seemed lost.”

  “She’s a liability, Lydia!” Alice shouted. “Give the order and I’ll get rid of Eve Good. Let me do the deed.”

  “I’m to be called Eve Kanaster from now on. My maiden name.”

  Alice laughed. Her mouth was wide in glee. “Ain’t you Good any more?” she drawled. “It’s not often I feel sorry for any man, but I’m starting to feel very sorry for poor John Good. That poor bloody bastard. He had no clue what he was dealing with. Poor sod.”

  It was starting to dawn on me that the Sinful Roses were nothing but a liability to me. Their anger was plain to see and they refused to listen to my claims of innocence.

  I left Ravenscairn certain that I was going to have to tread the rest of the journey alone. Alice’s threats rang in my ears and I found myself packing a suitcase.

  Tilly, my cousin, had written and invited me to Inishowen. She gave instructions for me to ignore her husband Frank and to bring warm clothes.

  I was still packing when Cedric knocked on the door. He was looking for rent! It turned out that the weasel was my landlord and I never knew. Unbelievable. John had rented the house! Rented it! And from the likes of Cedric who lorded it over me. He also hire-purchased the car. Pah! Hire-purchase was a word I barely knew – how had John stooped so low? I felt sick to the pit of my stomach but I didn’t waste any time getting ready to leave.

  Shaking with anger and, though I hate to admit it, fear too, I kept packing that small suitcase I kept on top of the wardrobe.

  The greens of the world flashed by as I took the bus to Tilly’s.

  Glensmal was a nice detached house with a view of Lough Foyle. With access to the shore and its pathways, it took the full force of the weather but its two storeys were strong and true.

  Tilly looked through me at her front door.

  “Have I changed that much?” I asked her squinting blue eyes. “Surely you know me?”

  “It’s like you’re a different person. My goodness! Your weight? Your hair? The scarf? I barely recognised you.”

  “I simply had to get away. I know you probably asked out of politeness but I needed to escape to someone or somewhere.”

  “Not another word. Sit you down and I'll make us a cuppa.” Tilly took my case in her thin hands and lugged it into the narrow porch.

  The thick walls were painted a canary yellow and had a deep warmth to them. Ever the good housewife, her kitchen was spotless and the floor clean enough to eat off.

  She moved elegantly. Tilly was a beauty.

  “I’m glad you went to Ravenscairn.” Tilly was always one to see the glass half-full instead of half-empty. “But now you have John’s insurance money, the house, everything all for yourself.”

  She was pleased, but I was far from content.

  “No annoyance, no ill treatment any more,” she went on. “Time to come here. Money to buy yourself nice things like this coat.” She rubbed my sleeve.

  She really couldn’t understand my predicament at all.

  “John is gone – enjoy it,” she whispered. “Stop feeling guilty. He deserved it. From the tales you’ve told me, he was dreadful to you. You endured many years of being afraid. You’re free now. Make the most of things.”

  “You could join me, Tilly.” I pulled on her arm. “They say that I must advise others. I could help you be free too. These women mean what they say and I must help them. It was your idea for me to meet Lydia.”

  “But they don’t want you to actually do anything? Do they? You all just talk about it? Thrash out the pros and cons – like we are doing now. Shocking behaviour. But the likes of you will love all of that! The scandal, the naughtiness of it.”

  I suppose I did like it. I’ve always wanted her away from the beast Frank Hockley from the day and hour he proposed to her. She seemed to be enjoying all this talk of killing and it might be the glimmer of hope.

  “John fell to spite me,” I told her.

  Tilly laughed. “I’m glad for you, Eve. Freedom must feel nice.”

  “You see it as a game. You think that it is not real but it is, Silly Tilly. Being alone is very nice but you have to work hard to achieve being an independent woman with means.” My gut clenches. I don’t like being a liar, it doesn’t suit me at all. Tilly knows me better than anyone else and her opinion of me matters and this throws me off kilter a little.

  “Eve, there’s no one better than you to deal with the likes of the Sinful Roses.”

  “But I’m not able. You’re wrong, Tilly. Very wrong. I need you with me.”

  “You’ve never needed anyone.”

  “You could be one too, Tilly. It would be easy and we could be together and you could live out all those fantasies you used to dream about! Say you will, please! Say you’ll be one? Go on. You could be just like me.”

  I took her hand.

  She asked, “What do you mean?”

  “Let’s kill that beast of a husband of yours. Let’s bash Frank Hockley’s skull in.”

  Chapter 25

  Norah Walsh

  Laurie and I discuss the madness of Eve for a time once I’m finished reading. She’s definitely deranged and the more we’re reading the more Laurie’s thinking she’s untrustworthy. I don’t dissuade him of this notion, for Eve Good is most definitely a deranged lunatic!

  I don’t want to contact Fredrick but Laurie asks me to.

  I decide while dialling and waiting for him to answer that I’m right about the men’s relationship. Fredrick doesn’t like seeing Laurie’s disfigurement. It has taken me a little while to figure out why, but now I think it’s because he hates to witness a good man’s struggle. Laurie’s blindness and life now fills Fredrick with guilt and fear. Telephone conversations are easier. He can control the situation. He also doesn’t like seeing me face to face any more. There is something very sad about men’s need to be on top of their emotions and every situation.

  “You were busy earlier when we called to Thistleforth?” I say to Fredrick. “Laurie was disappointed at not seeing you.”

  “Tell me what’s happening and stop coming here, Norah. Until Eve Good arrives there is no reason for you to be in Thistleforth. I’ll deliver all relevant things to the manor.”

  When I readEve Good’s words to
Laurie, I can never quite believe my ears. Summarising to Fredrick over the telephone doesn’t help much.

  “She should be writing a novel,” Fredrick says as I munch on cheese on toast. “She was living in Northern Ireland but it could be an international club of murdering wives? Lady Dornan’s lawyer and husband have been asking about my interest in their house in Ravenscairn. It’s as if she’s a lady of impeccable reputation regardless of her past! They seem to forget that she’s a convicted murderess. And Charlotte is living with her now! Playing the poor, thrown-out wife of a returning damaged soldier. What a bitch!”

  He laughs a lot at that. I stay quiet though I itch to object to his attitudes to women.

  Women have stepped forward over these war years and have shown their mettle. With able-bodied men all off fighting, the female sex have taken on their work and are making the most of the situation at home and in the work place. Alone. Men like Fredrick don’t or won’t notice this. They possibly have turned a deaf ear to the rumours of the Sinful Roses organisation for decades.

  They must have. For even I’ve heard about the Sinful Roses.

  What I know is what most women know. The Sinful Roses is not a totally secret organisation but they are an organisation with many secrets. Most women I know gossip about the Sinful Roses and fact mingles with fiction no doubt. We all enjoy the badness that surrounds the tales about them. Of course all of the whispers are just out of earshot of any male relation or friend. There has always been an unspoken respect for the Sinful Roses code of womanhood. It isn’t that we ever actually know a member or wish to be part of it all. But there’s a romance to their bravery and the need for their guidance is the stuff of gossip.

  No-one knows who the pitiful women who need the Sinful Roses are. But it’s accepted that some poor souls are at their wits’ end with no choices and the men were in need of ‘it’. We never really consider what ‘it’ is. Whatever befalls the bastards will be warranted because the Sinful Roses reign over the whole process. They manage and judge each individual case. There’s a moral logic to the whole process that is accepted. It’s understood that to speak of them is a dangerous pursuit. If people refer others to them, it is because the situation is dire and there are no other solutions.

  It is also known that they are ungodly, unholy women. Well, how could they not be? If you sup with the devil then you must reap the consequences.

  Until I met Eve Good I always thought they were almost infallible. A Sinful Rose could do no wrong. But now God love ’em, it’s clear that they have had a large problem for many years. The likes of Eve Good was not expected to exist. Even by those who must be considered the most awful of women, Eve Good is a very dangerous exception. She’s upsetting the way of things.

  “It stands to reason that these Roses want Eve gone,” Fredrick says.

  “Yes,” I agree. “She’s setting back the cause of women’s rights by decades. All the good work done by women in the factories and in the army goes to nothing with the nonsense she’s spouting about wives murdering their husbands.”

  “Good men coming home from war, like Laurie Davenport, don’t need the Sinful Roses taking potshots at them. Get it sorted, Norah. Get it sorted,” Fredrick orders and hangs up.

  Dragging Laurie around after me is a hindrance really. I sway between pity, to being persuaded he needs me, to pleasure in his company, to wanting him to care for me. Guilt has made me lose my patience with him. Being mean to Laurie and trying to keep him at arm’s length is like kicking a gorgeous puppy. He’s not a stupid man and he’ll sense that I’m hiding things from him, not telling him all that I know about the Roses. Even I cannot keep a lid on all that is happening in the wings of this drama. There’s only so long a powder keg of explosives will sit quietly in the corner. It’ll be necessary to light a fuse under all of this no doubt – but not yet.

  Fredrick doesn’t think it’s all that dangerous. Until recently, I didn’t either. I thought I could simply contact the Ravenscairn House from the advertisement in the paper and ask to become one of them. Of course, I wouldn’t want to murder anyone, but if they let me in then I’d be able to build a case and prove to Fredrick that I’m made for more than being someone’s harlot!

  I hadn’t expected Laurie to be such a likeable divil. I hadn’t expected to care about what happened to him or so deeply. Nor had I anticipated the many disgusting deeds of Eve Good. It’s becoming more and more obvious that she deserves the death penalty. Who will give her this punishment first is the question?

  So long as she doesn’t drag my head into the noose with her. And that is looking more and more likely.

  Chapter 26

  Norah Walsh

  I have opened a can of worms. Another envelope from Thistleforth has arrived.

  My head is splitting with a headache and the whole entire mess is worrying me. Eve Good’s story is almost at an end and Laurie will then want to start asking her direct questions. He’ll now be able to talk with her if she is just up the road. But Laurie cannot question Eve. Not now!

  There’s a lot left to do and I cannot see how I’m going to see it all through. When I said I’d be a good nursemaid for a crippled ex-solider, it all sounded very adventurous and of course Norah Walsh fell for the bait.

  Looking back, I was easily fooled. But there’ll be no treating me like a whore any more. Fredrick Ashfield wanted rid of me, and he saw Laurie needed someone. Hole in one for that bastard. Two birds with one stone and if I found anything out about the Roses, well, it would be extra ammunition for his growing reputation.

  But I can tell that he wants the whole caper tied up in a nice neat bow. I’m not fulfilling any of the duties assigned to me. I’ve not seduced Laurie, I’ve not fully left Fredrick’s life, and I’m telling him very little about the Sinful Roses. There’s only so long I can walk this tightrope, between all of these things. I know I’ll have to give them all something and soon. The panic is rising. The vultures are circling and I’m starting to look tasty to them all.

  Cook’s quiet personality does a lot to ease my whirring mind these days. Watching or helping her work has stopped the voices in my head. Traitor to her own kind.

  Giles potters about and always tries to assess what I’m thinking. He’s a good sort. A bachelor who seems uninterested in women. Nothing seems to make him deviate from his course of duty and service. It’s the English way, isn’t it?

  It seems that the Roses are the same. They’ve never left their course of wanting shot of Eve Good. I cannot blame them. She is a large liability. A singing canary they want to take down a mine full of gas.

  I’ve not told a soul that I’ve found the advertisement for Ravenscairn and the Sinful Roses in The Times, a few days ago now.

  It read:

  5th July 1944. Friends of the Sinful Roses be advised that a Ravenscairn House is open for the next three months. Send personal details to c/o Sinful Roses PO Box 77 at 208 Kensington High St, Kensington, London. Appointments will be given if investigations establish need.

  I replied to the advertisement with shaking hands. I wrote down the Davenport telephone number and thought a long time about the words, finally writing, Please call the number above for urgent information about Mrs Eve Good. No signature.

  Eerily, despite me not giving them an address, a short note has just come in the post: The Sinful Roses will contact you in due course.

  That’s me told!

  A brandy from the decanter on the sideboard in the dining room does nothing but burn my throat. I’m shaking like a leaf. Communication with them is going to be difficult. Giles and Laurie have ears like hawks for telephone calls and Giles mentioned Cook’s eavesdropping tendencies too.

  Letters are intercepted by Giles for the silver tray and although Laurie cannot see them, I know Giles reports almost all correspondence. I cannot lie well to Laurie at all. I am sure he must know when I’m hiding things from him. He cannot see my uncertainty but he must sense it?

  Letters to Thistleforth a
re noted down too. How on earth will they contact me? I hope they are discreet. We will be planning clandestine meetings perhaps in the cover of darkness at the far gate of the manor’s grounds or over the telephone in the dead of night. I cannot be caught out and be considered a Sinful Rose!

  I find it easier to be hostile with Laurie to get time away from him and also to throw him slightly off guard. But that hot and cold behaviour is not what he needs right now. Aggressive women are the very thing he should be hiding from, and if I continue the way that I’m going, I’ll be asked to leave before I’ve sorted this mess out. If he orders me out, I’ll be rightly in the soup then. No access to Eve Good or Laurie Davenport and with the annoyed Sinful Roses baying for my blood as well.

  It is time to tread carefully – very carefully indeed.

  Chapter 27

  Laurie Davenport

  “I am going to find a way into the Sinful Roses even if means marrying Fredrick Ashfield," Norah said again this morning.

  She is adamant about marrying Freddie. The whole idea gives me a pain in my guts.

  Giles knows about it and he and I are discussing things. I need an advisor to help and have ordered him to sit into my favourite chair. I sense that he finds it hard to drink tea with me. It’s possibly the first time we’ve been on the one level in any way.

  “I’m not sure what to say, sir,” he breathes out in a long sigh. “This is extremely worrying. I fear that Miss Walsh will get in too deep if she takes on a full organisation of such women.”

  “Could there be many of them?” I ask. “There cannot be lots of women wanting to murder their husbands?” I shake my head. “Not that many surely?”