A Woman Unknown Page 0,85

who ‘guessed’.

‘There’s something you must know. I have to take you back to Leeds, so that you can give an account to the officer who is investigating Mr Runcie’s murder.’

‘I told you. I don’t know anything about a murder. God’s honest truth.’

‘Then tell me what you do know.’

At that moment, there was a footfall in the corridor. Deirdre went across to the door and closed it. When she sat down again, she said, ‘Mr Runcie was dead when I woke. I didn’t realise straight away because I was groggy from drinking too much the night before, which I did because I couldn’t face being conscious when he came to bed. I knew what he would be like. In the morning, I went into the bathroom, for a drink of water and to splash my face. I thought I’d stay in the bathroom, dash out when the chambermaid knocked, climb back into bed. I came out of the bathroom because I remembered I’d left the bolster in the middle of the bed and I would have to put it back so we could sit up properly. It was when I picked up the bolster and looked at him that I realised something was wrong.’

I remembered going into the room with Marcus, and asking him why the bolster was on the floor. She was telling the truth, I felt almost sure.

‘Why didn’t you call for someone?’

‘Why do you think? I didn’t know what had happened to him, stroke, heart attack, anything. I just wanted to get out of there.’

‘You left your dress and shoes behind.’

‘I know. I’d only worn that dress twice.’

I felt a brief pang of despair. Deirdre had no notion of the seriousness of her situation. Marcus, his sergeant, even Sykes, all of them would put her into the category of no better than she ought to be.

We were only a few months on from the hanging of Edith Thompson, not because she was complicit with her lover in the murder of her husband, but because the jury regarded her as immoral, vain and contradictory.

Part of me wanted to leave Deirdre in the convent, tell her to learn how to make candles, and lie low. But she would have to face the consequences of her actions. And I must tell her about Fitzpatrick’s death.

‘There’s something you must know, about your husband.’

She closed her eyes. ‘I won’t go back to him. I saw that he’d done something to his foot but I still won’t go back to him.’

‘He had an accident at work, dropped a box of type on his foot. That’s why he was using crutches, and I think he hadn’t quite got used to them.’

Something in my voice gained her attention. She stared at me, waiting.

‘After he saw you at the cemetery, and Eddie stopped him from coming to you, Mr Fitzpatrick hobbled across to his parents’ grave. He fell. I found him there, his head bleeding onto the stone. I’m sorry to say he died from that injury.’

‘Oh God, poor Fitz, poor, pathetic Fitz.’ She rocked back and forth, her arms now crossed over her chest, her eyes closed. ‘Isn’t that just like him? So neat, so proper, goes to a cemetery to die.’

‘Are you allowed brandy in here?’ I took Gerald’s flask from my satchel, unscrewed the top and handed it to her.

She sniffed and shook her head. ‘I can’t drink this stuff straight.’

I poured a good measure into what was left of my lemonade and handed it to her.

As I watched her drink, I thought how convenient it was for Fitzpatrick to be gone, and how easy it would have been for her uncle Jimmy, or her swain Eddie, to have knocked Fitzpatrick’s crutches from under him, and sent him sprawling into eternity.

She drained the earthenware mug and put it down. ‘An annulment would have broken his heart.’

Better a broken heart than a broken head. ‘Come on, Mrs Fitzpatrick. We have a train to catch.’

We travelled back from York in silence. When we disembarked at Leeds, I still did not know where to take Deirdre. An obvious choice was straight to the incident room at the Metropole. That would be better than marching her up to CID headquarters. In the face of indecision, the railway station buffet is always a good idea. We found a table away from the door, so she could not very easily jump up and make a dash for it.

When the waitress came, I ordered a pot of tea for two, and