cremated with his wife. Maisie Stokes gave her evidence. They would have struck her off the midwives’ register but she had long since retired so Martha merely admonished her.
‘So, Alex.’ Martha wondered what had brought him to her office on this clear, cold February day. ‘I thought you’d want to know,’ he said, ‘The Birmingham police have found out something about the Isaacs.’
‘Ah,’ Martha said wisely.
‘It’s to do with inheritance, as you thought. Mrs Isaac had a large and very valuable collection of Chinese porcelain. We looked into her old house contents insurance at The Mount. The collection was worth in excess of half a million pounds.’
‘Good gracious,’ Martha said.
‘The money they gave to the charlady was, in fact, hush money,’ Alex said. ‘When Mrs Isaac’s estate was valued for probate-’
‘It had disappeared?’
‘Correct.’
‘What happened to it?’
‘It was sold – for cash – to a Dutch dealer. Isaac has been busily laundering the money ever since, with little buys here and there.’
Martha nodded.
‘We’ve made a charge against them and the Inland Revenue will be sending them a not-so-small bill,’ Alex said with satisfaction. ‘They’re lucky to have escaped prosecution. Inland Revenue can be quite ruthless at pursuing their debtors.’
‘And the Godfreys?’
‘It’s going to be difficult to know what charge we can make stick without a statement from either Maisie Stokes or Miss Zawadzki. And she’s not going to play ball, I can promise you. She wants nothing to do with us.’ He paused. ‘Which would have left us with concealment of a body except…’
She waited.
‘Their present maid, Graciela, is four months pregnant. They were trying the same thing again.’
Martha frowned. ‘There’s been quite a gap.’
‘After what happened they didn’t dare try anything again in the UK so they lay low in Spain. It’s more difficult now to recruit a surrogate mother via the Internet. There are stops put on it so they had to wait for a suitable Spanish girl, someone from the villages.’
‘And now?’
‘Graciela seems to want to go through with it,’ Alex said. ‘It isn’t illegal for money to change hands along with a child. Their suitability as parents might be called into question but as Vince Godfrey is the biological father it rather looks as though the child might end up with them anyway. They’re desperate to have a child, Martha.’
‘Desperate people. Desperate measures.’
‘Quite.’
He’d finished all he had to say but DI Alex Randall didn’t move. He smiled at Martha. ‘This isn’t the first time you’ve helped me out,’ he said. ‘I’m really grateful.’
‘My pleasure.’
She had thought he might say more but he didn’t. He simply smiled, shook her hand and left.
She sat for a minute or two then picked up the telephone. Perhaps it was time she had a little bit of fun in her life. Being a coroner was interesting. As was being a mother but her life was slipping away all too fast. No one is more aware of the swift flow of the sands of time than a coroner. She’d been promised dinner. Why not?
She dialled the number and was soon connected.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
When I was a child I inherited my grandmother’s doll’s house. Called Nora’s Villa, dated 1894, my usual Saturday job was to clean and tidy it out. It was fully furnished with some lovely furniture and had a lead fireplace, even an ebony piano. My aunt had had it before me but had only sons so I inherited it. Coincidentally I too had sons so it went to my nieces, Lucinda and Alicia.
In the house were porcelain dolls. Two of these I felt particularly sorry for. Porcelain, made from one piece, unable to move either their legs or their arms. These dolls, I was to learn, are known as Frozen Charlottes. As always, a story leads to yet another story. Surfing the Internet, I discovered that Frozen Charlottes are named after Fair Charlotte, the unwise heroine of a poem by Seba Smith, a Maine humorist (1792-1868). Fair Charlotte, setting out for a New Year’s Eve Ball elected to travel in a silken cloak. By the time she reached the ball she was frozen solid! A warning to young ladies who put glamour ahead of warmth on snowy nights.
We’ve all done it!
Priscilla Masters
