Disordered Minds

I'm not thick, Mr. Wyatt. Do you think I wouldn't've caught her out by now? Do you think I'd've let her call the shots all these years if there was a chance she'd murdered Grace?'

'Did she have Micky or Colley's number?'

He hesitated. 'She might have had Colley's. Micky's family didn't have a phone.'

'Would she have called Colley?'

'Maybe ... but it's not something you can prove. He's forgotten the whole thing now.'

'When did you next see her?' asked George.

'After she and Micky hooked up. I recognized her immediately. She'd changed everything else, but she couldn't change her eyes.'

'Was she calling herself Priscilla?'

'Not then. She was Daisy at that point. She changed to Priscilla about three years after she married Micky.'

'Did she explain why she chose it?'

He stirred the dirt in the ashtray with the end of his cigarette. 'She liked it better than Daisy or Louise.' He pondered for a moment. 'Actually, I think she said Micky liked Priscilla better than Daisy or Louise, and she probably meant it that way, too. She never believed any of us liked her for who she was ... you could say Colley proved it by forgetting Louise completely.'

'Did she ever mention Grace's murder or Howard's conviction?' Wyatt asked.

'Only since George came on the scene and started asking questions.'

'What did she say?'

'That if George ferreted around too much she'd find out about Cill.'

'Anything else?' 'She was worried about DNA evidence.'

'In what connection?' asked George. 'Cill's murder or Grace's?'

Roy eyed her for a moment. 'Grace's,' he said slowly. 'She read Dr. Hughes's book where he mentioned that if some of the physical evidence had been kept, it would clear Howard. She was frightened that if that happened, the police would reopen the case and almost certainly look at Cill's disappearance again-' he paused-'and that would put her, Colley and me in the firing line because we were all questioned at the time.'

'What was your answer to that?'

He didn't speak for a moment, and George could almost hear his brain working. 'That you'd already told me the physical evidence had been destroyed and there wasn't much chance of anyone else being put in the frame.'

George frowned at him. 'I never said that, Roy. Even the police don't know if the evidence still exists. Fred Lovatt's looked through the archives and he hasn't found anything ... but I live in hope. The Black Museum in London still has bits of evidence from the Ripper murders.'

Roy's mouth twisted into a cynical smile. 'She was acting paranoid. I wanted her out of the pub before she drew attention to herself. Bloody joke, eh? I wouldn't be here if I'd kept my stupid mouth shut.'

Wyatt exchanged a questioning glance with George. 'Two hours later she stole Jonathan's wallet and passport,' George said. 'That's the only reason we became interested in Cill Trevelyan.' She pulled a wry expression at Roy's dawning disillusionment. 'I did say she didn't have your loyalties, Roy, and perhaps, after all, we should blame her father for it. If he hadn't made her the whipping boy for his frustrations, and forced her to lie about it, she wouldn't have learned how easy-or pleasurable-it was to see someone else punished for hers.'

From: wandr.burton@compuline.com

Sent: Tues. 7/29/03 15:23

To: robandeileen.burton@uknet.co.uk

Subject: Louise

Dear Robert and Eileen,

I'm writing to you without Billy's knowledge because he's forbidden me and the girls to talk to you, but someone has to say something before this awful situation gets any worse. You can't be so stupid that you'd go on lying for Louise when she's lining up Eileen as Grace's murderer if Roy Trent can wriggle out of it. Maybe you think you owe her something because of Robert's abuse. Maybe you think that by giving her an alibi, you're helping her. You're not. You're just accusing YOURSELVES. I'm guessing you're sticking to a story you invented years ago, but all you're doing is digging a bigger and bigger hole for yourselves because the police haven't told you what Louise has been saying.

Billy KNOWS that Eileen went to work on the Monday and Tuesday afternoons as usual, which means she COULDN'T have got home until after Robert clocked on at Brackham & Wright's. It wasn't until the Wednesday, when Louise started her fainting fits, that she gave up work. Robert, you know this too, so why are you lying about it? The police keep asking Billy the same questions over and over again. What time did his mother come home on the Tuesday? Was Louise there? Did his mother go out again later?

Eileen's already under suspicion because she said she collected Louise from school on the Monday afternoon and kept her at home for the rest of the day. That's contradicting Louise's OWN story about phoning Trent from a call box after school, then helping him and his friends gain access to Grace that evening. Because of that, they're now questioning whether Eileen collected Louise on the Tuesday. If you've been lying to protect the family, then you're MAD. At the moment, Eileen's next in the firing line. If you're guilty of Grace's murder, Eileen, then I have no sympathy for you, but if you're NOT, then you must tell the truth.

The worst I think you might have done is cover for Louise afterward. I'd know if either of my girls had done something bad. I bet she came home in a state on the Tuesday, long after you'd got back from work, probably in something of Grace's because she'd left hers on the bathroom floor. I expect she lied and said Grace was already dead when she got there. So what did you do? Go back for the clothes? Was it you who wiped the taps? It's the sort of thing you'd think of. I wonder why you didn't clean the bath as well, but maybe the blood and hair didn't show when it was wet. You must have been very frightened, of course, so perhaps you felt too sick to do the job properly. Was it you who vandalized the house to make it look like a burglary?