notepad.
“Do you remember telling me that your wife thought Olive committed the murders because of hormones?”
He pursed his lips at the abrupt change of subject.
“Maybe.”
“Did your wife say that because she knew Olive had had an abortion the previous Christmas?”
“Maybe.”
“Do you know who the father was, Mr. Hayes?”
He shook his head.
“Someone she met through work, we were told. Silly girl. Only did it to cock a snook at Amber.” He fingered his ancient mouth.
“Or that’s what I reckoned anyway.
Amber had a lot of boyfriends.”
So much for Mr. Hayes and Crew in a conspiracy of silence, thought Roz.
“When did you find out about it?”
“Gwen told my Jeannie. She was that upset. Thought Olive was going to up and get married and abandon them all. It would have done for Gwen, that would. She couldn’t have coped on her own.”
“Coped with what?”
“Everything,” he said vaguely.
“Housework, you mean?”
“Housework, cooking, bills, shopping. Everything. Olive did everything.”
“What did Gwen do?”
He didn’t answer immediately, but seemed to be weighing something in his mind. He glanced across at Hal.
“You lot never did ask many questions. I might have said something if you had.”
Hal eased himself in his chair.
“At the time it was clear cut,” he said carefully.
“But Miss Leigh has unearthed a number of discrepancies which do tend to throw a different light on the affair. What would you have told us, had you been asked?”
Mr. Hayes sucked at his false teeth.
“Well, for one thing, Gwen Martin drank too much. She had troubles, I can’t deny that, kept up a good front, I can’t deny that either, but she was a bad mother. She married beneath herself and it made her bitter.
Felt life had dealt her a bad hand and she took it out on Bob and the girls. My Jeannie always said if it hadn’t been for Olive the family would have fallen apart years before. It made us sick, of course, what she did, but everyone turns eventually and she was badly put upon one way and another.
She shouldn’t have killed them, though. Can’t forgive that.”
“No,” said Roz thoughtfully.
“So what did Gwen do all day while the other three were out at work?”
The marbled hands fluttered a contradiction.
“Amber was at home more often than not. Work-shy, that one. Never stayed anywhere very long. Used to drive her mother mad listening to pop records at full blast and inviting boys up to her bedroom.
She was a pretty girl but my Jeannie said she was difficult.
Couldn’t see it myself.” He smiled reminiscently.
“She was always charming to me. I had a soft spot for little Amber.
But she got on with men, I think, better than she got on with women.”
He peered at Roz.
“You asked me about Gwen. What shall I say, Miss Leigh? She kept up appearances. If you knocked on the door she was always smartly dressed, always held herself well, always spoke with icy correctness, but as often as not she was drunk as a lord. Strange woman. Never did know why she took to the bottle, unless it was the business of Amber’s baby. She was a lot worse afterwards.”
Roz drew her cherub doodle.
“Robert Martin was an active homosexual but didn’t want anyone to know,” she said bluntly.
“Perhaps that’s what she found difficult to cope with.”
Mr. Hayes sniffed.
“She drove him to it,” he said.
“There was nothing wrong with Bob that a loving wife wouldn’t have put right. The two girls were his all right, so there was nothing untoward in the locker at the beginning, if you get my meaning.
