certainly have sought to prosecute on the grounds of cruelty, but her death meant that we effectively handed the responsibility for asking questions to Sergeant Drury. I know that Dr. Arnold had severe reservations about his handling of the case-and it would seem from your letter that you do, too-but in fairness I should stress that he was as shocked as we were by the conditions in the house and said several times, 'I should have believed them.' By this I assume he was referring to her neighbors, whom he described constantly as 'low-life.' I say this only to remind you that he, and we, were dealing with a situation that, even if it was unexpected, did in fact bear out everything that had been said about Annie for the last twelve months.
With respect to your specific questions: Annie said her 'marmalade' cat had died of 'heart failure.' She was extremely distraught about it and asked me several times if I thought cats felt pain in the same way we did. I said I didn't know.
Most of the live cats were malnourished-except the six I was able to identify as hers. Several of the strays had bald patches 'round their muzzles, but in almost every instance the fur was beginning to grow back. I'm afraid there was no evidence that 'efforts had been made to help them.' Rather the reverse, sadly, as the only sensible help would have been a visit to the vet. However, if your premise that the cats' mouths were taped by someone other than Annie, then clearly the removal of the tape and the purchase of chicken and milk, etc., were an indication of 'efforts to help.' Her own cats were in noticeably better health than the rest.
I'm afraid it's impossible to say how much time had elapsed since the tomcats' mouths were taped, simply because their condition when we found them was so appalling. However, I take on board your suggestion that Annie was unlikely to render them helpless only to release them again.
If I accept your premise that it wasn't Annie who brutalized the animals, then I can also accept your premise that the reason we found sick cats shut into the back bedroom was because she wanted to protect the vulnerable cats from the rest. However, and sadly, I can recall no evidence from the postmortems to prove this, as we had no way of telling if the cats were confined after being bitten and scratched, or before.
Assuming the above premises to be true, then it is certainly possible that the healthy cats killed the sick ones and that the ones with broken necks were the result of 'mercy killings.' However, if Annie confined the sick toms to protect them from the others, they may well have turned on each other within the confines of the room. I agree that Annie may have chosen to confine the cats inside the house-despite their fouling the floors-in order to protect them from a greater danger outside.
In conclusion, I am a great deal happier with the suggestion that Annie was a savior of cats rather than a tormentor of them, though I fear you will have difficulty proving it.
With best wishes for a successful campaign,
*24*
I asked Michael when he last saw Alan. 'We stopped hanging around together after he hurt Rosie,' he said, stroking his jaw in thoughtful reminiscence. 'If I remember right, I didn't see hide nor hair of him from about '80 on ... but I was in and out of the nick myself on a pretty constant basis which probably accounts for it.' He shook his head. 'It's pretty bad when you think about it.'
'What?'
'That there were only two families in that whole road that couldn't keep out of trouble. The Percys and the Slaters. We had the same chances as everyone else, but never used them. Do you realize we must have done over twenty years in prison between us-what with Derek and me, and whatever it was Alan did?'
'Habits are hard to break,' I said.
'Yeah, like Rosie's.'
'What happened to her?'
'OD'd on smack in a squat in Manchester about five years ago,' he said bitterly. 'Some idiot dealer was selling it uncut around that time so it was probably accidental and not deliberate. Bailiffs found her body under a mattress the day after her mates vacated the place. The police reckoned she'd been dead three days, but no one did a thing about it ... just left her there while they packed their bags and scarpered.'
'I'm sorry.'
He nodded. 'It was pretty sad. Bridget kept trying to get treatment for her, but Rosie couldn't hack life without it. She always said she'd die of an overdose, so I guess she wouldn't have minded too much if she knew what was happening to her.'
'What did her father say?'
'Zilch. I'm not sure he even knows she's dead. The girls stopped talking to him after he shacked up with Mum.'
'Couldn't you have told him?'
'No way. He kicked me out when he moved in. That's when I started living with Rosie and Bridget.' He jammed his hands between his knees, shoulders hunched in sudden anger. 'He really hates me ... persuaded Mum I was no good,' he said resentfully, 'even though I was the one that looked out for her when it mattered.'
'When was that?'
He turned away so that I couldn't see his expression. 'It's not important.'
I was sure it was, but couldn't see the point of pursuing it as he clearly didn't want to tell me. 'What did you do to make Geoffrey dislike you so much?'
'Told Rosie and Bridget he was one of Mum's clients. He was a two-faced bastard ... kept making out what a saint he was to have given up his job to look after his dying wife ... while all the time he was 'round at our place. It was the girls who did everything for their ma. Geoff did sod all except complain when his dinner was late. Vivienne was a nice lady. I used to sit with her most afternoons, and it pissed me off to hear her talking about Geoff as if he'd been good to her.'
'Did she ever find out about your mother?'
'I don't think so. She died with a smile on her face, so I reckon he fooled her to the end. Me and the girls never
