As they left and hitthe night air. Mark hailed them a cab rather than try to battlewith the tube again. It was only a few minutes down Oxford Street.Things had gone as well as Mark could have hoped. Anne was clearlyquite taken with him and a few more weeks, perhaps morerealistically months, and maybe Gemma and he would have sorted itall out.
By the time he hadmanoeuvred her out of the cab and up the two flights of stairs toRuth’s apartment, Anne was too far gone for a night cap. He’dfinish off the thallium in the morning.
‘You get a goodnight’s sleep and we’ll leave after we’ve had some breakfasttomorrow morning.’
At least she didn’ttry to kiss him.
‘Yes that wasgreat Mark, I’ve had such a good night. Gemma’s a lucky girl tohave someone like you. My Jeffrey wasn’t much fun you know… nothinglike you. I think he just had no idea how to treat me,really.’
He chaperonedher into the spare room and let her drift off. Ruth’s bedroom doorwas closed but she had left him some bedding on the sofa. Eventhough it doubled as a bed Mark was happy enough to sleep on it asit was. As he’d promised he phoned Gemma to tell her how it had allgone and to suggest they follow things up by regular weekend visitsto Farnham. You had to keep the momentum up; he’d learnt that muchlast time.
Saturday 5 December1981
Markbrought the tray back with the leftovers of breakfast on it intothe kitchen where Gemma was tidying up and making her ownbreakfast. He poured himself a glass of orange juice. It wasSaturday so Edith wasn’t around, much to Gemma’s relief. They’ddriven up to Farnham the previous tea-time. Mark had preparedindividual dishes again and they made sure Anne had eaten the onewith the rather wider selection of mushrooms in it. Their plan hadbeen to stay over and spend the evening encouraging her to have afew drinks with them, duly prepared by Mark. Anne had just aboutmanaged to get the hang of the video recorder and they’d watchedtwo episodes of her current favourite drama, Brideshead Revisited,while Mark plied her with as much G & T plus additions as hecould.
‘She lookspretty bad this morning, she’s only had half the coffee and hasn’ttouched her toast. I think we’d better call Dr Fergusonagain.’
Gemma agreed.‘Okay, will do, I reckon he’s getting the picture so I’m sure he’llcome. I’ll go up and tell her to stay in bed for the timebeing.’
‘Look, GemmaI think this could be all over soon, I recognise the signs. Are youdefinite you want her out of the way? She is yourmother.’
Over the lastfew weeks, Mark had harboured the odd doubts as to whether Gemmawas really determined to go through with things. He needed toreassure himself that it was a joint effort and he wouldn’t be leftby himself to take any kind of blame. It all felt a little strangeworking with someone rather than alone. Of course, Gemma had playedher part and come to think of it had really planned the wholething, but, apart from the mushrooms, it was he who had got hold ofthe various poisons, mixed the drinks and prepared all thefood.
‘I’ve saidthis all along, Mark, we’re in this together. I can never forgiveher, you know that, I’m fine with things. The sooner the better, infact.’
Mark put the doubts tothe back of his mind.
‘The thingis, I’ve got to make sure there’s no link to my past, and that noone makes that connection. You’re sure Anne has no idea about howyou met me or about my past? And what about your work colleagues,did you ever let anything slip?’
Gemma did her best toreassure him.
‘No, I’ve never toldmy mum anything about that, or about anything really, she’s neverbeen that interested anyway. It’s only a few people at work, maybeMathew, David and Lizzie who obviously knew about your past, butI’ve been distancing myself from them recently and in any casethere’s really no need for them to find out anything about my mumwhen it happens. I’ve never really talked about my family to any ofthem. Also, I’m planning to hand in my notice before Christmas, infact I’ve decided that I’m going to next week. I’ve been thinkingabout it and I’ve got a few more days leave to take so if I hand inmy notice next Tuesday my last day should be the twenty-secondwhich will take me to the end of the year, so I’ll be out of itbefore anything happens anyway.’
Yes, he wasprobably being a little paranoid. There was a slight danger thatsomeone might make a link if Anne’s death was reported in anydetail and if they remembered the press reports around his trialback in the early 1970s. However, that wouldn’t be likely to happenif Anne’s death was just seen as natural causes; and there was noone he felt he had to confess to this time. Actually, there was noreason why it shouldn’t be easy enough to keep things quiet, aslong as they got it right. One elderly widow dying of naturalcauses in Farnham was hardly likely to make the news inLittlehampton, or anywhere else for that matter.
Since Mark’strip to London, each weekend they had made a point of eithervisiting Farnham and staying over for a night or else bringing Anneto stay with them in Petworth. Mark had added smallish amounts ofdeaths cap mushrooms, along with concoctions of ricin, thallium andcrushed peach stones, to their, or rather her, evening meals andthey had made sure Anne drank enough to mask any discomfort. It hadbeen a strain having her around and having to encourage her todrink and smoke, but if anything Mark felt it had brought him andGemma closer together, having a common goal and aim. And it wasclear to see a general deterioration in Anne’s health. She lookedthinner and greyer and complained of an almost constant stomachpain. It was strange but it eased Mark’s conscience that she alsosaid she was having a great time and apparently felt years youngerspending
