‘Did you know Sarah Blackstone?’
Maggie shrugged. ‘Not well. We met through Women’s Aid. I’m involved with the refuge in Leeds as well as the one here. Sarah used to run an informal clinic at the refuge in Leeds. She was also one of the doctors they call out to provide medical evidence when they get emergency admissions of women and children who have been badly beaten. We were both on the management committee up until a couple of years ago when Sarah resigned. She said she didn’t have the time to give it the energy it demanded.’
‘What was she like?’
A smile ghosted on Maggie’s face. ‘She was exhausting. One of those women who’s always full of bounce, never doing anything by halves. Ambitious, clever, committed. She gave up a lot of her time for the causes she believed in. Passionate about the women she dealt with professionally. A great sense of humour. She could be a real clown sometimes.’
‘You make her sound like Mother Teresa.’
Maggie gave a bark of laughter. ‘Sarah Blackstone? God, no. She had the faults to match her virtues. Like every doctor I’ve ever met, she was convinced she knew better than God. She was stubborn, arrogant and sometimes flippant about things that are never funny. And when she got a bee in her bonnet about something, she wouldn’t leave it alone until everybody had agreed to go along with her ideas.’
‘Did you see much of her socially?’
‘A bit. We’d end up at the same parties, barbecues, benefits, you know the sort of thing.’
Only by reputation, thank God. ‘Was she involved with anyone when she died?’ I asked. If Maggie was going to block me, this was where it would start.
‘I don’t think so,’ Maggie said. She appeared to be sincere. ‘The last relationship she was in ended round about the end of last summer. The woman she was seeing, Diana, moved to Exeter to start a new job, and there wasn’t enough between them for the relationship to survive. They’d been knocking around together for the best part of a year, but not in a committed kind of way. There was always something a bit aloof about Sarah, as if she didn’t want to let anyone too close.’
‘Did that include Helen Maitland?’
Maggie’s eyebrows shot up. ‘That’s been over for years. How did you hear about Helen and Sarah?’
‘Sarah used Helen’s name as an alias. I wasn’t sure whether the connection between them went deeper than colleagues.’ All perfectly truthful, as far as it went. There really wasn’t any need to tell Maggie that my suspicions had been confirmed by the Land Registry. Before Helen Maitland’s house had been registered in her sole name, it had been jointly owned by Dr Maitland and Dr Sarah Blackstone. I don’t know many people who buy houses with anyone other than their lover.
Maggie’s mouth twisted into a rueful grimace. ‘And I just told you it did, didn’t I?’
‘Well, I had my suspicions,’ I said. ‘What was the score there?’
‘Oh well, in for a penny…Let me see now…It must be six or seven years ago that they first got together. Helen was already in Leeds when Sarah arrived, and it was one of those thunderbolt things. I remember the night they met — it was at a Lesbian Line benefit. Somebody introduced them and they looked at each other like they both had concussion. They moved in together within a couple of weeks, and eventually bought a house together. Then it all fell apart.’
‘Why?’
Maggie squeezed the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger, like a woman who’s suddenly discovered she’s got a sinus headache. ‘I had a lot on my mind,’ she said quietly. ‘It was around three years ago. Not a good time for me.’
I stayed silent, remembering. It had been hard enough for me to accept Moira’s death. For Maggie, it must have been a waking nightmare. I waited without impatience for her to fast forward from the worst days of her life. Some things even I’m sensitive to. After a few moments, she stopped massaging her forehead and tuned back in to the here and now. ‘I don’t know if I ever knew the exact details, but I certainly don’t remember them now. I’ve got a feeling it had something to do with Helen wanting kids and Sarah not. Whatever it was, it was serious. As far as I know, they never spoke again after the bust-up except through their lawyers. A mate of mine acted for Sarah and she said she’d never seen anything like it. It was as if they went from total love to total hatred overnight.’
‘That’s interesting,’ I said, my brain working overtime. My first thought was that she’d got the bit about the kids the wrong way round. Then I thought about what it would mean if she hadn’t.
Before I could pursue that line, Maggie shook her head wonderingly and said, ‘Oh, so that’s what this is about, is it? Looking for a suitable dyke to replace your client on the suspect list?’
‘You know I don’t work like that. If I did, I’d have told the police about a certain incident three years ago…’
Her embarrassment was obvious even if it didn’t stretch to an apology. ‘Yeah, well,’ she said. ‘Helen’s not the type. Believe me, I know her. She went out with my best mate for about a year not long after she came to Leeds. Anyway, Helen’s had stuff to deal with in the last year that must have seemed a hell of a lot more significant to her than whatever Sarah Blackstone was up to.’
‘Like what?’
‘Like cervical cancer. She had to have a complete hysterectomy. She’s only been back at work for about three months.’
I felt like a fruit machine with two lemons up and a fistful of nudges. ‘And has she been involved with anyone since Sarah?’ I thought I knew the answer, but it’s always worth checking.
‘Oh yes,’ Maggie said. ‘She’s got a girlfriend in York. Flora. A librarian at the university. Masses of black hair, like one of those Victorian maidens in distress.’
‘I think I’ve met her. Looks like she’d break if you spoke too loud?’
‘You’d think so to see her doing that vulnerable innocent routine. But when you watch her in action, you soon see she’s tough as old boots. If St George had rescued her from a dragon, he’d not have had her home long before he realized he’d spared the wrong one. And when it comes to Helen Maitland, that Flora’s besotted. You could see from early on. Flora had Helen in her sights, and she was going to have her. A ruthless charm offensive, that’s what it was. You never get the chance to get Helen on her own these days. Flora’s never more than a heartbeat away.’
‘How long have they been together?’
Maggie frowned, trying to recall. ‘It’s been a while now. Since before Helen was diagnosed. Mind I get the impression that if it hadn’t been for the cancer and the fact that she needed the emotional support, Helen would have dumped Flora a long time ago. You often see it in relationships — you get the one who worships and the one who’s not much more than fond. Well, Helen’s not the worshipper here. But she definitely wasn’t hankering after Sarah, if that’s what you’re thinking. That relationship was dead and buried well before Sarah died,’ she added definitely.
Before I could say more, the front door opened and a tall woman in her twenties wearing an ambulance paramedic’s uniform walked in. ‘Hi, hon,’ she said to Maggie, moving into the room and kissing the top of her head. She grinned at me. ‘Hi. We’ve not met.’
‘This is Amanda. She’s the one who burns your Christmas cards,’ Maggie said drily.
The tall woman’s face darkened in a scowl. ‘You’re Kate Brannigan?’ she demanded.
‘That’s me.’
‘My God,’ she said. ‘You’ve got a nerve. How dare you come round here hassling us! Haven’t you done enough?’ She took an involuntary step towards me.
I got to my feet. ‘It’s probably time I was going,’ I said.
‘You’re not wrong,’ the paramedic snapped.
‘It’s all right, Mand,’ Maggie said, reaching out and touching her partner lightly on the hip. ‘I’ll walk you to your car, Kate.’
Amanda stood on the step watching us down the path. ‘She thinks you’re the one who broke my heart,’ Maggie said as we walked up the hill towards my car. ‘I thought so too for a while. It took me about a year to realize I’d been idealizing Moira. She was a wonderful woman, but she wasn’t really the fabulous creature I had constructed in my mind. If I’m brutally honest, I have to admit we’d never have gone the distance. There were too many things that separated us. But Amanda…With her, I do feel like I’ve got a future. So on the rare occasions when I remember you’re on the planet, I don’t think of you with anger. I think of you as the person who probably
