Gillian Galbraith - No Sorrow To Die

‘I understand,’ Pippa said, ‘and thank you very much, Thomas.’

Once seated beside her sister in the interview room, Pippa Mitchelson put her arms around her, rocking her gently as she had done before, long, long ago in their childhood years. Then she had been the confident one, the big sister, able to put things right, to soothe the younger one, take away her troubles. Until, one day, their roles had been reversed, and she had found herself the comforted instead of the comforter. Her new role, that of the less-worldly one, the lonely, unfulfilled spinster, had not been chosen by her, and by the time she had become conscious of it, it was too late. It fitted too well, too snugly and she could not shake it off. With her long fingers she swept a strand of hair from her sister’s temple, rearranging it behind her ear and wiping away the tears that were glistening on her cheeks.

‘It’s alright, sweetheart, it’s alright. I’ve just heard. Don’t worry. Harry’s fine. The female Sergeant brought both the children here. Katy, too… Ella’s been speaking to that chief detective woman. But you needn’t worry any more. Harry didn’t do it.’

‘Thank God!’ Heather Brodie replied, sobbing unashamedly, ‘thank God.’

‘But what made you think that he had – that it was Harry?’

‘I didn’t… until yesterday,’ Heather Brodie answered, ‘but after those letters I knew. I thought he had finally listened to his father, put him out of his misery. He felt he owed it to him. That he couldn’t bear the thought of him in a home.’

‘What letters?’

‘The Genetic Counselling Service one, I found it on top of the hall table in his flat and I couldn’t resist taking a look. They wanted to counsel him about Huntingdon’s. He must have decided to have the test and heard he’s got it. It must have been positive.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me, darling?’ Pippa said, squeezing her sister’s hand. ‘When Ella was tested – and she doesn’t have it, now does she? – she was called in. They call you in even if the result is negative.’

‘Always? Do they really?’ Heather asked, in a relieved tone.

‘Always. What was the other letter? The one from the Abbey Park Lodge?’

‘So, he still may not have Huntingdon’s?’

‘Yes, yes. But tell me about the letter.’

‘It was the one you handed to me at the flat, from Mrs Drayton, the manageress. Our initials are the same, mine and Harry’s. They’d put “Mr” before my initials, by mistake, so I thought it was for him and I forwarded it on to him in the flat. But it was meant for me. He must have learned from it that I was intending to put his father in there, into a home. I’d never discussed it with the children. I had to be the one to make the decision… I couldn’t involve them in something like that.’

‘I know. I knew you had taken that decision.’

‘How? Who told you?’

‘Ella, last week. Harry told her and she told me, you see. Anyway, you shouldn’t have worried,’ Pippa said, trying to reassure her again. ‘Harry and Ella were together the night when it all happened, you knew that. Remember?’

‘That’s what I thought at first. But after that phone call, I worked out that Ella had spent the evening, and the night, with Vicky, Harry’s girlfriend. That’s what I thought Vicky said.’

‘I don’t know what she said, but maybe you got it wrong.’

‘Maybe I did. I can’t remember her exact words any more. But if it wasn’t Harry, then who was it… God, not Ella – please, please God.’

‘No,’ Pippa said quietly, ‘not Ella, darling. Me.’

‘You?’

Thomas Riddell pushed the door open and advanced quickly towards the sisters, finding them both now sitting bolt upright.

‘You’ll have to leave now, Miss Mitchelson,’ he said, looking at her anxiously and tapping her on the shoulder. ‘You’ll need to go into the other interview room. The Chief and Inspector Manson are both on their way, and they’ll be here in less than a minute.’

Elaine Bell listened dumbfounded to her sergeant.

‘Are you sure?’

‘No, but I am sure that it wasn’t Heather Brodie. And Pippa Mitchelson has no alibi.’

‘OK, but that only gets us so far. Why? Why would she kill her brother-in-law?’

‘Love, I think.’

‘She was in love with the man?’ the DCI interrupted, incredulous.

‘No. Ella. She loves Ella.’

DI Manson came over to join them, shaking his head.

‘She doesn’t want one?’ Elaine Bell asked.

‘No, Ma’am. Says she doesn’t need a solicitor. Wants to get everything over now. Right now.’

‘Alright. Alice, you take the lead this time. I still don’t fully understand what’s been going on, but we can’t wait. Wouldn’t want her to change her mind. But be very, very careful. Do it completely by the book… everything. Nothing must go wrong.’

Once they were all seated inside and the tape was running, Alice began, ‘Miss Mitchelson, would I be right in thinking that you were not with your sister on the Saturday night?’

‘Yes,’ the woman smiled bleakly, tenting her long fingers and pressing their red tips together, ‘you would be right.’

‘But you covered for her?’

‘That’s what she thought, and she was right, of course. I always cover for her. I knew whenever she was going out to meet Colin. She would tell the children that she was going to meet up with me, and obviously I’d tell them the same. I had to, didn’t I?’

‘You always knew when she would be out of the house… when she was with him, anyway?’

‘Shall we speed things up a bit, dear? Mr Riddell kindly collected me, but I would have come here myself. As soon as I’d heard about Heather’s foolish, selfless act I had to, really, didn’t I? So, shall I just tell you everything… would that be in order?’

The DCI and Alice exchanged glances, and then Elaine Bell said, ‘Yes, you do that, please.’

‘Well… where shall I begin?’ the middle-aged spinster asked, shielding her tired eyes with her left hand, then answering her own question. ‘At the beginning, of course. On Friday last Ella told me… she said that Harry had discovered from a letter that their mother was going to put Gavin in a home. She was crying, almost hysterical at the thought. She said she couldn’t bear it. Katy was beside her, she couldn’t understand what was going on, so I put her on my knee as Ella talked and talked. She said that she was going to save her father, put him out of his misery like he wanted, like he kept asking her…’

She stopped speaking, looking into the distance.

‘So?’ The DCI prompted.

‘Sorry. So I said not to worry. But I couldn’t let that happen could I? Ella’s a brave girl, a very unselfish girl, and she would have done it, you see. She has the courage to do it – to kill him. I knew she would…’ her voice tailed off, but she began again, a tear running now down her cheek.

‘I couldn’t let that happen. Ella has everything to live for. She’s young, beautiful. She’s got Katy to look after. Her whole life is in front of her. And, goodness me, Katy needs her mother, doesn’t she? Any child does… And what do I have to lose in comparison? No one needs me, you see. I had so much less to lose. I had to be the one. For Ella… Gavin too, in a way.’

‘So?’ The DCI repeated, mechanically.

‘So I did it… on the Saturday. I knew Heather was going to be out with Colin. I had my key. I waited for Una to go, and then I gave him a cocktail of two of his drugs and waited. While I was waiting, I lost my nerve. I thought perhaps they won’t work, perhaps the ones I chose were not strong enough. I couldn’t wait any longer.’