Lynda Plante - The Little One

‘Nevertheless, yesterday morning Miss Reynolds altered her will to name Miss Hardy as her heir. That same afternoon, Miss Hardy, you met with Mr Sullivan, who told you about the will. Isn’t that right?’

Shaking, Barbara nodded.

‘Yes. But I had no idea of her intentions. She’d said nothing to me.’

Kevin stared at the detectives.

‘Is this true? Did Margaret really change her will the same day that she died?’

Detective Inspector Douglas nodded, keeping his eyes on Barbara.

‘We have a witness who was standing not far from Miss Reynolds at the tube station. She claims that Miss Reynolds was waiting very close to the edge of the platform. It looked to her, from the way that Miss Reynolds jerked forward on to the line just as the train arrived, as if someone pushed her.’

‘Did this witness see someone behind Margaret?’ demanded Kevin.

‘That’s unclear. The platform wasn’t crowded and it appears that no one was standing close to her,’ Detective Inspector Douglas said.

‘Then why does she say Margaret was pushed?’ Alan asked.

Apparently the witness thought Margaret was pushed in the small of her back and fell forward, unable to stop herself. They were waiting for CCTV footage to see if there was anything to confirm this.

The detectives thanked Barbara for her cooperation and asked if she would be staying with her friends in case they wished to talk to her again.

Barbara glanced at Alan and Kevin, saying that if she wasn’t at this address she could be contacted on her mobile.

As soon as the detectives left, Kevin confronted Barbara.

‘You really are a piece of work.’

He sat in the same chair Detective Inspector Douglas had used.

‘Right, Barbara, start talking, and the truth this time. Why did Margaret make you her beneficiary so shortly after meeting you?’

Barbara shook her head, saying it was exactly as she’d told the detectives.

‘She never talked to you about it?’ Alan asked.

‘No. And to be honest, I thought she was behaving strangely the night before. But when we got on the train she seemed fine. It never occurred to me that she was even thinking about suicide.’

She started to cry and Kevin leaned across the table in barely controlled fury.

‘Bit late for tears, isn’t it? Just what did you do?’

Barbara wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. She swore she hadn’t known about the will until she met Sullivan.

‘I couldn’t make it out. He asked me to sign all these papers. I even told him that it was ridiculous.’

‘You must have done something,’ Alan insisted.

Barbara hesitated, then took a deep breath.

‘If you must know, the previous night I really did think she was unbalanced.’

Kevin and Alan waited. Gradually Barbara told them about the time she’d spent at the manor house. She explained that she was certain someone else was living there, that Margaret constantly talked to someone but she’d never seen them.

‘She would lock me in the kitchen. I would hear her talking and playing the piano upstairs. It was really starting to freak me out. I wondered if her husband had survived the helicopter crash or if it was her sister, or her sister’s little girl. I was really scared... and the lights kept going off.’

‘You’ve got a vivid imagination,’ Kevin said, shaking his head in disgust.

‘I really thought she needed to see a shrink. She brought out this awful Bible, asking me to swear on it that I would never tell anyone what she was going to tell me.’

‘Go on,’ Kevin said.

‘It was mad... something about taking care of her sister’s child. But then she told me the girl was dead. She said she was scared to tell anyone because she thought they’d put her back into some mental institution.’

She paused.

‘There’s also something else.’

Barbara felt extremely uneasy repeating it, thinking that it might have been the trigger that made Margaret jump in front of the tube.

‘She told me her sister had admitted as she was dying that she and Armande had been lovers.’

‘I don’t believe that for a second,’ Alan said furiously, and began pacing around the kitchen. ‘I’ve never seen two people more in love. He wouldn’t have betrayed Margaret, and especially not with her sister. It’s all lies.’

Barbara became angry.

‘I’m only telling you what Margaret told me.’

Alan banged the table with his hand.

‘You’re making this up! You just want to get that article written now that Margaret is dead and can’t sue.’

‘I’m not making it up,’ Barbara cried.

Kevin jumped up now and the pair of them faced Barbara.

‘If you dare print a word of this...’

Now Barbara stood up too in a fury.

‘I’m not writing it. That’s the truth.’

Alan gave her a look of such disapproval that she felt like bursting into tears again.

‘You know what I think? As Margaret’s heir, you won’t need to write tripe for anyone ever again, because she must have left a fortune.’

Kevin joined in.

‘I think you blackmailed her into changing her will.’

‘I DID NOT,’ Barbara shouted back.

‘When the police asked you how Margaret was, you said she was relaxed and happy. Now you tell us she was unbalanced. Why didn’t you say that to the police?’

Barbara clenched her hands into fists.

‘Because I told them the truth. She did seem fine and happy, as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.’

Kevin leaned very close, his voice quiet and threatening.

‘You had a big motive to push her in front of the tube. I hope you were telling the truth, Barbara. If they find out that you not only lied about Margaret’s state of mind but were also somewhere near when she fell—’

‘I was on the train going to the manor house!’

‘Then for your sake I hope they’re able to prove it.’

Barbara had nowhere else to stay but at Alan and Kevin’s, even though they didn’t want her there. She did make a half-hearted attempt to find somewhere else, but she felt so depressed she couldn’t face getting out of bed. They virtually ignored her, behaving as if she wasn’t there.

Detective Inspector Douglas got in touch to inform her that the CCTV footage had shown no one close to Margaret, even if it did seem as if she was pushed forward. They had therefore decided that Margaret committed suicide.

Alan was contacted by Mr Sullivan to discuss the funeral arrangements. He was taken aback to learn that Margaret had left precise instructions about what was to happen in the event of her death. She had made a list of the close friends she wanted to be at the service and she asked to be buried beside her husband. She had left a considerable sum of money to cover the costs.

As soon as Alan heard this, he realized that Margaret had planned everything. Tragically, she really had intended to kill herself.

He got in touch with the cast of Harwood House and told them about the funeral. Barbara’s name was not included on the list. Both Alan and Kevin still believed that she had tipped Margaret over the edge, if not the edge of the station platform, then of her sanity.

Barbara had asked Mr Sullivan if he could release some of the money left to her, but he had told her coldly that it would take time.

So, without funds, Barbara really had no option but to remain in Kingston, with Alan and Kevin.

The day of the funeral was overcast. Barbara stayed in the box room, seething with anger. She decided that she would do as requested and not go to the service. However, she did wonder about going to the grave. She might do that, even if it meant standing some distance away from everyone else.