Nancy nodded. ‘She was all those things and more which makes her leaving us even harder. You know, Magda, I keep thinking about what happened that night. And what might have happened before. Julia told me she was unhappy and she was scared of how Shane would react to a divorce.’
Magda looked down at her tea and wished she didn’t have to be involved in these conversations.
Nancy leaned forward. ‘Do you think he pushed her?’
Magda didn’t answer immediately. Her face was unreadable. She turned her mug slowly in her hands. ‘I think she might have been a bit drunk… she had been drinking more than usual but it was not for me to say this to her, and now I wish I had,’ she said eventually.
‘It seems to me she was really unhappy and was trying to numb the pain.’
Magda nodded. ‘I think so, too. That night will stay in my mind forever, you know. I was already worried by the way he acted earlier, totally blanking us and his face… you could tell he was in a bad mood. Later, when I came back for my phone, the fact I could hear him from down here tells you how mad he was. I’d heard them shouting at each other before, but this was different. There was big anger in his voice, different to the times when they’d rowed about him staying out too late or leaving beer bottles in the garden.’
Nancy inhaled sharply. ‘It doesn’t surprise me, that she’d been drinking. I would if I was married to him, that’s for sure. But what I don’t get is how he knew she was planning to divorce him. She wouldn’t have told him because we’d planned it all someticulously, for after her trip to the States with Molly and when he’d taken Dee to Paris. She didn’t want to ruin anything for the girls so I know without a doubt she wouldn’t have told him, which means he found out somehow.’
Magda met her gaze. ‘I think he is like the snake. I think he is a man who likes control and he’s always creeping about, snooping. I’ve caught him before, in Julia’s study rummaging about in her drawers. Once he said he was looking for a stapler. I ask you. Who uses one of those these days? And he is very secretive where his own stuff is concerned.’
Nancy furrowed her brows. ‘What do you mean?’
There was a long pause. Outside, the breeze stirred the wind chimes near the back door, and they clinked like cutlery in a drawer.
‘Well… in his room, he has a metal box, like one of those you put money in, but bigger, and it has a screen and a digital code.’ Suddenly Magda realised she was breaking one of her own rules, but then again it was about him so did it count? No.
But just in case. ‘I don’t want you to think I am being the nosey person, because I am not. I respect the privacy of the family and being housekeeper is a position of great trust, but anyway, I saw it just once. He keeps it in his wardrobe and on that day, when I took up his laundry he had left the door of his wardrobe open slightly. I never go into their personal spaces. I always leave their laundry on the bed, so when I saw the open door I went to close it and spotted it, the box, on the shelf.’
Nancy leaned forward, lowering her voice. ‘That’s odd, and weird, because as you know, Julia has a safe in the study, for all their jewellery and passports, things like that. Ronnie’s things are in there, she told me, you know, just in case. So why would Shane have a separate one?’
Magda nodded. ‘I am thinking the same thing. I know about the safe because Julia showed it to me. I am official keyholder forthe house so if they were ever broken into while they are away, the police will call me. It’s behind the Vettriano painting, of the blue car. It was Ronnie’s favourite.’ At this, Magda welled up. Ronnie would always be dear to her heart.
Nancy smiled and reached over, squeezing Magda’s free hand. ‘It was, and I’m glad Julia had you to confide in and support her. She trusted you so much and it made being away a lot easier for me.’
‘Thank you. That means a lot to me, and my Erik, because he keeps his eyes on things at ClearGlass. We would have done anything for her and Ronnie and that’s why I want to stay close by and watch over the girls, but I am worried thathewill try to get rid of me. There is no love lost between us and I expect he will sack me as soon as he can.’
‘Don’t you worry about that, Magda. I’ll make sure he’s out of here as soon as the will is read, after the funeral. And if he won’t go, I will stay here and piss him off so much he will give in and bugger off. I have stacks of leave owed to me, and compassionate leave too, so between us, me and you will sort him out once and for all.’ Nancy winked at Magda, a wicked smile brightening up her pretty face and the day.
Nancy’s words had lifted Magda no end, as did her smile which was a rare thing at the moment, and for the first time she didn’t feel quite so worried or alone, confident that together she and Nancy would see Shane off.
‘How do you think the girls will cope, if he gets his marching orders?’ Nancy asked.
Magda’s voice dropped, aware that Molly and Dee were around. ‘They’ve both become attached to him over the years, Dee the most. Molly gets on with him well but is more independent. Maybe they will want him to stay, for security, or because they need a parental figure in their lives. I don’t know how they will feel about him leaving and this house is too big forthem on their own. But with you here all the time, and me during the day, I think they will be fine.’
Nancy’s hand went to her mouth. ‘It’s like they are under his spell, isn’t it?’
‘Unfortunately, yes,’ Magda said. ‘Dee is besotted with him.’
‘Then there’s only one thing for it. I’ll have to come home permanently and look after them. Hopefully Molly can still take her place at Princeton, if not this year, maybe next. And Dee can get on with her GCSEs. I can’t leave them to fend for themselves, can I? I know you’ll be here during the day but they’ll need support for a long time after this.’
Magda’s mind was running riot imagining Nancy giving up her home and job in Canada, and what if there was a lover, what would they think? She knew Nancy had never found ‘the one’ and according to Julia she put her career before affairs of the heart but still, it was a selfless act she was considering.
Magda had to ask. ‘Would you really do that, for the girls? Give up your whole life for them. Isn’t there anyone special in Canada, someone you would miss if you came home?’
Without hesitation, Nancy replied, ‘It’s a no-brainer, Magda. The girls are more special than anyone in my life and if they need a mother figure to help them through the next few months and years, then I will gladly sacrifice my world for theirs. It’s my duty and what Julia would expect, and I won’t let her or the girls down.’
‘And I will help. I will be by your side. I promise.’ Magda reached out and took Nancy’s hand in hers, knowing that her other worries would disappear and could stay silent, once Shane was history.
Amidst the sorrow and confusion, wrapped up in her doubts and suspicions Magda allowed herself to relax a notch. Put away the bad thoughts for now and focus on helping Nancy to get rid of that awful man, one way or another.
Chapter Thirty-Five
The day of the funeral came cloaked in a humid haze of grey. The sun was up there somewhere, furiously heating up the world whilst being thwarted by low slabs of cloud that stretched across the rooftops of the village. The forecast predicted a thunderstorm and the hot and bothered folk of Cheshire rejoiced.
