‘Mother said I couldn’t look after myself, let alone a baby...’ Midge licked lips that were suddenly dry. ‘She knew best.’
She could still feel him in her arms. Her beautiful boy.
‘But you didn’t even put a name on him then, did you?’
The blank space on the certificate. The blank space on the label.
The blank space on the adoption form, hastily organized by Mother.
‘And so I left it. And I never asked.’ Bridie sank back, breathing heavily. ‘And we never spoke of it, did we? Because that’s your way. And I had to watch you making yourself more and more invisible, stuck in that stupid property office that he banished you to, wasting all of your skills as a detective. Punishing yourself about giving the baby up, every day. But at that party, with that voucher, I knew. And that’s when I knew I had one last chance to help you.’
‘Help me?’ Midge frowned, struggling to push past her memories.
Bridie stared at her, her blue eyes suddenly intense once again. ‘I’m dying, Midge. You know it, I know it.’
Midge went to shake her head, but Bridie took hold of her chin. ‘I’ve always been there to look out for you. And I couldn’t leave you knowing that he got away with treating you like that.’
Midge stared at her in horror as the full impact of Bridie’s words hit her. ‘But the others? Dr Mortimer and Gloria? What did they ever do to you?’
It all came out in a rush then, Bridie telling Midge how when she had realized who Rendell was, she had also seen an opportunity to get rid of him. After researching the Atherton Hall story, a plan had formed in her mind. She had called the Haunting Holiday Excursions office and booked two extra guests, asking to be picked up at Tiverton Services, knowing this would mean the coach would stop. When everyone was inside, she had settled herself into the broken toilet for the journey down. From that moment, it had just been a case of waiting for an opportunity to kill Rendell, moving about under the guise of Beth Hallow and sleeping in the woodshed outside until her ‘appearance’. Her eyes shone fiercely, but she had to stop several times while her bodywas wracked with fits of coughing. Midge came to sit on the bed next to her again.
‘And what about Dr Mortimer?’ asked Midge.
‘I saw him sneaking out for his sordid little meeting with Harold, so I followed him,’ said Bridie, touching her cheek with her hand. ‘But he must have got confused in the dark and he was halfway across the ranges and the army guns were firing and, I don’t know, suddenly he fell.’
‘He was shot on the ranges?’ said Midge.
‘Yes, I swear,’ said Bridie, nodding her head. ‘It was an accident. So, I made the most of the opportunity and I dragged him back, to make it look like the ghost again.’
‘And the portraits? That was you?’
‘Yes.’ Bridie nodded before smiling. ‘It was actually quite liberating.’
‘Where’s the letter opener?’
‘In my case.’
Midge took Bridie’s hand from her cheek. ‘And what about Gloria?’
‘Gloria hasn’t been poisoned,’ said Bridie, looking out of the window again. ‘You all jumped to that conclusion on your own. You must be careful, Midge, when I’m gone, not to get swept along in these big personalities.’
‘You mean we made her throw up for nothing? There is no death by arsenic?’
Bridie turned around, before leaning in and whispering, her eyes bright in the lamplight, ‘Well, not for Gloria at least.’
Midge heaved a deep sigh that made her heart ache. ‘Oh, Bridie, what have you done?’
‘Is she OK?’ Bridie asked, tilting her head to the side. ‘Gloria.’
‘No,’ said Midge. ‘I don’t think waterboarding was high on her list of holiday activities.’
‘Are you being sarcastic, Midge?’ Bridie raised an eyebrow. ‘Another change. Well, tell her I’m sorry for all the fuss.’
‘Where are the phones, Bridie?’ asked Midge. ‘We need to get help.’
Bridie stared at her for a moment, her eyes cloudy, before nodding, slowly. ‘Always doing the right thing, aren’t you, Midge?’
‘I’m a police officer,’ said Midge. ‘It’s been my whole life.’
