The Widows’ Club

‘I’ve been staring at that bloody thing all night,’ admitted April. ‘I can make out a J and what might be a T for Jason’s initials, but it’s in the middle, so maybe it’s a plus sign.’

‘I think it’s a plus sign,’ agreed Faith, ‘and there are more scratches to the left of it, but that’s harder to read. Is it an S?’

‘It could be,’ April said with a shrug.

Taking back the stone and the leash from Faith, April set off again and the others followed. Dexter kept checking for Faith’s approval. He was no longer leading the pack.

‘It doesn’t matter what the scratchings say, at least not completely. It’s what they represent. Jason plus someone else – someone who isn’t me,’ April said. ‘I’d almost convinced myself I was being paranoid and the cash withdrawals meant nothing. What an idiot am I? Totally trusting while he was alive and still ignoring what my subconscious has been screaming at me for the best part of a year.’

‘I’m so sorry, April,’ said Tara. She wanted to put an arm around her, but Faith was between them and as yet, she hadn’t realised that April needed the human touch.

‘I notice neither of you has said there’s some other explanation.’

‘It’s possible the stone ended up on Jason’s grave by accident,’ Faith said, digging her hands into her pockets. ‘A child could have picked it up from another grave and discarded it in the wrong place. But, when you consider the coincidence that the inscription includes the letter J, together with the bank account evidence and the doubts you had before Jason died, it does make for a compelling case.’

‘What about you, Tara? What do you think?’

Tara walked in silence for a while. She wanted nothing more than for April to find some form of resolution and the simplest and least painful way for that to happen was to give up on the idea that Jason had secrets. Unfortunately, the heart-shaped stone pointed down a rockier path. ‘No amount of talking is going to convince you one way or the other,’ she said. ‘You claim the letter that might be an S doesn’t matter, but is there a name that springs to mind?’

‘I don’t know everyone in Jason’s life, particularly his working life,’ April said. ‘I never audited the Highways Section because of the conflict of interest. I’ve met some of the staff, and I’m friends with a few, but Jason was on site a lot of the time and he dealt with all kinds of contractors.’

The tone of April’s voice was off. Faith picked up on it too. ‘But is there someone you do know?’

‘I could list a dozen,’ said April. ‘There’s a Sophie and a Siobhan, two Staceys, a Suzanne. Shall I go on?’

There was one name Tara noticed was missing. On the day she had visited April’s office, she had spoken to one of her colleagues. The woman had apologised on April’s behalf for nearly knocking a couple of cake boxes out of Tara’s hand, and had appeared desperately concerned – or had it been a severe case of guilt? Her name was Sara, and she had been heavily pregnant. Little wonder April wouldn’t want to consider her a suspect.

As their pace quickened, April looked out across the river. The milky sunlight gave the water a pearlescent quality, while the land on the other side was painted in layers of varying shades of grey. There were church spires and other signs that the industrial landscape they were following had given way to gentler scenes. ‘I think that’s Eastham over there,’ she said.

Tara remained quiet, as did Faith.

‘There are some lovely places to visit. I could take you to Eastham Country Park some time. Jason and I were always borrowing Dexter so we could go for long walks and have brunch in the Mimosa Tea Garden,’ she said, a wavering smile on her face.

‘It sounds lovely,’ Faith said with a heavy dose of cynicism.

‘We were happy,’ she replied, her steps faltering. ‘And I don’t understand why he would risk that for someone else. Yes, I could go through his phone and pick out women’s names beginning with S, or any other letter you care to choose, but pretty much all of them are in my contacts list too. It doesn’t make sense. Not one of them would be worth risking what we had. Not one.’ She pursed her lips together and they trembled.

Tara willed Faith to put an arm around April or do something, anything, to let her know that she wasn’t alone. When it became apparent this wasn’t going to happen, she moved behind Faith and pushed her out of the way so she could slip an arm around April’s waist.

‘It’s a lot to take in and you’ll need time to process how you feel and plan what to do next,’ Tara said.

‘But where do I go from here?’

‘You’re the auditor,’ Faith piped up. ‘Do some more digging.’

Tara gave her a look, eyebrows raised. You’re not helping. In response, she imagined eyes being rolled behind Faith’s shades.

‘You don’t have to rush into anything,’ Tara continued. ‘Take it slowly. And keep talking to us.’

‘I will,’ April replied. They had reached the westerly edge of the pasture and were close to the hide where they could look out over the duck decoy, but April was already glancing back in the direction of the car park. ‘But I’ve kept you long enough. I don’t mind heading back.’

Tara had a million and one other things to do, but she wasn’t going to pack April off home if she still needed them. ‘I don’t mind,’ she said, withdrawing her arm so her friend could decide which path to take.

April did an about turn and her friends followed suit. Dexter was the last to notice, and hurried to catch up. He almost tripped Tara up as he wove through a forest of legs to be at Faith’s heel.

‘I think he likes you,’ April said as she untangled the leash.

‘I have a knack of attracting unwelcome attention,’ she mumbled.

RESPONSES

Alex Butterworth @AlBut4550

Replying to @thewidowsclub

Your group has something to hide, no wonder you don’t want anyone talking. From what I’ve read, there were a lot of arguments.

Jodie @iamJPriestly

Replying to @AlBut4550 @thewidowsclub

The papers are making it up. You have no idea what you’re talking about.

Alex Butterworth @AlBut4550

Replying to @iamJPriestly @thewidowsclub

They’re not making up a murder though, are they love?

7 (#ulink_7dc640d4-f31d-5aaa-ac79-a1c5949ab9e9)

Jason had been dead nine months, which perversely was the time it took to create a life; unless you were a widow; unless you had discovered your marriage was a sham. April’s life could only be described as barren, although she hid it well. She ate when she wasn’t hungry, slept although sleep was never peaceful, and rationed her display of emotions so as not to alarm anyone. The hardest part of her performance was in front of Jason’s parents. She kept in regular contact, and whenever she spoke to his mum, her feelings became confused. They cried together and shared the sense of loss that April otherwise denied herself since discovering the stone on Jason’s grave.

With the November support group meeting still over a week away, work was April’s only refuge from troubled thoughts, but apparently not today. There was a cooing sound coming from the other side of the office that April studiously ignored. She had been over to say hello to Sara and smiled pleasantly at the six-week-old baby being passed from one clucking colleague to the next. It was only when the youngest member of the team, Georgie, was about to hand it to April that she had bolted back to her desk.

April had a lot of work to do. For months she had been assisting rather than leading reviews, but it was time for the team to stop carrying her. She had convinced her manager she was ready to tackle one of the departmental reviews that had slipped in the last year and she had been disappointed not to be given the Highways Section – it wasn’t as if Jason worked there any more – but she was looking forward to losing herself in an audit of the staff attendance system.

Choosing a cross-section of employees to sample for her review was proving difficult, and the arrival of Sara and the baby had made it doubly hard. Her assignment was simply to confirm that time adjustments had been authorised, but an opportunity had presented itself. Faith had told her to keep digging, and that was what she would do.

April blocked out the background noise and stared at her screen. She had gathered a few names on her list so far and most were random selections, but not all. She needed to know what Jason had been doing behind her back and how he had found the time to get up to no good. They went to work together and they went out as a couple. There were only a handful of occasions she could recall in those last months when Jason had socialised without her, but if any of those nights had been a cover story, he had been thorough. There had been his team’s Christmas meal and a few nights out with the lads, but all were documented on Facebook with photos as evidence. April had checked.

The only conclusion she could reach was that his illicit affair had taken place during the working week, which meant the council’s attendance system must hold a vital clue. That was why Jason Thorpe’s name was top of her sample list, but she didn’t have to stop there. It was entirely possible that Jason had sneaked off work to see someone completely unconnected with the council, but since she was looking anyway, why not add a scattering of female employees whose first name began with S? What harm could it do?

The baby had started to cry and the sound played on every one of April’s nerves. Its mother, however, was less perturbed. Sara handed a soother to Georgie and left her holding the baby while she made her way over to April.

‘I hope we’re not disturbing you,’ she said.

‘Don’t worry, I can work through anything.’