Midnight (33 page)

‘Thank you, Mrs Harrow. That will be all for now.’ The barrister turned to the Judge. ‘Your Honour, may I call my next witness, Major Gareth Smythson?’

A tall man in his mid-forties came down from the witness waiting area and took his place in the box. With his short hair and erect stance, he looked a real soldier.

‘Major Smythson, thank you for attending,’ said the barrister. ‘I would like you to tell the court what you know about these events’

‘Before I joined the Army,’ began Smythson, ‘I lived with my family at Number 12, Bower Street, just along from Mr and Mrs Harrow’s house. I had turned eighteen the day before and had gone out with the lads to celebrate. The following day, I had a very bad hangover. When I heard the yelling and angry voices coming from Number 16, it riled me up. I went into the garden and stood on a box to see what the devil was going on. That’s when I saw Mr Harrow and Mr Farraday fighting. They were right up against the upstairs window, and for a moment I thought they would come crashing through the glass. I could see Mrs Harrow in the background. She was screaming, “Ian, let go!” and trying to pull them apart. Then she raised her hand and I think she hit her husband, but just then I was called back inside.’

‘Did you ever suspect that anything untoward had happened?’ asked the barrister.

‘No. I went into the Army the week after that . . . My papers had arrived at last.’

‘And can you explain why no one else tried to intervene in this fighting? Surely, if you heard it, someone else in your street must have done so too?’

‘Yes, sir, that would seem likely. However, the sales were on, so people might have been out shopping, or back at work, or possibly still on holiday, sitting at home watching all the special Christmas TV programmes. And in those days, people tended to let domestic arguments run their course.’

When the jury returned, their verdict was that Eileen was guilty of manslaughter. The Judge gave her a suspended sentence, since she had saved Thomas’ life, and because of her precarious state of health.

Thomas was found guilty of perverting the course of justice. He was given a two-year sentence for this. With good behaviour, the Judge said, he might be released the following summer.

Chapter Twenty-Four

W
HEN
E
ILEEN WAS
released into Libby’s welcoming arms, she refused to return to Bower Street. It was hardly surprising. The house had its dark and terrible secrets, and no one who had been involved in the tragic events there would want to go back.

Jack had arranged for Eileen to move in with him and Libby; Thomas had agreed to join them when he was released. There was plenty of room for all in the big house in Buncer Lane. Thomas intended to sell his house too, once he got out of prison; in the meantime, various sympathetic neighbours were keeping it aired and tidy inside and out, to deter vandals or burglars.

The improvement in Eileen’s health and well-being was remarkable, now that the burden of secrets she had carried all these years, was finally lifted. It was not just her and Thomas who had paid a price. There were others. But it was over now, and she felt at peace with herself. The only source of her depression now was the thought of poor Thomas in jail, unable to walk freely wherever he wanted, to savour the changing seasons and enjoy being in the fresh air. On their visits to see him in prison, he had promised Libby and Eileen that he would work with them in the garden of the house in Buncer Lane, and they spent many happy times discussing the new layout, features and plantings they had planned.

Libby too had turned her back on the family home. She loved living with Jack, and now that her Mum was safe again, there was nothing to stop them from being married.

Nine months after their wedding, a son was born to Jack and Libby Redmond – a February baby.

‘We’ll call him Thomas, shall we?’ Libby murmured to Jack as he sat beside her, holding their newborn son in the Royal Blackburn Hospital Maternity Unit.

Jack had been thrilled to actually see his son being born. Could life get any better than this? His work was going wonderfully, with a great team behind him. The house was feeling like a real home – the first one he’d ever had, he realised now. And he was married to his boyhood sweetheart and was the proud father of a son.

In April the next year, when Thomas was released and the family went to collect him, he sat in the back of the car next to little Thomas in his baby seat. It was a deeply moving moment for the old man.

On baby Tom’s first birthday, Thomas and Eileen were married in the Registrar’s Office in Blackpool, where they planned to have their honeymoon. Little Tom was dressed as a pageboy for the occasion, and although he could only stand for short periods, wobbling around on his fat little legs, he still looked the part.

‘I’m so happy for you, Mum,’ Libby whispered to Eileen.

‘Love is strange, isn’t it?’ Eileen whispered back. ‘All them years, Thomas was living next door – and now we’re together, like it should have been from the beginning . . . Ah, well, this is a real happy ending for us both, isn’t it, Libby?’

‘Yes, Mum. It is. We’re really blessed.’

Never having been informed of Molly’s road accident, Jack remained unaware, as he cut all his ties with his previous life. He was back to where he belonged, and life was good.

Jack was content. He knew now what had happened on that terrible night when he was just three years of age. He would be forever grateful for the psychiatrist’s advice and the path that Molly had set him on. But it was Mr Howard who unearthed the truth. He had led him out of his personal midnight, and towards the dawning of this glorious new day. He now had a family of his own, and wonderful hopes for the future.

About the Author

JOSEPHINE COX
lives in Bedfordshire, England, and is the number one bestselling author of nearly three dozen books.

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Also by Josephine Cox

QUEENIE’S STORY
Her Father’s Sins
Let Loose the Tigers
THE EMMA GRADY TRILOGY
Outcast
Alley Urchin
Vagabonds
Angels Cry Sometimes
Take This Woman
Whistledown Woman
Don’t Cry Alone
Jessica’s Girl
Nobody’s Darling
Born to Serve
More than Riches
A Little Badness
Living a Lie
The Devil You Know
A Time for Us
Cradle of Thorns
Miss You Forever
Love Me or Leave Me
Tomorrow the World
The Gilded Cage
Somewhere, Someday
Rainbow Days
Looking Back
Let It Shine
The Woman Who Left
Jinnie
Bad Boy Jack
The Beachcomber
Lovers and Liars
The Journey
Journey’s End
The Loner
Songbird
Born Bad
Blood Brothers

Credit

Cover photograph by PhotoAlto/Frederic Cirou/Getty Images

Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

MIDNIGHT
. Copyright © 2011 by Josephine Cox. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST U.S. EDITION

ISBN 978-0-06-201180-0
EPub Edition © AUGUST 2012 ISBN: 9780062101402

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