Looking back, my life seems to have been a bit sad, only it didnt feel like that at the time, I said ruefully one day towards the end of my sentence, while I was drinking the cup of hot chocolate hed bought me as usual.
Your mother sounds such an interesting and loving person that giving up everything to care for her was clearly something you did from love, not duty, he agreed.
When she was first diagnosed with MS we hoped that it might be the slow kind, but she deteriorated very quickly But she was never a burden and I had the support of my best friend, Emma, and my childhood sweetheart, Robbie, so I didnt feel totally alone.
Ah, yes, I remember you mentioning Robbie before, he said, smiling at me benignly.
He went straight into the army from school and we were too young to get engaged really, especially since Id never have left Mum, but he understood that. He was a really nice boy.
You said he was badly wounded and married one of the nurses whod looked after him?
Yes, they just fell in love. I hadnt been able to get down to see him much, because of leaving Mum, so I didnt blame him in the least. In fact, I wished them both well.
That shows a warm and generous heart, my dear, he said.
I think our engagement lasted only as long as it did because mostly we were able just to write to each other, I confessed. But by the time he got married I was fully occupied anyway, what with my casual packing job at Champers&Chocs, when my neighbour could pop in and sit with Mum, and my art work, especially when I started to sell designs to greetings card companies.
Im very impressed with your papercuts, Tabby, he said. I think you have great talent.
Id recently given him one depicting the prison as seen through the rose arch, the thorns like a circlet of barbed wire and inmates standing in every window, looking out.
Thank you I get my arty side from Mum. She was a costume assistant and dresser at a Liverpool theatre until she got too ill to work. My father was an actor who was part of a touring production, but when Mum discovered she was expecting me, she found out he was married with a young family, so she never told him.
I think she should at least have given him the opportunity to provide for you, he said, but I can see that she wouldnt want to upset his wife and family with such a disclosure.
I looked at him fondly, quite used by now to the somewhat Victorian flourishes of his conversation.
I checked him on the internet out of curiosity once, and I dont think hed have been much of an asset as a father. Anyway, we moved in with Granny and then later, after she died and Mums condition had deteriorated, the council gave us a specially adapted bungalow, so we were all right.
When one door shuts, another opens, he said.
One thing does seem to lead to another, I agreed, just not always fortunately. Once Mum passed away I had to give up the bungalow and started working regular shifts at Champers&Chocs, so I could pay the rent on Jeremys flat which led to us getting engaged.
Which should have made a happy ending, at last.
I did feel as if I was on the brink of it, just before I was arrested. Id had a successful small solo exhibition at a gallery in Liverpool and I was hoping to make a living from my artwork. Id handed in my notice once I realised Harry, my boss, was still defrauding the customers, but the only thing I was guilty of was not reporting what I found out immediately.
I smiled and added, Practically everyone Ive met in prison has protested their innocence of the crime they were charged with, but I really didnt do it!
I am certain in my heart that you are innocent of any crime, Ceddie assured me.
Thank you and I wasnt even guilty of having an affair with Harry Briggs. I was engaged to Jeremy and, other than Robbie, my childhood sweetheart, Id never even been out with anyone else.
God always knows the truth, Ceddie told me, but I wished the judge had, too.
I will be away visiting relatives next week, but a friend of mine would like to come here in my stead, if you approve of the idea, said Cedric Lathom, on his next visit.
My heart sank and I realised just how much I had come to depend on seeing him.
A friend as in Quaker Friend? I asked. Id been reading up about the Quakers since Ceddies first visit had piqued my curiosity.
He nodded, silvery curls bobbing. Shes called Mercy Marwood. Her benevolence, like that of all the Marwoods, has always taken a practical turn. For many years shes been sourcing and renovating old sewing machines to take out to Malawi, where she has also taught needlework. Shes just returned from her final trip there, for she feels that now she has turned eighty, its time to attend to affairs closer to home.
Id grown used to Ceddie rambling on as if hed escaped from between the covers of a Charles Dickens novel, but I thought that if Mercy Marwood had been teaching in Malawi into her eighties, she must be a tough old bird!
I hope you dont mind, but Ive told her a little about you, he added, slightly anxiously.
No, not at all, I replied. I imagine you can read the whole story of my life online, by clicking on the newspaper reports of the trial.
I doubt the affair made the national headlines and, in any case, they would reveal little about the real Tabitha Coombs, who is a very fine person, he said, with one of his warm smiles.
Thank you. Somehow, after your visits I always feel better and when they release me, Ill miss you.
I will always remain your friend, Ceddie said. Had you any thought about where you might go and what you might do after your release?
I have to wear a tag for two months and be under a sort of night-time house arrest assuming I have a house to live in, of course, I said. With no relatives, little money and a criminal record added to my lack of qualifications, I dont see much chance of getting a job and renting somewhere, and anyway, they need an address before theyll even release me. But Im told they can find me a temporary place in a hostel somewhere, till I get back on my feet, I added, trying to sound more positive than I felt.
Well, my dear, Mercy has a proposition to put before you that may change that.
A proposition? I echoed. Do you mean a job?
The possibility of a fresh start, with somewhere to live, at least, he said. But Ill let her tell you all about it herself.
But surely she wont want to employ an ex-con?
I have every reason to believe that she will and I think youll suit each other very well, he reassured me.
He wouldnt say any more about it and I wondered if his friend was returning because she was now so decrepit she needed a carer. After all, I had been my mums sole carer for years, so I was certainly experienced at looking after an invalid.
It would mean my life had gone round in a circle again but then, beggars and people with criminal records cant be choosers.
Chapter 5: Engagements
Randal
Charlie Clancy and I were having a catch-up session over a few beers at my flat between assignments. Being more or less in the same line of business, we were seldom in London at the same time.
Randal
Charlie Clancy and I were having a catch-up session over a few beers at my flat between assignments. Being more or less in the same line of business, we were seldom in London at the same time.
I havent seen you since we bumped into each other in the street after you got back from that cruise. You looked like crap and you dont look much better now, Charlie said, with the frankness of an old friend. How much weight have you lost?
Too much: I wouldnt recommend a toxic tummy bug to anyone as a diet aid, I said. You dont expect amazing luxury from a cut-price cruise company, but Kharisma sucked. So many passengers and even crew went down with it that if there hadnt been a mutiny off Mexico it would have been like the Mary Celeste and running on autopilot round and round the Caribbean.
That bad, was it? Charlie said sympathetically.
Youll see the horrible details when the programme comes out, I said. It was even worse than wed been told, mainly due to a lack of deep cleaning between cruises and poor food preparation practice. I bribed my way into the kitchens for a look and, believe me, I pretty much lived on bottled water and biscuits after that. And when half the toilets werent functioning well, you can imagine. It spread like wildfire. The stewards were paid so little, its not surprising they werent keen to tackle sick passengers cabins.
But you caught it anyway, despite all the precautions.
I was careful, but I suppose it was inevitable, and at least wed all been taken off the ship at Cancún by that point. It was a week before the medical authorities would let me fly home and Im still sticking to eating bland stuff for the time being. This is the first alcohol Ive tasted in weeks.
I have to say, you still look gaunt. I cant believe they sent you to Greece on another assignment so soon after you got back.
I shrugged. Thats how it goes. Im off to investigate gap-year black spots worldwide next for a special programme, with some back-to-back filming for the ordinary series thrown in. South America first.
Back to Mexico?
I shuddered. Luckily no, because Im always going to associate the place with feeling like death. Im off to Peru first.
Ive always wanted to go to Machu Picchu, Charlie said enviously.
So have I, but not on the cheapest and dodgiest tour and staying in the worst backpackers hostels. I only hope my digestion is up to a series of new challenges by the time I get there.
At least you visit exotic locations, while I just endlessly circle the dodgy dealers and rip-off merchants of the UK, he pointed out.
I looked around the living room of the tiny flat that was my London base and thought how happy Id be just to stay there. The sense of excitement I used to get at the start of each new assignment has long since worn off, I said. I think Im getting too old for this game. What have you been up to?
Got back yesterday after following a lead about horse-race fixing, but it was a bust. He took another swig from his beer. But do you remember going with me to that small art gallery in Liverpool early last year, when I was following a lead about fake champagne?
I nodded, a brief vision of a woman with long, dark brown hair and unusual light lilac-grey eyes sliding into my mind. The artist did brilliant papercuts, but also worked for that firm you wanted to investigate what was it called?
Champers&Chocs. Id already had a tip-off from a disgruntled customer that they were selling cheap fizz relabelled as expensive bubbly, when by sheer good luck, I got a lead on Tabitha Coombs.
Its all coming back to me her friend dropped her right in it, didnt she? So, was she involved in the racket?
Up to the eyes, as well as having an affair with the owner. It all came out at the trial before Christmas.
Really? I felt vaguely surprised. Her papercuts and collage pictures were really clever, so I wouldnt have thought shed need to work somewhere like that, let alone be involved in a fraud.
And now I came to think of it, Id actually bought one of her pictures and arranged for it to be sent to my family home, Mote Farm, so presumably it had long since arrived and been stored away somewhere. Id have to look next time I was up there.
Her boss, Harry Briggs, said the scam had been her idea in the first place and they always packed the special orders up after the others had gone home in the evening, then had a bit of hows-your-father, Charlie told me.
Im not sure I entirely believe that last bit wasnt she engaged to someone? I seem to remember a fiancé.
Well, an affair isnt illegal anyway, but Kate, her friend, got up and gave the court the same story, so it told against her. I dont think the judge was convinced she was the instigator of the fraud, though, because Briggs got a five-year stretch, but he still sent her to prison.
Really? If she hadnt committed any crime before, Id have expected a suspended sentence, or community service, or something, I exclaimed.
So would I, but the judge said he was going to make an example of her. Shes the reserved, sarcastic type, and I dont think he took to her.
Well, being reserved or sarky isnt a hanging offence, I said mildly.
She looked guilty but not half as shifty and guilty as she did on that secret film I shot inside Champers&Chocs, when she was showing me the packing room! I had someone pretend to phone her with an urgent message and then sneaked into the backroom it was locked, but any baby could have opened it with a bit of bent plastic and found a stash of fake champagne.
How long a sentence did she get?
Eight months custodial, so shell probably be released before too long. I dont suppose the fiancé stood by her; he didnt look the type to forgive and forget. But she was attractive in a witchy kind of way, wasnt she?
I considered. She was striking, I suppose its not a face youd forget easily.
Maybe shes your type? he suggested. You could offer her a shoulder to cry on when shes released.
Youre way out, because Ive just got engaged to Lacey Bucknall.
What, the daughter of the All Thrills sex shops Bucknalls? Charlie exclaimed. I didnt even know you were going out with her!
It was a bit of a whirlwind romance.
Lucky you. Ive seen her about in nightclubs, he said. Stunning redhead, legs up to her armpits, slim as a model but with curves in all the right places
Yes, thats Lacey, but shes no airhead. In fact, shes a businesswoman to the core.
Still, youll be all right there. Shes probably got her own set of fluffy handcuffs and maybe a naughty nurse costume? he teased.
I sighed. You know, Im getting tired of that sort of comment, and Laceys fed up with men who assume shes up for anything, just because her parents own a chain of sex shops. Shes not like that at all.
In fact, shed shown a distinct lack of enthusiasm for that aspect of our relationship, so I suspected the whole subject bored her rigid, which I suppose wasnt surprising, given her background I hoped to change her mind about that. And anyway, we shared a desire to settle down and start a family, and there was only one way to do that.