A Genuine Mistake by Ted Tayler (miss read books txt) 📗

was the two of us against the world. Mum started full time in the flower shop once I started school. We were never flush with money, but we always got by. Mum and I holidayed in this country: Great Yarmouth, Southend, Bognor Regis, places like that. We usually stayed on a caravan site. Cheap and cheerful. My grandfather died when I was seventeen, and my gran had passed a couple of years earlier. Mum used the small windfall from Granddad’s will to pay for me to go through college,”

“You wanted to get the right health, fitness, and exercise diplomas to enable you to teach, I suppose,” said Gus.

“More than wanted, Mr Freeman,” said Rachel Cummins, “it was what I’d set my heart on ever since I was a young girl.”

“At twenty, you carved out a career as a personal trainer. I imagine that was hard work?”

“It involved hours of preparation and miles of driving to and from village halls, gyms and fitness centres in a twenty-mile radius of Haslemere. I had the drive and determination necessary to be successful. After three years, I felt I’d cracked it.”

“Your comment suggests that something threatened that success,” said Gus.

“Was that when your mother found someone?” asked Luke.

“Lawrence Wallace, yes,” said Rachel. “Mum knew him first when they were in secondary school. They went out together for three months. When my Dad moved to Haslemere from Guildford to live, that changed. Dad swept Mum off her feet, or so she said. What happened next was my fault. I bought a computer for my accounts and saw the potential for Facebook to help my business. Mum wanted to know what it was all about, and I showed her where several of my school friends had got in touch. The next thing I knew, Mum had an account and ten friends. Most were girls from her schooldays or work. Then she found her old boyfriend online. The next thing I know, he’s on the settee when I get home from a job.”

“You didn’t like him, is that fair?” asked Luke.

“He was a creep,” said Rachel. “I dressed in a way that suited the work I did. I still do. He undressed me with his eyes. I couldn’t stay in the house once he’d moved in, nor could I explain to Mum why I needed to find a place of my own. She was happy, and I didn’t want to spoil things for her. I just knew he was the sort of bloke to try it on if I was ever alone with him.”

“You experienced similar unwanted advances on home visits,” said Gus.

“The old ones were the worst,” said Rachel. “They couldn’t touch their toes, but their hands found a breast or my bottom in a millisecond. They never scared me. I always knew I was strong enough and fast enough to control the situation before it got out of hand.”

“Why did you choose to move to Bath?” asked Gus.

“Most people have seen photographs of Bath,” said Rachel. “It’s a beautiful city. No way was I moving to London. A huge impersonal place with far too much competition in my line of business. I thought the average age of people in and around Bath would suit my approach to exercise. I knew it would take hard graft to create as good a circuit as I had in Surrey. The primary reason was that Bath was far enough away from Lawrence Wallace to dissuade him from popping round to try his luck.”

“You moved home only after you had done your utmost to get your existing clients fixed up with an alternative trainer,” said Gus. “I find that commendable.”

“I couldn’t leave them in the lurch. Some had been with me from the beginning.”

“How did you avoid the clutches of your mother’s new partner?” asked Luke.

“My evenings were spent working or visiting other trainers’ sessions to see if they were willing to take on new clients. I didn’t run any session on Sundays, so I drove to Bath, searching for a flat to rent and venues I could hire. I advertised in local papers and newsagents windows. Anything to get the message out. It was slow to take off, but I got there.”

“How long had you been working here before you met Gerry Hogan?” asked Gus.

“Two years. One of the first places I had on my list of venues was that place in Bradford-on-Avon. Every Thursday night, rain or shine. I still run sessions there now if you’re interested.”

“I play squash most weeks with my partner,” said Luke, “and Mr Freeman spends several hours a week on his allotment. We’re fine. Thank you. There is one thing you’ve not mentioned when you covered the first twenty-three years of your life. Was there nobody in your life other than your mother? No boyfriends or girlfriends. No significant other. You are an attractive woman, Ms Cummins. I’m sure that it wasn’t only old men and lecherous male friends of your mother who took an interest.”

“I had boyfriends while I was at school and college, DS Sherman, but my focus was always on my career. Nothing was going to distract me from achieving my goal. I must admit that there was always the thought that I didn’t want to make the same mistake as my mother in the back of my mind. From the age of twenty, when I started work as a personal trainer, I was too busy to stop and look for anyone.”

“You must have socialised in that first two years when you lived in Bath,” said Gus. “There’s no shortage of places to go to meet new people. Would you have us believe you were too busy ever to take a break?”

“I didn’t know anyone when I moved from Haslemere,” said Rachel. “The only friends I had were among the new people that signed up for my