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

Then Gerry arrived three years later. That was what they wanted, a son, someone to continue the Hogan name. Gerry and I were strong and healthy children, Mr Freeman. When Gerry got the grades to get him to university, his future was guaranteed, and so was mine. My father was six years older than my mother; he retired at sixty-five, two months after Gerry celebrated his eighteenth birthday. I quit my job with a bank in Church Street and stayed home to care for them. They diagnosed Dad with lung cancer while Gerry and Nick were away in Australia; Dad passed away fifteen months later. Mum reckoned he clung on until Gerry and Evelyn married. My mother died the year before Sean was born.”

Gus had met dozens of women like Belinda Hogan. It was a generational thing. In other countries, the family unit was everything, regardless of the number of children and grandchildren. In the UK, until the end of WWII, it was common for parents to encourage a daughter to stay home to care for them. There was no opportunity for the girl to have a career. Sometimes it happened because the daughter didn’t find a husband and simply got left behind. In other instances, they actively discouraged marriage.

Gus thought of Ursula Wakeley from Mere. Would she have died in such a terrible fashion if her parents had allowed her to continue working at the library, marry, and have children? In the last fifty years, daughters left home for university, joined the armed forces, enjoyed careers in many professions. The idea of sacrificing their life to care for ageing parents no longer appealed. Why should it? There were so many broken homes, with families scattered across the globe, that most children, of whatever gender, couldn’t wait to leave.

“Did Gerry have a temper?” asked Gus.

Belinda stopped twisting her handkerchief. Perhaps she expected Gus to sympathise with her lot. He did, but his focus was on finding her brother’s killer.

“I can’t recall a single occasion when Gerry got angry. It wasn’t in his make-up.”

“What about your father?” asked Gus.

“Dad was strict,” said Belinda. “Both of our parents were strict. They didn’t hit us if that’s what you’re driving at. We felt the lash of their tongue from time to time, usually with good reason. Gerry and I learned quickly not to step out of line.”

“Nick Barrett told us that Gerry was anxious not to attract trouble,” said Gus. “Yes, that fits in with the harsh schooling he endured in his formative years. He didn’t want to upset his parents by getting into trouble and recognised that if he got a black mark on his character, then the successful career he planned would disappear like smoke up a chimney.”

“Nothing was going to stop Gerry from achieving that goal,” said Belinda.

“Were you jealous of his success?” asked Blessing.

Belinda paused and looked directly at the young Detective Constable.

“I was proud of Gerry. Of course, I wished I had had the opportunity of a golden future as he did. If I was jealous, then what of it?”

“What were your first impressions of Evelyn?” asked Gus.

“Evelyn was beautiful,” said Belinda. “I suppose you’ll ask if I was jealous of her too? Evelyn was a tall, tanned Australian woman who loved to surf. She was self-confident, ambitious, and full of drive. Her career as a wildlife photographer so far removed from anything I could ever have hoped to tackle; it was laughable. Of course, I was jealous. I wanted to hate her from the second she burst through the front door of this house with Gerry. He met her off the train just up the road from here. Evelyn had the guts to fly to England alone and take a train to the West Country to be with her man. Gerry had prayed they would meet again after he flew home in November with Nick Barrett.”

“You said you wanted to hate her,” said Gus.

“Evelyn sensed how I felt, totally ignored it, and wore me down. She mesmerised Gerry in Sydney, and then she did the same to our parents and me. Dad was glad for them to marry in a registry office despite them only having known one another for weeks. If you had asked me before Gerry went abroad, I would have said my father would never have reacted that way in a million years. Dad’s health had deteriorated so rapidly that he worried he wouldn’t live to see it happen if they had a church wedding.”

“You told us what happened over the next ten years,” said Gus. “Gerry and Evelyn lived and worked in Bristol while you cared for your mother. In 1992 they moved to Trowle Common, and, sadly, you and Gerry lost your mother the following year. How did things change for you after you found yourself alone in this house?”

“Losing a parent is devastating,” said Belinda, “but when my mother died, I lost so much more than Gerry. He had Evelyn, his job, even his lifelong shadow, Nick Barrett. I had a few close friends and nothing more.”

“Then Evelyn gave birth to Sean,” said Gus. “A nephew.”

“I offered to help at once,” said Belinda. “Gerry was building his business. Evelyn wanted to continue to accept work in various parts of the country. She was freelance and very successful. Giving that up to care for Sean was not an option, even if they could have survived financially without her income. I had nothing but time on my hands.”

“You provided free childcare,” said Blessing.

“I was happy to do it. I had a purpose in life again.”

“Within two years, you had another baby to care for,” said Gus.

“Little Byron,” said Belinda. “He was a treasure. They were both lovely children.”

“Did Gerry and Evelyn spend much time with their sons?” asked Blessing.

“Gerry was always busy during the week. If Evelyn