Page 85 of The Chapel of Bones

9 February 2011

Carla’s really upset because her dog, Poppy, has had a seizure and the vet diagnosed a growth on the brain. I tried to explain to her that fourteen is a good age for a dog and that it might be kinder to put her to sleep, but this didn’t help.

Tina said it’s cruel to let Poppy suffer and she offered to take her to the vet. Carla seemed to accept the inevitable and I bought her favourite takeaway to soften the blow. After we’d eaten, Jon tried to stir things, whispering poison in Carla’s ear, saying that Poppy’s death was Tina’s fault and that she’d hated the dog and couldn’t wait to get rid of it, which simply isn’t true. Last night, Tina was crying. It’s a terrible thing to say about your own son, but I wish he’d hurry up and leave this house.

Wesley said nothing. He feared he knew what was coming and he could hardly bear to read on. But he had to know.

13 February 2011

My little girl is dead. Yesterday she was cleaning Rajah’s enclosure as she’d done many times before and somehowthe tiger got to her. We all assumed it was the most tragic accident, that the gate between Rajah’s sleeping quarters and the enclosure had become stuck somehow. Then I found a note in her room saying she couldn’t bear life without Poppy and she wanted to die. The police are crawling all over the place and there’ll be an inquiry. I can’t bear to think that Rajah’s still here. Jon said he’ll put him in the van and take him to another zoo. I told him he could do what he liked. I never want to see that animal again.

I tried to contact Dale in the States but had no luck.

The two men sat in silence for a few moments. This seemed to confirm the findings of Carla Gadson’s inquest.

‘Is there any more?’ asked Wesley as Gerry leafed through the book.

‘There are lots of blank pages after that. Poor bloke probably couldn’t bring himself to write anything else, and I can’t blame him.’ Then he reached a page at the back filled with Gadson’s now familiar writing. ‘Hang on, Wes. There’s more.’

15 April 2011

Tina’s in a terrible state. Now that Jon has left, she said she’d tidy his room. It hasn’t been touched since he walked out to go and live in some rented house near Neston. She was emptying the bin when she came across some scrunched-up pieces of paper, and when she flattened them out, she found that they were copies of Carla’s suicide note, some unfinished. It looked as though he’d been practising her handwriting. I was so shocked I didn’t know what to say.

I tried to tell myself that there must be some reasonable explanation; that he was so close to Carla that he might have done it as a sort of twisted memorial. But Tina said that she was starting to wonder whether Jon had deliberately failed to feed the tiger and tampered with the gate. Carla had rejected him, so maybe he’d decided that if he couldn’t have her, nobody could. They say that love can be destructive, especially love of the obsessive, forbidden kind. I refused to listen. She was accusing my own son of killing his sister. Jon might have his problems, but I find it hard to believe he would murder someone he claimed to love so much.

There’s a growing coldness between Tina and me. We no longer share the same bed.

20 May 2011

Today Tina stormed out, saying she’d waited too long to find out the truth. I asked her if she was leaving me and she said she just needed some space but there was something she needed to do first. Then I found that her suitcase had gone along with some of her clothes and her passport. Maybe it was naïve of me to expect it to last, given our age gap. I’m scared this is the end, but I won’t try to find her. If she wants to come back, she needs to do it in her own time.

I heard from Dale today. He says he’s received my messages but he won’t be back for another few months. I can’t wait to see him. He needs to be here. Now that Tina’s gone, I don’t feel I can face life alone.

‘Well,’ said Gerry. ‘What do you make of that?’

‘It doesn’t look as though Carla Gadson’s death was ever investigated thoroughly.’

‘Neston station dealt with it. Took it for an accident at first until they found the note.’

‘Which could well have been forged.’

‘They obviously never thought of that. Lazy buggers. You know what this means . . .’

‘Jon Gadson disguised his sister’s murder as suicide. I always thought it was an odd way to do away with yourself. And now we’ve found Tina’s body, we know she didn’t go abroad as her husband thought. I think she guessed the truth and went to St Julian’s to confront Jon.’

‘What about Sue Potter? What’s she got to do with this?’

‘She was Tina’s cousin and she had that leaflet about the zoo in her possession. What if she went there recently to try and find out what had happened to Tina?’

‘Dale never mentioned it.’

‘Maybe he didn’t think it was important.’

‘And even if she went there, how on earth would Jon know?’

‘That’s something we have yet to discover.’

‘And how does Aleric Donnal fit into all this?’