The Enginemen, Chapter 18/2

The police also carried out a search of Peplow’s house and found nothing of any particular interest, certainly no trace of any suicide note which is what they were specifically looking for. They found some discarded papers in the rubbish bin which puzzled them a little - one piece of paper had a list of names, which appeared to be somewhat eclectic. Whilst the names of railway employee colleagues were there, it included the name of the England cricket captain, a boarding house keeper in Monmouth and a couple of other names that meant absolutely nothing to the detective.

Cresswell showed the list to Philip Doig who could shed no light on it. Doig suggested they ask George Munday’s view. When he saw it, he became a little concerned for he saw Don Barnett’s name highlighted, as well as Campion and Mountford - and his own crossed out - and Ashcroft and Steele, all people George knew that had caused Peplow some problems or heart-searching.

The police had discovered the withdrawal of £650 from Peplow’s account a few days earlier but there was no sign of the money or anything he may have purchased with it. Neither Doig nor Munday could suggest any possible reason for the cash withdrawal. Then, just before they abandoned the house search, Cresswell looked again at the shrine that James Peplow had constructed to his engine, and idly lifted the brass numberplate and immediately saw two envelopes underneath. The search had been too superficial, he thought, this was an obvious place to have looked for a suicide note.

Convinced that that was what he found, he was puzzled when he opened the first envelope to find what appeared to be a handwritten bequest to a group of unnamed boy trainspotters. Of course, it would have no legal validity, but it made him curious. Was this somehow connected with the missing £650? Were those boys who found the body the intended recipients of this amateurish bequest? Were they as innocent as they seemed? Had he been the subject of blackmail attempts from some boys? Did one of them know something about the reason for Mytton’s death? That seemed improbable. Perhaps Peplow was involved in some way with them, perhaps he was abusing them - possibly they were permitting him to molest them for cash. Perhaps this was just the tip of the iceberg and Peplow was a member of a ring of child abusers. He would have to follow this up and question the children further. He’d seek specialist help on this.

He then opened the second envelope hoping this would shed some light on the reason for his suicide. This, he found, was just as puzzling and unhelpful. Should the boys not be found, the note read, then all his estate should be invested in a memorial to his engine at Old Oak depot. Cresswell showed this to Philip Doig.

“The man was obsessed,” Philip said, “I thought that allocating drivers their ‘own’ engine for the last few months of steam would keep up morale during the change, and avoid the dropping of standards. On the whole it worked, but for this man it became a fetish. He acted as though he actually owned the engine and made himself a right nuisance over it. I presume we don’t have to do what he asks?”

“No, there is no legal obligation. In fact, if you wanted to act on his request, you would have to challenge the tax people who will take charge of his assets as he left no accredited will.”

“No point in that. The engine is the subject of contract negotiations for its scrap value along with other condemned locos at the moment. It would complicate affairs to stop that for one locomotive. And in any case, the engine has no particular historic significance, no significance at all, apart from it being Peplow’s engine. Staff at the depot would not appreciate it - for most, Peplow is best forgotten.”

Inspector Cresswell tore that envelope and its contents up and threw it into the bin in Doig’s office, but pocketed the other note to hand to those who might follow up the other line of inquiry that had occurred to him.

Meanwhile George Munday was trying to deal with the aftermath. Shirley asked him why he was getting so involved, and he replied that there appeared to be no-one else who could help with Peplow’s affairs at all. He had paid a couple of visits to Alec Mytton’s widow and had made union funds available to her for the funeral expenses and had helped her claim on a small insurance scheme he’d been party to through the union. He’d found her mother in residence taking charge of running the home. Lucy, and the children who’d been present on one of his visits, seemed withdrawn and the widow seemed to have just handed everything over to Mrs Craig. He was troubled about his visits to that home. He wondered if Mrs Craig would move in with them, or what would happen to Lucy and the children if she went back to Scotland.

Part of him said that he’d fulfilled his duty and there was no further reason for his involvement with that family. On the other hand, he felt he owed something to them, perhaps he felt guilty in some way that he’d not been able to protect them from Peplow’s actions. If he allowed himself to get further involved, however, he could see that he’d never be able to shake off a dependency that might develop. He was torn, and thought he might make one last call after the funeral, to ensure that any money she was entitled to from the railway company or from the state had been identified and progressed.

He was also alerting an undertaker to make arrangements for Peplow’s funeral when the body had been released by the police. It was getting complicated and extremely tiresome, as Peplow had left no will - other than those scribbled pieces of paper Inspector Cresswell had found which had no legal validity. Therefore no executor had been appointed and George found himself liaising with the solicitor appointed by the Inland Revenue to wind up his affairs. There had been a delay - the police had told him that their inquiries had been concluded and once the coroner had completed his hearing, assuming a straightforward case of suicide was recorded, the funeral could go ahead.

Then he’d been stopped and told there’d been a hitch. The Detective Inspector in charge had authorised some new inquiries concerning possible child abuse and blackmail. And there was even the possibility, the Inspector confided to Doig, that murder was an outside possibility. They would need to go back to the forensic people to double-check and talk further to the parents of some of the boys who may have been contacted by Peplow.

Between these official duties, George took his normal turns as driver. Then in early December they had a few days of terrible ‘smog’. Not as bad as in the 50s before the clean air legislation came into effect, but difficult for drivers all the same. At least they had AWS now on all the locomotives - the old GWR had had a similar system for many years - but the fog still caused disruption. He’d even had to take the Ranelagh Bridge standby ‘Castle’ one day on a Bristol turn when the diesel on the Up service had been badly delayed because of the congestion caused by the weather, and had got his pristine white shirt he wore now on the diesels into a pretty filthy state. He handed it that night somewhat shamefacedly to Shirley - for she now had offered to do his laundry when he found it difficult because of his hours - he found he was becoming increasingly dependent on her, a fact that was not going unnoticed by his son Paul and Maggie. Annie was getting very attached to Shirley too. She was spending nearly as much time with the older woman as she was with her own mother and grandfather.

Christmas came to the Munday household. Shirley came for the festive day and cooked a full Christmas dinner for the whole family, including Paul and Maggie and their two children and Derek who was home from college. On the surface everything seemed fine with the excitement of Paul’s Andy, who was now nearly three, and the other two children although not old enough yet to fully appreciate Christmas were stimulated by the general air of bustle and laughter. Paul noticed that Derek seemed a bit quiet and was only playing with Andy and ignoring the other children, and also his father and Shirley. After the lunch when most were slumbering in their armchairs and the two youngest children had been put down for an afternoon nap, Paul suggested to Derek that the two of them might go for a walk. George offered to go as well but Paul persuaded his father to relax and have some time with the womenfolk now that they had some time spare from their kitchen duties and child minding.

They walked to the local park. It was cold and the clouds were scudding across. The forecast was bad, snow was expected shortly, and the men were well wrapped up. They were silent for several minutes, then Paul decided he must broach the subject somehow, as naturally as he could.

“How’s things going at college then?”

“Okay, alright I suppose.”

There was another long silence.

“And here at home? Do you still miss Mum?”

“Of course I do. It’s not the same coming home now. It’s like coming back to strangers.”

They walked for a few more minutes. Paul waited to see if Derek would say any more. Eventually he broke the silence.

“It’s as though that Shirley woman has displaced Mum already. She’s acting just like she’s taken her place. Do you think Dad has fallen for her so soon?”

“She’s kind, Derek. And I honestly don’t know how any of us would have coped without her. Eva would have had to give up her education altogether and Dad might have had to retire early and exist just on a state pension which would have been pretty hard.”

“And Eva too. She’s different. Fawning all over that love child all the time. I thought Dad was angry with her, but now look at him. She can do nothing wrong and he dotes on that child. He gives her far more attention than he gives to your two. It’s unfair.”

“I don’t begrudge him that. Maggie and I are happy. Our boys have us all the time and we all go round to Dad’s from time to time. He plays with the boys then. It’s just that Eva and Annie need him more. The little lass hasn’t got a father and Dad feels it’s his role to play that part for the child.”

“Well, I hope he makes a better job of that than he has for Eva.”

“That’s not fair, Derek. Are you saying he’s not been a good father to us either?”

“What’s he done for you? When you wanted money for your business, did he give you anything? No, he needed it to pay for Shirley so Eva could continue her exams.”

“But Derek, he’s supported both of us for years. I’m sure he supplements your grant. It’s just that Eva and Annie are his priority at the moment. You and I are managing quite well, we don’t need him at present. If either of us had an emergency, God forbid, he’d come running, I’m sure of that.”

“If you say so. But what about Shirley? She’s acting like she’s married to him already. Is she trying to take Mum’s place?”

“It’s difficult for us perhaps to accept her. But Dad needs adult company. You’re at college, I’m spending a lot of time at the garage and with Maggie and the boys when I’m not there. And while he loves Eva and Annie, they hardly provide him with adult conversation, do they? And he’s having a pretty hard time at work. He had to deal with a lot of nastiness during a strike, now he’s involved with a suicide of a driver at the depot and the sudden death of a fireman that might even be murder. All those things mean he needs support and Shirley is good for him. I’m sure she’s not pushing him harder than he wants to go.”

“Well, if you say so. It just seems unfair to Mum’s memory.”

“I don’t think anyone can accuse her of chasing Dad for his money. He hasn’t got very much. I think she needs his companionship as much as he needs hers. She doesn’t say much about it, but she’s had tragedy in her life. All I know from something Dad told me is that her husband and son drowned in the sea while they were on holiday about three years ago.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that.”

“I think Dad worries about you. But he knows you keep yourself to yourself and he doesn’t want to pry. He says from time to time that he’s not heard anything from you and he wonders if you’re okay.”

“Oh, I’m alright. I didn’t think anyone would be interested in my doings. The work’s alright and I’ve got friends. Does he want to know if I’ve got a girl friend or what clubs I belong to?”

“I’m sure he’d be interested if you wanted to tell him, but I think he’d be happier if you just gave him a ring now and again and told him you’re fine.”

When they got back to the house, they found the younger children had both woken up and were happily and noisily playing on the floor amid the mountains of discarded wrapping paper. Shirley was still in the kitchen stacking the dirty plates with Maggie ready to tackle the momentous pile. Derek stuck his head round the kitchen door.

“Maggie, why don’t you go and play with the children. I’ll help Shirley with the washing up.”

Maggie looked surprised and caught Shirley’s eye and smiled briefly. She turned and shut the door behind her, leaving them to it. She looked at her husband.

“What have you been saying to Derek? Did you tell him to make his peace with Shirley.”

“Nothing as blatant as that. But we did have a chat about things at home. Being away most of the time, he hasn’t really adjusted to Mum’s loss and feels put out when he finds things changed when he does come home. I think he’ll be alright. He needs time and he needs to understand Dad’s situation now and think of his needs, not just his own. I think he’ll be okay. I didn’t tell him to spend time with Shirley, so I think it’s a good sign that he deliberately chose to offer to help her in the kitchen.”

Eva was searching through her presents for the latest single she’d received. She put it on the record player and picked up Annie in her arms and said, “Let’s dance, Annie. It’s a special dance for Grandpa ’cos it’s called ‘the Locomotion’, so we can pretend to be one of Grandpa’s trains.”

Andy heard that and wanted to dance too, and he went to George who was watching from the depths of his armchair. The little boy pulled George to his feet, yelling, “Come on Grandpa, come and dance. Auntie Eva says we’ve got to be trains.”

Shirley and Derek heard the commotion and stuck their heads round the door to see Eva dancing with Annie, Maggie with Jason in her arms and Andy pulling George round the floor. Paul was supervising the record player, getting ready to play the record a second time by common request from all the dancers. As he was about to place the arm on the single he read the label and exclaimed, “Eva, are you a celebrity now? Have you joined a band? I see the singer of this is called ‘Little Eva’!”

Eva laughed and denied his teasing. Paul went over to Maggie and embraced her and the child and all three of them began to dance.

“No, not like that,” shouted Eva above the music, “it’s a new dance, this is what you do.” And still with Annie in her arms, she began to oscillate in time with the music her one free arm making moves that the others somewhat ineptly tried to follow.

Then Andy went into the kitchen and pulled Derek into the room. “Uncle Derek dance too. Uncle dance with Auntie Shirley!”

They all roared with laughter. Derek looked a little abashed, but Shirley said,

“Come on, Derek, we’ve had the royal command. We can’t let the lad down.”