Read Online Murder Takes the Stage by Amy Myers - Free Book Online Page B

we’ve seen so far he doesn’t look particularly handsome. Was she on the rebound from someone else?’
    â€˜I mustn’t spread stories,’ Cherry began maddeningly.
    â€˜But you need to clear Tom if you can,’ Georgia pressed her.
    â€˜He was cleared,’ Cherry said stoutly. ‘I know people still said he did it, but he didn’t. I wanted to tell everybody that at the trial, but I wasn’t called. They thought I’d be prejudiced – and so I was. But because I knew it was true. He was with me.’
    â€˜There’s still a chance to establish the truth. The Chronicle is to publish another article about it soon, so everyone will be talking about the case again.’ Peter was embroidering somewhat. ‘You would want to know what really happened, wouldn’t you? The real killer has never been found.’
    Cherry still looked undecided, and sitting here eating her walnut sponge it was easy for Georgia to believe she was still living in a world of over fifty years ago.
    â€˜Ah, well, David’s long dead, so I suppose it won’t hurt,’ she said at last. ‘David Maclyn and Joan had an affair. He was married to Mavis, and Joan was single when it began. Something went wrong – Mavis, probably – and Joan jumped into marriage with Tom. She treated him worse than a faithful puppy. I’d only just joined the show that season, but I could see what was happening.’
    â€˜So it was love at first sight for you and Tom,’ Georgia said encouragingly.
    Cherry looked pleased. ‘It was. He said he’d never been so happy as that summer.’
    â€˜But he had a baby at home,’ Peter pointed out. ‘That must have worried him if he was about to leave Joan.’ Georgia froze in case he had gone too far.
    â€˜No,’ Cherry shook her head vigorously. ‘It didn’t. Mind you, he was fond of baby Pamela. Very fond.’
    For the first time Georgia began to have doubts about Cherry’s memory. Had she convinced herself that it was true that Tom would leave Joan regardless of his child?
    â€˜What went so wrong that could have driven Tom to murder as the police believed?’
    â€˜Her lovers, dear. Not just David. There were others. There was an American sergeant at Manston. That was the wartime RAF station near here. The Americans had taken it over, and this sergeant and Joan hit it off. Tom hoped Joan would want to get spliced to him, if they split up.’
    â€˜And there were others too?’ Georgia asked. Was this another example of Cherry convincing herself that Joan was unworthy of her beloved Tom?
    â€˜Yes, but I don’t like to spread tales.’ Cherry sounded very determined, and Georgia decided not to press the point.
    â€˜Could she have been pregnant when she died?’
    Cherry looked shocked. ‘I don’t know. Tom never said.’
    â€˜When he came home again after the trial, what happened then?’ Peter moved to safer ground, helping himself to more walnut cake – which pleased Cherry.
    â€˜It was terrible. Me being so young, I couldn’t handle it. He was in a daze, didn’t know what to do with himself. He told me he’d get through it alone, and then we’d be wed. My parents were dead against it, of course, and I needed their consent, so he said we’d wait until I was twenty-one, and then we’d marry and get away from Broadstairs.’
    â€˜But something made him change his mind and kill himself. What was that? Did the show not want him back?’
    â€˜He didn’t kill himself.’ Cherry glared at her, and Georgia was instantly contrite. ‘Harold – he was the producer – said it was too much of a risk to have Tom back in a family show even though he was acquitted. Perhaps he was right. Harold usually is. But poor Tom! It was hard on him because Harold was looking for someone else for the Three Joeys, not expecting him to be