Faith - Lesley Pearse [163]
Laura had also told him that Angie had written to her four months after she was sentenced, saying she felt unable to continue visiting her. Laura said she found this understandable.
Stuart didn’t agree. To him, a friend was someone you stuck by in good and bad times.
‘I don’t believe Laura killed Jackie,’ he said gently but firmly. ‘I am going to prove it too. And when I read the transcript of her trial, I got the impression you believed in her innocence as well?’
‘I did,’ she said and looked flustered. ‘But you see, there was so much stuff that came up in the trial that I didn’t know about before. Being a witness for the defence was awful. The prosecution twisted my words and made me feel stupid and tainted somehow. It knocked me sideways, I hadn’t been prepared for that.’
Stuart nodded. He’d heard from friends who had been called as witnesses in various cases that it was a stressful business.
‘But it also changed your mind about her innocence?’ he asked.
‘Not at the time. I thought it was just a terrible mistake when she got life. But I had to come back here and carry on. I had journalists pestering me, women coming in off the street to harangue me. And all those frightful stories about her in the papers. I realized this was someone I didn’t know!
‘I’d promised to look after this place for Laura, but suddenly there were no customers. I didn’t know what I was going to do. No money coming in, rent to find. I had nothing to live on.’
Stuart felt some sympathy for Angie then. He sensed she was genuine – the expression on her face and the tone of her voice told him that she hadn’t really known which way to turn. ‘I can imagine. I wish I’d known about it then, I would have given you some support.’
‘That was the trouble, I didn’t have any from anyone. I know it makes me sound feeble, but I got myself in an awful state.’
Stuart smiled at her. ‘Well, you’ve obviously turned the shop round now. It looks great.’
‘Thank you,’ she said, blushing a little. ‘I just had to get stuck into it, become single-minded. I would’ve gone under otherwise.’
‘I know Laura would approve of what you’ve done,’ he said. ‘But surely your old feelings for her are still there? You were good friends, and I’m sure you wouldn’t want her to stay in prison for something she didn’t do?’
‘Of course not,’ she agreed. ‘But I can’t go through all that again. I’ve built back people’s trust around here. And I don’t know that I could ever trust Laura again; there are too many lies between us.’
Stuart knew exactly how that felt, and that other people’s opinions and the poison they could drop in your ear could sway the staunchest supporter. Laura’s state of mind after her conviction must have unnerved Angie too. Most people would back away in fright at that point.
‘Look, I really do have to nip out to the bank,’ she said, looking stressed. ‘I don’t want to be rude and kick you out, so if you could just hold the fort for me for ten minutes, we can resume this conversation when I get back.’
‘By all means,’ Stuart agreed. ‘I promise I won’t try any frocks on while you are gone!’
She laughed lightly and collected her handbag from a storeroom at the back of the shop. As she was leaving she turned back to him. ‘If anyone brings anything in to sell, get them to leave it, with their phone number if they can’t wait.’
∗
For a couple of moments after she’d gone Stuart flicked through the racks of clothes, looking at the card labels on the garments, idly wondering how the system worked. There was a code number on each, along with the price, and he supposed Angie took her commission off that price when someone bought it.
He looked over at the counter, and there beside the till was a long, thin box which looked as if it might hold a card index file. Curiosity made him go over and open it. A quick glance told him that the letter before the code number on the garment referred to the surname of the person who had brought it in.
Anderson, Ruth, for instance, had brought in a whole load of stuff, each item listed