Derek had left under a cloud and his leaving had been covered by Mr Edison telling colleagues that Mr Mills had opted for early retirement due to ill health. Where he would loved to reveal to everyone what a brute this man was, Maggie did not want to press charges against her husband, and had told Tom she would leave if he told the truth.
So the pretence continued, along with the purchase of more make-up by Margaret Osmington Mills, whose only crime was to accept more than friendship from someone who genuinely cared for her. Dean knew that his mother was still being beaten by Derek, and that she still would not tell, and had gone to visit his Great Grandfather for advice on how to get proof. Together they had come up with the idea of placing the tiny cameras inside the light fittings then inside the bulbs themselves. Dean had by this time ceased to live with his mother and her second husband, but still had his key so one day, when he knew Derek was out playing golf, he went to the house and changed all the bulbs to those with cameras installed in them , and recently had changed some of them in order to see just was going on in his mother’s home.
As Dean was telling us what had been going on, Derek had sat and grown more and more dejected and Margaret more and more scared. Suddenly a gunshot rang out in the room, and we all gasped, except James Watt, who simply picked up his office telephone, called for an ambulance, then called for the police to attend.
While we waited for the paramedics to arrive, Mrs Pipe stayed with Derek and the rest of us left the room. My husband was still in the kitchen, and someone had found him a radio. He had plugged his headphones into it and was listening to a comedy on BBC Radio 7. He had not heard the gunshot, but was chuckling away to himself over a recently discovered Hancock episode
The ambulance came up the drive and he was genuinely surprised to see it. I told him what was going on to date, and straight away he wanted know that I was alright, though it was abundantly clear that I was, though a little shaken. It was not every day that I saw someone shoot themselves in the head.
Helen disappeared and when she returned half an hour later, the paramedics – and Derek – had gone
She said her Grandfather was having a little rest , he was not as young as he liked to think he was, and though he had appeared unruffled, he too was a little shook up. Mrs Pipe came into the kitchen and straightaway started preparing food for everyone, saying we needed fortification after the unpleasantness. Dean was leaning over Maggie asking if she wished to continue – did she want a lie-down? She said she was fine and just needed a sandwich. If anything she looked relieved, as if a weight had been lifted. Tom had stayed away, but glancing at Dean, as if for permission, he took a step towards Maggie. She got up and seemed to almost float into his arms. He gave her a big squeeze and the reassurance that soon they would be able to start their life as a couple – of course if this were alright with Dean?
Lorraine sat at the table, checking her notes, she was worried that the police would want a copy of the ‘minutes’ of this particular meeting, but Dean assured her that they would have everything they needed, when he submitted the photographic evidence.
For when the lightswitch first failed to bring light to the room, a bulb had been fitted by Mrs Pipe -as we had all seen, but this one had the camera lens inside which captured sound and image.
