The Fairy Godmother Part 32

“Ethel,” I said following her into Enid’s office.

“I can’t cope with this,” she said, not even looking at me. “It didn’t happen. That’s it, it didn’t happen.”

“But it did,” I said turning her around.

“This was not my fault,” she said, looking frightened.

“Of course not,” I assured her. “The fault lay with whoever did what they shouldn’t have done and was compounded by the Head of the Fairy Council, for reasons only she knew, trying to cover it up.”

“But if I hadn’t found out about the cover up,” Ethel started, looking round the room wildly.

“If they hadn’t tried to cover it up, you wouldn’t have found out that there was a cover up and therefore something that need covering up,” I reminded her, hoping it didn’t sound as unconvincing to her as it did to me.

“If I hadn’t done, what I did, she wouldn’t be dead,” she shrieked.

“She didn’t have to end it that way,” I said. “She could have explained why she did what she did, the council might have understood. As it is we don’t know what she was trying to cover up or why. All we can say is that she chose to do this rather than explain herself.”

“Like knowing that is going to make a difference,” Ethel muttered. “She isn’t going to be any less dead is she?”

“No, she isn’t,” I agreed. “But there are people in shock and grieving now. Don’t you think they need answers, don’t you want some answers?”

“Me?” she asked, stopping shaking for a moment.

“Yes, you,” I replied. “She left you feeling like it was your fault. Do you think that is fair?”

“But,” Ethel looked bewildered. “She was never anything other than nice to me.”

“You were lucky,” I thought, but didn’t say.

“You, Enid and everyone else deserve answers,” I said.

“Enid was the one who pushed me to find all this stuff out,” she snapped. “If it wasn’t for her Lily wouldn’t be dead.”

“She knew her name,” I thought. “There is more to this.”

“She didn’t expect her sister to do this though,” I said.

“I had forgotten they were sisters,” said Ethel.

“We all need answers,” I said. “And you are the one who can find them.”

“But,” Ethel stuttered.

“It isn’t as if you can make it worse for anyone, not anyone that doesn’t need it to be made worse for,” I sighed. “But you could make it easier for some.”

“What do you mean?” she asked cautiously.

“You saw how Rosemary reacted, I think the Doctors had to sedate her, God knows what she will do or say when she wakes up,” I said.

“She was threatening to have Lily thrown off the Council. The Council, it meant everything to Lily, she would have been devastated,” Ethel sobbed.

“How come she knows so much about the Head of the Fairy Council?” I thought.

“If Lily had been in Rosemary’s position she would have done the same,” I said.

“You can’t know that,” snapped Ethel.

“I know that she was a stickler for the rules. If any rule was transgressed then she would come down on the guilty person like a ton of bricks. That is why it is so hard to believe that she could do something so serious as what she was accused of doing,” I couldn’t bring myself to mention it. “And that is all the more reason to get to the bottom of what did happen.”

“You think she is guilty?” asked Ethel.

“I don’t know,” I sighed. “The evidence says what she did, but not why and that may explain everything.”

“So you think, if I find out what happened, right from the start, then it could help,” said Ethel slowly.

“Yes,” I smiled.

“Couldn’t someone else do it?” she asked.

“You are the one who knows all about computers, you know where to look for the answers, the rest of us wouldn’t even know where to start or what questions to ask,” I said. “We need you to find out what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening again.”

“OK,” she said slowly. “But, I’m going to need access to Lily’s laptop and things she had with her whilst working on it, they may give clues as to passwords and stuff.”

“The Council have said that you can work in her office,” said Enid, standing in the doorway, I hadn’t even noticed her arrive, she didn’t look too well. “They are offering you any help that you need, all you have to do is ask. They have even given you an assistant.”

“What do I need an assistant for?” Ethel asked.

“To get you anything that you might need,” I said.

“And to remind you to sleep and eat,” Enid added. “By the way, when did you last sleep?”

“I went to sleep early on Monday,” Ethel replied defensively.

“And what time is early?” asked Enid.

“About 3am,” Ethel admitted, trying not to make eye contact.

“Would that be on the Monday or after the Monday?” Enid asked.

“Does it matter?” asked Ethel.

“Yes it does,” said Enid. “Because it happens to be Wednesday today.”

“What happened to Tuesday?” asked Ethel.

“I don’t know, but you may have slept through it, but that is why you need an assistant, so that you can sort out your sleep,” Enid sighed. “In the meantime, I suggest you go to Lily’s office and get to work finding out how we got to this state of affairs.”

“What about the work I normally do?” Ethel asked.

“What can be done by others will be, the rest will be waiting for you when you have finished this,” said Enid.

“OK,” said Ethel, picking up her laptop and heading off to Lily’s office.

“If there’s anything else you need, send your assistant,” said Enid.

“Aren’t I welcome here?” asked Ethel, stopping in her tracks.

“You are always welcome,” Enid smiled. “But this work takes priority, we need answers.”

“Right,” she muttered and the door closed behind her.

“You look like you need a cup of tea,” I told Enid, guiding her to a comfortable looking chair and heading off to make the tea and see if there were any chocolate biscuits to be found.

“A cup of tea would be good,” Enid sighed, sitting down at her desk and then turning the chair away from it.

“How was your Mother?” I asked cautiously.

“Angry,” Enid sighed. “She blamed me.”

“But it wasn’t your fault,” I stated.

“I could have done things differently,” she replied.

“So could Lily,” I said.

“I know, but somehow that doesn’t make me feel any better,” Enid sighed. “Mum said we always faced it different directions, that we never worked as a team.”

“It takes two to do that,” I reminded her, handing a mug of tea to her.

“But perhaps I could have done more,” Enid sighed, taking the mug.

“Ethel is working on getting some answers,” I sighed. “Till then it doesn’t help anyone if we all go round blaming ourselves.”

“So what do you suggest we do?” Enid asked.

“We need to find out what is going on at the home,” I said.

“What!” asked Enid.

“Things haven’t stopped just because we aren’t there to oversee,” I replied. “Ella has been spirited out of the home to her Mother, before the home can send her off to adoption. The Head of the Home has found out that she is no longer there. So we aught to find out what is happening.”

“I suppose it might help pass the time,” Enid sighed.

“Or it might shed some light on what has happened here,” I replied.

“As if that is likely,” muttered Enid.

“The cover up of what happened there is what brought about what happened here, it is therefore very likely that what is still happening will hold some clues or even answers as to why she chose to end it all,” I told Enid.

“And we wont find that out here,” said Enid, putting down her mug of tea and standing up. “We’d better go,” she added waving her wand.

by Janice Nye © 2020