Farewell to the Dancing Man Ch. 21-24

"This wouldn't be the body that was found in the septic tank would it?"

"Yes, the very same."

"Look, I am just about to go and get myself a cup of tea. While I am gone I must ask that you go nowhere near that file drawer over there. If you should want a copy of a file then you will have to go through normal channels, which I have to admit are a pain in the arse, however, if you should feel the need to take notes of a file in the drawer, that you are not to go anywhere near while I'm gone, then I would be none the wiser. One thing though, if anyone should ask where the information came from, you have never been in this office. Understood?"

I went to the file drawer that I wasn't supposed to go to and found it full of microfilm records. I looked at the index to find the right piece of film and placed it in the reader. Right in the middle of the list of names of politicians heading overseas on fact finding missions was the name of Paul Lester (I bet not too many knew that one) Thomas and right next to it was an entry for Judith Pearson. It would seem as if they applied for their visas at the same time, how cosy.

I was still there studying my notes when he arrived back, cup of tea in hand. "Any joy?"

"Yes, I found the name that I was looking for, now all I have to check is to find out if he actually left the country when he was supposed to. I don't suppose you can help me with that?"

"Sorry, you could try the airline passenger lists for the time in question, they may still have records."

I thanked him profusely and left, I would have to check the records of all of the airlines that operated out of Sydney to London either through Asia or America, not a task that I was looking forward to, to see if our man actually left the country as planned, and if he did, when did he return.

I tried Qantas first without success, the same with BOAC and PanAm. I was getting nowhere fast and my time was running out fast. Time to change tactics. Cynthia had said that she thought that Thomas had been married So off I went to the Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages. I didn't bother with Births because I had no idea when he was born or if, in fact he was actually born in Australia. After what seemed like hours the Marriage records revealed that Paul Lester Thomas married one Jean Veronica Stapleton at the Methodist church at Lindfield on May the 22nd 1949. There were no children of the union in the subsequent Birth records, and there was no record of the marriage having been dissolved.

Acting on a hunch I decided to check the Death records further down the track and there it was. After the statutory waiting period of seven years had elapsed Paul Lester Thomas was officially declared to be deceased.

There was no record of his wife having remarried so the next step was to locate her. The phone book and then the Electoral Rolls. I began with the phone book and found several listings for 'Thomas' in the area, one listing intrigued me, it was P. L. Thomas, surely she would have changed the listing now that he had been declared dead? My check with the Electoral Rolls confirmed that Jean Thomas still lived at that address. Time to pay her a visit.

Finding her was the easy part, getting information from a person who had degenerated from a bitter and angry thirty-five year old to a bitter, angry and somewhat irrational fifty-five year old who looked to be closer to eighty years old than her real age was another matter. The years of hurt had taken their toll. "He was no good, my husband, always carrying on with those floosies at the tennis club, harlots the lot of them. He thought that I didn't know about his affairs but I knew, I knew. He thought he was being clever and hiding it from me but I was smarter than he thought I was. I could tell, I knew. He only had to flex his muscles and they were fawning all over him, and he loved every minute of it. What was it he used to say when I complained about his flirtations; 'It doesn't matter where I get my appetite as long as I come home to eat., and that was what happened, he would carry on with one of them for a while and then come crawling back begging for forgiveness and promising faithfully that it would never happen again. But it always did."

"When did you last see him?"

"The day I confronted him about that Pearson woman and that whore of a daughter of hers. Imagine having the gall to have an affair with both mother and daughter. Anyway I told him to pack his bags and leave. I told him that I was not going to share my house with a pervert any longer, and because I was not to blame he should be the one to go."

"And did he?"

"Yes the bastard. I'm sorry, what must you think of me using such language. I was hoping that he would see the error of his ways and get rid of his harem, but he didn't. . . ." Mrs Thomas sobbed quietly into a delicate lace handkerchief. "He said the most hurtful things to me. He called me a middle aged frump and said I held no sexual attraction for him. I told him that I was prepared to allow him his mistresses as long as he didn't flaunt them in front of me. He called me a pathetic old crone. 'Look at yourself,' he said, 'snivelling and carrying on like a lovesick cow, do you think I could love someone like that?' I didn't know what to say. The final insult was when he told me that he'd never loved me and the only reason that he married me was for my money and now that he didn't need that he was leaving. He packed his bags and I never saw him again."

"Did you know that he was planning to go to England with Mrs Pearson?"

"No and I didn't want to know. No. That's not correct, yes I did know. I heard from a friend who was keeping me informed of his actions in case he changed his mind, that he had booked to go to America on his way to England, and that he planned to meet her there."

"Do you know if he did?"

"No."

"No you don't know or no he didn't go?"

"No he didn't go."

"How do you know he didn't go?"

"because I went to the airport to see him off, from a distance you understand, but I was half hoping that he would change his mind at the last minute. You can imagine how I felt when he didn't get on the plane and I checked that he hadn't re-booked on any other flight. I rushed home looking forward to him sweeping me off my feet and telling me that he had realised that he loved me, and how good it would be having him make love to me like he used to years ago. But he wasn't there, he wasn't anywhere."

"You didn't report him missing?"

"No. I couldn't face the prospect of the public humiliation that he had left me. I have my pride you know." She sniffed. Her nose in the air in a vain attempt to show that she was unaffected by the incident.

"And you never gave up hope of him returning to you?"

"No, never."

"Then why did you have him declared dead?"

"That was my solicitor's idea so that I could regain control over my property. It was mine you know, before we were married I bought this house from the money that my father left me when he died. My family told me that Paul was only marrying me for the house, and my money, but I wouldn't listen to them. He told me that he loved me, he told me so often enough that I believed him. When we were married I had the title deeds to the house transferred into his name. It was still in his name when he left and until it was transferred back into mine I couldn't even sell it, and I couldn't transfer the deeds while he was officially alive. You wouldn't know how it felt to love someone so much that you signed your property over to him and then find out he was having affair after affair, it was so humiliating that I couldn't tell anyone, not even my closest friends, especially not my family. I used to make the excuse that he was working very hard and couldn't take time off when he couldn't attend family get togethers."

I took the ring from my pocket and held it out to her. "Do you recognise this ring?"

"Yes, it's his. It's the ring that I gave him on our first wedding anniversary. Where did you find it?"

"Did he have it on him the last time you saw him?"

"Yes, he wore it all the time."

"He wouldn't have given it to anyone or sold it to anyone?"

"No, he knew that it would break my heart. He was a kind and considerate person."

"I understand that you've never remarried, why?"

"Despite all of his faults, I found I could love no other person, oh my friends tried tirelessly to match me up with other men, but they all suffered in comparison. After a while they gave up trying. Life has been so empty for me."

"You had no children?"

No. That was the silly part of all of this. He could carry on for all he was worth and not have to worry. He was physically unable to father a child and in a way I think that this was part of his problem."

"What do you mean?"

"He somehow felt that he was incomplete, and having endless affairs was his method of compensating for his feelings of inadequacy."

"You seem to know a lot about what it was that motivated him?"

"Yes. We had been undergoing counselling for some time about facing the prospect of never having children of our own. He took it hard because he was from a large family and it had never occurred to him that he should have any problems fathering a child. At first he didn't believe that it could be his problem, but after I had been subjected to an endless battery of tests, all of which confirmed that there was absolutely nothing wrong with my reproductive system, he had to reluctantly face the prospect that the problem was his. He refused to contemplate adoption as an alternative, he said that if he couldn't father a child of his own there was no possible way that he would think of looking after someone else's. I think that he was half hoping that one of his affairs would result in a child. None did."

"You never had any thoughts of revenge against him for leaving you?"

"I was thinking of what I would do when he came back."

"Like what?"

"Like welcoming him with open arms and then taking to him with a blunt knife and removing that part of his anatomy that made him so popular with the opposite sex, or spreading a rumour that he had latent homosexual tendencies, but then who would have believed that one? But I never did anything, I never had the chance to do anything and I don't suppose I would have any way because he wouldn't have been able to handle that."

"Why not?"

"Do you know much about love, Sergeant?"

"Some, why?"

"To me love is an emotion that transcends all others. Even after all these years, if he was to walk through that door now, but he couldn't could he?"

"Why couldn't he? Do you think that he's dead?"

"No. He wouldn't know where to look would he?"

"Why not? After all this was his home too."

"But then you're a policeman and he's not. I don't think that he could find this place if he wanted to. He must be suffering from amnesia or else he would have come back ages ago, wouldn't he? If he were to walk through that door I would forgive him. I wonder what he looks like now? He was very handsome you know, see this is his picture." She produced a framed photograph that stood on the coffee table and which showed a man that even I had to admit was good looking in a smooth way. "He looked like Cary Grant only more handsome. He was tall, strong and athletic. He had the most magnificent skin, I remember when he was courting me, we would go to the beach and I would be covered in lotions and potions to keep me from burning to a crisp and there he would be, half an hour in the sun and brown as a berry. He had the most magnificent teeth, and he smiled, he would flask me a smile and it was almost blinding, especially when he was tanned. He was ever so kind, he would remember my birthdays and our anniversaries. . . ."

"Anniversaries?"

"Oh yes. The anniversary of our first date, when he proposed, our first argument, and our making up after it, our wedding anniversary, my birthday. He was so thoughtful and would always send me something special and unusual. For one anniversary he sent me flowers and a card that was supposed to have been from a secret admirer and when he got home that evening he pretended to be jealous and took me out for a special dinner to woo me back to him. It was ever so romantic, and typical of him."

"How long after you were married did he start having his affairs?"

"Affairs? He never had any affairs, he would never do anything to hurt me. He was the most wonderful person a woman could ask for in a husband."

"But you have just told me that he was having an affair."

"No I never. I don't want to hear any more lies about him having affairs. If you mention that again I will be forced to ask you to leave. Why are you asking me all this, what business is it of yours?"

"I am a police officer."

"He hasn't done anything wrong has he? You didn't catch him speeding again?" He was always a little fast when he drove."

"No, Mrs Thomas, he wasn't caught speeding. We have found the skeletal remains of a man. The ring that I showed you was found on that body. You have identified that ring as one belonging to your husband, that you gave to your husband. Now in order that we can positively identify the body as that of your husband we need some things from you like the name of his dentist and, if possible, one of his suits so that we can compare sizes. Mrs Thomas, we have reason to believe that we have found the remains of your husband Paul Lester Thomas."

"How could you have?"

"What do you mean?"

"He's not dead. He was here a minute ago, you must have passed him as you came up the driveway, he just stepped out to get a packet of cigarettes."

"But you haven't seen him for the best part of twenty years."

"What are you talking about. I have just told you, he was here just a few minutes ago."

"But I've been here for over half an hour, more than long enough for him to have bought a packet of cigarettes and got back here, and I've seen no evidence of him having been here for some time. Could you show me some evidence of him being here now?"

She led me to her bedroom where she opened a wardrobe full of suits and trousers. There were shirts, socks and underwear in the drawers of a dressing table and I was almost at the point of admitting that I might just have been mistaken when I realised that the clothes would have been the height of fashion twenty years ago. I gave up, this was getting weirder and weirder by the minute. I took one of the suits from the wardrobe. "Thank you very much Mrs Thomas, you have been a great help with our investigations."

"That's all right. Oh by the way, if you should happen to see that bastard of a husband of mine, you can tell him from me that he can keep his tarts and keep right away from me. I never want to see him ever again!"

I retreated quickly for Mrs Thomas. She was so unstable that it would take forever to sort fact from fantasy, I had the impression that there was more of the latter than the former. I was getting nowhere, I was sure of the identity of the body, but where was the proof?

"I knew that this wasn't going to be easy." I was again in conference with the Chief Inspector. "Not even Sherlock Holmes in his prime would be able to positively identify this body."

"You could hardly say that you were in the same league as Sherlock Holmes, could you." It was a statement rather than a question.

"Sherlock Holmes, now that gives me an idea."

"I won't ask what stroke of genius you've come up with this time."

"The power of deduction. Analyse the evidence and establish the known facts and the rest will fall into place."

"Sure, I believe you, now get out of here, your time is running out."

I got. The dentist that Jean Thomas told me had treated Paul Thomas was incapable of treating and more patients, having been dead for some ten years. He sold his practise shortly before he died and the new dentist had disposed of all records that had not had any action for at least five years. Paul Thomas' file was one of those.

My next port of call was more fruitful. The records of the Kuringai Council showed that permission had been granted way back in 1947 to a Mr William Pearson to install and test a ne3w and revolutionary single chamber septic system. This system was based on an experimental system being tested in the US, and as far as the council were concerned, after several years of trouble free operation, it would become the model for all future installations. This meant that the time that the body was in the tank could have been twenty years and not fifteen which was the maximum possible if I had been bound by the time frame dictated by standard septic installations of that time.

Then I went to Victoria Barracks on the assumption that they would have records of soldiers serving in both World Wars. I was right.

"Do you know how many thousand soldiers were injured during the Second World War?"

"I can guess, I do however have a name for you to work on."

"All right, give me the name, I'll see what I can dig up." He wandered off to return half an hour later. "This is an interesting one. Paul Lester Thomas you said?"

"Yes."

"Paul Lester Thomas served, which is a loose description of his performance, in New Guinea. He was stationed in a Supply regiment at Milne Bay. He didn't exactly cover himself with glory, for that matter he was lucky not to have been court martialled."

"Why?" I think I know why but I had to ask.

"Cowardice."

"How can someone in supply be charged with cowardice?"

"Let's see. Yes, here it is. It seems that he rigged up his rifle so that he could shoot himself in some safe part of the body, in this case his upper arm, and claim that it was the result of enemy fire. He wasn't as smart as he thought, because there was no way that he could possibly have been anywhere near a Japanese sniper on that day."

"What happened to him?"

"He was shipped out to Port Moresby for treatment. During his convalescence he tried to get his return to active duty delayed for an extraordinarily long time. He even went as far as to seduce one of the nurses so that she could doctor his charts to indicate complications to the wound. It didn't work."

"That's not entirely out of character , but what is so strange about this?"

"Our report is that she was one who was safe in a hospital full of recuperating soldiers starved of female companionship, if you get my meaning."

"I get it. So he seduced her, what of it?"

"It was unusual enough to be brought to the attention of the CO. The lady in questioned informed him of their plans to ask for permission to marry as soon as he was well enough. She was absolutely besotted with him and he played on that."

"And did her return her affection?"

"Far from it. While in her company he was attentive and considerate, behind her back he openly laughed at her and referred to her as the 'Old Cow' and other similarly endearing terms of endearment."

"How come you know so much about this case?"

"There is a full report on the incident in his file, it makes interesting reading. The CO was gathering evidence to submit to the Advocate General for the commencement of court martial proceedings."

"They were never stated?"

"No. For some reason the file was closed before action could be taken."

"What happened to him after the war?"

"He was repatriated to his home city, in this case Sydney, and given job training so that he could re-enter the workforce in some productive capacity."

"What as?"

"Would it come as a surprise to you if I were to tell you that it was as a carpenter?"

"Yes it would. I have no evidence to suggest that he ever followed that trade, although that explains. . ."

"Your evidence is correct. He was trained as a second fix carpenter, given a job working on houses which he stuck to for a whole week before leaving, after getting his first weeks pay of course. We found that he had got himself a job selling menswear in a department store."