The House of Women by Alison Taylor Page A

human warehouse.’ She rubbed her eyes. ‘I keep wanting to rush upstairs to tell him something, and I can’t, and I won’t ever be able to again, and it’s so unfair, because there was so much he loved in the world!’
    McKenna pulled a cigarette from the pack, then flicked his lighter, wondering about her mercurial changes of mood and the depths they obscured. ‘People have said he often spoke of suicide.’
    ‘ Which people? Mama? The professor?’ Her voice was derisive. ‘He might’ve talked about it, but he’d never do it!’
    ‘ Then what would he actually say?’
    Phoebe picked up her tea, and drank slowly, a frown creasing her forehead. ‘He had a lot of pain, and he used to say killing yourself is the only way to get away from pain like that, especially when you know there’s more to come.’ She paused. ‘And he said being depressed was like having a war of attrition with yourself, only I never quite understood what he meant.’
    ‘ He probably meant that it wore him down.’
    ‘ I suppose.’ She nodded, and buried her face again in the mug of tea.
    ‘ So perhaps,’ McKenna said gently, ‘it’s not unreasonable to suggest he killed himself.’
    ‘ He was trying to explain how it could make you suicidal, not how it would .’ She paused again, then said: ‘There’s a whole world between them, and I knew exactly what he meant, ’cos I’ve thought about what might make me kill myself, and I’d never do it, not even if Tom died.’
    The door suddenly flew open, and Edith twittered: ‘What a surprise! I could smell cigarettes, so I thought Phoebe’s Uncle Iolo had arrived!’
    Phoebe stood up and went to the sink to rinse her mug. ‘He’s not my “Uncle Iolo”. He’s not anybody’s “Uncle Iolo”.’ Slamming the mug on the draining board, she snapped: ‘And I won’t call him “Uncle Iolo”, even if Minnie does. Simpering cow!’
    ‘ Will you behave yourself?’ Edith shrieked. ‘Heaven knows what our visitors are thinking!’
    ‘ Why don’t you ask them?’ Phoebe countered, her face mutinous.
    ‘ You’re a rude, naughty child! Go to your room! This instant!’
    McKenna intervened. ‘Phoebe’s distressed about Mr Jones’s death, Mrs Harris. They were very close.’
    ‘ It’s his fault she’s like this!’ Edith insisted. ‘All this talking! All these questions! It’s not right at her age.’
    ‘ Mama wants to shut the door on an empty stable,’ Phoebe said, ‘but she can’t.’
    McKenna looked at her. ‘I don’t understand.’
    ‘ She was too wrapped up with my snotty sister to give me attention, and now she feels guilty because Uncle Ned looked after me when she should’ve done it.’
    ‘ How dare you!’ Edith shrieked again. ‘Go to your room!’
    Grabbing the cat, Phoebe rushed through the door and thundered up the staircase, then the windows rattled as she slammed a door.
    Sinking into a chair, Edith rested the back of her hand on her forehead, and began to gulp air.
    ‘ Who’s “Uncle Iolo”?’ McKenna asked.
    Showing the whites of her eyes, she gasped, and subsided over the kitchen table, her body wracked with sobs.
    ‘Shall I make her a cup of tea, sir?’ Janet sidled into the room. ‘I could stay for a while.’
    McKenna rose. ‘What’s happened?’
    ‘ Nothing in particular. It’s delayed shock, I expect.’
    ‘ I’d better have a word with Phoebe.’
    As McKenna fidgeted by the door, Edith looked up once more, her face ravaged, and said, between choked sobs: ‘I can’t cope!’
    ‘ You and Phoebe are just overwrought,’ Janet comforted.
    ‘ I can’t cope with her!’ There was an edge of hysteria to Edith’s voice.
    ‘ Couldn’t Annie come over for the evening?’ McKenna asked. ‘Or better still, couldn’t Phoebe go to Llanberis for a few days?’
    ‘ Oh, no! Mina wouldn’t like that.’
    ‘ Why ever not?’ Janet asked.
    ‘ She’d have to stay in to look after me, and that’s not fair when she’s been working