Free Where There is Evil by Sandra Brown Page A

down by her father.
    Religion had also played a strong part in the life of the Anderson family. After Moira’s tragic disappearance, her two sisters continued to attend Band of Hope meetings, which Moira had
loved. Janet never came to terms with the fact that one evening she had rushed Moira home when the younger girl had wanted to learn about becoming a missionary. It would keep, she said, but shortly
afterwards Moira vanished.
    I started at Coatbridge High School in August 1961 and my workload increased dramatically. As my mother and her sister helped me to cover all of my books and jotters with wallpaper samples, they
agreed that I needed the privacy of my own room and a good part of Sunday to myself to get my homework completed to a good standard.
    Although my mother was delighted that I had won a place to the town’s élite senior high school, kitting me out in its uniform gave her nightmares. A navy blazer represented a major
investment, and a leather briefcase was out of the question. Hand-me-downs came to the rescue once again: the blazer came with elbow patches and the white shirts, for boys, had to be adapted. I
transformed them to short-sleeved blouses, over which I could wear the navy V-neck sweater with a gold neck edge that Granny Frew had knitted.
    The ignominy of having to start at secondary school without the case I needed for books filled me with far more apprehension than facing algebra, logarithms, Latin and French for the first time.
Also I shrank from the gaze of the terrifying rector, James Cooper, who had been feared by generations of local schoolchildren mainly because of his height, which was six foot ten.
    As I embarked on my secondary school career, where I made friends who have lasted ever since, my father embarked on a string of affairs with various young women, some of whom were strangers and
some of whom were known to my mother. There was Norma, sister of one of his driver pals, several bus conductresses, mostly single, then a long line of women who were all married, including a Lily
and a Rose. Occasionally my mother took me with her to confront the current woman. One stands out. Taken off school for the day, and cringing with embarrassment, I was marched up a garden path in
the Townhead area of Coatbridge, to the door of a thunderstruck woman named Cora, whose husband worked away from home. My mother delivered a furious tirade and declared that Alexander was married,
and should be left well alone. Not only that, he was also the father of three children and
this
was the eldest, at which I was pushed forward to underline the potential jeopardizing of a
family. The raised voices attracted a small interested crowd of neighbours, mainly women, slyly nudging each other and uniformly folding their arms across their chests.
    That afternoon, Cora told us that she and my father had been planning to run off to England together but her husband had been informed of this anonymously and arrived on the scene threatening to
throttle my father. It was agreed that the affair must end with no further contact. Later, Mary told me of one other ultimatum she had made: ‘I want him away from Baxter’s Buses,
Sandra,’ she said. ‘For two good reasons.’
    First, the environment supplied him with an endless rota of female conductresses and opportunities for affairs. Second, she was convinced he was being influenced by a driver she regarded as a
shady character, a small, powerfully built man, with whom he had struck up a friendship. The other man had a reputation for being quick with his fists, and I too, detested him, having noticed how
terrified his quiet little wife and his young son were when he was around.
    My mother was sure that if our family left Coatbridge, she could leave the past behind and start afresh with my father. With this in mind, she wrote to his young brother, who lived in Leicester,
to see if he could help. Uncle Robbie was the antithesis of my dad. An ex-Marine, his language