Killer Women - Devasting True Stories of Female Murderers. Wensley Clarkson
Gillian alone.
As the honeymoon went on, however, they both felt they couldn’t just cut Janet out of the picture. More and more, they insisted she joined in with them. They wanted to make sure she didn’t feel awkward with them. This was her holiday as well.
So she became an essential part of the proceedings. No mealtime was complete without her. The three of them would laugh and joke at all the same things. They had built up a remarkable rapport.
Graham was becoming convinced they were all having an even better time – thanks to bringing Janet along. If anything, he began to think, she was an improvement on Gillian. No, he didn’t really mean that. Not really. It was just that she kept flitting into his thoughts – he couldn’t help it. Every time he looked at Gillian, he saw Janet shining through. Maybe it was because they were so similar.
At first, he dismissed it as a natural fondness for his wife’s sister. They were twins and it was obvious that he would find them both attractive. He would watch as Janet plunged into the pool for a swim. Looking at her body. Examining every minute detail – comparing it all the time to Gillian.
Janet seemed to hold herself much better. Her breasts seemed firmer. Her body seemed more shapely. But then again…
Both Graham and Gillian became quite depressed as the day of Janet’s departure back to London approached. They both enjoyed her company immensely but for entirely different reasons. They didn’t want to see her go. But the plane ticket was booked. It would cost a fortune to change it.
They all decided to go out for an extra special dinner the night before she was due to leave. It was like a leaving party in a way. Gillian was sad. She was going to miss her sister’s company during those long, hot, sunny days on the beach.
As they sat in the corner of the restaurant, Graham proposed a toast to his sister-in-law. It was a nice gesture and Janet smiled warmly at him. He stared intently at her. Delighted that she had responded to him so openly. Gillian paused for moment. She frowned at Graham, then dismissed her suspicions as ridiculous. The dinner party continued.
Graham told a joke and the two sisters listened carefully to his every word. After the punch line delivery, they both laughed in unison. Janet grabbed Graham’s arm purely as a reaction to the wisecrack. She felt good about her brother-in-law. He seemed a fine person. Someone who would bring nothing but happiness to her family. She was pleased.
Her hand squeezed his arm gently. It was an act of fondness for a new relative she was only just beginning to get to know, but to Graham it was a significant sign. Evidence that Janet was starting to return the feelings he had for her.
If anyone else in the world had squeezed his arm in such a way, he would have thought nothing of it, but when she did it… it had to mean something. A deliberate flirtation. He couldn’t accept it as anything else.
If only Janet had realised what thoughts were rushing through his mind at that moment, then maybe she would not have inadvertently brushed his leg with the toes of her shoe just a few minutes later. To her, it was an innocent movement. Not intended in any way to be interpreted as a show of affection. She didn’t give it any thought at the time. She just pulled her foot away gradually so as not to appear rude.
When Graham felt the movement of her shoe on his leg, it left a completely different impression. He saw it as even more evidence of her attempt to tell him that she fancied him. That she could not wait for him to get back to England so they might make wild, passionate love.
He looked up and glanced at her as her toe rested, momentarily, on his leg. He smiled discreetly, so Gillian would not see. Janet saw the look on his face and pulled her foot away immediately – but it was already too late. The damage had been done.
Graham’s obsession had begun.
The next day was a sad occasion for everyone. Graham and Gillian were both at the airport saying fond farewells to Janet. It was more like saying goodbye to a relative who was emigrating to the other side of the world, than a sister whom they would both see just seven days later.
Gillian had thought it ludicrous to take Janet to the airport. She was a grown up person, perfectly capable of looking after herself, but Graham had insisted. He told his new wife that he would expect her to do the same thing if the situations were reversed. That was just a smoke screen for the searing passion he felt for Janet. Any excuse just to spend that extra hour in her company. Just to be sitting next to her in the taxi. To feel her leg brush against his own as they got out at the other end. To smell her perfume. To see her smile. To feel her lips.
When Gillian kissed her sister fondly on the cheek before she went through passport control, Graham could feel the excitement in his stomach, anticipating the hug and kiss he knew he was about to receive. It was a rare opportunity for him to feel her in his arms. Gillian looked on, completely unaware of his innermost feelings.
When the time finally came for his turn to say good-bye, he was like a schoolboy about to experience his first kiss. He felt awkward. Almost embarrassed by the situation. After all those days and nights of fantasy, the reality was now staring him in the face.
He bent to kiss her gently on the side of her face. He wanted desperately to move his mouth over to her lips. He watched them. They were covered in just the right amount of red lipstick. He was certain that for a moment he saw them quiver with expectation but he couldn’t bring himself to do more than brush the side of her cheek with his lips. He waited for a split second, breathing in her scent. Then he pulled away, once more aware of the presence of his young bride. She did not notice his reaction.
They both watched as she waved back at them while walking through customs, all the time completely unaware of the effect she had already had on their lives and the tragedy she had inadvertently set in motion.
Graham had always been an incurable romantic. But now his thoughts were working overtime. Janet consumed his waking hours. When Gillian turned to ask him a question, he ignored her – stuck in a fantasy trance. But this was no fairy tale. He was on his honeymoon, transfixed by another woman.
‘Let’s have a drink at the airport bar.’
Graham snapped out of his daze. Gillian sensed something was wrong.
However, that request to stop for a drink had an ulterior motive. For Graham wanted to see Janet’s plane as it took off for London. Like a child watching a huge airliner lift into the sky, waiting for a wave from one of those tiny round windows, Graham actually believed she might look out and see him down there.
He was already beginning to lose all sense of reality. He did not even know which side of the plane she would be sitting on. How on earth would she see him?
None of that mattered to Graham. He just wanted to feel that there might be a chance. That was enough to keep him there. Waiting for the opportunity of a glimpse.
They sat in sad silence at a table in the bar. Graham’s eyes kept darting towards the runway every time an aircraft taxied for take off. Gillian did not realise how attentive he was being because he wore sunglasses.
Finally her plane appeared on the tarmac.
He watched as the jet engines thrusted it forward, faster and faster towards the end of the runway. For a split second, it seemed to falter and Graham caught his breath with fear. Surely it wouldn’t crash. Please. God. No. The momentary jerk was a perfectly normal motion for the plane but Graham had feared catastrophe.
He stared through his sunglasses as it passed overhead. He felt as if someone had torn out his stomach.
He would not see her again until they returned to Orpington! He wasn’t sure he could cope. The pain was so great he doubled up as if suffering from some awful bout of indigestion.
Gillian looked over, concerned that he was in agony. If she’d been able to see behind those dark glasses, she would have noticed the tears welling up in his eyes.
He managed to wipe them away before they reached his cheeks. Gillian Philpott presumed her groom was in the middle of a hay fever attack.
That