Chapter 17 – Justice

"Bates is overconfident and it will be his undoing," Jacques Armand thought as he got off the train in the company of one Mr. John Balfour in Cannes, France. It was late April. He had told Bates during one of their "accidental" meetings that he was headed this way and Bates had decided to accompany him rather than travel alone. Jacques bid goodbye to Bates at the train station and at the same time spotted his business partner in the crowd picking up Bates' trail. They had received word from the solicitor's office in England that had engaged them that Bates wife had been taken ill delaying her departure to Ireland. They had to lay low and watch the man every minute. When he received word he would either try to make a run to England or abandon the woman even more than he had. It could be the turning point in the case.

John made his way from the station to the boarding house that had been recommended to him by his last landlady. The weather was pleasant and warm and he had nothing better to do with his afternoon than to walk to his lodgings. The south of France was beautiful in the spring the only draw back was the street signs. They were all in French. "You can't have everything," he thought then stopped himself. "Yes, you can. Soon Anna will be in Ireland. You'll make your way through England collect your savings you have well hidden and join her. You will have everything you ever dreamed of and then some."

Once John had made it to his boarding house and unpacked his bag he decided it was time to write another note to Anna. He had chanced one from Monaco. Her reply had said she was expecting to have her affairs wrapped up at the end of March or the early part of April. Even if he missed her in Scarborough, the place where she was working would forward his note. Soon, very soon they would be together and it would all be worth it.

-0-

"Good gracious," Mrs. Hughes said into the telephone in the butler's pantry. "Thank you for calling Mrs. Smith. I'll let everyone here know." There was a pause while she listened to what the other woman was saying. "Please let me know the details. There are a few of us here who knew Anna for a number of years. Yes, it is a terrible thing. Her husband fooled us all." She paused. "Yes, take care. Good bye."

Mrs. Hughes put the telephone down slowly. Then sat down.

"What is it Mrs. Hughes, not bad news I hope?" Thomas inquired. He had returned to his office for the keys to the pantry silver cupboard.

"The worst kind of news," Mrs. Hughes replied. "That was Anna's mother. Anna collapsed at the hotel in Scarborough where she was working ten days ago. She had tuberculosis, quite a bad case. She never regained consciousness. She passed away yesterday."

"That is bad news," Thomas replied. "I never got on with Anna but I didn't wish her harm."

"Love is a strange thing," Mrs. Hughes said sadly. "The last note I had from her just after Christmas she was still pleading John Bates' innocence."

"He would have seen me or any one of a number of other men hang for his crimes," Thomas said. "I have no sympathy for the man or the fact Anna couldn't admit what he was."

"It doesn't do well to speak ill of the dead," Mrs. Hughes reminded him. "The stress of it all must have worn the poor dear out till she couldn't fight anymore. I'll tell her ladyship. There may be a few who want to attend the funeral. Her mother is going to ring back and let me know when it is."

"Very well, Mrs. Hughes. I'll drive those of us who'll be going in the staff car. Let me know when."

"I thought you said you had no sympathy," Mrs. Hughes said.

"I didn't have sympathy for Anna's attitude, Mrs. Bates, but I can have sympathy for a person who was hurt so badly they couldn't see the truth. John Bates didn't just betray the house, his wife and every person under this roof. He betrayed himself. He had the one thing I may never have in my entire life and that is someone to love him and share his life and he threw it away."

"Why Mr. Barrow, I never knew you were so profound," Mrs. Hughes said slightly taken aback.

"I'm just stating what a blind man could see," Thomas replied. "Now I had best get back to it."

-0-

John Bates was leaning back in the shade enjoying a glass of lemonade when his landlady stopped at the small table in front of the boarding house and handed him a thick letter. The envelope was from the hotel where Anna was working. He opened the letter in puzzlement. The note he had sent was included inside along with a brief note from the hotel manager. Anna, his beloved Anna had collapsed at work and been taken to hospital where she died less than two weeks later from galloping consumption. John's hands dropped to the table in shock. "It couldn't be. There had to be some mistake. Everything he had ever wanted was going to be his." He crushed the letter in his hands as he began to cry. "What was it all for? Nothing meant anything without her." The beauty of the French Riviera, the easy life he was leading, it meant nothing if Anna wasn't a part of the world. He knew what he would do. He would get the money from his account and go to Ireland. He would open the hotel they had dreamed of. It couldn't be true. It was a ruse. She would find him and they would be together.

John climbed the stairs to his room and packed his bags. He quickly went downstairs and paid the landlady what was owed. No sense skipping out now and alerting the gendarme over a few francs. He was at the train station with a ticket to Calais within the hour.

Jacques Armand had been in his disguise as a street cleaner when he saw Bates take off like a mad man out of the door of the boarding house with his bags. He barely had time to push his trashcan and broom into an alley before he lost sight of Bates. For a man who walked with a stick and pronounced limp he was certainly making good time. Jacques followed Bates to the train station and heard him purchase a ticket for Calais. He had just enough time to send a telegram and purchase his own ticket before the train pulled in. Luckily he had pushed a considerable amount of cash into his pocket when he dawned his disguise or he would have lost Bates in his haste.

There was a significant stop in Paris where Jacques' business partner got on the train as well. Once the train had pulled out and Jacques was sure Bates was not getting off the train he made it to another car to talk to his partner. The client in London had been alerted and the English authorities. All that was left was to tail Bates until his arrest. Jacques had left Cannes so quickly he hadn't had a chance to grab his passport. His business partner would take the ferry and keep Bates under surveillance until he was captured.

All John could think about was getting to England, retrieving his money and making his way to Ireland. Anna would meet him. She had promised she would. This was a trick, it had to be, he told himself over and over. He was in such a rush to get to his precious funds and make his way to Ireland he didn't bother with a layover in Calais. He got on the first ferry to England. His cover as John Balfour was a good one. No one would recognize him and he would be able to walk right through customs, he told himself.

John lined up with the other disembarking passengers going through customs. He had his passport in hand with his assumed name, which he handed to the customs official.

"Mr. John Balfour?" the man asked.

"Yes, that's right," John replied. He hadn't noticed the men step behind him or the man approach through crowd in front of him.

"John Bates, you are under arrest for larceny, arson, murder and perjury," the Detective Inspector who had worked the case all these months said.

"You must be mistaken. I'm not John Bates," John replied. "My name is Balfour."

"John Balfour died on a battle field in South Africa in 1902, Mr. Bates. Your game is over Mastermind," the Detective Inspector said.

"My wife, my money," John stammered in shock.

"All gone, Mr. Bates. Your wife passed away three weeks ago. As the sole beneficiary of her estate, it and the funds held under your assumed identity have been confiscated by the crown and will be paid out as compensation to your victims," the Detective Inspector said as they lead John away towards the waiting police car.

Over the days awaiting his trial John convinced himself, Lord Grantham and the rest of the Crawley clan would come to his trial for a final look at the man who had taken Matthew Crawley's life. He would stand proud. It would be his final revenge for them separating him from Anna. On the day he was lead into the courtroom for his trial he was in for a surprise. The press gallery was full but there was not a sign of Lord Grantham or anyone from the Abbey. He was no one, to anyone. He would be a few lines of amusement over a morning cup of tea while someone read their papers, forgotten as quickly as they moved on to the next piece of news or new sensation. His head dropped and his heart broke in that instant. There was nothing left. He had lost Anna the moment he had set up the theft ring. "Anna," he said aloud in the prisoner's box. "I want to be with Anna."

The judge stopped the proceedings and asked him to repeat what he had just said but John remained silent. He never took a sip of water or bite of food from that moment forward. There was no need to wait for the executioner. John Bates died, alone in his cell with his wife's name on his lips.

the end

So I hope you all enjoyed a different version of the John/Anna story and had some fun with it. I see a couple S4 spoilers are out. Edith continues with Gregson, which we all knew and Mary gets a new love interest. I am hoping against hope it is not Tom. I just can't see Mary who likes to spend money and is always worried about how things look and keeping up appearances with Tom, Mr. Scandal himself. I am really hoping Kieran and Evelyn Napier come back. I like some of the funny side characters. Just a comment on the name Tremblay it is the french equivalent of Smith in French Canada and the most common surname in the province of Quebec. In France it originally meant "from Tremblay" much like John the Smith in old English became John Smith in modern English. There are probably twenty pages of Tremblay in the Montreal phone directory. I believe there was a Jacques Tremblay in the NHL back in the 1940's.