Hollow Vengeance

by Anne Morice

  Later that afternoon I telephoned Toby to enquire how the play was coming along.

  ‘I haven’t started to write it yet. This is simmering and meditation time. It can go on for months.’

  ‘So I’ve noticed. And, talking of simmering, is Mrs Parkes back yet?’

  ‘Not until the weekend.’

  ‘Oh, what a nuisance for you!’

  ‘And for her too, I sincerely trust. Just imagine her in Weston-super-Mare, with nothing to eat but frozen cod substitute and soggy chips! The thought of it is practically the only thing that keeps me going.’

  ‘Although I daresay your own diet is no great improvement. How about coming over to lunch tomorrow? Millie will be out all day with the marchers, so we shan’t be made to feel like ravening carnivores if we toy with a lamb chop.’

  ‘Yes, all right, I might do that. Any new developments to go into my simmering pot?’

  ‘A little headway here and there. I feel I’m getting close to finding out which snub caused the chip on the Trelawney shoulder, although it’s not particularly original. You may need to invent something more startling. However, events move so fast around here that I may well have more to tell you by tomorrow. Such as the solution to the missing photograph, for instance.’

  ‘That doesn’t sound very promising either. At this rate, I may be forced to give up the whole idea.’

  ‘Oh, come now! You only feel like that because you’re a little undernourished at present and, God knows, I’m doing my best for you, so let’s not despair! See you tomorrow about one.’

  Elsa arrived home soon after this and I told her what I had done.

  ‘Oh yes?’ she replied in an abstracted tone.

  ‘You don’t sound very enthusiastic.’

  ‘Oh, it’s not that. I’m always delighted to see Toby, as you know. It’s just that I’m feeling a little sad and upset at the moment.’

  ‘Oh dear! Why’s that?’

  ‘Geoffrey died early this morning.’

  ‘Oh, my dearest Elsa, I am sorry! Did he . . . was he . . . ?’

  ‘Yes, quite peaceful. His sister was with him. She arrived yesterday and Tim and Louise are putting her up. She’s going home this evening and the funeral will be in Somerset. So it wouldn’t really have made any difference if she’d stayed there all the time because he never regained consciousness, poor old boy.’

  ‘I am so sorry,’ I said again.

  ‘Perhaps it’s all for the best, really. He couldn’t have gone on living in the cottage on his own and he’d have hated being dependent. Solitude and self-sufficiency meant so much to him. It’s sad, nonetheless, and if there’s any justice in this world, God forgive me, but I can’t help hoping that Mrs Trelawney will pay for this some day. He was always so gentle and kind and we shall miss him dreadfully.’

  We were both silent for a while and then Elsa said, ‘You’ll probably accuse me of being fussy and over-protective, but I’d be grateful if you didn’t say anything of this to Millie just yet. I do realise that she’ll have to be told very soon, but she’s so looking forward to this march, or whatever it is they’re going on tomorrow and I’d hate anything to spoil it for her.’

  ‘Okay, I won’t say a word. How does she get to Dedley, by the way? Has she got her driving licence?’

  ‘No, not yet. She can’t take the test until she’s seventeen.’

  ‘So you have to drive her there?’

  ‘Oh, good heavens, no, that wouldn’t do at all. She would never live down the shame of it. No, there are about twenty of them going from around here and they’ve hired a coach. It’s to pick them up in the village at ten o’clock and she can get as far as there on her bike.’

  However, before Millie arrived in Dedley the next morning, perhaps even before she had boarded the coach, some news had broken which would have gone a very long way towards consoling her, even for the loss of her beloved Geoffrey.

  THURSDAY A.M.

  The messenger was Louise Macadam, who burst into the kitchen while we were finishing breakfast and, if she had been Joris making a brief stop over between Ghent and Aix, she could not have been in a wilder state of excitement.

  She was a short, unattractively squat sort of woman, with cropped grey hair, a little too elderly looking to match her face, and was shabbily dressed in clothes which had been expensive when they were bought, far too many moons ago. From the absence of lines and wrinkles, I assumed that she normally wore a calm and impassive expression, which was certainly not the case when she breezed in on Thursday morning. Elsa, undoubtedly, was startled by something out of the way in her appearance, for she said with some alarm, ‘Louise! My dear, whatever’s the matter? Are you all right?’

  ‘Perfectly, thanks. Just a little out of breath and dying for some coffee, if you can spare a cup? I couldn’t bear to waste a single minute before telling you the news, and I couldn’t ring up because the police are still there and they asked me to leave the line free and to tell any callers to ring back later.’

  ‘The police? In your house? What for? Have you had a burglary or something?’

  ‘No, nothing like that, they wanted to see Alice. You know, Alice Hawkins, who comes to me two mornings a week. It used to be four until the old witch enticed her away with offers of fairy gold,’ she added in parenthesis.

  ‘What did they want to see Alice about?’ Elsa asked, getting up to fetch a cup and saucer, her first blaze of curiosity now somewhat dimmed. ‘What’s she been up to? Not shoplifting, I hope?’

  ‘No, no, they just wanted to ask her a few questions.’

  ‘What about?’

  ‘My dear, if you’ll only allow me to get a word in edge-ways, I’ll tell you. It’s precisely why I’ve come,’ Louise said, and the hint of impatience in her words and tone struck an unexpected note, because Elsa had given an enthusiastic build-up for her only the day before, impressing upon me what a brave and saintly woman she was, forever doing good by stealth and hiding her light under a bushel. The feeling was now growing that she hid it a sight too cunningly, for I had noticed that she had a brusque, decidedly ungracious manner and, particularly when it fell on me, a cold and fishy eye behind the strong lensed spectacles.

  ‘And I must explain that I only happen to be in the know because poor Alice was so terrified that she went completely to pieces and could hardly utter a word. They tried their best to explain that they weren’t about to drag her off to prison, only wanted some information, but it didn’t make a hoot of difference. In the end they called me in to try and calm her down a bit, which I was able to do and after that they allowed me to stay for the whole interview.’

  ‘But you said they were still there?’

  ‘Yes, yes, and so they were when I left, but only while one of them typed out a statement for Alice to sign. They’d promised that once this was done they’d leave her in peace and I told her to go straight home. There wouldn’t be the slightest hope of getting any work out of her, after a drama like this. And, anyway, the silver can go for once, now that it looks as though I may be having her back for four mornings a week once again,’ Louise added with a certain relish.

  ‘Why? You don’t mean to tell me that Mrs Trelawney is leaving us, by any chance? No, what am I talking about? That wouldn’t be a police matter. Exactly what do you mean, Louise? Has something happened to her?’

  ‘Oh, indeed it has! The ultimate and most incredible thing in the world has happened to her. Mrs Trelawney has been murdered!’

  Elsa’s cup clattered on to the saucer and she gripped the edge of the table, sitting stiff and rigid with shock for almost a minute.

  ‘Who . . . by?’ she asked at last, in something near to a whisper.

  ‘Burglars, caught in the act, or so it appears. She’d been stabbed to death in her own drawing room.’

  ‘I see! Had they taken much?’

  ‘Well, as far as I remember, there was a transistor radio missing, also a table lighter and a couple of other trifles, I really forget now; b
ut the hi-fi equipment and a clock, among other things, were stacked up by the front door, so it looked as though they must have been interrupted when they were half way through the job, lost their heads and killed her and then made a bolt for it, leaving most of the stuff behind. Isn’t it just the weirdest and most fantastic thing you ever heard of?’

  ‘Yes. Yes, it is.’

  ‘Although, as the Inspector rather gloomily pointed out, it is something that happens all too frequently nowadays to elderly women alone in their houses.’

  ‘Somehow, I would never have expected it to happen to this one.’

  ‘Nor would I,’ I admitted.

  Louise glanced at me with the air of one noticing the presence of a third party for the first time, which was partially excusable because in the heat of the moment Elsa had evidently forgotten that we had never met.

  ‘Oh, forgive me, both of you!’ she now said and proceeded to wade through the introductions.

  ‘How do you do, Tessa? What was it you said?’

  ‘Nothing of importance. What I’d really be interested to know is what time this happened?’

  ‘Between four o’clock, when Alice left, and about seven-thirty, as far as I could make out.’

  ‘Who found her?’

  ‘David, the grandson; when he came in from the farm.’

  ‘Not until seven-thirty? He was rather late home, wasn’t he?’

  ‘Not particularly. They’re very busy with the harvest at this time of year, you know.’

  I had been on the point of saying that I had nevertheless gained the impression that Mrs Trelawney had been expecting him back earlier than that, but recollected myself in time and asked instead, ‘How long had she been dead when he found her.’

  ‘I’m afraid I have no idea.’

  Louise was beginning to look rather put out by all these questions and Elsa said soothingly, ‘You mustn’t mind Tessa. She’s one of our geminis.’

  ‘Really? And what does that mean?’

  ‘It means she leads a double life. As well as being a successful actress, she’s been mixed up in a lot of detective work in her time. Also her husband is a member of Scotland Yard, so she has a more professional approach than the rest of us.’ Whether it was the acting or the detecting which displeased her I could not tell, but obviously Louise found the information somewhat distasteful. Perhaps Elsa noticed this too, for she went on quickly, ‘The question I’d like to ask is this: how in the world did this gang, or whoever they were, manage to break in? I’d always understood that the place was bolted and barred against all intruders, even those with no evil intent?’

  ‘So it is, as a rule, but yesterday was the big exception. That was where Alice was such a help and it just shows how right they were to persevere until they got her to talk. You see, normally when she leaves at four she’s supposed to lock the main gate after her. It’s on a padlock and she and Mrs Trelawney and David each had a key, but yesterday Mrs Trelawney reminded her to leave it open because she was expecting someone from the Council. There now, isn’t that something? You can imagine the gleam in the Inspector’s eye when she came up with that bit of news.’

  ‘Yes, indeed! Was she able to add anything to it? Any details about this visitor?’

  ‘No, none at all, and not surprisingly.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘Because, my dear, and this is the really fascinating part, it was obviously a hoax. The minute the Inspector heard about it he was on the telephone to his office, instructing underlings to ring up the Council immediately and get every scrap of information they could about this appointment, including the name and business of the officer in question. About twenty minutes later they rang back to say that there’d been no appointment and no such officer existed. Naturally, he didn’t repeat this to Alice and me, but you could tell from his end of the conversation that that was what it amounted to, and you can see what it must mean?’

  ‘No, not exactly.’

  ‘That this was definitely not the work of a bunch of thugs or hooligans who just happened to be lurking about and just happened to find the gate unlocked. It must have been very carefully planned by someone who knew all the ins and outs of the household. In other words, one assumes, a local person, with the knowledge and intelligence to invent such a pretext for getting in. Presumably, the intention was to tie her up and gag her while they were on the job, but things must have got out of hand for some reason. Well, of course, that was the attitude the Inspector took when he was talking to Alice, but it didn’t fool me for one minute. I’m pretty sure he believes, as I do, that she was killed deliberately and that the so-called burglary was just a blind.’

  Elsa did not appear particularly elated to hear this. ‘But they have no idea at all who it could have been?’ she asked doubtfully.

  ‘I imagine not. As I say, he wasn’t giving any more away than he could help, naturally; but what I say is, do we honestly want him to find out? That may be an awful thing to say, but personally I feel nothing but gratitude and, provided it doesn’t become a habit, I shan’t waste any sleep if they get away with it.’

  ‘I understand perfectly how you feel, Louise, and it would be hypocritical to pretend that I don’t sympathise, but I do beg you not to go around expressing such sentiments to anyone else.’

  ‘My dear, I wouldn’t be such a fool. Although I don’t suppose it makes a hoot of difference. Presumably, the police don’t take the character and reputation of the victim into account as mitigating circumstances when they’re dealing with murder, do they, Tessa?’

  ‘No, I don’t think they do. Did Alice have anything else to tell them?’

  ‘As a matter of fact, she did, although it only came out as a sort of afterthought and I’m not sure how seriously one should take it. I don’t think the Inspector was either. I imagine he thought, as I did, that she may have been making it up, to prove that she wasn’t the last person to see Mrs Trelawney alive. She said that, as she was on the point of leaving yesterday, the front door bell rang. She assumed that it was the officer from the Council, whom she’d been warned about, but in fact it was a young woman who didn’t look in the least like a Council worker. Needless to say, it gave her quite a turn.’

  ‘So what then?’

  ‘She tried to get rid of her, but she’d hardly started on that when Mrs Trelawney came downstairs and said she’d deal with it herself. So Alice went on her way and that was the last she saw of either of them.’

  ‘Could she describe the young woman?’

  ‘Only vaguely, but frankly I wouldn’t have credited her with enough imagination to invent even that much, so perhaps after all it was true. Nice looking girl, she said, and well spoken, and she was wearing trousers, with something white on top.’

  ‘I wouldn’t call that very imaginative,’ Elsa said. ‘It is a description which would fit thousands of young women.’

  ‘Millions,’ I agreed, feeling thankful that I had put on a blue shirt that morning.

  ‘Yes, but there was a little more to it than that. She said the girl hadn’t been carrying any bag or brief case, which was one reason why she automatically rejected the idea that she came from the Council, and also that she was wearing a big, flashy ring with a blue stone in it.’

  I had been afraid of that and, having already placed my hands under the table, I now gave the ring a half twist, so that it was palm side down.

  ‘Very mysterious, if it’s true, don’t you agree?’ Louise continued. ‘Just turning up like that out of the blue! No car, no bicycle . . . at least . . . that is . . .’

  For the first time the light of triumph and excitement seemed to fade from her eyes and she tailed off, looking embarrassed and uncomfortable.

  ‘That is, what?’ Elsa asked her.

  ‘Well, it so happens that there was a car parked not far off when she came out and, naturally, she took it that it belonged to this girl, but almost at once it moved off and by the time she got to the corner it was out of sight; so I don’t suppose
there was any connection really; just one more coincidence. And you can understand why the Inspector was looking dubious, by this time, although he didn’t manage to shake her on any part of her story.’

  ‘I should have expected him to look more than just dubious,’ Elsa said. ‘Personally, I never heard anything so improbable in my life. If this young woman really exists and really called at the house yesterday, on foot and dressed in that way, then she must belong round here, in which case surely Alice would have recognised her?’

  I must have been quite as eager as she was to hear the answer to this one, but it did not provide much cheer.

  Louise said, ‘And that’s another curious thing. Naturally, the question was put to her in various forms and each time Alice said that she had definitely not recognised her, and yet at the same time, she had the feeling that she’d seen her somewhere before. The last thing the Inspector said before I left them to it was that he’d like her to keep thinking about it, and if she ever got the slightest inkling of where she might have seen this girl, either in the flesh or in a photograph, she was to let him know immediately.’

  Realising that it would be foolhardy to rely on Alice’s elusive memory remaining elusive for ever, and that therefore my arrest on charges of conspiracy to murder might be imminent, I toyed for a while with the idea of driving down to the police station to give myself up. It would have been the dignified way of handling it and the one to cause the least embarrassment to my hostess, but the snag was that I considered it unlikely that the Inspector would believe my story for a single minute, and I did not think that I should blame him. What it boiled down to was that I had met Mrs Trelawney on one previous occasion, in the rather too distant past, among a large crowd of people and on a different continent. As a result of which I had felt impelled to seek her out in her new surroundings and without invitation, or the slightest encouragement, practically to force my way into her house.