Murder at the Old Abbey

by Pippa McCathie

  “Well, there’s damp down there, the stairs are very slippery, and the brickwork is very old: crumbling, unstable.”

  “Nonna, why haven’t you told me about this?” Rodric said.

  “I didn’t want to worry you. Last time I went down there, oh it must be months ago, a brick fell – it’s not safe.” She was gabbling now.

  “Be that as it may,” Matt insisted, “we need to search them. We’ll be careful.” Matt gave Dave and Chloe a nod, they’d know what to do if things kicked off. “I’ll leave my two constables with you, ladies, and perhaps you, sir, would show my sergeant and I how to get to these cellars?”

  “No!” Nonna screamed. The contrast to her usual calm and measured tone was stark. “You mustn’t go down there, I tell you. It’s dangerous!”

  “Nonna! What is the matter with you?” Megan exclaimed, alarmed.

  “We’ll take great care,” Matt repeated firmly. “Please, Mr Mansell.”

  Leaving a cacophony of voices behind them – Nonna shouting, Dave and Chloe attempting to calm her, and Megan joining in – they followed Rodric Mansell to the kitchen corridor. Here he stopped in front of the panelling Fabia had described. Matt watched him closely as he put up a hand to a narrow, embossed strip, twisted it sideways, and pushed against the central panel. A section swung open revealing a dark doorway with stone steps descending into the gloom. Rodric put a hand to the side and flicked a switch. A dim light came on at the bottom of the steps. At the end of a short passageway was a door. Matt and Dilys made their way carefully down the stairs, followed by Rodric Mansell.

  When they got to the heavy wooden door Dilys asked, “Is this locked, sir?”

  “No,” he said. “You just turn the handle and push. We were always told not to go in there because it’s very difficult to open from the other side.”

  Matt gave Dilys a sharp look, then put out his hand and turned the handle. It struck him that it moved too smoothly, he thought the handle and the hinges must have been oiled recently. As the door swung open, they heard a scrabbling noise inside and a hoarse voice said, “Merci bon dieu, merci bon dieu!”

  On the floor in front of them a woman was huddled, blinking in the light. Her nails were broken and bleeding and her forehead and cheek were grazed and bruised.

  “Anjali!” Rodric gasped.

  Dilys rushed forward to crouch down beside her and put a comforting arm round her shoulders. Matt came to her other side.

  “Are you able to stand?” he asked.

  “I– I think so,” she croaked.

  Between them they helped her up. “She pushed me in.”

  “Who?” asked Matt.

  “Nonna.” She shuddered as they supported her out of the room. “Nonna did, she pushed me.”

  Rodric stood on the sidelines looking stricken.

  “I shouted for help, and I tried to get the door open, I tried and tried.” Anjali subsided against Dilys and began to sob.

  Chapter 24

  Fabia felt as if she’d been on the phone for hours.

  First it had been Matt. “You were right,” he said, “I just don’t know how you do it. Mrs Giordano shut Anjali in the cellar. The poor girl was in a dreadful state when we found her.”

  “How awful. Where is she now?”

  “She’s been taken to hospital, the Royal Gwent. The ambulance has just left, and I’ve texted Hari Patel, asked him to make a point of seeing her if he can. She’ll probably be kept in overnight.”

  “So, you’ve arrested Nonna?”

  “Oh yes, initially for false imprisonment.”

  “What was her reaction?”

  “Hardly anything. She just stared straight ahead when I cautioned her and didn’t resist when she was taken out to the car,” Matt said.

  “What on earth did she expect to achieve?”

  “God knows. Hopefully we’ll find out soon.”

  “And what about Caradoc and Mike?”

  Fabia could hear voices in the background. “Sorry, Fabia, I’ve got to go. I’ll get back to you later.”

  Next it had been John to tell her he’d heard from Matt. “Anjali asked him to phone me. I’m going straight to the hospital. I want to know what’s happening.”

  “Ask for Dr Hari Patel,” Fabia suggested. “Matt’s asked him to look after her, he’s a friend.”

  “I’ll do that.”

  “I’ll come now.”

  “Fabia.” His tone was slightly apologetic. “Can you leave it to me for the moment? Do you mind?”

  “No-o,” Fabia said, a little unsure what he meant.

  “Anjali probably won’t be allowed that many visitors, at least, not until they’ve checked her over.”

  “But she’ll need some toiletries and stuff if they keep her in.”

  “I’ll get them, don’t worry.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Fabia, I care about her, let me do it.”

  “Of course, John, you go ahead.”

  “Thank you. I’ll get back to you later.”

  Fabia smiled as she ended the call. This was a pleasant development.

  Then Bella had phoned. “What’s going on, Fabia? I saw a police car go past and I could have sworn Nonna was in the back.”

  “You probably did, she’s been arrested.”

  “Good God! You were right then.”

  “I don’t know. At the moment it’s for what’s called false imprisonment.” Fabia told her what had happened to Anjali.

  “I’ll send Garan up to the Abbey,” said Bella. “They’ll need support.”

  Fabia knew her friend too well. She guessed that this was also a way for Bella to make sure she was kept in the loop, but Fabia understood entirely.

  And then Megan had phoned, in floods of tears, and poured out the events of the afternoon. When she could get a word in, Fabia asked, “Is David with you?”

  “Oh yes,” Megan said, “I don’t know what I’d do without him.”

  “You make sure he stays, Megan.”

  There was a little silence then Megan said, her voice stronger now, “You know something, I’m going to do that.”

  Fabia guessed that David staying at the Abbey had not been allowed by Nonna. She was delighted that Megan sounded so determined. But Megan was soon back to saying how awful it all was and wanting Fabia to explain Nonna’s behaviour, which she couldn’t. “You’ll just have to be patient. I should think the police will be questioning her for quite a while. Try not to dwell on it too much.” As she said it, she knew it was a pointless suggestion.

  She’d been rescued from this call when her landline rang. It was Cath, who was unaware of all these dramatic events and had to be brought up to date as well; then she went on to what she considered most important in Fabia’s life. “And how are things with Matt?”

  “Cath! He hasn’t exactly had time to pay me any attention, what with all this going on,” Fabia protested.

  “I suppose, but don’t lose sight of your goal.”

  “My goal! Yours and Bella’s more like. I gather you two have been discussing my supposed love life.”

  Cath laughed, then told Fabia she’d have to go on with this conversation another time as there was someone at the door.

  An hour later John had phoned back. “I was able to see Anjali. Christ, Fabia, if I could just get my hands on that Giordano woman!” Fabia had never heard him sound so angry. “The poor girl thought she was going to die in there. Her hands are all bandaged up because she tore them to shreds trying to get the door open, and she’s got grazes and bruising from when she fell. Nonna pushed her from behind and she must have knocked her head as she went down. They’re keeping her in overnight and they’ve sedated her so she can get some sleep. Matt’s doctor friend says physically she’ll be fine in a few days, mentally it might take a little longer.”

  “I know what that feels like,” Fabia said.

  “I remember, bless you,” he said, then went on, his voice decisive. “But I’m going to look after he
r.”

  Fabia smiled. “You do that, John, and I’ll help too.”

  “Before I left, she told me she wanted to come back to your house when they let her out. Would that be okay?”

  “Of course.”

  “She was rambling a little, the sedative I think, but she did say something about going to meet Branwyn Pierce in Swansea. I think that’d be a good idea.”

  “So do I.”

  “And she’s given me her mother’s mobile number, asked me to contact her. What do you think I should say, Fabia?”

  “Would you like me to phone her?”

  “Oh please, I think it’d probably come better from you, as a woman.”

  “Fine,” Fabia said, smiling a little. Now he was back to the quiet, reticent man she was used to. “I’ll just tell them the bare bones, say she’s had a bit of an accident and she’ll speak to them tomorrow. I suppose she’ll be able to by then?”

  “I think so.”

  Fabia had managed to get through to Anjali’s mother quite easily and found herself going into more detail than she’d intended. Sabita Kishtoo had been politely determined to be told all the details.

  “Anjali has told me about this woman,” she said. “She has told me also about Rodric and Megan, I suppose they are my half brother and sister. I would like to meet them.”

  “Megan has been very kind to Anjali,” Fabia assured her.

  “Good. And so have you, I hear. I thank you so much for this.”

  “It’s been a pleasure,” Fabia told her. “I’m only sorry she’s been put through this awful business.”

  “But she will be fine now,” Sabita said firmly. “And this John, she has talked about him a lot; I think she likes him, yes?”

  Fabia didn’t quite know what to say in response. “I believe so,” she said, smiling.

  “I will check on him when I come.”

  Fabia wondered if John was prepared for being scrutinized by Anjali’s mother. Ah well, that was up to him and Anjali.

  Sabita told Fabia she would book a flight to the UK immediately, thanked her again for looking after her daughter, and asked Fabia to text her details of hotels in Newport. Fabia came to the conclusion Anjali’s mother was a force to be reckoned with. It sounded as if Sabita took after her father, Caradoc.

  For the last half hour, the phone had been quiet. Fabia glanced at her watch. It was half past six. She was sure that Matt would be continuing with questioning Nonna for ages yet. What would she say? How would she explain what she’d done? Fabia was desperate to hear from him, but she knew she’d have to wait as patiently as she could.

  * * *

  Fabia was dozing in front of the television when the doorbell finally rang. She jumped up and rushed to the front door, pulled it open and there was Matt in his familiar stance, leaning against the side of the porch with his hands thrust deep in his pockets.

  “What time do you call this?” she said, but she was smiling.

  “Half past ten, I think,” he said. “Can I come in?”

  “Of course,” she said, opening the door wide. “I’ve been waiting to hear what’s happened.”

  “And you were sure I’d come around?”

  Fabia gave him a straight look. “No. I just hoped.”

  He put out his hands, cupped her face and kissed her deeply. At first, she responded, but soon she pushed him away.

  “Matt, wait.” She leant back. “Please. I want to know what’s been happening.”

  “And that’s more important than this.” He traced a finger round her mouth.

  Fabia shivered then sighed and he gave in. “Come,” he said, taking her hand and pulling her along to the kitchen. “I’m ravenous and I need a drink. Then I’ll bring you up to date on the whole bloody business.”

  She poured him a glass of wine and got cheese, cold meat and a tub of potato salad out of the fridge. “This is quicker than making you something hot, do you mind?”

  “That’s perfect,” he said, taking a sip of his wine.

  Fabia added bread and pickles to the feast and sat down opposite him. “Now, tell me.”

  He got busy filling his plate to overflowing, then began to speak. “At first she clammed up completely, wouldn’t say a word. She refused the duty solicitor, and we obviously couldn’t contact John Meredith because he’d be conflicted.”

  “He’s dancing attendance on Anjali.”

  “Is he now?” Matt said, and grinned. “Anyway, that meant we had to do without. Made it a bit easier, actually.”

  Fabia nodded. She understood this all too well.

  “She just sat there staring at some point above Dilys’s head, fiddling with her rosary and that crucifix she wears, and muttering to herself.”

  “A rosary? Oh yes, of course, she’s Roman Catholic, isn’t she?”

  “So it seems,” Matt said, through a mouthful of ham and potato salad. “This went on for about half an hour, so I decided to change tactics and started asking her about the family. When did her sister die? When did she come to live at the Abbey? I also asked about her relationship with the rest of them, things like that. I just rambled on a bit.”

  “I used to use that technique.”

  “I probably learnt it from you.”

  “Did it work?”

  “Well, she did start to look at me rather than at the wall, and she stopped muttering.”

  For a while Matt concentrated on his meal, but Fabia was getting impatient. “Did you manage to get her to open up?”

  “Hold on, I’m coming to that.”

  “Sorry.”

  Matt pushed his plate away. “Thank you. Much better.” He picked up his glass and drained it. Fabia refilled it.

  “What next? Oh yes. When I mentioned Anjali and how delighted her grandfather must have been to discover her, she glared at me and spat out, ‘That black heathen!’”

  “Good lord!”

  “I know. I’m not sure what she feels is worse, the black bit or the heathen bit. She insisted she had to protect the family from Anjali’s influence. What was it exactly? She had to protect the integrity of the family. She kept using that word, integrity. I think Dilys was getting a tad frustrated as she snapped out, ‘Does that entail knocking her over, locking her in the cellar and leaving her there?’ Well, that opened the floodgates.”

  “Well done Dilys.”

  “She ranted on and on about Anjali not being a fit person to be part of the Mansell family. She kept talking about the purity of the family’s ancestry, which, since she’s not blood related, I find pretty weird. It’s an obsession with her. She called Anjali and her mother and grandmother every racist name in the book, went on and on about the evils of Islam, in spite of the fact Anjali’s family is Hindu.”

  “Did you point that out?”

  “I tried, but she wasn’t having any of it. Said it was all the same, they were all unchristian devils. She said Caradoc had brought disgrace on his ancient name having a relationship with ‘that black woman’, and she insisted Anjali had stolen Megan and Rodric’s birthright. She also said something about ‘that gypsy and her bastard’, I probed a bit and realised she was talking about Bella Price and Garan. She said Caradoc had betrayed them all and he had to pay for his sins. I managed to interrupt at this point and ask her direct if she’d poisoned him and she said, ‘But don’t you understand, I had no choice, I had to protect my children.’ My children mark you. It was really coming home to me that we were dealing with serious mental illness here, and a completely warped view of the world. I think she’d stepped over some kind of line between sanity and– I don’t know, some kind of mania, but I’m no expert.”

  “At the very least she has to be mentally unstable, surely,” Fabia insisted.

  “Well, let’s just say the psychiatric reports on this one are going to be fascinating reading.”

  “I’ll say. Did you ask her about using Caradoc’s computer?”

  “Yes, and that was quite disturbing too. She suddenly went all coy an
d asked me if I knew what a silver surfer was?”

  “What on earth?”

  “I know. She was very proud of herself, said she’d done a computer course in secret and now she knew all about them; not that she’d have had to be that savvy, given the old man’s casual attitude to online security. She told us she’d read every e-mail sent between ‘that heathen’ and Caradoc, and the e-mails about the will between him and John Meredith. Then she said, ‘But I didn’t know he’d changed the date for signing it, he really shouldn’t have done that without telling me’. She sounded seriously angry about that.”

  “What date?”

  “Originally Caradoc was going to go into John Meredith’s office and sign the new will on the 29th, but he changed his mind and went in on his way back from London on the 23rd. She didn’t know he’d done so and that it was too late to stop the changes going through, so killing him was pointless in the end.”

  “What a waste,” Fabia said, shaking her head.

  “I know.” Matt sipped at his wine and frowned. “We obviously had to press her on how she killed him.”

  “Did she actually come right out and say she was responsible?” Fabia asked.

  “In the end, yes, and how she did it. Apparently, she always made him a hot toddy last thing at night. This time she put a load of crushed up sleeping tablets into it.”

  “Ah. Same as with Mike.”

  “Yes. Then, when Caradoc was unconscious, she injected him with the tranquiliser, which she’d found in the stables. She said it was hidden behind a skirting board.”

  “Who by? How did she know to look there?”

  “Apparently, she knew that was a place that Delma had hidden things she’d taken from the Abbey, small stuff. She’d seen her do it, so she checked. She told us she was only looking for what belonged to them, the sainted family again I suppose, and she found this phial of stuff. I think that was probably the point when she decided to use that way of killing the old man. I asked her how she knew what it was, and she told me that she knew a drug when she saw one, then she looked it up online just to be sure. We think she used the computer in the stables to do that, another way of pointing in Delma’s direction.”