The Dinner Party

by R. J. Parker

  ‘Evie!’ Juliette bolted past him when she recognized who it was.

  Ted was close behind and knelt with her beside Evie. Their friend was barefoot and wearing only a magenta silk night robe, which had ridden up her waist. There was a dark patch of blood around the right side of her head and red marks on her throat.

  ‘Evie.’ Juliette put a shaking hand to her face. ‘She’s cold.’

  Ted gripped Evie’s icy bare shoulder. As he did a tiny wisp of breath escaped her lips. ‘Evie.’

  She didn’t stir.

  ‘Evie.’ He shook her.

  Juliette put a finger behind Evie’s ear. ‘I can’t feel a pulse. Wake up!’

  Ted tried mouth-to-mouth. Her lips were freezing. He’d forgotten his training but was sure chest compressions were more important. Interlinking his fingers he started pumping the lower half of her sternum.

  ‘Evie, stay with us!’ Juliette slapped her face.

  He kept going, tried breathing into her mouth again. She tasted of alcohol. ‘Evie!’

  He could hear Juliette on the phone yelling for an ambulance as he frantically shifted position and put his weight behind his wrists. Wasn’t there a danger of breaking ribs? He kept going.

  Her eyes half opened.

  ‘Evie?’ Ted shifted back so his shadow wasn’t obscuring her face.

  But there was nothing in her pupils.

  ‘Evie!’ Juliette held her hand tightly.

  No more vapour from her mouth.

  ‘She was just breathing.’ Juliette jerked her arm.

  But Ted assumed it had been trapped air. She was dead.

  Juliette continued to shake her and Ted, dazed, surveyed the shadowy hedges. Could whoever have done this be watching them? But they’d heard someone sprint down the driveway and, as he was nowhere inside the house, it was very likely to have been Jakob. What the hell had happened? ‘Juliette …’

  She was still clutching Evie’s wrist.

  Both his hands were trembling. ‘I don’t think we should touch her anymore.’

  ‘This is …’ Words failed her, and her eyes bulged with tears.

  ‘We should go to the front of the house. I’ll let the police know what’s happened.’

  Juliette looked at him as if he were insane. ‘I’m not leaving her.’

  ‘I understand …’ His breath caught in his chest. He was as shell-shocked as she was. He wanted to embrace her so that she didn’t have to look at Evie’s body. But her features were set. ‘But this is a crime scene now …’ Ted examined their footprints intermingled with the others.

  ‘We’re in it already. I’m not moving.’ Her attention shifted back to Evie and a tear dropped from one eye onto her lap. ‘Where the hell does he think he can run to?’

  Ted was thinking the same. Jakob had clearly gone mad. He knew alcohol changed his personality, but he’d never seen him get aggressive with Evie. They were such a stable couple. That’s what was so horrifying. And recently Evie’s cancer treatment had seemed to cement their relationship. He recalled how Jakob had told him how it made him re-evaluate everything afterwards. That nothing he stressed about before seemed significant in the face of losing his wife.

  Juliette shook her head. ‘If we could have got here sooner … Minutes sooner.’

  ‘We got here as quickly as we could.’ But Evie had still been alive forty minutes before. If they’d told the cab driver to put his foot down, would they have arrived in time?

  Juliette unstuck a red curl that was plastered to Evie’s face.

  ‘Juliette, you mustn’t.’ Only hours before Ted had kissed Evie’s cheek.

  Juliette retracted her hand.

  The security light went out and Ted got to his feet to wave his arms at the house. The lawn was bathed once more. His legs quaked.

  Juliette pulled Evie’s robe down.

  ‘Juliette,’ he cautioned.

  She ignored him and tugged it over Evie’s exposed thighs.

  Ted knew there was no doubt what had done this. It was Evie’s game. That’s what had altered the entire evening. Jakob had seemed fine when they arrived.

  Was this how paper-thin the wall was between the happiness Evie and Jakob appeared to have and what had just happened? Ted had seen how the notion of unspoken secrets had instantly engendered hostility between their friends. Had one or both of them revealed what had been written on their piece of paper?

  Juliette closed her eyes. ‘Maybe I didn’t know them at all.’

  Ted briefly wondered what might have transpired if he and Juliette had revealed each other’s secrets while they’d been lying awake in bed.

  Juliette abruptly opened her eyes again.

  They could hear a vehicle rolling up the gravel at the front of the house.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  ‘I’ll stay with her.’ Juliette nodded for Ted to go.

  Ted opened his mouth and then closed it again. He briefly squeezed her shoulder, turned and shakily headed back down the lawn. The lights of the car illuminated the side of the house and he shielded his eyes as he approached the vehicle.

  A man got out of the passenger’s side. ‘Sir?’

  The light went out as the engine was switched off, but Ted could see it was a police car. ‘It’s OK, I … my wife called you.’

  Another man emerged from the driver’s side.

  ‘We’ve just found our friend. She’s been … she’s been killed.’ The words sounded absurd.

  The two officers exchanged a glance.

  ‘Where is she?’ The passenger asked uneasily.

  Ted wondered if either of them was equipped to deal with a situation like this. They probably thought they were being called out to a routine domestic. ‘She’s on the back lawn.’

  Momentarily, neither of the officers seemed to know what to do.

  ‘I’ll take you there.’ Ted started to turn.

  ‘Wait.’ The driver closed his door. ‘Who are you?’

  ‘Ted Middleton. My wife and I are friends of Evie and Jakob … Eriksson. Evie called us and said she and her husband were having an argument. We got a cab out here. When we arrived somebody ran from the house. We think it was Jakob.’

  ‘Her husband?’

  ‘Yes,’ Ted confirmed to the driver.

  ‘You’re not sure?’ He seemed suspicious.

  Even though it had only happened minutes ago, Ted struggled to get his thoughts in order. ‘Nobody answered, so we went in through the open back door. Someone ran down the stairs and then left via the drive. And Jakob’s not in the house.’

  ‘Let the station know,’ the driver said to his passenger. ‘I’ll take a look.’

  ‘Shouldn’t we just wait for a senior officer?’ The passenger’s voice quivered.

  Ted wondered how old they were. ‘My wife is with the body. I don’t want to leave her there any longer.’

  ‘Call the station. I’ll secure the scene.’ The driver tried to imbue his voice with confidence. ‘Lead the way.’

  Ted nodded and turned. They reached the lawn just as the light went out again. He waved his hands and the scene was floodlit. Glancing sideways he confirmed that the uniformed officer was barely in his twenties. His head was closely shaved, and his lean features were grimacing in readiness for what was to come. Ted led him to where Juliette was still crouching and heard him inhale sharply through his nose as they crunched across the grass.

  ‘I’m Constable Adams,’ he said to Juliette.

  Juliette exchanged a look with Ted.

  ‘There are other officers on the way,’ Adams reassured her and fell silent as he stared at Evie. ‘You’re sure she’s dead?’

  Juliette nodded and wiped an eye with her thumb.

  ‘If I can just ask you both to step out.’ Adams offered her his hand to get up.

  Juliette didn’t take it and stood. ‘What happens now?’

  ‘If you don’t mind waiting with my colleague in the meantime, I can handle things here.’ But he didn’t sound convinced
.

  ‘I’d rather not leave her.’

  Adams hesitated. ‘No, wait in the car and keep warm. Someone will take statements from you shortly.’

  Juliette looked down at Evie.

  ‘Come on.’ Ted put his hand gently under her left arm, but she didn’t budge.

  ‘She needs to be covered,’ she told the officer.

  He nodded. ‘That’ll be done. I do have to ask you to vacate the scene now though.’

  Juliette started to take off her jacket.

  ‘Juliette …’ Ted gripped her arm tighter.

  ‘Please, madam. You’ll be making the job for forensics even harder.’

  Juliette paused and then nodded.

  ‘Come on. Let him do his job.’ Ted tried to lead her gently away, but still she stood rooted to the spot.

  The three of them regarded Evie’s body for a few moments and then Juliette walked unsteadily back down the lawn.

  ‘She’ll be OK.’

  Ted didn’t answer the officer.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Both still anaesthetized by their experience, Ted and Juliette waited in the dark street in the back of the patrol car. It smelt of Olbas Oil. Ted took out his phone and tapped Jakob’s number. Would he have his with him? He dialled and waited. Perhaps it was ringing in the house.

  ‘Who are you calling? Zoe?’

  ‘No, Jakob.’

  ‘Hang up,’ Juliette said sharply. ‘The police have to deal with him now.’

  She was right. But he waited for another ring.

  ‘Ted!’

  He hung up. ‘I can’t get my head around this.’

  ‘You’ll have to tell the officer what you did.’

  He nodded distractedly as Juliette rang Zoe and told her they were talking to the police and would explain everything at home.

  They waited for twenty minutes, observing various vehicles drawing up, until an unmarked car parked directly behind them. Ted turned as a squat man in a heavy dark-woollen overcoat and black hunting hat with flaps covering his ears emerged and noisily trudged down the gravel drive to the rear of the house.

  Quarter of an hour later, he returned and approached the patrol car. He opened the back passenger door. ‘Mr and Mrs Middleton?’

  Ted got out and took in the man’s wide and pockmarked features. There was a wisp of a dark moustache clinging to the top of his lip that seemed to be covering a cleft palate scar.

  ‘I’m Detective Inspector Renton. Are you keeping warm enough in there?’ He clumped his hands together, which were clad in leather gloves.

  ‘We’re fine.’ Ted folded his arms against the cold.

  Juliette closed her door and joined them on the pavement. ‘Our son is with a neighbour, so we’d like to get back to him as soon as we can.’

  ‘Of course.’ Renton blew out a cloud of breath.

  Ted got a whiff of curry. ‘We’ve already given a statement to one officer.’

  Renton sniffed. ‘So you knew the deceased well?’

  They both nodded.

  ‘I’ll need you to be more specific. Old friends?’

  ‘Yes,’ Ted replied first.

  Renton shifted his dark eyes to Juliette. ‘Very close friends?’

  ‘I’ve known Evie since high school.’ Juliette shivered and pulled her collar closer to her neck.

  ‘Have they had physical fights like this before?’

  ‘No,’ she retorted categorically.

  ‘At least, not that we know of.’ Ted noticed Juliette glance at him.

  Renton darted his pupils between them and settled on Ted. ‘And her husband. You knew him well?’

  ‘Yes. They were at our house this evening. For dinner,’ Ted added.

  ‘And how were they acting towards each other then?’

  ‘A little drunk. That’s all,’ Juliette answered him.

  Renton didn’t shift his eyes from Ted. ‘You’d all been drinking?’

  ‘Red wine mostly.’ Even though he’d brushed his teeth Ted could still taste it.

  ‘But no big fallouts?’

  ‘No.’ Ted felt that was the truth.

  ‘What time did they leave?’

  ‘About one.’ Ted cleared his throat. Why did he feel so nervous?

  ‘And as far as you were concerned, there was no hostility between them?’

  ‘Until Evie called us,’ Juliette responded quickly.

  Ted had been about to tell the DI about the game they’d played.

  Renton fixed Juliette. ‘So who picked up the phone to her?’

  ‘I did.’ She rubbed the edges of her arms through her jacket. ‘She was screaming that Jakob had gone berserk.’

  ‘So you rushed over here in a cab?’

  ‘She was hysterical. We tried her again, didn’t we?’

  Ted nodded.

  Juliette continued. ‘But she didn’t pick up. When we got here we called her from the doorstep, Jakob as well. But there was still no answer.’

  ‘So you got in through the back. Without any trouble?’

  ‘We know the house. We’ve been here on lots of occasions.’ Juliette turned to Ted again. ‘Haven’t we?’

  But Ted was feeling uneasy. There had been an exchange between Juliette and Evie on the phone. And was she deliberately not mentioning Evie’s game?

  ‘Where have you come from?’ Renton shifted his gaze back to Ted.

  ‘Just on the edge of Basildon. The Russell estate.’ He was sure Renton had picked up on Juliette monopolizing their account.

  ‘You both saw her husband leaving the property?’

  Ted spoke before Juliette could. ‘We only assumed it was him. We’d come in from the back and heard a noise upstairs. By the time we reached the hallway he’d left through the front.’

  ‘He?’

  Ted pursed his lips. ‘Well, we couldn’t actually see them. Just heard them running over the gravel.’

  ‘So it might have been someone else?’

  ‘Yes,’ Juliette sighed. ‘But Jakob’s not here, so it’s likely—’

  ‘Let’s just stick with the facts. You didn’t see a man?’

  ‘No,’ Ted confirmed. ‘Just heard someone.’

  ‘Then you went upstairs?’

  Ted looked to the house. ‘Yes. Opened the doors and found the rooms empty. Then we spotted Evie on the lawn.’

  ‘And she was dead when you reached her?’

  ‘Yes,’ Juliette said, pointedly.

  Renton slapped his hands together again.

  Ted knew he had to confess. ‘I’m sorry, while we were waiting here I tried calling Jakob.’

  ‘That was … ill-advised,’ Renton exhaled.

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘His phone’s in the house though. He left without it. Apart from the obvious was there any other reason you needed to talk to him?’

  ‘No. I’m sorry.’ Ted felt foolish.

  ‘What time was that?’

  ‘About half an hour ago.’

  ‘You’ll have to leave your number.’

  ‘No problem.’

  ‘So, it was just the four of you tonight?’

  Ted didn’t wait for Juliette. ‘Eight of us.’

  ‘OK.’ Renton blinked thoughtfully. ‘I’d like you to give me the names and contact details of the others.’

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Juliette called them a taxi and the skies were still dark when it dropped them outside their front gate. Neither of them had said anything during the journey. Ted considered that Juliette might be in a deeper state of shock than she appeared. But he had to ask the question and after their cab pulled away he put a hand gently on her shoulder. She was just about to put her key in the front door.

  ‘Why didn’t you tell Renton about the game?’

  She turned to him, puffy fatigue in her eyes. ‘What would have been the point?’

  ‘He asked if there was any hostility between them here.’

  ‘But there wasn’t.’ She frowned.

  ‘Do
n’t say you didn’t notice how Jakob’s mood changed.’

  ‘He always gets that way after a few glasses of wine.’

  That was true.

  ‘And they seemed fine when they left. Just drunk.’ She slid her key in the lock.

  ‘I don’t know. Jakob was very quiet.’

  Juliette didn’t enter the house.

  ‘And you can’t deny that it caused an atmosphere between the two of us. Maybe it started an argument when they got home.’

  ‘I suppose.’ She turned again, blinking, as if it had only just occurred to her.

  It couldn’t have. She seemed eager to avoid telling Renton about the dinner party. ‘Are you worried the police will think we were all to blame for starting their argument?’

  ‘Just … don’t say that.’ Juliette bit back emotion.

  Ted didn’t want to upset her anymore than she was. ‘It was Evie’s idea. She wanted to play it. Not everyone wanted to.’

  She sniffed. ‘Including you.’

  ‘I could see where it was going.’

  Juliette regarded him with mortification. ‘To Jakob murdering Evie?’

  ‘Of course not. If that is what happened.’

  Juliette shook her head. ‘Evie’s dead. Jakob attacked her and ran off. Where the hell does he think he can hide?’

  ‘We didn’t see him.’

  ‘Are you really defending him?’

  ‘No. We just don’t know exactly what happened. What did she say to you?’

  ‘On the phone?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘That he’d gone berserk. She was distraught.’

  Ted was sure Juliette was still withholding something. ‘That was all?’

  Juliette’s gaze hardened. ‘I was half-awake.’

  ‘If you’re worried that you agreed to play that trust game …’

  She briefly closed her eyes. ‘I’m not. We all did. It was just that … a game.’

  ‘If Renton talks to the others they’re going to tell him about it.’

  ‘Then OK. If he talks to them …’

  ‘He’s bound to. I just think we should have been the first.’

  ‘I think he was more concerned about the alcohol that was consumed.’