Mother shot The Look.
‘The answer is right in front of you.’ Bridget was enjoying this far too much.
‘Where? Is it close?’
‘For God’s sake!’ Mother was becoming increasingly infuriated.
‘The ghostly killer! It’s here. I knew it! Does anyone know how to perform an exorcism? I’d be happy to give it a go.’
We all looked at Aunt Charlotte, stunned but not surprised. Even Bridget and Mr Bojingles were momentarily silenced.
‘Look into the room. Look very carefully.’
We did as Bridget said. Nothing was leaping out. Thank goodness.
‘Shall we help them out, Mr B—’
‘Did you know, Bridget, that out here it’s still technically legal to kill someone if it’s part of a traditional religious ceremony?’ I said, stony-faced.
‘Really?’
‘No, not really. But I’m sorely tempted.’
Bridget blew out a long, disgruntled breath and shook her head. ‘You think you’re so smart, you Smart Women, don’t you? Yet, you’ve got no clue, have you? You’re just scrabbling about, trying desperately to understand how you always end up in a mess.’
Mother started walking towards the top of the stairs. ‘I don’t need to hear this.’
‘Well, if you don’t want to know what killed him . . .’
Spear stepped towards Bridget. ‘Speak.’
She and the dog looked up. The smile had gone from both their faces. ‘It was the beads, wasn’t it, Mr Spear?’
We all slowly looked back towards Angel’s room. The tiny clusters of the little red seed-like jewellery were scattered all over the floorboards.
An image of his bangle-clad arm drifted in my thoughts. A paint palette of mismatched colours and chains. This one consisted of hundreds of tiny red beads strung together on what looked like quite flimsy string. I remembered the woman, Nell, on the ship falling into the seat next to Angel and smiling up at him. He had been showing her the bracelet.
The sea-green eyes floated there for a moment in my memories. She was looking back at me, before the hand began to push her under again. I looked down at Spear’s thick hands.
‘Nell spoke to Angel about it, didn’t she, Spear? On the boat?’
He looked at me and then quickly away. His face pulled into a frown. ‘How would I know?’
‘Come, come, Mr Spear.’ Bridget leaned towards him. ‘It’s no time to be coy. I heard her talking to Angel on the boat all about the poisonous jewellery he was wearing and I think you did too. Like Ursula, I thought she was talking about the mercury but I’ve been going over and over it and looking here at this room. She wasn’t talking about that at all, was she? It was these beads. The bracelet.’
Spear stepped forward and bent towards the floor. He looked closely. I saw the realization travel across his face, that or he was a very good actor. He stood up and began quietly. ‘Yes, I do recognize them,’ he said. ‘She got a load of these when she was down in Cornwall at some festival down near the Eden Project. She did a little talk there on foraging and edible plants. She knew a lot about that kind of thing.’
I noted again his use of the past tense for his wife.
‘She was clever, knew exactly what you could eat and what would kill you, just by looking at it. She picked up a load of the bracelets then. She liked to do that, gather little tokens of where she’d been. She’d give them as gifts, especially if they had some sort of meaning. These ones were some sort of spiritual peace and love token, you know. She used to hand them out to people she wanted to “spread the love to”, at least that’s what she used to say.’
‘That’s right. I heard them talking about that on the boat.’ Bridget nodded in confirmation.
I bent down to pick them up, but Spear grabbed my arm.
‘No! Don’t touch them!’
I looked up at him.
‘They’re lethal. They were recalled. She had to send them back and she wasn’t too pleased that she had to go round all her hippy friends and tell them all. You know, it didn’t look great when she prided herself on her knowledge of nature and foraging to have to say, “Hey, you know that bracelet I gave you, well it’s highly toxic so maybe give it back.” It’s a bad look.’
‘Well, is that what she was saying to Angel on the boat, Bridget?’ Mother said.
‘I didn’t really hear her say that. I couldn’t hear all of it for the waves and the noise of the boat. They were sitting opposite me and it wasn’t that close. I saw them going through all the friendship bracelets and jewellery, but they were talking about that one for a while. I’m sure of it.’
‘Oh, I remember,’ Aunt Charlotte cut in. ‘I was thinking how incredibly ugly it was.’
‘But you usually like nasty plastic jewellery, Charlotte.’ It was Mirabelle. She’d walked up the stairs, keen not to miss out as usual.
Charlotte closed her eyes and turned her head away.
‘Mirabelle,’ Mother’s face lit up. ‘Where have you been?’
‘Downstairs with Miserable Jess and Brendan the Brave. It’s been fabulous.’
Mother snorted and Mirabelle pushed past me to nestle herself in next to her.
‘We think we’ve found what it was that killed Angel. Spear’s wife gave out poisonous bracelets.’
‘Woah!’ Spear looked around us. ‘She didn’t know they were when she gave them out. She bought them in good faith. The Eden Project had to recall them. They were some sort of seed. She called them . . . Oh Christ, what did she call them?’ He still had hold of my arm and I could feel his grip growing tighter. It did seem genuine that this was only now occurring to him but part of me still doubted him. A man had died and these beads were on the floor. I didn’t say anything. Spear looked guilty enough already without my help.
His face suddenly became animated. ‘It’s a rosary pea. She got an email about it, thanking her for the talk and apologizing about the recall of the bracelets. It’s got abrin in it. They said they were recalling all of them and they’d got a record of her organizing to have a significant quantity delivered to her after she came to do the talk. She was furious, said she’d look like a fool, especially given what the talk was about. Turned out, the seeds can kill you. They said it’s like ricin, you know, from the castor bean. It’s in the seed and it’s just as lethal. They’re usually indigestible and it should have all been OK but because their casings were pierced to thread them onto the bracelet, it released the seeds. There was a possibility that the seeds could come out. You wouldn’t need to chew it if it’s threaded on the bracelet because the casing has already been pierced.
‘They couldn’t take that risk. They said it would only take a few seeds to kill someone. She’d traced all of them that she gave out, or she thought she had, until she saw Angel. She hadn’t seen him since the Isle of Wight. He got in touch recently about the botánica he was running, he wanted advice for more foraged items, and she suggested he come out with us on this trip. At least, that’s what she told me. Nell saw the bracelet and was trying to explain about it to him but then the boat got into trouble.’
I stared at the broken bracelet on the floor. They looked like such innocuous little beans, their shiny red coatings threaded together.
‘Well, I for one prefer plain old-fashioned diamonds,’ Mother sniffed. ‘I don’t understand all this poisonous jewellery nonsense. Mercury round his neck, ap . . . ab . . .’
‘Abrin, it’s from the . . . rosary pea.’
‘I don’t care if it’s from Bird’s Eye frozen peas, why didn’t you say something before now?’
He sighed. ‘About a bracelet my wife gave away years ago?’
‘Well, how long ago was this?’
‘God, I don’t know. Wait, we went down there the year before the Olympics. I remember them talking about it. So, that would have been . . .’
‘2011.’ Bridget stroked her dog firmly as if confirming it.
‘Yeah, that’d be about right. They said it was fr
om the jequirity bean plant, but it’s also known as the rosary pea. She liked that, rosary, you know — gave it an extra religious, spiritual flavour.’
‘Or poisonous flavour.’ Mother raised her eyebrows.
‘Wait a minute, so Nell knew Angel for that long?’ Aunt Charlotte said.
He shrugged. ‘She knew a lot of people. They flitted in and out of the same circles. She often asked them along on trips. I didn’t exactly like all of them, but she said it was good for business. She’d not seen Angel in years.’ His voice started to break but whether it was with the upset of her being lost or the kind of people she got too close to, it was hard to tell.
‘But you knew all this, about the pea thing.’ Mother analyzed him.
‘The boat was going down! My wife’s just been lost in the sea and people are dying. Surely you’re not expecting I’d remember one bracelet she handed out a decade ago! She handed out a lot of shit. Let’s just say it slipped my mind.’
‘Slipped your mind?’ Bridget raised her eyebrows. ‘That’s not really very convincing now is it, Mr Spear? You’re the only one on this island who knew that he was wearing a deadly bracelet — a bracelet your wife gave him as a gift, the man she’d clearly had a relationship with, the man you tried to beat to a pulp.’
‘Wait a minute! I wasn’t the only one who knew. You heard too.’ He pointed at Bridget.
‘Oh, only enough to tweak my interest and get me thinking. You would have been able to hear everything though, Mr Spear, from where you stood and so would Bottlenose.’ Bridget smiled. ‘Is that why you killed him?’
‘That’s right,’ Mother nodded. ‘He heard and now he’s dead.’
I was trying not to look at Spear. The threads of my thoughts were so tangled. Bottlenose? Could Spear have killed him? Or did someone else realize the drunk captain must have heard the conversation about the bracelet and had to silence him? Everything was swimming in confusion. Spear was starting to be cast in a very bad light. There was no escaping that.
‘How many people knew about this bracelet?’ I asked. ‘Nell, obviously, Angel, Spear and Bottlenose, right?’
‘Yes.’ He finally let go of my arm. The anger was fading and his voice was very quiet. ‘I suppose that makes me the biggest suspect again.’
‘Well . . .’
‘Especially since your knife is sticking out of that captain’s back right now.’ Mother folded her arms defiantly.
‘I didn’t have my knife. Jess did! And why would I tell you about it all?’ Spear said, gathering his defence again. ‘Why would I tell you all about the bracelet now I’ve realized?’
‘True.’
‘Mr Spear,’ Bridget said with slow consideration. She was beginning to sound like the prosecutor in a witch trial. ‘The conversation about the bracelet that took place on the boat, was that before or after you got angry and started throwing bags over the side?’
‘What?’
‘Is that what made you angry, Nell talking so closely to him about these love tokens?’
‘What? No. Well, yes.’ He screwed up his face as if he was in pain. ‘Of course I didn’t kill him over that. If I killed everyone my wife got friendly with, I’d be a serial killer.’
We all paused on those words.
‘Well, she knew that’s what they were talking about.’ He pointed at Bridget. ‘It wasn’t a big secret.’
Bridget put Mr Bojingles down for a moment and the dog instantly headed towards Spear and started barking as if he’d sniffed out the murderer.
I looked at Spear. Was that the stone-cold face of a killer? Were they the hands that had pushed those green eyes under? Had he run back here to kill Bottlenose because he knew too much about the bracelet?
‘I didn’t kill him.’ His words had a quiet resignation to them, as if he thought we’d never believe him.
‘We should leave everything as it is,’ Mother said solemnly.
I nodded. ‘Everything.’
We walked in a slow procession down the stairs. No one spoke.
CHAPTER 26: TRUTH OR DIE
We sat in the sparse sitting room, a sickly light pooled in the centre of the room. Mother and Mirabelle had checked all the kitchen cupboards and found as many candles as possible. Aunt Charlotte had lit them in the centre of the room. A séance-like feel had descended on us and a distinct air of distrust was forming. We sat on the floor and listened to the broken voice of the wind at the windows. I felt that same cold hand stroke down my back, the sickness rising up in my belly. Our eyes were wide, watchful.
‘So, what do we know?’ Bridget began. ‘Because I have the strong feeling some people may know more than others and I think if some of us don’t start telling the truth, there may be more deaths.’
Mother looked decidedly disturbed. She doesn’t like other people knowing more than her.
Jess was there, in the corner. I don’t know how much she’d heard of our conversation. She’d definitely been in the hallway for some of it. She spoke without looking at us. ‘All I know is my fiancé is dead and I’m trapped here with a bunch of lunatics.’
‘That’s not helpful,’ Spear said.
‘Oh really.’ She laughed dismissively. ‘Well, leading us into this hell by your utter lack of management and disorganization wasn’t that helpful. Whether you’ve murdered anyone or not, I’ve a good mind to sue you when we get off here. You should be done for manslaughter at least. You didn’t even know who was meant to be on the trip!’
‘That is true, mate,’ Kemp added. ‘You did steal my guests.’
‘I don’t want your bloody guests.’ Spear was sounding increasingly agitated.
‘Oh,’ Jess continued, ‘and let’s not forget you threw our rucksacks over the side, our only source of food.’
‘You threw their rucksacks overboard?’ Kemp shifted uncomfortably.
All eyes were on Spear.
Spear looked at Jess and took a long breath. ‘I haven’t killed anyone.’
A sharp draught meandered its way through the cluster of candles on the floor, tugging at the flames.
We all looked at Spear. He was still. His eyes were set on one point. The amber lights flickered on the surface of his eyes. One tear fell but he made no effort to wipe it away. It landed on the grey wooden floor, leaving a small dark circle just in front of his legs.
‘I think she’s gone.’ His voice barely touched the air. ‘I can feel it. I can feel the hole where she should be. I know she isn’t there anymore.’ His head fell and the light played on the tiny threads of grey in his hair. He held his hands to his face and let out a great long note, flat and pained. ‘She’s gone.’
As much as I wanted to feel sorrow for him, something about this sounded too cynical. Just at the moment when he was cornered, the grief had come pouring out. I clearly wasn’t the only one who felt this way.
‘Mr Spear,’ Aunt Charlotte began carefully, ‘how much do you know about your wife’s death?’
There was silence. The wind milled round the house. I could hear the deep, quiet breathing of Mr Bojingles mirroring the distant drone of those waves.
Spear looked at me. ‘You saw it. What did you see? You must have seen who killed my wife.’
I shook my head and I saw that anger flash across his face again.
‘You didn’t tell me!’ This time he spat the words out and moved towards me.
Aunt Charlotte and Mother came in from both sides around me in a pincer movement.
‘I’m afraid you’ll have to go through us first, Mr Spear,’ Aunt Charlotte’s face glowed fierce in the candle flame.
No one moved until finally Spear fell back onto his knees. ‘I wouldn’t hurt her. I wouldn’t hurt anyone. Nell was all I’d got. She was my everything.’ He let out a low, guttural sound and sobbed in great pitiful waves. ‘Christ, she was all I’d got.’
‘Oh please, Spear.’ Jess’s face was tight with anger. ‘I think we’d all worked out how much she liked to play away. Angel even referred to it.
They made it clear what they’d been up to. That’s why they’d got back in touch and that’s why you lost it. You even said it yourself, that you loved her “no matter what she did”. You knew what she did. She slept around. For Christ’s sake, man, she was wearing his bloody love charm. He was wearing hers. And you killed him with it.’
Bridget turned to Jess. ‘So were you,’ she said bluntly.
Spear and Jess glared intently at each other as if they might make the other disappear.
Mother, Aunt Charlotte and Mirabelle leaned closer over the candlelight. Their faces were keen and sharp, a little bit like on the opening day of the John Lewis sale.
‘Well, whatever their marital state of affairs was, Nell is dead and so are Angel and Bottlenose.’ Aunt Charlotte sat back and folded her arms. We took a moment to process the statement. ‘Which does then seem to leave you, doesn’t it, Mr Spear?’
Spear sighed and closed his eyes. ‘I . . . did . . . not . . . kill anyone.’ It was becoming something of a mantra for him. ‘Why would I drag them all out here to kill them? How could I know the boat would capsize and we’d be marooned here?’
Jess spoke viciously. ‘Who said it was planned? It didn’t need to be. Your wife was sleeping with Angel, you saw your chance. Bottlenose got wise so he got killed. If Bottlenose knew about the beads, if he overheard, then he would be aware that you knew about the beads too, Spear. You were standing right with him on the boat.’
Mirabelle held up her hands. ‘I think we should just take this a little bit slower.’
‘Well, I didn’t hit myself over the head.’ Spear put his hand to the wound.
‘That is right,’ I murmured. ‘I’ve been thinking a lot about that.’
Eyes shifted to me.
‘Remember the room?’ I continued. ‘Birds everywhere. Spear lying on the hearth. Blood seeping down his face from the cut at the top. He didn’t hit his head on the hearth and make it bleed. Something or someone else hit him first, then he fell.’
‘Well, it couldn’t have been me,’ Mother said quickly, ‘or Mirabelle or Charlotte because we were all together and came up the stairs to find Spear on the floor in the bird room.’
BODY ON THE ISLAND a gripping murder mystery packed with twists (Smart Woman's Mystery Book 2) Page 22