A Plot To Die For
Page 23
“So, Poirot, how do you feel this morning?” said Maya. “Pretty smug?”
Roxy laughed. “Relieved, to be honest. I’m surprised you’re even talking to me, after what I did to Wade.”
Maya slapped her lightly on one arm. “Oh, don’t be so silly! Wade’ll con his way out of it before you know it! It’s Joshua who’s in real trouble.”
She narrowed her beautiful blue eyes. “How on earth did you work it all out? I would never have picked him for a cold-blooded killer. Not in my wildest dreams!”
“To be honest, Maya, I didn’t suspect him either, at least not for a while. But once I started to put the pieces together and get a clearer picture of his background, well, it just all clicked.”
“What do you mean, ‘his background’?” asked Luc.
She thanked Mary for her coffee, added two heaped spoonfuls of sugar, then took a tentative sip.
“I was confused right from the start about why Abi was so against Helen and Joshua being together. It didn’t make any sense. I knew Abi loved Joshua, like a son, so I couldn’t understand what she had against him as a potential son-in-law.”
“Yes, she did seem to have it in for him,” said Maya, contemplating this for a moment. “Oh, don’t tell me—Helen and Joshua aren’t related are they?! Not brother and sister, surely? How positively revolting!” She crinkled her perfect little nose up.
“Good question, Maya. I did wonder about that for a moment, too, and no they’re not related.” She shot Doc a quick glance. “But there was a connection between Joshua and Abi.”
She took another, bigger gulp of her latte.
“Joshua first came to Dormay as a baby after his mother, Theresa, fell pregnant out of wedlock. We don’t know to whom—apparently she refused to tell anyone, including her family—but what we do know for sure is that when she got pregnant she was working as a housegirl for a man named Jed Lilton.”
She paused for the penny to drop.
“Lilton? Was he related to Abi?” asked Maya.
“He was Abi’s first husband,” interjected Doc. “And a miserable bastard at that. A philanderer, a brute, an all-round bad guy.”
“That’s right,” said Roxy. “Not only did he slap Abi around a lot, but he used to sleep with all the local women, including his housegirls. That’s why Abi left him and moved to Dormay. So I suppose when she heard that one of his housegirls was knocked up—in every sense of the word I don’t doubt—she decided to do the right thing and brought her out to Dormay, too. That was Joshua’s mum.”
“Ah,” said Luc. “So Joshua’s father was Abi’s ex-husband?”
“Actually, point of error,” said Doc. “Abigail and Jed Lilton never actually divorced, God knows why! But yes, Abi believed that Joshua’s father was Jed. She never knew for sure but she had her suspicions, she told me as much. There were some physical similarities, you see, between Jed and Josh, and they were both bloody hard workers you had to give them that.”
“But Joshua is hardly a ‘philanderer’,” snorted Maya. “Barely looked twice at me.”
She seemed almost disappointed and Roxy frowned.
“Count yourself lucky, Maya,” she said, “because Joshua clearly had a violent streak which we all discovered far too late, and which I suspect Abi had sensed very early on. It was probably the reason she tried to keep the two apart. I can’t know for sure, but I suspect Abi was worried that Joshua would not make a good husband. If he didn’t end up being unfaithful, he might still have the violent gene. In any case she didn’t want to risk it, so she tried to keep them apart. I think that was probably part of the reason she decided to give the island back to the locals—to separate Helen from Joshua once and for all. She was trying to protect her daughter, and it cost her her life.”
“Poor, darling, Abi,” Maya said, shaking her head.
She dabbed a napkin to her glossy lips. “Okay then, enough of all the sadness. A little birdy tells me the book’s back on.”
Roxy laughed. “Bloody hell, news travels fast around here! Yes, so I’ll be back at Dormay before you know it. Will you still be around?”
“What and give Wade more excuses to loiter about? No thank you, I’m filing for divorce—and please try and look vaguely surprised! I know we were never suited, just thought it’d be a lark, that’s all. It’s been anything but! I’ll never pick a man twice my age again.”
“What will you do?”
“Oh I’m getting back to the real world, sweetie. I’ll head home to London for a bit, get back to my modelling, maybe even do a writing course!” She giggled. “I’ve already worked out art is most certainly not my forte.”
“Speaking of which, what are you going to do, Luc?”
He offered her one of his breathtaking smiles. “Ooh, I am leaving, too, mon ami. Marie-Simone wants me back in Paris, maybe I will try and come back one day to see Helen and the baby. I don’t know for sure if eet eeze mine but you never know. I guess we will find out soon enough.”
“Helen might be back in Australia by that time.”
“Oui, then, if she likes, I will go there. But non, I can not stay here now. It is time for me to depart.”
They all turned to stare at Doc.
“What about you, then?” said Maya. “You nicking off on the first available boat, too?”
He shook his head emphatically. “No, no, you can’t get rid of me that easily. I’m determined to stay and help Helen get through this big change. She’ll need someone beside her that she can trust, help her settle the place properly and move on. I owe that to Abi. And to Helen.”
He winked at Roxy and she knew that eventually he would find the right time to tell his daughter what she needed to know.
“I’m sure Helen would love that,” she said. “I guess she’ll close it off to paying guests until it’s sorted?”
“Hardly, my dear, she’s got a boatload of Yanks showing up next week. Maurice is going to have to learn fast.”
Maya giggled again. “Maurice! Running the place? Imagine it!”
They all sat back then and did just that. Already, Roxy could see the proud young islander welcoming wide-eyed foreigners to his land, showing them the places where his ancestors grew up, worked and played. She could imagine Popeye telling them real stories of the island’s history, Mary presenting local dishes in this very dining room, the same dishes that were once eaten at the tables of her forefathers. Oh indeed, Roxy could see a very beautiful, very bright future for Dormay and its people. And that, she decided, would be the perfect time to come back.
Chapter 21
As Abigail Lilton was laid to rest on the slopes of Abi’s Point overlooking the airstrip and all those who would come and go, Roxy watched silently from the sidelines, under a wide umbrella, tears streaming down her face. The sky, too, wept long, torrential sobs in Abi’s honour but the villagers remained defiant, their chins high, their eyes blazing with pride.
Abi’s body, which had been wrapped in one of her colourful sarongs and decorated with fronds and frangipani, was placed gently into the rich, red soil along with an assortment of her favourite shells. Eventually Helen said a few words, then Maurice and Popeye stood up and spoke in their native tongue. She didn’t understand a word of it, of course, but Roxy didn’t need a translator to know that they were speaking of love and admiration, of gratification and a determination to continue on.
She knew, then, that Abi had already seen Dormay’s future, had long ago believed in this island and its people. And she believed in Helen, and her ability to do something worthwhile with her life and the life of her baby. But it took her death for all of them to finally believe in themselves.
When Abi’s body was eventually covered with the earth, the last of the flowers strewn across the top, the downpour suddenly stopped and a blinding ray of sunshine splashed across the island. They all stopped and turned to look at it, shielding their eyes and smiling.
Abigail Lilton was at peace at last.
###
About the au
thor
Christina Larmer is an experienced journalist, magazine editor and author of the non-fiction book A Measure of Papua New Guinea: The Arman Larmer Surveys Story. She grew up in Papua New Guinea but now lives with her musician husband and two young sons in the Byron hinterland of Northern NSW, Australia. Christina is passionate about crime fiction and when she’s not writing fiction or freelance, she can be found immersed in a classic Agatha Christie.
Connect with Me Online
http://www.christinalarmer.com
http://christina-larmerspits.blogspot.com/