Whisper the Dead

by Stella Cameron

  He put an arm around her. ‘Not unless I can count feeling that you and I have moved closer together. Have we?’

  ‘I think so.’ Was that so much to give him?

  ‘Then we got a lot, or I certainly did.’

  There was a tap at the door. Dan entered, clearly taking in the picture of closeness Tony and Alex must make. ‘I wanted you to see this,’ he said. ‘The London plastic surgery nurse had this done by a friend of hers. It’s her remembered image of what Beverly Irving looked like following all the plastic surgery. When it was healed.’ He gave Alex a sheet of heavy paper. ‘The artist is amazingly fast. She draws almost entirely from the witness’s spoken comments.’

  She and Tony looked at the sketch together. ‘How extraordinary,’ Alex said. ‘There’s no doubt this was done only by using Ms Sperry’s comments about the way this woman looked?’

  ‘No doubt,’ Dan said. ‘The artist is well known and trusted. She would have had no way of knowing anything other than what Joan Sperry told her.’

  ‘Audra Lady Mekins,’ Alex said quietly. ‘That’s who Beverly Irving is. It’s so strange.’

  ‘Only there isn’t a Sir Hillary Mekins, surgeon, or a Winston Mekins, son of Sir Hillary and Lady Mekins,’ Dan said. ‘Beverly fabricated the whole thing. She made sure she met and became friends with Esme because she wanted to stay close to Bob Hill and keep an eye on you and Lily.’

  ‘Why?’ Alex murmured.

  ‘Because she was afraid you and Lily would link up with Bob and the life she had invented for herself would blow up in her face. What she had no way of expecting was Esme’s convoluted life – what it would become. And the more she tried to keep the Hills away from you, the more you became entangled with them. I almost feel sorry for her. But not quite. She didn’t kill anyone, or do any real harm but accept Esme’s help and then kidnap Gladys for an hour or two to frighten her. Audra did carry on threatening Gladys and she frightened Lily, but, left to her own devices, I don’t think she would ever have hurt anyone. Her sin was wanting you as her own child so badly she lost all objectivity. Then anger and frustration took over. She couldn’t believe her very clever manipulations didn’t work.’

  ‘I’d like to talk to her,’ Alex said. ‘She tried to stop Esme in that pool.’

  ‘Could we talk to her?’ Tony asked. ‘If there’s any chance of saving her from her own behavior, someone has to reach out, don’t you think?’

  Dan put his hands on his thighs and pressed himself to stand. ‘You’re generous people. I fell in love with Folly and the whole area because of the people.’ Briefly, he rested his eyes on Alex and she felt his longing. Sometimes what wasn’t to be could be painful. ‘I’ll have someone come and let you know when you can see Audra. If she wants to see you.’ He started to leave but turned back. ‘You do realize it was Grant Hill who really alerted us?’

  Alex shook her head, no.

  ‘He did. We were already on our way to Knighton or we might not have made it. We’d had a contact from LeJuan who had tried to reach you, Alex. That wasn’t long after Tony phoned me. Hugh Rhys told LeJuan where you’d gone and he wouldn’t set it aside, had one of his famous intuitions. But then Grant phoned and said he thought his mother was going over the top and he was afraid of what would happen next. That clinched it. The ambulance was called just in case. Good thing because we needed it.’

  ‘Poor man,’ Alex said. ‘And poor Bob. They have terrible times ahead and Grant will have to deal with wondering if he should have blown the whistle on his mother – which he should. He did the right thing.’

  ‘A personal question for you,’ Tony said when they were alone again. ‘Would you consider living with me permanently? We know we don’t need two houses. We like one another. I think we love one another. But I’m not pushing too far. I’ll settle for shared groceries as a start.’

  She stood up and pulled him to his feet. ‘Did you make that list?’

  ‘No. Did you?’

  ‘No, but I intend to. After we decide which house we’re going to sell. Is that enough to make you happy?’

  He wrinkled his nose but broke into a grin. ‘You can choose the house. How’s that for showing how reasonable I am?’

  ‘Tony, I already know that. We’ll work it out together. Is it time for us to stop getting involved in … well, you know what I’m saying?’

  ‘I’d like to say, yes, but I don’t have a crystal ball.’

  Dan O’Reilly came back into the room without knocking. ‘Sorry to interrupt.’ He looked at the floor. ‘Beverly, or Audra, told us she’s sorry she saved you and she should have found a way to punish Lily for being ungrateful. Audra said she tried to do her best for both of you but you didn’t understand that – or didn’t want to understand it. She said you need to forget about her because she won’t be any trouble to you again.’

  Alex’s eyes stung. ‘OK,’ she said quietly. ‘That’s probably for the best. You can’t heal some things.’