Murder By Accident
Page 22
‘She doesn’t realize what she’s throwing away,’ observed Aunt Drusilla. ‘Loyalty like that, when love has gone. It’s rare.’
The man whistled through his teeth as he got through to his favourite number. ‘Hi. How’d it go?’ ‘Don’t ask! That cow! I only lifted a few quid from her purse to see me over the weekend, but she caught me at it. I thought for sure she’d call the police, but she didn’t. Probably didn’t want to upset dear Rose. Lost me a job this evening, though. I was counting on that. I could spit!’
‘Nothing happened about the kettle I fixed, then?’
‘Nothing.’ Silence. ‘There’s one thing, though. Dear Rose is going to be back at her flat tonight. If we could just choke her off, mebbe I could get back in with the old woman. What do you think?’
‘A pleasure. But how?’
‘Been thinking about that. We could bust in – I could get the boys to help – and give her a good fright. Give her a shock or two, to make the point. Tell her to get out or else.’
He started to laugh.‘I got a better idea. How about I feed a cable in from your flat, rig up a gantry with wires going all over the place so whatever she touches will give her a nasty shock? I’ll do the front door knob as well. A coupla hours in a hot-wired flat should do the trick!’
‘I like it!’
Sixteen
The annual Golf Club Dinner and Dance was one of those functions attended by everyone who was anyone. Ellie thought, Happy days, remembering how she used to go with her husband. Frank didn’t play golf – perhaps it would have been better for his health if he had – but he knew many of the members and it had always been a pleasant occasion. Ellie had usually worn a dress from the charity shop, something plain and dark.
She couldn’t help feeling a flush of excitement as Bill took her arm and led her into the dark but cosy bar where they were all to meet before going in to dinner. She’d missed this sort of socializing in the months since her husband had died when she’d hardly felt like going out of the house. The Reverend Gilbert Adams and his wife had chivvied her to do this and that, and what with problems in the family and at church, she supposed the time had passed quickly enough.
This was the first time she’d been able to dress up – this time not in a charity-shop dress – and go out with a man.
Not that Bill was thinking of it as a date, of course. It wasn’t that. It was being friendly and helping him out on a social occasion. She checked on her appearance in a nearby mirror as Bill fought his way to the bar to get them a drink.
She thought she looked all right. The new hairdo was definitely a success, framing her face but not drawing too much attention to itself. Her dress was of a deep dull rose colour with a draped bodice that showed rather too much cleavage for her taste, though Kate had assured her that it was modesty itself compared to what other people would be wearing.
Most of the other women – and she knew most of them – were wearing black, which made the dark room even darker. She was afraid she stood out amongst them, flaunting that pink. One or two of the women came over to her, saying how delighted they were to see her out and about again. Ellie thought they meant it. Probably.
Bill came back with drinks. He looked down at her and said, ‘You could always knock their eyes out, Ellie. I’ll be lucky to get one dance with you tonight.’
Ellie blushed and shook her head at him. And then saw Roy. He was with the stick-thin woman – Joyce’s cousin – but he was staring at her with an expression that combined shock and indignation.
He bore down on her, leaving his partner isolated. ‘Ellie, you said you wouldn’t come to—’
‘I was blackmailed into it,’ said Ellie, trying to forestall a scene. ‘Bill here took advantage of me. Who’s the lovely girl you’ve got in tow?’
‘Oh. Her? Someone I met at the wedding reception.’The ‘girl’ in question wasn’t going to be left out, and had followed close behind him. ‘Helen, this is my sort-of-cousin Ellie Quicke, and this is Bill Weatherspoon, our local solicitor.’
‘Delighted,’ said Helen, assessing the cost of Ellie’s dress and Bill’s air of solid respectability. ‘I’m in marketing. Do you work, or are you retired? Didn’t I see you at the wedding reception today?’
‘It was Bill’s house and garden they used,’ said Ellie, determined to be affable, while noting that Helen’s outfit – black with sequins – was showing far more cleavage than was wise. What if Helen shrugged, and the straps fell off her shoulders? She hadn’t enough flesh on her bones to flaunt a cleavage like that. In fact, there really wasn’t much cleavage to shout about.
Ellie permitted herself a tiny smile, a smug smile. In a moment of selfknowledge she realized that she was not – as she had thought – completely dead to the impression she aroused in the opposite sex. The admiration she was seeing in Bill’s and Roy’s faces was getting through to her. Perhaps Aunt Drusilla’s revelations about Frank had had something to do with it? Perhaps this moment was just a natural step forward out of grief? Perhaps she would sink back into feelings of worthlessness again tomorrow.
For the moment, she was a woman enjoying the attention of two goodlooking men. Wow! Mark that one up, Ellie Quicke!
The smile vanished as she thought she saw a familiar face across the room. No, surely she must be mistaken. Diana couldn’t have come here, after having been wrung out by the police this afternoon?
‘My dear lady.’ An unctuous voice, a moist hand pressing hers. Archie, the church treasurer, wearing a cummerbund too tight under his evening dress, and his blonde bimbo with her talons firmly on his arm. ‘Splendid to see you. How we’ve missed your lovely smile at these little functions.’
His bimbo was also wearing black, and she was comparing it with Helen’s black-with-sequins and Ellie’s dark pink. Bimbo looked sour. Bimbo obviously hadn’t paid very much for her dress, and her lipstick definitely did not match her nail varnish.
There was a general movement through to the big lounge, now set up with round tables squeezed into every available corner.There were floating balloons above the tables, pretty favours for women and men, flowers and shining silver and glass. Waiter service, of course.
Ellie scanned the crowds as Bill led her to their table. She must have been mistaken in thinking Diana was here. How could she possibly be?
Their table seated other old friends and acquaintances, men and women she’d once known very well but had withdrawn from in the months of Frank’s illness and her early widowhood. It was pleasant to meet up with them again. After a moment or two she could remember most of their names and almost all the names of their children and what they were doing. The noise level in the room was high. Wine was poured. The first course was served.
Some of the waiters and waitresses were the same as those who had served at the wedding reception. Tracy was not among them. A group of latecomers were crowding in.
Stewart among them.
Ellie clutched her wine glass and asked for a drink of water, please. Yes, it was definitely Stewart. He’d told her he’d got tickets, of course, but she hadn’t thought he’d want to come.
He was with … a waiter moved away and she saw that he was with Maria from the cleaning company. Of course.
Bill asked if she were feeling all right, so she nodded and smiled and asked him if the waiters had left his house and garden spick and span.
Maria was wearing a cool sheath in dove grey. With her superb carriage she looked statuesque, serene. Not beautiful, exactly. But handsome. And in some indefinable way, she gave the impression of having integrity. She was nearly as tall as Stewart and together they made a handsome pair.
Ellie closed her eyes for a moment, and prayed. What ought I to do about this, Lord? If anything? It’s all going pear-shaped. I thought Stewart would stick with Diana, no matter what. He said he would. But Diana has made it quite clear that she wants nothing more to do with him and, dear Lord, what a mess!
Bill nudged her arm. ‘Who’s that stunning woman wit
h your son-inlaw? I’m sure I’ve seen her before somewhere. Or is that a tactless question and ought we not to have noticed him being here without Diana?’
‘To be quite truthful, Bill, I’m not sure what to think. She’s Maria something, and runs the Trulyclean Services in the Avenue. They’re one of the few contractors that my aunt approves of, and that’s how they met. Stewart’s been using another firm, but wants to return to Trulyclean. I think he’s right. They have an excellent reputation.’
‘I notice you’ve talked your way all around my question,’ said Bill.
‘Yes, I did, didn’t I? Well, the answer is that I don’t know. Diana left Stewart and as far as I know she moved in with someone else. She only went back to the flat she shared with Stewart to collect some clothes. He’s feeling very disillusioned about his marriage but he did say he’d stand by Diana. He’s had the tickets for this evening for some time, had already arranged a babysitter, said he might as well take advantage of having a babysitter to go out for the evening. He didn’t mention Maria. That was at five o’clock this afternoon. What’s happened since …’ She shrugged.
‘Diana’s here with Derek Jolley, I see.’
‘What?’ Ellie nearly upset her glass of wine. ‘How could she! I mean, I thought I caught a glimpse of her but I told myself I must be mistaken.’
‘Larger than life. In the far corner.’
Ellie craned her neck but couldn’t see Diana for all the people in the way. The woman on Bill’s other side demanded his attention. Was she a parent-governor at the local school? Husband a magistrate? Ellie was drawn into a discussion about a project for a tram down the Avenue which was being mooted by the council.
She ate. She drank. She smiled, and listened and put in the occasional word to keep the conversations around her going. She sat on her anxieties.
After supper everyone drifted back to the bar while the centre of the room was cleared for dancing, and at long last Ellie caught sight of her daughter. With Derek Jolley, as Bill had said.
What could she do about it? Nothing.
Ellie thought Diana’s behaviour tasteless. If she had done something like this as a girl, she’d have been cold-shouldered by everyone she knew. Friends would have remonstrated. Parents would have thundered.
As it was, nobody did anything. Stewart and Maria kept to one side of the room, smiling, talking softly to one another or to others around them. Never calling attention to themselves. Moving among friends and acquaintances with their heads held high but without making a fuss.
Diana was noisy, possibly half seas over? Derek’s face was red, his hands all over her. She was wearing a black sheath with a glittering choker around her neck. She’d removed her wedding ring. She was shameless.
Or so thought Ellie, checking to see if any of the people on her table were raising their eyebrows at Diana’s behaviour.
She felt ashamed for all four of them, though less so for Stewart and Maria, who had the quiet, slightly dazed air of those to whom a revelation of future happiness has been given. When they turned their heads to one another, their eyes searched each other’s faces. But their manners were good and when they spoke to others, they did so with good humour. They danced with other members of the party they were with, older people, possibly Maria’s relatives? A tall, well-built man with a dark complexion and a heavy moustache. A woman of Ellie’s age, quietly but expensively dressed.
Bill said, ‘I’ve placed her now. Her father’s a councillor, her mother does a lot of voluntary work at the hospital. Maria doesn’t usually come to these affairs. I don’t think I’ve seen her for years, which is why I didn’t recognize her at once. There was some gossip about her … a longlasting live-in affair with a man who couldn’t make up his mind whether he was coming or going? I imagine that’s over now.’
‘Marrying someone on the rebound is not a good idea,’ said Ellie, while observing that Stewart was dancing with Maria’s mother.
Diana had got hold of a bottle of champagne and was spraying it over Derek and everyone else in the vicinity. She laughed too much, threw her arms carelessly around Derek’s neck. Hugged him. Refrained from noticing her husband taking Maria on to the dance floor.
‘Shall we?’ Bill touched Ellie’s elbow.
She left her drink untouched and followed his lead. She sighed, relaxed, and confessed that it was a long time since she’d danced a foxtrot. Mentally she said sorry to Frank, who’d been a poor dancer. She’d forgotten that Bill was so good at it.
‘Enjoying yourself in spite of everything?’ he asked.
‘To my surprise, yes.’
‘You are not responsible for the rest of your family.’
‘Am I not?’
‘I know your tender conscience would have you face the firing squad for them, but not tonight, eh?’
‘The firing squad doesn’t appear to have brought any bullets with them,’ said Ellie, noticing that though people drew back from the vicinity of Diana and Derek, the couple were not being ostracized. Stewart and Maria were dancing decorously together, absorbed in one another.
Bill said, ‘How would it be if I took my fee for looking after Diana not in money, but in some more hours of your company?’
Ellie giggled. ‘Are you trying to flirt with me? Shame on you!’
‘You should say, “Fie on you!”’
‘I would if I had a fan and knew how to use it. I would rap you on the knuckles and say, “Oh, Sir!”’
He laughed. ‘You are flirting with me, Ellie.’
‘Am I? Is that how it’s done? I’m a bit out of practice, I’m afraid.’
Frank had never liked her to talk like that. She liked doing it, though. It made Bill smile and look happier than he’d done for ages. She liked that, too. And then the strangest thought popped into her mind, that Mrs Weatherspoon was not the most ridiculous name in the world and that if she ever had to leave her cosy little house, his house on the river was rather beautiful and could be made to feel like home with a congenial man at her side.
She’d never thought anything like that before. She hadn’t thought it in connection with Roy, or with Archie.
She felt bewildered. What was happening to her? Was it just the new dress and hairdo, the lights and the music? The feeling that Bill really enjoyed her company, really liked her as opposed to wanting something from her?
There came another treacherous thought; had Frank ever really liked her as opposed to loving and wanting her?
Roy appeared at Bill’s shoulder. ‘My dance, I think.’
Ellie floated away with Roy, only to discover that he wasn’t quite as good a dancer as Bill. But she managed to enjoy that dance, too. Perhaps she was just coming out of the depression she’d experienced after Frank’s death.
Then she danced with Archie, with the Bimbo standing at the side, waiting for him to return to her. And then, surprisingly, with Stewart.
‘I expect you think I’ve taken leave of my senses,’ he said, leading her into a sedate waltz. ‘But there was a message from Maria on the answerphone when I got back. Her father’s on the committee here and had asked her to come, but her partner had let her down. She knew – I think I’d told her, or you had, or somehow the news had got around – that Diana had given up on me. She wondered if I could help her out, if she provided a babysitter.’
Ellie gave a little sigh. So that was how it was done? With style and grace. You saw the man you wanted, you gave him an excuse to come after you and … snap.You caught the little fish. Maria was a clever woman.
Stewart was looking worried. ‘You’ve been so kind to me, Ellie. If you think this is wrong …?’
‘I understand how it is, Stewart. Diana is under tremendous pressure at the moment and so are you. I’m very fond of you.’
The music finished, and they walked to the side. He looked across the room, and his face lightened. Ellie followed his glance, and saw Maria glance up from her conversation with the older woman and meet his eyes. Just for a second.
There was a wild shriek from the bar end. Ellie saw Diana race around the room, closely followed by Derek Jolley. Both were drunk.
Stewart turned his face away. ‘I know I promised I’d stand by Diana, but she doesn’t want me any more. She isn’t the girl I married.’
‘That’s a typical modern excuse, saying that he or she isn’t what I expected when I married. I can’t advise you, but I can whisper one word: be discreet.You won’t want to lose your son. Maria will wait for you, if that is what you want.’
Bill appeared at her side. ‘They’re going to have a change of band – some heavy metal, I shouldn’t wonder. We’ve all had a long day. Would you like me to take you home now?’
‘Dear Bill, your timing is impeccable.’
As he guided her back to the cloakroom, they came face to face with a flushed Diana, being crowded against a wall by a red-faced Derek Jolley. Ellie said, ‘Goodnight, Diana.’
Incredibly, Diana turned her back on Ellie.
Bill put his arm around Ellie’s shoulders and gave her a little push towards the cloakroom. When she’d retrieved her coat, he put her in his car and turned on the heater. The night was clear of cloud, and cold.
He said, ‘Will she listen if you try to warn her?’
‘You saw.’
‘That’s tonight. That’s the wine speaking and excitement, and consciousness of danger. In the morning it may be a different story.’
‘She’s living with that man.’
‘A highly respectable businessman with a tidy fortune stashed away.’
‘A nasty little man. He reminds me of a satyr, half goat and half man.’
‘In the morning …’ he paused to change gear, thinking. ‘People drop me hints, you know. Friends. People I meet socially, at work. Someone told me Diana’s being watched.’
‘By the police?’