by K E O'Connor
Zach returned my smile before giving me a quick kiss. “I’ll catch up with you both later. Let me know how the search goes.” He patted his leg, and Jessie followed him out of the cottage.
“Let’s get this search over with,” I said to Helen. “I want to know, once and for all, if the police have the right man.”
“Me too,” said Helen. “But I’m sure you’ve got it right. Dexter Sellers is a bad lot.”
I nodded as we left the cottage, Flipper by my side, and walked across the grounds to the main house. “You look in the study. I’ll have a look in Juliette’s personal files. If I’m caught by anyone doing that, it won’t seem so strange.”
“I’ll meet you at the bottom of the stairs in ten minutes,” said Helen.
We went our separate ways, once we were inside the house, and I walked with Flipper along the corridor to the orangery. The late afternoon sun was dappling the floor, spreading its warm rays across my limbs.
“You keep watch for me,” I said to Flipper, and positioned him by the door. “If anyone comes this way, you let me know.”
Flipper seemed to like his duties and gave me a doggy grin, before pointing his nose at the door and staring at it with a serious expression on his face.
I hurried to the cabinet and spent a couple of minutes pulling out files and looking through them. There was no agreement between Dexter and Juliette. There were some old papers about loans and finance agreements, but nothing recent that had anything to do with Dexter.
Shutting the cabinet, I had a brief look in another set of drawers. Convinced there was nothing of use in the orangery, I hurried along the hallway and up the stairs with Flipper. If Juliette and Dexter’s discussions had gone on late into the night, she could have grabbed the paperwork and taken it to bed to deal with first thing.
I inched open her bedroom door and peeked inside. The room was quiet, only a few specks of dust floating in the sunlight as I pushed the door open and walked inside. I stationed Flipper by the door again before beginning my search.
The bedroom was neat and tidy, the king-size bed dominating the room, with two bedside cabinets, fitted wardrobes running along one wall, and a door that led into an ensuite bathroom. There was no evidence of any paperwork lying around.
Flipper gave a gentle whine and pressed his nose against the door.
“Do you sense something?” I asked him, looking round for any sign of Archie’s ghost materializing.
Flipper scratched at the door and pressed his nose against it harder.
I rested my hand on his head to keep him quiet and then listened intently. I could hear something. The sound of someone moving around, of clothes rustling, and even the occasional humming noise, as if whoever it was, they were singing to themselves.
Maybe it was Fleur. If so, I didn’t want to run into that particular problem. If I stayed hidden in the bedroom, she’d never find me. There was no reason for her to come in here.
Flipper had other ideas, though. He scratched harder at the door and looked up at me, a grumbling bark echoing through his chest.
“You’re keen on finding out who that is,” I said to him. “We can look. But you’ll have to be the one to explain what we’re doing in Juliette’s bedroom if we get caught.” I eased the door open and listened for the sounds again. There they were. They were coming from another room along the corridor. It was definitely a female from the pitch of the humming.
I crept out of the bedroom and stopped at the first door. I pressed my ear against it. Whoever it was, they were behind this door.
I looked down at Flipper, who stared back at me intently. I pressed my finger to my lips, hoping he’d keep quiet, and then inched the door open. The sounds continued, so I pushed the door open a little wider and looked inside.
Meredith was in the bedroom, swaying from side to side and humming to herself. She had a rare smile on her face and her cheeks were flushed. Although her contented expression was unusual, what surprised me the most was what she wore. She had squeezed herself into a white, lacy, floor length gown. The back of it gaped open, revealing rolls of middle-aged spread that bulged out from under her off-white bra.
I knew this wasn’t Meredith’s room. She had a smaller bedroom at the end of the corridor by the stairs. So, what was she doing in the room next to the Musgrave’s bedroom, wearing something that clearly wasn’t hers?
Flipper decided he was going to find out. He pushed past me and the door sprang out of my hand and banged against the wall.
Meredith spun round, the color in her cheeks fading as she spotted me.
As I took in more detail of the gown she was wearing, a horrible realization sank through me. With its elaborate stitching, lace and delicate neckline, plus the veil I’d just spotted on the edge of the bed, this wasn’t just a white gown Meredith wore; it was a wedding dress.
“What are you doing in here?” I asked Meredith.
Meredith blinked rapidly several times. Her hands fluttered over the dress as if she was trying to conceal it from my view. “Nothing. I mean, I’m collecting laundry.”
“That’s not your job.” I walked farther into the room. “And what are you wearing?”
“That’s none of your business,” said Meredith. “You shouldn’t be in here. This is Mrs. Musgrave’s private room, where she keeps her special clothes.”
“So why are you in here?” I stepped closer to her. “And why are you wearing a wedding dress?”
“This is mine,” said Meredith.
“You’re getting married?”
“No, well, I was planning to,” said Meredith. “I meant to say, my husband-to-be died.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said slowly. “I didn’t know you were engaged.” Her ring finger was bare.
“It was a secret,” said Meredith. “And this should have been my dress.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean this is my gown,” said Meredith. “It’s the one I would have worn when I married Archie.”
Chapter 20
My mouth fell open. “When you married Archie?”
“Yes. I knew he was the one for me. I stuck by him through all his affairs, and even when he decided to make the biggest mistake of his life and marry Juliette. He did it for the status. Archie never loved her. He always kept his love for me,” said Meredith.
“You and Archie were having a relationship?” I hoped my face didn’t show my incredulity. Meredith was a plain, middle-aged woman. Not Archie’s type at all if the photos I'd seen of glamorous young women draped over him were anything to go by. Could they really have been seeing each other in secret?
Meredith sniffed and stroked her hands over the front of the dress. “We were always close. And I knew he loved me. He was never good about displaying his emotions, though. But I knew, one day, he would come to his senses and see who the truly loyal woman in his life was. The one who had been with him through good and bad times. The one who didn’t find a new man when the one she was with let her down. It was only a matter of time.”
“Is that Juliette’s wedding dress you’ve got on?” I asked.
“She doesn’t deserve it,” said Meredith. “It’s my dress. Although it’s too showy for my taste. I would have worn it on our wedding day if Archie wanted me to.”
“Archie said you were going to get married?”
“Not directly,” said Meredith, “but it was implied. He always called me his best girl. And I made sure I was there for him no matter what. If he stayed out late, I waited up until I knew he was safely home. And if he ever got into any trouble and needed to pay off a debt, I had access to a credit card that would ensure the matter could be settled quietly.”
That would explain some of the unexpected bills Juliette was having to pay off now Archie was gone. “You hid all of Archie’s dubious dealings from Juliette?”
Meredith shrugged. “It’s not as if she cared about him. She was carrying on with Ben behind Archie’s back. She lost the right to call her
self his wife as soon as she’d done that.”
“But it was okay for Archie to be unfaithful to her?”
“Their marriage was one of convenience,” said Meredith. “He didn’t marry her for love; he married her because he felt an obligation to. Archie had certain ambitions and needed Juliette’s money and status to do that. I understood all of that and stood by him as he achieved his goals. I knew, once he’d got what he wanted, we would be free to be together.”
“So why weren’t you?” I asked. “Before Archie died, he was successful in his business. He had this house and all the assets you could desire. He’d achieved his ambitions. So why wasn’t he with you?”
“That’s what I wanted to know.” Meredith turned back to the mirror and examined herself in the too small wedding gown. “I decided he’d had enough time to do what he needed to. Juliette was becoming demanding and unhelpful, and my dear Archie was struggling to hold everything together. It was the right time for us to be partners in every respect.”
A feeling of dread grabbed my stomach. “And what did he do when you asked him about it?”
Meredith sighed. “He was his usual charming self. He told me he loved me. He said he wanted me by his side forever.”
“But not in the way you wanted?”
Meredith adjusted the neckline of the wedding gown, her bosoms pulling the delicate fabric taut. “He said I needed someone who was more my style. Archie said he appreciated everything I did for him and didn’t want me to leave.”
“That doesn’t sound like a declaration of undying love to me.”
“It wasn’t what I hoped for,” said Meredith. “He let me down. After everything I’ve done for him, all the covering and deception and the lying, in the belief that, one day, he would be mine. We were to be married. I was so convinced of that.”
“But he told you it would never happen?”
“We were going to run away together and get married.” Meredith’s brow furrowed as she glared at her own reflection.
“That’s what Archie told you?”
“That’s what I knew would happen,” said Meredith. “Can you help me do this back up? I always have trouble when I’m alone.”
I walked forwards a few steps and then stopped. What was I doing? Meredith was clearly deranged. How could she have thought it possible Archie would ever be with her? “I’m not sure it’s going to fit you.”
Meredith patted her stomach. “I have gained a few pounds recently. I always eat when I’m stressed, and Archie’s death has been a constant source of worry for me.”
I had to handle my next question carefully; Meredith’s eyes had an unhealthy gleam in them. “His riding accident was sad.”
“It should never have happened,” said Meredith. “If only he had listened to me, we could be somewhere hot and sunny by now, drinking cocktails and laughing at all the silliness of his former life. Instead, he said he felt bad and would never leave Juliette. He talked about a divorce she was planning for him and that he didn’t want to leave her. Archie said it would make things difficult in his business.”
“That must have made you unhappy,” I said. “After you’d stood by him all this time, for him to let you down in such a way.”
Meredith nodded. “I was furious and disappointed. He meant the world to me, and I’d given up so much to be with him. I’d waited a long time for Archie to come to his senses and see that we were meant to be together. But it appears that witch, Juliette, had brainwashed him. Once she was on the scene, it was impossible for us to spend any time together. I sensed he was pulling away from me recently, and I couldn’t have that.”
“So, you decided if you couldn’t have him, no one would?”
Meredith looked at me in the reflection in the mirror. “You may as well know everything. I’m planning to join Archie now he’s gone.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Suicide? Are you sure he’s worth it?”
“I may have stayed if he’d left me provided for in his will,” said Meredith. “But he left me nothing. Everything he said to me over the years we’ve been together was a lie. Archie lied to everybody.”
“So why do you want to be with him in death?” I took another step towards Meredith. “If he treated you so badly in life, what’s to say he won’t be any different when you’re together in the afterlife?”
“I know he will be better,” said Meredith. “Now he is free from his material things, he will value what matters. And that is my love for him. He will grow to love me in time.”
“Tell me about his accident,” I said. “What really happened?”
“The riding accident wasn’t planned,” said Meredith. “But it was the perfect way to conceal what happened to Archie.”
“What happened to him?”
“The night I confessed to him about how I felt and what I wanted was one I shall never forget,” said Meredith. “Archie came in late after spending the evening in London with some work colleagues. I could tell he’d been drinking as soon as he staggered through the door, but I was determined to speak to him and make sure we could plan our future together.”
“So you told him you loved him and wanted to be with him,” I said. “And then what?”
“He began by saying how flattered he was and how much he respected me,” said Meredith. “But then he began to laugh. He thought it was funny that I had these feelings for him.”
“That must have hurt you,” I said.
“To begin with, I thought it was a joke. I knew deep down he truly loved me. But for some reason, he was concealing it. Maybe he was too scared to admit it to himself. We aren’t in the same social class, and I know it can be looked down upon when an employer marries a staff member. But I knew we’d make it work. I didn’t care what other people thought about our relationship.”
“It sounds like Archie cared, though,” I said.
“When I realized he wasn’t going to take me seriously, I grew angry and we argued,” said Meredith. “It was the first real argument we’d ever had. The first time I’ve stood up to him.”
“So what happened?”
“I was determined to get Archie to confess his love for me,” said Meredith. “He told me to forget about everything I’d said. Things would be as they’d always been. He wasn’t going to leave Juliette to be with me. Archie tried to walk away, but I followed him. In fact, I chased him up the stairs. If he wasn’t going to tell Juliette what was going on between the two of us, then I was determined to. Archie grew angry and pushed me. I almost fell down the stairs. I decided he wasn’t going to get away with it. I grabbed hold of him and tried to kiss him. And that’s when it happened.”
“So he died from a fall on the stairs?” I pointed out of the door towards the top of the staircase. “It wasn’t a riding accident?”
“I could have left him there and made it look like an accident,” said Meredith, carrying on as if she hadn’t heard me. “But I was worried about evidence. I’d kissed him, you see. I’ve seen the detective programmes. They’re clever getting their bits of DNA off things. If the police thought the fall wasn’t accidental, they’d soon know I was involved.”
“After he fell, you took Archie outside and staged the riding accident?”
Meredith nodded. “He fell cleanly and snapped his neck halfway down. He died instantly and would never have known what was going on. Archie was rotten drunk that night. I think that was why it was so easy for me to shove him. After that, I simply had to saddle up his horse, get Archie changed into his riding clothes, and lay him outside.”
“That’s got to take some doing,” I said. “Did you do it alone?”
“Who else would want Archie dead?” Meredith turned away from the mirror and faced me.
“I can think of a few people,” I said.
“It was simple enough. I knew where his riding clothes were. After all, I was the one who hung everything for him. He slept in a separate room from Juliette, so it was easy for me to get his change of clothes without disturb
ing her. I moved his body into a side room, got him changed, and then went and fetched the golf buggy Archie used when he was surveying the grounds.”
“Why didn’t the police see the tire marks from the golf buggy you used?”
“I did a good job of removing them,” said Meredith. “The ground was hard, and I scrubbed over what I could with a broom. And when the police arrived the next day, their own vehicles made enough of a mess of the driveway to hide anything I missed. And they believed Archie’s death was an accident, so they weren’t actively looking for crime scene evidence. More fool them.”
“How did you manage Brutus?” I asked. “Having met him, he’s not the easiest horse to handle.”
“That he’s not,” said Meredith. “But we are friends. I used to sneak him carrots and sugar lumps from the kitchen. It was no challenge to get a saddle on him and lead him out of his stable. Archie was somewhat neglectful of that horse, so Brutus was eager to be out and stretch his legs. In fact, I lost him at one point. His reins slipped out of my hand, and he charged around the fields. Not that I was all that bothered; it gave me an opportunity to bring Archie outside and lay him by the jump. Get the scene just right for when he was discovered the next day.”
“It sounds like you’ve had it planned for some time,” I said.
“No, I was convinced Archie and I would marry,” said Meredith. “But after his fall, I decided I didn’t want to take the blame. He provoked me. If only he had been honest with me and told me how he really felt from the beginning. I wouldn’t have wasted so many years on him.”
“But you still want to be with him in death?”
Meredith looked down at the dress she wore. “He’s all I know. What else can I do?”
“Have a life of your own,” I said. “Forget about Archie and find a man who will truly love you.”
Meredith smirked. “I’m not a total fantasist. I do see what I look like in the mirror. A middle-aged woman, past her prime, having spent her life scraping and bowing to others in the hope of getting a few scraps and a kind word or two. I’m too old to change my ways now. And perhaps Archie will love me when we’re together in our next life.”