‘I think . . . I don’t know. I didn’t dare imagine, it’s so horrible. But if Mia was being raped at the party upstairs, then Lloyd would have tried to stop it. Perhaps he was dealt with because of what he’d seen? Perhaps Mia knows something? I suspect that if I wander back into Anthony’s orbit now, I’ll end up like Mia.’
Mrs Belton opened her mouth to express her horror at what she’d heard, but Ursula forestalled her.
‘I know, Mother. Your little girl has been extremely stupid, and foolish, and I’m responsible for getting the flat wrecked, and I’m very, very sorry.’
‘Talking of the attack on your mother,’ said Ellie, ‘Have you ever known Anthony wear a Halloween-type mask?’
‘Why? Yes, of course. Tim bought a whole lot of masks for their last Halloween party and they went out with the invitations: Draculas, skeletons and animal heads, you name it. As it happened, we didn’t go to the party. Lloyd hates – hated – Halloween, so he got the four of us tickets to see The Lion King. It was great.’
‘So there were plenty of masks going spare after Halloween?’
‘Sure.’
‘Do you know of any group of youngsters who might have got hold of the masks, and hide behind them to commit acts of antisocial behaviour?’
Ursula’s eyes went blank. She hesitated. Looked down and away. ‘No, I don’t.’ She looked at her watch. ‘Mother, we ought to be going. Ten minutes to catch the train. Mrs Quicke, you’ve been so kind. May I ring you now and again to catch up on the news? And you won’t look to see which train we catch, will you?’
She’d lied, thought Ellie. Ursula did know something about the masked gang, but didn’t want to say. Why not? We–ell, it could just be that Daniel was involved, and she would still want to protect him, even now. Or, was there another explanation?
FIFTEEN
Friday late morning
Ellie rang Thomas from the railway station. ‘They’ve just gone, and I’m on my way back. I’m going to call in at the police station on the way. Everything all right at your end?’
‘That Grace woman rang; wants you to go to the cinema with her this afternoon. I made your apologies. Pat’s gone down with a sore throat again, so I told her to take the day off. Nothing much in the post, but young Daniel Collins has been on the phone twice. Says he’s recovered Mrs Belton’s laptop and wants to know where he can find her to give it back. Alternatively, should he come over and give it to you. I know he’s supposed to be on the side of the angels—’
‘Possibly not as angelic as we’d thought.’
‘Ah. Reason?’
‘I’m not sure. Something to do with those masks. Oh, it’s probably nothing.’
‘Well, we’d been so careful so far that I decided against giving him your address. I said you were up in town and returning by way of the police station and he got quite agitated. Said he must see you before you do anything silly.’
‘He thinks it would be silly to go to the police?’
‘That’s what he said. I suggest that if you do meet him, it’s in a public place. A coffee shop, perhaps?’
‘Before or after I visit the police station? We have a fair amount of new information to give them—’
‘But no proof. Have we?’
Ellie sighed. ‘I love you, Thomas. Give me Dan’s phone number and I’ll meet him in Ealing Broadway to hear what he has to say. It’s too cold for a salad. I’ll stop there to have something to eat before I come on home.’
Ellie watched Daniel enter the upstairs lounge of the café and look around for her. She wondered if he would have changed as much as Ursula had since they first met, and thought that yes, he looked grimmer, and darker around the chin. He was carrying a worn laptop.
She pushed her empty plate aside, and beckoned him over. He put the laptop on the table before her, and seated himself. Nervous? Mm. Yes. There was a nick on his cheek where he’d cut himself shaving. His clothes were a black Puffa jacket over jeans. No leather jacket; not that she believed he’d been one of the lads who’d attacked Mrs Belton.
‘Thanks for meeting me,’ he said. ‘I’ve been so worried. Nobody’s heard anything from Ursula or Mrs Belton. Do you know where they are?’
‘Not precisely, no. I understand they’ve gone off on a short holiday together somewhere. Very distressed by what’s been happening.’
He reddened. ‘It’s been a total shambles. Everyone’s buzzing around like anything. We really need her back.’
Ellie nodded, put sugar in her coffee and stirred. ‘Are you eating? Having a coffee?’
He shook his head, impatient. Pulled his chair closer to the table. ‘The thing is, I really need to speak to her. You can arrange it, can’t you?’ He was putting on the little boy lost act. Quite well done.
Ellie shook her head. ‘I really don’t know where she’s gone. She says she needs some “space”, is that the right word?’
‘But you know how to contact her? I don’t know what I’ll do if I can’t get hold of her soon.’ Did his eyes fill with tears? Was this helplessness the thing that Ursula had feared might work on her, might undo all her resolutions to avoid him in future?
Ellie sipped coffee and put the cup down. ‘Is that Mrs Belton’s laptop? Where on earth did you find it?’
‘Offered a reward for it, of course.’
‘How did you know where to offer a reward?’
‘Oh, at the pub.’ A lie. ‘I knew she had all her work on it. I thought if only I could get it back for her, she’d put a word in for me with Ursula.’
‘No, no. Mrs Belton has all her work on a memory stick. It’s a pity you got it back, because she was looking forward to getting a more up to date model.’
He leaned forward. ‘Well, I’m sure I could arrange that for her. How much do you think we should offer her?’
Ellie sighed. ‘Who would you get the money from, Dan?’
‘Why, from Ursula’s friends.’
‘The ones who abused, raped and beat up Mia? And left her pregnant?’
His face went slack with shock.
Ellie pulled out the photographs of Mia’s ruined face and laid them on the table. ‘Do you really want to bring Ursula back, to suffer the same fate?’
He ran the back of his hand across his mouth. ‘That’s not Mia. She’s dark, not blonde.’
‘That’s Mia. She cut off her hair and dyed it, in an attempt to disguise herself. Anthony wants her back. Can you think why?’
He stumbled over the words. ‘She’s his half-sister.’
‘I don’t think that stopped him from acting as her pimp. She wasn’t a willing whore, was she?’
He pushed back his chair, half stood, looking wildly around. Then sank back into it again. ‘Where is she? What have you done with her?’
‘I? Nothing.’
‘But Anthony said you took her away. He can’t know about this. He couldn’t have done this, not to Mia!’
Ellie was silent, letting him think it through.
His eyes went from side to side. He frowned; held his lower lip between his teeth. His hand went to his pocket to bring out a mobile, and then shoved it back again. Was he weighing his loyalty to Anthony against his horror at what had been done to Mia? Which side would he come down on? It was a toss-up, wasn’t it?
He lost all colour in his face. His eyes seemed darker, his mouth firmer. ‘I’ve got to get her back.’
‘Who? Ursula, or Mia?’
He groaned. ‘Ursula. We’ve got to get her back or we lose everything. My job, everything.’
‘Your job is worth reducing the girl you love to a battered piece of meat?’
‘No, of course not. It isn’t like that. She’ll be well paid. You don’t understand.’
‘I rather think I do. And so does Ursula.’
‘Look, I only need to talk to her for a few minutes and—’
‘And what would you say to her? “Come into my parlour, said the spider to the fly?”’
‘What?’ He didn’
t know the saying. ‘No, I . . . Look, this is too important for us to play games. Let’s put this on a business footing. You get a cut too. Right?’
‘Daniel, go home and tell your mother what’s been going on.’
‘A thousand pounds.’
Ellie gathered her belongings together. ‘Is that all that Ursula’s worth to you? My answer is still no. Besides, you haven’t got a thousand pounds, Daniel.’
‘I can get it. Easily.’
‘I daresay. Now, if you’ll just let me get out, I’m on my way to the police station to hand in these photographs of Mia.’
He picked them up and ripped them into small pieces.
She shrugged. There were plenty more at home. She’d just have to stop off there on the way to the police station to collect them, that’s all. She walked away from him, hesitated, and went back for the laptop.
He said, ‘If you leave that here, she can get a new one.’
That was how it worked. One small step into a grey area, telling yourself it didn’t matter if you cheated an insurance company, because nobody was hurt by it. And the next day it would seem natural to go one step further and put in a false application, and so on. Step by step down the primrose path. And if she left the laptop, she’d be in Dan’s power.
Ellie picked up the laptop, and left. Once down at street level, she summoned a passing black cab. She thought he might try to follow her, but the lights changed at exactly the right moment to let her cab pass through before turning red.
‘Dumbo, where are you?’
‘Organizing stuff. I should be getting the Quicke woman’s address any minute now. She met Daniel at a café, spent some time with him and left in a taxi. I’ve got one of the lads following her on his bike, and I’m following behind him in the car. We’re in touch by mobile in case I lose them at the traffic lights.’
‘Don’t be stupid. I’m on my way to her place now. She lives in a block of flats over on the Argyle Road. I’m hoping to pick up Mia from there and take her to a safe place.’
‘What sort of safe place?’
‘What do you think? I have someone prepared to look after her, so long as she behaves herself.’
‘That doesn’t sound very nice. You mean—’
‘She’ll be a working girl, yes. But what else is there for her? The parents don’t want her back, and she’s no use to us any more, is she? But enough of that. I’ve been thinking. The only way to get Ursula back is to go and fetch her. Now I can’t do it – too much on at work. But tomorrow I want you to go down to Portsmouth, you and Dan. And Bullseye.’
‘What? Not Bullseye!’
‘How else are we to make sure she behaves herself? Dan knows where she lives down in Portsmouth. He’ll get her to meet him somewhere. Gives her a drink, or gets her into the car, and Bullseye does the rest. She’ll be out for the count till you can get her safely back home, and after that it’ll be plain sailing. Any questions as to why you’re toting around a sleepy girl with you, you say she’s drunk. Right?’
‘I don’t like it.’
‘I daresay. But she’s left us no choice, has she? Dan will play, won’t he? We can always let him have first go after the client’s finished with her. You too, if you like. But nobody touches her till she’s been with the prince, right? The Man’s going spare, calling in favours from everyone, but it’s not working. Ursula’s our last hope.’
Friday afternoon
Ellie got the taxi to drop her round the corner from her house – just in case she’d been followed. She didn’t think she had been, but there was no point in risking it.
A cyclist whizzed past her and turned into a neighbour’s drive. She wondered who might be visiting there; as far as she knew, the house was occupied by an elderly couple who rarely went out.
Well, it was no business of hers. She hoisted up Mrs Belton’s laptop and made her way up her own driveway. Two cars were there: Thomas’s and Diana’s. Oh dear, what was she to do about Diana? There were lights on in Thomas’s office, and in Rose’s old bedroom – which was now Diana’s – upstairs. Outside Roy’s office were three more cars: his and his right-hand man’s, and their office manager’s. The firm was doing so well now that soon they’d need to spread upstairs into the flat above, which was let out at present.
A car she knew well crept into the drive behind her, and Kate got out. She hadn’t brought her children. She narrowed her eyes and nodded to Ellie, indicating that she had information to impart. Ellie decided not to go through the front door because it would alert Diana to the fact that she’d returned, and she had no answers for her at the moment.
Instead, she led Kate through the side gate and in through the kitchen door. It was mid-afternoon. Rose was dozing in her room, and Ellie could talk to Kate undisturbed.
‘Trouble?’ Ellie disposed of laptop and outer clothing. ‘What have you done with the children?’
‘Dumped on friends for an hour. I can’t stay long, but I’ve some information you might like. Mr Prior’s going down the tubes. Overextended in all directions; desperately trying to rid himself of some of his properties. Without success. I talked to three people I know in the City, and they all said not to touch his projects with the proverbial. Roy should keep well out of his way.’
‘You’ve told Felicity?’
Kate nodded.
Ellie made the connection. ‘You stayed with Felicity last night?’
‘I did. Roy was gracious but really doesn’t like wailing babies, and the little one is teething. I wanted to check with you if it’s safe to go back home tonight. Armand’s been boasting about having repelled boarders, but somehow I’m not convinced. Won’t the Priors try again?’
‘They might. Armand got a bodyguard to stay with him last night. Could he make a similar arrangement tonight?’
‘He might. But for how long? For the weekend? Next week?’
‘The police must act! But, until Mia is well enough to make a statement, I’m not sure we’ve got enough to make them take action.’ She gave Kate a rapid run-down of what had been happening, trusting to her friend’s incisive judgment to sort out what was and what was not feasible.
Kate held up one finger. ‘One: you can’t use Ursula’s story because it’s hearsay and therefore useless. Two: the photographs of what has been done to Mia are also useless until she can testify as to how she got her injuries. The doctor can testify to the fact that she was injured, but he can’t prove who did it.’
Kate held up a third finger. ‘Diana can testify to an attack by a masked intruder and Stewart can testify to his presence, but neither of them are able to make a positive identification.’ A fourth finger went up. ‘Mrs Belton has told the police about masked intruders, but can’t make any identification either.’
A thumb. ‘You could have Armand’s testimony but, since he admits damaging the intruder, and hasn’t yet made an identification, I’m not sure . . .’ She pondered. ‘Ah, what you have got is the registration number of the car in which Armand’s attacker disappeared. He could testify to that, and the police can trace the driver. Otherwise, all you’ve got is a lot of circumstantial evidence concerning masked attackers. Didn’t you say that DI Willis was interested in them?’
Ellie took in a deep breath. ‘Yes, Kate. You’re right. That’s the angle to take. Can you drop me off at the police station in a minute? I’ll collect some more photos of Mia, and we’ll be off.’
Kate looked at her watch. ‘I left the kiddies with Felicity and her friend Caroline, whose husband works at the Town Hall. You remember her? She had some interesting gossip about Mr Prior, if you’ve time to listen. Called him Posy Prior. I suspect the nickname is ironic, but I didn’t have time to enquire.’
Ellie was rummaging around in the freezer. ‘Sure, if I’ve got time after I’ve been to the police. I wonder if Diana’s going to stay for supper. I wanted to get rid of her today, but haven’t done anything about it yet. Ah, these venison steaks will do nicely. Now for DI Willis.’
It was easier said than done to talk to DI Willis. Ellie sat in the foyer of the station and waited, watching the clock tick forward, and worrying. The DI was in a meeting. The DI had gone out. Was the DI avoiding Ellie? Possibly, even though Ellie had told the desk sergeant that she had some information about the masked men.
Eventually a woman detective constable came out of the inner sanctum and beckoned to Ellie. The girl looked familiar. Ah, this was the DC who’d interviewed Mrs Belton at her flat the previous day. Was it only yesterday? What was the girl’s name? Mil-something. Milstone, Milford, Milbrook? Milburn.
‘You have some new information?’ The usual interview room, rather chilly. An overhead light buzzed. Flickered.
‘Tea?’ Ellie erring on the side of hopefulness.
The DC was unresponsive. She had a flat face with a broad nose, but her eyes were bright. Not exactly podgy but no sylph. Her legs and thighs were substantial.
‘You have some information for us, Mrs Quicke?’
‘I have a tale to tell that bears on the problem of the masked gang. I suggest you record it, rather than take notes, because so much has been happening.’
The DC’s eyebrows shot up.
‘I’m not wasting your time,’ said Ellie, holding on to her temper. ‘You’ve been looking at isolated instances of what appears to be juvenile, antisocial behaviour. I’ve been drawn into something larger and nastier, which includes the activities of masked men. Will you hear me out?’
Once the tape was running, Ellie began her story. She kept it as neat and tidy as she could, but it was still over an hour before she finished.
‘So, you see, the masks keep cropping up everywhere. Not just on the juveniles, who presumably were the ones who trashed Mrs Belton’s place and stole her laptop . . . which I’ve brought with me, by the way. You may be able to get fingerprints from it. A mask also crops up on a much older man, who is going around frightening people, using his fists, trying to find Mia through me. My next-door neighbour that was says he’d know the man anywhere, and can supply the registration number of the car he was using when he tried to threaten him. That’s it.’ She laid a card on the table with the number of the car Armand had given her.
Murder in House Page 21