Still Death (A Lexie Wyatt murder mystery Book 1)

by Shauna Bickley

  ‘It suits me for the moment. Anyway, about meeting Caroline.’

  ‘She arrived promptly, although, as I discovered, it wasn’t her job. We took the photos. Previously I’d made Veronica agree only one photo would appear in the magazine, but the photographer wanted to take several to select the best. They had the room set up with lights when I arrived, but then Veronica decided she wanted something different and made them move some of the furniture around. I ended up standing by an antique table they put beneath a painting. That was the shot they eventually used. Veronica left as soon as we’d finished. I felt so sorry about the way she’d treated Caroline that I spoke to her for a few minutes and then we went out for a coffee together. She was a lovely girl. It was during our conversation I realised she was the Caroline that Alec had talked about. I was pleased I’d had the opportunity to meet her. I emailed Alec and told him she was a lovely young woman.’

  Caroline must have recognised the painting when they moved the lights. Not that it mattered now. However, from what Dominique said, Caroline hadn’t reacted to seeing the painting.

  Dominique was still talking. ‘I rarely take any notice of the news and I didn’t know anything about Caroline’s death until Alec told me. The last time he rang he told me about your visit. He was deliberately vague at first, but at one point he mentioned your name and then it seemed too much like serendipity.’

  If this conversation had occurred before Lexie’s visit to Peter’s house, she’d be excited, but Peter’s fakes couldn’t have anything to do with Caroline’s death.

  ‘What I don’t understand,’ continued Dominique, ‘is your involvement in this. Did you know Caroline also?’

  Lexie shook her head. She wasn’t keen on telling anyone about Patrick but she felt an obligation to this woman. Dominique had a very intense stare, and as Lexie explained how she’d met Patrick and what he had told her she felt a little intimidated.

  ‘You are very much your parents’ daughter,’ said Dominique when Lexie finished. ‘Your mother is the most caring person I have ever known.’

  ‘Dad has a lot of good points, too.’

  ‘He has always been guided by a strict sense of what is right.’ Dominique’s phone beeped and she looked at it for a moment before standing. ‘This is bad timing. I’m sorry, but I have to go now. Please listen to me, until Alec rang I hadn’t realised you were involved in this.’

  ‘What is “this” exactly?’ asked Lexie.

  ‘I don’t have time now, and there is too much at stake to say more. Do not do anything else. This isn’t the place for someone who has so much to lose.’

  Lexie was sure her bewilderment must have shown on her face.

  Dominique pulled her car keys out of the small leather clutch bag. ‘Live your life and enjoy your family. Don’t be the person who only realises the importance of those things after they’re gone.’

  What on earth was she trying to say?

  Dominique disappeared into the house while Lexie was still trying to make sense of everything. She hurried after Dominique, but she was already in the car. The engine roared into life and Dominique drove away. Lexie stood by her garden tubs and stared down the lane at the disappearing car.

  She hated hints and suggestions. If Dominique had something to tell her, she should just say exactly what was on her mind. Nothing made sense.

  As she stood there, a four-wheel drive vehicle tore along the lane; tyres screeched as the driver braked hard and turned up the track alongside their property. It was Jed’s Land Rover, but Veronica was driving and had a woman passenger. Veronica usually drove her convertible, but if she knew she was going up the track she wouldn’t want to take the sports car up there.

  Lexie stared at the rear of the car and the dust it raised. Veronica visiting Miriam. That was strange. A sick feeling clenched her stomach. When her Dad rang, she’d been in Veronica’s office at Longcross House. She had walked into the lounge to take the call, but Veronica would still be able to hear her. What had she said? Stupid. Stupid. There was enough in the conversation for Veronica to get interested. Her father had lost the information and so she had mentioned both Miriam and Richard’s name. Veronica couldn’t have wasted any time at all. Her dad had only rung her an hour or so ago, but he was busy on other things, whereas when Veronica had the scent of a scandalous story, she’d wouldn’t waste any time digging out the details.

  Now wasn’t the time to walk to Miriam’s. Lexie dashed into the house and grabbed her bag, pulling out the keys as she ran to the car. It stalled on her first attempt to start it. Damn she was being too dramatic and hadn’t turned the key properly. She had to do a three-point turn to get out of their driveway as she’d been lazy when she got back that morning.

  Miriam’s front door wasn’t quite closed and Lexie didn’t bother knocking. She followed the sound of voices into the living room.

  Goodness knows what Veronica thought she was doing, probably trying out an American daytime television thing and reuniting families. But Miriam didn’t want to be reunited.

  ‘I’m in charge here, Alexandra,’ said Veronica, when she caught sight of her in the doorway. ‘No need for your help.’

  ‘Is this your doing?’ The expression on Miriam’s face, somewhere between fear and anger, was now aimed directly at Lexie.

  ‘Veronica, you don’t know what you’ve started here. You don’t know the full story.’

  ‘I’m sure I do. I’ve been talking to Janice Dance.’ Veronica gestured at the woman who’d been in the car with her. ‘What you don’t realise is that we have a murderer in our midst. We’ve come to get Grace for her own protection and then we’ll call the police.’

  ‘Get out of here, you bitch,’ yelled Miriam. Lexie wasn’t sure whether it was aimed at Veronica or Richard’s mother, or both. ‘She’s not having Grace.’

  Janice Dance bared her teeth in what might have been a smile but looked more like a snarl. ‘You’re not getting away again. You killed my son and you’re going to rot in hell. You’ll never see Grace again.’

  Even Veronica paled at the malevolence in Janice’s tone. ‘We’ll just get Grace and make sure she’s safe. The police will be able to sort things out and you’ll get the justice you deserve.’

  ‘Justice. She’s not after justice.’ Miriam’s voice was quiet now, but the fear in her tone frightened Lexie.

  Janice pulled a knife out of her bag. ‘I want revenge.’

  Before Lexie could move, Janice shoved Miriam over to the wall and pushed the point of the knife against her throat.

  ‘Get Grace now.’ Janice nodded towards Veronica but Lexie responded.

  ‘I’ll go. Grace hasn’t met Veronica, she’ll get scared, but she knows me.’

  Janice nodded. ‘What are you waiting for?’

  Lexie glanced at Veronica, her face was white and her eyes wide with fear. Lexie took a breath and sidled past Janice and Miriam.

  She ran upstairs and looked into the first room, obviously Miriam’s. She hurried past the bathroom and checked the second bedroom. Grace was there playing with her dolls.

  Lexie pulled her mobile out of her pocket and went back to Miriam’s room as she rang the police. Thank goodness Janice hadn’t checked whether she had a phone. She told the operator what had happened and begged her to get the police there fast but not to use their sirens.

  She went back into Grace’s bedroom. The girl was immersed in her dolls and probably hadn’t heard the commotion downstairs. She didn’t have much time or Janice would get suspicious. What should she say to Grace to keep her safe but that wouldn’t scare her?

  ‘Hello, Grace, I’m here visiting your Mum with a couple of other ladies. I think we might play hide and seek soon. Do you know somewhere to hide where the other ladies won’t find you?’

  The girl blinked and looked at Lexie for the longest time before nodding. ‘I’ll need some help for the best hiding place.’

  ‘Where’s that?’

  The girl opened her wardrobe
and pointed to a hatch door in the ceiling.

  ‘Have you been up there before? Is the floor safe for you?’

  Grace nodded. ‘Mummy and I put some things up there when we first moved here.’ Lexie grabbed a chair and placed it in the wardrobe opening. Fortunately the hatch door moved easily. The floor of the attic area looked far stronger than the tiny attic in their house in Primrose Hill. Grace climbed up onto the chair and Lexie hoisted her into the attic space.

  ‘Will you be okay up there?’ Under normal circumstances she’d never think of letting Grace climb up into the attic. Tilly would be screaming just at the thought.

  ‘Can I have my torch, please?’

  Lexie looked around and saw a pink torch sitting on the bedside table. She hurried over and got it for Grace.

  ‘Please be quiet and don’t make any noise.’ The poor child hardly said anything as it was. ‘You’ll only need to be there for about ten minutes and then your mum and I will come and get you.’

  ‘Then can I go and play with Tilly?’

  Lexie smiled. ‘We’ll have to ask your mum, but I think it will be okay. Now I have to go downstairs. Put the torch on while I pull the hatch door over. I’ll be back in a few minutes.’

  What would child agencies make of this? But it was the only thing she could think of. She had to get back to the others before Janice went totally crazy. Veronica wouldn’t be in a fit enough state to do anything.

  ‘You took your time.’ The words from Janice were almost a snarl.

  ‘I couldn’t find her.’ Lexie desperately hoped that Miriam would understand what she was trying to do.

  ‘Where is she?’ Janice scraped the knife against Miriam’s throat and a drop of blood appeared, vivid against the white of Miriam’s skin.

  ‘She’s probably outside playing. It’s such a lovely day.’ Grace was safe for a few minutes, but Lexie didn’t know how to deflect Janice’s attention.

  ‘I don’t trust you.’ Janice’s look was wild. Lexie had never seen anything like it before. ‘You go and look outside.’ She pointed towards Veronica, but as she did, she must have loosened her grip on Miriam. Miriam kicked Janice’s legs and swung away from her. The knife clattered onto the floor. Lexie dived to push it into the corner away from Janice.

  Whatever semblance of sanity Janice still had deserted her and she screamed wildly at Miriam.

  A police car careered over the gravel. Two policemen leapt out and ran towards the house as another police car came up the track. Janice’s threats were now an incomprehensible stream of bile and invective.

  Lexie pointed at the knife on the floor. ‘She was threatening Miriam with that knife.’

  Janice Dance punched, scratched and kicked both the first arriving police officers, so they were in no mood to listen to her, even if she had been capable of rational conversation.

  ‘Where’s Grace?’ There was a light trickle of blood on Miriam’s skin.

  ‘I helped her climb into the attic through the hatch in her bedroom.’

  Miriam disappeared upstairs. Lexie explained to the police that Janice had tried to take Grace. She gave them her father’s name and phone number and told them he would be able to fill in any more details they might need.

  When the police wanted to speak to Miriam, Lexie went upstairs to stay with Grace. Miriam thought the sight of Grace would worsen Janice’s state, although Lexie guessed Miriam was more worried about Grace seeing Janice in their house.

  When the police had gone, Lexie came downstairs with Grace.

  ‘Is the hide-and-seek game over?’ Grace asked.

  Miriam glanced at Lexie but then must have realised how Lexie had persuaded Grace to hide in the attic. ‘Yes, it is. Sorry it wasn’t a very long game. Help yourself to a snack and play with your dolls in the living room.’

  Veronica had been quiet through most of the commotion, her botoxed face white under the fake tan, but as the police drove away with Janice, Veronica nodded at Miriam. ‘What about her?’

  Lexie shook her head, she felt utterly exhausted.

  The women were silent until Grace settled herself in the other room. Miriam sat so she could see Grace. ‘What have you done?’ Miriam’s tone was sad and resigned, not angry.

  ‘You’re protecting a murderer,’ hissed Veronica to Lexie.

  ‘No, I’m not, Miriam didn’t murder Richard.’

  Miriam looked as surprised as Veronica. Lexie stared at her, and then sighed. ‘That’s why you hid away. You thought you had.’

  Miriam nodded. ‘That’s what Janice kept telling me. I rang her and she screamed at me to give myself up. To let her have Grace. That her granddaughter shouldn’t be brought up by a murderer. But in spite of what I’d done, I knew I was a better mother than she could ever be.’

  There was silence in the room for a moment. Miriam looked down at her hands, speaking in a monotone as if reliving the night again.

  ‘When Richard and I were first together it was wonderful, but it lasted such a short time. When he was happy, there was nobody like him, but I should have known it couldn’t last. He wasn’t just happy, that’s too normal a word to use. Exhilaration, joy, ecstasy — I don’t know what you’d call it — but the opposite was that he had black moods. To begin with they didn’t last long and he was able to pull himself out of them, but once I had Grace the depression took over. It consumed him.’

  Lexie glanced at Veronica to make sure she was taking this in.

  ‘Richard loved Grace,’ said Miriam. ‘But he was so jealous, thinking I loved her more than him. By the time she was toddling around, he kept accusing me of having affairs, of sleeping with anyone I so much as glanced at. Then he got it into his head Grace wasn’t his. He threatened me, and then he hit me. I knew that was it, and I couldn’t stay with him any longer. I’d lost all the love I had for him, and I was worried he’d hurt Grace, especially if he thought she wasn’t his child. I got some money together and packed our things, but he came home and found me. He was totally out of it. He’d threatened me a couple of times since the first time he hit me, but that night he picked up a kitchen knife. I knew from the look in his eyes this time it wasn’t a threat. We fought. I kept trying to push the knife away from me. I had hold of his arm and we were struggling back and forth. I managed one final heave and he staggered back a few steps. There was blood all over his hands and shirt. I was so scared of him at that moment I just grabbed Grace and ran. A couple of days later I rang Janice to find out how he was, but she just screamed down the phone at me that I’d killed him. I’d killed her son, and she would see me in hell.’

  ‘But it was self-defence.’ Veronica looked at Miriam. ‘No one would convict you of murder.’

  ‘They would with Janice testifying,’ said Miriam bitterly. ‘She swore she’d do whatever it took to get Grace away from me.’

  ‘You didn’t kill Richard.’ Lexie reached across the table and patted Miriam’s hand. ‘If you’d gone to the police they would have told you that.’

  ‘I don’t understand. How can you be so sure?’

  ‘You said Richard was holding the knife and you were both struggling. Your hand was on his, rather than on the knife, so you couldn’t feel what happened. It was a surface wound. It might have bled a lot, but it didn’t do any real damage. Richard cleaned it up after you’d gone. That fight must have brought him to some sort of sense, even if it might only have been temporary. He left a note describing how he’d tried to stab you, how sorry he was and that he couldn’t trust himself around you or Grace, and how he couldn’t cope with the depression any more. He took a pile of pills and alcohol. That’s what killed him, it wasn’t you.’

  Miriam’s mouth dropped open. ‘But Janice said…’

  ‘Apparently she plagued the police, telling them you’d killed Richard. She wouldn’t believe anything they said. Wouldn’t believe the letter Richard left. He’d been seeing a counsellor.’

  Miriam nodded. ‘I knew that, but not who it was.’

  ‘The
counsellor told them Richard had talked about killing himself. About how the darkness would descend on him as if it were consuming him.’

  ‘All this time, I’ve been tormented with guilt, thinking I’d killed him and that the police were looking for me. She let me believe it.’

  Lexie sighed. ‘I’m not on Janice’s side, but after seeing her today I’d guess she’s well beyond understanding the truth. She couldn’t cope with the thought Richard had killed himself. She wanted to believe it was your fault.’

  Miriam pressed her hand to her mouth, but a sob escaped. Lexie shuffled her chair around the table and this time gave Miriam a hug. She looked at Veronica and nodded her head towards the door. Veronica took the hint and left.

  ‘How do you know all this?’ asked Miriam.

  Now the commotion and confusion was over, Lexie felt exhausted. She cringed at Miriam’s question but had to own up to her part in this mess.

  She explained about finding the photo of Miriam and Richard, and asking her father to help. ‘When he rang me back, I was at Veronica’s house. I never thought about her listening in to the conversation, or doing something like this. I am really sorry.’ If Miriam threw her out and never wanted to talk to her again she would understand.

  ‘You have caused a lot of trouble, but if you hadn’t I would have continued thinking I’d killed Richard. So thank you for that. It’s a huge relief.’

  ‘All of this has been dreadful. I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to be on your own just now. Why don’t you and Grace come back to my place?’

  Miriam looked around her kitchen. ‘Thanks for the offer, but we’re okay.’

  It was no more than she deserved. Lexie got up and pushed the chair back under the table.

  ‘Just for now, that is,’ said Miriam. ‘I will bring Grace to play with Tilly.’

  Lexie smiled at her. ‘Good, I’m glad about that. Tilly will be as well.’