“Is that it?” she asked uncertainly. “Are we done?”
“You’ve sat on this information for fifteen years; it can wait a little bit longer. My advice to you, Miss Grove - and please take this very seriously - is to go home and stay out of trouble. And bump up your security. Something frightened your father enough to make him break cover. I am sure you would agree with me when I say he was not the kind of man to frighten easily.”
Natalie followed the DCI outside. There was a patrol car parked alongside the kerb, but he didn’t offer her a lift. She glanced across the quayside to her apartment block, thinking that at least she didn’t have far to walk, and saw a man standing on the pavement outside. Even at this distance it was easy to recognise Bryn’s dark hair and battered leather jacket.
“Your new boyfriend?” observed DCI Bloom.
“Hardly,” she said, adding without thinking, “I only met him a couple of days ago.”
“Indeed?” The DCI turned his attention back towards her. “In which case, Miss Grove, I suggest you be very, very careful.”
*
It took a moment for Bryn to notice her approach. He was pacing alongside the length of the apartment block, checking the route up the hill every time he reached the corner. Natalie was unsure whether to feel touched at his obvious concern, or completely freaked. When he did finally spot her walking along the quay, he hesitated - perhaps unsure of what reaction he was going to get.
“Hi,” she said, stopping in front of him.
“Where have you been?” he asked. “I tried phoning but your mobile is turned off. When there was no reply at your apartment I got worried.”
She thumbed in the direction of Remedy. “I’ve been helping DCI Bloom with his enquiries. How about you? Did you get to make your statement?”
He gave a wry smile. “We were halfway to the police station and an emergency call out came over the radio. I was dumped by the war memorial, with strict instructions to stay away from the castle and, er - you.”
“Yet here you are.”
His smile turned into an all-out grin. “Guess where I’m going next?”
“Aren’t you the slightest bit worried you might get arrested?”
“Are you? My truck is parked around the corner. We could go to the castle together. Call it a date.”
“I’d rather call it a scam - you only want to use me as an excuse to get past the police.”
“I think you underestimate my ingenuity. Besides, I have a contract to work in the castle grounds and I’m staying at the Lodge. They can hardly keep me out.”
The sound of a car engine starting up disrupted the evening’s silence. Natalie turned her head in time to see the lights of the police patrol car disappear from view. Had the DCI been watching her? Or only pausing to return his missed phone call?
Why would you think we were following you?
“He had a phone call too,” she said. “I think it was important.”
“It was,” Bryn told her. “They’ve found a body at the castle.”
37
Alicia had no idea how she’d got back to the top of the well. A whole lot faster than when she had climbed down, that was for certain. When she’d finally crawled over the top, practically kissing the grass in her relief to be back on the surface, it was to find Lexi had already called out the emergency services in a panic. Within a matter of minutes a police car, an ambulance and a fire engine were all speeding up the castle drive and Alicia suddenly found she had a lot of explaining to do, not least of all to her mother.
So she sent the children home, promising that she’d join them soon, and then assured Clare that she would take care of everything personally, and that of course the police would make good any damage they caused to the newly re-turfed lawn.
Meanwhile the grounds became busy with activity. Huge arc lights were set up to illuminate the garden, and a large tent, which had been pitched on the lawn, soon had a muddy path worn through its entrance. A metal tripod was quickly erected over the top of the well, and a man in a hard hat and harness was now preparing to abseil to the bottom.
And to think, she’d done it wearing old trainers and a length of too-short rope around her waist.
As Alicia watched him descend, the officer-in-charge arrived with a posse. They all wore dark macs and suits, but he was the only one carrying an umbrella. After he’d peered down the well, he swapped the umbrella for a takeaway coffee and disappeared into the tent. With the hood of her coat up against the persistent rain, Alicia felt invisible; even more so when the skeleton was finally brought up, concealed in a body bag.
The rain fell harder. Alicia moved beneath the shelter of the yew trees, further from the action. No grass grew here; the ground was quite dry, almost parched, and thickly covered with dull, red berries, like a sea of blood. Despite her coat she could not stop shivering. Would anyone notice if she left?
Feeling thoroughly fed up, she was about to return to the Old Rectory when she heard footsteps on the gravel path and Natalie emerged from the woods. She had no coat, just a black sweater and jeans, yet the rain didn’t seem to bother her in the slightest. Her white-blonde hair was plastered to her head and her make-up had formed panda rings around her eyes. She still looked gorgeous.
“Hey, Alicia! What’s going on?”
Alicia found she couldn’t speak. Instead she threw her arms around Natalie and hugged her.
Slightly taken aback, Natalie peered down at her. “Are you all right?”
Now she really did feel like crying. Alicia shook her head, fumbling in her pocket for her handkerchief but couldn’t find it. She was about to ask Natalie if she had one, but realised her friend’s attention had been taken by the huge police operation taking place in the centre of the castle lawn. She did not even seem surprised. Had Natalie known they were here?
“Has something happened?” Natalie asked, a little too casually.
There was no reason to lie. “I found a body. A dead one.”
“Where?”
“At the bottom of the well.”
Which ensured Natalie’s full attention. “You what?”
“I found a skeleton at the bottom of the well,” Alicia repeated, sincerely wishing she’d left for home when she’d had the opportunity. “It’s a long story. I climbed down the well and there was this skull - grinning at me.”
“You? You climbed down the well?”
Why did everyone find that so hard to believe? “It wasn’t difficult. There’s a ladder, of sorts, set into the stone and - ”
“Bloody hell!”
“Yes, yes, I know. It was a stupid thing to do, I could have been killed - but enough about that. What are you doing here?”
“We were passing and saw the lights - ”
“We?”
A tall, dark-haired man stepped from the shadow of the ruined chapel. Alicia almost shrieked. Who the hell was this? Certainly he wasn’t Simon - he was several inches, and a lot better looking. Judging from the state of his clothes, he appeared to have been sleeping rough. So did Natalie. What on earth had they been doing?
She waited for Natalie to introduce her and when that failed to happen she politely held out her hand. “How do you do? I’m Alicia Fitzpatrick.”
Natalie frowned. “I thought you knew each other?”
The man hesitated.
Although his dark hair and tanned skin hinted at a Mediterranean ancestry, his eyes were the same greenish-gold as a peridot. Definitely not the kind of man one would forget, thought Alicia, and there did seem to be something familiar about him.
“Have we met?” she asked.
He took her hand and shook it. “I’m Bryn Llewellyn,” he said, as though that ought to mean something. When she continued to regard him blankly, he added, “My company was hired to restore the castle garden?”
Perhaps that was why Natalie thought they knew each other? Didn’t she realise her mother did all the hiring and firing?
“I’m pleased to meet you,
” she said politely.
“The body you found? Had it been there for long?”
Alicia noticed his voice was not quite steady and hoped he wasn’t squeamish. The toughest-looking men often were and she really couldn’t be dealing with that kind of thing at the moment.
“There was no flesh on it,” she said bluntly, and saw him flinch, “but I don’t think it was really old. It had fillings. I could see them glinting. Look, are you all right? You’ve gone awfully pale.”
“I’m fine,” he said, although he was staring at the well as though hypnotised. “How did he get down there?”
“He might have fallen but there’s always been a locked gate over the top.”
“Have you spoken to the police? Do they know?”
“I had rather hoped they would want to speak to me. The chap in charge hasn’t even introduced himself. If it hadn’t been for me, he would never have found the wretched skeleton.”
As though she’d summoned him, the flap of the tent was flung back and the man himself came striding out. “You,” he said, pointing at Bryn. “Come here.”
Bryn seemed frozen to the spot. “Who is it?” he asked, his voice so quiet that even Alicia, standing right next to him, had trouble hearing him. “Do you know?”
The officer closed the distance between them, holding up a small plastic bag inches from Bryn’s face.
“We took this from the remains,” he said. “Do you recognise it?”
Alicia craned forward to see what was inside the bag. It appeared to be a thin metallic chain, which may have once been silver, but was now tarnished black. Attached to this was a small Celtic cross.
Beside her, Bryn swayed on his feet. “Yes.” He slipped his fingers beneath the neckline of his plaid shirt and pulled out an identical silver chain with an identical silver cross hanging from it. “It’s his.”
The officer tucked the bag inside his trench coat. “You need to come with us.” He didn’t give Bryn chance to reply, but turned his attention to Alicia. “Are you Mrs Fitzpatrick?”
“Yes, but - ”
“Legally, the castle belongs to you?”
“Yes, but I don’t see - ”
“In which case, you need to come too.” Unexpectedly he smiled. “Purely voluntarily, of course.”
Alicia did not find the smile reassuring. “I can’t leave my children on their own for that long. My husband is in London and my mother - ”
Her mother was not the child-friendly type.
She felt Natalie touch her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Alicia. I’ll check they’re all right.”
This effectively left her without a valid excuse.
“Excellent,” said the officer, as though her compliance was assured. “If you’d like to follow me, Mrs Fitzpatrick? We have a car waiting.”
What if she said ‘no’? What would they do? Would they arrest her?
“Mrs Fitzpatrick? This is important. You need to come to the station and answer some questions.”
She forced a smile to her lips and attempted to regain the upper hand. “If you think it would help, then of course I will. Tell the children I won’t be long,” she added to Natalie. “And thank you for offering to look after them.”
“No problem, said Natalie.
Alicia followed the police officer to the waiting patrol car, aware that two more were following behind. There was no sign of Bryn, perhaps he was travelling separately - or was he a suspect?
Oh, God - was she?
38
Natalie headed back along the woodland path and through the churchyard to the Old Vicarage. She didn’t even wait for the police cars to leave first, in case DCI Bloom changed his mind and wanted to drag her along for interview too. She needed to gather her thoughts. It was horrible to think of Geraint dying alone and in pain at the bottom of that well. She’d thought he’d been on the run, enjoying life to the full, yet all these years he’d been dead too. Why had no one found him before? And how the hell had he even got down there, when there had been a gate locked over the top?
Of one thing she was certain - Geraint’s death must be connected with her sister’s. Either he had tried to prevent Sarah’s death, and been thrown down the well for his trouble, or he was the murderer and had fallen down it as he fled from the scene. But that would mean he had been running towards the castle.
And that didn’t make sense.
The front door of the Old Vicarage was not locked. Lexi and Will were in the sitting room, lolling on the sofa and eating pizza straight out of the carton. No tables, no cutlery, no napkins - Will even had one foot draped over the arm of the sofa, with a muddy trainer still attached to it. The huge wall-mounted TV - James’s pride and joy - was set to one decibel below deafening and showing a gleefully tacky reality show. Natalie grinned. Alicia would have had a fit!
“Hi, kids,” she shouted over the din. “I came to check you were all right. Any pizza left?”
Lexi barely glanced up. “Loads.”
Natalie headed for the kitchen, which was littered with more discarded food cartons. She stuck some pizza and garlic bread into the oven to reheat, and then set about tidying up, putting the leftovers into plastic containers and storing them in the fridge. Alicia should be impressed. She didn’t even do this kind of thing in her own home, preferring to let her cleaner take care of it. But keeping herself occupied meant she didn’t have the time to think about Geraint or her father.
Simon had said John’s death in the fire had been on the news, but presumably Alicia had not seen it or she would have mentioned it. Once the media found out her father had come back from the dead, only to die in a shoot-out with the police, every morsel of gossip about her family would be everywhere. She’d wanted to stir things up with her talk about Sarah’s ‘diary’, to rattle memories in the hope someone would remember something about the night her sister had died. She hadn’t wanted this at all.
There were some secrets she didn’t want to come out.
The kitchen had a small TV and she switched it on to check the local news, but there was nothing about either the skeleton being found down the well, or of her father being shot, so she switched over to an old movie. By ten o’clock she’d eaten the pizza and was about to return to the sitting room and assert her authority, when Will wandered in, looking disgruntled.
“Lexi kicked me out of the sitting room. She wants to watch her vampire thing. Mum spilt coffee over the computer, so I can’t go on the Internet. I’m bored.”
“You could go to bed,” Natalie suggested.
Will considered it. “I suppose so. But Mum always reads me a bedtime story.”
“OK, we’ll do a deal. You put your pyjamas on in five minutes and I’ll be right up to read to you. Better hurry!”
He shot off upstairs.
She gave him a fifteen minute head start before following him.
Will’s room was crammed full of the latest, most expensive toys, most of which were scattered carelessly across the floor. He was hunched over a pile of Lego but glanced up when she came in, his curly ginger hair flopping over his forehead. For a split second he looked exactly like Alicia.
“Today was the best day ever,” he said and, when he was sure Natalie understood the joke, he grinned mischievously.
She tried to appear a responsible adult. “I think the skeleton gave your mother a bit of a shock. Weren’t you scared?”
“No, it was brilliant! Do you think she’d let me go down the well tomorrow and have a look?”
Natalie didn’t like to tell him the police had already brought the skeleton to the surface. “I think that might be a bit dangerous.”
“Mum did it!”
“God knows how … ”
“There’s no water in it and it’s not deep. There are rungs to hold onto and everything. Just like in my book.”
Had she missed something? “What book?”
Will dived beneath the bed and emerged, covered in dust, triumphantly brandishing a tattered hardcover book.
It had lost its dust jacket and the spine had been inexpertly repaired with sticky tape, which was already peeling off.
Natalie was tempted to chuck it into the bin but blew the dust off and pretended to look impressed. She thought it would be a book about medieval Britain, or even a guide to Hurst Castle. Instead, she found herself holding an old children’s book.
“Enid Blyton?” She would have thought Will would be reading the latest Anthony Horowitz. “Haven’t you got anything a bit more 21st century?”
Will was disapproving. “It belonged to Mum.”
“Why am I not surprised?” She examined the cover again. The book was called The Ring O’Bells Mystery and showed an illustration of four children peering into a wishing well. “I would have thought you’d had enough of wells, William Vyne Fitzpatrick!”
“No way! Are you going to read it to me? Please?” Sensing weakness, Will hopped into bed.
He had marked his place in the book with an old leather bookmark. It was blue and had the logo of Hurst Castle printed on it in gold. Something else which had belonged to his mother?
She sat on the edge of the bed, opened the book and began to read, but before she could finish the chapter, Will had fallen asleep. She tucked him in and tiptoed out, closing the door softly behind her.
Lexi was waiting for her at the top of the stairs. Her silver eye make-up had streaked across her cheeks.
“I tried watching True Blood but I kept nodding off,” she grumbled. “So you can tell my dear mother, if she ever comes back, that I’ve gone to bed, OK?”
“OK,” Natalie said, hiding a smile. “I’ll do that. Goodnight.”
Lexi grunted a response. As she entered her bedroom, there was a brief glimpse of black walls and purple fairy lights, and then the door closed.
Natalie remembered her own bedroom back at the Lodge, with its stark white walls, creaking floorboards and ever-present atmosphere of fear. She and Sarah had never been allowed to wear make-up, or revealing clothes - which of course they did the moment they left the house - or even date boys. Perhaps this was why they had both gone so spectacularly off the rails? Did Lexi realise how lucky she was, to have that freedom of choice, to be part of a loving family, when her life could have been so different?
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