“Clare! You’re outrageous, do you know that? You haven’t changed since the first day I met you! By the way, where are our film stars? Have they left? I presumed Andrew would have tagged along with them.”
Clare looked smug. “Of course, but then would you expect anything else from me? Yes, Johnny and Jessica have been interviewed. They’ve left telephone numbers in case they’re needed again, but I doubt it. Andrew? He came down by train. He loves this area and has spent a number of weekends with the Macphersons recently, so he’ll not mind staying. Mind you, I rather suspect our Dark Lady fancies him somewhat, so that may have something to do with it,” she said with a grin followed by a grimace. “Poor him! But there’s nowt as queer as folk, is there?”
“Really? I’d never have thought that of Isabelle,” Diana gasped. “I always get the impression she thinks sex is a dirty word.”
“Maybe she does. Wouldn’t stop her wanting a quick shag now and again though, would it?”
“How do you know all this anyway?”
“Me and Russell have known Andrew for years. I met him when I had my first part in a minor film. It never did very well, but that’s by the by. Anyhow, if I remember correctly, I introduced Andrew to Russell at some goddam awful party in Fulham years and years ago. I suppose, like with me, they’ve kept in touch ever since. One never knows when one might need a producer on their side,” she said with a knowing glint in her eye. Clare took a sip of her drink and looked round at the company gathered there. “This is a rum to-do when you think about it. We’ve all witnessed a death which makes no sense whatsoever, and of a girl who was stunningly pretty, but with a bit of a vacuum for a brain. Sure she may have had a few people who were jealous of her rise to stardom, but hardly enough to want to do away with her.”
Diana nodded in agreement. “Duncan is devastated. I’ve never seen someone age in an hour.”
“His problem is he never knows when to keep his dick in his pants, stupid man.”
Just at that moment, Isabelle walked in. She had changed her clothes, and Diana realised it was her third outfit of the day. With her hair freshly washed and smelling of some exotic scent, she cut a figure far different from the others sitting in their crumpled and sweaty clothes. Moreover, when Isabelle gazed around at the group, apart from appearing as fresh as a daisy, she was no longer looking scared and twitchy. Instead, she was relaxed and self-possessed, and Diana noticed she was wearing a smile of satisfaction plastered across her face.
Diana realised with a jolt she was watching a woman who had been alarmed and jittery that afternoon. Regarding her now, an outsider would say she looked not the slightest bit worried about the day’s disaster and shocking event. She couldn’t help glancing over to Clare, and when she gave her the slightest nod and wink, Diana knew she was thinking exactly the same.
Chapter 11
Diana woke early and wondered what had interrupted her dream. The sun was up, and flickers of light shone through the gaps between the drapes adorning the windows. Motes of dust caught on a zephyr of breeze, twirled like golden fairies across the room.
Steve was lying sprawled on his back on her side of the bed, dead to the world, and it irritated her that something had woken her and not him. Feeling peeved, she gave him a little poke with her foot, and he was instantly awake.
As he stretched, yawned, and gave her a dazzling loving smile, she immediately felt mean.
“I suppose you woke me up to make your tea?” he asked, rolling onto one side and looking down at her. Di gave him a cheeky grin in reply.
“I thought so. You don’t want my body then?” He ran a slow, lingering hand over her breasts and down between her legs.
Diana wriggled. “No, it’s far too early, and I need a drink because I’m dehydrated. I drank far too much wine when I was talking with Clare last night. I don’t know why, because I was ready for bed. But she and I were nattering for ages. She’s a real scream, and you’ll never guess…”
“What?”
“She’s got the raging hots for Adam!”
Steve laughed. “Poor him. I don’t fancy his chances. Once Clare gets a hankering for something, only wild beasts can stop her, and even then I’m not so sure.”
“She asked me if I minded, and I said, no, of course not.”
“Aha.”
“Really, I don’t.” Diana got up and trotted into the bathroom. Perched on the loo, she thought back to her relationship with Adam when she was still in her mid-twenties. She had known him long before Steve joined the drama company. Diana was playing a part in a comedy, and Adam had been in the audience on the opening night. He told her later, when they met in the bar after another performance, that he was attracted to her when she first stepped onto the stage. Apparently, he watched four performances before tracking her down at the theatre side door and asking her out on a date.
Diana washed her face and hands, dragging a comb through her hair before brushing her teeth. She glanced at herself in the mirror above the washbasin, wondering if she looked as jaded as she felt this morning. She had smudges of circles under her eyes, but nothing more than usual. She tried smiling, and her face immediately looked younger. She fleetingly wondered if Adam still found her attractive. He once told her she was the most beautiful girl he had ever been out with.
After their first date together, Adam was smitten; within a month, he took her up in a brightly coloured balloon where they floated high over the hills. When he produced an expensive looking diamond engagement ring Diana felt a mixture of emotions. She was thrilled, mostly. Adam was proposing and in such a romantic way above the countryside and in a hot-air balloon. For the first time in her life, Diana was in love, and she was almost beside herself when discovering Adam felt the same. Tongue-tied and holding back tears of joy, she could only nod her acceptance when he gathered her up in his arms.
“Tea’s made,” Steve called from the bedroom, breaking into her reverie. “I thought we’d have it on our balcony.”
“Okay, I won’t be a minute.” So what had gone wrong?
Adam was probably the most ambitious man Diana had ever met and consequently worked long hours. He was also unbending when he suspected something was amiss and never left the problem until he could nail his suspect. Over the months, it began to dawn on Diana just what it was going to be like married to a police officer and one who put his career first. When Adam’s working day became even longer and he started cancelling dates, Di was at first perplexed, then suspicious, and finally angry. The final straw came early one evening when she called into the Cheltenham police station in Talbot House. Knowing his shift hours and that Adam would be off duty very soon, Di thought she would surprise him. When she asked the desk officer if she could speak to Adam, he informed her he was already having a pint in the pub down the road while debriefing one of his constables. Di knew which pubs Adam liked and made her way to the Lansdowne Bar.
She found Adam in a cosy booth tucked away in a corner of the snug bar with his tongue down the throat of his debriefed officer. Incensed, Di thought it wouldn’t be long before Adam debriefed the girl in another way. Picking up his pint of bitter, she threw it over the pair of them; the plate of nuts on their table followed for good measure, and then she stalked out.
Adam tried to make amends, but when Diana returned his ring and all the other little trinkets he had given her during their six months together, he finally took the hint: Diana was having no more of him. She felt bruised and thoroughly cheated and vowed to have nothing more to do with men ever!
When she had finished in the bathroom, Diana wandered outside and found Steve already sitting at the small table on their balcony sipping his tea. He looked strong and vital, and her heart did its usual flip. Although she hadn’t meant to look at men after Adam, when Steve arrived in Cheltenham, she fell for him almost at once. So much for being off men, she thought at the time.
“Why the smile?” he asked once she sat down next to him.
“I was just thinking
about when we first met. If you remember, I’d given Adam the elbow, and I was completely anti men. Until you came along, that is.”
Steve grinned. “And it was just as well I did. I proved to you that not all men are the same. Some of us are perfect, Mrs Rivers.”
She made a face at his tease, lifted her cup, and looked down across the grass towards the maze and beyond. It was a beautiful morning: wisps of mist lay in the bottom of the valley, and the tips of the trees in the nearby woods were burnished with golden glints from the rising sun. Wild rabbits nibbled along the edge of the grass, ready to bolt into hiding if a predator came into view. A huge flock of geese flew overhead, splash-landing on the lake with splayed feet and coasting to a stop, their ‘hrronk’ making a fearful din and faintly reaching Steven and Di’s ears even from that distance.
A figure by the lakeside, near to the weeping willow trees, stood watching the geese for a moment. Diana immediately sat up and narrowed her eyes.
“Who’s that? Down by the lake?”
Steve followed her gaze. “I don’t know. It’s impossible to see from this distance. It could be anyone, and I can’t even tell if it’s a man or woman, as he or she’s wearing trousers.”
“It looks like that person’s wearing a hoodie, and although some way off, I don’t think he or she’s exceptionally tall,” she said and then settled back in her chair. “So we’re not the only ones who like the early mornings. If I was feeling more energetic, I might suggest a run around the lake.”
Steve snorted into his tea. “You haven’t done that for ages. I don’t think you could now if you tried.”
“I bet you I can, and what’s more, I bet I could outrun you any time.”
Steve replaced his cup onto the table and gave her a smug look. “Right then. You’re on. This is going to be so easy. Have you got any trainers with you?”
Diana looked worried. “Yes. What you mean, go now?”
“Isn’t that what you just said? You intimated an early-morning run round the lake. So come on, put your money where your mouth is, we’ll get some gear on and go.”
***
Twenty minutes later, an out-of-condition and puffing Diana wished she had learnt to keep her mouth shut more often. Her footsteps were getting heavier, and she felt the beginnings of a stitch in her side. She stopped when they reached the stump of an old oak jutting over the water.
“Sorry,” she wheezed. “But I must have a rest.” She bent over, hands on hips trying to get her breathing under control. “Phew. That was getting tough. I never realised the slope was so steep this side. Just a few minutes rest, please.”
“It’s all right. Take your time. I don’t feel any better, if that helps. Diana we’re getting old! We must be so unfit. I tell you what, once we get back home to Cyprus, we’re going on a fitness campaign. Running and swimming, and I’ll get those old bikes working and back on the road again.” He looked determined and, Diana noted with something like alarm, really enthusiastic.
She smiled weakly. “Great.”
“It will be just like old times. Fitter, slimmer, and I’ll even try out those weights you bought me for Christmas. Come on we’ll walk for a bit, and then when you’ve got your breath under control, we’ll run the last leg in.”
“It’s funny how this lake is a lot larger once you run round it,” she grumbled. She caught his look. “Okay, I’m only joking. It’s a glorious morning, and I’m glad we made the effort. Isn’t the grass wet? There’s been heavy dew overnight.”
They walked the full circuit of the lake and eventually reached the spot where they had seen the other early-morning riser. They could see footprints quite clearly in the wet grass. Turning their backs to the lake, they looked to where the house rose above the slope, imposing against a backdrop of ancient woodland. It was around seven, and someone else was enjoying the early morning, because they could clearly see a figure enter the maze.
“Did you see who it was? It might be the person we saw earlier?” Steve asked.
Di shook her head. “I can’t be absolutely sure, but it could have been. We’re a bit too far away. I get the feeling it was a woman though.”
“You could be right. There aren’t many left—apart from you, there’s just Clare, Isabelle, and Joanna.”
“And the staff—Mrs Smith, the housekeeper, for one. But I doubt if she’d waste any of her sleep time wandering over the estate in the early morning. She still looks as sour as she did when we were last here. Maybe working for Isabelle has something to do with it. There’s something I haven’t mentioned to you. Last night when Isabelle came into the drawing room just before we went up to bed, she had the look on her face as if nothing horrible had happened yesterday afternoon. Can you believe that?”
Steve glanced across at Diana. “Maybe I can. She’s as cold as ice that one. But Di, you’re not seriously suggesting she had anything to do with Caroline’s accident are you?”
Diana didn’t answer for a minute while she considered his words. She had thought it and so had Clare, but was it really that simple?
She answered him carefully while she thought. “I’m not sure what I’m suggesting. Isabelle clearly disliked Caroline because of her relationship with Duncan, and I don’t want to point the finger of blame at anyone, but when I was talking to Clare, she also intimated that she thought Isabelle couldn’t have cared less. Clare also said she thought Isabelle and Andr—”
Steve cut in before she finished what she was saying. “There’s the boathouse. It looks a picture waiting to be sketched or painted in this light. Your sister would love the opportunity to be here with her pad.”
Thinking of Elaine made her smile. She was rarely without a pad or paintbrush in her hand. By mutual consent they wandered in the direction of the building. The motorboat was still moored to the jetty, and the rowing boat was pulled up on the beach where Steve and Di had left it, except there was a ring of yellow crime-scene tape around it.
“It makes the whole thing sinister, don’t you think, seeing that tape?”
After pausing by the boat for a moment they walked towards the boathouse. The door was unlocked and ajar, and without a thought they stepped inside. It looked much the same as the day before, with the exact same smell of mouldering wood and plaster. A pigeon flew from a hole in the top of a wall and fluttered around their heads before escaping through the doorway. Diana gave a squeak.
“That gave me a fright, silly thing.”
The light was brighter in the building this morning, and Steve and Diana could see for themselves the state of the roof and walls.
“The place actually looks a lot better than Isabelle made out. Sure, the roof slopes, but the beams look sturdy enough. A few days’ work and Duncan could have this shipshape in no time.” Steve said while taking a good look around the place.
“There’s something missing from the work bench,” Di said, pointing to the far wall and wandering over to get a better look. Steve joined her and glanced at the few remaining tools.
“I can’t exactly remember what was here yesterday.”
“The hammer and chisel were here, and a few nails and old paintbrushes, but something else has gone. What was—got it! There was a screwdriver here too. Maybe the police took it?”
“Probably. Shall we go back now? I’m getting hungry after all that exercise.”
“Shall we jog again?” she said, knowing full well what his answer would be. When he pretended not to hear and walked away from the building, she chuckled to herself. That was typical of all men: full of talk.
***
Steve and Di took a long shower, dressed, and went down to join the others for breakfast. By now, it was nearly nine o’clock, and everyone was there except Isabelle and Duncan—which was to be expected. Di did a quick mental calculation and discovered Andrew was also missing. Perhaps he’s taking it easy and having breakfast in bed, she thought. He seemed the type who would prefer his own company and newspaper rather than chattering with a load of people
he hardly knew. According to Steve, who had spent some time with him the previous night, he gave the impression of being more a businessman than a sociable one.
Di said ‘good morning’ and looked round the table. She noticed Joanna looking like she had spent the night crying, and Sebastian was still pale and downcast. His manner was so subdued, Di was positive Caroline and he had been a secret couple, or if not, then they would have been in the near future.
Clare was acting her normal self, tucking into a large dish of fresh fruit and yoghurt and flirting with Russell, while a passive Patrick was ignoring everyone and fiddling with some scrambled egg. He looked even more scruffy than usual. His attempt at shaving looked like he had used a penknife rather than a razor. Diana wondered what the tidy and conventional Joanna saw in the sloppy man and realised that sometimes love was quite blind.
4 Camera ... Action ... Murder! Page 9