Before Ellie could close the door, a large, expensive car drew up. Monique got out, moving awkwardly and with her stick much in evidence.
A second car edged into the drive. Evan got out. He was looking frail. Perhaps he hadn’t slept well, worrying about bogies and ghouls on the landing outside his bedroom? Ellie was amused by the thought and then told herself she ought not to laugh at other people’s phobias.
Out of the passenger seat of Evan’s car came Trish’s husband, Terry, looking tousled as to hair and short as to temper. Last of all meek-looking, rat-faced Rupert emerged from the back. Trust him to get a lift, so that he didn’t waste petrol driving to the meeting!
So Monique had managed to bring all the remaining husbands while Ellie was short of two on her side. Where was Diana? And how long was Russet going to be?
Ellie ushered Monique and the men into the fire-blackened hall and was grimly amused when they blenched and said ‘Faugh!’ or words to that effect.
‘Yes,’ she said, ‘that’s what the remains of a fire looks like, and we got off lightly. This way,’ and she indicated they go into the dining room, while she called out to the women that the men had arrived.
Barbie and Trish came down the stairs together. They gave the impression of holding hands, even though they were not actually doing so. Kat cut short her hoovering and came, too.
Ellie put her head round the door into the sitting room to find Rafael doing something complicated on his laptop. He was abstracted, didn’t take his eyes off the screen, but said, ‘Leave the dining-room door open so I can hear if you call for help.’
She nodded and followed the others into the dining room.
As the mistress of ceremonies, Monique had taken the carver’s chair at the head of the table, while the men occupied seats on her right. Barbie, Trish and Kat took seats opposite them. Men on one side and women on the other.
Trish and Terry tangled glances and looked away from one another. Terry smoothed his hair back and reddened. Trish looked down at her hands.
Lesley, in her corner, gave Ellie a narrow-eyed look and pressed buttons on her recording machine.
‘Where’s my wife, then?’ Evan said, barking out his displeasure. ‘Have you got us here under false pretences?’
A porcelain doll figure dressed in a flowered shift with a ruffled neckline appeared in the doorway, carrying a sleepy child in her arms. Her hair, usually cut severely short, had been fluffed out and waved into a becoming frame for artfully made-up eyes and lips. Ripe young motherhood in all its beauty.
‘Great balls of fire!’ Monique stared at the apparition. ‘Hah!’ She slapped the table in front of her. Monique recognized what Diana had done to herself and recorded a knock-out blow for the women’s side.
Diana lowered her eyelids with an almost convincing show of modesty and took a seat next to Barbie.
Evan’s mouth dropped open. Was this vision of motherhood really his businesswoman wife?
Terry gave vent to a whistle.
Rupert was bug-eyed.
Ellie coughed. ‘Well, I think we should start. Russet has gone home to look at the damage. She’ll be along soon, but we don’t need her just yet.’ Ellie took the chair at the end of the table opposite Monique. ‘Are we all sitting comfortably? I’ll serve tea later, when we’ve got over the business part of the meeting. I think we’re all agreed that a series of events which may or may not have started out as a joke, has escalated to arson and murder. Marriages have been wrenched apart, three people nearly lost their lives in a fire last night, and Russet has suffered a nasty burn to her hand. I think it’s time we ask ourselves why?’
The men paid close attention.
Monique said, ‘Why? Well, the women disrespected the men.’
‘No,’ said Ellie. ‘The men neglected the women. The men took them out to the golf club so that their peers could admire their choice of partner, and then left them strictly alone. The women took their revenge lightly. A murder weekend was coming up at the golf club, and th4ey amused themselves by suggesting how they might act if they took part in the make-believe.’
Terry glared at his wife. ‘She suggested shagging me till I had a heart attack. She made fun of me by putting it on an email.’
‘No, she didn’t. That method of murder was Barbie’s suggestion. You didn’t read the emails properly, did you? The women made various suggestions, but they were purely hypothetical. In other words, they were not plotting the deaths of their spouses but taking part in a game.’
‘Come off it! Bunny died in the way Diana proposed, and Trish’s suggestion did for poor old Walt.’
‘Let’s deal with Walt’s death first. Who was it who pushed him down the stairs? That is, if that is what actually happened. We don’t even know that for sure.’
‘Trish, of course.’ Terry leered at his wife.
‘Nonsense,’ said Ellie. ‘She was here all afternoon. As were Barbie, Russet and Kat. Diana was occupied elsewhere. You men are not thinking clearly. If the women didn’t do it – and they didn’t – then who did? Perhaps one of you men?’
‘What!’ Rupert gibbered.
Evan said, ‘Oh, this is priceless!’
Terry sat back in his chair, looking bewildered. ‘You can’t put it on us. Why would we … No, that’s ridiculous!’
‘No more ridiculous than assuming that everything that has happened was done by one or other of your wives. Terry, I assume you have no alibi for yesterday afternoon when Walt died? No, I can see from your expression that you haven’t. Well, your wives do have alibis. Another thing: last night Russet’s house was torched. Russet, Barbie and Russet’s brother narrowly escaped with their lives. This house was also attacked by an arsonist. The women didn’t do it. They alibi one another. So who was responsible? One of you men?’
Monique rapped the table. ‘All right. I get you. The women didn’t do it. But the men didn’t, either. Haven’t you painted yourself into a corner?’
‘I think someone, not anyone in this room, saw the emails and used them to his or her advantage. They wanted someone in this room dead. Or at the least, disgraced. So they took an opportunity to mix up Bunny’s pills.’
The men’s eyes swung to Barbie, who was gripping the table, hard. She said, ‘You are thinking what I’m thinking?’
Ellie said, ‘By great good fortune you’ve still got your handbag, which has accompanied you through fire and slaughter. I asked you to check your movements in the week before Bunny died, to see if anyone else had had an opportunity to meddle with Bunny’s pills.’
Barbie licked her lips. ‘Yes, I did start to check but got distracted.’ She lifted her bag on to the table and extracted her smartphone. ‘He was prescribed five different pills which he was supposed to take at different times of the day, some in the morning, some after lunch and some at night. He simplified matters by taking the lot together when he went to bed.
‘I always filled his box on Monday morning and I did so the week he died. We went out together on Monday to have lunch with friends at a pub in the country. On Tuesday I went into town to meet an old friend for lunch and he played a round of golf. Wednesday I was out in the morning trying to find a suitable present for one of his old aunts’ birthday and he had an appointment in town. I don’t know who with. The name will be on his desk diary in his study and I don’t have that. Wednesday afternoon a couple of people called. I know that because the hall and sitting room stank of a strong scent when I got back, and I had to open the window to get rid of it.’
Monique’s eyebrows rose. ‘Don’t you use a perfume?’
‘Yes, but not such a strong one. It was dense. Not floral.’
Monique said, ‘A neighbour called. So what?’
‘When I went upstairs I saw someone had thrown back the duvet on my neatly-made bed and tossed my nightdress on the floor. Also, they’d used the toilet in my bathroom and left the seat up. There was no trace of the perfume upstairs.’
Silence while everyone thought a
bout that.
Monique said, ‘Bunny might well have left the seat up.’
Barbie shook her head. ‘No. He was good about such things. And don’t say a neighbour might have done it. We have a perfectly good cloakroom downstairs for visitors. I mentioned it to Bunny. We were in a hurry, having a quick bite to eat before we went out to the theatre that evening – an amateur theatrical group, not bad. He said, “Typical! I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow”. Only tomorrow never came because he died that night.’
Barbie threw back her head. ‘I had no reason to kill my husband. I swear it.’
Monique turned to Evan. ‘You’ve known Bunny for ever. What do you think of Barbie’s story?’
‘I don’t know. He didn’t confide in me. I thought he and Barbie were getting on all right, but what do I know?’
Terry was frowning. ‘Not long before he died, he did ask me if I’d made a will. I said no, that I thought I had a good few years in me yet.’
Barbie said, ‘I suppose I have to explain. He made a will in favour of his first wife sometime after they got married. The divorce cancelled that will so he made another in favour of their son, Sam. But the boy grew up so twisted that … in fact, Bunny was beginning to doubt whether he was indeed his son and was going to ask for a DNA test to prove it one way or the other. Anyway, Bunny knew he was getting frail and he wanted to make sure I’d be all right after he went. We discussed his making a new will and I said I would do so, too.’
She choked, coughed and put her hand over her mouth, shaking her head. Mastering her emotion, she said, ‘Can you believe, we joked about how much we’d each leave to charity? He said I’d been a good and faithful servant, and I said … Oh dear. Sorry. This is all a bit … You know?’
Ellie said, softly, ‘I think what triggered Bunny’s death was his resolve to change his will. When Barbie went to the family’s solicitor after his death she was told that he hadn’t signed a new will and that therefore the previous will, leaving everything to Sam, stood. He did not tell her that Bunny had instructed him to make a new will, but I do believe that that was exactly what had happened, probably when he’d had an appointment out early in the week that he died. Only he died before he could sign it.’
Terry pointed his finger at Ellie. ‘If the solicitor can prove intent, then even if Bunny hadn’t actually signed the new will, it has a good chance of being accepted.’
Barbie grimaced. ‘It depends on the solicitor.’
Rupert chirped up. ‘Ridiculous! The whole thing is ridiculous. I’m not going to stay to hear you spouting rubbish. Barbie killed him, following Diana’s instructions.’
Diana gave him a look of melting innocence. ‘Why would I want to kill Bunny?’
‘Exactly,’ said Monique, giving Rupert a dark look. ‘Barbie didn’t gain by his death, and neither did Diana.’
Ellie said, ‘So who did gain from his death?’
Another silence. Everyone’s eyes switched to and fro.
Terry turned his head to look at Rupert. He looked puzzled. ‘Rupert?’
Rupert gobbled. He thrust back his chair. ‘How dare you! I didn’t have anything to do with it. I didn’t know anything about it.’
‘No,’ said Ellie, ‘all you did was put a match to the touch paper. You showed those emails to someone connected with the group. Fenella, wasn’t it?’
Silence. Rupert folded his arms and shut his mouth tight.
Barbie sighed. ‘Fenella is poison, and I’m not just referring to the strong perfume she wears. And her son is a spoilt brat who snorts anything he can lay his hands on.’
Rupert banged on the table. ‘You have no proof! None! Fenella is a dear woman whom I’ve known for ever, and who has consented to be my wife when I’m free of my present entanglement. Yes, Fenella is concerned that Sam gets his rights. And yes, she is anxious about him. The young nowadays are exposed to all kinds of temptation. I admit he has had difficulty holding down a job, but that’s because he has a problem, an irritation of the nervous system. He needs proper treatment, not the pills handed out automatically by the doctor, but some in-depth assessment and a course of therapy.’
Monique turned her beady eye on Rupert. ‘You fell for that garbage? She saw you coming, didn’t she? To her you’re just a nice little earner, whom she can milk for your money, especially if she can lay her hands on Bunny’s estate as well. I get it, now. It was you who told Fenella about the emails. You kept her informed about what was happening or not happening with the police? Rupert, don’t you realize this makes you an accessory to arson and attempted murder?’
Rupert flinched. ‘No, no! I never. You’ve got it all wrong.’
Ellie summed up. ‘Barbie has been the target from the beginning. Her husband was going to change his will, so Fenella decided he had to die. She and her son visited Bunny while Barbie was out. It was her son who went upstairs and mixed up the pills. Barbie was supposed to take the rap for it but convinced the police of her innocence. So the emails were reeled out to incriminate her. That worked to a certain extent as Monique took a hand in the game and all the wives were thrown out of their homes. At that point Barbie might well have given up and left the field, but instead Diana organized her friends to come here and the women began to fight back.
‘Barbie became their leader. Fenella decided that the police had to be given more incentive to suspect the women of murder, so Walt was pushed down the stairs to his death. Fenella was in a meeting with Rupert at the time so it would have been her son who did the deed. But the wives were all here that afternoon and had an alibi for that event, which meant the murderer was forced to think again …’
Except for Diana, but we don’t need to mention that.
‘This time she used another of the methods suggested in the emails and torched Russet’s house with her and Barbie inside. And, because the arsonist couldn’t be entirely sure that Barbie had moved in with Russet, this house was also attacked.’
Barbie lifted her hands and let them drop. ‘Yes, but we have no proof.’
A phone rang. It was Barbie’s. She answered it. ‘What? Say that again? Russet, is that you?’
Someone screeched down the other end of the phone. Everyone looked at Barbie, who listened with an expression of shock and dismay.
Finally Barbie clicked her phone off and lurched to her feet. ‘That was Russet. She says her house has gone up in flames again. She needs help. The fire brigade are on their way, but she’s asking all her friends to help her rescue as much of her furniture and belongings as possible. I must go, straight away.’ She would have started for the door, but Ellie caught her arm. ‘Stop! Not you!’
‘I’ll go!’ said Evan, who had finally decided which side of the fence he was on. ‘I know Fenella and that ratbag of a son of hers. They’re poison, though Rupert could never see it. Of course we must go and help Russet rescue her stuff. We’ll take my car. Terry, are you with me?’
Diana, in a charming gesture, stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. ‘My hero!’
Ellie subdued a quick impulse to be sick. Evan preened! He gave Diana a quick kiss and vied with Terry to get out of the room first.
Ellie turned to her police friend, Lesley, who had been sitting in the background all this while. Lesley, police instincts to the fore, was already on her own phone, ordering up reinforcements. And here came Rafael, who had been listening in from the hall, pulling on his jacket. He said, ‘I’ll help, too. Lesley, do you want to come with me? It will be quickest on the bike.’
Lesley, still talking on her phone, hurried out with Rafael.
And then there were only the women left in the room.
Barbie was indignant. ‘Mrs Quicke, why did you stop me? I ought to be there.’
Ellie said, ‘Use your head! That fire was well and truly out by this morning or the fire brigade would not have left the site. What’s more, Thomas is there. Wouldn’t he have rung us if the fire had started up again? It’s a trap!’
Trish wailed, ‘I don’t
understand!’
Ellie took out her own mobile and pressed Thomas’s number. ‘I’ll check with Thomas. He said he’d bring Russet back here, so …’
They heard Thomas’s phone ring and ring … and go to voicemail.
The landline in the hall woke to life.
Ellie hastened to answer it. ‘Who is it?’
A man’s voice spoke over her. ‘Hell and fury, woman! Don’t play games with me. Just don’t! Is everyone on their way to help? Not Barbie, of course. But the others. You should come, too.’
He killed the call.
Ellie turned to face the others, who had crowded into the hall behind her. ‘That was Thomas. On the surface he was making sure that everyone had gone off to Russet’s house with the exception of Barbie. He even suggested that I go, too. But it was a coded message. Thomas never swears or orders me about. That message was given under duress. He said, ‘“Don’t play games with me. Just don’t!” In other words, don’t do what he’s asking me to do. Thomas is in trouble. He’s trying to warn us.’
EIGHTEEN
Wednesday afternoon.
Barbie sank into a chair. She was wide-eyed with terror. ‘You’re right! They’ve decoyed the men away. There isn’t another fire at Russet’s place. They got Thomas to make that phone call. It means they’re coming here!’
A car drew up outside.
The front door opened and someone called out, ‘Just in time!’
But … who …?
‘Rupert!’ said Ellie. ‘Where is he? I thought he’d gone with the others!’
Monique grinned. ‘So now it’s the women’s team against the world. As usual.’
Diana juggled her sleeping son. ‘Kat, do you think you could take the little one and hide him somewhere safe? In the cupboard in the Quiet Room, for instance. Stay there with him. Put a table under the doorknob.’ She brushed her hands down her dress. The Little Woman act had disappeared and she was all business again.
Kat said, ‘Understood. I will pray for you.’ She disappeared with the boy.
Murder by Suggestion Page 24