Dead and Gone

by Dorothy Simpson

  ‘What about your own relationship with her?’

  ‘What about it?’

  ‘You said yourself, this morning, that there was no love lost between you, that as far as you were concerned it was good riddance.’

  ‘So? I hope you’re not suggesting what I think you’re suggesting, Inspector?’

  Thanet said nothing, waited.

  She gave a little laugh. ‘You don’t seriously think that I was responsible for her death? An old woman like me?’ She shook her head in mocking disbelief. ‘I’d have thought there were far more likely candidates, wouldn’t you?’

  ‘Such as?’

  ‘I’m afraid you’ll just have to work that out for yourself.’

  Was she serious, or just trying to deflect him? ‘I’m merely trying to find out how deep this mutual antipathy was. Because as you’ve already admitted, it was mutual, wasn’t it?’

  ‘I’ve never pretended otherwise.’

  ‘I have to tell you, Mrs Mintar, that you were overheard having a serious quarrel with your daughter-in-law yesterday lunch time.’

  This shook her. She stared at him and her self-control slipped long enough for him to catch a gleam of panic in her eyes before the guard went up again. Her reaction could imply guilt, of course, but he guessed that she was remembering what the row had been about and wondering if the eavesdropper had been close enough to hear what was being said. He guessed, too, that she was torn between denying the whole thing and wanting to find out exactly what Thanet knew. The need to know won. Her chin went up as she said defiantly, ‘What of it?’

  ‘Oh come, Mrs Mintar, don’t pretend to be naïve. Your daughter-in-law is murdered and we find out that only hours before that you had what was described to us as “a hell of a ding-dong” with her. What are we supposed to think?’

  ‘“A hell of a ding-dong”. That could only be Digby, the creep! Typical of him, to listen in on people’s private conversations! I’m right, aren’t I? What lies has he been telling about me?’

  ‘What makes you think they were lies?’

  ‘I wouldn’t trust him further than I could spit! What did he say?’

  She was desperate to know if her secret was safe and Thanet couldn’t help feeling sorry for her. This woman’s work was her life and she was terrified of having her richest source of enjoyment and inspiration snatched away from her.

  ‘That your daughter-in-law was threatening to tell your son that you suffer from angina.’

  Her hand went defensively up to her chest as if he had dealt her a mortal blow and the colour drained from her face, leaving her skin the colour of tallow. Suddenly she looked her age.

  Thanet was alarmed. In view of her condition, perhaps he should have broken the news more gently. ‘Are you all right?’ he said.

  She compressed her lips and shook her head dismissively. ‘I’m fine.’ Slowly, experimentally, she lowered her hand. ‘Have you told my son about this?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then I must ask you not to do so.’ Her mouth twisted. ‘That wretched man!’

  ‘We already knew of your condition.’ Thanet explained how.

  She leaned forward, tension in every line of her body. ‘You must promise not to tell Ralph!’

  ‘If the matter has no relevance to our investigation I see no reason why we should.’

  At last she relaxed, leaning her head against the back of the chair as if exhausted. ‘Thank you.’ After a few moments she straightened up again and gave a wry grin. ‘So I really am a suspect!’

  ‘It’s obvious how important to you it is, that he shouldn’t find out. If your daughter-in-law was threatening to tell him . . .’

  She waved a hand. ‘You didn’t know Virginia, Inspector. It was an idle threat.’

  ‘Why should you believe that?’

  ‘Firstly because it was the only stick she had to beat me with and she wasn’t going to throw it away in a hurry. And secondly because if she did, she might have been stuck with having me living here all the time instead of just part of the time. And believe me, that wouldn’t have suited her one little bit.’

  Thanet had to admit that from what he had heard of Virginia so far, this made sense. ‘What was the row about?’

  ‘The usual thing. Virginia’s behaviour.’

  ‘In what way, specifically?’

  ‘Specifically, the way she couldn’t resist throwing herself at any new man who came along, in front of my son. I couldn’t bear seeing him humiliated like that.’

  ‘In this case you are referring to . . . ?’

  ‘Her sister’s boyfriend.’ She hesitated, gave Thanet an assessing look. Then she got up, strolled across to a side table, opened a heavily carved wooden box and took out a long, slim, brown, elegant cigarette. With a lift of her eyebrows and a wave of her hand she offered them one and when they shook their heads she took her time over lighting up.

  Thanet guessed that in view of her angina this was a rare indulgence, the need probably triggered by the stress of the interview.

  She blew out a thin stream of smoke before speaking again. ‘Especially . . .’ she said, deliberately.

  Thanet caught the malicious gleam in her eye and could guess what was coming. She had decided to relinquish any idea of preserving family privacy in order to turn the spotlight away from herself. If she had to sacrifice her son’s dignity and reveal him as a cuckold – good old-fashioned word, Thanet had always thought – then so be it.

  ‘Yes?’ he said, as she had known he would.

  ‘I’m sure you’ve already worked out for yourself that it was unlikely in the extreme that I should voluntarily have told Virginia about my little problem. So of course you must have asked yourself precisely how she did find out?’

  She was going to tell him about Virginia’s affair with Squires! He experienced the spurt of excitement and satisfaction which invariably accompanied this turning point in an interview, when he knew that he had succeeded in manipulating a witness into revealing what s/he had every intention of concealing.

  ‘Naturally.’

  ‘And I suspect you have already guessed the answer.’

  ‘Perhaps.’

  ‘Then let’s see if you’ve guessed correctly.’

  NINE

  Mrs Mintar blew out another plume of smoke and gave him a mocking, challenging grin.

  But Thanet was too old a hand to be caught out like that. What if he were wrong? He smiled back, benignly. ‘I’d much prefer to hear it from you,’ he said.

  Abruptly her expression changed and she turned to stub out her half-smoked cigarette with angry, stabbing movements. Then she returned to her chair. ‘Have you got any children, Inspector?’

  ‘Two.’ His stomach clenched. What was happening to Bridget right now?

  ‘Married?’

  ‘One is.’

  ‘Then I hope he or she has a faithful partner. You can’t imagine what it’s like to have to stand by and see your son betrayed, not once or twice but over and over again, to have to watch him watching his wife flirting shamelessly with other men. Virginia simply could not resist the temptation to exercise her charms on every new male that came her way. You should have seen her last night, with Jane’s boyfriend! Smiles, fluttering eyelids, oh-so-friendly hand laid upon his thigh . . . I tell you, it was a disgusting performance. And apart from the fact that Ralph was present, it was downright embarrassing for the rest of us, and especially for Jane.’ She paused, and again the malicious gleam appeared in her eye. ‘The big plus, of course, was that it made that parody of a doctor squirm.’

  Now they were getting to the point. ‘Dr Squires, you mean.’

  ‘Who else? I must say I did enjoy seeing him suffer, after what he did to me. Oh yes, Inspector, I can see you already know. But I will spell it out for you. Virginia knew of my condition because her lover told her. Pillow talk, no doubt. Our charming Dr Squires is not only an adulterer but he has betrayed his profession, firstly by having an affair with a patient and se
condly by breaking patient confidentiality. And the infuriating thing is, I haven’t been able to do a thing about it. If I complained to the General Medical Council Ralph would find out about my heart condition and I couldn’t afford to risk that.’

  ‘You could change your doctor.’

  ‘True. And I shall. But that wouldn’t have helped the current situation.’

  Unless you got rid of Virginia, thought Thanet. ‘How long had this affair been going on?’

  A shrug. ‘No idea. All I know is that when I got back at the beginning of March it didn’t take me long to realise what was happening. So I must say that last night I did relish the spectacle of watching him see her flirt so outrageously with another man. Believe me, he didn’t enjoy that one little bit, though he tried to hide it, of course.’

  ‘What about his wife? Did she know about this, do you think?’

  ‘If she didn’t she must be blind or deaf. He was absolutely besotted with Virginia, couldn’t keep his eyes off her.’

  ‘But you don’t actually know whether or not Mrs Squires knew?’

  ‘Not to be positive, no. But I suspect she did. I think that, like me, she was rather enjoying seeing her husband’s nose put out of joint last night.’

  ‘How did Mr Prime react to these attentions?’

  ‘I gave him ten out of ten for being Virginia-resistant.’

  ‘He didn’t respond, then.’

  ‘Only by looking uncomfortable. But of course, this just made Virginia redouble her efforts.’

  ‘What about her sister?’

  ‘Jane? Oh, she was furious with Virginia, as you can imagine. She didn’t actually say anything, I don’t think she would have wanted to embarrass Ralph, she’s very fond of him, but you could tell that underneath she was seething.’ Mrs Mintar leaned back in her chair with an air of finality and waved a graceful hand, the green silk of her flowing caftan sleeve falling back to reveal a tanned, muscular arm. ‘So there you have it, Inspector, the full picture. Believe me, it wasn’t a very pleasant social occasion and not one that I would wish to repeat in a hurry. Not that there’s any possibility of that now, of course, thank God. And then, of course, to cap it all, Rachel came waltzing in with the news of her engagement. Ralph put a brave face on it, naturally, what else could he do? We all did. But after the charade with the champagne was over I can assure you I had no wish to prolong the evening by participating in the jolly swimming party they proposed. I couldn’t wait to get back and immerse myself in a book. So consoling, the printed word, don’t you think? And much less wearing than people.’

  Thanet rose and Lineham followed suit. ‘Well, thank you for being so frank with us, Mrs Mintar. You’ve been most helpful.’

  ‘Not at all.’ The sardonic gleam was back in her eye. Given you plenty of food for thought, haven’t I?

  Outside Thanet hesitated. They needed to interview Howard Squires again in the light of what Mrs Mintar had told them, but first he’d like to chew matters over with Lineham. ‘Come on, Mike, let’s go for a stroll, clear our minds.’

  They walked down the drive and turned right, away from the village. Although it was now late afternoon the sun continued to beat mercilessly down and the air was suffocatingly hot and still. Perhaps this hadn’t been a good idea after all, thought Thanet. Though he felt he really had needed to get away from the Mintars’ house, to distance himself a little from the intensity of the emotional situations in which all of those involved in this crime seemed to have been locked. ‘Let’s see if we can find some shade.’

  A couple of hundred yards further on they came to a five-barred gate conveniently shaded by a big oak tree and they stopped with sighs of relief, taking out handkerchiefs to mop at sweating foreheads.

  ‘That’s better,’ said Lineham. ‘Been a real scorcher today, hasn’t it?’

  Thanet automatically felt in his pocket for the familiar bulge of his pipe, and experienced the usual little thud of disappointment that it wasn’t there. At times like this, when he wanted to relax, he still felt bereft without it. For years he had remained determined to hold out against the anti-smoking brigade but in the end, as the places where it was possible to smoke and still feel comfortable about it grew fewer and fewer, he became fed up with being made to feel a pariah. Even then he would have continued out of sheer perversity but for Bridget’s pregnancy. No one these days could be unaware of the dangers of smoking near babies and the prospect of being unable to light up either in Bridget and Alexander’s house – or indeed in his own home when they came to visit – was the deciding factor in making him stop. It had been a great relief to Lineham, he knew, though neither of them had ever referred to it, and the sergeant had put up with his tetchiness in the early days of deprivation without a word, look or gesture of resentment.

  Now, Thanet merely sighed and joined Lineham in resting his forearms along the top bar of the gate and gazing at the vista before them. The lane ran along the spine of a slight ridge and from here the land fell away in the irregular patchwork of fields bordered by hedges and punctuated by specimen trees which is the essence of the English countryside, sadly destroyed only too often in recent years by greedy farmers but, mercifully, here in this area of Kent so far preserved for posterity. Though born and brought up in Sturrenden, the small country town where he lived and worked, Thanet had always loved the countryside in general and the Kent landscape in particular. In his opinion it was some of the most beautiful in England. Earlier on in his career he had had to live elsewhere for brief periods but he had been delighted to return to Kent and now had no intention of leaving if he could help it. He had often been berated for his lack of ambition but had steadfastly refused to climb further up the promotions ladder, knowing that the higher you scrambled the more likely it was that you would have to be prepared to move around. Anyway, in his view, the further you climbed the more desk-bound you became and the more distant from the work which had attracted you in the first place. No, he had found his niche and was content to stay in it. If it weren’t for this constant, nagging anxiety over Bridget . . . Perhaps he ought to ring Joan? No, what was the point? If there were any news she’d have been in touch right away. But it made him sick to the stomach to think of what Bridget must be going through now. And to know that there was very real danger for her as well as the baby . . .

  ‘You all right, sir?’

  Thanet nodded, lips compressed.

  ‘Worried about your daughter?’ Lineham was aware of the situation.

  ‘I can’t help it, Mike. Well, you know what it’s like. You’ve been through it yourself, when Louise had Richard.’

  Lineham nodded. ‘The worst of it is, you feel so helpless.’

  ‘I just can’t stop thinking about it.’

  ‘I know. It’s just there, all the time. I found the best thing was to concentrate on work.’

  ‘You’re right. I must make more of an effort. But first – I’ve been meaning to ask but kept on forgetting – tell me how your mother is settling in at Abbeyfield.’

  Widowed young, old Mrs Lineham had had a struggle to bring up her only child and, naturally perhaps, had become fiercely possessive. Lineham had had to fight to achieve independence, firstly in his choice of career – Mrs Lineham considering police work much too dangerous – and secondly in his choice of wife, his mother recognising that in Louise she would have far too strong-minded a rival. It had always amused Thanet that his sergeant had managed to break away from one dominating woman only to choose to marry another.

  The result was that Lineham spent most of his life in a balancing act, trying to reconcile the needs of each with the demands of the other, and the latest crisis had arisen last year, when the old lady had decided she no longer wished to live alone and had started angling for an invitation to move in with her son and his family – a recipe for disaster if ever there was one. For some time Lineham had prevaricated, knowing himself to be in a cleft stick, but had finally been rescued by a suggestion of Thanet’s, who had via hi
s own mother heard of an excellent organisation called Abbeyfield. This was a charity which provided at very reasonable cost accommodation for small groups of elderly people who found living alone hard to bear. Residents had their own rooms with their own furniture and as much or as little freedom and company as they wished, and there was always a resident housekeeper to keep an eye on them and to provide the main meals of the day. Although initially resistant to the idea, after visiting the Abbeyfield House in Maidstone and talking to the residents there old Mrs Lineham had soon changed her mind and had put her name down on the waiting list for the new Abbeyfield House due to open in Sturrenden this year. She had moved in a month ago.

  ‘Fine. It’s early days yet, of course, but touch wood, so far she seems to be settling in well. I can’t tell you how grateful we are that you came up with the idea.’

  ‘Don’t thank me, thank my mother. Pure luck, really, that she had happened to mention it to me. Anyway, I’m glad it seems to be working out. I assume she hasn’t sold her house yet?’

  ‘No, she’s hedging her bets at the moment, until she’s sure she wants to stay.’

  ‘Good.’ Reluctant still to return to the topic of the murder, Thanet resumed his contemplation of the landscape. ‘Did you know you can tell the age of a hedge by counting the number of native species in it, Mike? One per century.’

  ‘No, I didn’t. Not that I’d recognise them anyway.’

  ‘Ben did a nature project. I thought it was fascinating. We used to go out counting species at weekends. Let’s see if I can remember . . .’ He turned to look at the hedge behind them, across the road. ‘Hawthorn – the most common one; dogwood – that’s the one with the reddish stems; elder; hornbeam – that goes a wonderful golden apricot colour in the autumn, hazel . . . How many’s that?’

  Lineham grinned. ‘Five. You’re showing off, sir.’

  Thanet laughed. ‘You’re dead right, I am. But just think. Five hundred years old.’

  ‘It’s a load of rubbish if you ask me. Anyone planting a country hedge would mix up the species, and in ten years’ time no one would know the difference.’