Murder at the Altar

by Veronica Heley

  Armand spoke to Kate, rather than Ellie. ‘Do you think we ought to phone the police anyway? Suppose you’d been on your own, and let him in … who knows what he’d have got away with?’ He spoke with a subdued violence. Ellie noticed with a shiver that his eyes had gone small and bright.

  Kate seemed to be taking it lightly. ‘I’m not very fond of the police at the moment. Don’t let me keep you, Armand.’

  Ellie was shivering. ‘You won’t mind if I shut the door? I’ve just had a bath.’

  ‘Bye bye, Armand!’ Kate waved goodbye to her husband with a laugh, and closed the front door on him. There was an edge to the way she spoke that worried Ellie. A husband and wife on good terms don’t speak to one another like that.

  Ellie led the way into the kitchen and looked at the cold meal with disfavour. ‘That’s all I’ve got to eat, I’m afraid. Tell you what, I’ll make some home-made soup to start with. Unless you still want to go out for some fish and chips. And what about Armand’s meal?’

  Kate threw her big coat over the chair in the hall and slumped on to a kitchen stool. ‘He always goes out on Wednesday nights. Chess club. He’ll eat out. I didn’t expect him back so soon, or I’d have gone out sooner … and no, I don’t want to talk about it.’

  Ellie opened her mouth to pursue the subject, and Kate got in first.

  ‘No, I don’t want to talk about Ferdy, either.’

  Ellie chopped onions and mushrooms and threw them into a pan to sizzle in oil. Salt, pepper. A chicken stock cube, some boiling water. She turned the gas flame down and put the lid on.

  ‘Smells good,’ said Kate, closing her eyes and stretching out her legs.

  ‘When did you eat last? Or is that another of the questions you don’t want to answer?’

  Kate leaned forward, and laid her head on folded arms on the table. ‘What would you do in my place?’

  That was when Ellie shocked both herself and Kate. ‘Leave him, of course!’

  ‘Leave him? After only six weeks of marriage?’ Kate laughed. ‘Am I such a poor creature as to give up so quickly?’

  ‘Marry in haste …’

  ‘But I didn’t. I thought about nothing else for three solid months. Shall I, shan’t I? Will he give up and look for someone else? Why don’t my friends like him? Does that matter, when the sun and moon and stars shine out of his eyes? Why do I shake with fear if he so much as looks at another girl? Why can’t my mother see that if I don’t have him, I’ll die? What’s wrong with me?’

  ‘Nothing.’ Ellie stirred the cooked mixture, emptied it into the liquidizer, whizzed it up with some cornflour and returned it to the pan to reheat and thicken.

  Kate spoke to the table. ‘If there’s nothing wrong with me, then why—’

  ‘Why does he hit you?’

  Kate sat so still that Ellie wondered if she’d fallen asleep.

  Ellie stirred the thickened soup, tasted it for seasoning and poured it into two large mugs. Setting one on the table before Kate, she sat opposite her. ‘Drink up.’

  Kate lifted her head. ‘How did you know?’

  ‘I’ve got eyes and ears. Sound travels through the wall.’

  ‘He’s only done it once.’

  ‘No, he hasn’t.’

  Kate sipped her soup, eyes down. ‘It was only a slap at first.’

  ‘How soon after you married?’

  ‘The second day. I got a rise at work, you see. I hadn’t told him about it before because I thought what a marvellous surprise it would be. His face, when I told him …’

  ‘Envy.’

  Kate sighed. ‘I don’t understand it. He’s got a good job. He’s doing well. He can expect a deputy headship within a couple of years …’

  ‘But he hasn’t got it now and you’re probably earning a lot more than he is.’

  ‘What does that matter when you love someone?’

  Ellie didn’t bother to answer. Kate could work that out herself. Kate, of course, did not know how Armand had spoken of her to the police. Ellie considered telling her but refrained. The poor girl had enough to worry her as it was.

  Ellie dished up cold meat and salad. To wash it down, she found a bottle of red wine at the back of the store cupboard. Frank would probably have told her it was an insult to the wine to drink it with cold meat and salad, but she considered that both she and Kate could do with it. It went down a treat. They ate all the meat and salad. And some of the home-made cakes Ellie had bought at the Sunflowers café.

  ‘What am I going to do?’ Kate asked. She spoke so softly that Ellie thought it was a rhetorical question, not requiring any reply.

  However she did say, ‘You could try lashing out with the frying-pan if he hits you again.’ She poured the last of the wine into their glasses. She felt warm and well insulated against the world’s troubles.

  Kate grimaced. ‘You don’t understand. I love him, but he frightens me. When he loses his temper the skin round his mouth goes white, his eyes go small and dark, and even before he hits me I can feel him hating me … oh, I don’t mean that he really hates me. Well, perhaps for just a second or two. He loves me, really. He’s so sorry afterwards. So sad that I’ve made him do it.’

  Ellie waved her wine glass about. ‘Nonsense, Kate. He’s nothing but a plain, common or garden wife beater.’

  ‘He says he got a lot worse than that when he was growing up. The problem is that he switches moods so quickly. I never know how he’ll react. But I can’t give up on him because at bottom he loves me, I know he does.’

  Ellie opened her mouth to object, but Kate got there first.

  ‘I don’t want to talk about it any more, Ellie. Please. You’ve been very kind, but it’s not your husband we’re talking about here and I’ve got to work it out my own way. Now tell me how you’ve been getting on.’

  Ellie thought of all the things that had been happening to her: the talk with the solicitor, Aunt Drusilla’s peculiar behaviour, the accident on the bridge, Diana taking the car, the struggle with the computer …

  She found she was still extremely angry with Diana. But she started off on a less emotional note.

  ‘All right, my turn to moan. The computer’s driving me insane.’ ‘I’ll give you a few lessons on it at the weekend, if you like.’

  ‘Would you? You’re an angel. I can’t tell you how frustrated I get with it. What’s more, it’s just occurred to me that there’s probably some e-mail on it, because Frank loved getting e-mail and there’s bound to be some there, only I don’t know how to get at it.’

  Kate laughed. ‘Leave that to me. Anything else?’

  Ellie hadn’t meant to say it, but it just burst out of her. ‘My daughter Diana took Frank’s car after the funeral even though he’s left her money to buy one for herself. For years I’ve been thinking how convenient it would be if I learned to drive. Frank was always against my learning because he thought I’d be a menace on the roads. But I would have liked to have tried. I mean, if I’d been so awful then I’d never have been able to pass a driving test … but now Diana’s taken the car and I’ll never know.’

  Ellie sought for a hankie and failed to find one, but made do with a square of kitchen towel. ‘Diana just picked up the keys, and told me she was taking the car. She said that was all right, wasn’t it? I was so bogged down with the funeral and taking those awful pills and everything that I let her. I mean, it did cross my mind that yes, I did mind her taking the car, but then I thought that probably Frank would have wanted her to have it. I let her take it and now I’m so angry because the solicitor told me that Diana knew Frank had left her money to buy a car and I could spit!’

  Kate patted Ellie’s hand. ‘Tell you what, I’ll give you a driving lesson in my car. It’s easy to drive because it’s an automatic and that’s probably what you ought to have, anyway. Why don’t you put some warm clothes on? It looks as if there’s going to be a frost tonight. We’ll sit in my car and go over the controls. We might even drive up and down the road here. If that
feels OK, you can book yourself some official driving lessons.’

  ‘I couldn’t take up your time like—’

  ‘Of course you could. What would I have done these last few days without you to prop me up? Get dressed while I check to see if you’ve got any e-mail.’

  Ellie floated upstairs and climbed into a warm pullover, jogging trousers and a pair of trainers. A padded waistcoat and dark woollen hat would help to keep out the cold. It was a very cold night.

  ‘Eureka!’ Kate waved a clutch of papers at her as she emerged from the study.

  ‘Not much here for you to worry about. I’ve deleted all the junk mail.’

  Giggling a little at their daring, the two women went out to Kate’s car. Kate tossed the keys to Ellie.

  ‘You unlock it, and get into the driver’s seat.’

  ‘Oughtn’t we to have L-plates on?’

  ‘Sure, but we’re not going far, are we? Just to the end of the road and back.’

  ‘I think I’m a little drunk.’

  ‘No, you’re not. You’re just nicely relaxed. Get in, woman. Fit the key in the ignition – that’s it. Turn it. Seatbelts on. It’s a good old car, this. Reliable even in cold weather. Now let’s see what you make of all these dials on the dashboard.’

  Kate gave Ellie a swift rundown of everything she needed to know before they set off. She knew most of it already, of course, having been a passenger for so many years while Frank drove.

  ‘Now,’ said Kate. ‘Turn on some lights. Side lights are here. Indicators you do like this.’

  ‘No gears?’

  ‘No, you just put your foot down on the accelerator when you want to move. The harder you press down, the faster you move and it changes gear automatically. That’s the brake pedal. This is the handbrake.’

  Ellie repeated, ‘Accelerator, brake and handbrake. Right.’

  ‘Before you move out into the road, look in your mirrors to see if the road is clear … it is? Then take off the handbrake gently and press the accelerator pedal, while turning the steering wheel to move out into the road …’

  Biting her lower lip hard, Ellie moved out into the road at a snail’s pace.

  Kate corrected the angle of the steering wheel, saying Ellie would soon learn how wide the car was. There was, luckily, no other traffic on that quiet little road. Just some residents’ cars and the odd white van.

  ‘Now when we come to the corner, take your foot off the accelerator – gently – and put the handbrake on.’

  Ellie was gripping the steering wheel so hard she could hardly move her hand off it.

  ‘Look right, left and right again. Indicate that you’re turning right, even if there’s nothing in sight. Turn the wheel to the right … we’ll make a circle round by the park and back into our road again.’

  ‘Is it safe? Am I all right?’

  ‘You’re doing very well. Don’t worry about that white van behind us. It’s going as slowly as we are. He’s probably looking for a house number. Watch it. You’re steering slightly to the left again.’ Kate touched the wheel to return the car to the centre of the road.

  ‘Suppose we meet another car?’

  ‘Then you’ll draw into the side and park. There’s nothing much on the road tonight, though. That’s right, slow down at the park gates. Look both ways, indicate, put your foot down gently … and here’s the turning back to our own road. That’s it. Pause, look, indicate, and off we go again. Now when we get back home, indicate, slow down, and turn the wheel to the left. Don’t panic, there’s plenty of space to park and it doesn’t matter if you do take a few yards more to park. And don’t worry if the back of the car sticks out a bit, there’s so little traffic on this road. Now put the brake on, handbrake as well. Lights off. Ignition off. Well done, Ellie! Of course you’ll be able to learn to drive!’

  Ellie unstuck herself from the driver’s seat, and stepped out into the road. ‘I’m trembling all over.’ But she was laughing, too.

  ‘You’ll be just fine.’ Kate was laughing, too. ‘Now remember … whoops, mind the kerb!’

  Ellie straightened up with the aid of Kate’s hand under her elbow. ‘Sorry. Disorientated. Getting a bit tired.’

  ‘Time for bed.’ Kate collected her big coat and handbag from Ellie’s hall, retrieved her car keys and returned to her own house.

  Silent house.

  Waiting for Armand to return.

  Oh, the poor thing, thought Ellie as she turned out lights, bolted the doors and climbed the stairs to bed. The poor, poor girl …

  Tired as she was, she lay awake until she heard Armand’s return. A car drew up on the frosty road outside. Then came the sharp bang of a front door. She hoped for silence after that. She prayed for it. Please don’t let him hit her again. Please.

  The party wall was lined on her side with built-in cupboards. They muffled sound. Ellie buried her head in her pillows, telling herself that even if it were thumps and shouting that she heard, she could do nothing about it.

  The errand boy was using the mobile phone, sitting in his white van. ‘… that’s right, they must have been at the old vino, both of them.

  Lurching around all over the place, giggling fit to burst. And her driving!

  You’d have thought she’d never driven in her life before … yeah,

  I thought they’d spotted me, because she just drove round the block and

  parked back in front of her house again. But she couldn’t have spotted

  me, ’cause I parked way back down the road. Yeah, I’ll do her car, right

  away. Trust me, I can fix any car you like. Nah, she won’t notice nothing. She’ll have such a thick head in the morning, she won’t be looking for trouble, will she?’

  Ellie woke to the sound of car windows being scraped clean of frost. She couldn’t think what day it was at first, but she did remember that something extremely important had happened to her.

  The driving lesson!

  ‘Wonderful!’ She jumped out of bed and peered out of the window to see if it was Kate working on her car. If so, Ellie decided she’d run downstairs and tell her how marvellous it was to know that driving lessons were on the menu.

  But it was only Armand, chipping away at his car windows with a scraper. Frank had always used a can of deicer. Ellie turned away from the window and pulled on some clothes. What day was it? Thursday? Yes, Thursday. She must put in an appearance at the charity shop, and perhaps drop Mrs Dawes a note saying she was sorry not to make the flower-arranging classes.

  And then … she remembered about the money, and what the solicitor had said. It took some getting used to.

  Washed, dressed, brushed and lipsticked, Ellie made her way downstairs, collected the newspaper from the front door, and heard next door bang as Kate left for work. Opening her own front door, Ellie stepped outside and met the chill of the morning full on. Her breath hung like cigarette smoke on the air before her.

  Kate, huddled into her big coat, was shoving her handbag, laptop and briefcase up on to the top of the car with gloved hands while she fiddled with the lock on the car door.

  ‘Hi!’ cried Ellie, hugging herself against the cold. ‘Just wanted to say thank you!’

  Kate turned her head. She was wearing dark glasses and an allenveloping scarf. Hiding who knew what injuries. Ellie’s prayers seemed to have gone unanswered.

  ‘That’s all right,’ said Kate, attempting to smile. ‘Say, have you got the kettle boiling? The lock’s frozen, and I have a nasty feeling Armand’s got our only scraper.’

  ‘Just a tick.’ Ellie rushed into the kitchen, switched on the kettle, said ‘Come on!’ to it several times and dashed out of the front door with it in her hand.

  ‘Ta,’ said Kate, dribbling the hot water gently over the lock. The key now turned, so she handed the kettle back to Ellie. ‘I’ll just start the engine and wait till it defrosts the windows.’

  ‘I think Frank’s aerosol of de-icer is still under the stairs. I’ll fetch it, shall I?’ />
  Ellie went back towards the house as Kate leaned into the car to turn the key in the ignition.

  There was a muffled whumpf! The bonnet of the car burst open. The whole car seemed to lift off the road. Kate was thrown backwards out of the car and Ellie was thrown forwards into the gutter. The handbag and laptop landed in the road. Kate’s briefcase erupted, sending papers everywhere.

  For a moment Ellie could not even breathe. Looking at her right hand, which was still holding the handle, she noticed that the kettle had broken apart on impact with the kerb. She wriggled her arms, and then her legs. Nothing broken.

  Lifting her head, she tried to call out for Kate, but no sound came out of her mouth. She was also deaf.

  Kate wasn’t listening, anyway. She was standing in the middle of the road, her dark glasses both starred. The left arm of her coat was in rags. There was a nasty cut on her chin.

  Kate opened her mouth and screamed. And screamed. And screamed. Ellie could see her scream, but not hear it.

  Doors opened up and down the street. Ellie’s hearing began to clear as anxious voices called out to know what was the matter, what was that noise.

  Flames began to lick around the edges of the bonnet.

  Kate looked as if she’d been blinded, because of the stars on her glasses. If they’d broken, and the glass had been thrust into her eyes …

  Shock caught up with Ellie. Sobbing, she abandoned the kettle and inched painfully to her feet. The heels of her hands and her legs were grazed, and her left hip felt sore.

  Neighbours in varying states of undress opened doors and windows. The boy Tod came hurtling out of his house, screaming. His mother ran after him, keying numbers into her mobile.

  ‘Fire! Ambulance! Police!’

  Tod sent Ellie staggering as he rushed into her arms. ‘I’m all right, I’m all right,’ said Ellie, trying to reassure him. His grip on her was that of a python.

  Kate stopped screaming. The silence was as unnerving as her screams had been.

  Ellie found herself looking at the papers which strewed the road. Those need picking up, she thought. But it’s too far to reach down to the road …

  Kate yanked off her glasses and turned her head to look at the fiery wreck of her car. At least she had not been blinded.