by Anita Waller
The arrival of the police cars had caused Keeley to come out onto her own path, but then returned to her kitchen to make Kat and Mouse a cup of tea. Kat, in particular, looked grey, and Keeley asked if there was anything further she could do.
‘I don’t think so, thanks, Keeley, but we certainly needed this cup of tea.’
‘You’re sure she’s dead?’ The worried expression on Keeley’s face showed concern.
‘Yes, there’s nothing we could have done.’
‘But why the hell didn’t I hear something? It can’t have been quiet; she would surely have been screaming, wouldn’t she?’
‘Not if her throat was the first part of her to be cut. It would all have been over very quickly if that was the case. Cutting the throat prevents any sound.’
Keeley looked at the two women drinking out of her mugs. ‘My God, I wouldn’t have your jobs for the world. Fancy having to know things like that.’
Chapter 19
Kat and Mouse sat in the back of Tessa Marsden’s vehicle, describing in detail exactly what they had done. Mouse admitted to feeling uneasy when Judy didn’t respond to their knock on the front door. Her Astra was still parked on the drive, and it was, according to her neighbour, unusual for Mrs Carpenter to go out without her car. Mouse hastened to add that they didn’t expect to find her dead, they thought she might be ill and in need of help.
They explained that they knew Keeley Roy and her little boy Henry because they had helped her with a small matter, and she had come outside to them as they had arrived.
Kat told Marsden about the seven o’clock shouting from Judy Carpenter, which was presumed by Keeley to have been at a cat or a dog in the immaculate garden belonging to Judy, but with hindsight that could have been a verbal warning towards her attacker.
‘Okay,’ Marsden said with a sigh. ‘I thought I told you two I wanted no more dead bodies… Now go home to Mrs Lester, put your feet up and forget this until tomorrow. I’ll need a statement from both of you, and I warn you now, I’ll be wanting to know why Judith Carpenter was your client. It may have a bearing on her death, so no holding back. If you have documentation I want to see it. In fact, I don’t want you coming to Chesterfield to do this, I’m coming to your office. If there’s anything I pick up on that you “forget” to tell me, we can find it in your files, can’t we?’
‘We’ll be there from nine,’ Mouse said. ‘Can we go now? It’s only just over a week since Kat gave birth, and she’s looking a bit unwell.’
‘Of course. I’ll see you in the morning.’ She grinned at them. ‘And make sure the coffee’s on or I’ll arrest the pair of you.’
They climbed out of the back seat and walked towards the Range Rover, not speaking. Mouse drove away and travelled back along the main road in the direction of Eyam.
After a couple of miles she pulled up, leaned her head against the steering wheel and said, ‘Shit.’
‘Couldn’t agree more,’ said Kat, staring out of the side window. ‘Is it just us that attracts all this trouble?’
‘I think it’s you.’
‘Huh. I know it’s you.’
They turned to look at each other.
‘That’s a first, anyway,’ Mouse said. ‘We’ve lost a client. But who the hell hated her enough to kill her? I know she’s obnoxious, but murder? Bit extreme, isn’t it.’
‘You think.’
‘I think.’
‘Come on, let’s get back to Nan,’ Kat said. ‘She’ll be full of questions.’ They’d filled Doris in with the briefest of details – Judy’s dead, and it’s murder – but knew she would be worrying about them.
Mouse drove the final part of their journey almost on automatic pilot. Seeing all that blood had been a massive shock, and her head was pounding. She pulled the big car onto their drive, and they both climbed out, feeling as though every problem in the universe was sitting on their shoulders.
Nan opened the door to them, and held them both tightly. ‘You have to go out again today?’
They shook their heads. ‘No, our first journey out wasn’t too successful, so we’re going nowhere.’
‘Then it’s time for a brandy. You’ll feel better after that.’
‘A bottle?’ Mouse asked.
They changed into their jeans and sat in the lounge, filling Doris in on their morning, explaining that Marsden wanted every last little detail about Judy Carpenter the next morning. ‘You do know you can’t keep anything back, don’t you?’ Doris warned them. ‘And she has to listen to that recording with Bobby Outram.’
Mouse sighed. ‘I know. But what does that say about us? We can’t keep anything confidential? We really need to speak to Pam Bird about this as well, after all it is her daughter-in-law, and we’re the only ones who know that. Nobody else is going to tell her, are they.’
‘No, they’re not at the moment, but after tomorrow Tessa Marsden will know because we’ll have told her. Do we take the initiative and tell her today, or leave it to Marsden to approach her? I think we should tell her today,’ Kat said. ‘I feel quite responsible. We’ve built her up to meeting her son’s wife, and now she’s dead the day after we tell her. That’s not going to go down well, is it.’
‘You’re going to tell her over the phone?’ Doris asked.
‘No, I think we have to go and see her.’ Mouse sounded thoughtful.
‘You’ve both had rather a large brandy.’
‘Bugger.’
‘Don’t swear, please, Mouse,’ her nan said. ‘Of course, for a box of Ferrero Rocher I could be persuaded to drive.’
Kat looked at Mouse. ‘Is this bribery or blackmail?’
‘Corruption.’ Mouse turned to her nan. ‘How big a box?’
‘Twenty-four. Non-negotiable.’
‘And you’ll bring us back as well?’
‘Maybe.’
‘Okay, agreed.’
‘Shall we see if Enid can have Martha for a couple of hours, or shall we take her with us?’ Doris asked, a huge smile on her face. Ferrero Rocher! She had originally thought a Mars bar might swing it; she was chancing her arm when she mentioned her favourites.
‘We’ll ask Mum, I think,’ Kat said. ‘In case we dump our driver in a lake and we have to walk back.’
Enid was waiting at the door, delighted to have her granddaughter to herself for a couple of hours. ‘Don’t rush back!’ she called as they drove off.
Kat sat on the rear seat, feeling quite contemplative. It seemed to be working out fine; Martha had so many babysitters in their tightly knit circle, and so far there had been no problems continuing with her work. The biggest concern had been the constant you’re on maternity leave from Mouse and Doris.
Pam Bird had been more than happy to see them; she said she had made decisions, and would talk to them when they arrived. They confirmed there would be three of them in the car, and she said to take care, and not to rush to get there, she wasn’t going out. Grace would serve cake, coffee and tea when they arrived.
It all seemed very grown-up and relaxed. Pam had no idea what was coming to face her. They had brought the recording along for her to hear, and Kat knew it was bound to upset her.
Pam met them at the door, greeted them warmly and led them through to the lounge. Within seconds, Grace appeared, carrying a tray with their refreshments.
They waited until she had poured the drinks, and after Kat had been introduced to Grace, Kat asked her to stay. ‘We may need you,’ she added.
‘Will I need a cup of tea?’ Grace asked.
‘Possibly,’ Kat responded, and Grace left to get an extra cup.
She returned to find Doris and her employer deep in conversation about a painting on the wall by a Sheffield artist, Pete McKee, a painter greatly admired by Doris and obviously by Pam.
‘I’m still looking for a house in the Eyam area,’ Doris was saying, ‘so my art works are still all boxed away. I miss seeing them.’
‘I have this one in here,’ Pam said, ‘and two more upsta
irs. His style is fascinating, and everyone who comes here talks about them.’
Grace poured out her drink and sat down, leaving Mouse to open the conversation.
‘Okay, we have several things to tell you, most of which have happened since we spoke to you yesterday. This morning we went to visit Judith Carpenter at her home, primarily because information had come to light that caused us to rethink taking on her case.’
Both Pam and Grace sat immobile, their cup and saucers held rigidly in front of them. Neither spoke, waiting for Mouse to continue.
‘Initially we thought she wasn’t in because she didn’t answer to our knock, but her neighbour told us she never went out without the car and the car was right by us, in her front parking area. We walked around to the back garden, and the door into the dining room was slightly ajar so we went in. We called her name, checked all the downstairs rooms, and headed upstairs.’
Mouse paused for a moment. She was feeling overwhelmed by revisiting the morning’s events.
‘We entered a bedroom and found Mrs Carpenter. She was dead.’
There was a gasp, and the cup rattled in Grace’s saucer. Pam leaned forward and placed her drink on the coffee table.
‘Dead? But…’
‘I’m sorry to have to be brutal about this,’ Mouse continued, swallowing to moisten her mouth, ‘but she had been murdered. It wasn’t natural causes. There was blood everywhere and she was face down on the bed.’
‘Oh, that poor woman,’ Pam said, shock etched onto her face. Grace said nothing, but raised her cup to her lips. All colour had drained from her features.
‘We don’t know anything more about it because we left the room immediately and rang the police. We’re meeting with them tomorrow morning to give our statements. This, of course, will impinge on you, Pam, because DI Marsden has made it very clear that she will want to know why Judy Carpenter came to us, just in case it has some bearing on who killed her. Judy was our client, not you, and as she is dead we have no moral right to withhold information about our case. The police would simply get a warrant forcing us to reveal it anyway, so we might as well get it all over with tomorrow. However, we do have other information that Kat acquired while we were with you yesterday. I’d like you to listen to a recording that Kat made of a conversation, with the person’s full approval I should add. This is going to be passed on to the police.’
She reached into her bag and took out the small recorder.
Grace moved closer to her employer, slid an arm around her shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze. ‘Whatever this is, Pam, we’ll deal with it.’
Pam nodded, but couldn’t raise a smile.
Chapter 20
Mouse switched on the recorder and almost immediately Bobby Outram spoke.
Doris’s eyes were fixed firmly on Grace, who seemed to be struggling more than Pam with what was unfolding. She suspected that Grace was concerned about the effect the recording would have on Pam; her illness meant that it took very little stress to increase her pain levels and her movements.
They all listened carefully. Doris, Kat and Mouse knew it word for word, but the other two listened with increasing dismay.
It finished and Mouse switched off the small machine. ‘Thoughts?’
There was an initial silence and then Pam clasped her hands together as if seeking comfort. ‘Is this true? Did you believe her?’
Kat spoke gently. ‘I met Bobby, and she came across as a very genuine person who was seeking help from Connection because she didn’t know what else to do. She definitely didn’t want to go to the police because when all’s said and done, Judy was her sister, but she recognised that Judy needed stopping. I must stress that we know nothing of Pam’s financial affairs, and don’t want to, but we had reason to believe that Judy had seen your house, Pam, and our reticence in telling you more of Judy was due to feeling uncomfortable about her motives for tracking you down.’
Pam was listening with her eyes huge in her pale face, as if wondering what could possibly come next.
‘When Doris and Mouse returned home from visiting you, we all sat together and listened to that recording. Any decisions made in our company are joint decisions. We all agreed that we had to give you this information, but couldn’t while Judy Carpenter was our client. That was why we were at Judy’s this morning, to return her advance minus what we had used already, and to tell her we could no longer act for her. We would not have passed on anything concerning you, but she did have considerable information anyway. We believe she came to us to make it look more official and she could pretend to be surprised at your wealth and lovely home when we facilitated the meeting between you both. I’m sorry, Pam, we took it so far in accordance with Judy’s instructions, but it would have gone no further.’
‘There is something else we can tell you,’ Mouse said. ‘Your lovely son,’ she glanced at the picture on the fireplace that had already been placed in a frame, ‘would have divorced her. His diagnosis and prognosis made him realise he had very little time left, and so he stayed with her.’
Kat froze, willing Mouse not to take that conversation any further. She breathed a sigh of relief when Pam picked up the picture, and said, ‘What a lovely man. How I would have loved to have known him. Does my son have a grave?’
‘I don’t know,’ Mouse said, ‘but we will find out.’
Grace stood. ‘I’m going to make fresh drinks, I think we need them. Pam, do you need anything? You’re okay?’
Pam nodded. ‘I’m fine, Grace. I’ll sleep for a couple of hours later.’
Grace gathered up the used cups and carried the tray from the room.
‘This will bring on a relapse?’ Doris was concerned.
‘Hopefully not. If my mind will shut down as well as my body this afternoon, I can probably avoid it, but this damn disease is so unpredictable. But Grace is so good to me, she watches everything I do in an attempt at minimising everything so it doesn’t trigger a reaction. It’s why she put her arm around me, it was the only thing she could do as she didn’t know what was coming.’
Kat nodded. ‘Would you rather we had no further contact, now that you know of Judy’s deceit in all of this? If there is a grave for Tom, I can let you know by email, but I can’t guarantee the police won’t want to speak to you. We’ll be giving them that recording.’
‘You’ve all been admirable, Kat, and if you need to contact me then please do so. I’ll cope with the fallout from it. I can’t actually tell the police very much, can I. I didn’t know her, I didn’t know the lady on the recording; in fact most of the time I don’t even know what day it is. My medication keeps me pretty free of pain, but one of the symptoms of this illness is something called brain fog, and that seems to be a permanent symptom these days.’
They chatted quietly for a couple of minutes then Grace returned with fresh drinks, pouring for everyone before she sat down. She handed a small dish to Pam with two tablets in it, and a glass of water.
‘I’ve had them today, haven’t I?’ Pam said frowning.
‘No, not these. If you have these now, you’ll sleep better later.’
Pam smiled at her visitors. ‘This is what I mean about brain fog. Without Grace I’d be lost. She keeps me on the right track by dispensing my medication at the right time.’
They finished their drinks and then stood to leave. Grace escorted them outside once again, and thanked them for their trouble.
‘I’ll either email or ring Pam when I find out about a gravesite for Tom,’ Kat said. ‘Take care of her, this has to have been a shock, but we had no choice but to tell her. It would have been a bigger shock if the police had turned up and she hadn’t known anything.’
Grace smiled. ‘She’ll be asleep shortly. The pain can hit with no warning, and I try my hardest to prevent it. Those tablets were her Gabapentin, which normally keeps her reasonably pain free. Fingers crossed they will today.’
They drove down the short drive to the main road, and headed for home, each
lost in their own thoughts until Doris said, ‘I don’t like her.’
‘Pam?’ There was surprise in Kat’s voice.
‘No, Grace. She’s very protective of Pam, but it smacks of control. Still, it’s nothing to do with us, and Pam seems happy to have her there.’
‘Is it control,’ Mouse asked, ‘or is it that she’s seen Pam in dreadful pain and just wants to try to prevent it? I must admit to not knowing about ME, but I certainly hope I never get it. I’ve seen Pam twice now, and she’s seemed half asleep both times.’
‘I had a friend with it, she died a couple of years ago,’ Doris said. ‘To look at her you wouldn’t have known anything was wrong, but it’s one of these invisible illnesses, like fibromyalgia. Even GPs don’t understand it, yet there are consultants in all hospitals for it. It took years for them to diagnose Sandra, then one day she went for a hospital appointment to discuss the massive amount of pain she was in, and she took along a long list of symptoms she had experienced over the previous six months. The consultant took one look at the list and said you have ME.’
‘How awful,’ Kat said. ‘Never knowing if you’re going to wake up in pain, or if it’s going to be an okay day. Poor Pam.’
Mouse put on the Range Rover’s indicator, and headed through the Derbyshire hills and vales to collect Martha. The three of them spoke very little for the rest of the journey. It had been a bad day, and they were individually digesting what they had seen and heard. Meeting with DI Marsden wasn’t going to be easy, but on one thing all three were united; Henry Roy would not be brought into any conversation.
The message on their answering machine, left by DI Marsden, was brief and to the point. ‘Nine tomorrow morning, all three of you, please. Don’t be late.’