Out Comes the Evil

by Stella Cameron

  And the phone rang again. Tony swallowed curses and answered.

  One of the Derwinters’ mares was foaling. ‘On my way.’ He canceled the call. ‘I don’t believe this. I’ve got to get to the Derwinters and help with a delivery. Horse. Stay where you are, love. With any luck this’ll go well and quickly.’

  Getting herself into the shower wasn’t so difficult, apart from having to stick her wrapped ankle out of the stall and try not to move her left arm. The shoulder felt a bit less raw – or maybe it didn’t.

  Fortunately all she had to do to her hair was run her fingers through it wet and flip a comb into the curls when she got out of the shower.

  She turned on the water and luxuriated, turned her face up to the hot water. Using Tony’s soap appealed to her, not that she had a choice. Soaping all over felt wonderful … until Bogie decided to push open the bathroom door and bark at her. He didn’t like water much and apparently assumed she was being tortured, the way he was tortured by baths. Alex peeked at him around the door and he took off, looking disgusted and still barking and turning in circles.

  Laughing into the water, she turned up the heat as it cooled, all the way up as it got colder, and sucked air through her teeth when she was sluiced with an icy deluge. ‘Crickey!’ She cranked it off and stood, shivering and catching her breath.

  Before she got in, she’d opened the window and a cool breeze only encouraged the rash of goosebumps that shrank her skin all over. When she landed on the bath mat, a desperate grab at the edge of the shower door kept her good foot from sliding and taking her down.

  Wrapped in a huge towel, Alex rubbed at her skin.

  Bogie’s bark kept going.

  Alex scooted until she could open the door wider.

  The dog didn’t sound normal. There was a hysterical note tearing from his throat – but it was muffled. There could be an intruder in the house, or trying to get into the house.

  Alex fumbled in her haste. Tony’s shirt and her panties went over her still damp body and she slid on the sling. Somehow she’d managed to soak the strapping on her ankle. She would have to change that.

  Bogie was hurt. Fighting against the jumpy, panicky sensations that slowed her down even more, she decided against the crutch and damn the pain. Hopping, grabbing at walls, furniture and doorjambs as she went, she got to the top of the stairs.

  ‘Bogie,’ she called. ‘Here, boy. Come here.’

  He kept on barking.

  Could he have got outside and be trying to be let in again? Tony’s house had thick stone walls and heavy doors that could dampen noise.

  Clinging to the banister, Alex hopped slowly downstairs … just in time for the front door to slam open, letting in a rush of wind, old leaves and a smatter of rain.

  She slammed a hand over her heart and yelled, ‘Get out.’ And closed her mouth tightly as it registered how foolish she sounded.

  ‘Bogie?’ she said tentatively, but it was Katie, not Bogie who tore into the house with Tony close behind.

  ‘What are you doing here?’

  He shoved the door shut behind him. ‘I live here,’ he said. ‘What are you doing? Where’s your crutch? You’re sopping, Alex.’

  She waved him away and turned toward the back of the house. ‘Bogie’s either got stuck outside, or he’s trapped in here somewhere. Do you have your hot water on a timer?’

  ‘Stop!’ Tony pulled her close and held her still. ‘I don’t understand you. Explain, please.’

  Bogie’s deadened bark started again. He sounded frantic. ‘Hear that?’ Alex said, glad of Tony’s solid, stable body beside her. ‘I have to find him.’

  ‘He’s in the kitchen by the sound of him,’ Tony said. He got her through to the kitchen and let her down in a chair. ‘Sounds like the laundry room.’

  The laundry room was in a hallway off the kitchen. Quickly, he threw open a door to reveal the washer and dryer – but no Bogie.

  Katie trotted straight past the laundry room and farther along the little passageway toward a rarely used outside door. More mechanical stuff was in a closet and a tiny mud room with a sink lay beyond that.

  Tony’s dog whined and fussed. Alex could hear her snuffling along the old terracotta floor tiles. At the sound of frantic scrabbling, Tony darted after Katie and Alex pushed and pulled herself upright. Hopping on her good foot she headed for the hallway Tony and Katie had taken.

  Bogie, darting at her with wild eyes, almost knocked Alex over. She made it to the doorjamb and held on. ‘Where was he?’

  ‘Shut in the cupboard,’ he said, reappearing. ‘I don’t get why he was in there.’

  An unexpected clap of thunder overhead jolted Alex. She leaned against the wall. ‘Bogie came in while I was showering. He was barking then and he ran back out of the bathroom. It scared me so I got out of the shower and came looking for him. Do you leave that cupboard door open? He must have run in there and accidentally closed it.’

  ‘I don’t leave it open,’ Tony said. He helped Alex back to her chair. ‘How would he close it?’

  Alex’s head began to ache. ‘I’m mad at myself.’ She was. Any small deviation from the norm and she threw herself into some sort of conspiracy mode.

  ‘For getting upset?’

  Lightning flashed beyond a window in the little outside door.

  A barrage of rain slashed across the glass.

  ‘I thought it would be a lovely day,’ she said. Changing the subject would be the best course. Hadn’t she learned to move away from conflict? She didn’t often think of her marriage but in this unsuitable moment she almost heard Mike’s voice telling her to ‘cool it.’ He watched too much American TV.

  ‘Alex, I asked you a question. What are you mad at yourself for?’

  ‘I second guess everything that happens and it’s stupid. I get myself into tight spots and look at me.’ She indicated her battered limbs. ‘All for nothing. You’d think I would learn. So Bogie barked then got locked in somehow. And I decide a mad killer is lurking down here – possibly with designs on my dog. I’m sorry. I probably need to calm down – sleep maybe.’

  ‘OK.’ Tony’s wavy hair was damp and wild, but his blue eyes were steady. They studied her closely enough to make Alex very uncomfortable. ‘First, what did you say about the water being on a timer?’

  ‘Just that. I wondered if it was on a timer. It went icy cold while I was in the shower and I’d only been there a couple of minutes. Forget it. It’s nothing.’

  Raking his fingers through his hair, he turned back into the hall and opened the cupboard again. There was barely enough room for him to step inside. He checked something she couldn’t see, screwing up his face in concentration. ‘Light would help,’ he said, flipping a switch. ‘That would explain it. The hot water’s been turned off. You got what was left in the pipes, then the cold stuff. Sorry about that but I didn’t touch anything here. You saw me take off in a hurry.’

  ‘So you think someone turned off the hot water to give me a shock?’

  ‘Yes. And Bogie couldn’t have shut himself in that cupboard. It closes from the outside and he’s not Houdini.’

  Alex shuddered. ‘I wonder if you came back sooner than they expected. Who knows what else they had planned?’

  ‘We’ll never know and that’s just as well. Now we’re on our guard.’

  She remembered the mare. ‘Was the foal already born when you got there? Must have gone fast.’

  ‘If I hadn’t been so caught up in our latest drama, I’d have remembered she wasn’t due for several weeks. I walked in and they didn’t know why I’d come. No one had any idea why I was called. I assumed it was one of the stable hands, but I couldn’t find out who.’

  ‘We know,’ she told him evenly. From now on she would be keeping a level head. ‘A silly trick to get you away from here and pull a stunt to scare me. Whoever turned the hot water off, shut Bogie in. What are we supposed to take from that? A warning they could kill me or Bogie?’ She shuddered.

&nbs
p; ‘Acts of desperation,’ Tony said quietly. ‘Annoyances pulled off because they want us to stay out of whatever’s going on.’

  ‘Pamela’s murder and what they did to Radhika can’t be called silly tricks, though. And we aren’t going anywhere. At least, I’m not. What’s that?’ She pointed to his left hand, holding a wad of tissues and almost hidden behind his back. ‘Come on, Tony. Give.’

  ‘A sausage,’ he said sharply. ‘I’m going to deal with it so don’t pester me.’

  ‘You amaze me,’ she said, and jabbed him in the chest with a forefinger. ‘Where was the sausage? Show it to me.’

  Reluctantly he opened the tissue’s to reveal a piece of a Cumberland sausage.

  ‘On the floor in the utility room,’ Tony said, grimacing. ‘I’ll test it myself.’

  ‘For poison?’

  ‘Right. We’ll watch Bogie but it doesn’t look as if he touched it. I think the main reason for leaving it was to round out their nasty picture. So, do we mention this to the police?’

  ‘Not without more evidence that anything really happened,’ Alex said. Hopping and holding on, Alex got herself to the back door. It opened easily and she looked at the handles on both sides, and the lock. ‘Anyone with a hair grip could open this. School kids have been doing that forever.’

  At least he had the grace to look awkward. ‘It’ll be fixed today. That and all the locks in the house will be changed. I’d better get an alarm system in.’

  ‘I don’t like them,’ Alex said. ‘I’ve got one and it nearly shocked me to death if you remember.’

  ‘I’m still doing it. But I’m tempted to send you away to some place safe,’ Tony said.

  Alex snorted. ‘I’ll assume that was a joke, Tony. You know you don’t get to send me anywhere. If you said you thought we ought to work harder and faster, I’d be on board.’

  He let out a long breath. ‘I wouldn’t be comfortable leaving you on your own. Do you agree you should have someone with you all the time?’

  ‘I won’t do anything—’

  ‘Do you agree, Alex?’

  ‘Put that way. No.’

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  His boss was either pulling rank – which he had a right to do – or testing him. Bill Lamb walked along the hospital corridor avoiding any eye contact, especially with patients on gurneys or in wheelchairs, or walking with IV poles.

  Nothing good had ever happened to him in a hospital – or nothing good that wiped out memories of the other: deaths of people he’d cared about. Dan O’Reilly knew that.

  He reached the right place and flipped out his warrant card. They had Radhika Malek in a private room and the copper on guard duty shuffled upright and gave a sloppy salute. ‘Evening, sir. All quiet around here.’

  ‘That’s good.’ The word had come through to the station at just before six that Radhika could have one visitor at a time. His boss had sent him to Cheltenham within the hour.

  A nurse at the ward desk had said he could go in to see Radhika, but he mustn’t stress the patient in any way. He’d seen others from Folly in a waiting room, so the police hadn’t been the only ones to get the word.

  Naturally, Alex and Tony had been there, and the new vicar’s wife. He hadn’t acknowledged them.

  Bugger, he wanted to get this over with.

  He tapped a small square of glass in the door but there was no answer.

  Quietly, he lowered the handle and pushed a couple of inches. ‘Radhika Malek?’ he said. ‘May I have a few words with you?’

  He heard her say, ‘Yes,’ although she spoke barely above a whisper.

  Closing the door behind him, he went to stand at the foot of the bed but made sure he wasn’t too close. The patient’s – or in this case, the victim’s – emotional comfort must be considered.

  If he had seen this woman before, he wouldn’t have forgotten her. ‘I’m Detective Sergeant Lamb. Sorry to disturb you but we’ve been waiting to ask a few questions about the attack on you.’

  Her blue-black hair shone in a thick plait that lay over one shoulder. Dark eyes that must be huge when they weren’t swollen and discolored looked at him steadily and he got the feeling she was doing her best not to appear frightened. Ms Malek, with her deep olive skin, was a diminutive knockout.

  ‘Is it OK if I sit?’ he said, and she nodded, yes.

  Taking a chair padded in nasty pale green plastic to match the walls and the curtains around the bed, he sat down and rested his forearms on his thighs. Best to seem relaxed, or so he’d always thought. Not always easy. He hadn’t earned his bulldog reputation for nothing.

  ‘Could you tell me everything you remember about the night you were attacked?’

  Her heavily bandaged hands had been resting at her sides on the white sheets. She lifted them now and he saw metal splints showing at the ends of her fingers. The woman stared at them as if for the first time, and didn’t say a word.

  Bill let a couple of minutes tick by.

  ‘It must be hard to talk about,’ he said. ‘Even harder to think about, I should imagine.’

  Those unreadable eyes met his. She nodded her head, yes.

  ‘We know there are things that need sorting out in Folly-on-Weir. You’re the closest we’ve got to a witness, otherwise I wouldn’t be bothering you.’

  Panic flashed across her features and for an instant she looked as if she was searching for a way to escape.

  ‘Did you see who your assailant was?’

  A shake, no, this time.

  ‘Any impressions he left you with? Any ideas about his size? Anything at all could be just what we’re looking for.’

  ‘Big,’ she said. ‘Heavy. He knocked me down and lay on top of me. He – he banged my face on the ground. And he hit my hands with … I don’t know. Perhaps a hammer, or perhaps a stone. I don’t know.’

  ‘Where had you been?’

  This time her silence surprised him.

  ‘Did you get any impression you might know this person?’

  Another shake of the head, no, and this time she looked away quickly.

  He couldn’t ask her if she was lying, not now, but he thought she might be.

  A nurse tapped the door and walked in. ‘Are you doing OK, Radhika? Don’t let yourself get tired out.’

  Radhika didn’t give an indication either way.

  ‘This was hand delivered for you before I came on shift.’

  Lamb raised his head to peer at the envelope in the nurse’s hand but she turned it upside down, deliberately, and tucked it in the top drawer of the nightstand. ‘Must be a well-wisher,’ the woman said. ‘I’ll help you open it later.’

  After the nurse left, Lamb sat back in his chair, rethinking how to question Radhika Malek. Something about her precluded any overly tough approach.

  He leaned forward again. ‘Can I ask for a cup of tea for you?’

  ‘Yes, please.’

  Grateful for that much loosening up, he went to the guard on the door and asked him for tea and biscuits – for two.

  ‘Do you have any notions about who might have done this?’ Again he sat down. He unbuttoned his suit jacket and smoothed his tie. ‘Toss out any suggestions, even if you think they could be crazy. Anything that comes to mind. Anything at all.’

  Silence.

  ‘Did you have Dr Harrison’s dog with you at the time?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Did you let her go or did she just get away from you?’ Pointless questions had been known to open up a witness.

  ‘When I was being held down, I slipped off the leash and told Katie to go. She went to—’

  ‘The Black Dog. Yes, we know. Why do you think she didn’t go home?’

  ‘It is too far. When she is in the village she is always trying to get to the pub. She is most happy there.’

  Lamb looked more closely at Radhika. ‘Are you crying, miss?’ He reached for a box of tissues, glanced at her hand and pulled a couple out for her. She raised her eyes to his face and he couldn’t h
elp dabbing at them, and at her cheeks, himself.

  ‘I have to go away,’ she mumbled. ‘I must go before he finds out I’m not dead. I was left for dead.’

  Rather than the copper on the door, Alex entered with Tony carrying mugs on a tray and biscuits wrapped in plastic.

  ‘Alex,’ Radhika said, speaking voluntarily for the first time since Lamb had been there. ‘I wanted to send for you but you are injured. I need you with me. Tony … good people. I am so grateful to you for trusting me. I have loved Folly. I don’t want to go, but—’

  ‘You’re not going,’ Alex said.

  Tony wheeled the bed table closer then found another chair for Alex.

  ‘We’re in the middle of …’ Lamb almost said ‘interrogation’, but stopped himself. ‘We’re having an official chat. The lady isn’t supposed to have more than one visitor at a time, anyway.’

  ‘The policeman’s phone rang and I volunteered to take the tray for him,’ Alex said. What a master she was at the innocent looks. ‘He thought you’d already left. Said he got held up in the cafeteria.’

  Lamb had no doubt that Alex had engineered her way into the hospital room but he’d be having a word with the man on the door later.

  ‘I need you to leave,’ he said. ‘I’m here on official business.’

  ‘I cannot speak with you unless Alex stays.’ Radhika turned her eyes to Tony Harrison and gave an apologetic smile. ‘You understand I need a woman for support, Tony?’

  ‘Of course I do. I’ll be in the waiting room. The vicar’s wife is out there.’ Radhika looked at her hands on the bed. ‘Most kind, I am sure, but I only need Alex.’

  Why would Radhika choose me? Alex wondered. We aren’t old friends.

  Radhika continued, ‘She stayed with me after … after it happened when she needed to be resting herself. I trust Alex.’

  Lamb looked out of his depth but determined. He kept glancing at something on the bedside table, or that’s how it seemed, but Alex couldn’t see what that might be.

  Once Tony left and closed the door, an awkward silence followed. Radhika reached out a bandaged hand to Alex and she covered it carefully.