‘It was then that Stella started screaming,’ Antonia said, taking up the tale. ‘She stood in front of the fireplace waving the letters in the air like a flag. She demanded an explanation. Had Moon been sleeping with James? Were they really lovers? How long had it been going on?’
‘Moon told her mother to stop shouting, but Stella became even more agitated and vociferous. She said she wanted the whole world to know what kind of daughter she had.’
‘Stella threatened to take drastic measures. She told Moon she intended to go to the police and report James, whom she referred to as a “perverted” type and “disgusting paedophile”. This made Moon laugh. Stella said she would make sure James was put in jail for child abuse.’
‘She had lived in England long enough to know that her allegations would be taken very seriously indeed,’ Payne murmured.
‘Moon explained to her mother, very calmly, or so she claimed, that it was she who had seduced James, not the other way round, after she noticed how he kept staring at her.’
‘Stella called her a “shameless slut”. She said she would take Moon back to Bulgaria.’
‘She threatened to have Moon put in a “reformatory”. These, Moon explained, are special units for delinquent teenagers, notorious for their harsh discipline. Her mother had used that threat before, Moon said, but now it sounded as though she meant it.’
‘That’s when it happened.’ Payne pursed his lips.
‘That’s when the gel—?’ Lady Grylls broke off. ‘Goodness.’
‘Apparently it all happened very fast,’ Payne said. ‘Moon had been holding the sword aloft. She admitted to having smoked a spliff earlier on in the car, so it all felt a bit like a dream. There was a thud as her mother’s head fell on the floor and rolled towards the window. Then she saw her mother’s body fall. Talk of lethal Lolitas!’
‘Some of the blood went on Moon’s clothes, but, as it happened, her brand new clothes were in the boot of the car. Morland had bought them for her,’ Antonia explained. ‘She changed into the new clothes and stuffed the jeans and the jumper she had been wearing into the Top Girl bag. She had worn her black gloves throughout, so she didn’t have to worry about fingerprints. She left the house, got into the car and drove off. She dropped the bag in the river.’
‘She didn’t take the sword with her? After everything?’ Lady Grylls said in some surprise.
‘No. The sword had been contaminated with her mother’s blood. She said she couldn’t bear to touch it ever again. She left the car near the river, smoked another spliff, then wandered round London. She went on the tube where she was eventually picked up by the police.’ Payne frowned. ‘Am I missing anything?’
‘She hadn’t wanted to kill her mother. It simply “happened”. She has already pleaded diminished responsibility. She is very clever,’ Antonia said. ‘It was all her mother’s fault, she insisted. Her mother had no business to threaten her with the reformatory … I hope they keep her in for a very long time.’
‘What about the handkerchief with the initials? MM, which was actually WW?’
‘That, darling, is what I believe experts call a non-clue. Isn’t that so?’ Payne turned to Antonia, who shrugged. ‘The handkerchief was important in that it alerted us to Winifred’s part in the affair, but, strictly speaking, it did not constitute a clue.’
‘Stella had a sneezing fit at Melisande’s party. As she had no handkerchief, Winifred lent her hers,’ Antonia explained. ‘It was a silk handkerchief with the initials WW embroidered on it. Stella forgot to return it. She had been using it moments before she was killed. She took it out to wipe her tears, Moon said. She happened to be holding it in her hand when the blow fell. That was how the handkerchief got soaked in blood.’
‘Why did the gel kill Winifred exactly?’ Lady Grylls asked.
‘Winifred was killed in mistake for Melisande,’ Payne said. ‘Stella had told Moon that “Miss Hope” was Melisande in disguise. Moon regarded Melisande as a rival. Melisande had been trying to poison Morland’s mind against her. Morland had complained that Melisande had been ringing him, trying to get him back. Moon admitted she feared Morland might change his mind and go back to Melisande. At one point Morland had expressed misgivings about what he and Moon were doing. Moon said she wanted to make sure Morland stayed with her for ever.’
‘She had been sitting in Morland’s car outside Kinderhook on the morning Winifred set out to destroy the Prince Cyril biography. When she saw “Miss Hope” emerge and hail a cab, she started tailing the cab. She guessed “Miss Hope” was on her way to the Villa Byzantine. She had been looking for an opportunity to kill Melisande, she said.’
‘She also said she meant to make it look as though Tancred Vane was the killer. She has an extremely inflated opinion of her intelligence and ingenuity.’ Payne shook his head. ‘She sounded impossibly smug on that tape.’
‘Hubris leads to Nemesis,’ Lady Grylls said sententiously.
‘Yes, quite. By creating a second mayhem at the Villa Byzantine, the girl had also hoped to distract the police’s attention away from her … She left some notes for the police to find – she is manipulative – uncharacteristic emotional outpourings, quite convincing, apparently – she was innocent, but no one believed her – she related a childhood memory – some rigmarole about seeing a roe deer once and how it made her want to cry.’
‘I suppose she is being assessed by all sorts of loony doctors?’ Lady Grylls said.
‘Well, yes. She likes that.’
‘Do they really believe they’ll be able to straighten out the kinks in her brain? More tea, Antonia?’ Lady Grylls picked up the teapot. ‘What’s happening to Morland?’
‘He is in a bad state. Looks a shadow of his former self. Emaciated – grey-skinned – wild staring eyes – brings to mind one of those warning posters the Department of Health releases every now and then. His sister Julia appears to have taken complete control of his affairs.’ Payne paused. ‘We caught a glimpse of the two of them going into the police station the other day. Julia is the unflappable kind. He had a stick and he was leaning on her arm. She has managed to get him a first-class defence lawyer.’
‘Did Julia know what was going on?’
‘She guessed,’ Antonia said. ‘Apparently, like me, she went to the Corrida Hotel herself and made inquiries. It had occurred to her there was something not quite fatherly about the way her brother kept looking at Moon.’
‘Morland continues to deny that he and Moon were having an affair,’ said Major Payne. ‘The girl, on the other hand, has been eager to provide all sorts of embarrassing details – but everybody agrees she is a compulsive liar as well as a dangerous attention-seeker. That, I imagine, would be the line of the defence lawyer, so Morland might get away with it.’
‘What about the actress woman? She is not dead, is she?’
‘No. It seems Melisande has recovered from her breakdown and is now working on a one-woman show called Lizzie. She says she’s finding the work therapeutic.’
‘I see. An autobiographical kind of show?’
‘No, darling. It’s about the life and times of Lizzie Borden, the axe murderess. By an odd coincidence Tancred Vane has started writing a book about Lizzie Borden. It is quite a departure for him, but he and Melisande have been paying each other visits and comparing notes, so romance may be in the air.’
Lady Grylls nodded. ‘Another extraordinary affair – and one more feather in your collective cap. I’ve ceased to be amazed. Don’t you ever get sick of sleuthing? No, of course not. Pointless kind of question. I expect you relished the symmetry, my dear?’ Lady Grylls turned to Antonia. ‘Two terribly obsessive love affairs, so intricately interwoven? I bet it appealed to your – what do they call it? Sense of form?’
Antonia admitted that the case had indeed appealed to her sense of form.
Also by R. T. Raichev
The Hunt for Sonya Dufrette
The Death of Corinne
Assassins at Ospre
ys
The Little Victim
The Curious Incident at Claridge’s
Copyright
Constable & Robinson Ltd
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First published in the UK by Constable, an imprint of Constable & Robinson, 2011
First US edition published by SohoConstable, an imprint of Soho Press, 2011
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Copyright © R. T. Raichev 2011
The right of R. T. Raichev to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental
All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library
UK ISBN: 978-1-84901-904-0
US ISBN: 978-1-56947-915-5
US Library of Congress number: 2010037142
Murder at the Villa Byzantine: An Antonia Darcy and Major Payne Investigation Page 21