Murder My Neighbour

by Veronica Heley

  ‘I don’t know what I’ve done to help, but I’m glad to hear you’re not giving in. Of course Frank can stay tonight. His room’s always ready for him here. Give your dear wife my love, and tell her I’ll be over to see her and the babes again soon.’

  She walked him to the front door. ‘You don’t know which estate agent is dealing with the Pryce house in the next road, do you? The big house, all turrets and gables?’

  ‘Disneyland gone mad? I suspect some developer will demolish it and put up a block of flats instead. You wouldn’t be interested in buying it, would you? It’s not at all our kind of thing.’

  She shook her head. ‘No, no. Forget I asked. I’ll be in touch, let you know how Frank is tomorrow morning.’

  ‘And Rose. And is Thomas well? And the young girl you’ve been looking after? Is she feeling better now?’

  ‘They’re both fine. Mia is meeting an old school friend up in town today. They’re planning a house share together.’

  ‘That’s good,’ he said, looking at his watch, his mind moving ahead to what he had to do next. ‘You’ve done wonders with her, but I expect it’s time she moved away and got on with her life.’

  Ellie shut the front door behind him and set her back to it.

  Dear Lord, what a mess. Diana never looks where she’s going, does she? All her life she’s been showered with money that she hasn’t earned, and it disappears like fairy gold as she handles it. I suppose Denis has the right to demand she buy him out. It would be quite wrong to ask my charity for money to help her out.

  I want to run screaming away and never see her again, but I know I can’t do that. I have to help her, somehow, don’t I?

  Dear Lord, you promised you wouldn’t lay a burden on me that I can’t bear. Tell me how to work this problem out. Please?

  Ellie went back into the sitting room to finish the tidying-up she’d started early that morning. She picked up the newspapers which Thomas invariably spread around him on the floor and on any other surface to hand. She took an empty beer mug and a coffee cup out to the kitchen and put them in the dishwasher, together with the bits and pieces from the recent snacks. She filled the small watering can and took it back into the sitting room to fill up the vase in which the peonies stood and then . . .

  And then she noticed that the pretty porcelain snuff box, which sat on the same table as the peonies, was no longer there.

  Her ring! Her engagement ring, which was a trifle tight for her since she’d put on weight recently . . . She’d left it on the piecrust occasional table at the side of her chair by the fireplace. It wasn’t there.

  Thomas’s much prized Kindle, which she’d bought him for his birthday, and which he played with for hours. That wasn’t where he’d left it, either.

  In her mind’s eye, she replayed the Pryce boy’s visit. He’d held back to let her pass through the French windows into the house before him. She’d gone ahead of him into the hall because the phone had been ringing. She’d picked up the phone with her back to the boy. It had been Stewart, asking if he might come over.

  She’d said yes. She hadn’t been looking at her visitor as he left . . . picking up their valuables as he passed through the hall behind her. He’d not properly closed the front door behind him, which meant that she’d caught a glimpse of him driving off in a bright yellow car as she’d concluded her conversation with Stewart.

  The boy had said he was desperate for money. She’d turned him down, and he’d taken his revenge on his way out. She felt for the arms of her chair and let herself down into it.

  Dear Lord . . . this is all a bit much. I must ring the police.

  Rose was always saying that worse things happen at sea. Well, yes. Possibly. But this was very bad.

  There was a commotion in the hall.

  ‘We’re back!’ That was Thomas, laughing, pleased to be home.

  ‘We met at the station coming back, and it’s great news! I’m moving out at the end of the month!’ That was Mia’s lighter voice. Mia had been so badly abused by her family that she’d thought she’d never laugh again, but some months of living with Ellie and Thomas, and of being cosseted by Rose, had worked a sea change in the girl, and she was now capable of leaving the house and even conducting business by herself. There were relapses, of course. But she was coming on a treat.

  Thomas and Mia both sounded happy and fulfilled.

  Ellie scolded herself to her feet. She even managed a smile as she threw open the door, only to be caught up in Mia’s arms and waltzed around the hall. Mia’s eyes were bright, there was a red rose in her dark curly hair, and altogether she looked ready to leave the nest – at last.

  Giddy from being whirled around, Ellie ended up in Thomas’s bear embrace. He was a big man who looked like a bearded sailor, but who had always been an academic – and her own dear love. She clung to him, smiling. She could feel laughter rumble through his chest as he picked her up off the floor and gave her a socking great kiss.

  ‘Oh, you!’ She held on to his arms as he set her gently back on to her feet.

  Mia was on tiptoe, ready to fly off. ‘I’m dying to tell Rose.’

  ‘No!’ said Ellie.

  Thomas and Mia lost their smiles. ‘What is it?’

  Ellie hastened to explain. ‘It’s all right, not serious, but she fell off the ladder in the garden this morning. Nothing broken, but she’s very shocked and she’s resting now. Thomas, didn’t you pick up my message? I phoned from the hospital . . .’

  He dived into his pockets. ‘I must have left my mobile here.’

  Oh, no. Had that been stolen as well?

  Monday evening

  Curses on all thieving fences! Four hundred and fifty pounds for the lot! He’d bet they were worth ten times that.

  Well, what was done, was done.

  Four fifty would go some way to keeping the Leech off his back. A pity he hadn’t lifted the old biddy’s keys because he’d go bail there were more trinkets lying around her house that could do with a better home.

  He hadn’t left too many clues behind with her, had he? He’d not given his first name. He hadn’t told her where he lived, or exactly where he worked. A pity he hadn’t thought to park his car outside in the road when he called on her, but he didn’t think she’d had a chance to see it, anyway. So he was quite safe.

  Except that he still had to find some more money somehow or other.

  Which meant he was back to square one; where had Flavia gone?

  THREE

  Monday evening

  Ellie needed to get rid of Mia, before she could tell Thomas what had happened.

  ‘Mia, little Frank is in with Rose. He had a bad night. You’ll want to make sure Rose is all right, but if she’s asleep . . .’

  ‘I won’t disturb her.’ Mia opened the door to the kitchen quarters and disappeared, closing it silently behind her.

  Thomas put his arm around Ellie and urged her into the sitting room. ‘Rose will be all right. She always bounces back.’

  Thomas intended to reassure, but what he said wasn’t quite true. Rose had become very frail after her beloved Miss Quicke died, and Ellie had feared they might lose her, too. However, Rose had rallied in the springtime and had been almost back to her old sprightly self recently . . . except for one mild eccentricity: she insisted she still occasionally saw and spoke with her previous employer.

  Ellie wondered if Rose were now suffering from a more serious delusion. Someone spying on her from an attic window? The shock of falling off the ladder might easily have tipped her over the edge. But this was not the moment to explore that possibility.

  ‘So, Thomas; how was your day?’ She knew he’d been having problems with one of the contributors to the Christian magazine he edited.

  ‘Better than yours, it seems.’ He pulled her down on to the settee at his side. ‘You can’t fool me. Something’s wrong. Why is Frank in with Rose, for a start?’

  ‘Diana has a new man. She says he’s going to be Frank’s new d
addy. Frank got upset, had nightmares. Stewart brought him over here, and he was a brave boy, helping us to look after Rose. Then he settled down to sleep beside her.’

  That was the truth, but not the whole truth. Thomas knew her through and through. He knew that was not all she had to tell him, but she didn’t know what she was going to say about the rest of Diana’s news. If the girl owed so much money and also lost the agency, could she be forced into bankruptcy? Oh dear.

  He teased her. ‘You look like a little bird, a sparrow, all ruffled feathers.’

  ‘I wish I felt like an eagle.’

  ‘You want to kill someone?’

  ‘Yes, I do. Rose was on a ladder in the garden, which she knows she shouldn’t have been, and thought she saw something up at the top window of the house over the garden wall. She fell off the ladder, the doorbell rang and . . .’ She told him about her caller’s claim to be a great-nephew of Mrs Pryce’s from the next road, his attempts to find her, his demand for money and Stewart’s phone call – which had left the young man alone in the sitting room for a few all-important moments.

  ‘I shouldn’t have left him alone even for a second, but I did. Anyone with the sense of a peewit would have known he wasn’t to be trusted. So it’s all my fault.’

  He looked around the room. ‘He stole something? What?’

  ‘Your Kindle. My birthday present to you.’

  ‘What?’ He half rose, then sank back into his seat. His eyes switched to and fro. She could see him brace himself. ‘Well, that’s not so terrible. It can be replaced. I had my favourite version of the Bible on it, but . . . don’t look so tragic. Did he take my mobile, too? Now that really would be a nuisance, but—’

  ‘I don’t know. He might have done. I was just looking around, it’s the first chance I’ve had to get in here all day. I noticed your Kindle was gone, and my engagement ring—’

  He flushed with anger. ‘Now that’s more serious. I’ve been promising you I’d take it in to be altered for days. Serves me right for not doing it straight away. Well, it’s insured. I suppose the Kindle is, too.’

  ‘There’s more. You know that pretty snuff box of Aunt Drusilla’s that I found at the back of a drawer a couple of weeks ago? I’m sure it’s worth a lot, but we’ve never had it valued. That’s gone, too. It’s as if he took the things which we love most: my ring, your Kindle, and Aunt’s little box.’

  ‘They’re just things.’ He put his arm around her and held her close. ‘He didn’t hurt you in any way?’

  She tried to smile. ‘Only in my pride.’

  ‘Pride can be expensive. Lose it. And guilt. Have you phoned the police?’

  ‘I’ve only just found out what he’s done.’

  ‘I’ll ring them now, give them the details. They may need to speak to you, too, of course. What rotten luck.’ He looked at the clock, hesitated. ‘I’ll have a search around here first, see if I can turn up my mobile. It may have dropped to the floor somewhere, or slipped behind a cushion.’

  ‘Supper,’ she said. ‘Cold stuffs, I think. I was going to go out shopping but things happened. It’s good about Mia finding a place of her own, isn’t it?’

  ‘Yes.’ They both knew that Mia had been doing the bulk of the shopping and cooking lately, and that if Rose needed nursing and were to be out of the picture for a while, it would make things difficult for Ellie. He put his arm round Ellie’s shoulders. ‘We must see what we can do to help Mia move out.’

  Ellie knew what he meant. She took a deep breath. ‘We’ll cope. Right?’

  ‘Bless you, Ellie. Now, I’ll have a hunt for my mobile and then ring the police.’

  Ellie pushed thoughts of Diana to the back of her mind as she went to see about supper. Mia was nowhere to be seen; presumably she was phoning round her friends with news of her imminent removal. Rose and Frank were both still fast asleep.

  Thomas brought some news to the supper table. ‘The police say that your caller is probably a con artist, talking his way into big houses in order to steal what he can. If so, he’s probably on their books already. They’ll see if they can get someone to call round tomorrow to take some details.’

  Ellie winced. ‘I don’t even know if Pryce is his real name, or where he lives.’

  ‘The insurance people want me to send them a claim form. We’ll do that in the morning, shall we?’

  Mia came in just in time to hear Thomas’s last words. ‘What’s up? You’ve lost something?’ A look of anxiety replaced her former high spirits. That was the trouble with Mia; the slightest upset still had the power to make her fearful.

  ‘Nothing for you to worry about.’ Thomas managed a smile as he pulled out a chair for her to sit at the table. ‘Have you been inviting all your friends to a house-warming party?’

  The girl glowed with delight. ‘Isn’t it great? I rang Ursula, of course. She’s my very best friend in all the world. Or she was till she got married. She was pleased, of course, but it’s not the same when one of you is married and the other isn’t. And yes, I did phone one or two others, of course.’

  Ellie and Thomas tried not to exchange looks. Mia had a sort of follower, a roly-poly man whom she’d met at Ursula’s wedding and seen regularly since. Mia had shied away from contact with men nowadays, but perhaps, some day . . . perhaps.

  ‘Tell us all about it,’ said Thomas. ‘How many people are in the house, or is it a flat? And where is it?’

  Mia talked, her enthusiasm making Thomas and Ellie forget their worries. But when the meal was over, Mia became serious. ‘I’ll keep an eye on Rose tonight, shall I? I’ll leave my door open at the top of the stairs, so I can hear her if she wakes.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ said Ellie. ‘I was wondering if you’d like me to sleep in your room so as to be near to her, and you can move into the spare room.’

  ‘Certainly not!’ A flash of her old spirit. ‘She’s been good to me, and we’re used to one another now. Did they give her an anaesthetic at the hospital? Will she feel sick when she wakes up?’

  ‘No. She can have some codeine when she wakes and perhaps some hot tea and a biscuit – whatever she fancies. If you don’t mind, that is.’

  ‘It will be a pleasure.’ Mia seemed to mean it, too. It was a good sign that she was offering to help care for Rose. A short while ago she’d have shrunk into herself at the thought of having to take responsibility for someone else.

  Mia started to clear the table. ‘What about little Frank? He’s still fast asleep in the chair next to Rose.’

  ‘He’s to sleep the night in his bedroom here and we’ll see how he gets on tomorrow.’

  ‘Leave him where he is for the moment,’ said Thomas. ‘Knowing the capacity of young boys for a regular supply of food, he’ll wake up before long and demand sustenance. If not, I’ll carry him upstairs and put him to bed.’

  Mia offered to stack the dishwasher, so Ellie went along to her study to make a note of everything she could remember about the young con artist. It didn’t take long. She wasn’t feeling very bright.

  The moment she stopped thinking about Rose and the thefts, Diana’s problems leaped into Ellie’s mind. It was ridiculous of Diana to say she wanted to reclaim Frank, but the courts did bend over backwards to allow the children to stay with their mothers if possible, and Diana could make out a good case – well, she might be able to, if she got married again – but little Frank was dead against it, and surely they’d take his feelings into account?

  Oh, the hassle.

  A nasty suspicious thought slid into Ellie’s mind. Diana hadn’t a good record of looking after Frank, even when she was supposed to do so. Diana was always saying how difficult it was for her to have him when she had to work at weekends, and surely that must be even more difficult now she was on her own at the agency. So, how serious was she about trying to reclaim him? Could she possibly be using the threat to remove Frank in order to put pressure on Stewart – and thus on Ellie – to meet her demand for money?

  Ellie
tried to laugh at herself. Diana wouldn’t stoop so low. Would she?

  The thought refused to be dismissed. Ellie’s dealings with Diana had taught her not to take everything her daughter said at face value. It might be a good idea to check on what was really going on in the girl’s life.

  Who was Diana’s new man, anyway? If he was reasonably solvent, then why wasn’t Diana applying to him for help?

  It might be that he was in no position to help her . . . which might mean that he’d be a liability rather than an asset. Oh dear.

  As for Diana’s debts . . . Ellie knew of a recent purchase of a top of the range car, extravagant clothes, the latest iPhone . . . Diana never stinted herself, did she?

  Ellie put her head in her hands. She’d been brought up to fear bankruptcy. Her father had always been afraid of getting into debt, wouldn’t even buy something on the never-never, had never held a credit card . . . though you didn’t have them in those days, did you? Nowadays, of course, that was the way most people bought things. She’d heard that many businessmen regarded bankruptcy as a temporary embarrassment and somehow managed to get back on their feet again in next to no time.

  But to bail Diana out by buying Denis off . . . and at such a cost! Ellie couldn’t see how it was to be done.

  When Ellie had decided to use her money for charitable purposes, she’d reserved an income for herself which had seemed ample to her at the time, though she knew Diana had sneered at it. Ellie wasn’t extravagant, and though the upkeep of this big house was a drain on their finances, Thomas covered nearly all of their living expenses from his salary. True, they lived quietly, but they still enjoyed the little treats that made all the difference: meals out, trips to the theatre, a new television set, the occasional holiday; that sort of thing.

  Of course, if Rose were going to need extra care, the cost of that must be taken into consideration . . . except that Miss Quicke had left Rose some money in her will, which might well cover it.

  Ellie tried to work out how much she could manage to give Diana without going cap in hand to her charity for funds and decided there was no way she was going to be able to do it.