by Issy Brooke
Francine said, “Oh, no, it wasn’t. Definitely not. I mean, they’d love it to have been an accident, because that’s an easy case to deal with. Go on, tell me, who do you reckon it is?”
“I really have no idea.”
Francine sighed. “Oh, you’re no fun. Drum roll please. Top of the list, and currently under the closest scrutiny, is Kevin!”
“Kevin from the rambling club? Window-cleaning Kevin?” Penny remembered her original list of suspects … her list of one. Kevin.
“Yes, indeed.” Francine sounded full of glee. “So I overheard a few things about why he is being looked at. Basically, he was in the area–”
“I knew that,” Penny said.
“–yeah, and he had the means, because of his ladders and his chemicals.”
“And he had argued with her for a long time,” Penny added.
“Absolutely!” Francine said. “I keep trying to find out who else is being investigated but honestly, Bill can be such a tight mouth.”
Penny was about to reply when she heard another voice in the background, at Francine’s end. It was a male voice, and it said, severely, “I think you’ll find that Bill can be such a professional, actually.”
Francine whispered, “Oh, hi, Bill. Um, I’m just having a little chat with Penny about this and that…”
“I know,” he said. He was speaking loudly enough for Penny to hear him, and she could catch the anger in his voice. “I heard most of it. We need to talk about boundaries.”
“Can I just … Penny, Penny, are you still there?”
“Yes, it’s okay. You go. I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Okay, thanks, bye.”
Penny closed her phone case and tapped the corner against her chin thoughtfully. Things did not sound good between Bill Travis and Francine now. Her stomach tightened. Poor Francine.
* * * *
“It’s not like I had moved in with him,” Francine said morosely, later that day. She was sitting in Penny’s living room, wearing a fluffy hooded top and furry boots. It was the obligatory comforting break-up uniform. “But it took me three car trips to take all my stuff out of his house in Lincoln and bring it back to my place in Glenfield. I suppose I can get on with my house a bit more. Did I tell you a window fell out the other day?”
“Er, no, you didn’t.”
“I maybe watched the wrong home renovation video online. Bill said I should get real workmen in, but I thought, how hard can it be? Oh, Bill.”
“Are you sure it had to end so abruptly?” Penny asked.
Francine nodded. “To be honest, the signs had been there for a while.” She sighed. “A horrible part of me is actually relieved, which is telling, isn’t it? Oh well. At least you can reassure your sister that she definitely is not a prime suspect.”
“That’s true. I ought to ring her. I called her earlier but there was no reply. Did I tell you about Destiny? She ran away but she came home that night.”
“Go on, you call her. I’ll just be here, eating all your biscuits like the spurned woman that I am.”
Penny went into the kitchen to try to get through to Ariadne again, and this time she answered. They had a brief conversation.
Penny came back into the living room. “She’s coming round,” she told Francine. “You can tell her about the suspect thing yourself. She’ll believe you.”
Ariadne arrived just a few minutes later, and she had Destiny in tow.
Penny had resolved not to mention Destiny’s latest escapade. She didn’t want to cause the young girl any embarrassment, but evidently Ariadne had no such qualms. She prodded her daughter forwards and said, “Now, what do you have to say to aunt Penny, Destiny?”
Penny winced. Destiny stared at the floor and said, “Yeah sorry about the other night and thanks for looking for me.”
“It’s okay,” Penny said, trying to sound cool and calm while glaring daggers at her sister.
“It really isn’t,” Ariadne said, but Francine stopped her before she said anything else.
“It is okay,” Francine said. “In the grand scheme of things, it is fine. She came home. That is the most important thing. She came home to you.”
“Yeah, but–”
Penny followed Francine’s lead. “So, she’s home. Excellent. Right. I’m sure there are things you guys have to work through. But give it time, okay?”
“Anyway,” Francine said, “I’ve just been dumped and we have a murder to solve.”
Both Ariadne and Destiny gasped in horror at Francine’s well-timed revelation, and they all sat down to catch up with events. Penny watched and listened as Francine told them what had happened.
She looked upset, but not devastated. Yes, Penny thought. The break-up had been inevitable for a while. It was still going to hurt, but it made things a little easier.
“So you see,” Francine said, once she’d finished her explanation. “You are not a suspect.” She patted Ariadne’s knee.
“I’m not at the top of the list,” Ariadne said.
“There isn’t a list, as such,” Francine said.
“We don’t know that,” Ariadne pointed out.
Destiny sighed dramatically. “Auntie Penny, do you have a large sheet of paper?”
“Sure. One minute.” She went a fetched an A2 sketchpad from upstairs, and when she got back to the living room, Destiny had cleared the coffee table.
“Are we doing a list?” Francine asked.
“No,” Destiny said. “I don’t reckon I’ve learned much at school but I can do a really good mind map. We will need coloured pens. And stickers. And a ruler. Maybe some pins and coloured thread and a board…”
Bit by bit, a miracle of mind mapping emerged. All four of them ended up pulling their chairs and the sofa closer to the table, as they gathered round to help Destiny with her colourful vision.
Kevin was written onto the paper and a circle put around his name, with means and motive underneath. The victim’s name, Julie, went in the centre and they used coloured thread to link them. Penny wasn’t sure why they had to pin the thread on rather than simply draw lines – the pins were going to mark the sheets underneath – but she didn’t want to stop Destiny’s flow. It was heartening to see her enthusiastic about something.
Destiny gripped a thick marker pen. “Who else needs to be on here?”
“I don’t know who the other suspects are that the police are definitely looking at,” Francine said.
“The question is,” Penny said, “who has the most to gain from Julie’s death?”
Destiny made a pattern of dots with the pen while she spoke. “In that case, it isn’t Kevin, is it? It’s more likely to be Julie’s uncle, William. Oh, and her – well, her daughter, Charlotte. Did she inherit a ton of money from her mum?”
“I don’t think she will. But even so, Charlotte didn’t know that Julie was her mother.”
“But I bet that William did,” Destiny said.
There was a moment of reflective silence.
Destiny wrote William’s name in a circle and began to plot out lines that connected him.
Francine said, “Maybe William did it because he did know that Julie was Charlotte’s mum and he wanted Charlotte to inherit some cash!”
“That actually works,” Penny said. “Good. Write that down.”
Destiny scribbled away furiously.
“It’s a shame, though,” Penny added. “I like William. He seemed genuine to me, and I like to think that I’m a good reader of people. He didn’t seem like a cold-hearted killer to me.”
“That’s the thing, though,” Francine said. “Any of us could be a killer.”
“I couldn’t!” Ariadne said.
“I could,” Destiny said darkly. “In the right circumstances.”
Francine pointed at Destiny and nodded. “Yes, you’ve got it. We’ve all got triggers. We’ve all got something we would kill for. Maybe it would be accidental but we could all find ourselves pushing someone or stepping i
n to save a child from being beaten up or whatever. William doesn’t need to be a cold-hearted killer. He might have had all sorts of reasons to do it. You can still like him, Penny, but you have to accept he is a possible murderer.”
“Hmm,” Penny said. “Yes, I agree. And Charlotte? She lived locally too. I bet she had a key to the house.”
“I’ll add her on,” Destiny said, and drew another circle.
Penny went silent as the others put pins into the sketchbook and stretched out the thread and listed possible reasons and means.
She felt achingly sorry for William and Charlotte.
But she had to face the facts. William had been saying that he was convinced it was all an accident.
Was he just saying that to throw people off the scent?
Chapter Twelve
When they left, Penny remained sitting on her comfortable arm chair. Kali wandered in and put her head on Penny’s knee, and Penny patted her head absently.
She was running through the afternoon in her memory, picking apart the interactions.
Francine had been stoical about the break-up, and Penny knew that she would be all right. She would plunge her energies back into restoring her house.
Destiny had been animated while she had a task to do, but she hadn’t spoken much with her mother.
And Ariadne had been distant. She’d been engaged, yes, with the mind map of suspects but there was a faraway look in her eyes. She hadn’t directly talked with anyone much.
And none of them had mentioned the supposed “campaign” to bring Drew and Penny together. She was mostly relieved about that.
Penny drifted off in her daydreams and was brought back awake with a start when there was a knock at the door. Kali leapt away to bark her head off, and Penny took a moment to blink and stretch and gather her thoughts. It had grown darker in the room, and she must have slept. It was nearly teatime.
It was Drew, and she could have collapsed into his arms with relief as he pushed past the excited dog and came into the living room. The only thing stopping her doing so was the fact that his arms were already full.
“What have you got there?” she asked.
“Snacks,” he said. “And a takeaway Indian meal, and a bottle of wine, and a dvd that claims to be the funniest film of the year. Oh, and a chewy toy for Kali.”
“Oh … wow.”
They were soon settled and tucking into the food, and she let Drew talk about his plans and projects regarding work. He had heard that someone was buying the old hotel and conference centre, and he was also expanding the things that he was doing with young people.
“I might even get some qualifications at last,” he said. “The school are looking at whether they can pay for my courses if they take me on as a part-time member of staff.”
“That is so exciting! I am delighted for you,” she said.
“I never thought I’d be able to change direction so much,” he said. “It’s very different to how they said it would be when I was at school.”
“I know what you mean. It was the same for me,” Penny said. “You were expected to choose a job – or a career, if you were a boy – and then stick with it for forty years until you got a clock and a handshake. Or had babies, for us women.”
“Now, the choice is overwhelming,” Drew said. “How is Destiny?”
She filled him in on the day’s earlier meeting. She picked at the rice with her fork as she talked, suddenly feeling like she was no longer hungry.
“One more week of holiday,” he said chirpily, when she had finished talking. “Then we can talk to the school and get things rolling for her again. I did call in at The Acorns,” he added. “I had a chat with the head when I caught him. He’s never not working, that man. He agreed he might be able to come to some part-time support arrangement but we do have to go through the proper channels, which means Ariadne has to deal with Destiny’s school.”
“That’s the problem,” Penny said hopelessly. “She’s not really capable of dealing with anything at the moment. She’s so … helpless. It drives me potty.”
“Are you surprised? From what I know of her past, she spent – what, twenty years? – being subservient to a bully of a husband. Of course she is helpless. She doesn’t know any other way to be.”
“I know, I’m sorry.” Penny dropped her fork and rubbed at her eyes, hiding her face. “And now I’m doing it, too, being silly and pathetic.”
“Hey. Hey! Not at all.”
She couldn’t see him. She couldn’t bring herself to look up at him but she felt his large, warm hands close over hers. He pulled her close to him. She wanted to nestle against him and be safe and cocooned but it was wrong for her to expect him to protect her. She stiffened and pulled away.
“What?” he said.
“You can’t. I shouldn’t. This is my fight. It’s not fair of me to put it on you.”
“What utter nonsense,” he said, and he sounded almost angry. “Why do you think I’m here, Penny? It’s because I care, and that means I care about what happens to you. And I care about your sister and your niece and what happens to them, too. I can help, and that’s what I intend to do. You don’t have to deal with it all on your own. I won’t let you.”
She wanted to argue back but she choked halfway through the first sentence, and dissolved into an undignified puddle of tears. He held her while she blew snot bubbles and made random, illogical statements about independence. Then he passed her a tissue, waited till she had taken some deep breaths, and opened the bottle of wine.
* * * *
They put the dvd to one side to watch later. After the food, and before the bottle of wine was empty, Drew pulled the mind map closer so that he could study it.
“You’ve got someone missing,” he said after a while. “You’ve got William at the top, then Kevin, then Charlotte. Fair enough. But you have to have Ariadne on there, too, you know.”
“Absolutely not! I’m amazed you could even suggest that,” Penny said in horror.
“I am not suggesting that she could have done it,” he said gently. “But I am saying that if you want to do this – and I know you do, and I’ve already said I will help you – then you need to stay one step ahead of the police. And they have considered her a suspect. So you have to, as well.”
Penny grumbled but then she confessed, “I think she’s hiding something, you know.”
Drew nodded. “Pass me the pen,” he said.
* * * *
They had finished the mind map, and the wine, and the dvd. It was late, and Drew was getting up to leave, when there was a knock at the door. Penny got up and found she was unexpectedly unsteady on her feet. By the time she’d got to the hallway, the door had opened.
“Hi, Ariadne! Are you okay?” It was past ten o’clock by now, and dark and cold.
“Yeah. Destiny thinks she left her phone here.” From behind Ariadne, Destiny gave a wave.
“Hi, auntie Penny. Can I just check down the side of the cushions where I was sitting earlier?”
“Come on in. Drew’s here,” she added, as she led them into the living room. She realised, with a jolt, that the mind map had Ariadne’s name added to it, and circled, clearly marked as a suspect. She slowed down to stop her sister coming into the room, and randomly kicked forward with her foot to push the paper off the coffee table.
Ariadne poked Penny in the back. “What are you doing?”
Penny stumbled forward, and decided to fake being more drunk than she was; she let herself fall towards the coffee table so she could bend over it and hold the sides, and give the paper the final nudge to make it fall to the floor.
Destiny pushed past and went to the sofa. “Hi, Drew!”
“Hi, there.” He got up and let Destiny poke her hands around the cushions, while Penny gathered up the fallen mind map and other papers, and shuffled them to hide it.
Ariadne was looking at her strangely. “Have you had any more thoughts about Julie and her death?” she asked.
“Not really,” Penny said, but she felt awkward. “I thought I’d better sleep on it.”
“Right. Yes.”
“Come on, Ariadne,” she said, trying to deflect attention from the heap of papers in her hands. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
Ariadne kicked at the floor. Drew murmured to Destiny, “Hey, I was talking to the head at The Acorns earlier. Come into the kitchen.”
It was partly a ruse but no one minded. Left alone, Ariadne began to speak a little more.
“You know that Julie had OCD, right?” Ariadne said.
“Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? Yeah. Charlotte told me, actually. I knew she liked things to be clean.”
“She was bad,” Ariadne said. “She … she had had counselling and everything. She was getting help. She talked about it a lot to me, because … I’ve had some of my own issues. More like obsessive thoughts and things, but you know. Except you don’t know. But someone who has had it, they know.”
“I am so sorry.” Penny started to tell Ariadne that she would help, but her sister waved the offers away.
“Yes, yes, I know. So, I knew a lot about her. And there’s more.”
“Go on.”
Ariadne didn’t reply at first. She put her hands in her pockets and felt around, and pulled something out. She held it tightly in her right fist, and stared at it.
“Ari?”
Ariadne looked up and thrust out her hand. “Penny, I’m so sorry. I have a key to Julie’s house. I had it from when we were setting up in business together, and she had to go away for a few days. She wanted someone to be able to get in, in case William had a fall or something. But now I don’t know what to do with it. The police mustn’t find it in my possession. I already know too much.”
She was holding out her hand and it was beginning to shake. Penny reached out tentatively, and Ariadne dropped the key into her palm. Straightaway, she snatched her now-empty hand back, and shouted, “Destiny, come on, we’re going!”