by Mary Grand
‘That’s right.’
‘So, had you seen your car keys since you checked your car a couple of weeks ago?’
‘Um, I did see them on Saturday evening, I took them out of my bag down in the car park, but I didn’t use them.’
‘So, you could have dropped them then?’
‘I thought I’d zipped them back in my bag, but I suppose I could have dropped them. Is that what happened? Someone found my set of car keys and then used them to steal my car?’
‘Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing whether your car was started with keys or they managed to bypass the ignition switch some other way. The fire damage was considerable. But if your set of keys are missing, that suggests they were used. And we need to find out how they got from your bag where you say they were, into the hands of whoever drove the car.’ The detective sat more upright, her voice more formal. ‘We will need to take individual statements of all the members of the family as to your movements on Saturday night.’
‘Why do you need to do that?’ asked Cassie, her voice shaking with anger. ‘This was obviously the act of some drunken thug; we don’t need you insinuating anything else. My sister has been through enough.’
For the first time in the conversation, Adam spoke. ‘It’s just procedure. It is important we eliminate people from the inquiry so that we can get on with finding the real culprits. Also, it may be that you are holding on to useful information without realising it. We do know how distressing this can be, but please understand we need to tick the boxes.’
His words seemed to pacify Cassie.
The inspector flashed a hard smile at him, and then turned back to the family. ‘For the time being let us just check a few more facts, shall we? Let’s just go through all your movements on that Saturday evening, Juliet.’
The use of her name was unnerving, she felt singled out. She was acutely aware of the notebook, the eyes, slightly screwed up, alert, taking in everything she said, her manner, judging her. Juliet tried to relax, to breathe more slowly, but she had a feeling she was just making herself look more guilty.
She started going through the evening, the meal, who had been there.
‘I understand the meal was tense, difficult?’ said the detective.
Juliet glanced at Adam, feeling betrayed for some silly reason.
‘Well, yes, but I explained to Adam why that was.’
‘And you went out after the meal? Who did you meet?’
‘I met with my friend Gabriel…’
Mira signed, ‘You saw Gabriel?’
Juliet nodded. ‘Only for a chat,’ she signed and then continued. ‘We talked for some time, and then I returned home. I showed him the key ring on my keys, so I definitely had them then.’ She could see the questioning look on the detective’s face, inwardly cringed, and knew she was going to have to explain. ‘You see, Gabriel had given me a stone heart-shaped key ring, and when I met him, I showed it to him, so he knew I still had it.’
‘Can you give me Gabriel’s details?’
Juliet told them his address.
‘Ah the vineyard, yes, I know it,’ said the detective. ‘And what is the nature of your relationship with Gabriel?’
‘We are just friends.’
‘I see. And after you saw Gabriel, what time did you return to the house on Saturday evening?’
‘At about half past eleven.’ She signed to Mira, ‘It was about half eleven, wasn’t it? You came down for Lola.’
Mira nodded.
She saw the police officers shoot each other a glance.
‘Mum checked everyone was in and then locked up…’ Juliet paused, she thought of Anwen, the sounds of people leaving, but how could she mention that? It was all supposition and they’d all denied going out. Maybe she’d got it all wrong.
Suddenly she was aware of the detective watching her again. ‘And then?’ she asked.
‘And then I went to bed.’
‘And did you leave the house again at all that night?’
‘No, why should I? I went to bed, had some calls.’
‘Ah that could be helpful. Who called you?’
‘Well, I video called on WhatsApp with Gabriel at about half twelve… and again at about one… his mother wasn’t well, he was worried… oh and then I chatted to a friend in Edinburgh.’
‘And you said you noticed your set of keys were gone yesterday. Had someone in the house borrowed them, used your car?’
‘No, I asked everyone, no one knew where they were.’
‘But if you are right, they were in your bag on Saturday night. Where did you put your bag when you came home?’
‘Down here on the dresser.’
‘So, anyone in the house could have taken the keys without you knowing?’
‘Well yes. But—’
‘So, if I’ve got it right, the people who stayed in this house the night of the accident, were yourself, your sisters Mira, Rosalind and Cassie, and also Rhys’s sister Anwen and your mother.’ Her eyes scanned the room. ‘No one left the house all night?’
Her question was met with a stony silence.
‘Right, and, Mira, your husband Rhys was meant to be going back to the vicarage after he’d been to the church?’
‘That’s right. He didn’t want to disturb me, and he liked to be close to the phone at the vicarage in case anyone needed him.’
‘I see,’ the detective said. She closed her notebook and looked around. ‘Thank you for answering my questions. One more thing, we would like to have access to the vicarage; I assume your husband’s computer and personal effects are there?’
‘Yes, his computer is in his study. The wardens have spare keys, I can give you their numbers, or of course, you can have mine.’
‘The numbers of the wardens would be ideal, thank you.’
After Mira had given these, the detective asked, ‘Now, do you have anything you would like to ask me?’
‘I asked yesterday about seeing my husband,’ said Mira. ‘Adam said he’d try and organise something.’
‘I’d like to see my brother as well,’ said Anwen quietly.
Adam spoke. ‘I have arranged things. If you could come up to the hospital at about two this afternoon. Um, go to the main entrance. Someone will meet you there. Is that convenient?’
‘Yes, thank you,’ said Mira.
Their business apparently concluded, the police officers rose to say goodbye to them all. Juliet rose too to show them out.
When they’d gone, Juliet went back to the living room, but no one seemed to know what to do next.
‘I’m really sorry they used your car,’ Cassie said, ‘but you have to be careful about this business with your lost set of car keys. You need to reassure the police that no one in the house took them out of your bag, you must see how it looks otherwise.’
‘But I don’t know what happened to them, so how can I reassure the police?’
‘Well, you must have lost them outside, and you need to say that to them.’
‘But I don’t know that for sure, do I?’ insisted Juliet.
‘Well, no one here took them out of your bag. You know that,’ said Cassie.
The two sisters stared at each other, neither giving way.
In the end, Juliet spoke. ‘Look, I think we ought to start being open about the meal on Saturday night. The police are going to interview us all. I am not saying anyone here had anything to do with Rhys’s death, of course I’m not. But we need to tell the truth. For example, someone still has the original key to the patio doors, someone left the house in the middle of the night, someone was in the workshop, I saw the light on, the shadows.’
‘Well, if you’re so sure, why didn’t you say anything to the police just now?’ asked Rosalind.
Juliet was surprised at the confrontational tone in her sister’s voice. ‘Because I hoped and expected whoever it was would own up. I don’t want to go around accusing you all, do I, but there is no point in hiding things. The police will find out
and it will look worse in the end. Like my set of cars keys, I am sure they were in my bag, so if anyone knows anything, please tell me.’
No one would meet her eye, and no one spoke.
Juliet threw her hands up in despair.
‘Listen. This is all supposition. You think you heard or saw someone; you think someone took your set of car keys. Maybe you are just letting your imagination run away with you,’ said Cassie.
‘No, I don’t think I am. I’m sure I saw someone go out of the gate, I saw the light in the workshop, I didn’t imagine them,’ said Juliet.
Cassie interrupted crossly, ‘People don’t have to explain themselves to you.’
The defensiveness in her tone was clear and Juliet couldn’t help wondering just where it came from.
Her mother, however, agreed with Cassie. ‘Juliet, whatever we were all up to that night had nothing to do with Rhys’s death. The people who did this wicked thing were strangers from the mainland.’
‘Of course they were,’ said Cassie, and Anwen nodded in agreement.
Juliet longed to join in their certainty, but she was uneasy. Of course, she wanted this horrible deed to have been done by strangers. Even better, strangers from the mainland. If only it didn’t feel so personal to her – it was her car after all, her set of car keys with her special key ring. And it was her who knew Rhys was scared, who her father had warned.
‘We must trust the police to catch these people, I am sure they will,’ her mother continued with confidence.
‘Are you? Are you really?’ asked Rosalind, her voice quiet, but strangely cutting.
‘Of course, why wouldn’t I be?’
‘Well, they never caught the person who killed Maddie’s son Harry, did they?’
‘Oh, that was completely different, and it was years ago. I’m sure the police are more effective these days,’ said her mother sharply.
‘It was exactly twenty-one years ago to the day of our meal,’ said Rosalind, ‘and Rhys’s accident, it makes you think, doesn’t it?’
Juliet wondered about her sister, saw the dark circles make-up had failed to cover up. Rosalind had been so strange since Rhys’s accident. It was more than grief; it was more than that hardness and frustration she’d noticed when she first came home. Why had she kept saying she didn’t understand, that nothing made sense? Now she was bringing up Harry’s death. Why? Like her mother said, that was years ago.
Juliet shook her head; she had no idea what was going on with Rosalind. She did know that there were a lot of questions that needed answers, and of all the people present on Saturday evening, Anwen had been acting the most suspiciously. It was time to find out what she was hiding.
15
Juliet had been listening to Mira tossing and turning all night. It had been heart-breaking seeing her sister’s face when she returned from the mortuary with Anwen yesterday afternoon. It reminded Juliet of the grief, the shock they were feeling, and made her question her suspicion of Anwen. Her pain had seemed so raw and real; surely, she couldn’t be putting that on.
Juliet got up and saw Mira was finally sound asleep, her arm on top of the duvet. Juliet tried to avoid looking at the bruising. Lola appeared to be asleep next to Mira, but as soon as she saw Juliet move, she was up.
Lola followed Juliet out of the bedroom, clearly hoping for an early walk and breakfast, but just as Juliet was about to go downstairs, she heard a voice coming from the bathroom. Juliet crept closer to the door, bent over, and listened.
‘You need to understand, this is something I need to do.’ There was a brief pause as presumably the person on the other end spoke and then Juliet heard Cassie speak again. ‘I can see doctors here; you are not to worry but I have to stay here. I’m sorry, of course I miss you, you just have to try and see this from my point of view.’ The phone call must have ended abruptly, because before Juliet had time to move, the bathroom door opened, and she was caught red-handed by Cassie.
Cassie’s eyebrows shot up. ‘You were waiting?’
Juliet looked up. Cassie was in her towel dressing gown and drying her hair, but there was something about the way she was behaving that made Juliet’s heart race. Inexplicably Juliet felt a burning sensation in her hand. She looked at it but there was no mark, nothing.
‘Um, yes.’
Lola ignored them both and carried on downstairs alone, but Juliet felt she had no option but to carry on the pretence and so she walked past Cassie and into the bathroom. She could feel her cheeks burning with shame at being caught listening at a door, but she couldn’t work out what she’d found so unnerving. It was odd that Cassie should be making secret phone calls in the toilet, wasn’t it, and the conversation sounded rather intense and cryptic. It had been someone Cassie was obviously close to, in a relationship with perhaps? The mention of doctors frightened Juliet, what was wrong with her sister? Juliet completed the pantomime by pulling the flush and turning the taps. She came out to an empty landing and went downstairs.
In the kitchen, Juliet found Lola philosophically lying in her bed and went over to stroke her, but noises behind her made her stop. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Rosalind reaching up to the hook where the new patio door key was hanging.
‘Morning,’ Juliet said.
Rosalind turned, startled, and demanded, ‘What are you doing up so early?’
Juliet was shocked. Her sister looked so dishevelled again. It was so unlike Rosalind to come down without her hair done and at least a smattering of make-up.
‘Are you okay?’ Juliet asked.
Rosalind pulled her silky wrap tightly around herself; she was breathing fast. ‘Of course.’
Juliet could see her hand clenched, something metal sticking out.
‘What’s that?’ she asked, pointing to Rosalind’s hand.
Rosalind opened her hand slowly, shrugged. ‘It’s just a spare key for the patio door.’
‘But that’s the original patio door key, isn’t it? The one mum was looking for.’ Juliet stared at Rosalind. ‘How long have you had this?’
Rosalind tossed her head back. ‘For God’s sake, it’s only a door key. I found it in my pocket, I must have put it in there by mistake.’
‘But you must have taken it after we went to bed on Saturday night, why didn’t you say? You knew we were looking for it.’
‘Oh God. Look, there’s no great mystery. I just came down because I wanted to look in Dad’s workshop for something without everyone asking a load of questions.’
‘So, it was you in the workshop on Saturday night? What time did you go out there?’
‘About half twelve, I guess. I unlocked the doors and took the key.’
‘And when did you come back in?’
‘Oh, a few hours later, so it was about two, I think.’
‘You were out there all that time? Did you see anyone leave the garden?’
Rosalind shrugged and then her face brightened. ‘Oh, I did see someone going out now you mention it.’
‘Who?’
Rosalind looked away. ‘It was dark…’
‘Well, what time then?’
‘About half past twelve maybe, but I was busy… I didn’t think about it.’
‘Did anyone else go out while you were in the workshop?’
‘No idea, I settled down in the old armchair and put my headphones on after that. I wasn’t looking out of the window.’
‘So that’s all you saw? Someone going out at about half past twelve?’
‘That’s right, and eventually I came back inside and went to bed.’
Juliet paused. She’d been bludgeoning her sister with questions and hadn’t asked her the most important one.
‘Why did you go out there at that time of night?’
Rosalind sighed. ‘I wanted to look for my musical box and I wanted to look at it on my own.’
‘But I could have got it for you anytime. You just had to ask.’
‘But you kept forgetting and I heard what you said… you don’t
think Dad wanted me to have it, do you?’
Juliet shrugged. ‘He might have been confused.’
‘That’s not what you really think, is it?’
‘Okay, so Dad did say not to give it to you, but I’ve no idea why.’ Juliet saw the distress on her sister’s face.
‘I know now,’ said Rosalind. She spat the words out, her face white-hot with anger.
Juliet felt her heart racing. ‘You do?’
‘Yes, he’d hidden a letter behind one of the photographs.’
Juliet shook her head in confusion. ‘A letter?’
‘Yes.’ Rosalind’s hands began to shake. ‘He’d written it, thinking we’d spoken. You know he was going to tell me something on my twenty-first? I’m sure this was it.’
Juliet’s eyes widened. ‘Hang on. So, he didn’t want you to have the box because he remembered the letter. He must have written it before whatever happened the day of his accident to change his mind.’
Rosalind nodded. ‘Exactly.’
Juliet walked over to her sister. ‘What was it? What was this big secret?’
Rosalind started to sob. ‘I can’t tell you; I can’t bear it. It’s so horrible, but I wish he’d at least had the courage to tell me himself.’
‘I don’t think it was cowardice that stopped him, I think he genuinely thought it was safer for you not to know,’ Juliet reassured her.
Rosalind shrugged. ‘I don’t see how that makes sense.’
‘What does it say? Let me see it.’
‘No, once you see it everything will change, nothing will be the same again.’
‘But this is too much for you to cope with on your own, you’ve not looked right since Saturday evening.’
‘No, I feel rubbish. I don’t know what to do. When I first read it, I knew Dad had told Rhys.’ Rosalind stood clenching her fists, her long nails digging into her palms. ‘How dare he do that, tell him and not me.’
‘Did you go and speak to Rhys after reading the letter?’ Juliet asked quietly.
Rosalind glared at her. ‘No, but I wish I had, and I’ll tell you this, I’m glad he’s dead.’
She stormed out of the room. Juliet had seen Rosalind have many outbursts over the years. But Rosalind was no longer a child, she was an adult. Those words of frustration and anger with Rhys had not been thrown out like a toy across the room, they had been cold, considered. Rosalind had meant every word.