by Mary Grand
Juliet felt her face burning. ‘I’m so sorry to ask. I just don’t know what I’m meant to think. I went through my bag only this morning, and they definitely weren’t there.’
‘I don’t understand it either,’ signed Mira. Juliet was relieved that at least Mira believed that she’d not had them in her bag the whole time. ‘Have you asked the others?’
‘No, not yet… Mira, you promise me it wasn’t you? I won’t tell anyone.’
‘If I had a bible, I’d swear on that,’ signed Mira. ‘And you are really sure they haven’t been there all the time?’
Juliet reached out to Mira. ‘There’s no way.’
‘But why would anyone take them?’ Mira signed, but when their eyes met, Mira shuddered. ‘Please no, you can’t think that. No one in our family would have used your car to kill my Rhys, that’s madness.’
‘Mira, I don’t want it to be that, but why did someone in this house take my keys? I can’t stop thinking about it. Anwen has admitted now she was out all night. I don’t know what she told the police, but it has to be possible she was up at the church, and she was so angry with Rhys…’
Mira’s eyes widened. ‘But to kill her brother!’
‘I know, I know. But someone took my set of car keys. People are lying, Mira, someone went out the night Rhys died… I heard them; I saw them going out.’
‘Juliet, listen, it’s the police’s job to find out what happened to Rhys. Please leave it to them, please, leave it alone. You’ll drive yourself crazy.’
Juliet saw the desperation in Mira’s eyes, she heard what she was saying, but it wasn’t enough. ‘I’m so sorry Mira but finding my set of car keys has made me realise I have to start taking seriously the possibility that someone in this house killed Rhys. It’s been going in and out of my head since the day we found Rhys, and now this proves it.’
Mira shook her head. ‘You’re wrong, Juliet. No one we know could kill.’
‘That’s not what Dad said.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘When he talked to me in the hospital, he said anyone who has a motive can kill.’
‘Why on earth was Dad talking about things like that?’
‘I don’t know, he said some odd things but I think he was warning me for some reason. I am sure he said a lot more to Rhys and that Rhys knew something really important about our family. Rhys may not be able to tell us what Dad said, but I am determined to find out what it was. I can’t take it any more. I can’t stand all the lies and the secrets, it’s time we all told each other the truth.’
‘You need to be careful, Juliet; you’re sounding like Rhys now,’ said Mira.
Juliet wondered how many times she’d been told to be careful. ‘I will, but I’m still going to talk to the others about these car keys. I’ve had enough of their silence.’
20
Clutching the car keys, Juliet went into the living room, picked up the remote and turned off the TV. They all looked at her, bemused.
‘I’ve just found these in my bag, zipped in the pocket that was empty. They are my car keys. The set I lost.’
‘Great news. They must have been there all the time,’ said her mother cheerfully. ‘It’s easily done with those bags with all the zips.’
‘No, you’re wrong.’ Juliet spoke slowly, trying not to shout. ‘They weren’t there this morning and they weren’t there yesterday. So, who put them there? I’d like you to tell me now.’
There was silence.
‘Juliet, you can’t be sure. Now, this is not the way to behave, stop bullying everyone,’ said her mother, cross now.
‘I just want to know the truth. I’ve had enough of this silence.’
‘Why don’t you just come out and say it then. You think one of us sneaked out of the house, having nicked your car keys, stole your car and killed Rhys… that’s the truth of it, isn’t it, Juliet?’ said Cassie her face hard, cold.
Juliet swallowed hard. ‘I don’t want to believe that, of course I don’t. But if no one will admit to going out, to taking my keys, I don’t know what I am meant to think.’
‘But the police think it was someone from London, they found all that stuff,’ said Rosalind.
Juliet flapped her hand in despair. ‘I suppose someone could have flung a few things in there to confuse matters, I don’t know. The point is, the business of my car keys needs explaining. One of you took them and then returned them and if you won’t tell me what you were doing with them, I can only assume the worst.’
‘That’s an awful thing to say,’ said Cassie. ‘Why on earth would one of us want to kill Rhys anyway? I know he was a bit harsh that night with all his talk of secrets, but people like us don’t kill to shut others up, for goodness’ sake. We’re not the Mafia or something.’ Cassie flipped her hand into the air, giving a false laugh.
‘Dad said to me that anyone can kill given the right motive,’ Juliet replied.
It seemed to Juliet as if the whole room froze; no one dared move, breathe.
‘Yes, he said that,’ said Juliet quietly. ‘He was warning me about someone, and I think every one of you here had things you were desperate for Rhys to keep silent about.’
Still, no one spoke, and so she continued.
‘Firstly, any of you could have stolen my car keys and gone up to the church, but then we come to why. What possible motive could one of you have that would make you want to attack Rhys?’
She turned to Anwen, who sat with her arms crossed, glaring at her.
‘Anwen, I don’t know what you told the police, but you were out there all night and I saw you argue with your brother. Whatever you have done in the past, you were sure Cassie would pull out of the restaurant if she knew, you were frantic to shut him up—’
Cassie interrupted. ‘Leave Anwen alone. She has talked to me, there is no reason why I should not work with her. She had no reason to kill Rhys, he was her brother for God’s sake.’
Juliet ignored her sister, turned back to her mother. ‘Mum, why wouldn’t you talk to us all when Rhys left us at the meal?’
She saw her mother grasp the arms of her chair, but she didn’t answer.
‘What are you so scared of?’ Juliet asked, exasperated.
Her mother was chewing her lip so hard it went white where her teeth ground into it.
‘Well, Mum?’ Juliet pressed, more gently now.
‘Stop badgering Mum,’ snapped Cassie.
‘You are desperate to cover everything up, aren’t you,’ Juliet said to Cassie. ‘What’s the matter? Why all the secrets?’
Cassie crossed her arms. They all stared at her in silence. But it wasn’t an empty silence, it was thick, heavy with suspicion and unspoken words.
‘No one is going to say anything, really? Don’t you see the walls around all the secrets are slowly crumbling? Everything is going to come out. There are ghosts everywhere, they will speak. Rosalind has already had a message, a letter from Dad.’
‘What letter?’ said her mother, panic screaming in her voice.
‘Leave it,’ Rosalind shouted. She stood up. ‘What’s the matter with you, Juliet? Leave everyone alone.’
‘I can’t and I will find out the truth.’
Mira had been standing in the doorway with Lola, watching, following what had been said. Apart from Anwen, they had all automatically been signing as they spoke.
‘Juliet, Rosalind is right, it’s not fair to throw all this at people. I want to know as much as you who killed my Rhys. I think the car key business is odd, but you can’t go accusing our family of killing someone, that’s not right. I am not asking you; I am telling you to stop.’
Juliet walked over to her sister. ‘No, Mira, I’m not stopping. I know you have your own secrets, but I’m not going to give up now.’
‘Me?’ Mira looked horrified.
‘Yes, Mira, what was Rhys doing to you? Those bruises? If you were desperate to find a way out of your marriage, how far would you go?’
‘You actually think I am
capable of taking the life of my own husband?’
Juliet paused, blinked, unable to speak.
Mira shook her head and looked away.
‘For God’s sake, Juliet, listen to yourself,’ said Cassie. ‘I think you have lost your mind. If it wasn’t so dangerous, it would be laughable.’
‘Dangerous?’ Juliet caught the word. ‘Yes, this is a dangerous world now, isn’t it? But ignoring it won’t make it any safer. I don’t care what any of you think, I will find out the truth.’
Juliet left the room and went into the kitchen. She zipped the car keys back in her bag, took out her phone and went out into the garden, shaking with frustration and anger. It was dark, quiet, and she took out her phone and composed an email. She was going to act and would start by sending an email to this Tim, see if she could get some answers from him at least. Juliet composed the email on her phone.
Dear Tim,
This will take you by surprise. I am Cassie’s sister, Juliet. I accidentally saw an email from you saying Cassie was unwell. I am concerned about her. She appears to be giving up her life in London and has not explained why. I am sorry to ask you to break a confidence, but please, if you are able, could you tell me why she has been going to see the doctor. If you need any more information from me before you feel able to confide in me, I quite understand. I am able to come to London any time if you would like to speak to me face to face.
Best wishes,
Juliet
Without giving herself time to think, she pressed send.
A few moments later her phone flashed back a response from Tim – that was quick.
I think it would be better to talk face to face if that is okay with you. I can meet you either on Friday this week or Wednesday next, Tim.
She replied that Friday would be fine; it was time to act, not to think.
In the morning, Juliet went out to the workshop with her breakfast and sat deliberating whether she should ring the police and report that she had found her set of car keys. Part of her felt she had a duty to tell them – in fact, they had asked her to let them know if she did. On the other hand, despite all her heated words the evening before, she knew it was a huge thing to put her family through a fresh round of suspicion and questioning.
What was she to do? She didn’t honestly feel it was an option not to tell the police at all. Maybe she could find a compromise. If she worded things carefully, then she could leave it to the police to decide whether or not to follow it up.
Nervously, she rang DC Adam Smith. He answered quickly and she told him that her keys had ‘turned up in her bag’.
‘That’s surprising, isn’t it?’ he said. ‘You seemed very sure they weren’t there before.’
‘I know, but I suppose life has hardly been easy around here, my head is all over the place.’
‘I see…’ She heard him hesitate and then he continued, ‘Are you saying you now believe there is a possibility the keys have been in your possession all this time?’
She swallowed. ‘It has to be possible, doesn’t it?’
‘I guess it does, but I have to remind you that if you have any information that you think might be relevant to this case, you have a duty to share it with us.’
Juliet took a deep breath; her mind was racing. Surely everything she had was supposition, there was no solid proof. Maybe after she’d been to London, she might have more to go on, but she had to be careful.
‘Of course,’ she said, trying to steady her voice. ‘If I have anything else to tell you, I will get straight back to you.’
‘Okay, well make sure you do and thank you for letting us know.’
Juliet ended the call with an immense sense of relief. Tomorrow she would go to London and do some investigation on her own.
Juliet managed to keep out of everyone’s way the rest of that day. It was late when she crept into the house and up to her bedroom. She had expected to find Mira in bed but instead she was knelt by the side of her bed, Lola lying beside her.
A wave of guilt flooded her. Of all the people she had accused the evening before, it was Mira she felt the most awkward about. Her and Mira had a special bond, how could she really have believed her capable of murder?
Juliet went to her, touched her shoulder, and Mira looked up, startled.
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to creep up on you,’ Juliet signed quickly and then saw an empty box in Mira’s hands and suddenly the events of the evening before were pushed away…
‘Are you pregnant?’ Juliet asked.
Mira gave a sad smile. ‘I hope so.’
Juliet sat down next to her, put her arm around her. ‘That’s wonderful.’
Mira pulled back and shook her head. ‘I don’t know for certain.’
‘You must know, I saw the used stick in the bathroom – it was positive.’
‘You found it? I thought I’d done a better job at hiding it. The problem is I had bleeding last Friday, the night before Rosalind’s meal, the night before Rhys died.’
Juliet saw the tears and distress deep in Mira’s eyes and as she remembered those awful bruises, a terrible thought occurred to her. Was the bleeding the result of an attack by Rhys? Had that attack led to Mira killing Rhys in anger?
Juliet screwed her eyes up. ‘Mira, you can tell me everything, you know that. Did Rhys hurt you? I will stand by you whatever has happened.’
Mira shook her head in frustration. ‘No, it wasn’t like that, of course not. I’ve told you before, Rhys never physically abused me, and I had no reason to kill him. You really have to stop throwing these accusations around now.’
Juliet sighed, not knowing what to believe. ‘Well, what happened then? Tell me.’
Mira took a deep breath. ‘All that happened was that I had the fall on the beach, as I said, and then later, I had some bleeding. When I came to stay at Mum’s the night of Rosalind’s meal, I took the pregnancy test to see if I was still pregnant, and it said I was. I was worried though and so I have a scan tomorrow, then I’ll know for certain how things are.’
‘I see.’ Juliet paused, looked at her sister. She knew there was more to this; what was Mira hiding? She leant forward, asked gently, ‘Did you get the chance to tell Rhys you were pregnant?’
Mira scratched the back of her hand so hard that the white trace marks quickly turned red. ‘No. I’m only about six weeks in and I had been going to tell him over the weekend. Then, well, we had a difficult talk that night, it didn’t seem the time. So no, he never knew.’
‘Oh, Mira, that’s awful. I’m sorry.’
‘I have a lot to work out in my head, and I want to have this scan first. Please don’t tell anyone will you.’ Mira spoke calmly, but there was no spark of joy. ‘And what about you? You sounded so angry last night; I don’t think anyone means any harm, you know. You have to leave the police to do their job, Juliet. This is making you ill.’
‘But I have to find answers, Mira. Don’t you understand? It was my car that killed Rhys, I feel like I’m responsible in some way.’
‘You are not responsible; you didn’t kill Rhys,’ Mira replied firmly.
‘No, I suppose not, but I have to find out who did.’
Mira looked at her earnestly.
‘Don’t worry about me, I have a few things planned.’
‘Be careful, Juliet, this isn’t a game you know.’
21
Juliet got up early the next morning. She told her mother that she was having a day out in London.
Mira had given her the keys to Rhys’s car, insured it for her to drive and it was parked over in the field. Although Juliet was nervous about driving a strange car, she had decided it was much easier to drive herself to the Red Jet than wait around for a bus.
Juliet got into the car, which was a lot less tidy than Mira had left hers. There was also the same awful smell of fake lavender that had invaded her own car – Mira must have bought a job lot of the air fresheners. She took down the one hanging off the mirror and put it in the das
hboard drawer, which she noticed was jam-packed with paperwork – Juliet would need to go through that at some point.
Juliet found the handbook and flicked through it, checked she knew all the basics and finally took the keys out of her bag. She noticed her old car keys were still in there, touched the smooth heart key ring; she needed to put them in the house, stop carrying them around. She pushed Rhys’s car key into the ignition. With a slight jolt, she drove the car out of the car park and over to Cowes.
After parking close by, she walked to the Red Jet terminal. It was a very different Cowes to the one she’d arrived at. The bunting was still there, but the crowds had gone. There was still the odd tourist come out early to buy a paper, but most families were holidaying over the other side of the island.
As she queued for her ticket, Juliet thought how much more significant getting away was when you lived on an island. It wasn’t something you just did, it had to be planned, it depended on weather, the tides, the number of people who also wanted to leave at the same time as you.
Fortunately, today, everything was running to time and she bought her ticket just as the Red Jet arrived, walked down the gangway and boarded straight away.
It wasn’t until she was getting off that she noticed Anwen had been on board. She was walking fast and didn’t look back. Juliet wondered if she was also going over to the train station but Anwen walked straight on, ignoring the connecting bus.
Once she was at the station Juliet treated herself to a large cappuccino and a croissant and sat on the train with a slight air of someone on holiday.
As the train notched off numerous stops, however, the novelty started to wear off, and by the time she arrived in London, she felt unaccountably weary for someone who had just sat down for the past hour and a half.
Juliet stood on the platform at Waterloo station, nudged by strangers, wrapped in a thick blanket of noise. Feeling very much the country mouse, she made her way to the ticket barrier, pushed and shoved on all sides, not unkindly, but everyone seemed to be in a rush.