Murder for Nothing

by Veronica Heley

  Another thing: Kate’s purse had ended up in this house but not her mobile phone and her rings. Could they still be here? Could Angelica have hidden them somewhere … but where? Haven’t we searched the place already? Perhaps not thoroughly enough.

  Perhaps we could find out where Angelica has hidden Kate’s phone by ringing its number, which might lead us to where it’s been hidden? But, how can we find out her number? Could we ring Jake to get it?

  Ellie shuddered. If she asked Jake to give them Kate’s phone number, he would want to know why they wanted it. He’d ask why they were interested, which would lead to his asking how Kate’s purse had ended up in Ellie’s house and he’d go straight to the police about it.

  Which was probably what Ellie was going to have to do, anyway.

  But … The chaos! The searches! The questioning! The suspicion!

  Ellie sighed. The more she thought about it, the more she was inclined to think she didn’t have any choice but to hand everything over to the police. She was way out of her depth. Only the police knew how to deal with drugs and stolen money and phones and disappearing people. It was not going to be fun, but that’s what they must do.

  Was that the phone ringing in the hall? It should have rung on the extension by her chair, but … bother! As she picked the receiver up, she heard a voice recording a message for her. Which ended as she said, ‘Hello?’

  She played back the message. Her dear husband Thomas had rung to say that things were pretty difficult and he proposed to stay overnight with his friends, if that was all right with her. Click off.

  Well, it wasn’t all right with her. She needed him back, that minute. But … those poor people were in such trouble, and it would be selfish of her to ask Thomas to return, and anyway, it would take him hours at this time of night, right across London.

  In the morning, she would hand everything over to the police and be done with it. Meanwhile, she had guests who needed feeding and watering and put to bed with aspirins and hot milk.

  And here came one of her guests.

  Andy, hollow-eyed. The fact that he hadn’t shaved that morning was now very apparent. Being fair, it hadn’t looked too bad earlier, but now he was starting to look as if he’d been on a twenty-four-hour binge. A slight carelessness in his clothes was also apparent. The neck of his shirt open, one shirt tail untucked.

  Ellie patted the arm of the settee beside her. ‘Sit down. You look tired.’

  He sat but he was not at ease. His eyes switched this way and that. He was arguing with himself? Castigating himself for his earlier neglect of his wife?

  Or in need of comfort.

  Ellie held back a sigh, and told herself to administer comfort. One of his hands wandered from pocket to forehead to neck. ‘Tell me all about it.’

  He sat on the edge of his seat. He might be physically present but Ellie had some doubt as to his mental whereabouts. Usually, when she asked someone to tell her all about it, they would pour out their life’s history and, if not stopped, their mother’s and father’s as well. Every ailment they’d ever had, every wrong that had been done to them would be given the full treatment.

  Andy breathed heavily and said … nothing.

  Ellie said, ‘She’s going down to theatre tomorrow? Did they say when you could fetch her?’

  His eyes came up to meet hers. He seemed to be listening to something but it probably wasn’t what she’d said.

  She tried again. ‘Have you eaten?’

  A slight frown. He was trying to remember, wasn’t he?

  She said, ‘A cup of tea?’

  He knew the word ‘tea’. He nodded.

  She got it. He was feeling guilty. If he would talk about it, she could help him. If he remained mum, the guilt was going to work inwards and poison his whole system. She said, ‘Are you worried about Angelica? It seems to me that she knows how to look after herself.’

  He nodded. He tried to twitch a smile. ‘That’s what Lesley used to say, but Angelica, as long as I can remember, she’s called me her Big Brother and her Knight in Shining Armour. I called her my Little Princess. It was a very special relationship. When she was little, she’d come and sit on my knee and beg me for treats. She was everybody’s pet.’

  ‘Well, she’s a pretty little thing and has probably always been spoiled.’

  Another nod. ‘I suppose so. That’s not how it seemed at the time.’

  Good. He might not be so ready to fall in with Angelica’s every wish in future.

  Ellie tried to be encouraging. ‘Lesley is a great girl. She’s strong, mentally and physically. She’s going to be all right.’

  ‘I think I’ve lost her.’

  THIRTEEN

  Monday evening

  Ellie wasn’t sure exactly what Andy meant by saying that he thought he’d lost his wife. Did he think Lesley no longer loved him? Had they really got to that point? Or did he think that Lesley might die?

  Ellie chose the second option to say, ‘No, no. It may take time but she’ll pull through.’

  He responded by looking away from her. Clearly, she hadn’t got to the root of the problem yet.

  She tried another tack. ‘I understand that daughters bring out the protective instinct in men. Did you want a boy or a girl child?’

  Head bowed. Hands clenched into fists. ‘I didn’t want to have children yet. She was supposed to be on the pill.’

  He was angry with Lesley? Blamed her for getting pregnant before he was grown-up enough to want a child? Ellie said, ‘Well, these things happen, despite our best intentions. I’m so sad for you both but, after a while, you can try again.’

  ‘She’ll never forgive me.’ And that was a mere whisper. His face convulsed. He was going to weep. He put both his hands over his face and turned away, moving round in his seat as he did so.

  What to do? She could leave him alone, which would be easy. Or she could comfort him.

  She pulled him towards her. He dropped from his chair to the floor and she allowed him to cradle his head against her shoulder. He shook with great sobs of tears. Self-pity? Possibly there was some of that there, too.

  ‘There, there,’ said Ellie, rocking him as one would a child.

  Susan tapped on the door and came in, looking as if she wanted to ask a question.

  Ellie shook her head at Susan, miming for her to go away.

  Susan cast her eyes upwards, and went. Susan was a darling. Susan was worth a dozen of this great lummox weeping in her arms. He was going to be embarrassed when he recovered. And now, at long last, the words came limping out.

  ‘I shouldn’t have … she said she couldn’t help it, but I … How was I to know that …? And in any case, she … It wasn’t my fault!’

  ‘No, of course not.’ Well, actually, that was a lie, because it probably was all his fault. What exactly was it he was talking about, anyway?

  ‘Lesley said … she shouldn’t have said … but I admit I was perhaps too quick to … It was enough to drive anyone round the bend, wasn’t it?’

  Probably not, but I’m not saying anything.

  She went on rocking him.

  Finally, he made as if to withdraw from the comfort of Ellie’s arms. He said, ‘What am I going to do?’

  ‘What about?’ She found her hankie and gave it to him. He heaved himself back on to his seat, blew his nose and wiped his eyes. He gestured that she take back her hankie, but she waved it away.

  His voice was thick. ‘The flat. Everything. I was thinking. You’ve been very decent but we shouldn’t have inflicted ourselves upon you. We should have gone to a hotel.’

  ‘You were worried about Susan, remember? That’s why you came here.’

  Silence. He blew his nose again. Looked away.

  Ellie said, in a gentle voice, ‘You didn’t want to think Angelica was responsible for the damage to the flat, even though you feared that she was. That upset you.’ She was handing him an excuse for his bad behaviour.

  He nodded, grateful for her und
erstanding.

  She said, ‘You’ve been in touch with the insurance people about the damage?’

  He washed his face in his hands, trying to straighten his spine. ‘Lesley looked after everything like that. I did ring them. They’ll send someone round but they say that if anyone else had access while we were away then we’re not insured. I don’t know what we’re going to do, I really don’t.’

  ‘It’s not the end of the world. Perhaps it might be a good idea to make a clean start somewhere else? You can get the flat cleaned up, the repairs done and sell it to someone else? Then you can move on, choose another place to make into your home.’

  He sniffed, richly. ‘I don’t have the time to … Lesley always managed … Do you really think we can start again? When I was at the hospital, I tried to talk to her about it but she said she couldn’t think about all that yet.’

  I’ll bet! You are an idiot, aren’t you? She’s lying there, facing a visit to the operating theatre, having lost her child, and you want to worry her with that!

  Ellie managed to calm herself. ‘A woman needs time to recover from a miscarriage.’

  He attempted another smile. ‘Ah, the weaker sex.’

  Ellie nearly brained him. In fact, she did actually look around to see if there was anything she could hit him with. Hard.

  He shuffled his feet, hands diving into his pockets. His brow creased then uncreased as he produced a mobile phone. ‘I forgot. It had fallen off the bed. The nurse picked it up. Lesley said this was yours, that you’d asked Susan to give it back to you. Lesley’s got her own now. I checked.’

  Ellie’s own phone! ‘Thank you. Yes. That’s good.’

  He stood up, signalling that his period of womanish weakness was now over. ‘You know what? I think I could fancy a bite to eat. I’ll ask Susan what she can rustle up for me, shall I?’ And off he went, perky as Pinky. Or whatever.

  Ellie ground her teeth and told herself not to do so.

  At least she had her own phone again.

  She found her cleaner’s details on it and pressed the right button. The phone rang and rang. Eventually a woman answered.

  ‘Annie, is that you?’

  A heavy sigh. ‘Yes, Mrs Quicke. I’ve been expecting you to ring. I don’t know what to say, I really don’t. I’m that upset and so is Bob. I’d never, ever have thought of … Well, you know me. I wouldn’t, would I?’

  ‘No,’ said Ellie, relieved to have her opinion confirmed that Annie was not a thief.

  ‘After all these years! You could have knocked me down, you really could! I told her, I said, “Put it back.” And she took the huff, honest! Told me it was all my fault and wanted to share it with me, which I couldn’t! No, really I couldn’t. When she told me what she’d done, I was that mad I could have done her an injury. I said, “What will happen when she misses it?” And she said … Well, pardon my French, but what she said I wouldn’t sully my mouth with.’

  Annie was referring to the woman she was currently paired with for work? What was her name? Ellie had only seen her a couple of times and then she’d been so busy she hadn’t stopped to chat.

  Annie continued, ‘So I said she could find someone else to work with in future because I wasn’t having it, no way! And she said was I going to tell on her to Maria, because that would make her lose her job, and I didn’t want to put her out on the dole, did I? And I said if she returned it to you, all of it, I would just tell Maria that we’d had a difference of opinion and I’d prefer to work with someone else in future, but I wouldn’t say anything about it.’

  Ellie said, ‘Thank you, Annie. You can imagine how worried I’ve been.’

  ‘Yes.’ Some reservation in her voice.

  ‘Could you bring the package round this evening? Then I can get rid of it straight away.’

  ‘Y-yes. The thing is …’ Silence.

  ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘Well, you can have what I’ve got. Bob will bring me over. Right away?’

  ‘Yes, thanks.’

  Annie killed the call. Ellie put hers down, too. Thinking hard.

  Annie was bringing over what she’d got. In other words, not everything that had been in the package?

  Ellie found her house guests in the kitchen, looking subdued. She busied herself making sure they’d all been fed and knew where they were going to be sleeping that night. Then she fed the cat Midge, who didn’t care to have his routine interrupted.

  Andy and the two party girls were listless and inclined to droop. Susan set the dishwasher running and wiped down surfaces.

  The light was fading so Ellie excused herself to draw the curtains on the ground floor. She came face-to-face with Rafael when she returned to the sitting room. ‘You still here?’

  ‘I’ll sleep on the settee. That is, if you don’t object?’

  ‘Would it matter if I did?’

  He grinned at her and punched her shoulder, lightly.

  She grinned back. She said, ‘You know what? You’re growing on me. As you’re being so useful, perhaps you’d like to sit in on a conversation I’m about to have with one of my cleaners. The old one, not the temporary one who’s filling in.’

  ‘Ah. So you’ve tracked down the missing package?’

  ‘I’m not sure. And,’ as the doorbell went, ‘would you like to make sure this is a middle-aged blonde plus her somewhat solid husband, whose name is Bob? I’d hate to let Milos in under false pretences.’

  ‘You wish is my command.’

  It was Annie and Bob. Annie was fortyish, with dyed blonde hair and an ever-thickening figure. Bob had always been thick-set and was becoming more so. Between producing children, Annie had always worked, cleaning houses. Bob was one of the incredibly patient drivers who kept the buses moving. Neither of them looked happy to be there. Annie held a plastic shopping bag with the Morrisons logo on it. Bob hadn’t been to the house before and looked around him with one quick glance before concentrating on Ellie.

  Ellie said, ‘You both came. I’m so glad. Come into the sitting room.’

  They followed Ellie in. Annie started and put her hand to her heart when Rafael joined them. Of course, she didn’t know who he was.

  Ellie said, ‘Don’t worry. I’ve asked Rafael here to sit in on this conversation, as he is going to see that the stolen goods are returned to their owner this evening.’

  ‘Yes. Well.’ Annie seated herself on the settee and patted the seat beside her till Bob, rather stiffly, lowered himself on to it, too. ‘Bob will tell you. You tell her, Bob.’

  Bob said, ‘The thing is, I don’t hold with drugs.’

  ‘Neither do I,’ said Ellie. ‘I was horrified when I heard that … that someone had hidden them in my house. So, if you’ll hand them over, I’ll see they get back where they belong.’

  ‘The thing is,’ repeated Bob, ‘it’s against the law.’

  ‘I know that,’ said Ellie. ‘Don’t think I haven’t been through this already, because I have. I’m not happy about any of this. If I’d had the slightest idea that someone was going to bring drugs into the house, I’d have thrown her out straight away.’

  Annie nudged her husband. ‘Told you so. It wasn’t anything to do with Mrs Quicke.’

  Bob persisted. ‘The thing is that they bring misery and homelessness with them. The law is right. They’re wicked, and you shouldn’t have anything to do with them.’

  ‘Agreed,’ said Ellie.

  ‘I really am not happy about it,’ said Bob, driving his point home with a sledgehammer.

  ‘Neither am I,’ said Ellie. And, turning to Annie, ‘Tell me how you found out.’

  ‘Well, I suppose, to be truthful, it was a bit my fault. You’d said “no” when I asked for the money for our daughter’s surgery. I’d been sure you’d give it to me and I was choked when you said you wouldn’t. I know, I know! It wasn’t the kind of thing you usually give money for and you had every right to turn me down, but I was livid at the time and I shot my mouth off about it to Betty when
we was having our tea break. I felt better, having got it off my chest, and we did the rest of the rooms as usual.’

  Rafael asked, ‘Who cleaned the Quiet Room?’

  ‘Betty did. Then, when we was leaving, she said to me, “Why didn’t we have a sandwich at the pub for a change?” We’d got an hour till the next job down the Avenue, and normally I don’t, but she said as it was her treat, so I said “Why not?” And she showed me this wad of notes and some pills which she’d found and said I should have half, which would help us get the operation my daughter wants. I said, “Where did you get that?” And she said it was hidden in the cupboard in the Quiet Room, and that the reverend must have put it there, and that showed he was a hypocrite and a sinner and didn’t deserve our respect. And I said, “No way would Thomas have brought drugs into the house.” She said, “Why not?” because she doesn’t know him like I do.’

  Ellie agreed. ‘No, Thomas wouldn’t.’

  ‘So I said to her, “I don’t know who brought it in but it’s not our Thomas and you’ve got to return it.” And she said, “If it wasn’t him, it must have been Mrs Quicke.” And I said, “No way!” And then I thought a bit more and began to suspect who it could have been and I said, “I bet it’s that uppity madam that Mrs Quicke has taken in, her being too soft for her own good sometimes.” Betty said, “So what!” And I said it was stealing. Betty said it wasn’t stealing because there was pills in the same package which must be illegal and you, Mrs Quicke, couldn’t go to the police or you’d be done for pushing drugs yourself, and it was every citizen’s right to arrest criminals and you ought to be put in jail and all your money taken away, and you were grinding the faces of the poor by not helping me out, and … and she went on like that until I grabbed the packet, but she held on to it and we had a right up-and-downer.’

  ‘But you managed to get it. Thank you, Annie. I see her point of view, but the drugs were nothing to do with me and the money is not mine.’

  ‘I know. I knew that when I stopped to think but just at first, just for a second or two, well … It did occur to me to keep some of it. Not that I did, you understand? Betty took a twenty out for herself, as she said you’d be willing to pay a reward for returning the money. And then we went on to our next job, only we didn’t talk to one another again. I didn’t feel right about it, any of it. And when we was ready to go home I said to her that I’d ask the agency to send someone else to work with me until my old mate gets back.’