A Little More Dead

by Jordaina Sydney Robinson

  “You weren’t going to accompany her while they ‘cleared the air’?” Officer Leonard asked.

  “No, I wanted Bridget to know that I trusted her,” Oz said. And wasn’t that just lemon juice over a cut.

  “So, what happened here, Ms Sway?” Officer Leonard asked.

  “He delivered the letter and then moments later tunnelled back in front of me with his head bashed in.”

  “Why would he tunnel back here?”

  I shrugged. “Why would I know?”

  Detective Johnson popped up behind Officer Leonard and sighed happily when he saw me. “Who’ve you killed this time, Miss Sway?”

  “She’s not killed anyone, detective,” Oz said, the stress on his job title implying, to me at least, that he was anything but. “I was performing my routine daily check-in and the nurse tunnelled here with those injuries.”

  “So, you’re covering for her now?” Detective Johnson raised an eyebrow at Oz. “I suppose it was only a matter of time.”

  Oz shook his head. “I’m explaining what happened.”

  Detective Johnson crouched down over the body and examined Gary’s face. “What were you doing here, Miss Sway?”

  “My job,” I said.

  “What was he doing here?” Detective Johnson asked, gesturing to dead Gary.

  “His job,” I said.

  “He’s a nurse. This is a supermarket.” Johnson whirled his finger in the air as if I didn’t realise what the big building stocked full of food available for purchase was called.

  “He was delivering Bridget a visitor’s pass,” Oz offered with a brief glance in my direction that quite clearly said “stay quiet and don’t antagonising the stupid policeman who wants to arrest you”.

  Johnson stood up and turned his back on Gary’s body to face me. “Can I see the letter?”

  I reached into my pocket, pulled out the letter and handed it to him. He looked inside.

  “This is a request for a visitor pass to see Alex Monroe.”

  “I am literate,” I said.

  “Why would you request a visitor pass to see a man who you claim tried to kill you?” Johnson asked.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, pointing to dead Gary. “Can you see the dead man on the floor? Do you not think that focusing on solving a murder might be a better use of your time than querying my decision?”

  “Well, that depends if your decision led to you murdering the dead man,” Johnson countered. “Ah, constable,” Johnson said to a boy barely out of his teens, who’d just appeared a few feet away, before I could even challenge his statement. “Can you accompany Mr Salier to the police station?”

  “I think I remember where it is,” Oz said. “We’ll wait for you there.”

  Smiling, Johnson shook his head. “No, you’ll accompany Constable Lawrence and Miss Sway will come with me. You’re both witnesses so I know you know you can’t be interviewed together. And you can’t tunnel together.”

  “What’s going on, hon?” Anna asked as she walked up the aisle to our little group. Her eyes lit on Gary and she gasped, her hand covering her mouth.

  “Anna, will you accompany Bridget to the station, please?” Oz asked. She nodded and then he turned to me, blocking everyone else out and lowering his voice. “No smart mouth attitude. Let Anna speak for you. I’ll wait for you there. If you’re out first tunnel straight home with Anna.” I nodded. Oz held out his arm to the constable without taking his eyes from me. “Let’s get this over with.”

  Oz disappeared with the constable and Detective Johnson turned to me. “Ah, alone at last.”

  “You’re not alone, detective,” Anna said but Johnson didn’t even glance her way.

  Detective Johnson pointed to Gary. “Would you like to admit to killing this poor man now or shall we dance around it a bit first?”

  “Can you dance, detective?” I frowned as I looked him over. “You don’t strike me as someone with a whole lot of rhythm. And personally, I think dancing around a corpse seems a little uncouth.” So much for not using my smart mouth.

  “I believe mine is the first name on Ms Sway’s dance card this afternoon,” Officer Leonard said before Johnson could reply. He offered me his arm. “Shall we?”

  ∞

  It was early evening by the time everyone had finished questioning me. I mean, there are only so many ways you can say “he appeared in front of me with his head bashed in” before the words start to lose all meaning. Oz had been waiting outside the interrogation room when they’d finally turned me loose and we’d tunnelled straight to my GA meeting with Anna in tow.

  We appeared near the outer ruins of the fort, not far from the stone marker where Sabrina was waiting for me.

  “I know,” I said, holding up my hands before he could say anything, “we’re going to talk about this later.”

  “We very much are. And since I just covered for you, you need to do me a favour now.” I tried to step back as if I could distance myself from it but he anticipated and stepped with me. “I’d like you to let Anna come into your GA meeting with you.”

  “Seriously? That’s the only peace I get,” I said a little more whiney than I’d intended and he gave me a reproachful look. “Fine.”

  “Thank you. I’ll see you at home.”

  Oz disappeared and a smug looking Anna walked with me to greet Sabrina. Sabrina’s attention jumped from me to Anna.

  “What’s going on?” Sabrina pointed to Anna. “Why does her face look like that?”

  “Good genes,” Anna said with a smile that oozed so much smugness Sabrina’s mouth curled in disgust.

  “I promised Oz she could come in with us tonight.”

  Sabrina stared as if I’d lost my mind. “Why? Why would you do that?”

  “One of the nurses from Mendall—”

  Anna tutted at me. “That’s an open police investigation, hon. You can’t talk about that.”

  “Oh my god!” Sabrina exclaimed. “You found another body?”

  “Bridget can’t talk about it, hon, so please stop asking her,” Anna said. Sabrina smiled at her and then moved between Anna and me, her back to Anna, forcing Anna to step back.

  “Tell me everything,” Sabrina said, taking hold of my upper arms and shaking me gently, as if that would shake the information loose. “Everything!”

  “Now, hon, I’ve just said,” Anna stepped around from behind Sabrina and tried to get in between us and break us apart, as if we were children wrestling each other. “Bridget can’t talk about this.”

  “She’s right,” I said and stepped back from Sabrina, which had both women staring at me with stunned expressions.

  Anna recovered first and straightened her blouse with a huge dollop of self-importance. “Thank you, hon.”

  “You better be kidding,” Sabrina mouthed at me while Anna turned to face the fort.

  I nodded and mouthed back, “Obviously.”

  “Let’s get inside,” Anna said. She wasn’t skipping in reality but I was pretty sure in her mind she was Julie-Andrews-in-The-Sound-of-Music-ing it down the hill toward the fort.

  “Eleanor isn’t going to be happy about this,” Sabrina whispered as we followed behind Anna.

  “Eleanor will just have to respect Bridget’s needs,” Anna called over her shoulder as we approached the front doors. Anna waltzed into the fort ahead of us. I assumed she was eager to rub Eleanor’s face in it.

  “Where’s Eleanor?” I scanned around the hall as we followed Anna inside but I couldn’t see Eleanor anywhere. I wanted to get to her before Evil Barbie did, or at least at the same time.

  “Maybe she’s not here yet,” Sabrina suggested.

  “Who isn’t? And who is this?” Warren asked, coming up behind us. His tone sounded more confused than admiring.

  Anna flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I’m Anna, Bridget’s adjustment companion.”

  Warren nodded as he looked her over. “Yep, you’re definitely related to Bridget.”

  Sabrina and
I exchanged a look. Did that mean she had a death shroud? Or shadow? Or cloud? Or whatever?

  “What about me?” Sabrina asked.

  Warren shook his head and backed away, grinning at Sabrina.

  “Did you see that?” Sabrina jabbed a finger in Warren’s direction.

  I patted Sabrina’s arm. “He’s just messing with you. I’m sure you do have one.”

  “What’s going on? Have what?” Anna asked, looking between us for an explanation.

  We both shook our heads and spoke in unison. “Nothing.”

  I wasn’t about to give away Warren’s death-shroud-seeing secret. Or the fact we had death shrouds.

  “What’s going on here?” Eleanor asked as she came through the doors behind us. “Anna, you can’t be in here.”

  “Actually, I can,” Anna said, folding her arms and dripping smug all over the place. “Bridget wants me here.”

  “Bridget?” The hurt on Eleanor’s face almost stole my breath away. This whole friend thing really sucked sometimes.

  “I don’t want her here, Eleanor. At all. But I promised my parole officer that I would ask you if it was okay for her to come in.”

  “Your parole officer wants her in here with you?” Eleanor asked, obviously taking that to mean that Oz found her lacking which only deepened the hurt on her face.

  “I found another dead body this morning—”

  “Shush, Bridget, hon, we only just spoke about this,” Anna scolded.

  I rounded on Anna. “I understand why you don’t want me to talk to Sabrina about it but Eleanor is my GA leader. If she doesn’t have all the facts of my situation, then she can’t be as effective in her job. And if you shush me one more time, me asking Eleanor to throw you out will be the least of your problems.” I turned back to Eleanor and resumed my calm explanation. “As I was saying, I found a dead body this morning so my parole officer would like me to keep Anna close. I think he would just like an extra layer of protection around me. He has absolutely no concerns about your abilities here, Eleanor. You do know he requested I be placed in this group, don’t you?”

  “I didn’t know that, Bridget, and I appreciate you telling me.” Eleanor’s face brimmed with gratitude as she took both of my hands in hers and gave them a quick squeeze. “She can stay.”

  “Thank you, Eleanor,” I said and my chest did that weird swelling thing that it did when I made someone else happy.

  “We’re returning to that other GA group tonight to do some team building exercises, which she won’t be able to participate in, but she can come.”

  “I really appreciate that, Eleanor, thank you,” I said.

  “You’re welcome, Bridget,” Eleanor said. She gave Anna what I was pretty sure counted as a victory smile and then moved further into the room. She began rounding up the other members of our group and ushering them toward the doors.

  We got caught up in the mass migration and headed back outside. Once everyone was assembled Eleanor clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention.

  “Now, I know all of us are still reeling from the devastating loss of Timothy, the GA leader from the group we visited yesterday, so tonight we’re going to share our group with them. We’re going to hold a brief memorial and then do something fun.”

  “I always worry when someone well-adjusted thinks something is going to be fun,” Sabrina whispered, pulling a face.

  “Who knows?” I whispered as Eleanor explained further about plans for the evening. “It could be fun.”

  “Who are you?” Sabrina reared back as though she’d smelled something disgusting and was trying to get upwind of it.

  Eleanor went through the same process as she had the previous night of transporting us in small groups. Again, we were in the second group and the grounds of the stately home were just as beautiful as they had been the day before. We were in a different part of the gardens, I assumed because the usual spot would still be classified as a crime scene. We were on the south lawn, which was manicured and gave the impression of being designed.

  Off to the left was the huge privet maze that the landscapers somehow managed to change every year. At least I thought they did because as a child I could never get to the centre. I’d even used Google maps one year and copied the pattern yet still hadn’t been able to get to the centre. I called the landscapers on it and then they’d reported me to the teachers for cheating. I’d got into a bit of a debate with my teachers about it and then been sent home with a letter to say I’d been expelled. My mam had been unhappy I’d tried to cheat. My dad had been unhappy the landscapers hadn’t respected my ingenuity and tried to help me out. I’d have to check in on them soon, see how they were coping without me. My parents not the landscapers.

  “You think that might be the ‘fun’ Eleanor was talking about?” Sabrina jerked her head in the direction of the maze.

  “Ugh, I hope not,” I said.

  “I sense there’s some history there other than you just not liking mazes,” Sabrina said, laughing at my expression of abhorrence.

  “Let’s just get some biscuits and tea, okay?” I said and headed straight for the biscuits table with Anna in tow.

  “They don’t seem all that worse for wear at having their GA leader found dead in a shrub yesterday, do they?” Sabrina asked as she surveyed the group.

  I shook my head. “Maybe they didn’t like him.”

  “Everyone liked Timothy,” Anna pipped up, loading a plate with every type of biscuit that was available.

  “Even you?” Sabrina asked. “Even after he told you that you were doing a terrible job as an adjustment companion?”

  “Who told you that?” Anna asked, nearly dropping her heaving plate of biscuits as she whirled around to face Sabrina. Sabrina just shrugged in response. Anna placed her plate of biscuits back down on the table and poured herself some coffee. “He gave me some advice about how I could develop in my calling. He was very supportive.”

  “Anna, can I have your help with something, please?” Eleanor asked, coming up beside us.

  “Why, of course, Eleanor,” Anna said, placing her coffee back on the table. “I’m more than happy to help you run your meeting.”

  “Thank you so much,” Eleanor said. “Could you make a list of everyone who wants to speak and make a running order for me?”

  “Absolutely, Eleanor.” Anna pulled her notebook and headed off into the crowd with a quick reminder that I should behave myself.

  “That’s the best I can do for you.” Eleanor gave my hand a quick squeeze and followed Anna back into the crowd.

  “Did Eleanor just suffer a couple of insults from Anna to get rid of her for you?” Sabrina asked as if she’d misunderstood what had just happened.

  “I think so,” I said with a nod. I was a little surprised by it myself. “See, this is what happens when you’re nice to people.”

  “I might have to try that,” Sabrina said, watching as Anna moved around the group. “So tell me about the body.”

  “What body?” Alex asked as he moved up next to us.

  “Don’t you know yet?” I asked and then realised obviously he didn’t or he wouldn’t have asked.

  I explained what had happened with Gary to them both at the same time and then backtracked to explain the night before for Alex and added in the footprints in the dirt for Sabrina. I omitted the part about telling Oz.

  “I’m not sure what part of that to tackle first,” Sabrina said.

  “Well, I’ve had some time to think on it so here’s my working theory,” I said as we sat down in the back row of the arranged chairs. “I think if Lily was having an affair, like Gary said, she likely wrote about it in her diary. I’m not sure how Katie got hold of the diary or why she wouldn’t have read it, and I haven’t asked Petal yet how she managed to be in possession of it, but maybe that was what the person who searched my room, Katie’s old room, was looking for. Maybe that was what Katie came back to the house last night to get.”

  “Makes sense,” S
abrina said with a slow nod. “So someone killed Lily to keep her quiet about their affair and then killed Gary because he knew about it. Then that same person killed Timothy because maybe he knew, or suspected. Or because they thought Katie would go to Timothy for help and they couldn’t risk her telling him what she knew.”

  I snapped my fingers. “That’s why Katie hid the night before. She was hiding from someone at the asylum in case they tried to kill her before she could escape,” I said.

  “So, something happened to make Katie realise who killed Lily?” Alex asked. “I don’t remember anything weird happening in the run-up. And I don’t remember Katie being worried or anxious. She did have a session with Jason and Dr Mendall the day before she escaped, so maybe that triggered a memory or helped her put some pieces of information together.”

  “Who are we settling on as the killer?” Sabrina asked. “If we’re using the affair as the motive and her hiding from that person that leaves us with Jason, Gary, Burt, Dr Mendall and Timothy. Three of whom are dead. So it’s Mendall or Burt?”

  Alex moved his head in some form of motion that was neither a nod or a shake, and I sipped my tea in silence.

  “What?” Sabrina asked.

  “Mendall was having an affair with Lily?” Alex asked. “I just don’t see it. Both Gary and Jason are much more likely suspects for that type of behaviour. And Burt is more snoopy than anything else. If Burt were dead I’d be able to get behind the whole killed-because-he-knows-something but the others …” Alex shook his head and let the sentence hang.

  “Except the others are the ones who’re dead,” Sabrina pointed out.

  “Why don’t you see Mendall or Burt as the affair guy?” I asked.

  Alex shook his head. “I don’t know. Mendall always seems so distant, professional. He doesn’t spend extra time talking to the female patients. Or nurses. And Burt is the same.”

  “Maybe they both just hide it really well,” Sabrina suggested.

  “We’re making one big assumption here,” I reminded them both. “That Katie didn’t kill Lily or those other two members of her GA group. What if she did? What if she killed them? I mean, she attacked Petal, so we know she has that violent streak in her. And, Alex, you said her file highlighted her violent tendencies. Maybe this set of murders is about something totally different.”