‘I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about. But I do recognise you – you’re the annoying girl from that removal company. Shakies, or something equally silly. The warden at the retirement village told me all about you the day of Captain Wares’ funeral. She said you were a pest.’ He sucked in his already hollow cheeks and his face took on the appearance of a skeleton. ‘How dare you come in here shouting the odds to me?’ he hissed, bending at the waist so his face was level with Flora’s. ‘Don’t you know who you’re dealing with?’
She took a step back. Come on, Flora, don’t wimp out now. But the solicitor’s menacing demeanour was hitting the alarm button on her sense of self-preservation. She stepped back again.
‘Just tell me where Joy is and I’ll leave. I know she’s been here. Unless …’
Flora whipped her head around to look at the door. Maybe Elizabeth had got her timings wrong and Cynthia and Joy were yet to arrive. Or maybe they’d stopped for a cup of tea on the way. When she looked back again, Mr Vasco was sitting on one of the worn sofas with one knee crossed over the other, regarding her thoughtfully.
‘What name did you say earlier?’
‘What?’ She took another step towards the door. There was something about his expression she didn’t like at all. ‘Joy? My friend Joy, from the Maples.’
‘No. Another name. You came charging in here and said you know all about me and some old pal of mine. Who did you say it was?’
Vasco smiled, and the effect was more terrifying than his grimace.
‘Sally,’ Flora told him. It was the first name that came into her head. ‘Your old pal Sally told me that Joy was coming here today. To … to ask about her tax returns,’ she added, grabbing the idea from an Inland Revenue poster on the wall behind his head.
‘Tax returns? But I thought she was retired?’
Flora laughed. It was a high-pitched hysterical sound she barely recognised herself. She’d messed up big time: what she really needed to do right now was get the hell out of here. Maybe she could hide out across the street and watch for Joy and the warden. But what if they’d been already? She needed to know one way or the other. She looked around the office desperately, her eyes finally lighting on the open diary on Vasco’s desk. It was one of those massive page-to-a-day affairs, open at Friday 4th May, and with only a glance Flora could see that Vasco wasn’t much in demand. There was only one appointment booked: 11:00 – Joy Martin. New LWT. And next to it was scribbled 6W?
Six Wishes question mark. And LWT obviously stood for last will and testament. Flora swallowed hard. The appointment was ticked off in red pen.
She was too late.
She took another step back. ‘Well, I guess I must have got the day wrong or something. I’ll go home and call her. If you do see Joy tell her I was looking for her, won’t you?’
Flora reached the door and swung it open, dashing outside just as Mr Vasco’s expression cleared and he jumped to his feet. She started down School Gardens, almost knocking over a thin guy in a cream suit.
Oh, Jesus. It was Heston.
‘Flora? What are you doing? You nearly sent me flying!’ He glared at her, brushing invisible dirt off his slacks. ‘You do have a habit of knocking people over. You really should learn to be more careful.’
Flora groaned. Heston was the last person she wanted to see right now. But she knew Vasco would be hot on her heels so she linked arms with him and began to march across the square past the library. Glancing over her shoulder she saw the solicitor watching from his office window. He was talking on the phone. Damn it. She’d totally given the game away, blurting out Cyndy’s name like that. He was probably calling the warden right now, warning her.
And what exactly would that mean for Joy?
If they knew their scam was about to be exposed, would they see Joy as one last chance to get some cash in the charity’s coffers? After all, if she’d already signed the will …
Flora increased her pace, all but dragging Heston along with her. He wasn’t coming quietly.
‘Where are we going? I’ve already finished my lunch break. I need to get back.’
Not: Are you okay, you look flustered? Or even: I’ve missed you.
As soon as they were out of sight of School Gardens, Flora dropped Heston like a hot brick.
‘See you around,’ she said, taking off down the hill at a pace.
‘Wait! Can I see you again soon?’
‘I’ll call you.’
She rounded a gaggle of tourists and shook her head. There was no way she was going to call him. He might recall her existence when she was ploughing into him on the street but he’d clearly not thought about her all week. As she ran along the pavement, dodging shoppers and prams and determined tourists, the only regret Flora had about Heston was that she’d have to find somewhere else to relax in town. The library would be off-limits for a while.
But right now she had other things on her mind.
She had to find Joy.
***
Empty. Flora peered through the window. All she could see were boxes and stripped furniture. So they hadn’t moved her yet, but it was clearly imminent. She hammered on the door again just in case Joy was in the bathroom. Her mind was working overtime, figuring out the next place to try.
‘She’s not here.’
Whirling around, Flora came face to face with Mr Felix. He wasn’t on his mobility scooter today, but had his orthopaedic crutch rammed under his right armpit. He shuffled back as he took in Flora’s wild appearance.
‘What happened to you? You look like you’ve been in a fight.’ Mr Felix looked her up and down unpleasantly. ‘Been attacking old people in the library again, have you?’
Flora tried to calm her breathing. No point getting irate with him – it wasn’t his fault Joy had gone AWOL. ‘Do you know where she is?’ She was already heading for the main building, with Mr Felix hobbling behind.
‘No idea. I saw her go out a while ago. And I found this.’
In his hand he held a blue inhaler. Flora stopped, stared at it hard, then walked on.
‘Where did you find it?’
‘I found it on the path near her unit. About half an hour ago. She must have dropped it.’
Not good. That meant wherever Joy was, she was even more vulnerable. Hopefully Flora would find her sitting in the communal area with Vera or one of the others. Hopefully the trip to Vasco’s had been nothing more than a primer – maybe they’d told her all about the wonderful charity and asked her to think about it. “6W?” might have been a code for a preliminary meeting. Besides, even if she had signed something, there would be plenty of time to undo it. Make a new will, or invalidate the old one. Flora was sure that once the police got involved all Mr Vasco’s dealings would be looked at in great detail.
In some ways, it might be good if they’d coerced Joy to sign a new will. It would certainly give them more evidence. But not if Vasco had put it all together and figured out that Flora was on to them. Why had she mentioned Cyndy? Stupid. She just needed to see Joy for herself, was all. See she was fine and then find a way to protect her. She’d already decided to ask Joy to come and stay at the bungalow until the Maples got the all clear. Her parents’ old home would be perfect for Joy, and Flora couldn’t cope with the stress of worrying about the old lady for another minute.
They reached the main building and Flora pushed against the glass doors. They didn’t open.
‘What’s going on? Are they locked?’
Mr Felix shouldered past her and produced a key card from his trouser pocket. ‘New security system. Apparently someone has been asking questions about the Captain’s death, talking about mystery visitors or some such rubbish, so now we’ve got all this to contend with. As if life wasn’t awkward enough for some of us,’ he added, manoeuvring himself inside the building while trying to hold the door open for Flora one-handed. She hid her face so he couldn’t see her expression.
Elizabeth’s face paled when she saw Flora with
Mr Felix.
‘Oh, my. I’m not sure you should be … The thing is, Flora–’
‘I need to know where Joy is. Have you seen her since they came back?’
The receptionist looked startled. ‘Came back? Oh, they haven’t come back yet. They won’t be back for hours.’
‘What?’ Flora leaned over the desk, her palms flat on the polished wood surface. ‘You said they’d popped into town to see a solicitor.’
‘I know. And I really shouldn’t have told you even that, Flora. You see, the warden, she said–’
‘I’m not interested in what she said, Elizabeth. I just want to know where Joy is.’
Mr Felix cleared his throat. Flora ignored him.
‘Well? Do you know or not?’
Elizabeth nodded. ‘It’s more than my job’s worth, though. I’m so sorry. Cynthia said, well, she specifically told me not to talk to you at all.’ She dropped her voice to a whisper, looking around as though she feared the warden might materialise any minute. ‘And that’s not all she said.’
Flora looked directly into the older woman’s eyes. ‘Listen. This is massively important. If you know where she is you must tell me. Is your job more important than the safety of an old woman?’
The receptionist whimpered and opened her mouth, but then closed it again and shook her head.
Mr Felix cleared his throat a second time.
‘What?’ said Flora, rounding on him.
The old man raised his eyebrows. They were bushy and ginger, sprouting from his freckled forehead like two surprised caterpillars. ‘If you’d like to step outside with me, I might be able to help.’
With a withering look at Elizabeth, Flora followed Mr Felix back out into the quadrant. He was maddeningly slow, shuffling along at a snail’s pace. Once they were outside she took out her phone and checked for messages. Nothing.
‘Well? You said you could help.’
‘I said I might be able to.’
‘Please, Mr Felix. I know you and I didn’t get off to the best of starts, but could you just tell me what you know. You can see I’m at the end of my rope here.’
‘You’re worried about Joy.’
‘Yes. Yes, I am.’
‘Well, she’s fine. That’s what I was trying to tell you. She went off earlier with the warden, quite safely, and I heard them say they’d be back in time for dinner but not before.’
Flora looked at the time on her phone. ‘But it’s after two. Dinner was ages ago.’
The old man tutted. ‘Lunch, young lady. Dinner isn’t until six o’clock. Your breeding is showing, my dear.’
Breeding? Flora shook the insult away. ‘So you heard them say they wouldn’t be back until six? You definitely heard that?’
He nodded.
‘Anything else?’
‘Something about an anniversary. But that’s all, I’m afraid. It was only later I found her inhaler on the path. She must have dropped it in her excitement.’
Flora perched on the arm of a nearby bench and tried to think. Something was tugging at her memory, something triggered by Mr Felix’s words. She jumped up again and grabbed his arm.
‘Why did you say that?’
‘What?’
‘That she dropped it because she was excited? How do you know she was excited?’
‘I don’t know. She just looked sort of … animated. She’s been a little down lately, you might have noticed, and it was nice to see her more upbeat.’
Flora could have hugged him. ‘I know exactly where she’s gone with the warden.’
‘You do?’
‘Oh yes.’ She pulled Marshall’s number up on her phone and pressed Call. ‘I’ve been so distracted,’ she told Mr Felix while it rung out, ‘I totally forgot that it’s Joy and Eddie’s anniversary today.’
‘Eddie?’
‘Her husband. Come on, Marshall, you useless lump. Where are you?’
‘She’s married?’
‘Widowed. But today is – would have been – their anniversary, and Joy wanted to go to the railway again. The fourth of May, three weeks exactly since our trip there.’
And I promised to take her, thought Flora with a stab of guilt. I’ve let her down. And because of that she’s gone with the warden instead, who has God-knows-what ulterior motive.
She gave up on Marshall and turned to Mr Felix. ‘I’ve got to get to Bridgnorth right away. Ideas?’
A smile crept over the old man’s face. ‘As a matter of fact, I have a great idea.’
Chapter 17
‘You drive quite fast, don’t you?’
Flora was clinging to the inside of the passenger door and had her feet planted wide apart to steady herself. Mr Felix swung the Fiat around another corner at forty miles per hour and laughed.
‘Quite fast for an old fogey, you mean?’
If the cap fits, thought Flora. She just smiled. More than anything, she was grateful for the favour. Mr Felix had surprised her with the offer of a lift, and now he was surprising her even more. Not only was he a crazy driver, he also seemed touchingly concerned about Joy’s wellbeing. And he was a really good listener.
They’d been travelling for about half an hour, and so far she’d told him pretty much everything. Not about Joy’s conviction that he was in fact the much abused caretaker’s son, of course, but all about Mr Vasco and her suspicions about the warden and the possibly fake charity that had so far benefited from not one but two huge bequests. And probably had another from Joy on the way.
Mr Felix listened in silence, occasionally shaking his head.
‘I’m glad I’ve got no money,’ he told her when she reached the part about Joy’s visit to the solicitor that morning. ‘No one would be interested in me as a target. You know, it never occurred to me as odd before, but now you come to mention it there’s something else that fits your theory.’
Flora sat forward, keeping her hands braced to either side. ‘What?’
‘There was this questionnaire when I moved in to the Maples. I’m renting my unit, can’t afford to buy a place outright like Joy, so I just thought it was a kind of security or financial check.’
‘Like a credit rating?’
He nodded. ‘You had to list all your assets, and then at the end there was a section about family. Your emergency contacts and all that, but also beneficiaries.’
‘Really?’ Flora thought about it. A perfect way to assess incoming residents for suitability – and vulnerability. She shuddered. The warden was even more calculating than she’d imagined.
‘And speaking of charities, there was a section on any charities I might support. Ongoing direct debits, things like that.’
It all fitted. Flora was sure of it now. If this pressure in her chest would ease off for a minute she might be able to think more clearly, because now there was something else niggling at her. She sighed. It was no good. With Mr Felix rabbiting on – who would have guessed he was so chatty? – and throwing her around in the car like a ragdoll, it was all she could do to keep focused on the job at hand.
Find Joy. Make sure she was okay. Tell the warden to take a hike, then keep Joy safe until the charity scam was exposed.
That was all she could think about right now.
‘So I wrote down that there was nothing and no one, of course. A life of work and nothing to show for it. That’s just the way it is for people like me.’
‘What did you do before you retired?’ Flora looked over at him. His colour was high. She remembered Elizabeth telling her he was obsessed with vitamins. She had to admit, he looked the picture of health.
‘I was a chemist. Worked in university labs.’
‘Did you enjoy it?’
He shrugged. ‘What’s to enjoy? A job’s a job.’ He glanced over at her, his smile wide. ‘I suppose you’re one of those feminist types, are you?’
‘What makes you say that?’
‘You’re a young woman running a business that traditionally belongs to men. And you’re friends wi
th Joy, of course.’
Flora laughed. She saw the sign for the funicular railway and told Mr Felix to turn left. ‘I’m no feminist. If I was I’d be following my own dreams, not carrying on someone else’s.’
Mr Felix was silent then, and Flora looked out of the window, embarrassed. He sure was easy to talk to, but she’d said far too much already. She pushed the feeling of melancholy away and craned her neck for that first stunning view of Bridgnorth. And there it was, rising up on a cliff, the beautiful architecture and domed church of the High Town looking majestically down on the valley below.
She directed him to the bridge, then asked him to pull over.
‘But the Severn Railway is further on.’
‘What?’
‘I thought you said she wanted to go to the railway?’
Flora laughed. ‘Not that railway. This one.’ She nodded towards the arched entrance to the cliff railway and Mr Felix shrugged.
‘Well, good luck. Do you want me to hang around and give you a lift back?’
Flora was torn. They would need to get back to Shrewsbury somehow and it was getting late for a bus. Marshall still wasn’t answering his phone. But Joy would no doubt refuse to travel in Mr Felix’s car, even if her life depended on it.
The old man seemed to understand her dilemma. ‘Tell you what – I’ve got a bit of shopping to do, so how about I meet you back here in half an hour. If you want a lift, fine. If not, no problem.’
She nodded and told him to meet them at the top, in High Town. ‘It’s easier to park up there.’
‘Okay, then. I hope you find her.’ He smiled and strapped his seatbelt across his body.
‘Thanks, Mr Felix. You’re a star. And listen, I’m really sorry about what happened in the library the other day. It was all just a misunderstanding.’
He waved and drove away. Flora ran across the road, dodging traffic, and dived into the alley that led to the tiny ticket office at the bottom of the railway.
‘We’re closed.’
Flora came to a halt, practically running into the barrier. She looked at the opening times stuck to the window.
‘No, you’re not.’
The man behind the counter glared at her. ‘Yes, we are.’
Murder at the Maples: A Flora Lively Mystery Page 21