Murder With Mercy

by Veronica Heley

  ‘Fine. Press send.’ She straightened up. ‘The only problem is that it won’t come till tomorrow. We’ll need some fish for tonight. Salmon steaks, perhaps, and fruit.’ She dithered, looking out on to the rain which was sheeting down. ‘I’d better take a cab and get some.’

  Mikey raised his hand, still munching.

  ‘You want to go? Certainly not! If you’re fit to go to the shops, you’re fit to be in school. Oh, Mikey; what a mess you’re in! We’re going to have to have a long talk about this with your mother very soon, because she doesn’t know the half of it, does she? But I don’t want you bothering her with it now she’s so poorly, understood?’

  He nodded, stuffed the apple core into his mouth and dived into the larder where they kept Rose’s basket on wheels. Rose hadn’t been out of the house for weeks, and she certainly wasn’t strong enough to trek to the shops and back.

  ‘Mikey, if you’re fit to go to the shops, you’re fit to go back to school.’

  He shook his head, grinning. Then he rubbed his thumb against his fingers in the age-old request for money.

  Rose gave in first. ‘Mikey, I’m not at all sure you should be allowed out after what you’ve been up to, but I don’t suppose you’ll come to any harm going to the shops and back, and it would save Ellie a peck of trouble.’ She gave him a hug. ‘Be careful, now. And make sure the waterproof cover is on the basket so the things you buy don’t get wet. Get yourself some of your favourite chocolate biscuits while you’re out. Do you want my umbrella?’

  He shook his head.

  Ellie turned him to face her. ‘Dear Mikey. We’re both so worried about you. I don’t know that you ought to go out, but it’s true we do need these things. You must promise me you won’t go on to the building site? Cross your heart and hope to die promise?’

  He nodded, serious. The bruise on his face was pretty bad, and the skin around his eye was still puffy. But if Mikey promised he wouldn’t do something, he probably wouldn’t. Probably.

  Ellie fetched her handbag and counted out some money for him to take. She saw him dressed in sensible wet weather clothing and sent him out into the rain.

  Well, a spot of rain wouldn’t do him any harm.

  As Ellie watched the boy disappear into the gloomy day, Diana drew up in her car with a squelch, manoeuvred herself out from under the steering wheel and waddled up the step and into the hall.

  ‘Other people,’ said Diana, in a savage tone, ‘can rely on their mothers to help them when they’re in trouble. I tried and tried to ring you this morning so that you could go to the hospital with me, but you didn’t pick up.’

  Ellie shot a glance at the phone. She remembered muting the tone so she’d get a bit of peace. She hadn’t turned it up again, had she?

  Diana was in full flow. ‘I’ve been having back pains all night. Evan said it was no more than to be expected …’

  Diana was Evan’s fourth wife and he’d sired a fair number of children over the years, so he probably knew what he was talking about.

  ‘… so, even though I didn’t get a wink of sleep, I dragged myself off to work. But then it got worse so I had to take myself off to the hospital, only to be told that I was having Brampton Apples or something, and that the baby wasn’t nearly ready to come.’

  ‘Braxton Hicks. False contractions. I remember them,’ said Ellie. ‘Surely you had them during your first pregnancy?’

  ‘I was younger, then.’ Diana led the way into the sitting room and let herself down on to the big, high-backed chair in front of the fireplace. Ellie’s chair. Diana sniffed. Was she really going to burst into tears? ‘Evan can’t think about anything but his own problems. He thinks I should be as concerned about them as he is. Also, he’s drinking too much.’ Diana rubbed the small of her back. ‘The house is a mess. He’s been having visitors, but never bothers to put the dirty glasses in the dishwasher. I counted six! Six! I did ask you to vet his callers. I thought you might at least do that for me. I don’t want him dying of liver poisoning before the baby’s born.’

  On the defensive again, Ellie said, ‘I did try. Six glasses? Did he give himself a clean glass each time? If so, there’d have been three callers. I know of two. Freddie—’

  ‘Oh, him! Drinking himself into his grave because his wife had had enough of him.’

  ‘Oh, come on, Diana. He’s grief-stricken. Then there’s Marcia. Is she a drinker?’

  ‘She never refuses a snifter. Or Pauline.’

  Ellie had forgotten she was supposed to visit someone called Pauline. She couldn’t even remember whether she was a widow or not. Probably. Where did she live? Locally? ‘Sorry, I haven’t had time to get round to her.’

  ‘I’ve only ever asked you to do one little thing for me, and you say you can’t find “time to get round to her”? I need to have people visiting Evan who won’t encourage him to drink. Mother, I despair of you! Don’t you care what happens to me?’

  ‘Don’t talk nonsense, Diana.’ Ellie bit her lip, because Diana did look deathly pale. ‘You’re not fit to go into work. Why don’t you go home and lie down for a bit?’

  Diana moaned, shifting on her chair. ‘I can’t get comfortable whatever I do. And who is to bring home the pennies, if I don’t supervise everything at the agency?’

  ‘You’ll be suggesting next that I take over your desk at work.’

  Diana was silent. ‘I’ve been thinking about it, yes.’

  ‘I was joking! No, Diana. No. I can’t. Won’t. I’ve enough on my plate already. Both Thomas and Vera have gone down with flu, and young Mikey’s in trouble with the law.’

  ‘I’ve always said that boy’s no good.’

  Actually, no: she hadn’t.

  Diana rubbed her forehead. ‘I can’t be expected to work when the baby’s due at any minute but the staff are hopeless, running around like headless chickens.’

  She only had herself to blame for that because she’d sacked an excellent second-in-command because he wouldn’t cut corners.

  Diana said, ‘You run your charitable trust all right. You could easily help me out at the office, if you wanted to.’

  Ellie’s patience had worn out. ‘No, I couldn’t. It’s not my scene, and you know it. Why don’t you arrange for Evan to go in to work every day? He could direct operations from his wheelchair, because there’s nothing wrong with his head. Get a taxi to collect him in the mornings and bring him back in the evenings.’

  ‘He says he’s not well enough. All he wants to do is to sit drinking with his old pals, and you haven’t helped me at all in that direction.’

  ‘I didn’t realize you wanted his visitors to be teetotal. You should have said.’

  Diana burst into angry, noisy tears. ‘You never loved me.’

  Ellie wondered for one awful moment whether this were true. But, no. Of course it wasn’t true. She made herself calm down. In a reasonably convincing tone she said, ‘I have always loved you. From the moment you were born, you were the centre of my life. I don’t think you noticed me much, though, because you were always your father’s little girl, weren’t you? He loved you to distraction. He gave you everything you asked for, sometimes even before you asked for it.’

  ‘You didn’t. You were always saying “no” to me.’

  ‘He handed me the hard part of parenting. It was always I who had to tell you that too much sugar was bad for your teeth, or that you couldn’t have two pairs of very expensive shoes when there wasn’t enough money to pay for them. He always wanted everything to be sunny side up when he talked to you, and he left it to me to warn you when your temper got out of control.’

  ‘Whose fault was that? If you’d given me what I asked for—’

  ‘When it was bad for you? Is that the right way to show love to your child?’

  ‘You were always too busy or too tired to take me to ballet classes. I had to go on my own.’

  Ellie set her teeth. ‘I arranged for you to go with a friend, didn’t I? I hardly stopped from morning
to night, looking after you and your father. Oh, what’s the use? I did my best by you and by him.’

  ‘Not good enough.’

  That was one word too many. ‘Listen to me, my girl. I’ve put up with your nonsense from the day you were born because I loved you, and worried about you, and agonized how best to bring you up. But you weren’t the only person I had to think about. There was your father, and your great-aunt, and then, I don’t suppose you knew about them, but—’

  ‘Oh, grant me patience! You’re not going to go on about “the little children who were not meant to be”, are you? Daddy would tell me every now and then that I was going to get a little brother or sister, but they never arrived, did they?’

  ‘No. I lost three early. One I nearly carried to term, but …’ She stopped. She’d lost that one because Diana, in a rage, had given Ellie a push at the top of the stairs and she’d tumbled down them and lost the six-month foetus. She said, ‘Only one nearly made it. That sort of thing takes it out of you.’

  ‘Well, you had me.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Ellie, feeling weary enough to weep, ‘Yes, we had you. And we loved you, even if we couldn’t give you everything you wanted.’

  ‘And you’re still letting me down.’

  Ellie closed her eyes for a moment. ‘You are old enough to know better, Diana. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got two invalids in the house who need me far more than you do. If you’re well enough to go in to work, then I suggest you appoint one of your staff to look after the office while you take some leave. After all, you can’t mean to work for a while after you’ve had the baby.’

  ‘I don’t plan to be away for more than a week.’

  ‘Are you planning to take the baby into work with you?’

  ‘Heavens, no. I shan’t breastfeed. Evan will have to get a nurse in for it.’

  Ellie blinked. Yet, what had she expected? Diana hadn’t breastfed her first, either. Diana hauled herself out of the big chair and processed to the hall. She picked up her big coat with an effort and shrugged herself into it. ‘I suppose that you’ll be free to accompany me to the hospital when the baby decides to come? Evan can’t, and I shall need someone with me.’

  Ellie’s mind zigzagged between Diana, her two invalids and Mikey, in trouble up to his eyeballs. ‘If you can last out a couple of days, I’m sure Thomas will be over the worst of it. Vera is on the mend, too.’

  ‘As usual, you put everyone else before me.’

  Ellie didn’t reply to that.

  THIRTEEN

  As soon as Diana had gone, Ellie corrected the volume of the bell on the telephone. She saw the answerphone light was winking, decided to ignore it and zipped into the kitchen. Rose was stirring something in a big pan. Soup for lunch, hopefully. Rose was singing along to something on the radio. She waved to Ellie, but didn’t suspend operations. The washing machine was churning away. No Mikey as yet.

  There were no more lemons to make into lemonade. Ellie found a bottle of elderflower cordial in the larder which was just about in date and made up a jugful to take upstairs.

  Thomas was back in bed. Snoring gently. He was restless and far too hot. She put the jug on the table in the window, poured him out a glassful and left it by his bedside.

  Up the next flight. Vera was relaxed, still in bed, awake but drowsy. She’d almost finished the jug of lemonade which Ellie had made earlier.

  ‘You shouldn’t have bothered to come up again. I can make myself a cuppa when I need it, and my headache’s almost gone. Where’s Mikey?’

  ‘Gone for some more fruit. Back soon.’

  ‘Who were those people this morning?’

  Ellie grimaced. ‘Mikey’s been missing school. He needs a good talking-to. Don’t you bother about it for now. The weekend’s coming up, and he’s going to turn over a new leaf next week.’ Fingers crossed.

  Vera was on the verge of tears. ‘He is naughty. I’ve told him and told him, but I thought he’d mended his ways. I didn’t want to worry you, because I thought I could deal with it. I’ve had two notes from school about his being away for the odd afternoon, but he’s been keeping up with his homework. I’ve checked. So what is he up to now?’

  Ellie sat on the bed, patting Vera’s hand. ‘He’s bored at school and wants to try his wings. Yes, we have to put a stop to it, but perhaps we might think about getting him into a school where the teachers would stretch him. He’s bright enough to sit for scholarships in a private school.’

  Vera blew her nose. ‘But with his record from his current school—’

  ‘Money talks. If necessary I’ll cover his fees. For now, my dear, the best thing you can do is put his naughtiness out of your mind and rest. Get well. Would you like me to bring in the television from next door?’

  As fast as tears ran down her pale cheeks, Vera wiped them away. ‘No thanks. I’ll get up soon and sit next door for a while, if my head lets me. At the moment, every time I stand up, I feel faint. I knew something awful had happened to Mikey when I saw those bruises of his, but he said he’d fallen down the stairs here, chasing Midge. Was that true?’

  He’d actually used his voice to speak to his mother? Or had he mimed his ‘accident’? Either way, Ellie wasn’t going to add to Vera’s worries by telling her about the problems at the building site. She’d have to know sooner or later, but in this case, later would be best. ‘He fell down some stairs, yes. He’s been checked over by a doctor, and it’s just bruises.’

  There was some truth there and some papering over the cracks. Vera seemed to accept what Ellie said. She sighed deeply and lay back, closing her eyes. ‘Oh, Mikey.’

  ‘Take it easy.’ Ellie lowered the blind at the window and left. When she was halfway down the stairs, the front doorbell rang. A prolonged, insistent, demanding peal.

  Trouble. Definitely.

  Ellie opened the front door, and in came Hugh, carrying Mikey in his arms. Mikey’s eyes were shut, and he was either asleep or had fainted.

  ‘He was knocked down,’ said Hugh. ‘Crossing the road opposite the site. I don’t think anything’s broken. Where shall I put him?’

  Mikey opened his eyes and began to struggle free.

  Ellie sat on the hall chair. ‘Give him to me.’

  Hugh deposited the boy in her lap, and she held him tightly. His body melded into hers; his breath was warm against her neck. She rocked him to and fro. He sobbed a couple of times and then was quiet, nestling against her.

  How she loved him!

  Ellie thought of Diana, and of how her daughter had never sat on her lap to be loved and soothed like this. When Ellie had picked Diana up in the old days she’d stiffened and demanded to be put down. Perhaps you needed to be loved in return, in order to keep on loving?

  No, that wasn’t right. She still loved her daughter, but with a weariness that made her wonder, sometimes, how much longer she could go on doing so.

  She asked Hugh, ‘What happened? He went to the shops for me. He promised he wouldn’t go on to the site.’

  Hugh sighed, shaking his head. ‘I was up top at the back when one of the electricians called to me to have a look. He was in one of the rooms at the front and had spotted the lad walking along on the opposite side of the road. None of us want the boy on site now, as you can imagine. I saw the boy, too. He was looking up at us. I shook my head to indicate he shouldn’t try to come in. He turned away to walk on up the road. He was wearing that bright yellow mac of his, with the hood up. Easy to spot.

  ‘It was still raining, but not as hard as it had been. Not bouncing off the road. I was concerned he might double back and try to get into the site, so I went on watching him. I knew he’d have to cross the road at some point, to get back home. He went on about twenty yards and looked both ways, to see if it were all right to cross over. There wasn’t much traffic about. This vehicle came along, slowed right down. Mikey must have thought he’d plenty of time to cross and started off, but he misjudged it. The driver kept on going. Mikey jumped back but th
e wing of the car clipped him, sending him sprawling.’

  Ellie clutched Mikey even harder. ‘Intentionally? The driver meant to run the boy down?’

  ‘No, no. The rain, the early dusk, he probably didn’t realize … Anyway, we both, the electrician and I, ran for the stairs, and when we reached him, the boy was sitting on the pavement, trembling all over. There was no sign of the car, which hadn’t stopped. We carried him into my office, checked him over. There’s nothing broken. A bad bruise on his right side. We talked about taking him to hospital but he kept shaking his head, tried to walk off by himself, so I offered to bring him home. I hope we did the right thing.’

  ‘I’m sure you did.’ Ellie held the boy away from her. ‘Mikey, is everything in working order? Nothing broken?’

  He shook his head, dived back to hide his face in her shoulder.

  ‘Did you get the licence number of the car, Hugh?’

  ‘From that angle on the second floor? In the rain? No. It was all over so quickly. I mean, you don’t expect … And for a minute after it happened we didn’t react, standing there with our mouths open. Afterwards, we couldn’t even agree on the make of the car.’ He shot her a look from under his eyebrows. A look she couldn’t read. ‘I think it was a Toyota, four door, probably black. Dark colour, anyway. Not silver or red.’

  Ellie didn’t know anything about cars. ‘You called the police?’

  ‘We thought about it, but because the boy’s in trouble with the police already and there was no harm done except for a bruise, we decided not to. What could we say? A hit and run. Ten a penny. I’ve got his mac in my car. He was trailing a basket on wheels. I’ve got that in the car, too.’

  ‘He went shopping for me. I’ve got two members of the household down with flu and couldn’t leave, so he offered. Now I wish … Mikey, I could shake you! Why weren’t you more careful?’

  He clung more closely to her by way of reply.

  Hugh shook his head. ‘A good night’s sleep, that’s what he needs.’

  Ellie had a nasty thought. ‘Were Preston and his mate Dave working on site today?’