Murder for Good

by Veronica Heley

  Ellie got to the front door and concentrated. She knew how to open it, didn’t she? Why couldn’t she remember what to do? Ah, perhaps you pulled this bit here …

  She managed to wrestle the door open. She was cross with herself. Everything took so much of an effort!

  It wasn’t Lesley standing in the porch.

  It was Diana. ‘Mother, I had the most extraordinary phone call from your housekeeper, saying you’d booked yourself into a nursing home and forbidden me to contact you. When I tried your phone it went to voice message. You didn’t expect me to believe such a ridiculous excuse, did you? We need to talk about the house and—!’

  Ellie put a hand on Diana’s shoulder to steady herself. She was swaying on her feet. ‘Diana, I need your help. Susan’s started in labour, Rafael’s been in an accident and I’m not drunk, but have taken some sleeping pills by mistake. What’s more, the phone line’s been cut and all the food in the kitchen must be thrown away. Can you take over, please?’

  ‘What? You’re not making sense!’

  Ellie felt she’d had enough of making decisions for the time being. It was all too, too tiring. She sank to the floor, saying, ‘And, could you feed Midge before you go?’

  She let sleep take her away into La-La Land.

  Sunday morning

  She woke slowly. Lazily.

  And yawned.

  She couldn’t remember when she’d last slept so long and so deeply.

  A memory of some unpleasantness nudged her mind, and she pushed it away.

  She was all right now. Well, a bit sore as to throat, but … she’d been going down with the cold, hadn’t she? No … it wasn’t that.

  She shifted in the bed. Something wasn’t quite right. The sounds coming to her ears were not from her usual early morning routine, and neither were the scents. Muffled voices. Squeak of wheels on composite floor. Clopping shoes. And her bed was not cradling her in its usual comfortable manner.

  She opened her eyes to find herself looking at a strange woman, who said, ‘Sleeping Beauty wakes up? Had a nice rest, have you?’

  Ellie blinked.

  The nurse took Ellie’s blood pressure and temperature.

  Ellie said, ‘What …?’

  ‘You’re in hospital, dear. You took some sleeping tablets, didn’t you? They brought you in and washed you out and left you to sleep it off.’

  Ellie pressed a hand to her forehead. And remembered.

  Hetty. That oversweet cuppa at breakfast time. No wonder I couldn’t function properly.

  She struggled to sit upright. ‘My husband? Thomas? He’s in the hospital here, with stomach pains. And oh, my goodness, what about Rafael and Susan? Has she had her baby? Are they all right?’

  In her agitation, she tried to get off the bed. The nurse pressed her back and pulled the sides of the bed up so that Ellie couldn’t leave. ‘Now, now. You just lie back and rest. I’m sure everything’s all right with your friends. Breakfast will be up in a minute.’ She left.

  Ellie looked around her. She was in a four-bed ward. Two other women were taking their time to open their eyes and welcome the day. One looked as if she were never going to do so. One of the ones who was awake flipped herself off her bed – no side gates for her – and trundled off to the loo.

  Ellie looked down. She was wearing her undies under a hospital gown. No shoes. Where were her outer clothes? She must get out of here! She must find Thomas. And Rafael. And poor Susan. Would Susan be in this hospital or another?

  She spotted her handbag on the bedside table and dragged it on to the bed. There was no phone in it. No, of course not. Hetty had taken it, hadn’t she? How was she to find out what had happened to the others?

  The last thing she remembered was Diana – Diana, of all people! – standing over her, phoning for an ambulance. For once, Diana had been helpful. Wonders would never cease.

  Ellie fell back on the pillows and closed her eyes. She told herself to breathe deeply. Softly. And, relax. When the nurse came back, Ellie would get her to ring round and find out what was happening.

  Ellie woke again when breakfast arrived. It wasn’t a nurse who brought it but a carer of some kind. No use asking her for a phone. Ellie ate and drank without interest in what she was given. And incredibly, dozed off again …

  Only to be woken by someone calling her name.

  Rafael stood over her. One eye was swollen and closed, he had strips of plaster holding the cut on his forehead in place, and all that side of his face was yellow and black. One of his arms was in a sling, and he was leaning on a stick. ‘Ellie, wake up!’

  ‘I am awake,’ she said, struggling to sit upright. ‘What’s the news? Are you all right? Is Susan?’

  His rather harsh features lit up with a grin. ‘It’s a girl, born at midnight. I can’t make out if her birthday will be today or yesterday. My darling Susan says she’s worn out, but she looks wonderful, like a glorious, opulent rose in full bloom. Motherhood suits her. As for our little girl, she’s perfect in every way with a head of black hair and … ah, she’s exquisite! I was there when she was born. The moment they put her in my arms, I said, “Hello, Fifi!” and I swear she knew me, though the midwives said that that wasn’t possible. We don’t plan to call her Fifi, of course …’

  He went on about how wonderful the baby was, and how Susan had had an easy time of it … at least that was what the midwives had said, though Susan thought otherwise.

  Ellie knew that whatever name the baby was given at her christening, she would always be known as Fifi. Which was all very right and proper.

  ‘And so,’ said Rafael, ‘they said that I could take Susan home if there were someone to look after her, and I tried to explain that we’re in a flat on the second floor with no lift and that I’m pretty well useless at the moment. However, I said I did know someone who might, in the goodness of her heart, take us in and look after us.’ He gave Ellie his best imitation of a poor, wounded soldier looking for someone to soothe his fevered brow.

  Ellie was not in the least taken in. ‘What you mean is that you told them I’d do it, right? Can you drop the sides of this bed for me? I want to get dressed.’

  Rafael’s grin widened. ‘I told the nurses I was your son-in-law, which is sort of true because you’ve always been better than a mother to Susan. The nurse here told me you had slept off the effects of whatever you’d taken and might well be discharged when the doctor’s been round but—’

  Ellie moved to the edge of her bed and dangled her legs over. The room went round a bit, and then settled. ‘How about Thomas? How is he?’

  ‘It’s a Sunday morning and nothing much is happening so I blagged my way up to see him, too. He’s in a ward on the next floor up. Looking a lot better, because whatever they’ve got him on seems to be working. He’s champing at the bit to get out of here, says he’s occupying a bed under false pretences.’

  ‘Are my clothes in my locker? Pass them to me, will you?’

  Rafael opened the locker, one-handed, and passed over her outer clothing and shoes. ‘They X-rayed my shoulder and my ankle and say both are sprained. I have to take it easy for a while. No heavy lifting, and I’m to keep my leg elevated.’

  Ellie grunted, trying to get her shoes on. Her balance still wasn’t perfect. ‘How are we going to get home if you can’t drive?’

  ‘I’ve ordered a cab. Thomas said he’d meet us down at the front entrance in forty-five minutes and’ – Rafael consulted his watch – ‘that’s thirty minutes to go. Which gives us plenty of time to browbeat the nurses here into discharging you. We’ll pick up Thomas first and then collect Susan and Fifi. Susan can’t wait to get away from here and look after Fifi herself, but she’s been told to take things easy and I can’t really do anything for her with my arm in a sling, can I?’

  Ellie stamped her feet into her shoes and eyed him up and down. Innocence radiated from every pore but his mouth had curved into a smile, indicating how much he was enjoying his little game.

&
nbsp; She said, ‘You and Susan want to move in and live with us and you’ve arranged matters so that I can’t possibly refuse. I doubt very much that you’ll be keeping that arm in a sling once we get out of here, and I suppose you intend to lose the stick on the way home. You know what? You are a very naughty boy!’

  At which they both laughed out loud, causing two of the other women in the ward to look shocked and the third to groan in her sleep.

  Rafael hushed his voice and tried to look penitent. ‘You’re right, of course. The flat we’ve been living in is all right in its way, but it doesn’t feel like home. Susan has never liked it, but she put up with it till we found somewhere we could settle in. She loved living with you, and I rather like it, too. Yes, if you can bear it, we’d love to stay with you for a while.’

  ‘On the basis that “home is where the heart is”? What about your own mother and father?’

  ‘They congratulated me on producing a child and said they’d “be over to inspect the baby when things are a little more settled”.’ His mimicry of two disinterested, unloving parents was uncanny. Ellie knew he’d always had a distant relationship with them, and her heart went out to him. She also knew that Susan’s mother had always preferred a pretty cousin to her own daughter, and that there was no father in the picture. Practically, they were both orphans. And Ellie and Thomas, for all that they had offspring of their own, would have no trouble in unofficially adopting the pair … plus Fifi, the very new baby.

  She smoothed out a smile. ‘Well, I suppose I could put up with having the three of you underfoot for a while, if Thomas agrees.’

  ‘He suggested it. He said he liked having babies around the house. He said babies always take to him.’

  It was true. They did. Ellie moved into housewifely mode. ‘I don’t suppose we’ve got a speck of food in the house, and the place is a mess. But we’ll manage, somehow.’

  ‘Well, Diana said—’

  ‘You’ve been in touch with Diana?’

  ‘Well, yes. You don’t remember? No, you’d fallen asleep, hadn’t you? While we waited for the ambulances which didn’t come for a good half hour, with me dripping blood all over the place and rubbing Susan’s back and Susan letting go with a good scream now and then, I told Diana what had been happening, and asked if she knew how to contact your cleaners and get them to come in and clean up. She said she would. She said she’d put out some food for Midge but that she couldn’t stay the night because of her own young family. I thought that was very helpful of her.’

  Ellie eyed him in disillusion. ‘You didn’t offer to buy their option for the land by the river off them, did you?’

  Eyes, wide. All innocence. ‘No, no. Of course not. I’m not made of money. I did mention that I knew someone who might be interested in buying them out.’

  ‘What? How?’

  ‘Well, you have to understand what makes some people tick. There are two other groups who had been thinking about taking on the site down by the river, only Evan got in first and bought the option to develop. I let my contact at one of these firms know that Evan might be willing to sell on his option at a reasonable price now, this minute. You see, if my contact waits till the option expires, there’d be a bidding war, and my contact would have to pay way over the odds for the site. But, if he bought the option off Evan, then he’s got a clear run through to the title and can go ahead and develop at leisure. He’s delighted by the idea of putting one over his rival.’

  ‘Does he know he may not get permission to develop?’

  He spread his hands. ‘He’s been informed that will not be a problem as the new developer has agreed to ensure the houses have flood defences.’

  ‘Are you taking a cut yourself?’

  Rafael shook his head. ‘Susan would kill me if I did.’

  ‘I suppose,’ said Ellie, testing the waters, ‘you’ll want to stand for the council yourself one day?’

  ‘Not me. There’s no money in it.’ A naughty grin.

  ‘You,’ said Ellie, ‘don’t fool me!’

  He sighed. ‘I know. I’m an unprincipled blackguard, but it might work.’

  Ellie picked up her handbag and put it down again. Something wasn’t quite right. She wriggled a bit. She drew a used hankie and two rather squashed packets of pills from her bra. Where had the pills come from? Ah, from Hetty’s hoard. She put them in her handbag.

  ‘Spoils of war, collected by Hetty, and found by me in her rooms. I’ll hand them over to Lesley when I see her. Hospitals are wonderful places when you’re poorly, and they’ve looked after us all splendidly, but we’re ready to go and I’m sure they need the beds. Let’s work out how to escape from Colditz.’

  EIGHTEEN

  Sunday onwards

  They returned to find there were already a number of vehicles in the forecourt of the big house. A supermarket delivery van was the largest, followed in order of size by a British Telecom van and a large, very new, black saloon. The saloon was a family car, fitted with seats for a toddler and a baby in the back.

  Thomas was first out of the taxi as he’d been sitting in front beside the driver. He was looking a little pale, but otherwise himself. ‘Ellie, did you place a supermarket order for food?’

  ‘I didn’t have time. That’s Diana’s car.’

  Thomas looked at Diana’s car. ‘Oh, well. Once more into the fray, dear friends.’ He opened the back passenger door. ‘Susan, will you let me hold Fifi while you get out?’

  On the other side of the car, Rafael hung his stick over his arm to help Ellie out, too.

  Ellie wondered if it were her fancy, or could she really hear Diana’s scolding voice through their very solid front door? She found her keys and let them into the hall, when the volume of her daughter’s sharp voice expanded to fill the ears of everyone in the vicinity.

  Diana was in full flow. ‘Will you look at the dirt you’ve tracked through the hall!’

  A supermarket delivery man bolted past Ellie, making a bid for the outside world and freedom.

  ‘Typical!’ Diana concluded. ‘Without so much as a word of apology!’ Hands on hips, she stood victorious over the battlefield or rather, over a hall full of people. Annie and Betty, two of the cleaners who usually looked after Ellie, were there, a-polishing of this and a-dusting of that, while a BT engineer fiddled with wires by the phone.

  Diana’s toddler son, little Evan, slowly but surely stomped his way up the stairs; two steps up and then two steps down, hampered by having a biscuit in either hand. Meanwhile, his little sister worked on undoing the straps which held her into her bouncy child seat.

  Diana registered the appearance of her mother and friends long enough to say, ‘Your cleaners could do with retraining, Mother. They don’t seem to know how to put a good shine on the parquet floor.’ Before Ellie could explain that she didn’t want a floor to be so shiny that she’d slip on it, Diana had turned on Annie and Betty. ‘Well, leave that, now! It’s more important that you put the food away in the fridge and the freezer. And make sure you check the temperature!’

  Annie and Betty synchronized an eyeroll in Ellie’s direction and disappeared down the rabbit hole … or, rather, the corridor to the kitchen. Ellie resolved to give them both a bonus for coming in on a Sunday, and for putting up with Diana treating them like slaves.

  Diana looked at her watch and tapped her foot. Mistress Impatience. She frowned and then, unexpectedly, smiled. ‘Welcome home, Mother. I believe you will find everything in order. The beds have been made, the bedrooms vacuumed, the bathrooms and the kitchen cleaned. All the spoilt food has been removed and replacements delivered. I ordered a number of pre-cooked dishes for you to be getting on with, and trust that you will be able to cope with them until you are ready to cook again. I paid for everything on my credit card and will let you have the bill.’

  Ellie pinched herself. Was Diana really thinking of someone other than herself for a change? She said, ‘That’s amazing. Thank you, Diana. I am most grateful.’ And she reall
y was.

  Diana was ungracious as ever. ‘Yes, well. It was the least I could do. Now, we must have a talk about the deeds to our house some time. I’m sure we can come to some arrangement whereby we can pay a peppercorn rent.’

  ‘Perhaps so,’ said Ellie, thinking they could deal with that another day.

  Diana’s eyes flickered over Thomas, who was carrying the baby, and Susan, whom she decided to ignore. She focused on Rafael. ‘Your tip about the man who might be interested in discussing a certain project … Well, I’m meeting him later on today.’ She looked at her watch again and raised her voice to her son. ‘Evan, come down this minute, at once, do you hear? We’re going out for lunch, remember?’ She scooped up her daughter in her bouncy seat, grabbed her son’s arm and nodded to Rafael to open the front door for her … and made her exit, head held high.

  There was a general relaxation of tense muscles at her departure, though no one was prepared to comment on Diana’s behaviour in front of Ellie. Ellie herself didn’t know what to say. Diana had done a very good job of putting everything to rights, and so for once her bossy manners must be overlooked.

  The telephone engineer stood up. ‘All fixed. Sign here, please.’

  Thomas signed and Susan began to fidget. ‘I need to sit down. Fifi’s fussing to be fed.’

  Ellie shepherded Susan into the sitting room. ‘Make yourself at home, my dear. Try the settee. Put a cushion under your arm like this, which gives you support when you lay Fifi … yes, that’s it. Relax. Take your time. I’ll bring you a cuppa in a minute.’

  It was good to have a baby in the house. Ellie wondered how many years it was since a baby had been suckled here. Did you count Diana’s two, who occasionally spent the night in the house? Ellie decided that no, you didn’t. In the first place, Diana had never breastfed her children, and in the second, Susan and Fifi were here to stay.