Murder In Law

by Veronica Heley

  ‘I asked if she’d touched anything. She shook her head and said she’d held his hand for a while. I asked if he’d managed to tell her who had done that to him. She shook her head. She said she’d seen that he was badly injured and had phoned nine-nine-nine for an ambulance and the police. She said Evan must have disturbed burglars and tried to defend himself.’

  Susan said, ‘Well, that hangs together. She brought Jenny here, not knowing Ellie hadn’t yet returned. Which reminds me that we must look for Little Evan’s toy Hippo. It’s his security blanket, his favourite soft toy, and he’s missing it. Diana must have packed it up. It’ll be in the bags she brought, somewhere.’

  Rafael frowned. ‘I don’t think so. I’ve been through those bags. Clothing and shoes. That raggedy rabbit which Jenny’s got. That’s all.’

  Susan said, ‘Oh dear. Perhaps the nanny knows where it’s gone. I hope he hasn’t lost it somewhere.’

  Rafael said, ‘Agreed, Diana did take her time getting to the hospital, but I can’t see anything sinister in that.’

  Lesley insisted, ‘She left home with Jenny at nine forty-five. She arrived at the hospital at four minutes past eleven. Yes, she had to drop Jenny off here, but … does it really take one hour and twenty minutes to do that and find a parking place at the hospital? I know that something’s wrong with that timetable. I know she did something else in that time. Something she doesn’t want us to know about.’

  Susan said, ‘If I’d been in her place and Rafael had been injured, I’d have picked up Fifi and a nappy and jumped into the ambulance with him. I know Diana’s a cold fish, and I realize she did have to move herself and the children out of the house for a bit, but did she really have to pack up so much before she left? Look at the pile in the hall. There’s bags and bags of stuff. Couldn’t she have taken the very minimum with her then, and gone back later to pack up at her leisure? But then, what do I know? Sometimes in an emergency you get your priorities wrong.’

  Lesley said, ‘The constable says Diana left her house at a quarter to ten. Suppose she then took ten minutes to get here, ten minutes to explain what had happened and to leave Jenny … and another ten to get to the hospital. That leaves just over three quarters of an hour of her time unaccounted for – unless you know otherwise? What time did she get to you?’

  Susan thought it through. ‘We overslept, tired after moving in yesterday. We haven’t got the kitchen clock up on the wall yet, and I’m not sure what time we had breakfast. Then Rafael went in to work. I was sorting the kitchen out. Fifi had gone down for her mid-morning nap. I’d say it was about ten, maybe a bit before?’

  Rafael got out his smartphone. ‘I can get it closer than that. The plumber phoned me to say he wasn’t coming today at … yes, here it is. He phoned at nine forty. I rang Susan to tell her, got no answer—’

  ‘I had to let the phone ring while I was dealing with Diana.’

  ‘I was on my way to an appointment – I never got there, I must contact them to apologize – but I rang Susan a couple of times and she didn’t pick up. I was concerned that she might have some domestic emergency or other and couldn’t get to the phone, so I dropped back here … about ten fifteen? Diana had just left.’

  Susan said, ‘She arrived here demanding the keys to next door. She expected her mother to be in and to take care of Jenny. She didn’t know Ellie had delayed her return or that her house wasn’t ready for occupation. She dumped Jenny and some bags of stuff on me, ordered me to fetch Little Evan from his nursery later on, and left.’

  Fifi had fallen asleep, spread-eagled on Susan’s stomach. With an effort, Susan got to her feet. ‘Fifi needs her bath and bedtime.’

  ‘Hang on a minute,’ said Rafael. ‘Lesley, who set the child protection police on us, and can you stop them storming the house tomorrow?’

  Lesley fidgeted. ‘It wasn’t me. What happened was that when Diana had told her tale, she said she had to get back into the house to collect some papers she needed from the safe. I said we couldn’t allow that, but we’d be on site and make sure nothing was touched. She persisted, saying she needed these documents including her passport. And at that, I’m afraid I blew up. What did she need her passport for? Was she planning to ditch her children and sneak out of the country? Didn’t she see how suspicious it was that she should want it now?

  ‘She said she needed it for a conference she’d been booked to go to abroad, which was essential for work purpose. She lost control. I’d never seen her lose control before. She went scarlet. She wept tears of sheer rage. She swore at me, said she was going to see her solicitor that very minute, that I had no right to detain her and she was leaving to go about her business there and then. I said we should continue this discussion down at the station, and she said she’d told us all she knew and needed to go to the loo.

  ‘She disappeared down the corridor, and at that point Ears rang, wanting to know if I’d arrested Diana yet. I had to admit to my boss that I wasn’t happy about Diana’s story and that she was demanding access to the safe at home in order to collect her passport. You can see how it looked, can’t you? My detective constable had gone after Diana but lost her in the car park. Ears said he’d put out an all-points bulletin to arrest her. It was he who organized a visit from Social Services. Yes, I do think it was over the top, but he’s my boss. I’m only sorry you had to get involved.’

  Rafael said, ‘His reaction was over the top, but so was Diana’s.’

  Lesley stretched and sighed. ‘I know she lied about something, even if I don’t know what it was. Someone killed Evan. I really don’t think it was Diana because whoever did it must be carrying traces of blood all over them, not just on one hand and her skirt. There was no way she could have been involved in the hand-to-hand struggle that must have taken place there. I’ll ring Ellie and give her the bad news – not that she can do anything about it while she’s in Canada – and then I’m going to call it a day. I’ll be round first thing in the morning to have a word with the sleeping beauties. Don’t let either of them go till I’ve spoken to them, right?’

  FIVE

  Late Friday evening

  Rafael saw Lesley out, while Susan laboured with Fifi up the stairs and into their big bedroom. She was too tired to get out the baby bath but dunked Fifi in one of the matching pair of washbasins in the en suite. Fifi woke up and splashed merrily. She loved water. Normally Susan would have let Fifi have a lengthy play but tonight she skipped that, hoping the child would have been so tired out by the events of the day that she’d sleep the night through.

  Rafael came up with the top off the baby buggy. ‘Where do you want it? Here, or in the nursery next door?’

  ‘In here, I think.’

  ‘That cat of Ellie’s is pressing itself against the windows. I thought it had transferred its affections to the staff at the hotel nearby. I didn’t let it in. Shall I bring up my laptop so that we can Skype Ellie up here, before we go to bed?’

  ‘Are you going to tell her what you didn’t want to tell me?’

  ‘Ah.’ He went to the window and looked out at the night. ‘You know me so well. All right. I was asked to take part in a dodgy deal a while back. I was told that Evan was in it up to his neck. I declined. I heard later that there’d been a massive falling-out among those who had put money into the venture and that umbrage had been taken in large quantities by all and sundry. It did cross my mind at first that Evan might have been stupid enough to short-change a certain businessman in their dealings in that matter. It took a while but I eventually ran my contact to earth and told him what had happened to Evan. He laughed himself silly. Said it served the old fool right. He said Evan thought of himself as a shark but that in reality he was just a tadpole in a village pond. End of story.’

  Susan laid Fifi down in the buggy and put her Gonk into her hands. Fifi gazed up at her mother with a slightly anxious expression. Something wasn’t right. There was a change in her routine. No milk. Strange children invading her space. And surely she
’d been sleeping in a cot recently?

  Susan whispered a prayer over her baby, pulled up the hood and dimmed the bedside lights. ‘And the rest of it?’ she said. She went to stand beside him at the window.

  He put his arm around her. ‘Well, it’s the plumbers. They undercut everyone else to get the contract from the trust to do the plumbing here and next door. The trust thought we should give them a try but as you know, it’s been a disaster. In here it’s not been too bad, apart from the leaky hose to our dishwasher, but next door …! One excuse after the other. Their office systems are archaic and their foreman inefficient. Either the workmen don’t turn up or the parts they’ve ordered fail to arrive and what does arrive, doesn’t fit.

  ‘Next door should have been finished three weeks ago. Last week they started angling for more work from the trust. I had to say I wouldn’t recommend it. That’s when the pressure started. They ring me night and day. They offered to install wet rooms in my block of flats at cost, if I’ll swing another contract from the trust their way.’

  Susan put her arm around his waist. ‘And you refused.’ It was a statement and not a question.

  ‘I was tempted. But yes, I did refuse.’ He attempted a laugh. ‘Anyway, their incompetence would have driven me mad.’

  He made as if to draw the curtains and froze. He was looking down into the garden. Susan looked, too. She saw a square of light, interrupted by their silhouettes, thrown down on to the lawn below. They switched their eyes to the left to see that there was a similar shape of light thrown on to the garden below from another window, not next door – which was the nursery – but further along in the next house, from Ellie’s bedroom.

  The silhouette of a woman appeared in the square of light and then curtains were pulled across. Rafael drew their curtains, too.

  Susan said, ‘That’s Diana, isn’t it? Do you think Lesley guessed that Diana might move in next door, in spite of there being no water there?’

  Rafael shook his head. ‘Lesley thought we were looking after her.’

  Susan said, ‘When Diana came this morning she demanded the keys to her mother’s part of the house and I refused to give them to her. I told her Ellie and Thomas were still away and that their house wasn’t ready. I’m not sure if I told her there was no water available or not. I’m pretty sure Ellie took Diana’s keys off her some time ago, but she’s still got in.’

  ‘Smashed a window in the kitchen door and got in that way, no doubt. I suppose there’s some water in the tank but there can’t be much, which is why the plumber was supposed to be coming back today. She’ll use the bathroom, won’t she? I wonder if there’s enough water in the tank to let her use the toilet?’

  ‘Or boil herself a kettle to make some tea?’ Susan giggled, and then was serious. ‘You could argue that she didn’t lie to the police when she said she was taking refuge in Ellie’s house.’

  ‘Shall we Skype Ellie now?’

  There was a mournful cry from the nursery. Rafael had left on the landing light, so Susan could see one unhappy, disorientated little boy, who’d lost his security toy, standing by the bed. She gave him a cuddle. He wept unrestrainedly. She reminded herself that though Dreadful Di was his mother, and Autocratic Evan his father, there must be something of Ellie in him. She whispered soft words to him so as not to wake Jenny, who was fast asleep in Fifi’s cot.

  ‘Hippo,’ he murmured. ‘Nanny got Hippo?’

  ‘Nanny’s fast asleep. You can see her in the morning.’ Susan noted that he didn’t ask for his mother or father. She promised him, ‘We’ll find your Hippo tomorrow. Can you remember where you left him?’

  He thought about that. ‘Under Nanny’s bed. I wanted to take him to nursery, but she said I could have an extra biccy for being a brave boy and managing without Hippo.’ He hiccupped a bit and said, ‘Biccy?’

  He was wide awake now. Susan led him down the stairs, warmed some milk for him and found the biscuit tin which, for some reason, had migrated to a high shelf, almost out of her reach. She found one of his picture books in the muddle of boxes and bags in the hall and read it to him. When he began to droop, she escorted him to the loo and finally coaxed him back up the stairs and into bed. She piled up all the soft toys she could find around him, saying that they were feeling lonely, and could he look after them for her that night?

  She tucked him in with a firm hand and heard his breathing soften and become regular. Oh dear, would Lesley allow her to look for Hippo tomorrow?

  Treading softly, she returned to the bedroom to find Rafael sitting up in bed, in the act of closing up his laptop. He said, ‘I’ve spoken to Ellie. She agrees with me that if Diana had wanted to kill Evan, she’d have done it by arranging an accidental overdose. What’s more, Ellie says Diana would have checked that he wasn’t breathing before she called an ambulance. She has a very clear idea of Diana’s capabilities, hasn’t she?’

  Susan sank on to the bed and eased off her shoes. Was she too tired to have a shower before getting into bed? ‘Are they coming back early?’

  ‘She says that since the house isn’t ready and they’ve had this very prestigious invitation for Thomas to speak at the conference, they’ll return next week as planned, and would we – she means you – organize that the cleaning agency sets everything to rights before they get back. She says that we – that is, you and I – have all the right qualifications to work out what happened to Evan, and she’s sure everything will have been sorted by the time they get back.’

  Susan flexed her toes. ‘She’ll want me to order in some food, as well. When will the plumber finish, do you know?’

  ‘That plumber! I’ll light a fire under him tomorrow. By the way, Ellie went on to make some “suggestions” which I interpret as “instructions”. She hopes someone will remember to tell Evan’s grown-up children about his death. I told her you’d already thought of that and yes, I’ve just sent Lesley the details so that she can check what they were doing.’

  Susan decided to forgo a shower. She performed a quick lick and a promise and slid into bed beside Rafael. ‘Ellie was fond of Evan’s daughter, Freya, wasn’t she? I can’t see any reason why she’d want to kill her father. There was something wrong with the boy, wasn’t there? Wasn’t he sectioned after he killed someone?’

  ‘I doubt if he was let out, not even for half a day. Now, Ellie reminded me that Evan’s house is actually owned by the trust, and that he was supposed to be paying rent on it. She asked me to check, and I have. Evan was way behind with the rent.’

  Susan stifled a giggle. ‘Which means the trust can evict Diana? Oh, dear, I shouldn’t laugh, but it couldn’t happen to a nicer person.’

  Rafael ironed out a smile. ‘Yes, but it does raise another problem. What’s going to happen to the children? Ellie is concerned about them. I said she can trust you to look after them till Diana is ready to take them on again. She sends you her love and says she’s looking forward to some of your apple pie when she gets back.’

  He turned out his bedside light and hunkered down. ‘Ellie told me something else in confidence. She thinks Diana may have a toy boy. Knowing Ellie, she won’t know why she thinks this, but somewhere or other in that peculiar brain of hers, she’ll have noted something which has led her to that conclusion. So now I’m wondering who I know who might throw some light on the matter.’

  Susan couldn’t deal with any more problems. She turned out her own light. Rafael put his arm around her and she put her head on his shoulder.

  He said, ‘You know, Ellie said she thought of her house as offering a refuge from the world. She used to take in waifs and strays, didn’t she?’

  ‘Mm,’ said Susan, who had been one of them. ‘You think it will go on being that, even though it’s been cut in two?’

  Rafael kissed her forehead. ‘It seems the baton has been passed to you, my dear.’

  Through Friday night to Saturday morning

  Jenny woke at two in the morning. She wept copiously till soothed with milk and
a biccy by her ‘Cuckoo’.

  Fifi woke at three and wept until her soiled nappy had been changed.

  Little Evan woke at five, crying for his Hippo. He’d wet the bed.

  Susan and Rafael took it in turns to attend to the children, staggering back to bed between calls for attention.

  The children all woke early, of course.

  Bleary-eyed, Rafael and Susan climbed into some clothes, washed and dressed the children and took them downstairs to feed their faces.

  Rafael observed, ‘Ellie seems to think Diana will reclaim the children at some point. A consummation devoutly to be wished.’

  Breakfast was a messy affair, but at least the skies had cleared and there was a promise of a fine day for a change.

  Susan had always wanted a big kitchen like Ellie’s. She felt it was the natural heart of a house, where everyone could sit around a table and eat before they went their separate ways out into the world. She accepted that in a family, some members would have better table manners than others. Some would make a lot of noise and others would concentrate on food and drink.

  Fifi was a tidy little person, neat in all her ways. She’d never seen anything like the chaos which ruled at this particular breakfast table. She sat upright and wide-eyed in her highchair watching Jenny scream and squirm, refusing to sit on a chair by herself. Jenny was a splasher: food and drink went everywhere but in her mouth. Eventually Rafael put her on his knee, held her securely in one arm and fed her as if she were a hungry sparrow. That worked better.

  Little Evan was silent. Perched on a cushion on a chair, he ignored Jenny to hoover up everything within reach before anyone else had taken more than two mouthfuls.

  Coralie arrived at the house on the dot of half past eight. She shed her coat in the hall, picked up a spoon which Jenny had dropped, put on the kettle and measured some formula out for Fifi’s bottle while greeting everyone with a beaming smile. Little Evan and Jenny watched her, withholding judgement, but accepted her when she shifted Evan higher on to the cushion on his chair, and wrapped a tea towel around Jenny’s neck in lieu of a bib.