‘What took you so long? It’s been hours! I was starting to get worried!’
‘The situation was complicated,’ I said. ‘But it’s all been sorted now. The inspector won’t bother us again.’
‘Good,’ said Penny. ‘I’d already decided if you didn’t show up soon, I was going to break you out myself. I was ready to knee that man so hard in the groin he’d be able to use his balls for earmuffs.’
‘Good thinking, spy girl.’
‘You’re welcome, space boy.’
‘I hate cutesy nicknames,’ said David.
I put my arm around Penny and we went forward to join the others. Gillian and Tom looked at me as though they’d never expected to see me again. David appeared completely thrown, and Robert was just smiling quietly, as though my triumphant return was nothing more than what he’d expected. Penny handed me my phone and wallet, and I tucked them away about my person again.
‘Fast thinking,’ she said quietly.
‘Years of experience,’ I said.
‘Is everything really all right now?’ said Penny. ‘What’s happening with the inspector?’
‘He didn’t have anything he could use to hold me,’ I said. ‘He just felt the need to be seen to be doing something.’
‘Typical Peter,’ said Gillian. ‘Even at school he always had to put on a show, to make it look like he knew what he was doing. Even when we were dating.’
‘I won’t ask,’ said Tom.
‘Best not to,’ said Gillian.
‘I’m sorry I missed the wedding,’ I said. ‘Congratulations. Did everything go as planned?’
‘Oh, it was marvellous!’ said Penny. ‘The church was full of candles, and flowers, and not a mad killer or invisible demon to be seen anywhere.’
‘Best kind of wedding,’ I said.
‘But the killer is still out there, somewhere,’ Robert said flatly.
That thought stopped everyone, for a moment. They all looked at each other, until David got to the point.
‘So … we’re still in danger?’
‘We got through the wedding,’ said Robert. ‘That’s what matters.’
Tom forced a smile for me. ‘Come and kiss the bride, Ishmael. You might as well. Everyone else has. Even if they couldn’t find the guts to stick around for the reception.’
I kissed Gillian on the cheek, and smiled at her. ‘Was your big day everything you wanted it to be?’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Some of the details had to be abandoned, under duress, but everything went as it should. Even if all my specially-invited friends and family took off, first chance they got.’
‘They were here to see you married,’ said Robert. ‘Settle for that. And don’t bother sending them thank-you notes for the presents.’
‘More food for the rest of us!’ Tom said valiantly.
‘Help yourself,’ said David. ‘I couldn’t manage another pineapple chunk if you put a gun to my head.’
‘I don’t see the Reverend Stewart,’ I said.
Robert sniffed loudly. ‘Not him. He pissed off back to his own parish the moment the ceremony was over. Apparently doing his duty only went so far.’
‘I think he was a bit put out at how fast we rushed through the wedding,’ said Tom. ‘And he probably didn’t like the way Gillian and I glared at him, every time he tried to slow it down.’
‘We told him, no hymns,’ growled Gillian.
And then the two of them smiled at each other, moved back to the middle of the room, and resumed slow dancing. Staring into each other’s eyes. Penny and I joined Robert and David at the bar. Penny was holding onto my arm with both hands, as though to make sure we couldn’t be separated again. David poured me a glass of champagne.
‘Not a vintage so much as a decent effort,’ he said. ‘But it’s drinkable. Not much of a reception, is it? I never even got a chance to give my best man’s speech.’
‘Let us be grateful for small mercies,’ said Robert.
David gave him a wounded look. ‘I worked hard on that speech!’
‘I already know all I need to about Deirdre Turner, thank you.’
‘I was joking!’
‘Some things you don’t joke about,’ said Robert.
‘Is Gillian really happy, about how her wedding turned out?’ I said.
‘I think so,’ said Robert. ‘In the end it was the marriage that mattered, not the details. I could have told her that.’
‘Even if she did make a fuss over the cake,’ David muttered.
I looked at him. ‘What?’
‘She wanted to use her wedding cake!’ said David. ‘Even though her best friend had been smothered in it! It took a long time to talk her out of it. Though when I say talk, Robert ended up having to shout quite a bit.’
‘I knew the cake was important to her, but it wouldn’t have been right,’ said Robert. ‘Even if we did remove the top tier. Gillian did see that, eventually.’
David shuddered dramatically. ‘I wouldn’t have touched a slice, no matter what part of the murder weapon it came from.’ And then he stopped, and smiled. ‘Though if you thought that was a bit hard-hearted, it was nothing compared to what happened when Cathy turned up, wanting to be the replacement bridesmaid. Apparently she and Gillian were friends at school …’
‘It was a very generous gesture,’ Robert said firmly. ‘And Gillian was very grateful. I’m sure it helped steady her, to have an old female friend there to lean on.’
‘But Cathy wanted to take the pink dress off Karen’s body, so she could wear it!’ said David. ‘Just so she wouldn’t look out of place, as the only one not dressed up. That is all kinds of inappropriate.’ He smiled again. ‘Not that she could have squeezed into that frock, even if you used two tire levers and a jar of Vaseline. Karen was a big girl, but Cathy looks like she could wrestle professionally. Against men. And win. In the end, Gillian just had to say no. Loudly.’
‘Cathy always was a bit … extreme,’ said Robert.
‘Really?’ I said. ‘In what way?’
‘Man mad,’ said Robert. ‘From the time she was old enough to know the difference, and know it meant something. I was worried some of that might rub off on Gillian, when they started hanging out together at school; but Gillian always had a hard head on her shoulders. Whereas Cathy only ever wanted to be …’
‘Popular?’ I said.
‘Aye,’ said Robert. ‘That’s one way of putting it.’
I thought about that. David finished his champagne, and immediately poured himself another glass.
‘It was a shame, what happened to Karen,’ he said. ‘Her death really got to me. I mean, I hardly knew her; but I did know her. Which was more than I could say for the Reverend Allen.’
I picked up something in his voice when he spoke about the vicar, so I raised an eyebrow. David saw that Robert was looking a bit uncomfortable, and smiled coldly.
‘I’m sorry the man is dead, of course I am, but we never took to each other. Everyone always thought he was so nice, but he didn’t waste any time making it clear he disapproved of people like me. People of my persuasion. He couldn’t even bring himself to use the word gay. Though I think he might have used the word deviant, if he thought he could get away with it.’
He took a good drink from his glass, while Robert looked somewhere else.
‘I think I’m supposed to change the subject,’ said David. He looked at me thoughtfully. ‘Two people dead, and the murderer is still out there somewhere. Do you think Tom and Gillian are safe, now they’re married?’
‘Not till we get them through the wedding night,’ I said. ‘Once that’s past, the curse won’t be any kind of threat. With that out of the way, we should be able to see the killer more clearly.’
‘You still think it’s a human killer?’ said Robert.
‘Don’t you?’ I said.
Robert looked into his glass, but didn’t drink from it.
‘I don’t know what I believe any more,’ he said. ‘All I know
for certain is that my daughter is in danger. And my new son-in-law, of course. Until I’m sure about what’s really going on, I can’t properly defend either of them. I could handle a human killer …’
‘You could?’ said David.
Robert glared at him. ‘I’m not dead yet. I know a thing or two. And I could take you with both legs strapped behind my back. I will fight to defend my daughter, or die to protect her, if need be.’
‘Except hopefully you won’t have to,’ I said. ‘That’s why I’m here.’
‘But what about after tonight?’ Penny said carefully. ‘We can’t bodyguard Tom and Gillian forever, waiting for the killer to strike.’
‘I don’t think the killer will let things get that far,’ I said. ‘One way or another, I’m pretty sure he’ll strike again before the night is over.’
‘Why?’ said Penny.
‘Because he’s driven,’ I said. ‘He wanted to stop Tom and Gillian getting married, and now that’s failed, all that’s left to him is to make sure the marriage can’t continue. The only way to be sure of that is to kill one or both of them. And he has to do it on the wedding night, so their deaths can still be blamed on the curse.’
‘So what do we do?’ said Robert, practical as always.
‘I don’t want Gillian and Tom staying at The Swan tonight,’ I said flatly. ‘This place is far too difficult to defend. Too many ways in and out, and too many corridors. There’s no way we could cover all of them. Even if we set up guard outside their room, a hotel this old is bound to have any number of hidden doors and secret passageways. The only way to be sure of keeping them safe would be to stay in the room with them. Which probably would not go down well, on their wedding night. We need to take them back to your house, Robert. It’s isolated, so we can see and hear anyone coming. There’s only a front and a back door to keep an eye on, and a lot less space to cover. Is that all right with you?’
‘Of course it is,’ Robert said gruffly. ‘But you’ll have to talk Gillian into it. She has reasons for not wanting to stay at the house. Feel free to throw a real scare into both of them, if that’s what it takes.’
‘I can do that,’ I said.
I went over to Gillian and Tom, who reluctantly stopped dancing. I explained my plan, and the reasons behind it, and they surprised me by agreeing immediately.
‘I’ve never felt safe in that hotel room,’ said Tom.
‘We’d definitely be better off at Dad’s place,’ said Gillian.
‘It seems such a long time since I felt safe,’ said Tom. ‘For me, or for you. And I was so happy when you agreed to marry me.’
‘I should never have come back here,’ said Gillian. ‘Just to fulfil a dream I had as a teenager. To prove to the town I was someone, after all.’
‘You couldn’t have known any of this would happen,’ said Tom.
‘I knew about the curse,’ said Gillian.
Tom stared at her. ‘You always said you didn’t believe in it.’
‘I don’t,’ said Gillian. ‘But I think it believes in us.’
Tom turned to look at me. ‘Just give us time to pack our bags, and we can be ready to leave any time.’
‘There’s no need to rush,’ I said. ‘I don’t think anything will happen while it’s still daylight. Too easy for our killer to be seen. And this bar is far too public a place to allow anyone to sneak up on you, like he did the others. You’re safe enough here for the time being; as long as none of you go wandering off on your own.’
Gillian put her arms around Tom. ‘I am not letting you out of my sight until this nightmare is over.’
‘We should stay here as long as possible,’ I said. ‘Let the killer think you’re spending the night in the hotel. If we leave it to the last moment to relocate to Robert’s place, that should throw the killer off balance and ruin his plans.’
‘I’m all for that,’ said Tom.
The reception continued, in a quiet kind of way. The Carpenters compilation ran out, and no one volunteered to start it up again or go look for something else. We addressed ourselves to the mountains of finger food, in a dutiful sort of way. It wasn’t bad, but no one had much of an appetite. We were all thinking too much, about what might happen next. There was a lot of drinking.
I made a point of keeping up with everyone, so as not to stand out. But the alcohol didn’t seem to be affecting anyone much. They were all drinking steadily, pacing themselves; because no one wanted to get drunk. For fear of finding themselves incapable of fighting back if the killer turned up. They were just drinking to take the edge off. David disappeared to the toilet several times. Tom just grinned when I pointed out that going off on your own wasn’t a good idea.
‘He always did have a bladder the size of a pea. I still remember the time he had to make a sudden exit while we were on stage one night, just before his character was about to announce who the murderer was. That called for some fast ad-libbing from the rest of us.’ He shrugged unhappily. ‘Fictional detectives always make it look so easy. Do you have any idea what’s going on, Ishmael?’
‘Not as such,’ I said.
Robert took me off to one side, so we could speak quietly together.
‘I did put in a call to Black Heir, right after you were arrested, to get them to intervene on your behalf. But they still hadn’t got back to me when you came strolling through the door with a big grin on your face.’
‘That was good of you,’ I said. ‘But did you really think Black Heir would get involved, to help me out?’
‘They’d have done it for me, after all the things I did for them,’ said Robert. ‘Or I’d have known the reason why. How did you cope with Peter? He doesn’t normally let go once he’s got his teeth into something.’
‘The Organization phoned Godwin,’ I said. ‘And put the hard word on him.’
‘Of course they did,’ said Robert. He looked at me thoughtfully. ‘What are they like to work for? I never knew much about them, even when I was working in the field. I heard stories, of course, but …’
‘The first rule about the Organization,’ I said, ‘is that you don’t talk about the Organization.’
Robert nodded. ‘That’s what I heard. So, what’s Peter doing now? Any chance of him showing up here? He might not be the brightest button in the box, but we could use another pair of eyes. And fists. Peter always was a scrapper.’
‘I asked him to check into the background of everyone involved with the wedding,’ I said. ‘Mostly to keep him busy, but there was always the chance his official resources would turn up something.’
David opened another bottle of champagne, and I allowed him to freshen my glass. He was getting through a fair amount of the stuff, but seemed to be pissing it away as fast as it went down. His eyes were still clear and his voice was still steady. He just seemed a little more sure of his opinions, along with a growing tendency to stab the air with a finger to back them up.
‘Champagne doesn’t do anything to me,’ he said. ‘It’s like water, in the theatre. I’m just concerned that after Karen’s death, I’m a target too. I only hope the marriage is worth it, after all this fuss.’
He didn’t sound too convinced about that. I looked at him thoughtfully.
‘How do you mean?’
‘I tried to talk Tom out of going ahead with the wedding,’ said David. ‘Given that most of his relationships break up fast enough, once things start getting serious. Tom always was flighty.’
Tom appeared suddenly beside him. ‘Keep your voice down! Do you want Gillian to hear?’
‘Sorry,’ David said immediately, peering at Tom just a bit owlishly. ‘Didn’t mean to upset her. Or you.’
‘Gillian’s been through enough today,’ said Tom. ‘And need I remind you; most of your relationships crashed and burned too.’
David shrugged. ‘Still haven’t found the right man. Though I have looked in some very interesting places. Tom … you know I only want you to be happy, right?’
‘I know that
,’ said Tom.
‘I just don’t want you to be hurt again.’
‘I won’t be. I got it right this time.’ Tom clapped a hand on David’s shoulder. ‘You do know we’ll still be friends now I’m married? I’m not going to cut you off, or disappear from your life.’
‘But it won’t be the same,’ said David. ‘How could it be? But … none of that matters.’ He looked steadily at Tom. ‘When you go back to Robert’s place, I’m going with you. To make sure nothing happens to you. If that’s all right …’
‘It’ll be good to have you there,’ said Tom. ‘I’ll feel a lot safer, having someone around I know I can depend on.’
‘That’s me,’ said David. ‘Dependable. I’ll look out for you, Tom. Just like I always have.’
Tom smiled, clapped David on the shoulder again, and went back to Gillian. David looked after him.
‘I’m not usually like that,’ he said to me. ‘So petty. I think … I’m just jealous. That he could have a day like this, and I never will. Gays can get married these days, but not like Tom and Gillian. No ritual that goes back centuries, no public acclaim, no being just like everyone else.’
He emptied his glass, and poured himself more champagne. ‘Unlike Tom, I never had any great ambitions to be an actor. I only went into the theatre to meet other men like me. It was either that or fashion; and I wasn’t that bitchy. I just wanted somewhere I could feel at home. No one was more surprised than me when I became something of a success. But outside of the business …’
He stopped abruptly, and looked at me. ‘Do you know the story of the green monkey?’
‘No,’ I said. ‘I don’t think I do.’
‘Scientists took a group of monkeys who’d been raised together, and kept in the same cage all their life. The scientists removed one monkey, took it out of sight and dyed its fur green. Then they put it back in the cage. And the other monkeys killed it. Tore it to pieces, screaming with rage and horror. Because it was different. And that’s me.’
Till Sudden Death Do Us Part Page 16
