Murder at the Old Abbey

by Pippa McCathie

  “What particularly?”

  Fabia didn’t give her a direct answer. “I had one of those nightmares the other night,” she said.

  “Oh, poor you, I thought those had stopped.”

  “So did I, but this one was a bit different. There was something about it that made me feel, well, that it was a message.”

  Unlike Matt, Bella didn’t pour scorn on the idea. “What sort of message?”

  “I felt as if it was something I should have known or suspected about Caradoc’s death, about who killed him I mean.”

  “What?” Bella sat forward. “Do you mean you know who–”

  “Not know, but I have a very strong feeling about it.”

  “So, who do you think it was?”

  Fabia told her, and Bella didn’t pour scorn on this idea either, but she did say, “I really don’t think that’s very likely, Fabia.”

  “I suppose you’re right. It’d be totally out of character, wouldn’t it?” She grimaced. “I find it so frustrating that I have no right to investigate this as I want to. I have to rely on setting up conversations with people, picking over what they say to me, or don’t say for that matter, or relying on what Matt chooses to tell me, but I no longer have any right to get in there and use my training.”

  “I can understand how you feel. But Matt does come and talk things through with you, doesn’t he?”

  “Yes, he was here last night.” Fabia could feel her cheeks becoming warm and bent to pick up her coffee mug. Too late, Bella had noticed.

  “Was he?” she asked, smiling. “All night?”

  “Bella! Of course not.”

  “There’s no ‘of course’ about it. It’s about time you two got together. And something’s been going on, I can tell.”

  “God! You’re worse than Cath.”

  “Come on, tell me, tell me. I need cheering up.”

  “We, just– well, we talked about our relationship a bit, that’s all.”

  “Talked about it? Or did something about it?”

  Fabia couldn’t stop herself smiling, but the smile didn’t last. “He wants that bit more from me than I feel I can give.”

  “Why can’t you, Fabia?”

  “My history with relationships is pretty dire.”

  “So, you’ve been unlucky with men in the past,” Bella said, “but it doesn’t mean that’ll always be the case. It’s bloody obvious you’re fond of him; more than fond.”

  “How do you know?”

  “It’s the way you talk about him, rather a lot in fact. Cath and I have both noticed it.”

  “Are you two ganging up on me?” Fabia protested.

  “No, darling, but we both care about you and want you to be happy, and we’re both convinced that Matt is the man for you.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. It’s complicated. After all that’s happened over the last few years, I’m not sure I can trust him.” As she said it, she knew it was no longer true. Had Cath been right when she’d suggested Fabia get out of the habit of being angry with Matt and learn to trust him again? Maybe she’d done so without even realising it.

  “I’m sure you can, but I won’t nag you. All I can say is, take the plunge, you deserve a bit of fun and I think Matt Lambert could certainly provide it. I wouldn’t say no!” Bella grinned at her and Fabia laughed.

  “You’re incorrigible.”

  “That’s me,” Bella said, but a moment later she was serious again. “Thanks for cheering me up, but there’s no escaping for long. I must get back. Sheryl will be needing her car.”

  * * *

  Fabia spent the rest of the day unable to concentrate on anything useful. She couldn’t get Matt out of her mind. After a scrappy lunch, she made herself go out for a walk, but halfway across Gwiddon Park she realised she’d left her mobile on charge in the kitchen and turned to hurry home. But when she got back, there were no missed calls and no texts.

  Throughout the afternoon she kept checking her mobile again and again, but still there was nothing from Matt. Around four o’clock she was beginning to feel desperate and she’d just picked up the phone to text him when it buzzed.

  At last, and it was from Matt. “Meant to text before, it’s been frenetic here, just to remind you that I love you. Last night was not one of your nightmares, xxx Matt.”

  “Cheeky bugger,” Fabia muttered to herself, then she grinned with relief. “Idiot.” Then her fingers hovered over the keys, what to say next? She decided to keep it cool and just asked if they’d managed to locate Delma.

  “Yes,” he responded. “We’re having her escorted back and Dilys is meeting them off the train, we’re going to question her before we take her back, if we don’t arrest her.”

  That should be interesting, thought Fabia. She sent another text. “Am picking Anjali up and dropping her off there on Monday morning, worried about that.”

  “You worry too much. How long is she staying?”

  “A couple of days so will be on my own.” She pressed send. Oh lord, should she have said that?

  A response came back from Matt in no time at all. “Is that an invitation? Thought you said you needed time to think.”

  Fabia bit at her bottom lip. What was she doing? But she found her fingers tapping out, “Been doing that most of the day, not sure that’s what I need most at the moment.”

  Matt’s response took a little longer to come through this time. “I’ll phone later. I love you, xxx.”

  A few times, through the evening, Fabia’s phone rang, but each time she was disappointed. It wasn’t Matt.

  It wasn’t until she was getting ready for bed that he finally called, and he didn’t have good news. “There’s been a serious incident, a knifing, in a night club in town, that dump called the Blue Banana. I’m the only one available to deal with it, so I’m not going to get to you tonight, or tomorrow either at this rate. You know the drill.”

  “Don’t worry, I understand. I remember what it’s like.” In spite of her disappointment, she could cope with work getting in the way.

  “You’ll not change your mind, Fabia? About us?”

  “I– we need to talk.”

  “I know, but please don’t start having doubts. Don’t start telling yourself you shouldn’t have sent me that text.”

  Since this had been exactly what she had told herself, she wasn’t sure how to respond to this.

  “I know you,” Matt went on. “If you have too much time to chew things over, you’ll decide your text was a mistake and go back to keeping me at arms’ length.”

  “Matt, let’s talk about it when we actually have some peace and quiet.”

  “And time,” he said. “Fabia,” he sounded anguished, “you know how I feel about you, please don’t change your mind.”

  Fabia could hear voices in the background. She heard him say, “Okay, Dilys.”

  “Matt, love, we’ll talk soon,” she said. “It sounds as if you need to get back to work.”

  “I’m afraid so. I’ll– I’ll see you soon.” And he was gone.

  Chapter 22

  On Sunday Fabia was relieved that she’d invited friends for lunch. At least it kept her occupied and her mind off Matt. But once they were gone, he was back in her mind. Several times during the evening she picked up her phone, but each time she put it down again. Best not to bother him. In the end, she sent him a quick text, “Hope the nightclub case isn’t too shitty, saw something about it on the news, love F”. But there’d been no response from Matt. When she finally went to bed, she was feeling thoroughly miserable and a little annoyed with Matt, which she told herself was completely unreasonable, particularly as she’d told him she understood.

  On Monday morning there was still no news from Matt, and Fabia was glad when she had to get going for the station to pick up Anjali.

  “I’m glad I made the effort to visit those buyers,” Anjali told Fabia as they left the station car park. “They seemed really interested in my designs. One of them is definitely going to p
ut in an order, and I think the other might as well.”

  “That’s good news.”

  There was silence in the car while Fabia negotiated two roundabouts and turned for the motorway, then Anjali said, “I’m not really looking forward to this visit, but I promised Megan so I must go ahead with it. However, I’m still going to make an excuse and tell them I have to go back to London in a couple of days. And I’ll have to come back to your house first. I’ve left some of my stuff in your spare room, I’m sorry about that.”

  “No problem,” Fabia said. “I can be your chauffeur again.”

  “You are so kind.”

  Anjali sounded a bit choked up, so Fabia went on quickly, “I think that’s sensible. It’ll put a sort of limit on it. And it’s not as if you can’t come back for John’s meeting about the will.”

  “We’ve been talking a lot over the weekend. I really like him. He told me all about his family, and about his wife and her illness, and we talked a lot about Mauritius too. He says he’d like to visit.”

  Fabia smiled. This was good news, but all she said was, “Has he told you when the meeting will be?”

  “No, not yet. He says he’ll have to sort things out with Rodric and Megan first.”

  “I think it may have to wait until Caradoc’s killer is found.”

  Anjali didn’t respond, just turned to look out of the window. The weather had turned and, as they drove along the narrow, tree-shaded lane to the Abbey, dappled sun made patterns on the road.

  “This is beautiful,” Anjali said, sounding a little more cheerful now.

  “It is, in this kind of weather.” Fabia didn’t tell her how gloomy and threatening it could be in October storms or January snow.

  They turned in between the stone dragons and Anjali craned her neck to look up at them, remarking on how impressive they were. “The Welsh dragon is a good deal more fierce than our poor dodo at home,” she said.

  “Ah, but at least the dodo was real,” Fabia said.

  Fabia parked in the courtyard and, as they got out of the car, Anjali looked up at the house, eyes wide. “Wow!” she said. “What a place?”

  Fabia pointed to the ruined chancel with its gaping windows. “I think that part goes back to the thirteenth century, and this–” She indicated the middle section of the house. “–is seventeenth century. The wing is Victorian. A complete mixture of styles and periods, but it seems to work.”

  “It does, but in a way it’s a bit scary. I expect there are lots of ghosts.” Anjali grimaced then gave Fabia an apologetic smile. “Don’t take any notice of me. I’m being silly.” She took a deep breath. “Well, let’s go.”

  As they mounted the steps to the front door, it opened, and Megan came rushing out. “Welcome!” she exclaimed. “Come in, come in.” She grabbed Anjali’s hand and pulled her into the hall. Fabia followed.

  “This,” Megan said, arms flung wide, her voice high and excited, “is the great hall, and that up there, she waved hands above her head, “is the gallery. In the old days, musicians used to play up there while the family had banquets down here, but that stopped when the dining room was built. Do you want me to show you round the house?”

  None of them had noticed Nonna join them from the kitchen. “Megan, bach, give the poor girl a chance to get her breath,” she said, smiling.

  “Oh, sorry,” Megan said, blushing. “I’m just so pleased you’re here. Anyway, this is our aunt, Rhiannon Giordano, but everyone calls her Nonna.”

  Anjali turned and held out her hand. “I am pleased to meet you,” she said, very formal, her accent more obvious than usual. Fabia had noticed before that this happened when she was unsure of herself.

  Nonna smiled and took Anjali’s hand in both her own, “We’re delighted you’ve come to visit us. It’s what your grandfather would have wanted.”

  Fabia was relieved at this apparently positive reaction. Two down, two to go, she thought. So far it was going better than she’d anticipated. She told herself she’d been worrying unnecessarily.

  “And hallo again, Fabia,” Nonna said, “It’s good to see you. Come on, let’s all go into the kitchen and have some coffee, it’s warm in there. This hall is always so chilly, except for when we have the yule log in the fireplace at Christmas.”

  “Yule log? What is that?” Anjali asked.

  As they followed Nonna to the kitchen she explained the tradition: that a large log would be cut down from the copse at the top of the estate and brought in, then the fire would be lit on Christmas morning to warm the room throughout the day.

  Anjali’s eyes lit up. “That sounds beautiful. I wish I could be here to see it.”

  “Well,” Megan said, her smile wide, “maybe you will be. If you’re still in the UK come Christmas, you must spend it with us. After all, you’re a member of the family now.”

  They all sat round the scrubbed pine table while Nonna prepared coffee.

  “I’m really sorry I have to desert you tomorrow morning, Anjali, just after you’ve arrived,” Megan said.

  “Fabia told me about your meeting with her agent. It’s very important, you mustn’t miss it.”

  “But still, it does seem a bit rude,” Megan said, “although I’m sure Nonna will look after you.”

  “Of course, I will,” Nonna said, smiling. “Since the weather is so good this afternoon we can go for a walk, show you the farm and the village. Then tomorrow, while Megan is out, I can show you round the house and the rest of the Abbey – give you the guided tour – would you like that?”

  “I would. It’s an incredible place. I’ve never been anywhere like it before.”

  “It’s just home for us, but perhaps we’re inclined to take it for granted. It’ll be interesting to see it through someone else’s eyes.”

  “And Nonna knows all the history, every detail,” Megan said, “so she can tell you all about it.”

  As Nonna was pouring the coffee into mugs, there were sounds of an arrival at the back door. A moment later Rodric came into the room, the lurcher, Mabel, at his heels. He stopped dead at the sight of Anjali and frowned, but Megan didn’t give him the chance to say anything.

  “Anjali has come to visit us for a few days,” she said, her voice high pitched and nervous. “You know I told you she was coming?”

  “You did,” he said as he turned to Anjali. “Welcome to White Monk Abbey. I hope you enjoy your stay with us.” The tone was coolly formal, as if she was a visiting stranger or some business associate.

  A shadow passed across Anjali’s face and the colour came up into her dark cheeks as she held out her hand and shook Rodric’s. Fabia felt a flash of anger on Anjali’s behalf and decided to intervene. Eyebrows raised, she said, in a tone reminiscent of the one she used when dealing with a cocky subordinate, “Good morning, Rodric. I’m just here as chauffeur to bring your niece,” she emphasised the word, “to visit you.”

  He flashed her a dark look, but then he sighed and turned back to Anjali. “Yes, well, I can’t hang around, I’m afraid, I’ve got to get back to work. Megan, do you know where Delma is? I’ve just come from the stables and Moonlight’s clattering around in his stall. I think she needs to see to him.”

  Nonna looked at him, the expression on her face sombre. “She’s in her room. She said she’s not feeling well. She was going to get hold of one of her regular girls to see to Moonlight.”

  Rodric frowned. “I’ll go and check that she’s done so.”

  Quickly he left the room and all four women watched him go, differing expressions of worry and irritation on their faces.

  Anjali stumbled into speech. “I feel I’m intruding, so much has happened and I’m sure you don’t want me here at such a time.”

  “Nonsense,” Megan said, “having you to stay will cheer us all up, won’t it Nonna?”

  “I’m sure it will,” Nonna said calmly. “We want you to get to know us. It’s not your fault that these terrible things have happened. We’ll just have to hope this awful business
is sorted out by your friends in the police, Fabia.”

  “I’m sure they’re doing their best,” said Fabia, slightly defensive.

  “Hopefully they are,” Nonna said. “And we’re a strong family. We’ll survive.”

  A few minutes later Fabia got up to go.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow at Sheena’s office, Megan,” she said.

  “Yes, yes, I can’t wait.”

  “You are sure you’ll be able to find it?” Fabia asked her. “It’ll be best to park in the Adam Street car park, then it’s only five minutes’ walk from there.”

  “It’s fine. I know the area. I’ll see you there at half past nine.”

  Anjali came to the front door to see her off and Fabia gave her a hug. “You’re doing the right thing,” she told her, trying to sound convincing.

  “Do you think so?” Anjali asked anxiously. “I wish you weren’t going.”

  “Nonsense. You’ll be fine.”

  “I’ve made sure my phone is well charged so I’ll give you a ring later and let you know how I’m getting on, and I’m going to skype Maman this evening to tell her all about it.”

  “You do that, and I’ll see you in a couple of days.”

  As Fabia drove away, she found it hard not to stop and turn around. She wanted to go back and take Anjali away from the sombre Abbey, but she couldn’t.

  * * *

  Fabia spent the rest of the day swinging between wondering when she’d hear from Matt and wondering how Anjali was getting on. She didn’t hear from Matt, but she did get a call from Anjali later in the evening.

  “How’s it going?” she asked.

  “Alright,” Anjali said, but she didn’t sound very sure. “Megan and Nonna have been very sweet. I haven’t seen much of Rodric, though when I do he’s polite but not friendly; and I haven’t even met Delma, she’s stayed in her room. Megan says she’s been there since she got back from London. Rodric says she’s got a migraine.”

  “If the truth were known, that’s probably made it easier for you.”

  “Yes, maybe. We went for a long walk earlier, it’s beautiful countryside around here, and then, before dinner, Megan and David Harris took me down to the pub, in spite of protests from Nonna.”