by A J McDine
‘That’s not true,’ I said, desperation seeping into my voice.
‘Then why didn’t you let me come and live with you? You were all I had!’
‘I was frightened I didn’t have enough love for you. I thought you’d be better off with a foster family.’
‘Better off?’ Eloise laughed without mirth. ‘This isn’t a fucking fairytale. Life in care sucks.’ She rubbed her arms, as if staving off the cold.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said.
‘Sorry for what? Killing my parents, lying to me or for being found out?’
‘For everything. I wish I could turn back the clock.’ I hesitated. ‘But you should know your father was no angel, Eloise. He cheated on your mother time and again. She was the only one who couldn’t see him for what he was, a two-timing bastard.’
Eloise lunged forwards, grabbing the neck of my jumper in her fist and twisting it until it constricted my airway. ‘How dare you! My mum was a far better judge of character than you’ll ever be.’
‘What d’you mean?’ I gasped.
Her mouth curved into a lop-sided smile as she let me go. ‘You let me in, didn’t you?’
Chapter Forty-Seven
Something inside me snapped. I pushed her away and scrambled to my feet. ‘You can talk,’ I shouted. ‘You’re no better than me. We’ve both taken a life. You killed Theo to protect yourself. I let Danny die to protect Juliet. Neither of us wanted to do it, but we had no choice. We’re in this together, Eloise, watching each other’s backs. Thelma and Louise.’
Her cackle of laughter was unnerving. I watched, frozen, as she began tossing her belongings into her holdall.
‘What are you doing?’
‘I’m leaving this shithole. I’m off to the Caribbean. The Dominican Republic, to be exact. I reckon I deserve a little break. I’ve transferred a couple of grand from your account to mine. Well, I say a couple of grand. More like ten. Hope that’s OK?’ she said, smiling sweetly.
I gaped. ‘You’ve what?’
‘Perhaps that’ll teach you not to leave all your logins and passwords in a notebook next to your computer,’ she said. ‘Honestly, Rose, you’re very trusting for someone so devious. Anyone would think you’re slowly losing your mind.’ She looked sidelong at me and grinned. ‘I found your prescription for amitriptyline. Vitamins, my arse.’ She snorted. ‘Christ, it’s no wonder you’re on edge going cold turkey from those. You were on the maximum dose.’
A long-ago conversation I’d had with John’s doctor filtered through my cluttered mind. He’d listed the possible side effects of amitriptyline, which included constipation, nausea and a dry mouth. He’d also told me to come off them gradually, but why? Searching my memory, I pictured myself sitting in his consulting room, a yellow sharps bin on his desk and an anatomical skeleton in the corner staring at me from horror movie eye sockets. Slowly, I remembered. The withdrawal effects could cause anything from an irregular heartbeat and flu-like symptoms to insomnia and mania. How could I have forgotten that? Despite everything, a feeling of relief washed over me. The smell of death, the sleeplessness and the paranoia were withdrawal symptoms. I wasn’t losing my mind, after all.
‘Is that why you came here, to rob me?’ I asked Eloise.
She shook her head, a brittle, puppet-like jerk.
‘Then why?’
‘I want you to suffer like I’ve suffered. You’re going to pay for my parents’ deaths by paying for Theo’s.’
‘What?’
‘I couldn’t be sure the police would have enough evidence to convict you of my dad’s death, so I had to think of another way to make you pay.’
I stared blankly at her.
‘Come on, Rose, think about it. There’s a dead body buried in your garden. One call to the police is all it’ll take, and you’ll be arrested and charged with Theo’s murder.’
‘But you brought him here!’
‘Prove it,’ she shot back. ‘No one has seen me since I arrived. I’ve made sure of that. And you kindly destroyed my car and all traces of Theo’s DNA for me.’
I realised with a frisson of unease that it was true. Eloise had arrived under cover of darkness and the only times she’d been out of the house was to go for walks dressed in my knee-length waterproof jacket, my scarf wound around her neck and my bucket hat pulled low over her face. From a distance, no one would have known it wasn’t me. The only caller we’d had was the PCSO and Eloise had been upstairs.
She disappeared into the bathroom, returning moments later with her wash bag, which she squashed into the holdall.
‘But it’s been a blast,’ she said, reaching for my copy of Alice in Wonderland.
I blinked. ‘A blast?’
‘Like when we had the visit from our “intruder”.’ She sketched air quotes and giggled. ‘Your face was a picture.’
I couldn’t see what was so funny. Eloise had been virtually incoherent with fear. ‘I saw Roy Matthews at the inquest this morning. He denies even knowing where I live,’ I said.
‘The road rage guy? Well, he’s probably right.’
‘But if it wasn’t him, who trashed the house?’
She wound a strand of hair around her little finger and smiled coyly. ‘Can’t you guess?’
‘You?’
‘Lighten up, Auntie Rose,’ Eloise mocked. ‘It was just a bit of fun. I don’t even know why I did it, to be honest. Boredom, probably. It’s so fucking boring here, I don’t know how you stand it.’
Pieces were clicking into place as I recalled Roy Matthews’ apology. He’d been telling the truth, after all. My head started spinning as I remembered he’d denied sending the lilies, too.
‘You left the flowers. You killed Dinah!’
Eloise raked her fingers through her hair. ‘I thought they would freak you out,’ she said eventually. ‘But I didn’t mean to kill Dinah. I loved her.’ Her voice caught. ‘She reminded me of me. Imperfectly perfect. How the fuck was I supposed to know lilies are poisonous to cats?’
I sank down on the bed and covered my face with my hands. It was too much to take in. Eloise had played a blinder, stitching me up for a murder I hadn’t committed as revenge for one she believed I had. I had to hand it to her. She’d thought of everything. Almost everything, anyway.
‘When were you planning on calling the police?’ I asked, dully.
‘When I’m in departures, I think,’ she said, zipping her holdall closed. ‘I don’t want anything to wreck my little break. I would offer to come and visit you in prison, but I’ll be too busy sipping cocktails on the beach. Sorry. Oh, and you don’t mind if I borrow the Land Rover, do you? I’ll leave it in the station car park with the keys in it. Hopefully no one’ll pinch it.’ She picked up the holdall and turned to go.
‘Wait!’ I said. ‘What about Theo?’
She narrowed her eyes. ‘What about him?’
‘The argument you had the night you came here. Did it happen like you said? That cut,’ I said, my hand creeping up to my collarbone. ‘Did he really do that to you?’
Eloise peeled with laughter. ‘Theo was as soft as shit. He would never have laid a finger on me. Wouldn’t have dared.’
‘You made it all up?’
‘Yep.’ Eloise smirked. ‘I did all the chasing. I wanted him the moment I saw him. He was beautiful. And that accent! Makes me horny thinking about it.’ She paused. ‘I just had to convince him he wanted me, too.’
‘Theo was never possessive and controlling, was he? It was the other way around. It was you!’
Eloise was the one with no regard for others, who was charismatic and impulsive, who lied and lacked empathy, who showed no remorse. Who quickly bored of things - and people. Just like her father. The apple never fell far from the tree.
‘He was beginning to irritate me.’ She shrugged unapologetically and swung the holdall over her shoulder. ‘Are we done here? Because I’m going to miss my train if I’m not careful.’
‘The police will never believe you. A
nd for all you know I could have recorded this entire conversation on my phone.’
She pulled my elderly iPhone out of her back pocket and dangled it from her thumb and forefinger. ‘You left it on the sofa. Rookie mistake.’
I went to swipe it out of her grasp, but she snatched her hand back.
‘Eloise!’ I said, desperation creeping into my voice. ‘I’m sorry about Danny, and I’m sorry I didn’t take you in after your mother died. But I can make amends.’
A glimmer of something - indecision? - swept across her face and I seized it with both hands. ‘Stay here with me, El. We’ll get a rescue kitten. Two, if you like! I’ll help you find a job and I’ll buy you a car so you can be independent. We can work it out. We’ll find a way.’
She wavered for a second, then her features hardened. ‘Maybe I could have forgiven you for killing my parents. You’re right, it’s surprisingly easy to take a life. But I will never, ever forgive you for turning your back on me. Nothing you do can ever make amends for abandoning me when I needed you most. All those lies, Rose. Lies and empty promises. Well, it’s payback time.’
She marched out of the room and down the stairs. I scurried after her, watching over the top of the banisters as she pulled on her boots and coat. My fingers twitched as she wound my scarf around her neck. Could I make it downstairs in time? I imagined pulling the scarf tighter and tighter until her eyes bulged and she lost consciousness. As if she’d read my mind, she looked up and scowled at me.
‘I wouldn’t if I were you.’ She turned and checked her reflection in the crackled mirror above the console table. Our eyes met briefly, and she said, ‘You can’t stop me. I’ve thought of everything.’
She swept through the kitchen, picking up the keys to the Land Rover on her way to the back door. I crept down the stairs and watched through the window as she tossed her holdall into the passenger footwell and jumped into the driver’s seat. The engine growled into life, thick black smoke billowing from the exhaust. The gears crunched as Eloise threw the Land Rover into reverse, almost colliding with the coal bunker.
I replayed her words as she accelerated away. You can’t stop me. I’ve thought of everything.
‘Not quite everything,’ I said, allowing myself a small smile.
Chapter Forty-Eight
I packed an overnight bag, just in case. Then I sat in the front room and waited.
The knock at the door came just before nine o’clock. I tramped into the hallway. A man stood on the doorstep, a warrant card in his hand.
‘Mrs Barton?’ he said with a pleasant smile.
‘Miss Barton,’ I said, my gaze sliding over his shoulder. Parked next to a black saloon was a police van from which several officers in black jumpsuits were emerging. As I watched, a patrol car swung into the driveway and pulled up behind the van.
‘I assume you’re not here because I’ve broken the speed limit?’ I said.
‘DI Paul Barrett,’ the man said, ignoring me. ‘Can I come in?’
Huffing, I stood aside to let him pass, directing him along the hallway and into the front room.
‘Please, take a seat,’ he said, gesturing at the armchair as if he owned the bloody place.
I bit back a retort and said instead, ‘I know why you’re here. It’s my goddaughter, isn’t it? Did she tell you her boyfriend’s body is buried in my garden, by any chance?’
‘What makes you say that?’ he said, pulling a notebook and pen from the pocket of his jacket and perching on the sofa.
‘I feel terribly disloyal saying this, but I’m afraid she’s delusional.’
‘Miss Cavendish claims you killed her partner, Theo Lombard, with a blow to the head on the night of Saturday, November the sixth, and buried him in a sinkhole in your back garden.’ DI Barrett gave me a sideways glance. ‘She also alleges you killed her father, Daniel Reeves, at the flat of your mutual friend John Worthington in 1996.’
‘Danny Reeves died of an asthma attack,’ I said coolly. ‘I tried to save him, not kill him. You’ll find it all in the coroner’s report.’
He made a non-committal noise and switched tack. ‘According to Miss Cavendish, she and Theo Lombard drove to Eastling to see you on the evening of November the sixth. Miss Cavendish wanted to tell you in person that Mr Lombard had proposed to her.’
I barked with laughter.
The detective frowned. ‘Something amusing you?’
‘Theo never proposed to Eloise,’ I said. ‘He was terrified of her. She threw acid over his car the first time he tried to end their relationship. He lived in fear it would be his face next.’
‘You’ve spoken to him?’
‘I have, actually.’
‘Where is he?’
I glanced at my watch. ‘Right now, he’s on his way to France on the Eurostar. His train’s due into the Gare du Nord at twenty past eleven. It’s the main train station in Paris,’ I added.
‘I know where the Gare du Nord is, thank you.’
‘He doesn’t have his phone with him. But I have his parents’ details.’ I crossed the room to the bureau and found the scrap of paper on which I’d scrawled the Lombards’ number. ‘There’s no point calling them yet. They don’t know he’s on his way home.’
The DI took the number, stared at it for a second, then folded it and slipped it into the inside pocket of his jacket. I could see what he was thinking as clearly as if a thought bubble was suspended over his dome-shaped head. He didn’t believe me, and he wouldn’t until his French counterparts had visited the Lombard residence and confirmed Theo was safe and well.
It was fair enough.
He flipped through his notebook. ‘Miss Cavendish said you took the news of their engagement badly. She was of the impression that you were jealous. That you didn’t want to share her with anyone else. And when Mr Lombard suggested they return home, you killed him with a kettlebell.’
‘Do I look like the type of person who owns a kettlebell?’ I snapped.
The DI’s gaze flickered over my fawn blouse and tweed slacks, my sensible shoes and my generous midriff.
‘Eloise is lying, I’m afraid,’ I said. ‘She’s the one who hit him over the head with a kettlebell in the flat they shared. She thought she’d killed him and turned up here with him in the boot of her car, pleading for my help. But he wasn’t dead.’
He raised an eyebrow.
‘It’s true!’ I cried. ‘He was unconscious. I pretended to do as she asked out of some misplaced sense of duty. But I let him go. I even bought his bloody Eurostar ticket. Nearly sixty quid, it cost me. You can check my bank statement if you like. All this,’ I said, nodding at his notebook, ‘is Eloise trying to frame me.’
He frowned. ‘Why would she do that?’
‘She blames me for the death of her parents. She thinks I should’ve been able to save her father. Her mother killed herself when Eloise was a child. She never got over Danny’s death. This is Eloise wreaking revenge. I’ve done nothing wrong.’
He pursed his lips. ‘In that case, I assume you don’t have any objections to us having a quick scout around the place?’
‘What if I said I did?’
‘Then I’d be back with a search warrant before you had time to boil the kettle,’ he said smoothly.
I shrugged. ‘Then I don’t have any objections. Look all you like, but you won’t find him.’
Within minutes of the DI striding from the room, police officers with powerful torches were crawling over the garden like an army of ants. I watched from the kitchen window as they poked about in the long grass and peered into the wheelie bins. A gormless-looking PC stood guard by the door in case I made a bolt for it.
As the police officers looked for clues that weren’t there, I replayed my final visit to Theo. Fighting my way through the undergrowth in the slacks and court shoes I’d worn to the inquest had taken longer than usual, and with every uncomfortable step I wondered if I was doing the right thing. But, as I reminded myself repeatedly, I didn’t have
a choice. I was merely doing what I should have done the day Eloise turned up on my doorstep with her lover in the boot of her car.
Better late than never.
As I slid open the bolts and ducked through the doorway of the pillbox for the last time, my heart was crashing in my chest. My hastily made plan could misfire spectacularly if I wasn’t careful.
Theo’s head had snapped up as my shadow fell over him and he’d frowned.
‘Where is my food?’
‘There is no food,’ I’d said, thinking of the organic lemon curd yoghurt I’d stashed in a cold bag in the back of the Land Rover.
‘But I am starving!’
‘I’m letting you go.’
‘Do not play games with me.’
‘I’m not, I promise.’ I’d patted my jacket pocket, feeling for the lozenge-shaped Swiss Army knife I’d taken from the toolbox I kept in the Land Rover. ‘But you have to promise something, too.’
He narrowed his eyes. ‘What?’
‘That you’ll go back to France and stay there. I’ve booked you a ticket for the Eurostar. It leaves at eight.’
‘You have kept me locked up like an animal for days and you expect me to go quietly with my tail between my legs?’ He laughed. ‘You are as mad as Eloise.’
‘I have to protect her. I’m all she has.’
‘How many times do I have to tell you? She doesn’t need protecting. She is the dangerous one.’ He shook his head. ‘Does she know you are letting me go?’
‘She thinks you’re dead. She asked me to bury your body.’
Theo laughed again, then twisted his face up to mine. ‘But you spared me. Why?’
I was silent for a moment, then I took the knife from my pocket, knelt beside him and began sawing through the rope binding his wrists. ‘Because I let someone die once before. I couldn’t do it again.’
His hands jerked back, and I almost nicked his wrist.
‘Careful!’ I cried.
He was staring at me with a mixture of disgust and horror. ‘You killed someone?’
