The Cat Next Door

by Marian Babson

  ‘Don’t get your hopes up.’ Emmeline appeared in the kitchen doorway. ‘I put the pie and potatoes in the oven and I made the cake. Milly hasn’t stirred out of the morning room all day.’

  ‘I might have known it,’ Nan sighed. ‘I suppose it was expecting too much. Today, of all days.’

  Of all days? It was just the first of who knew how many days. They looked at each other grimly.

  ‘You know what happened?’ Nan asked.

  ‘Richard rang and told me. They’re staying on for another conference with Comfrey and the legal team.’

  ‘They’ll be home later,’ Nan nodded. ‘That’s why the steak-and-mushroom pie. Warming it up won’t spoil it. I expected something like this.’

  ‘Christa took the – took Justin and Fenella up to London to talk to their agent. They should be back soon.’

  Twins had become too emotive a word to be used lightly, Margot noted.

  ‘And Lynette?’

  ‘Fractious. All day.’ Emmeline’s lips tightened. ‘Although she settled down for a bit after lunch and watched some television.’

  The sudden demanding peal of the handbell made them all jump. Lynette must have heard them come in.

  ‘She’s been quite forbearing,’ Emmeline said tartly. ‘You’ve been back for all of three minutes.’

  ‘I’ll go.’ But Nan looked grey and exhausted. She spoke in a faint martyred voice, her thoughts obviously elsewhere again, undoubtedly with Chloe.

  ‘I’m going up anyway.’ Margot was obscurely cheered to see someone looking worse than she felt. ‘I’ll look in on her.’

  ‘That’s right, dear.’ Nan gave her a shrewd You needn’t think you’re fooling me look. ‘You go and have a nice lie-down before dinner. Tell Lynette I’ll be along in a few minutes.’

  Shaken, Margot backed away from Nan’s sharp eyes and took the stairs at a faster pace than she usually allowed herself. It would not do to show further signs of weakness. Nan might have most of her thoughts occupied with Chloe but, obviously, she was still not unobservant of her other ‘babies’.

  ‘Who’s there?’ Why should Lynette’s voice always be shrill with alarm when she had so energetically sent out a demand for company?

  ‘Only me.’ Margot was surprised to see Lynette pale and shrink back against the pillows. ‘What do you want?’

  ‘I thought Nan would come,’ Lynette whined. ‘She’s back, isn’t she? I’m sure I heard her voice.’

  ‘She’s home, but she’s tired. Very tired. Whatever you want, I’ll get it for you. Nan deserves a rest.’

  ‘I’m tired, too.’ Lynette’s eyes filled with tears. ‘I want Nan. She promised she’d tell me …’ Her voice trailed away.

  ‘There’s nothing to tell. They selected the jury, the QCs began their opening speeches and then … the case … was adjourned until tomorrow.’

  ‘Oh.’ Lynette closed her eyes. Margot wondered if she should have said all that. Perhaps that was not what Nan had promised to tell her. In that case, the child now had more information than she wanted – and perhaps more than she could deal with.

  ‘Is there anything else?’

  ‘No … not now.’ Lynette rolled over, presenting her back to the doorway, in what was becoming her usual method of dismissing her lackeys.

  Margot shrugged and went to her own room closing the door firmly behind her with a feeling of relief. The bed beckoned and she kicked off her shoes as she crossed the room.

  ‘Ow!’ Something sharp and vicious embedded itself in the sole of her foot. She stumbled and limped the rest of the way to the bed where she collapsed heavily and inspected the damaged area.

  Bloody cat! Momentarily, she was in agreement with Uncle Wilfred. She plucked one of the ear-rings she had left on the dressing-table out of her not-quite-punctured sole. Tikki must have got in again and been playing with it, abandoning it in the middle of the floor when he got bored and moved on to fresh amusements.

  She rubbed her foot, still thinking dark thoughts about marauding cats, then stood and limped across to the dressing-table to replace the ear-ring, hoping its mate was still there and had not been knocked into some secret cranny where it would never be found.

  She breathed a sigh of relief to see it wedged up against the mirror. The little diamond-and-sapphire fantasies were the first present Sven had given her. It would have broken her – No, her heart was already broken. In her present fragile state, it might have destroyed her to have lost them.

  She wouldn’t risk it again. She’d put them away safely until –

  The top drawer of the dresser was crookedly ajar. So were all the other drawers. She had not left them in this state.

  She pulled the drawer open and looked down at the jumbled mess. She checked the other drawers: things in them had been moved about but they were left in better order. Probably someone had been disturbed when searching the top drawer. But why? What were they searching for?

  At any rate, Tikki was exonerated. However clever and curious he might be, he was neither curious enough nor clever enough to open drawers.

  Who then? Someone who had been in the house all afternoon. Aunt Milly, supposedly closeted in the morning room with her Regency novels? Lynette, lonely, bored and fractious – but too traumatised to leave her room? Emmeline? Unthinkable – and yet, hadn’t she been rather late in appearing? Had enough time elapsed for her to hastily shut a drawer and run down the back stairs to greet them in the kitchen doorway?

  Unthinkable, all of it! That way lay madness. And yet … the unthinkable had happened once in this house, to these people … why not again?

  And what about Christa? Or Justin and/or Fenella? Had one of them taken the opportunity to snoop before they left for London?

  No! She could not begin suspecting everyone in the house of searching her room. If she suspected them of this, she might suspect them of –

  Margot slammed the drawers shut and secreted the pair of ear-rings in the small zipper compartment of her handbag. The compartment that held the key to her suitcase –

  Her suitcase! Margot rushed to the closet. Yes, the clothes on their hangers had been pushed aside. The suitcase at the back had been pulled forward. How frustrated someone must have been to find it locked – and how shocked they would have been had they been able to open it and discover what was inside.

  The dark debilitating exhaustion struck at her again. She swayed, steadying herself against the door jamb. It was too much to contemplate right now. Nan had been right – she needed to sleep.

  Chapter Thirteen

  How quickly one fell into a routine, however unlikely the routine. Having pushed her way through the assembled media outside, Margot even managed a smile as she passed her handbag to the attendant at the X-ray scanner and stepped through the metal detector arch into the lobby.

  ‘I won’t be able to come into the courtroom with you.’ Nan followed her into the glass lift that rose slowly to the next floor under the glass roof of the surprising atrium. The deceptively demure red-brick façade of the St Albans Crown Court building masked a very modern interior.

  ‘I’ll have to wait outside until they call me to testify.’ She had mentioned that several times already. The calm competent Nan was, in her own way, asking for reassurance.

  ‘You’ll be fine.’ But would Chloe? That was the question. How damaging might Nan’s evidence be? What did she know about that night? Or suspect?

  In the lunchroom below them, they could see the legal team snatching a last-minute cup of coffee. Just another working day for them.

  The lift glided to a stop at the first floor and they stepped out into the upper lobby. Some of the benches and booths opposite the balcony railing were occupied, but most of the people were standing, milling around, talking in low voices.

  Nan perched on the end of one of the padded benches and looked around apprehensively, chewing the inside of her lower lip. Margot had never seen her in such a state before.

  ‘Shall I go downstai
rs and get you a cup of coffee?’

  Nan shook her head numbly. Margot hovered beside her uncertainly. She didn’t want to leave her like this.

  ‘Good morning. Aren’t you coming in?’ Verity was suddenly with them. ‘We can sit together.’

  ‘Hello, Verity.’ Margot was able to restrain her enthusiasm for this suggestion.

  ‘Verity – ’ Nan craned her neck to look beyond Verity. ‘Is Kingsley here?’

  ‘Not just yet.’ Verity exuded satisfaction at the implied recognition that she and Kingsley were inseparable. ‘He has work to finish in London. He’ll try to get here for the afternoon session.’

  ‘Afternoon …’ Nan gave a faint shudder. What would have happened by this afternoon? What sort of evidence were they going to elicit from her before then?

  Margot’s inward shudder was less observable. The calm, almost cheerful, way Verity spoke about the afternoon had brought home the reality that this trial was going to go on and on. It wasn’t something like a dental appointment – unpleasant while it lasted, but it wouldn’t last very long.

  ‘Are you all right, Nan?’

  ‘I’m all right.’ Nan gave her a wan smile. ‘You two go along in, it looks as though it’s going to start. I’ll be fine.’ But her eyes were shadowed.

  ‘I’ll stay with her.’ Henry appeared unexpectedly. Henry, who had been spending the past few days in London holding the fort at the family business while Uncle Wilfred and Richard worked with the legal team here.

  ‘Henry, dear!’ Nan reached out and caught his hand in a grip that made him wince. ‘Is everything all right?’

  ‘The business hasn’t gone bankrupt yet, despite my being in charge, if that’s what you mean. And Amanda hasn’t thrown me out of the flat yet, although I’ve offered to go. Or, at least, keep out of the way until this is over.’

  ‘She wouldn’t do that. She’s the right sort of girl.’ Nan tightened her grasp for emphasis and he winced again. ‘What a pity you two didn’t have a nice big church wedding before all of this – ’ She broke off and turned away, releasing his hand.

  ‘Yes, well …’ He patted her shoulder awkwardly. None of them were used to comforting Nan, it had always been the other way round. ‘It will have to be a quiet registry office affair – and none the worse for that – after this is over.’

  Margot caught the predatory gleam in Verity’s eye. Henry was not the only one planning a trip to the registry office. What would Kingsley have to say about it?

  ‘They’re going in.’ Nan looked beyond them and swallowed hard. The court usher had appeared in the doorway and spoken quietly to those nearest. People began filing into the courtroom. The business of the day was about to begin.

  ‘Court rise.’

  Everyone shuffled to their feet and watched as the judge entered from his side door and walked to his place in the centre of the bench. The court usher bowed deeply, the QCs inclined their heads, conveying deep respect, but not quite a bow – not compared to the court usher. Everyone waited until the judge was seated, then resumed their own seats.

  As the usual conference with the bench began, Uncle Wilfred leaned forward to look at Chloe. More discreetly, Margot turned her head as well. Not that it made any difference. Chloe sat motionless, as she had the day before, eyes downcast, head bowed, wearing the same dark dress.

  Verity bumped against Margot as she turned to wave at someone in a small boxed section at the far end of their row. Margot looked, but recognised no one.

  ‘Press box,’ Verity whispered appreciatively. ‘They’ve brought out the big guns for this one.’

  ‘There aren’t many in it.’

  ‘Not enough room. They’ll have drawn lots for who actually gets in and then they’ll pool their information later. The man in tweed is the best court artist in the business. He’ll do some brilliant sketches of Chloe. She’s lucky to get him.’

  Uncle Wilfred turned a ferocious frown on Verity. Was he reacting to her interpretation of luck, or just disapproving of whispering in court at a time like this?

  ‘ … call Dorothy Edwina Helston …’ The business of the court was proceeding.

  The court usher bobbed up, bowed to the judge and left the room, returning a moment later, ushering in Nan.

  There were a few moments of confusion as Nan, distracted by the unexpected sight of microphones facing her, stumbled into the witness box, then hesitated indecisively over the question of whether she wished to stand or sit to give her evidence. She elected to sit.

  A wise decision, Margot thought, given that Nan’s knees had been unsteady all morning and a sudden giving way of them, forcing her to sit abruptly in the middle of some question, might have an unfortunate effect on the jury’s interpretation of her answer.

  Nan’s voice was tremulous as she was sworn in, but firmed at the first question.

  ‘I have been employed by the family for – ’ the calculation seemed to give her a slight shock – ‘just over thirty-five years.’

  Margot was aware of Uncle Wilfred nodding his head. Yes, that was about right. Richard had been nearly three and the twins six months when Nan had been hired to help Milly. By the time the twins were seven and she might have thought about leaving, Christabel had split up with her first husband and been offered a great opportunity in New York – but not with a two-year-old in tow. And so Henry had moved into the family nursery. A few years later, Sylvia and Roger’s car had skidded on an icy turning on a mountain road and a devastated six-year-old Margot had come to stay.

  ‘ … just what you saw?’ The QC looked at Nan expectantly.

  Why was it so much easier to think about the past – to think about anything else – than the trial? Margot wrenched her attention back to the present, but she had already lost the beginning of Nan’s answer.

  ‘ … and Lynette standing there. I realised it was Claudia lying on the ground.’

  ‘And Chloe had a knife in her hand?’

  ‘Yes …’ The answer came reluctantly.

  ‘What was Lynette doing?’

  ‘Standing there … frozen … they both were. When she saw me, Lynette began to cry.’

  ‘What did you do then?’

  ‘I went to her, of course. She … she didn’t move. It seemed as though she couldn’t. I put my arms around her, told her, “Don’t look!”, but it was too late. She’d already seen that her mother was dead.’

  ‘And what was Chloe doing?’

  ‘She … she was just standing there … frozen.’

  ‘Holding the knife?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘The bloodstained knife?’

  ‘Yes.’ Nan’s voice was a whisper, the answer seemed torn from her.

  ‘What did you do then?’

  ‘I took Lynette inside and called the doctor.’

  ‘Leaving Chloe outside? Still holding the knife? Still … frozen?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You didn’t call the police?’

  ‘No. It never occurred to me. The doctor called the police.’

  ‘What happened then? Before the doctor arrived?’

  ‘I told Millicent. I had to. She was their mother. She went out to Claudia … and Chloe … while I took Lynette upstairs and put her to bed.’

  The judge leaned forward and asked an inaudible question.

  ‘A minor, m’lud. We have a deposition.’

  Margot was jostled by Wilfred’s arm as he dug into a pocket. She glanced sideways to see him pull out a crumpled handkerchief and raise it to his face. Not tears, surely? Rigidly stoic, Wilfred would never give way in public. Probably not even in front of Milly. It must be perspiration –

  The working of his jaws betrayed him, as did the faint smell that wafted her way a moment later.

  Wilfred was gnawing frantically at a large knob of cheddar cheese concealed in his handkerchief.

  At least it was a safer bet against choking than a handful of peppermints.

  ‘Would you like a glass of water?’

/>   Margot looked up, startled, but no one was being sarcastic to Wilfred. The question had been addressed to Nan, who was leaning back in her chair, looking shattered. What had she just said?

  The jury were all looking at Chloe, who sat there oblivious. The occupants of the press box were all leaning forward to stare avidly at Chloe. Wilfred’s jaws were working so savagely it was a wonder he didn’t break a tooth.

  Nan shook her head, still fighting for control, then burst into tears.

  One of the QCs stepped forward and said something to the judge, who nodded.

  ‘Excused,’ he said.

  The court usher stepped forward to help Nan from the witness box.

  ‘I’ll see her home.’ Welcoming the excuse to leave, Margot got to her feet. She had had just about as much as she could stand. The walls were beginning to close in on her, the smell of cheese was nauseating her. She was in serious danger of fainting if she remained in court.

  Henry nodded his thanks as he slipped into her relinquished place, the only seat in the crowded courtroom.

  Nan caught her arm gratefully as she emerged from the courtroom just behind the usher, who was saying solicitously, ‘You’re sure you’ll be all right?’

  What a fragile family she must think them. Wilfred’s choking fit yesterday, Nan’s disintegration today. And the silent prisoner in the dock – Chloe, the most fragile of all.

  ‘I’m taking her home,’ Margot said.

  ‘If … if you don’t need me any more today, that is.’ Nan was apologetic.

  ‘We can always call you again later,’ the court usher reassured her. ‘If necessary.’ She did not mention the possibility, the almost-certainty, of cross-examination.

  ‘I’m sorry.’ At the car, still dabbing at tears, Nan held the keys out to Margot. ‘I don’t think I can manage. Could you drive?’

  ‘Of course,’ Margot lied, taking the keys reluctantly. She hadn’t driven in months – and then it had been on the other side of the road. ‘I may be a bit rusty on keeping to the left, I’m afraid.’

  ‘You’ll still do better than me right now.’ Nan gave her a watery smile. ‘Don’t worry. It will come back to you.’