A Beginner’s Guide to Murder

by Rosalind Stopps

  Clara sits down on the floor as though speaking so much has tired her out. Greg leans over and gives her a pat. Des speaks then.

  ‘We can’t afford to sit around waiting,’ he says. ‘I’ve only met Meg recently but I know that this is not something any woman, or man, who has lived a normal life would be able to deal with. We need to go and find him, surprise him, smoke him out.’

  ‘I’ve been trying to think where we were,’ Nina says, ‘going through it in my head, but I just don’t know. I ran when I got the chance to escape, without taking any notice of where I was. I’m so sorry, I wish I’d looked, taken note, so that we knew where to go now. I just kept choosing the road that had the most people, and then the roads that had the least. I probably doubled back on myself loads of times before I found you guys in the café. When he kidnapped me back it was the same house. He hadn’t been able to arrange a move, and that was one of the things that pissed him off the most. He’s trying to move right now, I expect.’

  ‘You are a smart, brave lady,’ Gordon says, ‘and I want you to think hard now. I’ve got to know this area pretty well over the last few years, and I’m wondering if there is anything, any feature of the street that you can remember. Numbers, buses, anything at all that might give us a clue.’

  Nina closes her eyes and we can all see how hard she is trying. Come on, Nina, I think.

  ‘There was a tree, I noticed it because it was flowering, and it’s early for that, it was the only one in the street,’ she says. ‘It was outside the window of the house, and I looked at it when I was, when I was in the house.’

  There’s a shuffle of embarrassment amongst the group as the realisation dawns on us of when she might have noticed the tree, and what she would have been doing in the house at that moment. I feel a surge of anger so intense I think again that I could kill the toad man with my own bare hands if he walked in, and I can see that reflected in the faces round me. Especially Clara.

  ‘We need to calm down,’ I say. ‘Come on, guys, let’s try to think. Tree already in flower, it’s early for that, where is it? It has to be within walking distance of here – Nina, how long do you think you were walking before you came into the café?’

  ‘It’s so hard to tell,’ Nina says. She looks as though she is going to cry. ‘It seemed like hours, but I don’t think it was.’

  ‘OK, well, we know it was just after half past ten when you came in,’ I say, ‘because our class had just finished.’

  ‘And it was definitely light when I left, I didn’t leave in the dark,’ Nina says, ‘but I didn’t walk in anything like a straight line. In fact I went past a big police station twice, I remember that because I thought about going in, but I couldn’t, I just couldn’t. I didn’t think they’d believe me. He always said, that man, the toad man, he always said that no one would believe me.’

  ‘OK,’ says Gordon, ‘this is good, well done, young lady.’

  ‘If I could say something I have been thinking,’ Des says. ‘You are very calm in a crisis, Nina. You’d make a good copper if you ever decide to go in that direction. Not that I’m advocating it.’

  Everyone nods and murmurs in agreement and Des blushes. Nina smiles, and it’s like the sun coming out. She looks so young when she smiles.

  Gordon says, ‘Does anyone mind if I just speak for a minute?’ He looks around and we all nod. Clara nods so vehemently that her head seems in danger of flying off.

  ‘What we have is some coordinates, some places we can start looking straight away. Nina walked for about two hours, passing the police station in Lewisham twice. That means, I think, that we should start with a half-hour radius from the station. We’re looking for a flowering plum blossom tree. Most London street trees are cherry, there’s a difference, plum flowers earlier, we need to look for a tree that’s flowering right now. We could go in three groups, reporting back to this point every hour, does that make sense?’

  ‘Hang on,’ Daphne says. ‘We can do better than that. Nina, the phone Meg gave you, does it tell you where she is?’

  ‘No,’ Nina says, ‘it tells her where I am, but she’s got her location switched off.’

  She gets her phone out again to check.

  ‘Nah, still off,’ she says.

  Something is beginning to nibble at my brain. I know something, something that will help but I’m not sure what it is.

  ‘Hang on,’ I say, and they all look at me expectantly. Like a class of schoolchildren waiting for me to start the lesson. ‘Hang on, I think there’s a database.’

  ‘A database of what?’ Daphne says.

  ‘They don’t say the address on the website,’ Nina says, ‘only when someone makes a booking. And I’m not sure what they call it, they keep changing the name, that’s what I heard.’

  ‘No,’ I say, ‘they’ll be expecting that, they’ve probably changed it already. No, there’s a database of trees, that’s what I’m thinking about. If you’re sure about this plum thing, Gordon, there’s a man who lives on my street and that’s what he does. He plants street trees, and you can sponsor them and be a guardian, you know, water them and look out for them. I planted one in memory of my daughter. Anyway, he’s made this database of all the trees in Lewisham. Flowering plum aren’t common, Gordon has told us, so I’d say that might mean it’s pretty easy to spot where they are.’

  Nina looks as if she might cry. ‘Thank you,’ she says, ‘thank you. You lot are smart.’

  I make a note to myself to tell her later about how smart and clever she has been. Daphne gets her iPad out of her shoulder bag and starts tapping away.

  ‘Three possibilities,’ she says, ‘unless it’s been planted since this was updated. Hawstead Road, that’s Catford, Cliffview Road, that’s really quite near here, and Manwood Road, that’s Crofton Park. Any of those ring any bells?’

  ‘No,’ Nina says, ‘but I wasn’t expecting them to, I really didn’t think to look at the road signs. I’m so sorry.’

  Everyone starts speaking at the same time to tell her not to worry, that it’s not her fault, that she shouldn’t feel guilty.

  ‘OK,’ says Gordon and he splits us into three groups. I hope Des doesn’t mind but there’s no time for worrying about people’s feelings. Gordon must have been a teacher at some point, no doubt about it. He’s worse than I am for organising people. He looks towards me and Daphne.

  ‘I think Nina should stay here, get her head down a bit and wait in case Meg comes back,’ he says.

  Nina bursts into tears. ‘Please don’t leave me here on my own. I can’t face it, I don’t want to be alone, I’m scared.’

  ‘Sorry,’ says Gordon, ‘I wasn’t thinking.’

  Des jumps up. He’s been uncharacteristically quiet since we got home, and now I can see that he is terribly upset.

  ‘You come with me and the ladies,’ he says. ‘We will be a group. I will guarantee that nothing will happen to you. I will watch you like a bodyguard, like the bodyguard in that TV series, I will never take my eyes off you.’

  He sits down again as though he is embarrassed at what he has said.

  ‘Or you can come with me and Greg,’ Clara says. ‘I’ve got this, I’ll keep you safe as houses.’ She pats her pocket. ‘Don’t worry,’ she says, ‘the safety catch is on.’

  I catch Greg looking at Clara and I realise that he’s very proud of her.

  ‘Erm, me too,’ Greg says. ‘I’d look after you like you were my dog.’

  The tension breaks a little then and everyone laughs.

  ‘What?’ Greg says. ‘I love Shoe, I would never let anything happen to her.’ He looks down to his feet, as if the dog might be standing there. ‘She’s at home,’ he says quietly to no one in particular.

  ‘Much as you would be welcome with Susannah and I,’ Gordon says, ‘I still think someone should stay home in case Meg comes back. And I think you need a rest.’

  ‘Greg, you can step down from bodyguard duties,’ Clara says. ‘Sometimes men aren’t the right choi
ce for a job. Almost always, in my opinion. I’ll stay here. You go. I’ll brief you in the garden. I am the only woman for the job of bodyguard.’

  Clara coughs, and I think it’s to cover a display of emotion. Greg looks thrilled at his chance to step up.

  Nina’s face shines for a moment. ‘Do you think Meg might come back on her own?’ she says.

  I can’t look at Daphne.

  ‘Deffo,’ I say. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised at all.’

  Greg makes a show of checking the window locks and lifting the receiver on the landline.

  ‘OK,’ Nina says, ‘I’ll hold the fort here, with Clara, in case Meg comes back. Go get her.’

  I can see how tired she is. That girl is brave.

  We agree on which street each group will go to and we’re off.

  Out into the night.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Meg

  After midnight, Friday, 1 March

  I didn’t think anything at all for a while after I was bundled into the car. I didn’t think, oh good, at least Nina has got away, and I didn’t think about how I might be able to escape. I just was. I tried to breathe, in through the nose, out through the mouth, like in mindfulness training. I tried to keep myself together and if truth be told, I tried not to wet myself. After a few minutes I concentrated hard and tried to get hold of the new, supportive Henry I had invented but I couldn’t find him for ages. The other Henry was there, of course, the Henry who wanted to point out to me how ridiculous I was, how stupid not to have seen it coming, how he had told me all along to stay out of other people’s lives and concentrate on what I knew best: myself. I didn’t want to listen to that Henry. I wanted the kind one, the one who believed in me. I couldn’t find him until we drew up outside a house and that horrible man, the one who really does look like a toad, jumped out of the driving seat and opened my door.

  ‘Out, bitch,’ he said.

  He tugged on my arm so that I couldn’t get my balance. I could feel the anger pouring out of him, like Henry on the day he got rid of Bingley. Thinking of Bingley seemed to help, and I managed to swivel my bottom round in the seat so that I could get my feet on to the ground. I launched myself out with no dignity at all, but it seemed like a tiny victory to have been able to leave the car without falling flat on my face.

  ‘This way, bitch,’ he said.

  He pulled me along behind him. I concentrated on staying upright and walking, but I still managed to have a quick look around. I’ve seen the cop shows. Henry and I used to love a good thriller, and I have never been able to get over how many crimes are solved by people taking a bit of notice and knowing where they are being held. There was a flowering tree to the left of the house. It looked ghostly in the moonlight and I noticed it specifically because I knew most of the trees weren’t flowering yet. I couldn’t see a street sign, but I thought it was one of the streets round the back of Hilly Fields.

  Inside the house he shoved me into a dark side room off the hallway and slammed the door shut. I could hear a bolt being pulled across.

  ‘What the fuck?’ I heard a woman’s voice say outside the door and then toad was all full of shh, and calm down, and they went down the corridor and into another room, I think. I couldn’t hear them after that.

  ‘Hello,’ said a very small voice from the other side of the room. ‘I’m Ronnie, nice to meet you.’

  I was so surprised I almost shouted. I groped around to try to find the light switch.

  ‘There’s no bulb in it,’ the person called Ronnie said, ‘but your eyes will get used to the dark in a minute. You wait, you can see lots.’

  I couldn’t see anything so I moved cautiously towards the sound of her voice. She was lying on a sofa, and even in the dark I could make out that it was the kind with wooden arms where you can never get comfortable. She scooted up to one end when I reached her.

  ‘Come on,’ she said, ‘take the weight off. Sit down.’

  I sat, and as soon as my bottom reached the sofa I started to tremble as the shock of what had happened finally hit me.

  ‘It’s OK,’ Ronnie said, ‘it’s OK.’

  She patted my shoulder. I peered over at her and realised that she was very young, and possibly the thinnest person I had ever seen. Thinner even than Susannah, the young homeless girl. I think Ronnie heard my sharp intake of breath.

  ‘I’ve been on a hunger strike,’ she said. ‘I’m thin, aren’t I? Do you know what’s the oddest thing? I don’t even feel hungry any more. I’m not tempted in the slightest when they offer me food. Dead cow in a bun, no thank you. They said they’d take me to hospital but it was a bluff. I needn’t have bothered.’

  She sat very still and silent after she had spoken, as if the effort of speaking had worn her out.

  ‘What about you?’ Ronnie said after a few minutes. ‘Who are you? And what on earth are you doing here? Sorry to mention it and all that, but I can see that you’re a little older than most of the women here. Are they kidnapping old ladies now? Are you in care as well? Did they steal you from a nursing home? Blimey.’

  She seemed so worn out, so very tired that I didn’t want her to speak any more. It was an instinct, a sort of maternal thing. It seemed important for me to start talking. I thought that if I stopped, she might fade away. Plus I didn’t know how long we had before the dreadful toad came back in, or what he was going to do next. So I told her what had happened. Henry One, the old-style, disapproving Henry, didn’t approve. For goodness’ sake, I could hear him say, don’t go telling anyone anything. Don’t you realise that you’re in a bad situation? Don’t you understand that it’s talking to people and getting involved that got you to this place, you stupid woman? I pushed him away. No thanks, I told him in my head. I don’t want to hear any of your rubbish right now.

  Ronnie clapped when I got to the part about Nina.

  ‘I know her, I knew she’d do it,’ she said. ‘She is so strong. I was terrified for her when I heard her come back, but I’m thrilled she’s got away again. I only saw her once when she came back, they kept her away. She had a hard time, I think. She can cope though, not like me. She’s clever as well, she likes to read books and everything, did you know that?’

  I told her that I did, and that Nina and I had talked a lot during the short time we were together. We’d swapped suggestions for books and agreed on a couple of well-loved ones, too.

  ‘Is Ronnie short for something?’ I asked. I wanted to keep her engaged and alert.

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘Do you know, I usually tell people that my mum wanted a boy, but I feel like telling you the truth. I don’t know when…’ Ronnie tailed off.

  I waited. I’ve got a lot of patience in the right situation. People are like dogs, that’s the thing. Worth waiting for if you just step back and let them come to you.

  ‘My real name is Ronnie,’ she said. ‘I wasn’t always a girl. Well, I was, but no one knew. I was going to save up for the operation, before this all happened.’ She gestured to indicate the room we were in. I guessed the rest but I could see she wanted to say more.

  ‘It sells well,’ Ronnie said. ‘I’m popular, I think that’s why they’ll never let me go. He found me, that toad man, when I was sleeping in the doorway of a shop. My foster dad had caught me wearing my foster mum’s dress, so he threw me out. It wasn’t even a nice dress either. It was from Primark, for God’s sake.’

  She was so indignant that I smiled, and she must have realised how she sounded because she giggled. Ronnie went quiet after that, so I just held her hand for a while.

  ‘My life is strange too,’ I said after a while. ‘I feel like I’m living the wrong one. I should be sitting knitting by a fire, stirring soup and waiting for my grandchildren to come round. Is that how it is for you? Minus the grandchildren obviously.’

  Ronnie laughed. ‘That’s it exactly,’ she said. ‘I should be going on dates and doing my coursework. Fussing over pimples and begging my mum to let me go to a festival. I would have loved to
go to a festival.’

  ‘You can,’ I said. ‘There’s no reason why not.’

  Ronnie squeezed my hand in her bony little paw.

  ‘Ssh,’ she said, ‘I can hear them coming back.’

  I felt sick with fear. They weren’t going to want to keep me, that was definite. They knew that I knew what they were doing. They knew now that I knew about Ronnie as well. That they had a very sick young person on their premises and they had not tried to get medical help for her. I felt for the gun in my sleeve to make sure it was there. The door from the hallway flew open and the sudden light made me screw up my eyes.

  ‘Keep still,’ toad said, ‘both of you, and give me your phone.’

  The last part was addressed to me.

  ‘I haven’t got one,’ I said.

  ‘Of course you haven’t, you lying bitch,’ he said. ‘Stand up.’

  He ran his horrible hands up and down my body. I was worried about him finding the gun but he never got that far. It was the most cursory search ever. I think he literally couldn’t bear to touch me.

  ‘I’ll send Fiona in in a minute, she can do another search,’ he said, backing out of the room and wiping his hands on his trousers. ‘I know you’ve got a phone.’

  ‘Have you?’ Ronnie whispered when he’d gone. ‘Have you got one?’

  ‘It’s in my knickers,’ I said. ‘Safe place on an old lady.’

  I don’t know why this struck us both as funny but it did, and we both laughed until we couldn’t get our breath.

  Ronnie stopped laughing when I held her hand and took it to the gun in my sleeve. She felt it for a moment and then I heard a sharp intake of breath as she realised what it was.

  ‘It’s not loaded,’ I said. ‘It’s OK, it won’t hurt anyone.’

  ‘That is so not what I’m worried about,’ she said. ‘Do you realise what kind of a temper that man has? He would be so mad if he knew you had this. He’s dangerous. I suggest you load it.’

  ‘He won’t know I’ve got it,’ I said, hoping I sounded more confident than I felt.