Melody of Murder

by Stella Cameron

  ‘That wouldn’t be right.’ She looked at him and stumbled, but caught herself. ‘There’s protocol and putting a fellow officer down in front of a suspect could be disastrous. Dan can be acid, too. It’s strange to think of it afterwards, but as soon as they’d left I started thinking about the morning Laura died, again. And that man. Sometimes I think I imagined him.’

  ‘Godammit, you are not a suspect.’ Tony stopped walking and she turned back. ‘Think about this before you tell me I’m mad. Do we ask Elyan about walking away from the church? Whether it was him and why? We might be able to tell a lot by his reaction. He’d be caught completely off guard.’

  She ran her fingers through her hair. ‘What reason could he have for being there like that? I can’t think of anything. Unless he was going to meet Laura and realized he’d forgotten something so he went back.’

  ‘That way? By the rectory. It’s a very long way around. And the path goes in all kinds of directions. It would be easy for a newcomer to get lost.’

  ‘They could have argued. He could have got there and they fell out about something so he left.’ With fingers resting on her mouth, she said, ‘It couldn’t have been him.’

  ‘You’re the one who thought it might have been, love. So the thought was there for some reason.’

  There was rain on Alex’s face. She pulled up her jacket collar and held it closed beneath her chin. Abrubtly, her eyes widened. ‘Did I even tell you about Sebastian Carstens? I met him yesterday.’

  Tony shook his head, no. ‘Who … oh, he’s with the Quillams, right?’

  ‘Yes, he’s the piano teacher. I wouldn’t have thought someone like Elyan would still have one of those.’

  ‘Probably always will only he’ll move on to someone famous. I’m surprised he hasn’t already.’

  He could tell Alex was thinking about that. ‘Let’s get under those trees,’ he said. ‘The rain’s getting heavier.’ For once she was the one to take his hand and they went quickly to stand beneath a scraggly group of alders.

  ‘He, Sebastian, that is, sounded as if he and his daughter were part of the family. He’s got a little girl called Daisy who was with him. It was uncomfortable. I was in the children’s playground. I picked up a paper at the post office and rode down there with Bogie. If I’d gone back to the Dog, they’d have started talking about what was in the paper about me finding Laura. So I sat at the picnic table to read.’

  ‘And this Sebastian just showed up? He could always have already known about the playground, of course. With a child it’s something you’d probably find out.’

  She looked thoughtful again. ‘I think he saw me there and came in to see if I’d say anything – about the church, about what I’d seen there. He seemed irritated when I didn’t react to him.’

  ‘He couldn’t have followed you. Why would he?’

  ‘I don’t know but I didn’t like him. He was talking down to me, trying to impress me.’

  Tony didn’t like the idea of this man following Alex. He didn’t like anything about any of this.

  ‘We shouldn’t be much longer,’ Tony said, ‘but I’ve thought about the Hugh and Sonia drama. How about you?’

  She slapped a hand to her brow. ‘I’ve thought of little else and now I almost forget to bring it up.’

  ‘It’s a weird one,’ Tony said. ‘All we’ve got is a few sentences and what we make of them. But Hugh and Sonia know each other, and I don’t just mean from her coming to Folly and meeting him here, or renting Hugh’s house.’

  ‘Did you think it sounded as if they’d been close in the past? Really close?’

  Tony looked at her. ‘Of course. If I had to guess I’d say they’d been about as close as a man and woman can get. So did she somehow know about him having bought Green Friday? If so, how? It would seem as if they’ve been keeping in touch – or someone’s passing on information to Sonia. Takes less of a brain than an M & M spell checker to work that out.’

  Alex snorted. ‘You never make a joke.’

  ‘I stole it from somewhere – can’t remember where.’

  Tony continued, ‘So Sonia knew Hugh had the house and made an excuse to her husband for thinking it would make a great rental. They may have been looking for a place in the country for the summer and she just managed to pop up with it.’

  ‘That doesn’t explain what was between them before, or where it stands now,’ Alex said.

  ‘Hugh made it pretty clear where it stands with him.’

  Alex felt squirmy and rolled her shoulders. ‘She sounded as if she hoped to start something with him again. It’s none of our business unless it’s got any part in the case.’

  It was Tony’s turn to laugh. ‘Some might say the case hasn’t got anything to do with us either, but I don’t agree. We were thrown into it and I’m honestly starting to think we can be useful. And yes, I know that sounds pig-headed, but Dan and Bill are quick enough to use whatever they can get out of us.’

  ‘You put that so well.’ Smiling, Alex straightened her back. ‘I feel better already. Holmes and Watson ride again.’

  ‘I’ve been meaning to ask you which of us is Holmes and—’

  ‘Best not do that,’ Alex interrupted him. ‘We wouldn’t want hurt feelings.’

  ‘So, ears to the ground on Hugh and Sonia?’ Tony’s grin was huge.

  ‘Mmm, probably.’ She gave him an enigmatic lift of the nose. ‘Shall we get across to the ladies?’

  A brambly space in a hedge gave them access to the lane again and it took only minutes to reach the back of Leaves of Comfort. Harriet and Mary’s hedges, one on either side of the path, ran in precisely clipped lines from a wrought iron back gate to the cottages.

  ‘We go to the fork and turn right,’ Tony said and started in that direction.

  ‘Wait!’ Grabbing his hand again, this time in both of hers, the sudden pallor in her face unnerved him.

  ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘It came back to me. Just like that. I wasn’t thinking about it and I remembered the whole thing.’

  He knew better than to interrupt. Her eyes seemed to be seeing into the distance.

  ‘I put the thermos bottle on the piano bench. Remember?’

  She had been looking at it. ‘Yes. I said you shouldn’t have picked it up but anyone would have done the same thing. Purely a reflex.’

  ‘Elyan came looking for Laura and saw the flask. From his angle, Laura wouldn’t have been visible. He must have thought she had left so he picked it up. I think he still had it when he saw her. What did he do with it?’

  He massaged his temples. ‘When he saw Laura he went spare.’ He looked up. ‘He put it on one of the choir benches, I’m sure he did.’

  ‘Something happened to it though, Tony.’

  ‘It’s probably still there.’

  ‘After forensics took the place apart? Think, Tony. They didn’t find it and it was never logged in. But the strangest part of this is that we don’t know why it’s so important.’

  SEVENTEEN

  The door into the house, when they found it, was overgrown with climbing yellow roses. ‘If the fire department saw this they’d have a field day,’ Tony said, carefully unhitching the clinging vines and gently peeling back the roses.

  When he put his fingers on the rusted door handle and started to turn it, she pulled his hand away. ‘I don’t want to go in there.’

  Tony didn’t frown a lot but when he did the effect was immediate and unsettling. He held her shoulders and lowered his face to look into her eyes. ‘What are you talking about? Why would you possibly feel uneasy about going into the sisters’ place? That doesn’t make any sense.’

  She stepped out of his reach. ‘Then I’m not making sense. I’m all muddled up. We don’t have the vaguest what we’re dealing with but we’re going in to confront a young couple about an event that’s probably devastating them.’

  ‘Yep. That’s what we’re going to do, only carefully – we’ll be very friendly. We share how
upset they must be. We’re upset, too. We wish we knew something helpful – to the police.’

  Alex was afraid he’d see her shivering. She felt suddenly really cold and clammy. ‘Right you are. On your head be it. Lead on, he who knows the right way to do anything and everything.’

  The one-sided smile, more a sucking in of a corner of his mouth, had Alex looking at her shoes. ‘Sorry. That was uncalled for.’

  She glanced up to see the door creaking inward, and smelled the fragrant mixture of fresh baked goodies and lavender that was a permanent part of Leaves of Comfort.

  ‘Here we go.’ Tony put an arm around her and ushered her inside, but stood between her and the rest of the shop while he dropped a kiss on her forehead, and another on her mouth. ‘If you didn’t come up with the darndest comments, there’d be less to love about you. Now, follow my lead.’

  She was too surprised to give the sharp salute she might have and walked obediently behind him, through the archway which had been made between the lower floors of the side-by-side cottages, and to the stairs leading up to Harriet and Mary’s flat.

  ‘Haloo,’ he called out. ‘It’s Tony and Alex, ladies. Come to cadge tea and crumpets.’

  Mary’s head, complete with tortoiseshell mantilla comb protruding from her high bun of white hair, popped out of the door to the flat. Leaning on a walking stick, she put a finger to her lips then beckoned them up.

  Stepping as lightly as they could, Tony and Alex advanced, and Oliver the lean and lithe grey tabby, stuck his inquisitive nose around Mary’s ankles. Apparently the visitors weren’t too interesting since he withdrew quickly.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ Alex asked when they were safely closeted in the flat. ‘Is Harriet sleeping?’

  ‘If that sister of mine ever sleeps, she makes sure I don’t see her,’ Mary said, sotto voce, and cleared her throat when Harriet came out of the kitchen. ‘Elyan and Annie are downstairs. All the way in the corner at that tiny table. I didn’t want you to interrupt the poor young things.’

  Harriet rolled her eyes.

  ‘We didn’t see them,’ Alex said. ‘There wasn’t a sound down there.’

  ‘That nook is almost under the stairs,’ Harriet said. ‘There’s barely room for two chairs, but I think they might like that.’

  ‘No dogs?’ Mary didn’t look pleased about that.

  ‘Just trying to come and go quietly,’ Tony said. ‘We felt a bit like burglars coming in the back way but it’s pretty out there.’

  ‘The children couldn’t find the door and came in the front,’ Mary said. ‘Defeats the purpose a bit but we’ll hope they weren’t seen by someone we’d rather didn’t see them at all.’

  Alex gave an apologetic little smile. ‘We’re going to talk to them. Forgive us for using you – and that’s what it feels like – but we’d like to see if there’s anything they want to share with us. I know we’re poking our noses in again but it all got dropped in our laps and we think we might get to the bottom of at least one or two important things that could take the police a long time.’

  The sisters didn’t quite hide their disappointment and Alex was sure they had hoped for a private tête-à-tête. Mary sat in her pink velvet rocker and Max jumped on her lap with a sigh that suggested he was desperate for some peaceful snuggle time. His one bright eye closed at once.

  ‘If you’ll have us, we’ll come again soon and chat properly,’ Alex said.

  ‘You know we’ll have you,’ Harriet told them. ‘Run along before it’s opening time and you can’t talk to them at all. There is something I want to mention, but it can wait. I’ve had a hard time deciding if I should say anything. Go.’ She flapped them toward the door.

  The table where Elyan and Annie sat was, indeed, very small. Alex realized it was the one often used for stacking boxes from George’s Bakery. She noticed these were on top of the counter instead.

  Elyan and Annie were sitting quite still, half-drunk cups of tea and a plate of cakes in front of them. When they realized Tony and Alex knew they were there, and had actually come to find them, their faces turned to shades of red and pink.

  ‘Hi, you two,’ Alex said, smiling. ‘This is a wonderful place, isn’t it? I’ve loved it ever since Harriet and Mary opened.’

  Elyan stood up, bowing his head enough to avoid hitting the underside of the stairs. ‘We love it, too. Sit with us, please. Have you both met Annie Bell?’

  Annie just smiled.

  Tony reached across the table to shake her hand. Beautiful girl in an understated way. Chestnut colored hair in loose ringlet curls to her shoulders and warm, dark-brown eyes.

  ‘We met at the Black Dog,’ Alex said. ‘I can’t tell you how much clamoring there is for Elyan to make our old piano sound magical. Naturally, I tell them they were lucky to have heard you once.’

  Elyan made a self-deprecating motion with his hand. ‘I’ll come in again and fool about. It’s good for me.’

  ‘It is,’ Annie said, finally showing animation.

  Chairs scraped over the stone floor and Tony settled Alex before sitting down himself. ‘I was hoping we’d get a chance to talk on our own,’ Tony said. ‘In a weird way we’ve become thrown together in this horrible thing that’s happened.’

  So he did intend to plough in and ask direct questions – or so it seemed.

  Elyan nodded but kept his eyes on the table.

  Annie’s eyes had filled with tears and she rubbed his arm.

  ‘You knew Laura all your life,’ Tony said. ‘She’s always been there for you.’

  In a gruff voice, Elyan said, ‘Yes. They didn’t know how interesting she was, or how talented. She was always pushed away, almost kept out of sight because she wasn’t important enough to bother with. I hate them for that. If only—’

  ‘You did spend time with her,’ Annie said. ‘She loved her music even if your father wouldn’t take it seriously. Should we talk about all this now? You know the police will want to interview you again – and me. Everyone, I should think. They don’t like it if the people they’re interested in talk to each other.’

  Smart girl. Alex smiled at her.

  ‘As long as we don’t plot out a story we’ll all tell, they can’t stop us from talking,’ Tony said. ‘When you say “they” you mean your family, don’t you?’

  ‘Yes, and most of the people we have around us.’

  ‘She had friends,’ Annie said. ‘There were people who encouraged her and I think she hoped she could get away and perform professionally once she had her trust fund from her mother. Lately she’d been talking about taking off and making it on her own, but she couldn’t go with nothing and Percy made sure her allowance wasn’t enough to give her ideas.’

  ‘You think that’s what he was doing, Annie?’ Elyan said. ‘Holding her hostage? He thought her music was an embarrassment. He didn’t want any part of it.’

  ‘How long before she got her own money?’ Tony asked mildly.

  ‘Two years,’ Elyan said promptly. He picked up a piece of shortbread but reduced it to crumbs on his plate without taking a bite. ‘Twenty-five. Then she’d never have to ask anyone for anything again.’

  ‘Remember the red thermos bottle on the piano bench?’

  Alex almost jumped. She wound her fingers together. This couldn’t be fair to Elyan, not asking him like this when he was so disturbed.

  ‘Thermos?’ Elyan frowned and let his eyes roam over the tea shop. ‘Laura was dead by the piano. She’d bled there.’

  ‘It had a tartan sleeve around it,’ Tony added. ‘Hand-knitted.’

  Elyan drew a short, sharp breath. ‘Of course. I picked it up before I saw her.’ He propped an elbow and covered his eyes. ‘Yes, I remember. I’ll never forget.’

  There was no mistaking the rigid distress on Tony’s face. ‘So you put it down. I remember you bending over Laura.’

  ‘I just wanted to pick her up and make her open her eyes.’ Elyan’s hand shook over his eyes. He began to rub with increasing
speed. ‘I don’t know. I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking about that, or anything but Laura. Why are you asking me about it?’

  ‘The police interviewed me this morning,’ Alex said quickly, anxious to stop this. ‘Apparently they have no record of logging in the thermos and we can’t remember what happened to it for the same reasons as you. Don’t think about it, please.’

  ‘They called Green Friday,’ Annie said. ‘They were on their way there so we left. We can’t bear it. Elyan wants to be left alone.’

  Elyan dropped his hand. ‘Did they say why Laura died,’ he said very softly. ‘Was it because of the music stand?’

  ‘They wouldn’t tell me.’

  ‘Why do they have to be the way they are? Upsetting everyone when … haven’t we suffered enough?’

  ‘Yes, you have,’ Tony said.

  ‘If I’d been there when I was supposed to be she wouldn’t have died alone.’ Elyan’s eyes looked raw around the rims. ‘There’s always one more thing they want from me. I knew if I said I had to go somewhere, they’d have kept on trying to find out where. I didn’t dare say I was meeting Laura. Oh, sod it all!’

  ‘How did they know you’d gone back to the house? Do they watch you all the time?’

  Alex felt sick. She couldn’t bear the idea of trying to trap this young man, but she also couldn’t blame Tony for trying to cut through the length of time protocol would keep the police going through their steps. They also needed some peace and to get away from the constant upheaval that had followed them around for months.

  ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ Elyan said.

  ‘When you left St Aldwyn’s and walked past the side of the rectory, weren’t you going home?’

  ‘No.’ Elyan looked at Annie. ‘I don’t know what he’s talking about.’

  ‘Of course you don’t. Tony, I think you’re making a mistake about this.’

  Alex couldn’t pretend to have no part in the whole thing. ‘I was in the churchyard. I heard Laura singing. She was so good. But I saw a man walking away from the church. Just like Tony said. I thought it was you but I’m sorry I made a mistake.’