From his peripheral vision he saw Bill start up the stairs and Tony Harrison and Alex slide from the dining room and follow, quietly but deliberately. Whatever had happened, they’d know soon enough. He realized he would prefer them to know, and to hear what they had to say about it.
At the top of the stairs, Wicks led the way to another, narrower flight, and followed him upward to a small, square hall furnished with a table and two narrow leather armchairs. A bowl of chrysanthemums, gold, were in the middle of the table, their reflection mirrored in a highly polished surface.
‘Mrs Meeker’s rooms,’ Wicks said. ‘She chose to go to bed. She was too tired to stay up any longer. She told us to search around her. Constable Miller went in to wake her so she wouldn’t be shocked.’
Dan heard Alex swallow and saw from the corner of an eye that Tony put an arm around her shoulder. Sebastian Carstens, his child still in his arms, appeared behind them.
Too late to stop this now. Ordering them all back down would only alarm the child.
The door stood wide open and another police constable, this one female, kept vigil on the far side of a damask-covered bed. Dan nodded at her. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘What is it. Spit it out.’
‘The lady is dead, sir,’ Wicks said, spreading his arms as if it were his fault. ‘I’m sorry.’
With Alex and Tony, Dan went to the bedside. Maud Meeker was, indeed, dead. A tall drained cocktail tumbler, on its side, lay on the coverlet.
‘I’m sad,’ a child’s small, shaky voice said. ‘My mummy is dead like that. It made her go away. It’s not nice.’
TWENTY-FOUR
Green Friday had become a seething conglomeration of police, including those SOCO people Alex had already seen a few times too many, and a parade of equipment from the horrible white lights to metal suitcases to the kind of still and movie cameras no amateur had ever used.
In the sitting room where Percy Quillam had refused, volubly, to have the door closed on all of them, the atmosphere had passed electric some time ago and now felt as if it would crackle aloud if angry voices didn’t drown everything out.
A woman in mufti, ‘call me, Polly’, who introduced herself as ‘family liaison’ came to talk to Sebastian. When she addressed Daisy, it was in a babyish voice that made Alex shudder, and Daisy frown. The little girl had cried softly since they were banished from the area of Mrs Meeker’s rooms.
When Polly reached for Daisy, the girl let out a piercing shriek and clung to her father.
‘Well, now,’ Polly said. ‘This is quite normal. Let me see if I can get some milk and biscuits for you while you sit with Daddy and get used to Polly. I expect everyone could use a nice cup of tea.’
The instant she left, Elyan exploded with, ‘Oh, my, God, what an ass.’
‘She means well,’ Sonia said. ‘Daisy shouldn’t be in the middle of all this.’
‘They aren’t about to let me leave,’ Sebastian pointed out. He glanced at Tony and Alex. ‘I wish we’d been better prepared for her to stay with you until I could get away.’
Alex didn’t comment on the collective term. There was nothing to be gained by sniping at the man. ‘Tony,’ she said quietly, pulling him as far from the others as she could get, ‘do you have any idea what killed Mrs Meeker? She looked asleep apart from the color.’
‘And the slackness,’ Tony added. ‘And the lack of breath … Sorry. I’m as punchy as anyone. The glass is bound to bring the obvious to mind.’
‘Dan will think the same thing,’ Alex said. ‘I want to get out of here and start asking some questions. Why would the glass be left behind when the thermos was taken? I wish your dad was here. If he could take a look at her it would help. Would digoxin do you harm – as in kill you – if you didn’t have a heart condition?’
‘As far as I know, yes. I don’t know how much of it you’d need to do the job, though. That was a good-sized tumbler, if that’s what happened and she drank the stuff. Remember how much strain she’s been under and she’s not a young woman. Who knows what condition she was in?’
She glanced over her shoulder at a roomful of people involved in their own thoughts and conversations. ‘If the glass is significant, it was left behind because it was meant to be found.’
Alex got close to a curtain and raised her chin to whisper to him. ‘We arrived after Mrs Meeker died. We don’t know a thing about what happened here. Even Bill Lamb can’t argue with that. I want to see if they’d let us leave on those grounds. If we could persuade Daisy we’re a better alternative than Polly – and make it clear her father can’t leave – she might be too tired to fight it. She could come back with us.’
‘Sebastian’s the only one who could persuade her. And I believe Bill could argue anything just to keep the balance of power in his own court. Sebastian’s coming this way.’
They both turned to face Sebastian and Daisy who drew close. ‘What do you think?’ Sebastian said. Daisy twisted in his arm to look at Tony and Alex.
‘I don’t think this is good for a little girl,’ Tony said, aiming a serious and very grown-up look at Daisy. ‘This isn’t much fun, is it?’
‘It’s very not fun,’ Daisy said. ‘Is Mrs Meeker going to wake up? Did they mean she’s dead for certain sure?’
Tears were coming too easily to Alex. She blinked them back and shook her head.
Daisy touched her face. ‘I said it makes you sad. Daddy, can we go away from here?’
‘I’m going to ask to talk to O’Reilly,’ Alex said quickly, with a hard stare at Sebastian. ‘I want to get away from here, too, and I think we can. We’re just bystanders. I’ll leave you three to talk.’
A policeman was stationed outside the room, to the left of the door. Alex stood in front of him as he started into his spiel about not leaving the room, and smiled at him.
‘I’d like to talk to Chief Inspector O’Reilly, please. It’s important.’
The man looked pained. ‘Is there a message I can pass on, madam?’
‘Thank you for offering but I’d better talk to him directly about this. He’d want that.’
With a sigh, the grizzled officer used his radio, asked someone else to pass along that ‘one of the family’ wanted to speak to the guv’nor.
As she felt the approach of an instruction to go back into the sitting room, she heard footsteps coming down flights of stairs. The house was three stories high and there were plenty of stairs.
When Dan appeared from the hall, he pushed his hands in his trouser pockets and didn’t look happy. ‘Which family member?’ he asked the officer, not looking at Alex.
‘He means me,’ Alex said. She didn’t smile or feel moved to do so. ‘I didn’t say who I am. A moment please, chief inspector.’
Dan did smile. His jaw creased along the line of his scar but his smile was disarming. ‘Of course, Ms Duggins.’ He indicated for her to follow him back toward the hall.
‘Tony and I haven’t been here today. We weren’t here when whatever has happened, happened.’
He looked at the sweep of gleaming banister, following it up the stairs as if momentarily lost in his own thoughts.
‘Dan?’
‘Yes?’ he said. She got one of his penetrating stares. ‘You were saying you haven’t been here. Your point?’
She began to feel irritated. ‘We have nothing to do with this house or anything that happens in it. Would it be okay with you if we went back to the clinic. Bogie needs checking and Katie needs to go outside – so does Bogie.’
‘How interesting.’
‘Whew.’ She blew upward at a trailing curl. ‘This isn’t getting any easier. Could we please leave? We’re hoping to take Daisy with us again.’
‘That didn’t go so well the last time.’
‘She can’t stay here,’ Alex told him. ‘Tony and Sebastian are chatting with her in there and with luck that will put her more at ease. You don’t have to worry. We’ll go to the clinic, bed Daisy down and stay there until her father can pick her u
p.’
In typical Dan fashion, he looked at his shoes before raising his face again. ‘Any thoughts on what went on here tonight?’
It took a moment to register what he’d asked. ‘All I got was a perfunctory glance. I bet forensics has that tumbler safely packed up and labeled.’
He wasn’t amused. ‘Yes. And unless that thermos took flight from the church, we’ll find that, too.’
‘I wonder if Laura and Mrs Meeker died the same way. Do you think they did?’
He took her by the elbow and led her to stand in the open front door. A policeman was on guard at the bottom of the steps.
‘Maybe we’ll get some sun tomorrow,’ Dan said. ‘It’s time something brightened up around here.’ He kept holding her arm. His scent was something ordinary and masculine – nice.
‘I really couldn’t answer your question, but you know that.’
‘Have they finished the final tests on Laura?’
He considered. ‘Yes.’
‘So you know how she died?’
‘Yes.’
‘But you really couldn’t tell me, could you.’
‘You learn fast. I’m going to let you and Tony go to the clinic. Is there somewhere you can get some rest there?’
She looked up at him quickly, but didn’t rise to the bait. ‘Absolutely. Thanks for caring.’
‘All right. Go and see if the child will go with you and don’t go anywhere else but the clinic.’
Without a word, she left him there, staring at a sky that could easily portend a fine day to come.
Back in the sitting room she found the cheery Polly handing mugs of tea around. Daisy had taken a biscuit but preferred keeping a hand on Sebastian to holding a glass of milk.
Tony and Sebastian had both declined tea. Alex rejoined them with a deliberate smile stretching her mouth. ‘Tony and I may go back to the clinic,’ she told Sebastian, raising her eyebrows in question.
‘Lucky you. It looks as if we remain here for the duration.’
‘We have to go and see my dog, Bogie,’ Alex said, widening her smile at Daisy. ‘And Katie, Tony’s dog.’
‘I didn’t see them there,’ Daisy said promptly. She wore her green-flecked glasses again and they turned her into an even more serious-looking child than before. ‘I liked Bogie.’
Anything they said would sound contrived but Tony took an audible breath and said, ‘If you like, you can come back with us and help with the dogs. Then your daddy would come and get you when all this is finished here.’
Daisy looked at her father while Alex held her breath.
‘Will you be all right if I go?’ Daisy asked. ‘It’s not far and perhaps you won’t be long.’
‘Well … yes, I’ll be all right. But you must promise me to at least lie down and rest. After the dogs go back to sleep, that is.’
A sudden bellow startled them all. Percy Quillam had risen from a corner on a couch where he had sunk into an evil mood that showed. ‘What are you three babbling on about over there?’ he shouted. ‘How do you know each other? Sonia, have you seen them together before? Who are those two?’
‘Alex owns the pub, darling,’ Sonia said without registering surprise at her husband’s manner and tone. ‘And Tony is the local vet. If you weren’t so standoffish, you’d have met them, too, wouldn’t he, Elyan?’
Wanting to duck out on this conversation and get going, Alex said, ‘It’s nice to meet you, Mr Quillam. I’m very sorry for your losses.’
He stared at her across the beautiful, cold room and the experience wasn’t pleasant. ‘Bloody strangers in a man’s house,’ he muttered.
‘We have to leave everyone,’ Tony said and Daisy held out her arms to him. He looked pleased to carry her and helped Sebastian slip her cardigan on. ‘Good night to you. I’m so sorry.’
‘What the fuck is that!’ Quillam said, rocking up onto his toes.
‘Percy!’
Percy wasn’t to be chastised by Sebastian or anyone else. ‘Fucking racket will wake the dead.’ He smirked at his own sick little joke.
There was a racket indeed, coming from the area of the foyer. Through the open door Alex saw Wells Giglio all but fall into the hall. He hadn’t spent much time in Folly as far as she knew but a good deal of that had been at the Black Dog where he was already a great favorite thanks to his willing wallet and largesse.
Sonia went to him and took his arm. ‘Wells, where have you been? You said you were going to the bathroom.’
‘And going, and going,’ Percy intoned. ‘Until he quite disappeared. Why did you come back?’
‘This is the first time I’ve seen him since we arrived,’ Alex said.
Sonia had shifted to drape Wells’ arm around her shoulders while she held him up and they shuffled forward together. She was stronger than she looked.
The man’s bleary eyes didn’t focus. A silly grin made a complete distortion of his face. ‘Been in and out.’ He wagged a finger. ‘Tiptoed, through the tulips … into the rose garden and out the back way. Thank god we can park out there and get away. Only drove once, though. Just went and came back. Thought it was time.’
‘Snotty upstart’s been tippling all night,’ Percy roared. ‘Bathroom, my eye. The Bottle and Bog, what!’ He giggled delightedly to himself.
‘Can we just go?’ Alex said. ‘Before someone says we have to stay?’
Sonia and Wells were in the room where Elyan took over custody and pushed Wells into a chair.
‘Life of the place, I was,’ Wells said. ‘You should have heard them when I spread all the news.’
‘What place?’ Elyan asked.
‘Only place in this manure heap. Black Dog. They asked and I told them. About time someone told ’em what’s going on. Only fair.’ He burped, and sniggered.
‘Got to go again,’ he added, struggling to rise. ‘Delhi belly’s a hell of a thing.’
TWENTY-FIVE
‘Good grief,’ Tony said, pulling into the car park at the back of the clinic. ‘What are they doing here?’
‘How did they get here,’ Alex responded ducking to peer at the Burke sisters, bundled in coats and scarves and seated on folding chairs by the back steps. She looked over her shoulder at the sleeping Daisy in the car seat her father had produced. ‘If we could get her inside without waking her it would be a relief. Stay with Daisy. I’ll make sure our reception committee knows to be quiet.’
The two old ladies dispatched the first question before it was asked. ‘Kev Winslet never says no to a bit of extra,’ Harriet said. ‘We got hold of him on his mobile while he was still at the Dog and he picked us up on his way.’
‘There’s a little girl asleep in the car,’ Alex said. ‘She belongs to the man who is Elyan Quillam’s piano tutor. We’re bringing her back here to get her away from all the activity at Green Friday. The police—’
‘We know all about it,’ Mary said, her headscarf propped up in the middle by her mantilla comb.
Alex frowned. ‘The Black Dog closed hours ago.’
‘We’ve been here a long time,’ Harriet said. ‘But we came prepared.’ Each woman held a plastic mug of tea and had a blanket spread over her knees. ‘That Kev Winslet is a piece of work. Why the Derwinters don’t find a different gamekeeper, I can’t imagine. Probably too busy being important to know what any of their staff get up to.’
‘Tony’s going to carry Daisy in, hopefully without waking her up, and we’ll try to settle her down. Follow us in and wait in the passageway until we can see which room will be free.’
She didn’t wait for an answer, but didn’t hear one. Beckoning Tony to join her, she walked back. He was out and quietly sliding the door shut before opening the one behind his seat to unbuckle Daisy. He managed to transfer the girl, still sleeping, to his shoulder and they walked as quietly as they could to the cottage.
As he passed the sisters, Tony waggled fingers at them but didn’t speak. Alex admired his discipline.
Inside, he didn’t pause before go
ing to a very narrow flight of stairs and treading softly upward. In a little bedroom with curtains drawn over the window and a single bed covered with a puffy duvet, he set her down as if she were made of crystal. Daisy promptly rolled on her side, pulled up her knees and slumbered on.
Alex stood on tiptoe and put her mouth to his ear. ‘She’ll be really frightened if she wakes here and doesn’t see a familiar face.’
‘Takes two seconds to run up those stairs and pick her up.’ They both watched Daisy a while. She was obviously in an exhausted sleep. ‘Let’s get our ladies dealt with so we can both be listening. Why are they here?’
She took him by the hand, led him from the room and pulled the door to until it was only open a couple of inches. They left the landing light on. ‘I don’t know,’ Alex told him, on her toes again. ‘I think they’ve been out there for hours. Kev Winslet dropped them off – for a fee, I gather.’
‘He’ll wish he hadn’t,’ Tony muttered. ‘Thoughtless bastard.’
Harriet and Mary stood against a wall in the passageway, holding scarves and coats against their chests. They’d left their chairs and provisions outside.
‘Go in here with Alex,’ Tony said, indicating the miniature sitting room. ‘I need to see to a patient and let Katie out.’
When their visitors had taken seats, one on either side of the fireplace, Alex turned on the electric fire and immediately smelled toasting dust. The fire couldn’t have been used for weeks or even months. ‘Tea?’ she asked quietly – heading for an electric kettle and holding up a box of tea bags.
At least they didn’t grimace, but the ‘No, thank you,’ they both gave was loaded with disapproval.
Katie barked and Alex held her breath, waiting for a cry from Daisy. It didn’t come.
‘We saw that little girl at the playground,’ Mary said. ‘We were out walking. Seems like a nice child, but very quiet. Too grown up. We saw her with a man, probably her father, and we didn’t go into the playground. Flashy car parked there. Green sports car. They all have expensive vehicles – and expensive everything else.’
Melody of Murder Page 18
