Murder by Suggestion

by Veronica Heley

  Except for the emails. But no, they were rubbish. Any half-good barrister would laugh those out of court. Lesley had said she wanted to see them, but what good would that do?

  Ellie had enough to worry about, with Thomas having gone out in a state, and her little grandson having been whisked away by Evan and Monique. Let sleeping dogs lie.

  She stood up and collected eyes. ‘We are all waiting for Diana, who has gone, as you’ve guessed, to see if a solicitor can help you all. I expect you will like to hear from her before you make plans for the future. Meanwhile, I don’t have unlimited accommodation here, but I think I can find beds for you for tonight.’

  FIVE

  Drooping heads revived, except for Trish’s, which sank even lower. Trish was falling asleep? With a sigh, she put her head down and curled up on the settee. She was worn out. Barbie and Russet made room for her.

  Ellie said, ‘Yes, leave her be. She’s had a rough day.’

  Barbie was frowning. ‘Do you really mean you can put us up tonight? I mean, it would be wonderful, but won’t it be a lot of work?’

  Ellie said, ‘Some of the beds are not made-up. I’ll have to find sheets and some of you may have to have old-fashioned blankets instead of duvets, but if you don’t mind roughing it for a night?’

  ‘That is very good of you. We’re very grateful,’ said Russet, and sounded as if she meant it.

  Kat said, ‘I will help. I make beds good.’

  ‘Thank you, Kat,’ said Ellie. ‘Now, it’s going to be a problem to fit you all in. Diana is in my big guest room on the left after the master bedroom, but there are two more bedrooms at the end of the corridor which I suggest Barbie and Russet might like to occupy tonight. The big room at the end has a double bed in it but has not been made-up. The smaller room at the side is the one used by my grandson for sleepovers, and if you don’t mind using his sheets, one of you can move in there straight away. On the other side of the house there’s a bedroom which can be reached by the stairs off the corridor to the kitchen. I suggest Trish has that, and I’ll see what I can do for Kat in a minute.’

  Barbie revived enough to stand up. ‘You have some kind of cook person who could help us carry our stuff upstairs?’

  ‘No,’ said Ellie. ‘She is not a cook person. She is a student at the university who rents the top-floor flat from me. I suggest you take what you need for tonight upstairs with you and leave the remainder in the hall. Right? Get yourselves settled in, and then perhaps you’d like a short rest while I see if I can find something in the freezer for supper.’

  ‘You are very good,’ said Barbie. ‘Thank you.’

  Barbie and Russet went off together, arguing in friendly terms about who should have the big room at the end of the corridor.

  Ellie guessed it would be Barbie. She began collecting the dirty cups and saucers and rescued the empty biscuit tin from under a chair.

  Kat stood up. ‘I help you, no? Or I look after Trish?’

  Trish was asleep, tears on her cheeks and her bruise darkening.

  ‘You look after Trish,’ said Ellie. ‘Do you think she has concussion?’

  Kat felt Trish’s forehead and checked her pulse. Kat knew what she was doing. ‘No fever. Pulse normal.’

  Ellie paused, loaded tray in her hands. ‘Might she be pregnant?’

  Kat sighed deeply. ‘No. She wished for children so much. When they marry, he say she can have one baby, but then he make excuses, all the time excuses. She hopes he will change his mind, but it does not happen. He has two grown-up children who have nothing to do with him. He is older than Trish, you understand.’

  ‘Poor thing.’ Ellie took her laden tray out to the kitchen and dumped it on the table. Then went back for the other. Her mobile rang and she answered … only to find it wasn’t her mobile making that noise, but the front door. A long ring and a short buzz, repeated. Lesley?

  Ellie opened the door to let her friend in and signalled silence by putting her finger to her lips. ‘Someone’s asleep. Go through to the kitchen, and I’ll join you there.’

  Lesley’s eyebrows rose but she did as Ellie suggested.

  Ellie took a moment to phone Diana. Ring, ring. The call went to voicemail again. What was Diana up to?

  Ellie peeped into the sitting room and noted that Kat had sunk into a chair and joined Trish in having a nap. Sensible woman. Ellie followed Lesley down the corridor and into the kitchen. With the familiarity of old friends, Lesley helped to pile the dirty dishes into the dishwasher while Ellie reported on the doings of the day: Diana’s arrival, Ellie’s visit to Evan and Monique, and the four women’s stories.

  When Ellie had finished, Lesley said, ‘So, in your opinion Mrs Brewster didn’t kill her husband, and though the men have acted precipitously by dumping their wives en masse, there is no need for the police to get involved. I’d agree except that, as a policewoman, I have a suspicious mind and need to see those emails.’

  ‘You shall. One thing strikes me: they were written weeks ago so I’m wondering why they’ve only come to light now. I’ve arranged for all the women to stay here tonight so you can have a word with them if you wish. Now, what can I find in the freezer that will feed five or six people for supper? Presuming that Thomas returns in one piece.’

  Lesley put her hands on her hips. ‘I know you, Ellie Quicke. Something’s bothering you or you’d have told those women to get lost instead of taking them under your wing.’

  Ellie measured her words. ‘There is no reason I can think of to involve the police, but yes, you’re right: I’m not happy about the situation. However, unless you count the fact that Trish’s husband took a swing at her and she swung back, there’s nothing to report in the way of a crime.’

  ‘Set reason aside. Think blue sky. Or rather, don’t think. Just blurt out whatever comes to mind.’

  Ellie sat down and closed her eyes. She needed a quiet moment for this. She’d been so stirred up by what had happened … Those poor women, some more able to look after themselves than others … Thomas was late, oh dear, that business of the printer going bankrupt sounded serious. What had happened to Diana …? Then, what about the geraniums she’d been potting up this morning when everything began? She hadn’t finished dealing with them, had she? She’d left some on the side, and not in water? Water would keep them going till she could get round to dealing with them again. And her poor little grandson – he must be so bewildered, wanting his mother …

  Dear Lord above. What a mess. I know you are here as well as in church. I haven’t time to tell you all that’s been happening. Oh, how stupid I am. You know, anyway, don’t you? Any words of wisdom for me?

  She quietened herself down. Then, with her eyes still closed, she said, ‘The only thing that bothers me, the only discrepancy that I’ve come across apart from the time lapse … Could this really be all about money?’

  She opened her eyes to meet Lesley’s gaze. Lesley was smiling a crooked little smile. ‘Money? Now you’re talking. Money is the root of all evil, and so on. Are you sure?’

  ‘No, I’m not sure,’ said Ellie, getting cross. ‘You said to enquire within and that bubbled up. I doubt very much that it’s true, except’ – she shifted uneasily – ‘something isn’t right. The way the men reacted is overkill. They got together and conspired to get rid of their wives. Maybe they thought they had cause, but honestly! It was just a joke that they took the wrong way. Except, of course, that Bunny died.

  ‘What I mean is that a joke is a joke. Someone seized on the joke to … to do what? To get themselves a younger and prettier set of wives? That sounds all right if you look at their marital history, each of them having had at least one spouse before. Is that really what this is all about? I tell myself it must be, but they were awfully quick off the mark, weren’t they? They wouldn’t have been half as efficient if Evan’s first wife hadn’t been such a good organizer. I like Monique. I understand her. She was brought in to help Evan and that’s exactly what she did. It’s true she does
n’t think much of Diana as a mother and wife, but—’

  ‘Mm. Who does? Sorry. Rhetorical question.’

  Ellie reddened. ‘Diana has been a good mother to the little boy, she really has. She’s devoted to him and he to her. She’s looked after her husband to the best of her ability, has kept his estate agency going, and never looked at another man.’

  Lesley raised her hands in submission. ‘All right, Ellie. I’ll go along with that. So why do you think it’s to do with money?’

  ‘Kat was Rupert’s housekeeper. He’s a miser, counting every penny. He married her to save himself the cost of her wages. It was he who took the emails to Evan in the first place. Why did he do that? Kat has been a good wife to him, so why would he throw her out? It doesn’t make sense, unless he’s hoping to gain more by losing her than he’s getting now. I don’t understand it.’

  Lesley thought about that. She nodded. ‘Right. You’ve convinced me that something is very wrong there. Show me the emails and I’ll see if there’s something that I can latch on to. If so, I’ll have a word with the wives while they’re here.’

  ‘Help yourself to a cuppa. I don’t think there’s any biscuits left, but you can look.’

  Ellie collected the emails from her handbag in the hall. The house seemed unnaturally quiet. There was no sound from upstairs where Barbie and Russet were presumably settling in. She peeped into the sitting room and saw that Kat was tucking the throw around Trish, who was fast asleep.

  Kat saw Ellie and came to join her in the hall. ‘I help make up beds?’

  ‘Thank you, yes. I’d appreciate that. I’ll just take these papers through to the kitchen for a friend who’s popped in for a cuppa, and we’ll go upstairs to see what we can sort out.’

  Ellie dropped the emails back into Lesley, who was indeed in the process of making herself a cuppa, collected Kat and led the way upstairs to the linen cupboard on the first floor.

  ‘We’ll deal with the big room at the end of the corridor first. A bottom sheet for the double bed, yes. I think the duvet and some pillows are still on the bed there. Here’s a matching duvet cover and pillow cases. Can you take those along for me?’

  Kat did so, while Ellie found linen for the single bed in what used to be her old housekeeper’s room over the kitchen.

  Kat returned, smiling. ‘Russet and Barbie are settling themselves. Barbie will make up her own bed. She is good housewife.’

  Ellie handed her another set of linen. ‘We’ll make up another bed for Trish in the room over the kitchen, and that just leaves you. This evening I will arrange that too. Hopefully. This way.’

  Kat followed Ellie round the stairwell, saying, ‘I can sleep on sofa downstairs, or anywhere.’

  Ellie opened the door into what had once been the housekeeper’s bedroom. ‘I’ll try to arrange something better. This one will do for Trish tonight.’ Ellie slid up the sash window and looked around. ‘It needs airing and redecorating but I don’t suppose Trish will mind.’

  They set to work together to make the bed up.

  Ellie thought this was a good opportunity to get Kat talking. ‘You are worried about Trish?’

  Kat grimaced. ‘That husband, that Terry! Not good, I think. He say, “You must lose weight. You must look more like Barbie and Russet”. Trish, she is built different from them and she try, oh, how she try to please him. She eat nothing. She lose weight too quick, I think. Still he is not pleased. He say, “It is not enough”. It is not possible to please that one, I think.’

  Ellie was horrified. ‘She’s been on one of those crash diets? No wonder she’s fit for nothing. Poor girl! I thought she was too thin for perfect health.’

  Kat shrugged. ‘The men want, what do you say …?’

  ‘Stick insects?’

  ‘What is that, please?’

  ‘Too thin. You can see the bones.’

  Kat nodded. ‘As thin as a stick. I remember that.’

  Ellie ran a finger across the chest of drawers. No dust. Good. Her cleaners were supposed to do every room once a month, but it was good to check.

  Oh, horrors! Her cleaners were due tomorrow morning, Tuesday, to give the house its weekly seeing-to. But with all these people staying, the cleaners would be very much in the way. Ellie took her mobile phone out of her pocket. She would cancel their visit tomorrow. ‘Kat, I have to make a phone call. Can you finish up for me?’

  Ellie hurried out on to the landing. She’d got her cleaners to put their mobile phone numbers on her own phone. She’d never phoned them before. She hoped she’d remember how to do it … Ah, a voice on the other end.

  Ellie quickly explained that she’d unexpectedly got a house full of people, so could she cancel tomorrow’s session? She would, of course, still pay the agency fee.

  ‘Good news for once,’ said the voice. ‘We’ve been run off our feet today. See you next week then.’

  Ellie clicked off the phone, and then stared at it. Could it be that the cleaners she’d used for years had been the same people who had helped evict the wives that day? Ellie was angry with herself. She ought to have asked. But now Kat was hovering, asking a question, and Ellie must answer it.

  ‘Oh, yes, there’s a shower room and toilet next door. I’ll get you some towels.’ She delved into the linen cupboard again and handed Kat the appropriate items. Mission accomplished. Trish could be comfortable here tonight.

  The curtains flapped in the breeze from the open window, and Ellie shut it to keep the warmth in. It looked like more rain to come.

  Ellie said to Kat, ‘I’m worn out, aren’t you? Let’s find somewhere to sit and have a quiet chat before anything else happens.’

  Ellie led the way down the stairs. She tried to think where they could be alone, and turned into the dining room, which was only used once a week for the board meetings of her charitable trust. Pulling out a chair, she said, ‘Now, Kat, could you bear to tell me exactly what your husband said to you this morning when he threw you out?’

  Kat went a dull red. ‘He say I am thief. He say I steal money from him.’

  ‘I’m sure you didn’t. Why would he say that?’

  Kat looked away.

  She’s going to lie. Or perhaps, she’s too embarrassed to say?

  Kat gave a long, long sigh. ‘He give me money for this and that. I write it down in a little book. In my country, on the farm, we wives are very careful. We bargain in the market. We get a little discount. That is our money to keep for ourselves. You understand?’

  ‘Yes, I do. In the old days the farmers’ wives in this country had the right to keep the money from any eggs or butter they sold.’

  ‘So I do that. It is not much, you understand, but I have no money to buy anything with. He pays all the household bills himself. He is very clever. He gets cheap deals. He leave money for the gardener, and the window cleaner. For the food shopping I have a float. He checks the bill and takes the change. Sometimes I go to cheaper supermarket. It is much further to walk but I do it, and he is pleased to save a few pennies. I ask if I can keep that money that I saved him or the money for the bus, but he say it is what I should do as a good wife. One day he give me money for the window cleaner, but the man did not come that day because it rained. I put the money in my tin to pay him next time. My husband did not know the window cleaner did not come because he was at work and did not see. So next month he left me the same money again and I forgot to tell him I already had it, and he found the money and said I stole it. He said I should go back to my own country or he would tell the police on me.’

  ‘That’s ridiculous!’

  ‘He say I should tell him the window cleaner did not come. He say I steal from him.’ She began to rock. ‘Is true. I thought to keep the money myself. So yes, I am a thief. All for a bar of …’ She stopped abruptly.

  ‘A bar of …?’

  Kat reddened. ‘Nothing. I am silly. I stuff my face with sugar, which is not good for me. He is right. I have no willpower.’

  Ellie sai
d, ‘You mean, you wanted to buy some sweets for yourself?’

  ‘Some chocolate. I love chocolate. In the beginning, I get some from the supermarket, but he saw it on the bill. He said to take it back, that he would not buy me things to ruin my teeth and have to go to dentist.’ She began to rock again. ‘Once I ate a big bar, all by myself, all in one afternoon.’

  Ellie was puzzled. ‘Back to this morning. Didn’t he say anything about you wanting to kill him?’

  ‘No.’ She thought about it. Light dawned. ‘Yes, he did. Right at the end. He say that I poison him and I say “Nonsense!” because I am good cook, and he laugh and say to forget it. Then he say again that I must go. So I did.’

  Well, well. So Rupert, who had taken the emails to his friends, didn’t really believe the suggestions were meant seriously, either. Rupert was only interested in saving himself money, which surely he would not do by getting rid of Kat. Poor Kat!

  Ellie leaned forward and took Kat’s hands in hers. ‘You were in an intolerable position. It’s slavery. You worked full-time and received no wages. That’s against the law.’

  ‘No, no!’ Kat produced her sodden hankie and used it. ‘He is my husband. He has the right to say what I do.’

  Ellie thought about that. ‘Kat, you know I said I had a friend who’d dropped in for a cup of tea. She happens to be in the police—’

  Kat recoiled. ‘She is come to arrest me?’

  ‘No, no. Of course not. Please, don’t be afraid. Nothing like that. She is a good person, Kat, and she understands the law better than I do. I think what your husband has done to you is against the law and he ought to be told. He had no right to treat you like that.’

  ‘Yes, yes. He is my husband.’

  ‘I don’t know how it would be in your own country, but here we regard what he has done as wrong. It is unreasonable conduct and I think it would give you grounds for divorce.’

  ‘No, no. I not divorce. You not understand. It is forbidden.’

  ‘It is also forbidden to keep a slave without pay.’