He turned a dull red. ‘No, she’s not. She’s a real cracker. Gail used to laugh at me, and I never, ever … No, I didn’t. I never touched her that way. But Karen, well, she came back from school while I was sitting at the back of the van, having a cuppa from my flask of tea, and she stopped to talk to me, winding her hair round her finger, pushing her hip out at me and licking her lips. All the signs of … Well, I didn’t know what to think. I told her that they’d found Gail, because I thought Karen might know her, and she did, of course, and she said that Gail had had it coming to her, but that she, Karen, knew a thing or two, and couldn’t she have a sip from my cup and … well, I could feel myself getting all hot and bothered, you know … and she climbed up into the van and shut the door, and … I hadn’t realized how much I’d been wanting it, until then. She kept saying what a big boy I was, and she stroked me and … until … and then … Afterwards I felt great, but of course I knew it was foolish, more than foolish. But she bounced up and sat in the front seat and asked where we could go so that we could do it again, and it was like all my dreams come true.’
Ellie tried to think straight. Had all this been happening outside in Malcolm’s van while she’d been inside the house talking to Dolores? It sounded like it. And she’d missed it completely!
Malcolm said, ‘Only, then she said she needed a drink and promised I could have some more of what she had to offer if I took her to a pub, but she said it couldn’t be local or someone might see her and tell her mother, who was strictly off the booze, so I came back to these parts where she’s not known, and then she said it would be more comfortable if I had a bed to offer, and … well, it was quite something. But, later that evening, when I suggested I took her home, she … Karen is not … I mean, she’s got a mind of her own, and once she’d seen the set-up here, she started bossing me around and … Don’t get me wrong, sex is wonderful, but it’s not love, or anything. It’s like … having flu. And I’m over it. I’m not worried about her doing it with Edward, because of course he wanted to have his turn, and she … she loves it! She’s always thinking up new … Don’t get me wrong. We still do it, now and then, but I don’t think we should get married or anything. I know I brought her here and didn’t tell her mother, and yes, it was my responsibility to see that she got back home, but … you don’t know what she’s like. Every time I suggested she ought to ring her mother she threw a wobbly, and I realized, too late, that it was a mistake to give in to her. She’s not … well, she’s not my sort.’
He sent a look of uneasy triumph in Edward’s direction. ‘She does say I’m better value.’
‘Hah!’ said Edward. ‘She tells me that, too.’
Ellie wanted to laugh, even though it was a dreadful situation. The two young bucks each trying to out-sex one another. She said, ‘Was it you, Malcolm, or was it Edward, who finally got Karen to ring the police while you were driving around?’
Edward laughed. ‘It was Malcolm’s idea, but we did it in my car. It worked, didn’t it?’
‘And now …?’
The words dragged out of Malcolm. ‘I want rid of her. Safely. I don’t want her around any longer, but I don’t want her to get killed like the others. Aunt Agnes said she thought you might help.’
Ellie took a deep breath. ‘She’s here in this house, at this very minute, isn’t she? Listening to everything we’ve said?’
Agnes twitched her eyes towards the hall. ‘Oh, no. I don’t think so.’
The others looked that way, too.
It was the cue for Karen to enter.
SIXTEEN
Ellie got up and wrenched the door open. ‘Do join us, Karen.’ And then she gaped, because the girl in the doorway had no hair.
None.
Bald as the proverbial coot.
Malcolm cried, ‘It wasn’t me, honest. I didn’t, I wouldn’t …’
Edward gave a high-pitched laugh, which descended into a giggle. ‘Oh, Malcolm, you bit off more than you could chew with this one.’
Karen minced into the room on some of the highest heels Ellie had ever seen. She was smoking and wearing a glittery, sleeveless top, the tightest of jeans and a mountain of make-up. Eyebrows, false eyelashes, eyeliner, foundation, blusher, the lot. Her skull shone white against the tan on her arms and shoulders.
She was stunningly, shockingly beautiful. Her hair had been a tousled mess; unkempt, dry, half brown and half yellow. Now everyone could see what a pretty shape her head was. She no longer looked like a schoolgirl from St Trinian’s. She looked like one of the amazing women from outer space to be seen in Hollywood films.
‘So …?’ She threw herself, legs sprawling, on to the settee beside Edward.
Agnes said, in a dull voice, ‘She did it to herself. She got into a tantrum, wanting Malcolm to spring to bleach and some more new clothes. When he said he couldn’t afford to spend any more money on her, she took his razor and shaved her head.’
Karen blew smoke. ‘So what? I said, it’ll save him a bleach job at the hairdressers. I thought he might spring to a tattoo. I rather fancy a tattoo.’ She addressed Ellie. ‘So you’re the rich woman who’s going to set me up in business, are you? I really did fancy running a tattoo parlour at one time. I used to think how it would be, all those beautiful, hunky men coming in to have themselves decorated, but this … this is much better.’ She ran sharp, scarlet fingernails down Edward’s arm.
He laughed again. Was he sexually aroused because Karen had done it to him, and not to Malcolm? He was certainly looking at Malcolm and not at Karen.
Malcolm muttered, ‘It’s not funny.’
Karen lay back with her bald head on Edward’s shoulder. ‘I like Edward. He’s so full of good ideas. I like Malcolm, too. He gets so hot and bothered, he makes me laugh.’ She handed her cigarette butt to Edward. ‘Put this out for me. If I drop it on the floor, dear auntie will have another fit. I’m in her bad books, you see. I can’t cook, and I don’t see any reason why I should do the housework for her. Or for Malcolm. He brought me here, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s up to him to look after me.’ She pointed one scarlet-tipped finger at Ellie. ‘Auntie here seems to think I can be bought off. I warn you, you’ll have to come up with something good. I like it here, and if I had something regular coming in, I wouldn’t mind staying.’
‘Out of the question,’ said Ellie, dazed by this turn of events.
Karen smiled. Not nicely. ‘Then I’ll just have to toddle along to the police station and have these dear people arrested. Malcolm told me all about Jenna and Gail. I knew Gail from school. The police will be so thrilled to hear what happened to her and to Jenna. Twenty years apiece for the boys, I should think. I don’t suppose Auntie Agnes or the old man will last that long, but you never know. They’ll only be fit for an old people’s home when they come out … if they ever do.’
‘What! What?’ the old man started up again. He looked around, seemingly not sure where he was or what he was doing there. He struggled to his feet and reached for his walker. ‘I’ve got to visit the little boy’s room.’ He tottered off to the hall and beyond.
‘Same here,’ said Ellie, following him.
Agnes twittered to her feet. ‘Mrs Quicke, there’s one through the kitchen and another upstairs. Let me put out a clean towel for you.’
‘Upstairs? I’ll find it.’ Ellie needed time to think.
Up the stairs she went. There were four doors on the first-floor landing. Overlooking the road was the master bedroom, all flowered wallpaper and curtains. There was built-in furniture, painted white with gilt trims, and a flounced dressing-table. Clearly, this was the marital bedroom, and Agnes still occupied it.
Next to it was a small bedroom over the porch. It had the unused look of a spare room, occupied occasionally. An old-fashioned wooden cot stood under the window, waiting for the grand-babies to make an appearance.
At the back, overlooking the garden, was the bedroom in which Edward had had his wicked way with the girls from next door. A dou
ble bed, rumpled. A man’s dressing-gown hung behind the door, a woman’s underwear was strewn around. Ellie picked up a shopping bag from Zara’s, tissue paper and cashmere. Karen knew what she wanted, didn’t she? Ellie could see her poring over fashion magazines, thinking she’d have this garment or that when she was rich … or had struck lucky with a wealthy suitor.
The bathroom. Oh. Ellie almost backed out again. A powerful scent. Clumps of dirty particoloured hair on every surface. This was where Karen had shaved her head?
There was a rim around the bath. Towels had been used and thrown on the floor in a puddle of water. Make-up items were everywhere; opened, used and left without their lids. A magazine had been propped up against the window, showing how a film star applied her make-up. Ellie recognized the look and had to admit that Karen was a quick learner. But the cosmetics she’d chosen … Whew! No wonder Malcolm was pleading poverty.
A timid knock on the half-open door. Agnes, with a clean hand-towel. ‘I’m sorry about the mess. When I saw it …! She says the mirror is better in here than in Malcolm’s bathroom, and of course last night she was out at the disco with Edward and slept late … I did say she should clear it up, but … you can see what she’s like.’
Ellie nodded. Yes, she could see.
There were tears in Agnes’ eyes. ‘You’re not going to go to the police, are you? Malcolm doesn’t deserve … And poor old Emmanuel, he’s said all along that we ought not to have let things get out of hand, but now they have and …’ She clasped her hands in a prayerful position.
‘I don’t know what to think,’ said Ellie, with truth. ‘Thank you for the towel.’
She pushed Agnes gently out of the bathroom, locked the door, cleaned round the toilet and washbasin, and replaced the caps and lids on the make-up. Then she sat on the toilet, wondering if she could possibly make her escape out of the bathroom window … and realized that at her age and with her, er, not exactly supple limbs, she couldn’t.
Dear Lord, I didn’t see this coming. What am I to do? Help, please!
In fact, Edward’s the only one of the lot of them whom I think ought to be locked up. His conduct is disgraceful. But that’s not how the law of the land works, is it?
Poor Malcolm. Foolish, soft-hearted. Yes, he’s behaved in idiotic fashion, but he doesn’t deserve to be hanged, drawn and quartered … Not that they do that nowadays … although I suppose he’d think going to prison would be just as painful.
Agnes. Covering for that nasty son of hers. Understandable, if unwise. But that’s parents for you.
Emmanuel. Probably thinks he’s well out of it. Neither of his sons is involved in this situation. Or are they? That’s a nasty thought.
Karen. I have absolutely no idea what to do about her. Help, please!
Ellie began to laugh at the thought of Karen turning the tables on those two silly young men. Oh, their faces when they realized what she was like. Worse, far worse than Gail …
Not, of course, that one could condone kidnapping. But then, it wasn’t exactly kidnapping, either, because if you believed Malcolm – and Ellie did – then all three girls had taken the initiative. No, it wasn’t kidnapping, but it was … There would be a law covering it. Detention of a minor? Something like that. Except that, according to them, they were only guilty of taking in girls who had run away from home.
What about the two deaths? Ah, that was a different matter altogether. Ellie did not feel at all inclined to laugh about them.
She unlocked the door and went downstairs and into the kitchen, from which she could hear shuffling noises. Emmanuel, at the sink, washing his hands over and over. He said, ‘You will help us, won’t you?’
Ellie said truthfully, ‘I really don’t know. Mr Cook, when Claire said the boys had been interfering with her, she spoke the truth, didn’t she?’
He went on washing his hands. ‘They said not.’
‘They gave one another an alibi. I get that.’
‘My boys said she made it up.’
‘They’re well out of it, aren’t they?’
His chin went down. And up. Perhaps he’d nodded. Perhaps it was the onset of Parkinson’s. He transferred his attention to drying his hands, finger by finger, on a towel.
‘They don’t listen to me. Think I’m past it. You see, I was well into middle age when we had the boys, and I suppose I’ve been more like a grandfather than a father to them. Now, don’t you get the wrong idea: they’re good lads, and they come back to see me when they can. I’ve always been fond of Agnes, and I don’t like seeing her in trouble. There’s too much of an age gap for her to think of marrying me. I’d have her like a shot if she would, but there … It wouldn’t be fair to her … even if she agreed, which she hasn’t. I have a little money saved. Could you use it to help her? Can’t you fix it so that she doesn’t have to go to prison?’
He was being realistic, wasn’t he?
She said, ‘Can you “fix” Edward?’
His neck swelled, and he began to laugh. She patted him on his back when he began to choke. He took long, slow breaths. ‘Thanks.’
Ellie said, ‘What about Agnes’s other son? Would he be any help to her in this? Get her a good lawyer, for instance.’
He shook his head. ‘He’s another like Edward. Two peas in a pod. Take after their father, God rest him.’ He gave her a shrewd look. ‘So you’ve decided not to throw good money after bad?’
‘That’s one way of putting it. I haven’t exactly decided what to do, but it’s in my mind that it’s no good doing something wrong, hoping that good will come of it. I don’t think Malcolm meant any harm, but he treated those girls as if they were adults and had the right to take control of their lives, whereas by law they were still school children and not capable of deciding things for themselves. Malcolm has wasted a lot of police time, and something else: he didn’t intend to put the girls in danger, but that’s what he did.’
‘He didn’t kill those girls, and neither did Edward.’
‘Proving who did might be tricky because the police were not brought on to the scene of the crime when the girls were killed. There might well have been forensic evidence in Malcolm’s house which could have led the police to the murderer. Instead, he decided to cover up the deaths. I think there’s a law about not reporting a death as well.’
He didn’t want to think about that. ‘But if it wasn’t the boys – and it wasn’t – then who else could it be?’
‘Let’s go and ask them, shall we?’
Agnes had set about clearing the tea things away. Noisily. Casting baleful glances at her uninvited guest.
Malcolm was locked into his own thoughts. Edward was stroking Karen’s head. Karen lay back, eyes half closed, enjoying the attention. She had another cigarette between her fingers. Agnes plonked an ashtray on to the arm of the settee. Karen, typically, ignored it.
Agnes looked up when Ellie and Emmanuel returned. ‘You’ve decided to help us?’
‘Not so fast. First things first. Malcolm, you are concerned for Karen’s safety. I think you’re right to be afraid for her.’
‘You believe me?’
‘I do. If she stays here, she’ll go the way the others did.’
Karen lifted heavy eyelids. ‘You don’t frighten me. Go on, Edward: don’t stop.’
Ellie wanted to slap the girl, but refrained. With difficulty. ‘Karen, both the girls Malcolm brought home in the past ended up dead. What makes you think you won’t meet the same fate?’
‘Well, neither of the boys want to kill me, do they?’
‘No. But someone else knew about the other girls, didn’t they? Come on, think about it. Surely you must have suspected …’ Ellie could hardly believe that they hadn’t worked it out.
Both young men shook their heads. So did Agnes and Emmanuel.
Ellie realized that if they’d never seen Ambrose in action, or understood how the Vision worked, they probably wouldn’t ever have had cause to suspect him.
‘Malcolm, who
is the only other person who knows about the girls being here?’
‘Claire, you mean? But she wouldn’t have killed them.’
Ellie said, ‘I don’t think for a minute that she did, but I would like you all to consider what sort of person Claire has become and why. I believe that in your teens you boys did interfere with her.’
‘Certainly not!’ said Agnes, colouring up.
‘Oh, come on!’ said Edward, rolling his eyes. ‘Why would we want to play around with that whiny little monster?’
Ellie sighed. ‘Of course, you denied it. Yes, you covered for one another. But it did happen, didn’t it, Malcolm?’
Malcolm, eyes on the carpet, nodded.
Ellie said, ‘I suspect Edward started it.’
Edward laughed, neither denying nor admitting it.
‘And then,’ said Ellie, ‘it was Edward, wasn’t it, who lost Claire her job at the supermarket?’
Edward explained it to Karen. ‘I asked one of her bosses to look into the matter, yes. They’d dismissed someone who’d quarrelled with Claire at work and had fallen sick. I said, “When Claire takes a dislike to someone, they’d better watch out, especially if she’s always making the tea or coffee!” It turned out she’d been putting something in her colleague’s drink which made her dizzy and unable to operate her computer. Also, Claire told the woman she’d got someone to lay a curse on her. Talk about the Dark Ages! You won’t believe this, but the poor creature got the local dog-collar round to exorcize her. Yes, I did ask someone to look into it; the woman was reinstated, and Claire got the sack.’
Ellie frowned. ‘Claire knew it was you who’d got her the sack?’
‘Of course. But she couldn’t do anything to harm me.’ A flashing smile.
‘I wouldn’t count on it,’ said Ellie. ‘As for you, Malcolm. You knew that your mother wanted to leave her estate divided between the Vision and Claire. You destroyed the unsigned will she’d written to that effect, which meant that when your mother died, you could produce an earlier will which left ten thousand to Claire and the rest to you.’
Murder by Suspicion Page 22
