Would Claire stop him?
No. Claire stepped aside to let him rush at Ellie with his big hands outstretched …
Big hands reaching for her neck …
With a roar, Ambrose leaped. He thrust Ellie aside and threw Hector backwards against the wall …
A confusion of blows and a thud.
Hector, eyes closing, slid down the wall and lay there like a broken doll.
Dead? No, he was still breathing. But knocked out, definitely unconscious. Thank the Lord.
Ambrose breathed heavily, fists clenched, glaring down at Hector.
No one spoke.
Someone giggled.
Claire.
The giggling turned to hysteria.
‘Oh … what have you done!’
Ambrose continued to stare at Hector.
Claire wept and laughed.
Ellie reached, slowly and carefully, into her handbag for her phone.
Ambrose lifted his arms to heaven. ‘Yes, what have I done?’ He collapsed into a heap on the floor and wound his arms around his head.
A stir in the doorway, and Thomas came into view. ‘Are you all right, Ellie? I didn’t like your coming up here by yourself … Why … What?’
‘I’m all right, thank you, Thomas,’ said Ellie, in a voice that wobbled. ‘But I must admit, it’s all got a bit much for me. Hector tried to kill me, oh dear me, yes. Ambrose … he needs … He needs you, I think.’ And into the phone: ‘Ambulance and police, please.’
Thomas knelt down by Ambrose and lifted him into his arms.
Ambrose said, over and over, ‘Why? What did I do wrong? Why, why, why?’
Thomas said, ‘Pride, Ambrose.’
Ambrose said, ‘Help me?’
A week later, over tea and cake
Lesley said, ‘Hector’s come out of his coma. The first thing he did was to ask for a solicitor so that he can sue Ambrose for assault.’
Ellie shook her head. ‘Hector was aiming to kill me, and Ambrose stopped him. I’ll testify to that in court, if necessary. I’m glad Hector’s not dead … At least, I suppose I ought to be, but he did kill those girls.’
‘Ambrose packs quite a punch.’
‘It’s fortunate for me that he does.’ She sighed. ‘This whole sorry situation was partly his fault. He didn’t want to look too closely at all the help he was being offered, because it was making his life so much easier and forwarding his career. That was his big mistake. When he eventually realized how Claire and Hector had been propping up his project, he saw red. I’m sure he didn’t intend to murder Hector, but he did want to hurt him as well as push me out of harm’s way.’
Ambrose had clung to Thomas for the three long days in which he’d moved into Ellie’s house. An uncomfortable guest; by turns spiky, weepy and full of rage. Thomas abandoned his own work to help Ambrose through a full-scale breakdown. Finally, he managed to persuade the broken man to see a consultant, who whisked Ambrose away to a quiet retreat house, where he could talk through his problems and decide what to do with the rest of his life. Much to Ellie’s relief.
Claire had been sectioned. Unfit to plead. Claire had opted out of reality, as she’d opted out of taking responsibility for so much of her life.
Lesley ate more of the cake and allowed Midge on to her lap. Midge kept a beady eye on Lesley’s plate. Perhaps, if he were very good, the woman would be so kind as to let him have a bit with cream on?
Ellie said, ‘It’s quite clear now that it was Hector, and not Malcolm, who killed the girls?’
‘It is. Let’s hope Malcolm doesn’t start chatting up any more females before he comes up in court on the other, minor, charges.’
‘I hope he gets a suspended sentence. Or community work. What a mess. They all started off with such high hopes …’
‘Only to collide with real life. And if I don’t get back to the station soon, reality will catch up with me, too.’
Later that week
Diana had brought little Evan round, purportedly to visit his granny, but really to see if Ellie would babysit that evening. Diana put Evan down and produced her smartphone. ‘What time can you make it?’
Evan was a child who knew what he wanted out of life and usually got it. He was walking and talking, after a fashion. He said, ‘Wose.’ He still couldn’t pronounce his ‘r’s properly yet, and so ‘Rose’ had turned into ‘Wose’. He toddled straight out of the sitting room and into the hall.
Ellie said, ‘Sorry, Diana. I can’t tonight. Thomas and I are going out to friends for supper.’ She started after Evan. ‘Haven’t you told him that Rose is dead?’
‘Mm? I think I did. By the way, you might like the details of …’
Ellie hurried across the hall in Evan’s wake. Susan was in the process of reorganizing the kitchen, and heaven only knew what havoc Evan could create if he was in there by himself. Where had the little rascal got to? He wasn’t by the dishwasher, which was grounds for rejoicing. What Evan could do by way of emptying the dishwasher was nobody’s business.
Diana followed her, looking at her smartphone. ‘… I went to see this wonderful woman, and I thought you might like to pay her a visit as well. Well, can you babysit tomorrow instead?’
‘Um? No, sorry. Vera and Dan and Mikey are coming over for supper. What woman was that?’ Where was Evan? In the broom cupboard? No. Had he got as far as the larder? No.
Diana was put out. ‘Don’t you want to look after your grandson? Oh, someone who took the curse off me.’
‘Really?’ Ellie could hardly believe that Diana had taken the curse seriously.
‘Yes. She’s amazing, if a bit pricey. Not that I believe in such things, of course.’
‘Um? Oh. Yes, of course … There you are, Evan.’
He’d managed somehow or other to get up on to Rose’s big old chair and was sitting there with an expression of amazement on his face. In his hand he held the silver bell which Rose and, before her, Miss Quicke had been accustomed to use when they needed attention.
He rang the bell. His mouth and eyes wide.
He looked up at the grown-ups, to check that they shared his surprise and delight in the sound he’d made.
‘That’s Rose’s bell, isn’t it?’ said Diana. ‘Is it clean enough for him to handle?’
‘Wose.’ Evan twisted in the chair, looking behind him. He’d sat on Rose’s knee on that chair since he was so high, and before that she’d fed him in his high chair from it. That chair meant Rose to him.
‘Wose,’ he said again and held the bell high. And laughed.
Diana held out her hand. ‘Give it to me, Evan. You don’t know where it’s been.’
Thunderclouds gathered on his brow. He might be young in years, but he knew what he wanted, and he wasn’t about to give up his new toy.
Ellie got the biscuit tin out and tried for a distraction. She held out a biscuit in either hand. ‘Here you are, Evan.’ Thinking he’d drop the bell to take the biscuits. He didn’t.
He considered her offer, took one biscuit off her and ate it, still holding on to the bell with his free hand. Then he took the other. And made the bell chime again.
Diana lifted him up and tickled him. That worked. He giggled and dropped the bell. Ellie replaced it on the ledge at the back of the chair, while Diana started walking back to the hall, allowing Evan to drop to the ground as she accessed information on her smartphone with one hand. ‘Well, how about next week? Can you babysit on Monday?’
‘I’m afraid he’s getting too strong for me to handle.’ Ellie watched, fascinated, as Evan made his way back to the kitchen, climbed on to Rose’s chair and claimed the bell again.
‘Wose’s bell,’ he said, nodding. ‘Evan’s, now.’
‘Yes,’ said Ellie. ‘It’s yours now. Look after it, won’t you?’ And to Diana, ‘I think he might turn out to be musical.’
Diana’s eyes lit up. Ellie could see her daughter was envisaging Evan striding on to the stage as a concert pianist or conducting on
e of the world’s greatest orchestras.
Well, we all have dreams for our children, don’t we?
Murder by Suspicion Page 26
