Seven Eight Play It Straight (Grasshopper Lawns Book 4)

by EJ Lamprey

  ‘They have horses still,’ Kirsty wheedled. ‘I checked the circus out when they set up, and the horses are lovely.’

  ‘I can go dressed like this, can’t I?’ Edge glanced down at her sludge-green safari suit. ‘I’d look just the job if they had lions or elephants. Okay, thank you, I’d love that. But I do still need to eat.’

  Second interlude, Onderness

  having nothing to do with the case.

  Zippos travelling circus, Onderness

  While Drew was loading the dishwasher after an extremely good meal he had cooked, Edge had a moment to wonder again at the silence from her friends. Not a single call, even from Brian who, huff or no huff, must surely be wondering where she was? She hoped uneasily he was all right, then firmly banished the thought. He’d made it to the police station with Fiona, so nothing had happened on the morning walk, and she’d hear soon enough if anything untoward had transpired since.

  Kirsty erupted back into the room as she frowned at her mobile phone.

  ‘Problem, Aunt?’

  ‘Nothing.’ Edge pushed herself to her feet. ‘And I’ve asked you to stop calling me Aunt, you ratbag. Today of all days especially, it just makes me feel one unnecessary wrinkle older.’

  ‘I do try, sometimes it just pops out. But that wouldn’t make you look worried.’

  ‘No.’ Edge smiled affectionately at her. ‘Well, it’s Brian. I’m as happy not to have had him on the phone three or four times already, but one call would have been nice.’

  ‘I’ve been meaning to ask you about that! One minute you’re saying vaguely that you’re seeing each other, then that you’re having a bit of a thing, and I am quoting your words exactly by the way—a bit of a thing—and the next thing Iain’s telling me this is serious stuff and words like marriage have been bandied about! I just hope he wasn’t arrested. After all, if it was the tontine, and wasn’t you or me, the polis have to look at secondary beneficiaries. If Brian and you are planning to marry, it would benefit him if you got a bigger slice of the pay-out every year. And he could well have the necessary contacts, he had his own detective agency long enough.’

  Edge looked horrified, but Kirsty shook her head vehemently. ‘Honestly, Au—Edge, don’t fret! The only reason it came up at all is that, well, when Brian was working the singles sites, he did tend to go for richer women. Which is unfair in itself; nobody would think twice of a woman preferring richer men. He’s more likely in a bit of a sulk because you haven’t called him. After all, Drew would be under exactly the same level of suspicion and he’s not even been questioned, let alone arrested. And he’s a far dodgier character!’

  ‘Why would I be arrested?’ Drew asked with interest as they started into Onderness.

  He was still developing a lively series of scenarios when they turned into the general parking lot. The circus tents on the foreshore were proving a huge attraction. There was only one parking space remaining, right next to the railway crossing.

  ‘That was lucky, someone must have just left. I thought you were taking a bit of a chance, not taking one of those earlier spots,’ Edge remarked as she got out of the car and looked eagerly towards the Big Top. Banners slapped in a faint breeze off the Forth which also carried a whisper of Strauss music. ‘Oh heavens, we’re awfully late, it’s started already.’

  ‘No worries, we’re only missing the clowns, and they’re on again throughout the show.’ Kirsty led the way into the darkened outer tent, sounding on the brink of laughter. ‘Hurry up, though!’

  Something felt wrong. Surely an outer tent would have some lights? And in some indefinable way, the tent didn’t feel empty, it even felt crowded, and somebody was coming up too close behind her. Even as she thought it, a spotlight stabbed through the gloom, dazzling her, and then moved smoothly round as a big banner unfurled with a heavy plastic rustle. Huge purple letters spelled out HAPPY YOU KNOW WHAT, EDGE, and then the lights came on.

  ‘Oh, no,’ she said faintly. Brian, Vivian, William, Donald, Patrick, friends and neighbours from the Lawns, all crowding round and laughing at her expression. . .

  ‘You should have known you couldn’t get out of a Lawns celebration that easily, Edge.’ The Lawns administrator pushed forward, smiling. ‘Vivian and Kirsty between them rounded up all your friends in twenty miles. The circus guys have been great. They were happy to have the block booking on a quiet night, but now come on, they’re stopping the show long enough for us to get to our seats.’

  ~~~

  There was a moment during the show when all the lights went out. In that moment of total darkness, Edge’s thoughts flew to a sixteen-year-old girl also in the dark with thousands of pounds in her lap and who knew how little water left in her bottle. . . Then the spots came on. The most gorgeous strongman strode forward with his muscles rippling, and the image retreated.

  ~~~

  It was a boisterous group that arrived back at the Lawns pub for drinks after the circus, although most left after a single round. Eighty-year-old Josie hugged Edge fiercely, her eyes very bright, and said that the circus had been the treat of her year, and she was off to dream about the strongman.

  Clarissa, looking puzzled, drew her to one side. ‘Am I imagining things, but are you and Brian, well, seeing each other?’

  Edge nodded, and Clarissa looked a little disappointed. ‘Really? He’s a nice man, of course, but he’s very ordinary. I was sure you and Donald would become a couple,’ she added sadly. Edge started to laugh and Clarissa grew quite fierce. ‘You may think you know best but I’ve kicked around a few years longer than you and my Arthur was exactly such a man, and a very good man, too. Why are you so stubborn about insisting he’s gay?’

  ‘Oh, Clarissa, have it your way. Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. Either way, he’s not interested in me. We have the same sense of humour, we like being together, we even have breakfast together. And that’s all there is. If he was interested in me in, you know, that way, he would do something, or say something, and he never has. He only wants to be friends.’

  ‘And that’s all you want from him?’ Clarissa was watching her narrowly and she smiled and shrugged.

  ‘I’ve never really had a man friend before. The friendship is—I hardly know what word to use. Special, perhaps? Very special to me. If you’re right, and he does go off with some woman somewhere along the line, I will feel very deflated.’ She added, almost with surprise, ‘and I’d hate her into the bargain! But just the way we are is all either of us want.’

  ‘Huh.’ Clarissa gave her a quick hug. ‘I don’t understand it, but if you feel that way about him loving someone else, I don’t know why he is letting you go off with Brian!’

  Edge hushed her, suddenly realizing Donald was close enough to be in earshot. ‘Clarissa, keep your voice down! Donald pretty much pushed me and Brian together. I think he’s saving himself for you.’

  ‘If only,’ Clarissa finally laughed. ‘This was a wonderful evening. You haven’t been out walking with me and the dog in a couple of days. She misses you, you know. Come see us soon.’

  Edge glanced over at Donald as Clarissa left, but he didn’t seem to have heard. They’d hardly spent any time together lately, and for the first time she wondered if he did mind about Brian. That would be as pointless as Cheryl resenting her for being in Brian’s life. . . her thoughts scattered as she realized she’d almost walked into Major Horace, who brushed his toothbrush moustache up and caught her arm.

  ‘I think a birthday kiss is in order, what?’

  She recoiled, laughingly insisting this wasn’t a birthday, that was the whole point, and Brian, ever vigilant, came over.

  ‘A quick one, Horace, on the cheek. Behave yourself.’

  ‘Whippersnapper,’ the Major told him hoarsely. ‘Not your place to tell me how to behave with Edge!’

  For a fatal moment Edge was so indignantly in agreement with him that she missed her chance to escape. He lunged in, full on the mouth, for a wet and horrible moment before she could duck aw
ay, gave Brian a glare and took himself off with a triumphant gleam in his eyes to leave the five of them on their own.

  ‘The usual suspects,’ Vivian looked around with satisfaction. ‘Were you really, truly surprised, Edge? I can’t believe you thought I could forget your bir—I mean, the date. After all this time? Why, we’ve known each other, what, over ten years?’

  Edge giggled. ‘Since we were eight,’ she agreed. ‘Is that ten years already? How time flies! I love that you picked something we would have enjoyed at any stage of our friendship.’

  She plucked at the neck of her safari suit, now decidedly less crisp than it had been, and moved her chair slightly to be directly under one of the big ceiling fans. The conservatory was usually too hot for comfort in August, with the sun beating in until after nine pm, but it had rained while they were enjoying the circus and with the big ceiling fans twisting above them and light draining out of the sky, it was warm but not unpleasantly so.

  Back to the plot, and starting the investigation

  Vivian sobered. ‘When Kirsty rang this afternoon and told me where you were, and what was going on, I wanted to call it all off. I thought it would be the last thing you wanted.’

  ‘I’m glad you didn’t. It was exactly what I needed.’

  ‘So?’ Donald leaned forward. ‘Are you going to tell us what’s been happening?’

  She told them as much as she could, without betraying Kirsty’s confidence about the threats used on the killer.

  ‘At least I haven’t been charged. It’s Kirsty who is getting the worst of it now,’ she finished. ‘I wish there was something we could do to help solve this one, but it’s not exactly our usual stamping ground. And with Kirsty kept out of the loop, and Iain maintaining a tactful silence, I don’t see that we can do anything.’

  ‘Who else could want to kill Jamey and Fiona?’ Donald asked and Edge shrugged.

  ‘I hardly know them. This is the first time in years that I’ve seen anything of them, apart from the annual dinners. Her ex-husband?’

  Brian stirred. ‘She said it was a relatively amicable divorce,’ he offered. ‘They just got sick of each other and she wanted to be back on the road. She talks non-stop,’ he added defensively as they looked surprised. ‘And her favourite subject is herself. I probably know more about her than Edge does.’

  ‘Okay, so not the ex-husband. Anyway, he wouldn’t order his own son’s death.’ Donald produced his slightly battered notebook and unclipped the attached pen. ‘Who lives permanently in the apartment?’

  ‘There are four apartments in that building. Jamey and Tim in one—it used to be let, but they’ve been back in Edinburgh a while.’ Edge sipped at her third glass of wine, contentedly dizzy. ‘Fiona said they moved back a couple of years ago. Fiona would only have arrived a few weeks ago, at a guess. She said she headed off to meet the rest of the crew in Cyprus first. It was pretty much a last minute decision for her to do the show. It was when I saw in the papers that the casting had changed, and saw her name, that I bought the tickets and that was two days before I left for Florida.’

  ‘Could the killer have gone to the wrong address?’

  ‘No.’ Edge was cautious. The key under the pot plant was definitely not something she could pass on. ‘I suppose Morrison could have picked the wrong place or person—Tim was found dead at the bottom of the shared staircase. One of the other apartments belongs to Fiona, but is rented out. I haven’t a clue about the other two, but the police are probably checking that line out themselves anyway.’

  William shifted in his chair. ‘I don’t suppose Tim and Fiona had a secret love-child, and someone’s trying to wipe out the whole family?’

  ‘William, you are psychic!’ Vivian exclaimed. ‘Fergus is Tim’s child. Not love-child, though. Tim was the sperm donor, although it was a secret.’ She looked faintly guilty for a moment, then rallied. ‘Less of a secret now, okay. But I’ve rather gone off Fiona, and the Murdochs did know: that seemed pretty obvious when we met up for tea. Still, who would hate Tim and his son that much?’

  ‘Well, money’s a powerful motivator,’ William shrugged. ‘You said Tim’s father was looking frail? Mark my words, there’ll be some distant cousin with an eye to inheriting a fortune if he but gets them out the way.’

  ‘Closer than a cousin, there’s the brother.’ Vivian glanced across at Donald. ‘Not a good suspect, though, he already has a fortune. Tobias Murdoch has to be one of the richest men in Scotland. But Fergus took Darren’s name, so he’s not known as Murdoch.’

  William shook his head impatiently. ‘Scotland has heir of the body legislation, if the father acknowledges the child as his. If the Murdochs knew he was, Tim certainly acknowledged him.’

  ‘Good. A possible paternity link.’ Donald made a note and flipped to a new page and Vivian and Edge exchanged tiny smiles at his familiar efficiency. He glanced up, caught the smiles, and frowned reprovingly. ‘Did Tim have any money?’

  ‘Now that I do know,’ Edge said helpfully. ‘He had expectations. Jamey said the parents would cut Tim out “if they could”. That sounded more heavyweight than your average will bought at a stationery shop.’

  ‘I’ll do some digging,’ Brian offered. ‘No offence, but you guys are amateurs at this, whereas I do know how to dig up information.’

  ‘No offence taken.’ Vivian patted a mulish William on the knee as Donald shrugged and put his notebook away. ‘Anything you can find out. I hate to think of Edge under a cloud, and Kirsty doesn’t deserve to be targeted in any way whatsoever. Where is the foul Fiona now? Has she gone back to the apartment?’

  ‘No, Kirsty said she’s staying at Tobias Murdoch’s.’

  ‘Really?’ Vivian asked. She and Donald exchanged glances, and she laughed.

  ‘I’m acting as Vivian’s agent,’ he explained to Brian, who was looking puzzled. ‘Remember Tobias is CEO of Spinner? They’re having their annual party tomorrow at his house and they really, really want Vivian to go. His secretary has phoned me four times, and he’s called once himself. Moira Murdoch must be as sick as a dog to have an unwanted houseguest with everything else going on.’

  William showed signs of interest, and bent a reproving look on Vivian. ‘You didn’t tell me there was going to be a party?’

  ‘The party,’ Donald corrected. ‘Every year during the Festival. Around two hundred celebrity guests, and the gimmick every year is the entertainment. All his signed artistes come dressed as other singers from the past. He uses it to impress people he’s trying to sign, and Vivian definately qualifies.’

  ‘Are you talking about the Murdoch party?’ Matilda asked. She and Sylvia, who hadn’t come to the circus, had entered unnoticed while Donald was talking. Sylvia hadn’t forgiven the ‘poisonous weasel’ comment and was still refusing to speak to William, or even acknowledge his existence, but Matilda paused at their table. Donald nodded and she smiled slightly. ‘I get invited every year, because of my connection to the family. I usually refuse, but I’m going this year as Spinner has signed Rory and his band.’

  ‘Wow.’ Edge looked up in surprise. ‘Because of you?’

  Matilda coloured faintly. ‘I filmed Rory doing his stuff, that day we were there, and also recorded him singing one of the songs Jean and I wrote together, when he came to see me. I emailed the link to Tobias directly, and he signed the band on Monday. We never found anyone who could sing our stuff the way Rory does.’ She looked round at their puzzled faces. ‘Jean Murdoch, you know? His first wife? She and I collaborated on about seven songs. She was lovely to work with, had a real gift for simple effective words. I was devastated when she disappeared.’

  ‘Disappeared?’ Vivian asked curiously, and Matilda turned her mild gaze on her.

  ‘It was a very long time ago—nearly twenty years now, I suppose. I never forgave Tobias for giving up the search so quickly. He was being seen in public with Moira, who was his PA back then, within months of Jean vanishing. Three years later he somehow got Jean declared d
ead and married that. . . that vampire and I haven’t accepted an invitation since. I stayed on civil terms because, well, when you’re a songwriter you don’t bite the hand that feeds you. But you don’t have to lick it.’

  They all stared at her as it was so unlike Matilda to make a harsh comment about anyone, and the tinge of colour in her cheeks deepened. ‘I probably shouldn’t have said that, but I’m a little annoyed with Moira Murdoch at the moment. She’s quite frighteningly intense when she wants something and she’s already targeting Rory, and he doesn’t know how to handle it. She’s notorious for interfering with the handsome singers. If they don’t play ball, they drop out of sight. She’s known in the trade as the Terminator.’

  Sylvia made an annoyed sound from a far table and Matilda nodded at the group and walked away to join her.

  ‘Charming world.’ Vivian looked across at Donald. ‘You keep me well clear of that! As for you, William, now you see why I don’t want to go to that party.’

  ‘Well, I do, more than ever. I’d love to meet a real cougar. Wangle an invitation for Donald as your agent, too, we’ll make a party of it.’

  ‘No agents invited,’ Donald said briskly. ‘So, if Brian’s going to solve the murder, quick summary for him. We’ve got that there are four apartments, and the killer could have been mistaken which one to target. And we’ve more or less ruled out the ex-husband. Any lovers?’

  ‘Yes, and quite an unstable one,’ Edge remembered suddenly. ‘In fact, he’d already threatened to cut her throat, and he would have expected her to have Fergus with her. He might even know about Tim being Fergus’s father, and assume they were lovers. Of course he was saying he would do it personally, not send in a killer, but maybe he really was serious about wanting her dead. I wonder if she was so busy accusing me that she forgot him altogether?’

  ‘She never mentioned a lover.’ Brian looked surprised and Edge smiled at him slightly maliciously.