The Lazarus Tree

by Robert Richardson

  ‘Medmelton! Drover’s Cottage. Near the church. Please, it’s very urgent! There’s been ... there’s been an accident!’

  She leapt into the back as he dropped the paper and started the engine. ‘Fast as I can, lady,’ he promised. ‘Serious, is it?’

  ‘Yes.’

  But she still didn’t know what it was, only that Ewan was sending some urgent message on the private channel of communication they had shared all their lives.

  *

  Dymlight Cottage held only waiting silence. Tess had found an executive toy on top of the desk and was forcing her attention on to guiding a blob of mercury to the centre of a maze; sitting in front of the fireplace, Maltravers stared at the display of dried flowers. Both of them stirred uneasily as the granddaughter clock sounded the half hour.

  ‘There’s still plenty of time.’ Tess looked uncertain as Maltravers made no reply. ‘Gus, are you sure about what you’re doing? If you’re wrong ...’

  ‘But I’m not,’ he contradicted. ‘If I was, Ewan would have either laughed in my face, hit me, or called the police himself and asked them to charge me with blackmail or threatening behaviour or ... well, something. He was about to walk out when I first said it, but he sat down again and listened. Then I knew.’

  ‘All right,’ Tess agreed. ‘But if he doesn’t come and admit it, do you really have to go to the police? It’s going to cause so much hurt — and would it be worth it for Patrick Gabriel?’

  ‘Not really,’ he admitted. ‘But that’s not the point. If Ewan’s killed one man because he loves his daughter so much, will he stop there? Say Michelle married and her husband beat her up or cheated on her? Suppose Stephen were to start treating her in a way that Ewan didn’t like? If we leave this alone, I don’t like to think he’d kill again — but he might.’

  ‘And there’s no other way to sort it out?’

  ‘If there is, I wish I could see it.’ He rubbed his eyes. ‘Christ, I’m tired. Look at it from Michelle’s point of view. If Ewan admits killing Gabriel, she has a murderer for an uncle. But if I have to go to the police, the truth about her birth comes out — and she has a murderer for a father. Which is worse?’

  Tess looked down at the toy she was still holding, then shook it so that the mercury shattered into drops. Turning the toy on its side made it into a complete blob again — but it was still outside the maze.

  ‘And will you find a way through?’ she whispered sadly.

  ‘Pardon?’ Maltravers said.

  ‘It doesn’t matter.’

  The silence returned for a few minutes, then they heard someone run up the path and fumble a key in the front door. Maltravers twisted round in his chair. Ewan could well have a key for Dymlight Cottage, but why was he suddenly ...? The door opened and Veronica burst in.

  ‘Gus! Have you seen Ewan anywhere? He’s not at home and ... and ... and there’s something wrong!’ Wind howled through the open door behind her.

  Maltravers leapt up. ‘What do you mean, wrong? What’s happened?’

  ‘I don’t ... I just know that ... I can’t explain. But I have to find him. Have you seen him?’

  ‘We were talking to him in the Raven about half an hour ago. He was still there when ... hang on!’ But Veronica had raced out of the house.

  ‘Let her go!’ Tess ordered as Maltravers started to follow her. ‘If he’s still there, they can talk to each other. If he’s not, she’ll come back here.’

  ‘But what’s going on?’ Maltravers demanded. ‘Why’s she suddenly turned up?’

  ‘Because somehow she knows that something serious has happened,’ Tess replied. ‘But he can’t have rung her or she wouldn’t have dashed in here looking for him. That means ... God alone knows, but she and Ewan are very, very close and strange things happen in Medmelton. The question is, what do we do now?’

  Maltravers was still trying to analyse the situation. ‘I assumed he must have called her ... but you’re right. If he had, she wouldn’t be panicking about where he was. So it’s ... ESP or some form of contact between people I don’t understand.’

  ‘There’s a great deal you don’t understand.’

  Tess and Maltravers whirled round as the voice spoke behind them. Ewan Dean had let himself in through the back of the house and was standing in the kitchen doorway. ‘I know why she’s here. Each of us has always known when the other one’s in trouble. We don’t have to make any effort to communicate with each other, it just happens. In the circumstances, I should have expected it.’

  ‘Will she know any details?’ Maltravers asked cautiously.

  ‘No, it’s just a very strong feeling. That’s enough.’ Dean smiled sourly. ‘She’s going to find out anyway, isn’t she? I realised you weren’t bluffing in the Raven and I could see exactly how bad it would be if ... I just needed time to come to terms with it. If I don’t go to the police, then you will. It’s better that I do it.’

  Maltravers nodded. ‘The other night — it doesn’t matter why — I told Michelle she was a very brave girl. I can see where she gets it from.’

  ‘I’m not sure how brave it is to take the only way out there is.’

  ‘Oh, it can be,’ Maltravers said. He turned to Tess. ‘Veronica’ll be back in a moment. Go and wait for her. See if the church is open and take her in there ... I’m afraid you’re going to have to tell her.’

  ‘I know that.’ Tess was already stepping outside. Maltravers shut the door and the wind went out of the room.

  ‘Will she be able to handle it?’ Dean asked. ‘Telling Veronica.’

  ‘Yes. Perhaps it’ll be better coming from a stranger.’

  ‘I have to see her before I leave.’

  ‘Of course ... and what about your wife?’

  ‘That doesn’t matter.’ Now the adjective for Ewan Dean’s face was resigned. ‘Just tell me how you knew. Veronica can’t have let anything slip and nobody else could have told you.’

  ‘Nobody told me anything, certainly not Veronica,’ Maltravers confirmed. ‘It was nothing more than guesswork. The first thing was that I realised Gabriel must have been messing about with Michelle. Later on, she confirmed it.’

  ‘How?’ Dean demanded. ‘She’d never have talked to you.’

  ‘Not normally,’ Maltravers admitted. ‘But ... well let’s say that something happened that made her admit it. It doesn’t matter what it was. At the time I had a theory that the killer could have been her father, who might have seen them together in the churchyard, but I couldn’t see a way of discovering who he could be. I won’t bore you with my wild guesses, but it finally struck me that if there’s a clear view into the churchyard from upstairs in this cottage, then it must be the same next door. And if it was you, it explained why Veronica had never admitted who Michelle’s father was. I’d already been told that you and Veronica were very close when you were young — you had a reputation of being the protective older brother.

  ‘So that gave a motive, and I also knew you had the opportunity. On the night of Gabriel’s murder you and Ursula came to see Stephen and Veronica and stayed late. That would have delayed Michelle going out to meet him and she’d have had to wait a while after you left. So that must have been when you went out and killed him ... how did you know they were going to meet that night?’

  ‘When I came home from work that day, they were talking to each other by the lychgate so it seemed a reasonable possibility. I’d found out what was going on about a week earlier when I couldn’t sleep one night and ... I don’t know ... looked out of the window for something to do.’ Remembered pain filled Dean’s face. ‘You don’t have children, do you?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then you can’t know how it felt. I nearly followed him to his cottage there and then, but I’m not the type to act emotionally. I knew I’d probably leave evidence. I was still thinking about how I could do it when I saw them that evening.’

  ‘And after you killed him, you stole his poetry,’ Maltravers added.

  ‘
I had to. Stephen had told me what Gabriel said he was writing about and there could have been something in it that might identify Michelle. I daren’t risk that.’

  ‘And was there?’

  ‘Do you think I bothered to look? I took everything I could find — at least he was tidy and his notebooks were all together on a table — and put them in my car. Next day the whole lot went into the central heating boiler at the shop. I didn’t read any of it. I didn’t give a shit that I might be robbing English literature of some masterpiece.’

  ‘I don’t imagine you did,’ Maltravers agreed. ‘But weren’t you worried that Michelle would find him later that night?’

  ‘By the time we left here, I reckoned she’d decide it was too late and ...’ Dean stopped and looked startled. ‘Are you telling me she did?’

  Maltravers had realised his mistake before the question was asked and knew he had to lie; Dean was going to suffer enough without knowing he had exposed his daughter to the sight of a murdered man.

  ‘Of course I’m not,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t know that anyway, but you must be right. She’d have had to wait a while after you left and by that time she’d have assumed he’d gone home. He wasn’t the patient type. The amazing thing is that he was still there when you met him.’

  ‘She can’t have gone.’ Dean spoke as though he needed to convince himself, and Maltravers changed the conversation before he thought about it too much.

  ‘What reason are you going to give the police for the murder?’ he asked. ‘They’ll want a motive.’

  Dean shrugged indifferently. ‘You know what Gabriel was like. I’ll tell them that after we left here I saw him in the churchyard and went to find out what he was doing. He was drunk and I’d had a few and we started arguing. Then he said something that made me lose my temper — I’ll throw in some story about us having had a row before. The weapon’s no problem — I carry my model-making knife with me most of the time — and I slashed out at him, realised what I’d done and kept quiet about it. If they want evidence, I’ve still got the knife. I cleaned it up of course, but there still might be something they can find to clinch it from that. Perhaps they’ll be able to prove it matches the wound.’

  He smiled cynically. ‘Let’s remember, this is going to be a genuine confession as far as it goes. And I’ll want to help them prove it.’

  ‘And why will you suddenly be admitting it after all this time?’

  ‘Remorse? Guilt? Can’t live with my conscience any longer?’ Dean gave a hollow laugh. ‘You know I can lie convincingly. I’ll make sure the police believe me and they’ll be happy to wrap it up. Don’t worry. I accept that I’m going to jail. It’s better than the alternatives.’

  Maltravers nodded sympathetically. ‘The book of etiquette doesn’t cover this situation. Just believe me when I say I don’t get any satisfaction out of this. I wish I’d never got involved.’

  ‘You’re not the only one,’ Dean told him. ‘Look. I want to get this over with now, but I have to see Veronica.’

  ‘I know you do. Go home and I’ll tell her you’re there.’

  As he walked past the Lazarus Tree, he saw the two women sitting in the church porch. Tess stepped outside to speak to him.

  ‘The church is locked,’ she explained. ‘I’ve told her and had a hell of a job keeping her here at first, but now she’s switched off. I can’t get through to her and God alone knows what she’s thinking.’

  ‘Let me try. He’s admitted it.’

  Resentful and accusing, only Veronica’s Medmelton eyes moved as Maltravers approached her, uncanny as eyes blinking in a portrait.

  ‘Ewan wants to talk to you,’ he said. ‘He’s at his cottage.’

  She stood up without a word and started to walk past them as though they were not there.

  ‘I’m sorry, Veronica,’ Maltravers added. ‘I ...’

  ‘Don’t say anything.’ Her voice was bitter as acid. ‘You’ve caused enough pain.’

  Tess gave a little sob and took hold of his arm as they watched her walk away. ‘You didn’t deserve that, but Christ, she’s hurting. Just take me away from here now.’

  ‘We must tell Sally what’s happened before we go.’

  ‘All right,’ she agreed. ‘But then I want out ... oh, but what about Stephen? He’s going to come home and find that we’ve gone and all hell’s broken out. What’s he going to think?’

  ‘Hopefully nothing. He’ll find my note saying that something urgent has cropped up and we had to get back to London in a hurry. The fact that Ewan has admitted the murder will put our departure in the shade.’

  ‘And will he? Admit it?’

  ‘I’ve not left him any choice.’

  Tess crossed her arms and wrapped them tightly against her body. ‘I tried everything I could with Veronica, Gus. But there were no words. I wanted to hug her and give her lots of strokes and ... just reach her.’ She began to cry softly. ‘But I couldn’t.’

  ‘Nobody ever can. We know that well enough.’ Maltravers put his arms round her. ‘But we also know she’s a survivor. Come on ... Medmelton never wanted us here in the first place.’

  *

  The Old Cottage

  Beddowes Lane

  Medmelton

  October 15th

  *

  Dear Gus and Tess,

  As you can imagine, it’s been nightmarish here, but at last I’ve found a space to write and tell you what’s happened. You must have seen the press reports that Ewan has been charged and is being held in custody; the trial will be at Exeter Crown Court, but the date hasn’t been fixed yet. His father suffered a mild heart attack when he heard, but everyone’s rallied round magnificently. Medmelton may be unfriendly towards strangers, but we look after our own.

  Veronica is — well, Veronica. I met her outside the stores the other morning and when I mentioned Ewan, I don’t have the words to describe the look on her face. I felt so dreadfully sorry for her. She did talk a little about Michelle. I’d heard she’d had some sort of breakdown, but Veronica said she’s going back to school next week and — ironic this — Ursula has been a great help to her; it’s as though what’s happened has brought them together. Incidentally, I’m fairly certain that the affair with Bernard is over. I’m not positive, but it feels that way somehow.

  Stephen came to see me a few days after you left and said he wanted to thank me for my part in sorting out the Mildred Thomson business. He hasn’t told Veronica anything about it of course, particularly in view of what’s happened with Ewan. He (Stephen) was shattered about that and is obviously doing all he can to support her — not the easiest of tasks. More importantly, he clearly doesn’t know the full story; they’ve kept their secret. I expect he’ll already have written to you.

  Mildred is much as the same, at least on the surface. I have my suspicions about her and a couple of kids in the village and I’m going to have to find a way to drop a discreet word to their parents; but that’s Medmelton business and you mustn’t worry about it. Gilbert Flyte cornered me in the Raven last night and started asking if I knew if you were coming back. When I told him I didn’t think so, he said, ‘I hope you’re right,’ then muttered something about people interfering in things that weren’t their business. He’s obviously still scared stiff that you’re going to blow the whistle on him, but he can sweat on it.

  It’s difficult to say what the general reaction is. Some people seem almost offended, as if Ewan has let the village down by not continuing to keep quiet after so long. I can’t be doing with it, but Medmelton’s home and you make the best of it.

  Somehow I can’t imagine you’ll want to come here again, but I get up to London from time to time and perhaps we can meet. Alex sends his best wishes; we both agree that only an outsider could have sorted it all out, I hope it didn’t hurt too much.

  Much love to you both,

  Sally Baker

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