‘Everything’s going straight to the bank,’ said Mr Greenbody, his eyes as lively as ever. ‘I’ll see to it and lock up when the police have finished. Mrs Quicke, you will phone me to make an appointment?’
She nodded. How tiring this all was. Oh, the pity of it all. Such high hopes, such greed . . . so much stupid, selfish greed.
Edgar took one last look around him and held the front door open for Ellie. ‘Mrs Quicke, may I give you a lift home?’
She shook her head, thinking he was a man unable to rise above the good fortune he’d been born to, and crushed by life. ‘I’ll walk. It’s not far, and it will do me good. I dare say we’ll be meeting now and then, in the future.’ Did that mean she was definitely going to accept Mrs Pryce’s legacy?
‘You won’t have to bother with me for long, Mrs Quicke. Cancer of the liver. Takes no prisoners, as they say.’
She nodded. So that’s what Edwina had meant? Poor man.
The sunshine made them both blink. He said, ‘Mrs Quicke, you probably won’t believe me, but I was fond of my stepmother. She was always very straight in her dealings with me.’
Ellie took another look at him. His eyes were steady, though his face showed signs of his illness. She remembered that although he’d lost a lot of money in a failed business, he’d found himself a job afterwards and kept it. Perhaps his life could be counted a success?
She asked, ‘You’re not married, are you? Do you have someone to look after you?’
He attempted a smile. ‘I was married once – till the money ran out. I suppose I can’t blame her.’
‘Can you stay on where you’ve been living?’
‘No, I’ve been forcibly retired. I’d like to have gone on a bit longer, but . . . I can see their point of view. They have to appoint someone fit and strong in my place, and they’ll need to offer him my house. Not to worry, though. I’ve saved a bit from my salary, I have a small pension and my stepmother gave me a lump sum to rent a small place until . . . Until . . .’
‘Any regrets? Things you wish you’d done?’ Ellie cursed herself for acting on impulse, but the words were out.
He turned his face to the sunshine, half closing his eyes. ‘A multitude of them. I wish I’d married a decent woman, had a child, stuck to my books instead of idling away my time at university, learned the elements of commerce before I plunged into a business which I didn’t know how to run. But my stepmother sorted me out. “Find something you like doing, and do it with all your might.” That’s what she said. Good advice. It took me a while to find something I liked doing, and a lot of people think I took a step down the social scale when I became a school caretaker, but it’s suited me fine, and I’ve enjoyed it.’
‘Do you fancy a holiday?’ Now where did that idea come from?
He managed a real smile this time. ‘Disneyland? Swimming with dolphins? I had volunteered to go camping with some of the kids from school, but I don’t think I’ll be allowed to go now. Health and safety and all that. Not fit enough.’ He took one last look at his old home. ‘What will you do with the old place?’
‘What would you do with it?’
‘It’s in good nick. My stepmother saw to that. It’s an anachronism, but there’s so little individuality in houses nowadays, I’d be sorry to see it go. She said once how much some old friends from the States had enjoyed staying there with her. They’d just loved the house and everything in it. Do you think it would work as a luxury hotel?’
Well, now. There’s a thought.
Ellie looked up at the house. ‘That might indeed be the answer. It would need a complete makeover, but American visitors would love it. Thank you, Mr Pryce. I’ll take some advice, see what can be done.’
He held out his hand to her. ‘Thank you, Mrs Quicke. For caring.’
She held on to his hand. ‘Come to see me tomorrow morning. Do you know where I live? In the next road. We’re in the phone book.’
A flash of surprise, then a remarkably sweet smile.
An idea fizzed into Ellie’s head. Suppose she paid Vera to take Mikey and Edgar Pryce away to the seaside for a holiday at half term? It would do them all good. Ellie would have to check with Edgar’s doctor to see if he were fit enough, but Vera would make a good carer, wouldn’t she? Ellie told herself not to act impulsively but to discuss it first with Thomas.
Edgar got into his old car and drove away with much banging of the exhaust pipe.
Ellie walked home on the sunny side of the road.
TWENTY-ONE
Monday evening
Ellie found Thomas in the garden, attacking some ivy which was threatening to strangle a laburnum tree. His jacket lay on the bench, and on it, fast asleep, lay Midge.
Thomas suspended operations long enough to say, ‘A young lad and his mother came for Molly, promising to look after her better in future. She recognized them, went to them without fear.’
‘You’ll miss her. Shall we get you a cat of your own? A heavyweight monster who can hold his own with Midge?’
He shook his head. ‘I like peace and quiet at home.’
Ellie collapsed on to the seat. ‘You’re right, of course. Thomas, talk to me. Mrs Pryce had the care of her husband’s family dumped on her and did pretty well right up to the end when the sky fell on her. Now she’s passed the baton on to me. She’s given me money and her house to dispose of as I think best, if I continue to look after those she cared for. They’re a mixed bunch: a murderer, a junkie who’s also a thief, one of our cleaners and several others who contributed to her death.’
He wrenched out a trail of ivy and threw it in the garden refuse bag. ‘Ellie, you understand the meaning of stewardship better than anyone I know. Think of the number of worthwhile causes your charity supports.’
‘I don’t do it by myself; I have Stewart and financial advisers. They really make all the decisions for me. You can’t call me a proper business woman.’
‘You are the heart of the matter.’ He sat down beside her. ‘Look at this big house. It’s not just so many rooms on so many floors, but a shelter and a home not only for us but for others as well: for Rose and Mia, Frank and Midge – and for me. It’s also your office and mine, so we might as well include your secretary and my assistant.’
She looked up at the big house. Three storeys high. They’d never occupied the top floor, and now and again it worried her that the space was unused. Perhaps some time they could convert the top floor into a flat and let it . . . Perhaps have Vera and her son Mikey live there? Vera was struggling to pay the rent. If she had a flat at the top of the house, Ellie could pay her to help look after Rose. They could make a separate outside staircase and include part of the garden . . . It was something to think about. Meanwhile . . .
‘Diana. You’ll say I ought to forgive her, but I can’t because she’s not sorry for what she’s done. I do faintly begin to understand what’s in her mind. It was only a momentary impulse on her part to kill me, but it destroyed something inside me. In the past I hoped she’d change, but now . . . I don’t see that happening.
‘I’ve been trying to work out how she got that way. All these years I’ve blamed my first husband for the way she’s turned out. As a child, if she didn’t get her own way at once she went on and on until she did get it. I see now we taught her that aggression pays.
‘Why did I let him indulge her? Well, I could say that they were both so clever, so sharp that I didn’t know how to stand up to them. No excuses. Deep down, I knew it was wrong. The truth is, I hadn’t the courage to object. So now I have to learn how to deal with the problem which I helped to create.’
Thomas wrenched out the last strand of ivy and threw it aside.
He said, ‘Ellie Quicke, I believe in you.’
with friends
Murder My Neighbour Page 26
