by Ann Cleeves
The question made her freeze, but she knew she’d have to answer. If she tried to put him off, he’d only google it and come up with things that were even more horrendous.
‘In the old days, when we didn’t know any better, some killers were sentenced to death. They were hanged. The person who arranged that and carried it out was known as a hangman.’
He turned back to the computer, apparently satisfied, but she couldn’t leave it at that. ‘Emma wasn’t sentenced to death. This was quite different. The police will find out who did it, and they’ll go to court and then probably to prison for a very long time, but they won’t be hanged. We don’t do that any more.’ But perhaps a very long prison sentence would be worse.
Now Christopher seemed almost bored. ‘Yeah,’ he said, ‘I get it.’ There was that arrogance again, which sometimes made her want to shake him.
Helena made her way back to the kitchen. It seemed her whole family was falling apart. She, Daniel and each of the kids might be living in the same house, but they seemed to occupy different worlds. It had been her role to hold them together and she’d failed. She handed a mug of coffee to Moncrieff. He muttered his thanks, but still seemed to lost in his own thoughts. Time seemed to be passing very slowly. There was still no sign of Daniel. Ellie, who had been watching television, came in to say that she was starving.
‘How about pizza?’ Helena said.
‘Yeah!’
And that was something to do, while they were waiting for Perez to come back. Helena put a pizza in the oven, chopped up a few bits of pepper and carrot to give the meal the appearance of healthy eating, and offered Moncrieff more coffee. He must have phoned Belle, when she was upstairs with Christopher. Helena had heard the murmur of his voice but couldn’t make out the words. When the pizza was cooked, she cut it into pieces and arranged it on two plates, took one up to Christopher and one to Ellie in the living room. An unheard-of treat.
Helena was desperate to talk to Daniel, but didn’t want to do that while Moncrieff was sitting there, observing them all silently from his post at the end of the kitchen. When the detective had sent them all away from the barn, Daniel had immediately scuttled into his office, offering no explanation. If the situation had been less unusual, she would have been embarrassed by his rudeness in front of Moncrieff, but today that hardly seemed to matter.
It was still early, but she ran a bath for Ellie and put her to bed. It was something to pass the time, and she didn’t want the girl still up when Perez did come back with his questions and explanations. Christopher slept very little, but he wouldn’t come down now that he’d been fed.
There was the sound of a car on the track and then she heard it rattle over the cattle grid. Moncrieff had been looking at yesterday’s newspaper and folded it on his knee. ‘That must be the chap Perez has been hanging on for.’ Only when he spoke did she sense how tense he’d been, waiting for something to happen. ‘At last!’ They couldn’t see the yard from the kitchen. Helena was tempted to go upstairs to peer out and see what was happening, and probably would have done if she’d been here on her own. Instead, she continued to wait.
There was a tap on the outside door. Although she’d been waiting for it, the sound shocked her. She jumped to her feet to open it, but by the time she got there, Perez was already inside. ‘I’m sorry to have kept you waiting,’ he said. ‘My colleague has arrived to secure the scene for me. And now, I’m afraid, I have some questions for you. I hope not to keep you too long. We can work on the detail tomorrow.’
‘Robert’s in the kitchen. Would you like to see him first? Then he can get back to Belle and the kids.’ Helena thought that would give her a chance to talk to Daniel.
‘That would be good, thanks.’ Perez seemed relieved that she appeared to understand that he’d need to talk to them separately.
‘There’s coffee. It might be a bit stewed. I could make some more.’ Why was she trying so hard with this man? Why did it matter quite so much what he thought of her?
‘I’ll just help myself,’ Perez said. ‘I’m sure it will be fine.’ He went into the kitchen, closing the door quietly behind him.
Chapter Nine
When Perez walked into the kitchen, Robert Moncrieff jumped to his feet. His words came out in a rush, all bluster. ‘This won’t take long, will it, Jimmy? You know what Shetland is like. Word will have got out, and there are the kids to think about. They’ve known Emma for ages. Recently she’s spent more time with them than Belle has. I want to be the one to tell them exactly what happened. I don’t want them to find out about it on social media.’
‘And what, exactly, do you think did happen?’
There was no reply.
‘It’s a suspicious death,’ Perez said. ‘None of us know yet how or why Emma died.’
‘But it wasn’t suicide, was it? There was no way she could have done that to herself.’
Perez didn’t answer. Instead he asked his own question.
‘Did the Flemings call you in when they found Dennis Gear?’
‘Yes,’ Moncrieff said. ‘It was early one morning, before I’d gone out to work. I think the old man must have been hanging there all night.’
‘Did you know him?’ Perez wasn’t sure where this was going. He was curious about Gear, though he couldn’t see what relevance the man might have to Emma Shearer’s death. Perhaps that was all it was. A Shetlander’s nosiness.
‘All my life. I used to play on this land when I was a kid. Help him out with the sheep sometimes.’ Moncrieff smiled as if the memory was a pleasant one.
‘Were you surprised when he killed himself?’
There was a pause. ‘No. He was a proud man. He would have hated what he’d become.’
‘I need to contact Emma’s next of kin,’ Perez said. ‘I presume you can help with that.’ It seemed a straightforward request and he was surprised when the doctor hesitated again.
‘Her parents are both dead. Her father died when she was still at school. He’d been convicted of violence against her mother and died in prison. I don’t know the details. Her mother passed away about a year ago. Cancer. A recurrence of an earlier illness. All very sad. Emma grew up in Orkney and her brothers are still based there. Emma went back to her home in Kirkwall for her mother’s last few weeks.’ He paused. ‘Belle and I weren’t sure whether she’d come back to us. We wondered if she’d want to stay in Orkney.’
‘But she did come back?’
‘Yes, it was a compliment, I suppose, that this was where she preferred to be.’ Moncrieff stared out of the window at the lengthening shadow thrown by the house.
‘How did she come to be working for you in the first place?’
‘We put an advert in The Shetland Times and The Orcadian for a mother’s help. I’m not sure what we were expecting really. Someone older and more experienced, perhaps. A grandmotherly figure who’d be as much a housekeeper as a help to Belle with the childcare. Then a GP colleague from Kirkwall got in touch to ask if we’d consider Emma. She’d pretty well looked after her brothers for three years, after her father was sent to prison and when her mother was first ill. He said it would do Emma good to get away from Orkney. The boys were older and her mother was in remission, so the family didn’t need her so much. When no one else applied – Deltaness is bit out of the way for most Shetlanders – Belle and I decided to give Emma a chance.’
‘So, Emma’s brothers would be her next of kin?’
‘Yes. Adam and David. Adam’s away at university. Stirling. Emma was very proud of him. David’s still in Orkney. He’s the older of the two and he works in a hotel. Or a restaurant. I don’t have a number or address for him. His number would probably be in Emma’s phone.’
‘We don’t have that yet.’ Perez had felt briefly in the pocket of the dress she’d been wearing, but had found nothing except a scrap of tissue. The dress was made of yellow-and-white cotton, colours that made him think of spring. With a fitted bodice and full skirt, it reminded him of the sty
le of the Fifties, not a garment belonging to a young woman of today. But he knew nothing about fashion – perhaps that look was back. There’d been no jacket or bag in the byre. ‘We’ll need to search her room,’ he said. ‘That’ll be later tonight. I’ll send Sandy down, as soon as we can get a uniformed officer to relieve him here. Somebody is on his way. If you see Emma’s phone anywhere else in the house, just leave it where it is and ask the family not to touch it.’
‘Does that need to happen tonight?’ Until now Moncrieff had been distant, almost disengaged. ‘Can’t it wait until tomorrow when the kids will be at school?’
‘I’m sorry. This is a suspicious death. I have to treat it as a murder inquiry. We don’t know yet where Emma was killed. It could have been in your home.’
‘No!’ The doctor’s face was red now. ‘You do realize that if people even start to think that we were in any way involved in her death, my position here would be untenable. At one time a GP would be above suspicion, but since Shipman . . .’
‘We need to search Emma’s room,’ Perez said. ‘And we have to find her phone. Everyone who knew her will be under suspicion until we find out what happened to her. Really, it’s in your interest to help us.’
Moncrieff turned to face him and Perez saw the twelve-year-old schoolboy with his sense of entitlement, his boasting about the car his doctor father drove and the family’s foreign holidays. ‘You can’t really think that Belle or I had anything to do with the girl’s death?’
‘I don’t close my mind to anything.’ A pause. ‘When did you last see Emma?’
‘Last night. Sunday is her full day off. She usually had a long lie-in. She had her own space – we turned the attic into a kind of bedsit with its own bathroom. There’s a TV and she has her own laptop up there, a little fridge, a kettle and microwave. Usually she eats with us, but on Sundays she does her own thing.’
‘Are you sure Emma stayed in her room last night? She couldn’t have gone into Lerwick yesterday evening, stayed the night with a friend?’ Perez thought he still didn’t have any handle on the young woman. Was she the sort who’d party? To have friends of her own age in town? Had she dressed in the yellow-and-white dress because she planned to meet a boyfriend?
‘She was definitely there last night. We sleep below her and I heard her television. She switched it off just as we were going to bed at about eleven.’
‘But you didn’t see her this morning?’
‘No, I was in and out all day. Charlie had football practice, so I was into Brae with him first thing. Then I went and helped set up trestle tables in the hall. Martha’s old enough now to keep an eye on Sam and Kate. There was no sign of Emma when I got back at lunchtime. I assumed she’d gone out by then.’ Moncrieff looked at his watch. An expression of impatience.
‘Any idea where she might have gone? Friends she could have visited?’
Moncrieff shook his head. ‘Emma was very self-contained and I didn’t pry. She was an adult and she’d lived in Shetland long enough to know her way round.’
‘Did she have a boyfriend?’
The question seemed to surprise him. ‘Oh, I don’t think so. She never mentioned one.’
‘Even though she’d been with you for seven years? No sexual relationship with a man?’ He paused for a beat. ‘Or a woman?’
‘Really, Jimmy, how could I be expected to know?’
Perez thought Moncrieff sounded like a Victorian gentleman, who couldn’t be expected to take an interest in the servant classes. ‘Perhaps Belle would have more information about Emma’s private life?’
The doctor gave a sharp little laugh. ‘Oh, I very much doubt that. Recently Belle’s been busier than I have.’
‘You said that she’s doing the PR for Helena Fleming. Does that take up a lot of her time?’
‘It’s all she seems to think about just now. If she’s not glued to her computer, she’s swanning all over the country. Leaving me to hold things together. Well, I suppose Emma’s death will cramp her style a little.’ As if that was not entirely a bad thing.
They sat for a moment in silence.
‘Would Emma have talked to Martha about where she was going today?’ Perez asked. ‘Or to one of the others?’
Moncrieff shrugged. ‘Maybe. She saw more of the kids than she did of us.’
‘And they might have seen her leave this morning? Have an idea where she might have gone?’
‘Yeah, they might.’
But Perez thought Moncrieff would agree to anything now, just to get home.
‘Did she drive? Have use of a car?’
‘She had her own car,’ Moncrieff said. ‘It was Belle’s idea. A gift for her twenty-first birthday. Not a new car, of course, and nothing flash. A little Clio. It’s a nightmare in Deltaness without your own transport, and it was useful for us that she could get about too. She’d learned to drive when she first started with us, and then she used Belle’s vehicle when she needed to. But often we were both out and then she was stuck. Having her own car, she could get to the Co-op for Belle’s weekly shop, pick the older ones up from school in Lerwick if they needed to stay on after the bus had left. And it gave her a bit of independence on her days off.’
‘Was her car still there when you got home from the hall at lunchtime?’
Moncrieff considered for a moment. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘She usually parked it at the side of the house and I wouldn’t have seen it when I went in, even if it was.’
‘When you get home, can you check, and give me a text either way?’
Moncrieff seemed to see this as a form of dismissal and got to his feet. Seeing an end to the interview made him gracious. ‘Of course, Jimmy. We want this cleared up as soon as possible.’ He paused. ‘We’ll miss her.’
Perez thought that now the doctor would give some personal insight into the woman who’d worked with his family since she was a girl, that he would find some words to describe her character, pay a tribute to her personality, but he went on to say: ‘I’m not quite sure how we’ll manage in the house without her. I suppose we’ll have to start looking for someone else.’ As if Emma’s death was nothing more than a domestic inconvenience.
Perez watched Moncrieff set off down the track towards Deltaness. A uniformed officer from Lerwick had turned up, and Sandy was talking to him. They were standing just outside the barn. ‘I’m afraid it’ll be an all-nighter,’ Perez said to the new man. ‘Prof. Grieve is on the ferry and we’ll get him up here as soon as we can. Chief Inspector Reeves will be on the first flight from Inverness, and I’ll pick her up from Sumburgh. But you’ll be here at least until eight in the morning. The family will stay in the house. I don’t want to move them out because there’s an autistic son who needs his own surroundings. I only met the husband when I turned up here and he seemed in a bit of a state. He might need careful handling. The woman, Helena, seems pleasant enough. I’ll let her know you’ll be here.’
‘No worries, Jimmy. I’ve come prepared, with a flask and a mound of sandwiches.’ The constable grinned. ‘And if it gets chilly overnight, I’ll just think of the overtime and that’ll warm me through.’
Perez didn’t know how to answer that. Through the rotten door, he could still see Emma Shearer’s body. Instead he turned to Sandy. ‘I want you to go to Moncrieff’s house. Emma lived and worked there; she was a childminder for the four kids. The good doctor seems a peerie bit hostile about his family being disturbed on a Sunday night, but give him a moment to get home and let the children know what’s happened, then get down there. He’s going to text me to let me know if the victim’s car is there, but you can check yourself. If it is, I doubt whether she’s locked it. If not, we’ll need the registration details. Seal her room first, though – apparently, she had a self-contained bedsit in the attic and they might have given her a key for it. I don’t want to give Moncrieff time to meddle with her things and, after all, it could be the crime scene.’ Looking into the valley, Perez saw Moncrieff climb into a large bla
ck estate car. ‘That’ll be Belle picking him up now. Off you go.’ Sandy started off towards his car. ‘And, Sandy?’
‘Yes?’
‘He can be a bit of a bully. Don’t let him get to you.’
Sandy seemed surprised, and for a moment Perez thought he would question the comment, but he only nodded and went on his way. Perez stood a little longer, wondering how best to tackle the Fleming family. He could see the husband and wife through the long, narrow window that looked into Fleming’s study. Daniel was sitting at his desk, swivelled towards her, and she stood behind him, very close. Perez felt something of a voyeur; that he was intruding on a moment of intimacy.
He wondered if Helena had used her time there to tell Daniel about the strange messages that had appeared in the house and in her workshop. Perhaps he should talk to Helena alone first, to find out, so he wouldn’t embarrass her by bringing up the subject. He found himself attracted to the idea. When Helena had come to his home in Ravenswick, he’d liked her. She was intelligent, and of course she’d admired Fran. He was still drawn to everyone who’d known Fran. Then he told himself that wouldn’t do. He had to consider Helena as much of a suspect as everyone else connected to Emma Shearer. And just because she felt that her husband needed to be protected from the truth, Perez couldn’t collude with her. He wouldn’t play her games. Daniel might need careful handling, but he deserved to be told the truth.
Perez walked back into the house and tapped on the office door. ‘Mr and Mrs Fleming, shall we talk now? In the kitchen, perhaps, where there’s a bit more space.’
Chapter Ten
Helena had found Daniel sitting at his desk. She’d felt no connection as she walked in. It could have been a stranger leaning forward, his elbows on the table. He seemed not to hear her open the door or move into the room, and she felt a moment of irritation. How could he just ignore her, when she did so much to make his life easy? To protect him?
