Murder for Nothing

by Veronica Heley

  ‘Good girl. Lesley will know who we should tell. Now, I’ll just see if she wants anything before we tackle the bedrooms.’

  Ellie tapped on the toilet door. Lesley’s voice, muffled, said she would be all right in a minute and please, not to worry about her, so Ellie led the way up the stairs and threw open the door into the main guest bedroom. And blanched.

  Chaos ruled OK.

  Apparently Angelica didn’t believe in hanging clothes up or putting underwear in drawers. Clothing was strewn on the unmade bed, the chairs and the chest of drawers. Drawers gaped open, as did the doors of the wardrobe. Much of the clothing was brand new, tangled in tissue paper with the labels still on. Bags marked with the names of expensive high street shops had been thrown into one corner. The dressing-table unit was covered with jars and aids to beauty while face powder lightly dusted every surface. A strong, flowery scent attacked their nostrils.

  Susan put her hands on her capacious hips. ‘I suppose the bathroom will be even worse.’ Susan was disgusted. She was responsible for cleaning her own quarters and kept them in immaculate condition.

  Ellie was outraged. ‘No wonder she told my cleaners not to bother about doing this room when they came this morning. They would have had something to say about this.’ Ellie picked up a sequined boob tube which was on the floor at her feet. ‘These clothes. How much money has she spent on them, do you think?’

  Susan said, in a flat voice, ‘We’re looking at hundreds of pounds. Maybe a thousand. How much do you think she borrowed from Rafael? Although I think he was stupid to think she could repay.’

  Ellie looked and felt grim. ‘Not if he thought the girl owned that flat. Not if he was told that her relations had good jobs, that Lesley was with the police and Andy was a deputy head. And not if he thought I might come up with funds from my charitable trust. Do you think she’s spent everything she borrowed from him?’

  ‘Mrs Quicke, I hate to sound unsympathetic, but no matter what Rafael says about us all chipping in, I don’t have money to spare for Angelica’s debts.’

  ‘Neither do I,’ said Ellie. ‘The trust fund is for charity, not for silly girls who borrow without being able to repay. Phew! What a fug!’ She threw up the windows looking on to the garden and breathed in some clean air. ‘I suggest we pack the brand-new clothes back into the bags they came in. Perhaps we can get the shops to give us a refund. The stuff she’s worn already will have to stay.’

  ‘Mrs Quicke, about Lesley—’

  ‘Yes, I’m worried about her, too. Do you know who her doctor is?’

  ‘I think it might be the practice in the Avenue, but I can’t remember Lesley ever being off sick before so I’m not sure.’

  It took them both nearly an hour to pick up, sort out and stash Angelica’s new clothes into the bags they’d arrived in and to transfer the used clothing into the less-capacious fitments in the small guest room opposite. This room was only occupied occasionally by one of Ellie’s grandsons and consequently was somewhat Spartan in its furnishings, although it did have a Star Wars poster on one wall.

  When Ellie and Susan had finished transferring Angelica’s belongings, there were still two carrier bags full of oddments which wouldn’t go anywhere. They tried putting them under the bed in the spare room but it was too low. Eventually they dumped them beside the chest of drawers.

  Susan cleaned the bathroom and replaced the towels, while Ellie bundled the cosmetics into a cardboard box and put it in the small bedroom. Together they turned the mattress and made up the bed with clean sheets. Every now and then they heard Andy grunting up the stairs and dropping luggage in the corridor.

  After Susan had vacuumed the carpet and Ellie had dusted every surface, they invited Andy to enter the newly cleaned big guest room.

  He looked around.

  Ellie thought he might say ‘thank you’ but of course he didn’t.

  He said, ‘No television?’

  Ellie wanted to hit him but the doorbell rang at that point, so she muttered an excuse and brushed past him to go downstairs and answer the door.

  There stood Angelica, in a pretty shower of tears. ‘Oh, Mrs Quicke! Thank goodness you’re in. I know you’ll help me. I’m in such trouble!’

  Susan, halfway down the stairs, said, ‘Don’t tell me! She’s lost her key again, has she?’

  Tears running down her cheeks, Angelica sobbed, ‘I was mugged. He took my purse with all my cards and the key in it! And I can’t pay the taxi, either.’

  ‘You were robbed?’ Ellie’s forgot her first impulse to box the girl’s ears and drew her into the hall. ‘Now, now. No need for tears. I’ll pay the taxi while you phone the police.’

  Susan said, ‘Hah! She’s done it again!’

  Ellie was torn between slapping Susan or Angelica. Or possibly both. Her good nature won the day. Just. But she did feel cross. That was the second taxi she’d had to pay for that day. Where had she put her handbag?

  Susan said, ‘Angelica, where did this happen? In the town centre? Why didn’t you go to the police there? And what’s happened to your legs? Why didn’t you walk back?’

  ‘You don’t understand! I wasn’t thinking straight. All I could think of was getting back here to Mrs Quicke and to safety.’ She turned her pretty face up to Ellie, all puppy-like and adoring.

  Susan made a noise as if she were about to be sick, and Ellie’s temper veered back from sympathy for Angelica to wanting to shake the girl. ‘All right. I’ll pay the taxi for you, Angelica, but I expect you to refund the money.’

  Angelica’s tears vanished in miraculous fashion. ‘Oh, thank you, thank you! I knew I could rely on you. I promise to repay you when my ship comes in.’

  ‘Your ship, Angelica,’ said Ellie, ‘has run on to a sandbank. You’ve got some explaining to do, young lady.’ She wondered at herself for taking such a harsh tone. It wasn’t like her.

  Angelica started for the stairs. ‘Oh, thank you, Mrs Quicke. You’re a star!’ With a sunny smile: ‘I’ll just get out of these old clothes and—’

  ‘You stop right there, young lady,’ said Ellie. ‘I want you to ring the police and report the mugging while I pay your cab.’ She darted outside, paid what was on the meter, then returned to find Susan sitting, arms folded, on the stairs, blocking Angelica’s way up.

  Angelica dithered. ‘Oh, go on! Don’t be such a pain. Let me pass.’

  Susan said to Ellie, ‘She hasn’t rung the police. Did you really expect her to do so?’

  ‘No,’ said Ellie, realizing what had really happened. ‘She’s no intention of doing so, has she? Well, now, Angelica. I think you’d better start talking. Something’s happened to Andy and Lesley’s flat and you’re going to tell us all about it. They can’t go back there, so they’re moving in here for a couple of nights, which means we’ve transferred your things into the smaller guest room.’

  A pretty pout. ‘You can’t! Well, I mean, obviously you can, but … I mean, you’ve been so kind to me and naturally I fully intend to repay you one day when—’

  With her eyes on Angelica, Susan gestured to the pile of Angelica’s shopping, which they’d left at the top of the stairs. ‘Yes, Angelica? Mrs Quicke and I are wondering what we should do with these? Sell them on eBay, perhaps?’

  Angelica gasped, ‘You can’t! They’re mine!’

  Ellie said, ‘Angelica, did you have enough money in your account to pay for them? Did you have any money in your account when you bought them? You say you’ve just been mugged, but the truth is that Rafael caught up with you, right? It was he who took your cards, wasn’t it? Did you give him the pin numbers for them, too?’

  ‘I …’ Angelica looked stricken. Tears rose to her eyes again. She really was quite some actress. ‘He stopped me in the street and I tried to get away but he hung on to my arm till …’ She held her wrist out for them to see. ‘Oh, how it hurts! I just know there’s going to be an awful bruise. I do bruise so easily!’

  Andy appeared on the landing. ‘W
hat’s going on? Hello, Angelica, are you all right?’

  ‘No, I’m not!’ Yes, tears fell. ‘Oh, Andy! Thank God you’re here! I’m in the most awful mess!’

  ‘There, there, puss.’ Andy’s tone was indulgent. ‘We’ve just been hearing all about it. Why didn’t you come to me if you were short of cash? How much was it? A couple of hundred?’

  ‘Before she comes clean about that,’ said Ellie, ‘she has to ring the police and report that she’s been robbed—’

  ‘What?’ said Andy.

  ‘No, I …’ Angelica floundered, unable think quickly enough to explain why she couldn’t do that. ‘I gave Rafael what I have, of my own accord. There’s no need for the police.’

  Susan said, ‘The clothes you’ve just bought are going back to the shops, right? Mrs Quicke, I’ve got a lockable cupboard upstairs in my flat. Shall I shove them in there for now? Or shall I make a start on returning the goods to the shops?’

  Angelica shrieked, ‘You can’t do that! They’re mine.’

  Ellie said grimly, ‘Bought but not paid for, right?’ She beckoned to Andy. ‘Come on down. We have to talk. Susan, bring those bags. They can go into Thomas’s office for the time being.’

  Angelica looked at her bare left wrist. ‘Oh, I can’t stay to talk just now. I promised to meet a friend in half an hour.’

  Ellie grasped the girl by her upper arm and led her into the sitting room. ‘You can ring them and say you’ve been delayed. Unless … did Rafael take your mobile phone as well as your watch and your purse? He did? Hm, he does appear to have a practical turn of mind, doesn’t he? Sit down, everyone. Now, Angelica, start talking. How much did you borrow from Rafael and what interest does he charge?’

  A toss of the curls. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  Andy looked worried. ‘I’ve heard that some of these moneylenders charge up to a hundred per cent a month. She wouldn’t have been so stupid as to do that, though. Would you, Angelica?’ He smiled fondly at Angelica, who turned pink.

  ‘Sit down, Andy,’ said Ellie. ‘You, too, Susan. Those bags can wait. Now, Andy, Angelica really is in deep trouble. I’m not sure that we can help her … or even if we should help her. Let me tell you what I think has been going on, and then you must decide what, if anything, we can do about it.’

  ‘Oh, yes!’ said Angelica. ‘All I want is for it to go away and you’re so good to me, I’m sure you’ll understand how it all happened and help me out. I promise never, ever to do it again.’

  Andy failed to grasp the seriousness of the situation. ‘Of course we’ll help. How much are you in for?’

  Angelica looked at him adoringly. ‘Oh, would you? I’m afraid it is rather a lot.’

  Ellie said, ‘I suspect it’s thousands, not hundreds. Andy, be careful what you promise. Angelica has no job. When her mother threw her out, she moved in with you and Lesley for a while but that didn’t work out, either, did it?’ Ellie forbore to add that it had been Andy’s overindulgent attitude to his cousin that had caused Lesley to throw the girl out, upon which the girl had arrived on Ellie’s doorstep with a plea for accommodation.

  Ellie continued, ‘Angelica asked me if she might stay here for a couple of nights till she got herself sorted out. Like a fool, I assumed she meant exactly that and let her in.’

  ‘Well, that’s understandable, I suppose.’ Andy was as indulgent as ever towards Angelica. ‘I mean, you have money and this big house, so why shouldn’t you offer her a place to stay?’

  Susan sniffed richly. ‘Huh!’

  Ellie puffed out a sigh. ‘This house costs a mint to run. Susan pays her way, so why shouldn’t Angelica? Look, let’s work it out. Angelica has no job and is short of money. She got Rafael to advance her a considerable sum with promises to repay. She makes promises easily, doesn’t she? From what I’ve heard, she’s always been indulged by her family. She probably assumed someone would come to her rescue if she couldn’t come up with the readies. Isn’t that right, Angelica?’

  Angelica produced a tissue and blotted the tears that were threatening to ruin her make-up. ‘You don’t understand. I fell in love!’

  ‘What!’ said Andy, showing signs of shock. He hadn’t expected that. Nor, to be honest, had Ellie.

  Angelica brightened. ‘He’s so wonderful! He’s so … so … everything! But his family is so … They have property everywhere, and a yacht, and businesses all over, but I didn’t have the right handbag or shoes or, well, anything! He wanted me to be with him, at his side, and of course I wanted that, too. He said he’d take me on the red carpet to a film premiere, and to Ascot and everything. I had nothing to wear and the family expected him to marry this girl who looked at me as if I were dirt. I had to show him I was just as good as her, didn’t I? I had no choice. I had to keep up or lose him.’

  Ellie looked across at Andy, whose mouth had fallen open. She’d wondered for some time how deep his affection for his little cousin ran. Had he, consciously or otherwise, become overfond of her?

  Andy reddened. So, he was in denial about his feelings for the girl and was going to go for anger instead of acknowledging his jealousy? Oh, dear. He was going to explode, wasn’t he?

  Andy said, ‘I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous! Angelica, you don’t know what you’re saying! You’re far too young to fall in love.’

  Ellie looked across at Susan, who rolled her eyes.

  Angelica squealed, ‘You don’t understand. You can’t stop me loving him! I’d give my life for him. Nothing else matters. I shall go mad and jump in the Thames if I can’t have him!’ She gulped, tears at the ready. ‘I’d walk through fire for him. I think of him all the time. If he dumps me, I’ll cut my wrists—’

  Ellie broke in: ‘You borrowed money in order to have the clothes needed to go out with him. How much?’

  ‘Rafael said there was no hurry about returning it at first, he was all nice and easy until last week when he turned nasty and said I had to make some sort of effort to repay him. He was on and on at me to take a job but I couldn’t do that because Jake might ring up and want me to be available, and if I wasn’t, he’d go out with his old girlfriend. Then I heard on the grapevine that I could make some money by holding a party in my flat.’

  Andy choked with rage. ‘How were you supposed to do that? And it’s not your flat, anyway!’

  ‘Well, no.’ She reddened. ‘But I’d kept a key, of course, and everyone thought it was my flat, and it was convenient to meet Rafael there when you went away because I didn’t want him coming here and finding I was only living in one room. It was only two thousand at first, but then I had to ask for some more.’

  Someone hissed out a long breath. Susan?

  Ellie observed, ‘It seems that Angelica collects keys. She’s already had a duplicate made of our front door key here, hasn’t she?’

  Angelica cringed. ‘Don’t look like that, Andy. I knew the people in the flat above you were away at weekends and it sounded such a great opportunity to make some money just for inviting a certain person, and I wanted to show Jake what a nice place I had. I invited some of my friends, too, and one of them must have put it on Facebook and, well, I suppose it did get a bit out of hand. Then it all went wrong because Jake walked out on me anyway!’

  Andy said, ‘You mean you invited lots of people, some of them you didn’t even know, to a party at our flat?’

  Angelica turned imploring, tear-filled eyes to her cousin. ‘Andy, you know I wouldn’t ever have done anything to upset you!’

  Andy’s face indicated that he didn’t know whether to be angry or register understanding of her plight.

  Ellie said, ‘I suppose a lot more people came than you’d anticipated? Some had been drinking heavily before they arrived? Pushing and shoving became crashing and bashing. Furniture got broken. The place was wrecked. And someone died. Who was she, Angelica?’

  Andy’s mouth dropped open. ‘I’d forgotten about her. Angelica, tell them you had nothing to do with t
he girl who died.’

  Angelica sobbed, ‘I only wanted a bit of fun. What’s wrong with that? It’s what’s supposed to happen when you’re young and pretty. I’ve been to so many other parties and I wanted to hold one myself. My friends came, and then they brought others, and there seemed to be lots of drink, and then two men started to fight in the kitchen, and a girl was sick, and I was screaming and screaming at them to stop it, and they didn’t! They didn’t take any notice of me, and I begged my friends to help me get them out, but they didn’t, and so I …’ Her voice trailed away.

  Ellie said, ‘So you left them to it?’

  ‘No!’ Andy protested. ‘Angelica, you didn’t, did you?’

  ‘Don’t look like that! What else was I to do?’

  Andy said, ‘Well, you could have rung the police.’

  Angelica wailed and bent over, hiding her face in her hands.

  ‘You mean,’ said Susan, who was visibly shocked, ‘that Angelica just walked out of a rowdy party she’d set up in Lesley’s flat? Walked out and left them to it?’

  Angelica whimpered, ‘What else could I do? I was so frightened. I’m sure your insurance will cover the damage.’

  Ellie said, ‘Let’s hope the insurance people see it that way. Now, back to basics. How much money have you borrowed from Rafael in total? And how much have you spent?’

  ‘I don’t know! I only bought the merest necessities. I meant to pay it back, I really did. But when I told Rafael I needed more time, he was really horrid to me and threatened me, so I said he could take what I had in my handbag and he did! He took my watch and my cell phone and my purse which has all my cards in it and … Andy, you’ve got to help me!’

  Andy gaped. He was in shock.

  Susan eyed Angelica with dislike. ‘I think Rafael ought to have taken more than her purse. I think he should put her in a greasy spoon café and make her work for him as a waitress till she’s paid him in full.’

  Angelica wailed, ‘Oh, no! I couldn’t work as a waitress! I’m worth more than that!’

  ‘Hang about,’ said Andy, recovering his wits. ‘It’s illegal to charge a lot of interest, isn’t it? He can’t force her to pay him.’