Murder for Nothing

by Veronica Heley

  ‘You were alone in the garden at that point?’

  ‘The girl Kate was there, too. She was half-cut, hanging on Clay’s arm, mad talk, saying she was going to teach someone a lesson. And Clay, honest, I wondered what he was on, because he didn’t take no notice of me. He was all over her, telling her she should have some of his special pick-me-ups or some such, and I told him to shut it, that I didn’t think he should push drugs on a girl who was in a bad state already, but he began to shout at me, and so did she, they both turned on me and …’

  She drew the back of her hand across her nose. ‘She pushed me! I was so surprised. But … it was so awful … he pushed me, too!’

  ‘Clay pushed you?’

  A nod. ‘I stepped back and back and … I couldn’t believe it! He kept pushing me one step back and then another, and they were both laughing and it was too much. I couldn’t believe that this was Clay doing it to me. But he wasn’t himself, you know?’

  She rocked backwards and forwards. ‘He called me names. He’s never, before. Never! And so did she! Then he slapped me. Me! That was trying to help him! I couldn’t believe it was happening. I wished I’d left him in the pond. I wished Gina and Big Scotty would come back but of course they didn’t. They pushed me right back to the house. I couldn’t go no further. So in the end I slapped him back. He’s not such a big bloke. He fell on his backside, looking so amazed …! And she, that bitch, laughed and laughed and … I walked away. I was crying, I suppose. I looked through the big window into the big room as I passed, to see if anyone was still there and might give me a lift home, but by that time everyone else had gone, though they’d left the music on.’

  ‘And the lights?’

  ‘N-no. Dunno. Sort of. Not bright. Dimmed, like? I left. I didn’t see anyone in the streets, all the way home. A couple of cars passed me, and that was it. And I did some crying, but then I told myself that he wasn’t worth it, and what was I crying for, but there it was. So I got home and got out the vodka, and had a slug or two, and passed out in the chair. My flatmates were not amused, but … I had a terrible headache the next day. I used to get these headaches a lot but nowadays not so much. I went to bed, took some painkillers, turned my phone off, slept. I remembered later that Gina had talked about getting a takeaway but I wasn’t up to it. I thought Clay might have rung me to apologize, but he never did. Then this morning I got up, ready to go to work, and that’s when Milos came.’

  Jess said, ‘What am I going to do? He doesn’t believe I left Clay there in the garden, and he doesn’t believe that I don’t know where he is now. I can’t go to work, because he knows where I am, and I can’t go to the police or he’ll kill me.’

  Ellie said, ‘This doesn’t make sense. You say you left Kate and Clay in the garden but everyone else had gone?’

  ‘Well, I didn’t see into the bedroom because that looks out on to the road and there was blinds there that we pulled down when we went in. But there was no one left in the big room at the back, no. Oh!’ And she pressed the melting ice pack against her face.

  Susan drew Ellie aside to where Rafael stood, leaning against the wall. ‘I can’t make sense of this. Do you think Clay killed Kate and then fled the scene?’

  Ellie shook her head. ‘If so, how did his stash of drugs end up in this house? Plus Kate’s purse and necklace.’

  Rafael clicked his fingers. ‘Angelica has been telling us a pack of lies. I believe she left the party early but she must have gone back at some point, and picked the stuff up …’ His voice trailed away. ‘Only, if Kate and Clay were still there …? Why would Clay hand over his stuff to Angelica, of all people? And was Kate dead at that point in time? I can’t see Angelica killing anyone, so Kate must have been dead by the time she got back. I mean, I can see Angelica robbing a body. But how did Kate come to die?’

  ‘Angelica said Clay had got into a fight and gave her the stuff to keep for him.’

  Rafael said, ‘That’s not true, is it? He still had his stash when he was in the garden with Gina and Jess, and I believe what they say. Their stories tally.’

  ‘Timmy confirmed Angelica’s story that she left early.’

  ‘Did she go back after he’d dropped her off here? He wouldn’t know anything about that. We can’t believe anything that Angelica told us.’

  Ellie agreed. ‘One thing’s for sure. There was no fight. Just a bit of horseplay. Nothing to make Clay want to hand over his stash to anyone else.’ She turned back to Jess. ‘You’re sure, absolutely sure that Kate was still alive when you left?’

  ‘She was screaming mad but very much alive. Mad as a box of frogs, if you ask me. Telling the whole world what she was going to do to Jake when she caught up with him. According to her, they’d been unofficially engaged for months till Angelica got her claws into him. Kate was saying that she was going to get Jake back, that Angelica was so kooky that he’d soon realise how stupid she was. Kate said Angelica was one of the wild oats Jake was sowing before he settled down to marriage. She said Angelica was Jake’s bit on the side, like. Pretty enough to take around with him on occasions it didn’t matter, but Kate swore it wouldn’t last.’

  ‘Do you think that’s true? You’ve seen Jake with Angelica before?’

  ‘Sure. Now and then. In the pub. Her all googly-eyed and him with his hand up her skirt. It don’t take a genius to read that script.’

  ‘Did you ever see him with Kate?’

  ‘Mm. I think so. Once or twice. Some months back. Kate didn’t speak to any of us, then. No, no. She was slumming and made it clear we weren’t her cup of tea. A sharp voice. She tried to order him about and he … Well, frankly, if I’d been Jake and had Kate screaming at him about this and that, and she knew how to scream all right, and Angelica had come up, all sweetie-pie and said, “Aren’t you a big, strong man,” then I’d have had second or third thoughts about how good marriage was going to be with such a bully as Kate. She really was a bully, you know. All right, I know I shouldn’t say such things about someone who’s dead, but honest, I can understand why he preferred to spend party time with Angelica.’

  ‘But Kate was alive when you left.’

  ‘Absolutely. She wasn’t making much sense, mind you. I reckon she must have been at the booze before she got there. I mean, one minute she was threatening to commit suicide and the next she was going to take a knife to Angelica, or to herself. Or to Jake. I stopped listening. All I wanted to do was to get Clay to come away with me, and he wouldn’t. He seemed, I don’t know, fascinated by Kate. Kept pawing her shoulder and saying he’d got just the thing to make her feel better. I lost it and shouted at him not to be so something stupid. And then he shouted and pushed me and … I should have handled it better.’

  ‘What do you think has happened to Clay?’

  ‘I don’t know! I don’t know!’ They could all hear the anxiety and even dread in her voice.

  Ellie said, ‘You think he’s run away?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Quieter, but with a sob. ‘I’ve thought and thought, and I just don’t understand where he could have gone. I’ve rung all the places where he hangs out, but no one’s seen hide nor hair of him.’

  ‘Wouldn’t he normally report back to Milos? How often did he report, anyway?’

  ‘I don’t know. I’ve never wanted to know anything like that. Clay isn’t that bright, you know? He got into drugs sort of by accident, and then … Well, no one’s going to walk out on Milos, are they?’ And more quietly, ‘Clay isn’t any threat to Milos. He isn’t a leader. He’s a follower. He’s a sweet guy, who never hurt anyone.’

  ‘You could see him running away if he’d lost his money and his stash?’

  ‘Well, yes. Perhaps. But how could he lose it? When I left, he still had his moneybelt on him, under his T-shirt. And his pouch with the drugs in it. I saw them when I was trying to get him to change his jeans.’

  ‘And you were the last ones left at the party?’

  Jess’s eyes grew larger than ever. ‘You
think I killed him? I wouldn’t. Honest!’

  ‘No, but …’ Ellie didn’t know what to think. ‘Three of you were left in the garden. You, and Kate and Clay. What were they doing, the last you saw of them?’

  ‘Clay was on the ground, where I’d pushed him. Kate was having hysterics. The noise from the radio … ugh. It got on my nerves. No wonder the neighbours complained.’

  ‘The radio was still on inside the house? That’s odd.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Andy and Lesley said that when the neighbours returned on Sunday evening, they didn’t notice anything wrong at first, which means no noise or lights from the ground-floor flat. Now, I understand that their front door is on the street side of the house. Andy and Lesley’s flat entrance is at the side of the house. When the neighbours returned they went straight upstairs as usual and it was only when they looked out of the back window that they spotted something in the garden that required investigation. They came down, went round the house and found Kate’s body. It was only after that, that they found the front door open and went into the flat itself. It wasn’t the noise which told them something was wrong. Jess, doesn’t it look as if someone turned the sound off after you left?’

  Ellie looked around at the others, who looked puzzled.

  Rafael said, ‘And the lights as well? But, who could that be?’

  Susan said, ‘Well, I suppose the police did, when they went round to complain about the noise?’

  ‘No,’ said Ellie. ‘I don’t think so. They only went round once, earlier in the evening. We know about that, because Jess was told about it when she went into the house to find some jeans for Clay.’

  Rafael snapped his fingers again. ‘So who was left to turn the sound off? Clay or Kate? I can’t see either of them bothering.’

  ‘Neither can I.’

  ‘But who? There wasn’t anyone else there. You didn’t go into the house again, did you, Jess?’

  ‘No. Catch me. I went round the side and out into the street and the noise followed me down the road.’

  Ellie tried another tack. ‘Can you remember if Kate had her purse with her in the garden?’

  Jess thought. And nodded. ‘Sure. A clutch purse. Expensive. Black, I think. Very dark, anyway. With a glittering initial on it. Yes. Her phone had a glitter case, as well. Pink. One of the new ones. Expensive. She was expensive, Kate. You could tell. Her shoes …’ She whistled. ‘And her dress. I wouldn’t have minded that dress and shoes.’

  ‘Was she wearing any jewellery?’

  ‘Um, something round her neck. She liked glitter, didn’t she? But I think, not sure … let me think … It was, like, ivy leaves in enamel, but with glitter bits. And diamond dangles in her ears. Not sure about rings. No … yes! A coupla modern ones, chunky chunks, you know? Knuckledusters. But, it was her shoes … Wow! They cost.’

  Ellie thought about that. When she and Susan had searched, they’d found Kate’s purse with the necklace and the diamond earrings in it but no mobile phone and no rings. So what had happened to them? And how had they come into Angelica’s possession when she’d long since left the party?

  This was a puzzle and a half.

  Rafael said, ‘Jess, are you sure about Kate’s mobile phone?’

  ‘She took it out, waved it about, trying to contact Jake, but he wasn’t answering. Then she said she’d call a cab. Then she went back to trying to contact Jake. Then we got into a shoving match and I left.’

  ‘After the visit from Milos, didn’t you try to phone Clay?’

  ‘Of course. Dozens of times. No reply. Goes to voicemail. I know he’s been dossing down on people’s sofas, here and there. I tried everyone I could think of but no one’s seen him. He’s made himself scarce and I can’t blame him, really.’

  A ring, short and sharp, at the front doorbell.

  Ellie let Andy in. He looked hollow-eyed. His hair was all over the place, and his shoulders drooped. ‘They threw me out. Lesley looks so ill. Oh, God! What am I going to do?’

  Ellie set aside the problem of Kate and Clay, which was giving her a headache, and turned back into her usual practical self.

  ‘Have you eaten, Andy? Come and sit down … No, in the kitchen. Then you can tell us all about it. Oh, you don’t know Jess and Gina, do you? They were at the party at your place and have been telling us what they know about it.’

  Andy looked at them. His eyes weren’t focused and it was clear that he wasn’t registering who or what the girls were. ‘Er … right. Er … Sorry. Not quite …’ He turned back to Ellie. ‘What was that you said?’

  Ellie beckoned to Susan. ‘Take him into the kitchen, sit him down and feed him.’ And to Rafael, ‘Any ideas what to do with the girls? Will it be safe for them to go back to wherever they live, or shall we let them doss down here?’

  Rafael was grim. ‘Can you put them up? I’ll stay, too. Sleep on the floor if necessary.’

  Susan had Andy’s arm over her shoulders, as he didn’t seem capable of movement on his own accord. ‘Rafael, one of them can sleep at the top with me, in the small bedroom next to mine. The other can sleep in Angelica’s bedroom, right?’

  Andy mumbled, ‘I didn’t want to leave Lesley, but they said … I shouldn’t have left her. Suppose … suppose something happens tonight when I’m not there?’

  Susan led him away, still talking.

  Gina and Jess had got as far as the stairs and seated themselves on the lowest step. Stranded by the tide. Limp. All their bright youthfulness had disappeared and Ellie thought they were showing their true ages – they were probably both in their early thirties.

  Gina was slightly more alive than Jess. Gina said, ‘We can’t expect you to take us in, Mrs Quicke. We really can’t.’ And waited for Ellie to say they were very welcome.

  So Ellie did. ‘I’m not turning you out at this time of night …’ And what time was it, anyway? Coming up to nine o’clock? How time flies when you’re enjoying yourself. ‘So if you’d like to follow Susan into the kitchen, she’ll look after you and show you where you can sleep afterwards.’

  ‘And tomorrow?’ That was Jess. ‘What’s going to happen tomorrow?’

  ‘Tomorrow is another day,’ said Ellie, who hadn’t a clue what they were going to do tomorrow. Dump the whole caboodle on the police, probably. What else could they do? Ellie was not, definitely not, up to dealing with drug dealers. They broke the law and ought to be handed over to the police, and if they threatened her, then … tough. Well, probably tough. She was feeling brave at the moment but had a sneaking suspicion that tomorrow she’d be cowering in a corner, like Jess, whose bruises were spectacular.

  Once the girls had disappeared along the corridor to the kitchen, Ellie heard the light patter of paws as Midge the cat descended the stairs. He rubbed at her ankles. Did he need feeding? Yes, probably. But he could wait a while for his food.

  She picked him up and carried him through into the calm of her sitting room. The light was going. She drew the curtains with Midge over her shoulder, and then sat down in her chair to think. Midge curled round and round on her lap, and settled. She put her hand on his back, and her fingers rubbed his neck through his fur. He liked that, and would put up with it for some time.

  Think, Ellie. Think.

  Jess left Kate and Clay in the garden. One of them dies, and the other disappears. Surely the only reasonable scenario was that Clay gave Kate some drug or other which caused her to die. So let’s think that through.

  Clay wouldn’t have expected Kate to die but he must have known that some people do have extreme reactions to the new combination drugs that have come on to the market. So, let us suppose that is what happened. When he discovered she was dead, he panicked. He realized he might be charged with her death, stole her things in a muddled attempt to delay police finding out her identity, and fled.

  Well, that sounds all right. Sort of. Except … would a man like Clay rob a corpse for her jewellery? Her purse? Yes, maybe. But it took some nerve to remove
earrings and a necklace from a dead body.

  But, let’s suppose that is what happened.

  Very well, but where did Angelica come into the plot? It wasn’t only Kate’s possessions that Angelica hid in the house, but also the money and the drugs.

  Well, Clay must have contacted Angelica, and asked her to hold the stuff for him while he made himself scarce.

  No, that wouldn’t work. It doesn’t make sense that he’d give her the money and the drugs to keep for him. If he wanted to hire a car, or get on a train or a plane, he’d need money to pay for his fare. And when he got to wherever he was going, he’d need the drugs to sell, wouldn’t he?

  How much money was there? Perhaps there was a considerable sum, enough to be worthwhile dividing up with Angelica? How can we find out?

  Well, we’re not asking Milos, that’s for sure.

  Now Angelica has disappeared, too. Why? And are they in this together?

  An unlikely partnership. I mean, what has Clay got that Angelica needs?

  Money, that’s what. She’s not interested in drugs, is she? No, there’d been no sign of that. But money, yes. She’d willingly accept the money. She was pretty desperate for money, wasn’t she? But the drugs …

  No, I don’t believe she’d have been tempted to take them … only, apparently that’s exactly what she did do.

  She admitted she was given them, and that she then hid them in Thomas’s Quiet Room. You can’t get away from the facts.