ELEVEN
They reached the top landing at last. It was light and airy up here in Vera’s flat, even on a day when it was spitting hail outside. Ellie opened doors in turn. ‘Kitchen. Bathroom.’ Neither were quite as immaculate as usual. ‘Normally, Vera looks after them beautifully, but she’s been confined to bed for the last few days.’
The two social workers opened the fridge and checked the contents of the freezer. Vera kept them well-stocked, so they couldn’t find fault there. They poked and pried into cupboards. Ellie seethed. She wanted to hit them, but told herself that would be counterproductive.
Ellie said, ‘Vera’s an excellent cook. We usually eat all together downstairs in the big kitchen in the evenings, but of course she cooks for herself and Mikey as well.’
The man deposited the jug of lemonade on the counter and washed his hands at the sink. Had the jug been sticky? Ellie rather hoped that it had.
Once they’d finished there, she led them to the next door. ‘This is their sitting room.’ No sign of Vera or Mikey. Disarranged cushions on the settee. The television was probably still warm, but not on at the moment. Some books had been strewn around. Midge the cat was curled up asleep on the biggest chair.
Ellie let out a slow sigh of relief as she stood back to let the social workers enter. ‘As you can see, it’s a nice big room with windows overlooking the garden.’
Surprise! They didn’t look happy about it.
‘Doesn’t the boy have a room of his own?’
‘Of course he does.’ Ellie proceeded down the landing, throwing more doors open so that they could take a peep inside before she shut them again. ‘All mod cons. Central heating. Utility room. Cupboard for vacuum cleaner, study for Vera – she’s doing a part-time business course, as you probably know …’
Apparently, they didn’t know, for they looked both surprised and annoyed.
Ellie opened the door at the end and stepped inside, holding on to it so that they could follow her in if they wished. She made it clear by her body language that she was fed up with this, that their search was unnecessary and a complete waste of time. This time they glanced in, but didn’t actually enter the room.
Ellie said, ‘This is Mikey’s bedroom. Not all that tidy, but what can you expect for a child of that age?’
‘So where is he?’ asked the woman, going on to the offensive.
‘In bed with his mother, of course. Where else?’ Ellie paused outside Vera’s bedroom, tapped on the door, and said, ‘May we come in for a moment, Vera? Some people have come to see if you’re all right.’
‘Sure. Just let me get up and—’ A weak voice.
‘No worries, my dear,’ said Ellie. ‘If you’re not fit to talk, my visitors will quite understand.’
Vera’s voice wavered. ‘I’m afraid we’re hardly up to having visitors.’
Ellie opened the door and went in. Satisfactory. As pretty a tableau as you could expect. Vera was in bed. She was heavy-lidded, just about awake and very pale. Mikey’s dark head was on the pillow at her side.
‘I think he’s asleep again,’ said Vera, stifling a cough and reaching for a nearly empty glass of lemonade. ‘He wakes and sleeps and tries to look after me, even though he’s not too good himself. He even tried to boil me an egg this morning, would you believe? Not that I could eat it.’ She tried to sit up, but Ellie pressed her back on to the pillows.
‘Don’t try to get up too soon.’
Vera let herself drop back on to the pillows. ‘My head goes round whenever I try to stand. Mikey had to steer me to the toilet this morning. Who are these people?’
The woman peered at Mikey. ‘This is the boy?’
Ellie soothed Vera back on to the pillows. ‘The school sent someone round to make sure Mikey was all right. Now, my lad.’ She gently prised Mikey out from under the covers. ‘I’m sure you need to go to the toilet, don’t you? Let me help you, now I’m here. No need to worry your mother.’
No one could accuse Mikey of being slow on the uptake. He responded like a sleepwalker, eyes half open. Ellie walked him out to the bathroom and invited the social workers to step in there with them.
‘No need to worry his mother about this, but you’ll need to verify the report of his injuries. Mikey, dear? Can you wake up for a moment? Let the kind visitors see what the bad men did to you … You see the bruise on his chin? The knife barely scratched his arm, as you can see. Thank heaven he was wearing a jacket and a sweatshirt, or he’d have had to have stitches. And, yes, Mikey … could you just pull up your pyjama top for a moment, to let us check how your bruises are getting on …? Nasty, aren’t they? Never mind, soon be gone. We’ll step outside while you do your duty, and then I’ll get you back to bed again.’
She almost pushed the social workers out on to the landing, frowning. ‘I suppose you are now going to ask if his mother inflicted those injuries on him. Well, she didn’t. As you can see, she’s hardly capable of swatting a fly at the moment. The boy was struck and knifed on the site, by the very people who reported him to the police. The doctor who saw him at the police station – do try to find her report, it’s informative – anyway, she warned me he might have concussion, due to being thrown down the stairs at the building site. So, as I said, I called in the paramedics last night to look at him. Please check with them, too. I had to keep waking him up every hour in the night to make sure he wasn’t going into a coma. I think he’s all right, but it’s all a bit worrying.’
‘His injuries were not inflicted by a boyfriend of his mother’s?’
‘Oh, really!’ said Ellie. ‘Have you seen any evidence of a boyfriend? Haven’t you looked in every room? Have you seen anything to support your theory? No, of course you haven’t.’
She looked at her watch … or where her watch was supposed to be. Where had she left it? ‘I suppose I ought to take his temperature again. Would one of you like to take it for me … rectally, perhaps? My eyesight, these new thermometers, the old ones were a lot easier to read, weren’t they?’
‘No, no,’ said the woman, retreating a step, as did her sidekick. ‘No need for that.’
The boy came out of the bathroom, wavering on his feet, looking half awake. Ellie helped him back into bed next to his mother. ‘There, now. I’ve brought you up some more lemonade, which I seem to have left somewhere. Perhaps the kind gentleman will fetch it for you from the kitchen?’
The man shot an indignant look at Ellie but did as he was bid.
Ellie smiled at him as he handed the jug over. ‘Thank you. So kind. There now, Mikey. Drink as much as you like, must keep up the fluids, and back to sleep you go. Soon be better.’
The social workers looked as if they were sucking acid drops.
Ellie ushered them out, saying, ‘Well, I think you’ve seen everything now, haven’t you? I’ll be up to see the invalids again later, make sure they take some aspirin or whatever. I don’t think Vera’s going to be back to work for a while yet. I hope it doesn’t go to Mikey’s chest. Or Thomas’s. He gets terrible chest colds in the winter, makes him quite poorly. Is there anything else?’
‘Not for the moment.’
They descended one flight. Then two. Into the hall.
Ellie helped them with their macs and handed them their umbrellas. ‘Do you think I ought to get a nurse in to look after them all? I could try the agency I use for cleaning the house … But you don’t want to know about that. It’s just that I’m a bit worried what might happen if I go down with flu, too.’
The woman said, ‘We’ll be in touch.’ Ice in her voice.
‘Of course,’ said Ellie. ‘Mind how you go, now. This horrid rain makes driving so difficult, don’t you think?’
Ellie watched her visitors drive away before, moving with care, she let herself down on to the hall chair, leaned back and breathed out. What a relief.
Rose crept down the stairs, taking her time about it, and collapsed on to the bottom step, holding on to the newel post. They smiled at one another.
‘Well done, Rose. I couldn’t think how to warn him.’
‘That young limb! Oh, if I never have to climb those stairs again, it’ll be too soon, but I managed it all right while you were showing them around down here. Mikey was dressed, watching the telly and munching biscuits when I got to the top. I was panting fit to burst, but I told him what was happening and he caught on, quick as a flash. Then I hid behind the door to his bedroom while you showed them round, the interfering, no good busybodies. Vera hasn’t a clue what he’s been up to, has she, poor girl?’
‘He needs a good whacking.’
‘My dad used to put us across his knee. I don’t know as it did much good, though it did make us remember not to do it again if he could catch us at it.’
‘I know. I’m just so frustrated, don’t know what to do for the best.’
Rose hauled herself to her feet. ‘Well, all this sitting around won’t get the baby his bottle, will it? We’ll be eating the lasagne again this evening, won’t we? And if you’re going out, we could do with some more lemons and maybe some ice cream for the invalids?’
What to do next? A thousand things.
Thomas; it was always a worry when he caught a cold. He might be a big, strong man, but he could be felled by a simple virus, and if it got on to his chest he’d need antibiotics. As for Mikey! It was more than time that that young man came clean about what he’d seen and done, and about what had been done to him.
Ellie snapped her fingers. She knew she’d forgotten something! She ought to have got her solicitor on to Edwina’s case straight away, not to mention getting him to fend off Social Services. She dithered. Yes, that was important. There were probably lots more things she ought to be doing, but perhaps most immediate of all, she must get Rose to slow down or she’d make herself ill and then where would they be?
The answerphone light was winking. Messages. Wait a minute, hadn’t Thomas said something about a message? Yes, he’d scrawled something on the pad by the phone, but she couldn’t make head nor tail of it. ‘Tunnel’? No, that couldn’t be it. Perhaps the answerphone held a clue?
Message number one, which had been left early the previous day. ‘Ellie, so sorry.’ A woman’s voice. ‘The agency here. Everyone’s down with flu. Two of the girls started work in your kitchen quarters on Tuesday as I expect you noticed but then one collapsed, so they had to call it a day. I’m at my wits’ end. I’ll call you back as soon as I can sort something else out.’
Ellie sighed and deleted the message.
Message number two, also left the previous day. Lesley Milburn. ‘Sorry to convey more bad news, Ellie, but I’ve just been told that Social Services are going to call on you tomorrow …’
Ellie deleted that message, too. The bureaucrats had come and gone, and for the moment boarders had been repelled.
Message number three. They were still on Thursday. Diana. Of course. ‘Mother, have you been able to fix up someone to sit with Evan on a permanent basis yet, because I simply—?’ Ellie deleted the message without hearing it all the way through.
Message number four. Evan. We were on to Friday, at last. What on earth could he be ringing her about? ‘Ellie, you there? Are you coming round later today?’
That would be today, would it? Friday? Ellie was getting confused.
Evan continued, ‘I was so down in the dumps after you left yesterday, I was ready to put my head in the gas oven. But then …’ He laughed. ‘An old friend came round, what a surprise! We had a noggin or two and put the world to rights. I felt a lot better. She would have stayed on, but my daughter came back and cooked us a good meal. The first I’ve been able to enjoy for a long time. And Diana wasn’t too late.
‘Then, you’ll never guess, that old rogue Freddie turned up this morning. He’s on the biggest guilt trip you can think of, stupid fellow! Fixated on Anita’s death and who could have helped her into the next world. Told him to pull himself together and advised him not to let that whiny little secretary bird of his to get a stranglehold on him, because anyone can see what she’s after, he he! He should be so lucky, eh? I told him, if in doubt, get some Viagra. So, give me a ring. Let me know when you’re coming round, eh?’
Ellie grinned. The old devil. She was beginning to be more amused than annoyed with her son-in-law. She didn’t think she’d be able to leave the house today, what with so many invalids to cope with, but perhaps she could ring him later. Delete.
The last message. Thomas’s secretary bird, coughing and sniffling. ‘Sorry, so sorry. Can’t make it. Dreadful headache. Will you tell him I’ll have to take a few days off?’ Today’s date.
Oh. Now that was too bad. Should she tell Thomas or not? No. Best leave the invalids in peace. Delete.
Rose arrived in the doorway, with her mouth turned down. ‘You’d best take it easy today, Ellie, or we’ll both be down with it, and then what will we do? Paint a cross on the door and hope some charitable person will be good enough to phone the undertakers if we snuff it?’
‘It’s not as bad as that. Vera will be up and about soon.’
‘Thomas won’t be up and about soon, take my word for it. You know what he’s like when it gets on to his chest.’
‘I know. I’ll pop up and see that he takes—’
The phone rang. Diana. ‘Mother, I rang you yesterday but you haven’t had the courtesy to—’
‘Flu, Diana. Vera. Then Mikey. And now Thomas. Also, I’ve got Social Services on my back, threatening to take Mikey into care.’ Greatly daring, she added, ‘I don’t suppose you could spare the time to help me nurse them?’
Squawk. Horror, horror! Indignation! ‘Whatever in the world …’
Ellie grinned and put the phone down. She muted the ring tone. If anyone rang now, she wouldn’t hear it. The caller could leave a message, and she’d deal with it when she could.
Rose applauded. ‘That’s sensible. How about we both have a coffee and a biscuit, and put our feet up for a bit? Do us the world of good. After that, you’ll be better able to cope.’
Ellie gave Rose a hug. ‘Rose, I adore you. Your advice, as always, is excellent. Has Mikey eaten all the chocolate biscuits, or are there any left?’
The front doorbell rang. Ellie looked at Rose, and Rose looked at Ellie. Who could it possibly be? Could they pretend to be out?
The bell rang again. Ellie shrugged and went to open the door.
Surprise! It was the new widower, Freddie, all by himself with no attendant May hanging on his arm. Freddie was wet and miserable and, as Evan had hinted, too distressed to know what he was doing. He’d parked his car skew-whiff in the drive, so close to Thomas’s that he wasn’t going to find it easy to leave without a lot of manoeuvring.
Ellie said, ‘Do come in.’ She didn’t think he’d slept the previous night. There were brownish stains around his eyes, and his hair hadn’t been brushed that day.
‘Can you spare a minute?’ He stepped into the hall but made no move to take off his car coat. ‘It’s just that I couldn’t wait, couldn’t sleep last night, and then this morning … It’s no use saying that I should go to the police because I couldn’t bear to have it all over the papers and … You do understand, don’t you? Evan said you would. He said that if anyone could sort it, you could.’
Ellie felt as if she’d like to go back to bed with the electric blanket full on, thank you, to be waited on by a team of sympathetic women with hushed voices and soft hands, who wouldn’t allow any visitors or phone calls.
She said, ‘I’m just going to have a cup of coffee. Would you like one?’
‘Coffee?’ He stared at her as if she’d suggested a cup of hemlock.
‘Have you had any breakfast?’
‘Breakfast?’ He repeated the word. Clearly, it had no meaning for him.
Ellie rolled her eyes at Rose, who rolled them back. ‘Can you manage some coffee for us, Rose? Then you must have a nice rest. I’ll deal with the invalids later.’
‘Invalids?’ Freddie repeated that
word, too. ‘You mean Evan?’
‘No. Members of my family are down with flu. Which reminds me, weren’t you expecting some relatives of your own?’
‘My sister arrived early. My older sister. She took charge. Do you have an older sister? Bossy. Very. Anita couldn’t stand her. She’s rearranged everything, food for the wake, the Order of Service. She’s taken over the job of phoning people to tell them about the funeral, ordered May to go back to work, driven me mad. So I got in my car and went to see Evan. When I got back, she’d started taking Anita’s clothes out of the wardrobe and was putting them into black plastic bags for the charity shop and I …’
Ellie divested him of his wet coat and led him into the sitting room, which was beginning to look neglected, with newspapers littered around the place, dying flowers on the table near the window, and more dust on the mahogany. She consoled herself by saying that Freddie wouldn’t notice. He didn’t.
‘Couldn’t get her to stop. We had a row. We always row. Ever since we were children, whenever we meet, we row. I put the bags in my car, thinking I’d take them to the office and keep them there till she’d gone. Then I remembered May would be there, and I couldn’t face her. I didn’t know what to do.’
Ellie indicated he take a seat. He did so, but jumped up again immediately and began to stride about the room. He hadn’t shaved that morning, and he had odd socks on. Oh well.
‘What Evan said … I mean, he wouldn’t say it if other people weren’t saying it too, would he? I can’t stop thinking about it, now. That’s what happens, isn’t it? You wish you’d not heard the words, but once you have, you can’t push them away and pretend you haven’t been told. If everyone is saying it … What am I to do? You can see why I need your help, can’t you? He said you don’t charge because you don’t have to, but I’d be prepared, honestly, it would be well worth it if I could only be sure … But then, if it’s true, I can’t let it go on, and yet … To tell the police … What good would that do?’
Rose brought in some coffee and a plate of biscuits. No chocolate ones, Ellie noticed.
Murder With Mercy Page 14
