She leaned against the door, fighting sleep.
And tried to work it out. If this wasn’t just a bad dream then it was real. And if the door on the landing had been put back into place, Rafael and Susan would never think of exploring further. They might search the rest of the house, but that would be that.
If she were going to get out of here, if she were going to break her dream, then it was up to her to do something. But what?
She picked up the bedroom chair, which was heavy and unwieldy but with an effort she managed to swing it at the door.
Boom!
And again.
Boom!
Her arms were aching. She was going to drop the chair. She couldn’t hold on to it any longer. If only she were twenty or thirty years younger and an Olympic athlete … But she wasn’t.
One more try. BOOM!
There were some nice dents in the door, but it was too solid to break open. A pity she’d asked for good quality doors up here.
She paused, panting. Letting the chair slip to the floor. It would be a lot easier to go back to sleep. Could she make it to the bed before falling over?
There were more raised voices downstairs.
‘Up here!’ she cried.
A silence, followed by muted, questioning voices. Had they heard her?
Yes, she could hear halting steps making their way up to the attic floor.
She yelled, ‘I’m here! Locked in!’
A muffled voice shouted, ‘What? Ellie? Are you up there? But why …?’
Ellie tried to shout but it came out almost as a whisper. ‘The second bedroom. I’m locked in!’
‘Where’s the keys, Susan?’ Yes, that was definitely Rafael.
Susan, panting a bit, ‘In the locks, of course.’ She was so heavily pregnant, it must have taken it out of her to climb up to the top of the house.
‘No keys,’ said Rafael. His voice came closer. ‘Ellie, you in there? Are you all right?’
‘Sort of, yes,’ said Ellie. She found she was sitting on the floor. How did she get there? She said, ‘Hetty wanted to leave me to starve to death.’ And suddenly the thought was so funny that she had an impulse to laugh. And had to quell it. With an effort. Hysteria, of course.
Susan’s voice came through, nice and clear. ‘The locks up here are all the same. I never needed to use them, but there were spare keys somewhere. I kept them in the kitchen …’ Her voice faded, and then returned. ‘Here. They were hanging on the back of the cupboard door. Try it.’
It worked. Rafael turned the key in the lock and threw open the door.
Ellie said, ‘Thank you.’ She tried to get up off the floor. And failed.
Rafael picked her up and deposited her on the bed.
Susan put her arms around Ellie. ‘What a fright you gave us! Are you all right? We couldn’t think what was happening. We got this strange message from Hetty. She said not to come back here, but we couldn’t believe that you’d asked her to phone us, especially since we’d left our overnight things here. So we decided to see what was happening for ourselves. We got back as quickly as we could. We found the front door had been bolted from the inside which was stranger still. I knew you always kept a kitchen door key in the shed out back, so we got in all right, only to find … but we never thought of looking up here.’
‘No, indeed,’ said Rafael. ‘Ellie, are you all right? You look half asleep.’
She blinked. His face was going in and out of focus. He looked worried. About her?
She said, ‘I’ll be all right in a minute. Is Thomas with you?’
‘He left us a message, said he couldn’t get through to you so thought we’d check up for him. They’re keeping him in for the weekend but he’s beginning to feel a lot better. We said we’d ring him back when we’d made contact with you.’
‘Thank God he’s better,’ said Ellie, trying to make sense of a world that seemed to keep slipping out of focus. ‘So why your long faces?’
Susan said to Rafael, ‘She’ll have to see for herself.’ And to Ellie, ‘There’s nothing seriously wrong.’
With Rafael’s help, Ellie managed to get to her feet. ‘I’m all right, really.’ Though she wasn’t. She was good at pretending, wasn’t she?
Rafael gave Ellie his arm. ‘Take it easy.’
Ellie tried to stand, and her legs gave way. A second try, and she managed to balance on her feet. She thought, Thomas is all right, and coming home soon. Nothing else matters.
Rafael steered her across the landing to the top of the stairs, where Ellie pulled away to look into Hetty’s sitting room. There was something she had to check up on. Wavering on her feet, she said, ‘Ah, she’s taken the whole cushion. I thought she might have left the cover, but she probably didn’t bother.’
‘She stole one of your cushions?’ Susan was almost amused.
Ellie tried to explain. Why was it so difficult to concentrate? ‘It contained a cache of drugs. She wouldn’t want to leave that behind. I’ll tell you all about it in a minute.’
Down the stairs they went. Slowly. Ellie wasn’t up to moving fast, and neither was Susan.
Midge was in the hall, waiting for them. Ellie’s legs nearly gave way again when she saw him. She’d been hoping he’d be all right, but it was a relief to see him alive and kicking, so to speak. At least Hetty had failed to carry out one of her threats.
Ellie dabbed at her throat. ‘Rather warm, isn’t it?’ she said.
‘Yes,’ said Rafael. ‘The central heating had been cranked up to maximum. I’ve turned it off. Now, brace yourself.’
The kitchen was a disaster area. The door to the fridge had been left open, and the contents spilled on the floor. Ditto the door to the freezer. Everything inside both was ruined. In pools of water.
‘Oh!’ cried Ellie, subsiding into a chair. ‘All that lovely food spoilt!’
Susan sighed. She’d cooked a lot of the stuff that had been in the freezer. ‘Yes, but what I’m more worried about is that she’s cut the wire to your landline in the hall. And what about your handbag?’
It lay open on the table, its contents exposed. Ellie could see at a glance that her wallet, containing some notes and her credit cards, was missing. So was her mobile phone. At least Hetty hadn’t taken Ellie’s keys, although she’d probably retained her own set.
Ellie rubbed her forehead. Why couldn’t she think straight? She wanted to lie down and die, but couldn’t allow herself to do so, yet. Hetty must be traced. Arrested. Questioned.
The credit cards must be reported stolen. The mobile phone must be replaced. The landline fault reported. Thomas would be trying to contact her.
She couldn’t decide which to do first.
Rafael said, ‘Have you got insurance? Which is your bank? Shall I phone them?’
Her mind cleared. She unzipped the inside pocket of her handbag and produced a card from the insurance people. ‘Ring that number. They’ll cancel the cards and get me new ones. Oh, and I had about fifty pounds in notes, which may be covered by them. Try it, anyway. That’s the first thing to do. Next, Susan, can you ring the police for me? Try to get Lesley if you can. Tell her what’s happened and say they must try to find Hetty, because she’s a killer on the loose.’
SEVENTEEN
Saturday afternoon
Susan gaped. ‘Hetty’s murdered someone? I know she locked you in, but … really a murderer?’
Ellie struggled to think clearly. ‘I can’t be sure and I have no proof, but I’m very much afraid that she has been up to no good. I found a whole stack of pills inside one of the cushions on the settee. All sorts and sizes. And colours. And …’ She swallowed hard. ‘Will you phone the police now for me, Susan? I’ll make myself a cup of tea, and then I’ll be perfectly all right.’
‘If you say so.’ Susan used her phone, while Ellie considered the number of steps she’d have to take to get to the kettle. She’d have to go right across the kitchen. Three steps, possibly four. She could manage that, if she put her
mind to it. She told her legs to go into action, and they refused. She could imagine her knees saying, She can tell us what to do till the kingdom comes, but the poor old thing doesn’t realize we’re knackered.
Rafael returned, smiling. ‘An efficient company. Cards cancelled, money loss reported, replacement cards on their way.’
Ellie said, ‘Thomas lost his keys once when we were on holiday. Someone found them and popped them in the nearest postbox. When we got back, his keys were sitting in the letterbox here, waiting for us. He hadn’t even known he’d lost them.’
Susan handed the phone to Ellie. ‘Lesley’s on the line. You explain.’
Ellie looked longingly at the kettle. ‘You couldn’t make me a cuppa, could you?’
And to Lesley, she said, ‘Sorry to trouble you, but there’s been a nasty development and I think … oh dear, I’m going to cry! So sorry! I’m being such an idiot, what with Thomas being so sick and in hospital and all. I’ll be all right in a minute.’ She gulped.
Lesley sounded anxious. ‘What is it, Ellie? Susan said you’ve been assaulted? Are you all right?’
‘I’m very far from all right at the moment, but I’ll bounce back. Of course I will. The thing is that I gave Hetty a cheque to help her find somewhere else to go to and while she was out I discovered she’d been hoarding a whole lot of pills, all sorts, from different pharmacies, issued to different people. I’m wondering if she’s been giving them to the people she’s been in contact with, and if so, do you think she might have been responsible for some of the deaths we’ve heard about recently? Ones where people have left money to Thomas?’
‘Why would she do that?’
‘I’m not sure. Perhaps she got them to leave her some money as well? I don’t know that this is what she’s been doing, but perhaps you can check? Anyway, she admitted that she’d made Thomas ill by giving him Ibuprofen, which he can’t tolerate. The thing is that I challenged her about it, and now she’s run off and I don’t know where she is. She’s taken her hoard of pills with her.’
‘Have you any proof of what you say?’
‘Well, I suppose I could press charges for locking me into one of the top rooms. When she left me there, she said she hoped I’d starve. I didn’t, because Rafael and Susan didn’t believe the nasty message she’d sent them, but she’s cut the landline wires and spoiled all the food in the fridge and freezer and I think we’ll probably have to throw everything edible away because I know she put Ibuprofen into Thomas’s coffee and she might well have tampered with the rest of our food, too.’
Lesley was shocked. ‘But she’s your housekeeper!’
‘No, she isn’t. That was her idea, not mine. We gave her somewhere to live till she got back on her feet but it was never supposed to become a permanent arrangement. Midge didn’t like her. Took against her from the beginning. Midge always knows, doesn’t he? Sorry, Lesley, I’m afraid I’m all of a heap at the moment. Oh yes, and she stole my cards and my mobile phone and some money as well, but Rafael’s dealt with that.’
Rafael took the phone from Ellie and spoke into it. ‘Rafael here. Ellie’s very shaken. It’s all true. We got a message supposedly from Ellie, saying she didn’t want to see us again. We thought it odd to say the least, and so we came anyway and found Ellie, locked in a room at the top of the house. She’s dehydrated and in shock, but I don’t think she needs to go to hospital. The rest is as Ellie has said. Money, cards and phone gone; landline cut. All the food in the fridge and freezer spoilt. And Hetty seems to have kept her keys to this house.’
‘I’ll be round in a trice,’ said Lesley, and clicked off the phone.
Susan put a big mug of tea in front of Ellie. ‘Drink up. I’ve smelled and tasted the milk and it seems all right. You like Breakfast Tea, don’t you? I thought of putting some sugar into the tea for shock, but you don’t like sugar in your tea, so I didn’t. The thing is you’re not quite yourself. Would you prefer coffee?’
Hetty had given Ellie a mug of coffee with too much sugar in it that morning.
Hetty admitted she’d put Ibuprofen in Thomas’s jar of coffee.
Thomas had ended up in hospital.
Ellie had slept most of the day and still felt peculiar. She sipped the tea. It was just how she liked it. ‘Bless you, my dear. This is made with a tea bag so it must be all right. Can you find my jar of instant coffee, and Thomas’s, too? I think Hetty adulterated both. We must set them aside for the police to see.’
Susan opened the jar which contained the special coffee Thomas liked. ‘It smells all right, but it’s a very strong blend, isn’t it? There’s some whitish flecks mixed in with it. Did you have some of this at breakfast time?’
‘No, she made me a cup of my own instant coffee, rather stronger than usual, and she put a lot of sugar in it. It was too strong and sweet for me but I was in such a state that I didn’t think anything of it at the time. I think she may have put sleeping tablets in my coffee this morning because I’ve been out of it since breakfast time and still feel woozy.’
Rafael got some tissues and put the two jars of instant coffee on to the windowsill. ‘We’ll give them to the police.’
Susan found the biscuit tin and inspected the contents. She said, ‘I think these last few biscuits are all right. Rafael, can you get rid of all that melting food? Put the lot in a bin bag and shove it outside. You can’t trust food that’s been half thawed and then refrozen.’
Rafael reached for a bin bag and set about his task.
Ellie’s mind cleared a little. She drank the water, nibbled a biscuit, got the tea down her and held out her mug for a refill. Carbohydrates always helped. ‘Rafael, the phone in my study is an extension of the one in the hall, but the one in Thomas’s study is on a different line. Maybe that’s still all right?’
‘I’ll check.’ Rafael set off down the corridor. Susan hesitated for a long moment before drawing up a chair to finish fishing food out of the freezer.
Ellie put two and two together. She said, ‘Braxton Hicks? You had contractions in the night? Rafael didn’t want to worry me, but he didn’t have a meeting today. Instead, he took you to the hospital for a check-up? You’re still having contractions? How often are they coming?’
‘Now and then. Another five days to go, they say. I must admit it’s tiresome.’
‘First babies are usually late, they say. But who believes anything people say any longer?’
Susan grinned. ‘Fake news of the week. “Susan’s baby is on its way.”’
Ellie felt very relaxed. She yawned and said, ‘I love you both. You know that, don’t you?’
Susan’s smile turned into a broad grin. ‘Ditto.’
Ellie played back what she’d just said and was slightly perturbed. ‘Susan, I’m not functioning correctly, am I? I mean, I meant that about loving you, I really did, but it’s not like me to come out with it just like that, is it?’
‘I like it.’ Susan tied the top of a second bag holding spoilt food.
They both heard it and turned their heads to the corridor. A thump or a bump? Ellie said, ‘What was that?’
‘Rafael?’
They started for the corridor, Susan ahead, holding on to the small of her back and saying, ‘Ouch!’
Midge met them in the hall, streaking out of the corridor which led to the library.
Rafael wasn’t in the hall. He’d gone to Ellie’s study to check if the landline worked there, hadn’t he? And then to Thomas’s study at the end?
He was lying on the floor just inside the door to the library, surrounded by books and an overturned chair. Blood pooled on the floor by his head.
Susan cried out, ‘Rafael!’ and went down on her knees with a flump.
He stirred. He wasn’t dead. He exclaimed some words in Italian which didn’t need translation. He tried to push himself up off the floor and failed.
Ellie joined Susan on the floor, somehow preventing herself from lying down beside him which is what she wanted to do. She jerked
herself awake.
She didn’t think Rafael had broken anything, but he’d taken a right old battering. There was a fine cord under Rafael leading from the door knob to the back of the fallen chair.
Ellie worked it out. It had been a booby trap. Rafael had opened the door and pulled a chair into his path which had caused him to take a tumble. In his fall he’d hit his head against something … the chair? Yes, there was a glistening patch of blood on the chair leg. The books had been on the chair and added a nice touch to the scene.
Ellie said, ‘Hetty did this.’ Had the woman hoped Ellie would fall for the trap, or Thomas? Perhaps she hadn’t cared who might be hurt.
Susan was white with shock. ‘Rafael!’
He put both hands to his head and winced. Blood ran down from his temple, but he said, ‘I’m all right!’ He was very, very angry. ‘That woman! When I get hold of her …! What else …!’ He held on to his head tightly. ‘Ouch! My shoulder! And my ankle!’
Susan sat back on her heels, with an expression of mingled astonishment and alarm on her face. ‘Oh, oh! What’s happening! I think … Oh, no! Not now!’
Ellie’s head was swimming but when she realized what had happened she forced herself to take control of the situation. ‘Your waters have broken. No problem. Let’s get you into a chair.’ She tried to stand and failed.
Rafael also tried to stand and failed. He was as pale as his wife. ‘Susan! Are you all right? I mean, does it hurt? Bloody hell, I’m bleeding all over the place.’
Susan closed her eyes and gasped. ‘The pain goes right round to my back!’
Someone pounded on the front door.
‘Lesley? Or Diana?’ Ellie managed to pull and push herself to her feet. ‘I’ll go.’
Susan opened her mouth and screamed. She had a good pair of lungs on her.
Ellie, on her way down the corridor, tried to look at her watch, thinking she ought to time Susan’s contractions. Only, when you’re banging off this wall here and that wall there, you can’t see your watch properly.
The pounding on the front door didn’t stop. Well, it wouldn’t, would it? Lesley knew there was a problem. Thank God for Lesley. She’d know exactly what to do next. Call an ambulance. Call two. They were going to need two at least, weren’t they?
Murder for Good Page 20
