The Colour of Mermaids

by Catherine Curzon

  “He’ll sell the gallery to someone else and make a fortune.” Lyndsey clutched the wine glass and raised it to her lips. “Or he’ll swagger about just like he does now and nothing will change, you wait and see.”

  “He’s just lost himself an excellent administrator, hasn’t he, and incurred the wrath of Daniel Scott. If he keeps on the way he does, he’s eventually going to get himself into a whole world of trouble.” I hope.

  “It’s funny, isn’t it, how Daniel started out as the victim and now, if he wanted, he could deal out the punishment?” She blinked her blue eyes, the tears dried now. Then she took a sip from her glass and smiled. “Let’s talk about something happier.”

  Eva opened the drawer where Daniel kept his takeaway menu stash and fanned them across the worktop. “Let’s talk about…dinner!”

  “A far happier subject.” Lyndsey laughed, before downing the remainder of her wine in one spirited gulp.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The next morning, Eva was up and dressed, ready for another run down to her house to collect more of her belongings. She was halfway to the bottom of the stairs with a large, empty suitcase when she heard the sudden burst of a loud engine speeding up the driveway. She dropped the suitcase where it was and hurried into the hallway.

  “Is someone stealing the car?” Daniel called playfully from upstairs. “What’s the noise outside?”

  Through the glass panels of the door, Eva saw Lyndsey’s car hurtling over the gravel.

  “It’s Lyndsey!” Eva shouted in reply as she unbolted the door to open it. “Maybe she left her lip gloss last night!”

  Lyndsey flung open her car door and stumbled from the interior in her hurry.

  “Eva!” she called urgently. “Have you heard?”

  Eva stepped aside to let Lyndsey enter the house. Her remark about lip gloss couldn’t have been more unfortunate, as Lyndsey’s usually careful makeup was a mess of tears and streaks. After what Lyndsey had confided in her last night, Eva wondered if this could be something serious. Had her father come back? “Heard what, Lynds? Are you okay?”

  “Rupert—” She looked over Eva’s shoulder to the front door where Daniel stood, dressed in a robe of midnight-blue silk. “Someone killed him!”

  “Killed—? What the hell happened?” Eva slid her arm around Lyndsey’s shoulder and guided her towards the lounge. She met Daniel’s gaze. It wasn’t him, she knew it. He had never been nor ever would be capable of taking a life. But what if someone thought he was?

  “I don’t know but Joyce went in last night—” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “To clean after… We had a charity group in and Miles gave the keynote, so Joyce went in to clean after the guests went home and she found him in his office!”

  “His office? I thought you were going to say he’d been killed at home, or in a car accident. But his office?” Everything from yesterday flashed before Eva’s eyes. The office, the very room she’d been in with the man, and only hours later, someone had killed him there.

  “All bloody!” Lyndsey crumpled down onto the sofa, sobbing. “Oh God! I got there to clear my things and there are police everywhere and Joyce says he was murdered!”

  “Murdered?” Daniel took a few steps over the threshold. “He can’t have been.”

  “Could it have been an accident, Lynds?” Please, God, let it be an accident. “Had he been drinking at the charity do and tripped or something? Fell over and knocked his head?”

  Lyndsey shook her head very slowly, her eyes wide as she peered over Eva’s shoulder at Daniel. “That’s not what she said.”

  “What did she say?” Daniel asked in a whisper.

  Eva caught his glance. He was thinking the same thing as her, surely he was. That if someone knew his history, the finger of suspicion would swing Daniel’s way.

  “Lyndsey, come on…” Eva tried to coax her. “What did Joyce see?”

  “He’d been beaten to death,” she whispered behind her hand, as though sharing a playground secret. “She says the hat stand was smashed up and there was blood everywhere.”

  Eva recoiled, as if she could smell the metallic tang of Rupert’s shed blood. “Was he robbed?” Because that would make sense of the brutality, somehow.

  Lyndsey shrugged, her gaze still on Daniel. Then she murmured, “Who could’ve— Poor Joyce!”

  She had no pity for Rupert, then, but Eva wasn’t surprised. Why did Lyndsey keep looking at Daniel, though? He wouldn’t have, no matter how angry he had been yesterday.

  “Makes you wonder— if someone did it in a rage, was it some other woman he’d assaulted? But more than a…” Kiss. Eva couldn’t say it. The memory of his kiss came back to her, and before her was the bloodied, smashed face of a dead man.

  “I’ll get you a drink,” Daniel murmured. “You too, Eva?”

  “Yes…” Nausea washed through her. Rupert wouldn’t torment her ever again, nor anyone else. But to be killed in his own office, beaten to death? Was that justice, or savagery? “They say hot, sweet tea is good for a shock, don’t they?”

  She heard Daniel’s bare feet padding away, and Lyndsey’s sobbing getting louder.

  “God!” she exclaimed, clutching Eva’s hand. “Can you imagine?”

  “I’d rather not!” Eva swallowed. “I couldn’t stand him, but…I’m not sure anyone deserves to die like that.”

  “You probably want to talk to Daniel?” she whispered. “Don’t you?”

  “Why, what would I need to talk to him about?” Eva shook her head, trying to push away her mounting disquiet. Surely Lyndsey, her best friend, couldn’t think that Eva was living under the same roof as a killer? “They had that big thing yesterday—” Eva’s voice rose, her throat tight. “Daniel was furious with Rupert, but surely you don’t think he’d beat a man to death over it? Finish him in the art world, yes, but— Good God, Lyndsey, Daniel’s not a killer!”

  “Men get heated, anything can happen, and he was so angry!”

  “Lyndsey, you surely don’t think that every man wandering around out there could fly into a murderous rage and savage someone to death—like that?” Eva clicked her fingers. “The human race wouldn’t last very long if that was true!”

  Lyndsey sniffed deeply and whispered, “I won’t tell the police, don’t worry.”

  “There’s nothing to tell!” Eva realised she had clenched her hands. She straightened out her fingers and had to look away from Lyndsey. Maybe going through what she had as a child at the hands of the one man in the world a girl should trust had soured her perception of the entire gender. And it wasn’t Eva’s place to be angry with her for that.

  “How late did he get back? Where was he?” She sniffed again. “Do you not even wonder?”

  “Wonder what?” Daniel asked from the doorway, a steaming mug in each hand.

  Eva watched the steam curl up from the cups and dissolve in the air as she tried to find a calm response. “Thanks for the drinks, darling!”

  “What were you asking, Lyndsey?” He padded into the room, greeted by silence from their guest. As the silence deepened, he put down the mugs and waited.

  Eva snapped round to look at Lyndsey. “I’m not going to say it, Lyndsey, because you shouldn’t even think that about the man I love.”

  “I didn’t think anything,” she protested. “But you reported Rupert and Daniel was furious and—you did go out, Daniel!”

  “Out,” he repeated. “Not murdering people!”

  Eva took his hand. “Lyndsey, please, you’re upset. Take a moment and just think. You’re seeing guilt where there isn’t any.”

  “I don’t think you did anything,” Lyndsey protested quickly. “But the police might ask, that’s all. After the report yesterday.”

  “And if they do, I’ll tell them where I was,” Daniel promised.

  Yesterday, Eva had tickled Daniel on that very sofa, both laughing as she tried to make him tell her where he was off to. And he wouldn’t say. Wherever he had been, Eva hoped the p
olice would believe him.

  “Don’t worry,” Daniel told them both, kissing Eva’s hair. “The half dozen people I was with can tell them too.”

  “So there you go.” Half a dozen people. Had he been on a stag night? A fairly sedate one for him to arrive home sober before midnight. The tension drained out of Eva and she sagged back against the sofa.

  From Lyndsey’s bag, her phone trilled into life, and she whispered, “I can’t answer that, I can’t speak to anyone!”

  Eva patted Lyndsey’s arm. “You really should. What if it’s Miles, or your mum?”

  Lyndsey fished out the mobile and peered at it. She said to Eva, “It’s Mum.”

  “Talk to her, Lynds. You’ll feel better for it. You’ve had a terrible shock.” Eva began to drink her tea. They’d all had a shock.

  “Can I—” She gestured to the hallway and Daniel nodded, as though he would do anything else. Lyndsey rose to her feet and left the room, tapping at the screen as she went.

  Eva glanced over her shoulder. Her candlesticks still weren’t in the right place, even now. It bothered her more than it should. A man has been killed, and I’m fretting over candlesticks. She pulled Daniel into her embrace. Only then did she realise she was shivering.

  “I didn’t go anywhere near him,” Daniel whispered, clinging to her. “That’s not where I went last night, I swear it.”

  “I know you didn’t, you wouldn’t have.” Eva held more tightly to Daniel and the shivers ebbed away. “I’m sorry for Lyndsey accusing you, but please don’t be angry with her. She has little reason to trust men.”

  “She didn’t accuse me, she thought what anybody would’ve.” Daniel sighed. “I’m going to ring my probation officer and let her know what’s going on. Believe me, there’s no way I could’ve been doing anything last night other than what was in my diary. It’s meant to be a nice thing, but— It’ll be all right.”

  A nice thing. Eva brightened at his words. Something nice in a world where a man had been killed in his own office. “I know it will be all right, darling.”

  “And the Lyndseys of this world…” His lips were softly reassuring against her hair. “There’ll always be Lyndseys.”

  “She—” Eva looked towards the door into the hallway. She could hear Lyndsey on the phone, but not make out what she was saying. “I’ll tell you later. What do we do, though? Just go on with the day?”

  “What else can we do?”

  Eva nodded. “I was going to fetch some more things from my house, but would you mind coming with me? If you’re not busy, I mean.”

  “We’ll spend the day together. I don’t want you on your own.”

  Eva saw her house again, the bed made by an invisible hand. Now the hand of a dead man. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but I’m scared. As if I’ll go in there and meet…” She glanced at Daniel before looking away. “As if I’ll meet Rupert’s ghost.”

  “You’re not alone anymore.”

  “Mum’s coming down on the next train.” Lyndsey stood in the doorway, holding her phone. “Can I wait here until she arrives? I feel all at sixes and sevens, I keep thinking—I should care.”

  “Of course you can wait here, it’s fine.” Eva forced herself to think of something else. Not of Rupert, not of the flash through the window or the silent intrusion into her home. “Do you want anything to eat? Me and Daniel attempted my mum’s rock bun recipe if you’re feeling brave!”

  “Are they sweet?” She dabbed her eyes with a tissue. “I need something sweet before I pass out. I’ve always struggled with shocks!”

  Eva went over to her friend and slipped her arm around her. “There’s chocolate in the fridge as well. You’re bound to be shocked, you saw him every day, and now…”

  “I’ll go and throw some clothes on,” Daniel decided. “And make that call.”

  “Anything as long as it’s black.” Eva winced after saying it. Were they supposed to dress for mourning? She smiled gently at her friend. “Come on, Lynds, let’s raid the kitchen.”

  Yet even as they did, she couldn’t help but think of Daniel trying to explain this to his probation officer, one of a handful of people who knew who he truly was. Someone had killed Rupert, and the only thing she knew was that it couldn’t have been Daniel.

  Chapter Twenty

  Eva had hoped that shifting boxes and suitcases and spider plants and goodness knows what else all day would have worn her out enough to sleep. But as she and Daniel lay in bed together that night, his arm around her, she was far from being able to sleep. Her body was on alert, awaiting some unnamed, faceless threat. What would it be, a car pulling up outside? But not Lyndsey this time, no—a car with a blue light and a siren.

  It was almost midnight when she heard Daniel’s phone beep with an incoming message. She jumped despite herself and he kissed her hair before picking up the mobile and swiping the screen.

  “Daniel, who is it?” Eva wasn’t about to crane her neck to see, but she couldn’t shake her trepidation. What if it was bad news? The worst kind of news. That Daniel was going to be taken away.

  “I didn’t want to spoil the surprise but—” A low light filled the room when Daniel reached out and flicked on the lamp. It spilled across the bare walls that would one day boast the children’s art, the vast white expanse above the bed where the mermaids would soon swim beneath the pier. “You haven’t asked where I went last night. Nobody ever trusted me like that before.”

  “Of course I do. I couldn’t love you if I didn’t.” Eva held his hand.

  “I had two appointments last night.” Daniel looked down at their linked hands. “The first was with Kieran and his mum at their place. I wanted to talk to her about some opportunities for boys like him, funds to help him develop that talent of his. I didn’t tell you because, well, I wanted to ask him to work with me and organise the other kids on a bit of a project for you. A thank you bash, and a mural right across the foyer in your honour.”

  Eva started to laugh, with relief and with love. “Daniel! That’s the loveliest thing! Oh…I don’t know what to say.”

  “And Kieran was completely up for the idea of being the boss. His mum started crying, she was so happy.” He laughed gently. “But I wasn’t there all night. I had a second call to make.”

  “Go on, Mr Mystery…”

  “I missed you at the Tate.” Daniel reminded her of that first conversation. “And I need to put that right. There was no way that sketch of the kids was being auctioned in Rupert’s place after what he did to you so… I pulled some strings.”

  And he fell frustratingly silent.

  Eva gasped. “You didn’t… The Tate? Is the auction going to happen at the Tate? Daniel! I’ll have no choice but to tickle you again!”

  “I had to agree to giving them a few exclusives, but the outreach artwork will be displayed right there in the turbine hall alongside some new Daniel Scott pieces.” He snuggled her tight in his embrace. “And that’s where our auction’s going to be. The kids and their folks are my guests of honour—let’s give them a night they’ll remember forever?”

  “I can’t quite believe— You’re the best of men. Really, you are. That’s the most wonderful thing anyone’s ever done for those kids, you do realise that?” Eva couldn’t reach his lips from where she was lying, so she pressed her lips to his chest instead, over his heart.

  “And I don’t want it to end there, I want to see them on the right path. I spent hours with these gallery suits last night sorting this.” A watertight alibi indeed, just as he had said. “It could be the start of something bigger, couldn’t it? Something to help kids who don’t have to be able to paint really. The only qualification is wanting to be there and create something. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be yours.”

  “If we could get more space, more kids, more paint and paper and God knows what else— It would be amazing, Daniel.” Eva grinned. “There’s kids everywhere who could do with outreach. Other groups that need help to keep runn
ing, or people who want to start one up and just need a nudge.”

  “And you’ve got to keep on working at those sketches, dancing saucepans or not.” As he settled back into the pillows, Daniel drew her down with him. “Keep painting, keep drawing. We can make something really special together.”

  “We most definitely can!” Eva curled her legs around his, cocooning herself against him.

  “When we went to that hotel, I wanted to give Lee Carswell one happy memory,” he told her. “You know you saved my life, don’t you?”

  Eva shook her head. “I had no idea,” she whispered.

  “You put me on the right track, but it’s my responsibility to keep myself there, I know that.” Daniel pressed his lips to her hair. “It wasn’t just as an artist that I was stagnating. I was so full of anger and bitterness, so incapable of being loved. But I wasn’t, and you showed me that.”

  Eva propped herself up on her elbow and smiled at him. “You deserve as much love as anyone else, darling. More, I think, to make up for—” She brushed away a tear. All those years and a whole identity that Daniel had lost. “And you give it back, to me, to the kids… You have a very big heart, and I want you to always be happy.”

  “I’ve been in the dark so long.” He studied her face for a few seconds then gave a bright smile. “Must be the sunglasses. I love you, everything about you.”

  Eva laughed and swatted at him playfully, but as soon as her fingertips met his lips, she drew nearer to him and kissed him. The day had been so filled with emotion and anxiety, with Lyndsey’s tears and the fear that some unspoken somebody might come for Daniel at any moment, but now, with only the sound of the ocean and the stars glittering through the floor-to-ceiling windows, all of the anxiety was shoved aside. The world might be going mad but here things made sense.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The following day, Eva and Daniel went for a drive. As the blue sports car travelled through the dazzling sunlight, it was difficult to think that not far away, the earthly remains of Rupert Hawley lay in a morgue while the police hunted for his killer.