Coralie found the shoes, put them on and lifted Fifi out of her chair. Fifi suffered Coralie’s hands on her, but squeaked and squealed until set down on the floor, pushing away hands which tried to steady her.
Fifi looked up at her mother, broke free of Coralie and plunged forward into Susan’s arms. They both laughed.
‘Come to me!’ cried Evan, holding out his arms to Fifi, who steadied herself by clutching on to Susan’s leg before she managed to totter towards Evan a couple of steps, concentrating like mad … only to crumple and fall … as Susan caught her up.
This time all four of them laughed.
‘Again!’ Fifi struggled to her feet and launched herself again … only she wasn’t quite as steady on her feet this time and fell into Coralie’s waiting arms.
‘You can do it!’ cried Evan. ‘Come on, Fifi!’ This time the girl managed to get herself properly balanced before making three little steps into the safety of his arms. She sat down. Plump! And clapped her hands.
The others clapped her, too.
Susan was between tears and laughter. Her little daughter was growing up fast. She said, ‘Now I won’t have a minute’s peace. It was bad enough when she was crawling here and there but now … she’ll be up the stairs or out of the front door before we can turn round.’
Evan said, ‘I’ll look after her.’ He sat down on the floor beside Fifi and showed her his picture book again.
Susan and Coralie looked at one another, acknowledging what was happening.
Coralie said, ‘He’s a better nanny than Lucia.’
A car swished into the drive and parked. Susan looked out of the window to see a tall woman in black unfolding herself from the car. For a moment Susan thought it was Diana, coming back to retrieve her children.
But no. This woman was older and looked expensive. She hung on her heel to inspect the two houses. She went to Ellie’s house first and tried the doorbell. Was Rafael still over there mending the back door and would he let her in? Probably not. In which case …
Susan shed her apron, rescued Fifi from the floor and took her into the big living room. Fifi struggled a bit, wanting to get down and walk. Evan trotted alongside, saying, ‘Let me! Let me!’
Their own doorbell rang.
Susan’s breast throbbed. She put Fifi down in her playpen, ignoring her roar of protest. Evan pushed his picture book through the bars of the playpen and sat down beside it. Susan turned the telly off and dumped Jenny into the playpen, too, giving her her tablet to play with.
There was a squawk of protest from Coralie as someone pushed their way past her into the house. A cold wind swept in with the newcomer. The sooner they had a porch put on the better.
Footsteps sounded on the wood flooring in the hall and the stranger appeared in the living room and looked about her. Oh dear, the big room had somehow become the children’s nursery, with toys scattered everywhere and Evan’s easel set up by the window.
The newcomer was a Diana clone, twenty years older. No, she was what Diana aspired to be. This woman had required very little cosmetic surgery to present herself as a slightly haggard beauty, black of hair, pale of skin, her body toned to perfection. The suit and high heels she was wearing must have cost a fortune, as had her handbag. And, she was wearing an expensive scent.
Keith Cottrell’s wife, Cynthia?
Had she come to apologize for her husband’s behaviour and beg Susan not to pursue charges against him? Er, no. She didn’t look the apologizing sort.
Susan wondered whether this woman would wear the trousers in the marriage or not. Keith was a powerful-looking man, but this woman was something else. She was older than her husband, had probably selected him for his energy and drive and would be content enough for him to have the occasional one-night stand away from her, provided that he didn’t threaten the life she’d arranged for them.
Keith would have married her not only because she was the boss’s daughter and wealthy in her own right, but also for her stunning looks. Only, as she’d grown older, he’d been attracted to Diana, who had the same black and white looks and more energy than his ageing wife.
Diana, with a husband and children, was no threat to Cynthia. Diana without a husband might well prove to be a different matter.
Keith had been happy to keep Diana as his mistress, and she had been happy enough to satisfy her own basic needs while Evan lived.
The situation had changed with Evan’s death. Hence this visit from Mrs Cottrell?
The newcomer priced everything in the room and decided it was junk. She cast a look over the children and noted various food stains on their clothes.
She gave Susan the once-over and made her feel uncouth, unlovely and totally incapable of dealing with the situation.
Coralie hovered, fingers fiddling with her hair. She wasn’t happy about the visitor, either.
Susan straightened herself up with an effort and nodded to Coralie to indicate that everything was all right. Coralie rolled her eyes but disappeared. The children looked up at the newcomer with wide eyes.
The newcomer introduced herself to Susan. ‘Mrs Cottrell. And you are the nanny, I assume?’
Susan coloured up. ‘I’m looking after the children for the time being, yes. I’m Susan, Rafael’s wife.’
‘Oh. He’s the workman who answered the door at the house next door? I thought I’d seen him somewhere. He must have done some little electrical jobs for my husband.’
‘I expect you saw him at the golf club. He runs his own business.’
‘Does he?’ Her tone dismissed him as a piece of dirt. She sniffed the air. ‘You’ve been cooking? Is that what you do for a living? It smells quite good. You must give me your card. I do sometimes employ caterers for my dinner parties.’
Susan told herself to keep calm. ‘I regret. I don’t do outside catering.’
Cynthia ignored that. She swung around, looking for someone who wasn’t there. ‘I need a word with Diana. Would you fetch her for me? Please.’ The ‘please’ was an afterthought.
‘I’m afraid I can’t help you. She isn’t here.’
Evan scrambled to his feet and went to stand in front of Susan. Guarding her from the intruder? Brave boy! Fifi hauled herself to her feet, the better to inspect the newcomer.
Mrs Cottrell looked around. ‘Then where is she?’
Susan said, ‘We haven’t seen her since yesterday morning. I believe she’s out, looking for a new place to live.’
‘Really? Is this Evan’s little boy? How quaint.’ She turned her attention back to Susan. ‘So, when are you expecting her back?’
‘She didn’t say.’ Susan began to be more annoyed than cowed by this woman. Susan didn’t have red hair for nothing. She said, ‘I thought you might have come to apologize for your husband’s behaviour this morning.’
‘My husband? Has he been here?’
She didn’t know?
‘He expected to meet Diana this morning, next door. She wasn’t there. He took it out on me.’
A manufactured trill of laughter. ‘How absurd! You’ll be saying he raped you next.’
‘No,’ said Susan, blocking that one. ‘I’m not his type. I don’t know if he’s lost his temper and assaulted other women in the past or not, but you need to know that the police have been informed and I am pressing charges. Perhaps they’re interviewing him even as we speak.’
For a second, Cynthia Cottrell was taken aback. Then she lowered her eyelids and turned away. She had painted her eyelids silver. ‘A good try, miss. But not good enough. We’ve had little people like you try to extort money from us before, and it’s never worked.’
‘Perhaps he was careful to avoid witnesses before.’
The dark eyes glinted malice. She asked the question without words.
Susan nodded. ‘A witness. And photographs.’
‘I don’t believe it. Why would he bother to touch you?’
‘Because he lost his temper. Are you going to let him carry on with Diana?’
‘Impertinence!’ Cynthia swung round and caught her foot on the side of the playpen, jarring it and toppling Fifi over on to her back.
Fifi let out a wail and Susan rushed to pick her up out of the playpen. ‘There, there!’
Fifi had been frightened, but was not hurt. Evan took hold of Susan’s leg and reached up to Fifi. Susan captured his hand with hers and held it tightly to reassure him.
Cynthia said, acid dripping from her tongue, ‘What a charming picture you do make. The Earth Mother surrounded by infants. Perhaps you should give Diana lessons in childcare. Now, I really must go. We are dining out tonight and I don’t wish to be late. Diana will no doubt return at some point, and when she does, I must ask you to give her a message from me. I have let her have her little fling with my husband for a while, but it is time for her to find herself another playmate. Understood?’
Susan said, ‘I am not your messenger. If you have something to say to Diana, you should say it yourself.’
‘As I thought, you are not very bright. Tell her that unless she leaves my husband alone, I shall reluctantly have to leak news of his unwise friendship with a murder victim’s widow to the press, which would undoubtedly get her arrested for murder.’
‘That is ridiculous!’
Cynthia smiled. ‘What you don’t appear to know is that early on the night in which he was murdered, my dear friend Evan had rung me to say he’d found evidence on his wife’s laptop linking her with my husband in an inappropriate way. He asked me what I intended to do about it. I told him that my husband knew which side his bread was buttered and would never do anything to distress me.’
She gave a cat-like smile. ‘My father handed the business over to me long before he retired officially. He retains the title of president for all the companies we control, but it is I who make the decisions. When we married, Keith signed a pre-nuptial agreement in exchange for the title of managing director of one of our companies, which allowed him a hefty salary and bonuses. He has been remarkably faithful for many years, more years perhaps than I had expected. If he is discreet, I am happy for him to visit another woman now and then, but I will not be the subject of media interest. If Diana threatens my position, I will have to remind him of the facts of life. Believe me, he doesn’t want a divorce. What’s more, Diana wouldn’t want it, either. She wouldn’t shack up with a penniless man, now, would she?’
‘This is nothing to do with me. You must speak to Diana about it.’
Cynthia ignored that. ‘On the night he died, I discussed the situation with dear Evan, who said he’d tell his wife the same thing, which leads me to the neat conclusion that Diana really did have a motive to have her husband die that night.’
Susan said, ‘But she didn’t know—’
Cynthia Cottrell wasn’t listening. She swept out of the room, opened the front door – letting in the cold wind – slammed it behind her, and was gone.
Evan tugged on Susan’s hand, looking anxious.
She reassured him. ‘Mrs Cottrell isn’t very happy about something, is she? I’m sure your mummy will be back soon.’ She could feel her heart beating … and her breast hurting … and Fifi deciding to fill her pants …
Fifi relaxed, and then started to wriggle. She hated having dirty pants.
Susan felt stunned. She couldn’t cope. That horrible woman! She took Fifi and Evan into the kitchen and changed her little one. She ignored the argument which Coralie was having with Jenny about sitting on the potty.
Evan watched Susan, leaning on her leg for comfort.
Susan thought, This is all more than I can cope with. Dear Lord, if you’re there and can be bothered with someone who hasn’t thought much about you since she was a child, I could do with some advice. Ellie always said you came through for her when she was in trouble, and I’m daring to ask for your help, too.
Fifi was a happy girl now. She squealed and wriggled to get down from the table. Susan caught her just in time, gave her a hug and a kiss and set her on the floor. She would have to be watched or she’d crawl away and get into trouble. Or, no. No, there was Evan, helping her to her feet. He walked backwards, very slowly.
Fifi concentrated. Three wobbling steps … four! She sat on her bottom and clapped her hands in joy. She got up again with Evan’s help, and took two more steps … and then hesitated … before taking three more … into her father’s arms as he swept into the hall with a gust of wind.
Rafael threw Fifi into the air and caught her again. ‘You’re walking! How about that!’
Fifi wriggled and laughed.
Evan clapped and laughed.
Susan did, too.
She thought, Mrs Cottrell was lying! I must ask Lesley to check Evan’s phone records to see if he really was speaking to Cynthia on the evening he died. Even if she is speaking the truth, I don’t see how Diana could have done anything about it because she was out that night and Evan didn’t get at her laptop till after she’d left. So she couldn’t know that Evan was threatening to divorce her, and she had no reason to kill him.
Mrs Cottrell is a dangerous woman. I suspect she’s capable of telling any number of lies to get her own way. And, she has the money to back her, which Diana hasn’t.
I feel almost sorry for Diana, married to a man sinking into senility and trying to keep the estate agency afloat in difficult times.
But, to start an affair with a man she fancied? No, that was wrong. Fiercely wrong. And stupid to let lust overcome common sense. Look what happens. Overnight, she is threatened with losing her husband, her home and, very likely, her lover as well.
Jenny swooped in, crying ‘Cuckoo!’ She clung to Rafael’s leg, and he put down a hand to caress her, saying, ‘Have you been a good girl?’
‘Yes, yes! Up, up!’ cried Jenny.
Fifi looked down at Jenny and turned her head away to rest against her father’s shoulder. Fifi didn’t think much of Jenny, did she?
Susan felt a pang of remorse for Jenny, who might well feel neglected, what with all that was going on.
Jenny reached up to Rafael, again. ‘Up, up!’
Rafael, half laughing and half serious, said, ‘I’m not having smelly girls sitting on my knee.’
Coralie picked Jenny up. ‘Let’s try again with the potty, shall we? And then you’ll be nice and clean and smelling sweet for tea. Come along, Evan, time to wash our hands before we eat.’ She swept the two away.
Susan looked across at Rafael, but his gaze was guarded, giving nothing away. Susan had seen herself with Diana’s eyes, and with Cynthia’s. She felt fat and uncomfortable. Unlovable. She wanted to talk about Cynthia, but now was not the time. She said, ‘You mended the window next door? What if Diana comes back again tonight?’
‘I put a note on the door saying trespassers would be prosecuted.’ Also, I left a message on her phone to say I’d mended the door and the trust would bill her for repairs. She’s an estate agent. She has the keys to innumerable properties. She must be able to find somewhere else to stay.’ He put Fifi into her highchair, avoiding Susan’s eye.
We’re behaving like strangers.
Susan started laying the table, sorting out what the children would eat, what the adults would eat later, and what should go in the freezer. She condensed her report into a few words. ‘I’ve just had the pleasure of a visit from Cynthia Cottrell. She wanted me to tell Diana to keep her hands off her husband, who knows which side his bread is buttered.’
‘Cynthia. I’m told she’s deadlier than Di.’
That seemed to be that. Susan sought for another topic of conversation. ‘Did Marcy get away all right?’
‘What a woman. What a blessing. Worth her weight in gold. She says to tell you it’s going to cost an arm and a leg to put the house to rights but she’ll be back first thing tomorrow to make a start. She watched me write the note for Diana and said I was within my rights and that Diana would be holed up in her love nest, wouldn’t she? I asked how Marcy knew about that and she said it was be
cause some scarlet underwear and other clothes that left nothing to the imagination had appeared in Diana’s bedroom only to disappear the following day, never to be seen again. Marcy said it stood to reason that Diana had kept them in a little love nest somewhere.’
‘Marcy thinks Diana’s holed up somewhere now?’
‘It sounds reasonable to me. I tried her office again. Closed for the afternoon. So yes, I’d say she’s retreated to her burrow.’
Coralie had made up some bottles of formula and put them in the fridge. She was worth her weight in gold, too, wasn’t she? Susan set one to warm and handed Rafael some carrot sticks to let Fifi chew on something while she put a high tea together.
Rafael said, ‘Susan, I know you would take in a wounded bird, never mind two stray children and their nanny, but it’s a lot of extra work and could become inconvenient. Should we consider handing the strays over to Social Services?’
Susan reacted without thinking. ‘I’d be happy for Lucia to be taken away, although Social Services won’t have her, but Evan? No way! He’s a little soldier. Jenny? Not an easy child. I feel guilty that I haven’t given her as much attention as I’ve given Evan.’
Prompt on cue, down the stairs came Useless Lucia, brandishing her smartphone. ‘Is too much! More money I must have. I am cut off in middle of phone call. My friend say I must not stay to be treated so bad, ordered to do this and do that, and not even nice room to sleep in. No television, not even small one! No blind to window. No bedside light. I not care what police say. I have done nothing wrong. It is Diana who has done wrong to me. I want my air ticket home, and compensation. You hear me?’
Rafael was imperturbable. ‘I hear you. We owe you nothing. On the contrary, you owe us for bed and board. You had nowhere to go and had no money. We took you in and advanced you money to tide you over. Otherwise you would be walking the streets, wouldn’t you?’
Lucia was all powered up. ‘You treat me like slave! I will not be treated like slave, and I will not wait for stupid police to ask more questions.’
Murder In Law Page 15
