Murder by Mistake (2 page)

Leontes – was that really his name? – gave his name and address all over again. ‘I was on my way to pay my council tax. Sorry. Got to sit down.’ And did. His voice was pure Thames Estuary. Like the two big women. Wonderful women, wonderful man. Britain does know how to produce them, doesn’t she?

The cyclist was thin, thirties, blondish. ‘The car was a Volvo, not new. It had a “Baby on Board” sticker on the back window.’

Ellie heard this and believed the girl. The police didn’t. And it didn’t sound all that likely, did it? A Volvo was a family car. Not the sort for a boy racer who might have pinched a car for a joy ride and then failed to control it. Boy racers didn’t ‘borrow’ family cars, did they? The girl insisted that that was what she’d seen. Her father had a Volvo just like that. Ten years old, maybe? But no, she hadn’t caught the number.

Ambulance doors were opened. The toddler was carried in. He was still alive, then. Leontes was helped in. His leg had been caught by the car’s bumper. It might be broken, they’d have to X-ray it. Ellie and Mia were ushered into another ambulance, and the doors shut on the outside world.

Mia trembled within Ellie’s arm. ‘It was meant for me.’

‘No, no,’ said Ellie. ‘It was an accident. The driver lost control of the car.’

Mia shook her head, disagreeing.

The ambulances arrived one after the other. The hospital was bright and efficient. The toddler was rushed through to a cubicle. Leontes, also. The nurses wanted Ellie to let go of Mia, so that they could both be examined. A male doctor hovered, clicking his fingers, impatient to get on with the job.

Mia clung to Ellie, closing her eyes, desperate not to be separated from her.

Ellie stroked Mia’s head. Ellie was feeling poorly herself. Her scrapes and bruises hurt. Mia’s body didn’t seem to have suffered much damage, but her mind was another matter.

‘If you’ll fetch a woman doctor?’ said Ellie. ‘I can explain.’

After some time a woman doctor arrived. Pakistani? Sikh? No head scarf, so not a Muslim. Dark-haired and capable.

Ellie trusted her on sight. ‘Mia was subjected to a period of sexual abuse some months ago. She can’t bear to be touched by a man. I don’t think she’s badly hurt, but she was flung up against the wall. May I accompany you while you examine her?’

Sharp eyes took in the problem. ‘She will come with you, while I look at you first, yes? Then she will know it’s all right for me to examine her. Come this way.’

Curtains round a bed. Her handbag removed and given to Mia to hold.

‘Can you move your fingers, your elbows? Your legs now? Any pain here . . . or here? You will have some bad bruises, I think. A nick here on your chin, yes, but not bad enough to be stitched. First we clean you up, and then . . . Have you had a tetanus injection recently? No? Well, we’ll see to that, too. Someone will come to take you home in a little while, yes?’

‘Oh.’ Ellie struggled upright. ‘I must let my husband know. He’ll be wondering what’s happened. My mobile’s in my bag. Mia, could you . . .?’

Mia located Ellie’s mobile and handed it over.

Ellie tried to gather her wits together. If Thomas were out – and quite likely he would be at that time of day because he usually took a break at lunchtime and went for a walk afterwards – then she must leave a message which would not alarm him too much.

Yes, he was out. The phone rang and rang. Perhaps their housekeeper might answer it? No, apparently not. Of course, Rose would be having her afternoon nap.

A message must be left. ‘Thomas dear, we’re not badly hurt or anything, but we got involved in an accident, a runaway car. Cuts and bruises. Can you fetch us in about an hour’s time? What’s the time now? About one. Shall we say about two? Or maybe half past? Outside the main entrance. Oh, it’s Ealing Hospital, by the way. At least, I think it is.’

‘Yes, it is,’ said the doctor, smiling. ‘You’re doing very well. Now while you’re being cleaned up, will Mia let me have a look at her in another cubicle?’

Ellie tried to rouse herself. ‘What of the toddler who was caught up in the accident? And the black man? He saved our lives. Is he all right?’

‘I will find out.’

Mia went with the doctor and Ellie, suddenly exhausted, lay back and tried not to think. Her mind flashed back to the accident . . . No! Don’t think about it. She tried to switch her mind to something pleasant.

The wedding. She was so looking forward to the wedding on Saturday. She had the greatest respect – bordering on love – for Mia’s friend Ursula, who had rescued the girl from a fate truly worse than death. Ursula had found a man worthy of her and they were to be married in five days’ time. Think about that.

Think hard. Think about the pleasure of having Thomas marry the pair in church. Think about the arrangements that had been made to hold the reception at Ellie’s house . . . all the delightful details.

Think of the pretty mist-grey dress and hat, with shoes to match, that she’d bought for the occasion.

A mental picture of the dead woman slid into Ellie’s mind. And the blood. The smell of it. Leontes holding on to his leg.

She couldn’t push these thoughts away entirely. She concentrated on thinking about a nice hot cup of tea instead. She could murder for a cup of tea.

At half past two Ellie and Mia were free to go. Ellie enquired again about the toddler, to be told he was in surgery. The man who’d saved their lives was still there, being X-rayed at that moment. Ellie hoped he hadn’t broken his leg, but . . . no, she mustn’t let herself dwell on what had happened or she’d get the horrors again.

They walked slowly out of the hospital, hoping Thomas would be there in his car, waiting to pick them up. He wasn’t.

Ellie hurt in so many places she didn’t know what to do with herself.

‘Take some painkillers,’ they’d said, and had shoved some at her. She’d refused them because she needed to be on top of things when Mia needed so much care. Taking painkillers slowed her reactions.

Mia hadn’t much to show for their brush with death, except a graze on one shoulder and bruises down her left side. She wasn’t complaining. That wasn’t her style. When in pain, Mia held her tongue. Now she was shrinking behind Ellie, who wasn’t really tall enough to shelter her from harm.

Ellie tried her home phone number again. The sun was hot on her head outside the hospital so she moved herself and Mia back into the shade of the entrance hall. The phone rang and rang. Finally, Ellie’s housekeeper picked it up.

‘Rose? Ellie here. Is Thomas around?’

Rose yawned. She’d probably just woken up from her afternoon nap. ‘Don’t you remember, he’s gone up somewhere north, I think he said it was Leeds, but it might have been Durham. A conference of some sort. He won’t be back till late tonight. Did you have a nice lunch?’

Ellie could have kicked herself, except that it would have hurt too much. How ever could she have forgotten that Thomas was going away? She’d ordered a cab to take her and Mia to the solicitor’s office and they’d intended to go on to have lunch somewhere after their appointment. Ellie still didn’t know what the solicitor had said to Mia, but whatever it was, it had knocked the girl sideways.

Don’t think about being knocked sideways. That was just a figure of speech. What she meant was, that Mia had been upset when she came out of the solicitor’s room and hadn’t got round to telling Ellie why before . . . before being knocked down. Well, don’t think about that now. Ellie’s stomach rumbled, which reminded her they’d missed lunch.

‘Sorry, Rose. Silly of me. I quite forgot. We got delayed by a traffic accident in Ealing Broadway. I’ll get a cab home.’

She’d never learned to drive but, having inherited some money, kept an account with a local cab firm. She got through to the minicab office, who said they’d pick her up as soon as, if not sooner.

As the cab turned into her own drive – it had turned up quickly as promised – Ellie spotted a well-known car parked by the front door. She sighed. She found it hard enough to deal with her daughter Diana when she was feeling strong, and at that moment she felt as weak as a newborn kitten. Or baby.

Don’t think about the baby. Or the toddler, or the mother. She signed the chit for the cab firm and sought for house keys in her handbag.

Would the two children remember their mother when they grew up? Would Social Services find a good foster mother for them, or put them up for adoption? Would the two big women get their husbands or partners to give them a cuddle and maybe a beer or two that night, to take the edge off what they’d seen and done that day? Would Leontes – really, that was a ridiculous name – be all right?

Mia shivered, her eyes on Diana’s car. ‘A visitor? I’m not sure I feel up to . . .’

‘Let’s go in through the kitchen door. We can grab a bite to eat and then you can slip upstairs to your own room, have a little lie-down.’

‘What about you?’ Mia’s manners were, as always, perfect.

‘I’ll manage,’ said Ellie, telling herself that over the years she had sometimes won battles with her ambitious daughter Diana; but not when she’d just been knocked over. Ouch. Maybe she could faint or something? Get Diana to show some sympathy for her mother’s plight?

Well, probably not, knowing Diana. Best get it over with. ‘This way, Mia.’

TWO

E
llie slipped through the back door, towing Mia after her. The kitchen smelt fresh and every surface sparkled, so the cleaners must have been in today. Rose was bustling around while their ginger cat Midge watched from a nearby chair, waiting for titbits.

Rose had been Ellie’s friend since the days when they’d worked together in the local charity shop. Later she’d become housekeeper to Ellie’s elderly aunt, Miss Quicke, and after the old lady died had decided to carry on doing the same job for Ellie and Thomas.

Rose was a little mouse of a woman who’d struck a bad patch last winter, but had bobbed up again with the warmer weather. She had, however, developed an eccentricity, in that she believed her previous employer to be still around the house, observing and commenting on everything that went on. It wasn’t spooky. It was, said Thomas, just Rose’s way of showing that she missed the old lady. Ellie had almost got used to it by now.

Rose squeaked when she saw Ellie. She threw up her hands, one of which held a rolling pin. ‘What’s happened to you? I thought you were going to see a solicitor. I don’t know, I turn my back for five minutes, and look at you!’

‘Don’t fuss, Rose. We got involved in a traffic accident, that’s all. It looks worse than it is. We’ll be all right when we’ve changed and had a bite to eat. Can you magic something up for us?’ She bent down to stroke Midge, who was winding round her legs hoping for a treat . . . which he was not going to get until teatime.

‘What would you like?’ Rose darted to the fridge to investigate. ‘Soup and a boiled egg with toast fingers? I’ll bring it up to your bedroom for you won’t get much peace with
her
around. You know what she’s like. How did she get in, you’ll want to know? Well, it was the electricity man, come to read the meter. I was showing him where it was and the next thing I know she steps inside after him, bold as brass and twice as sharp, telling me to be off back to the kitchen. So I did. And there’ll be a nice batch of scones for tea, but none for her, not if I have anything to do with it.’

‘Agreed,’ said Ellie, with a smile. ‘Don’t let’s offer her tea. Before that, soup and an egg would be wonderful. We missed lunch, and I’m sure we’ll feel better for having something inside us.’

Rose whirled round, throwing food from the fridge on to the kitchen table. ‘Is that blood on your clothes? What have you been up to, for goodness’ sake?’

‘It’s worse than it looks. We got in the path of a runaway car, but someone pushed us out of harm’s way. Mia, would you like to take the back stairs up to your room, have a wash and brush up, and then a nice quiet lay-down?’

‘Yes, but I was only supposed to be staying with you the one night, and I ought to be moving to a hotel so—’

‘Rubbish. You stay here as long as you like. Now go and get some rest, there’s a good girl.’

Mia produced a tiny, anxious smile. ‘What about you?’

‘I’ll get rid of Diana and be up in a minute.’

‘Humph!’ said Rose, rattling saucepans. ‘Easier said than done.’

Mia disappeared like a shadow up the stairs, Midge the cat gave up on Ellie and went back to watching Rose, while Ellie braced herself for an encounter with her daughter.

Diana was in the hall, dark-haired, dressed all in black as usual. Almost, she blended with the dark panelling. She was scratching notes on a pad, measuring tape in hand. A ring glittered on her left hand.

A ring. What on earth? A horrendous idea shot across Ellie’s mind. What was the worst that could happen? Oh, no. Please, no!