Murder in Style (10 page)

Celine said, ‘Look, Gordon, this is really not the time or the place to—'

Ray pointed his finger at Celine. ‘Aren't you worried? She might be lying dead somewhere, the victim of a mugger. Or had an accident, been run over by a car.'

‘No, of course she isn't!' Celine wrung her hands. ‘I'm so sorry, ladies. It seems that my boss – who's married to the gentleman in the wheelchair – is not well and has gone away for a few days!'

Ray said, ‘She got out of her parents' car by Ealing Broadway tube station. She told them she'd take a taxi back home from there. But she hasn't. She's disappeared into thin air. Celine, you really don't know where she is?'

‘No, I really don't.'

Ellie, in the background, was spellbound, as were the customers. They watched avidly, as if they were sitting in the front stalls at the theatre.

Clemmie put her head round the curtain. ‘How many coffees? Anyone prefer tea?'

Ellie decided to become a maid-of-all-work again. ‘I'll take the order, shall I? How many for coffee? Black or white?' She made a note in her diary of who wanted what, and traipsed back through the curtain, past Susan and the teenage girl who were in different stages of undress. At the back of the changing room there was an unobtrusive door marked ‘Toilet', and another which was ajar, giving a glimpse of a small kitchen and a fire door which would give access to the outside world.

Shops of this kind usually had some kind of yard at the back, but it seemed that The Magpie had built out to take in every inch of space it could. The fire door must give on to whatever remained of the yard, but it couldn't be used as a fire escape for the shop unless … Ellie pushed on to the bar which held the door in place, and caught a glimpse of a small yard space beyond, bounded by a high door in a fence. And yes, cast-iron stairs climbed up from the ground floor to, presumably, the flat or office space above? There was a substantial door in the outer fence, locked and bolted. That would give on to a passageway leading out to the street? It wouldn't be easy to burgle the shop.

Ellie turned her attention to her duties as maid-of-all-work. She sang out, ‘Five coffees, three with milk, two black. One tea, preferably peppermint.'

Clemmie had a kettle coming to the boil and was rapidly assembling mugs, milk and sugar on to a tray. ‘Ta,' said Clemmie, not looking at Ellie.

Ellie considered Clemmie's actions that day. The girl was calm. Unflustered by all the goings-on with Ray and Gordon. Yesterday she'd been calm enough, but with an undercurrent of grief and concern for her mother. She'd been distressed then, barely keeping worry at bay.

Today she was hard at work. Focused on the job in hand. She hadn't jumped up and down and screamed when Ray arrived with the news that Juno had gone missing, nor when Gordon chipped in with his demands. In fact, she'd treated Gordon as if she'd never met him before in her life.

Why?

It seemed to Ellie that Clemmie was not particularly upset by the news of her mother's disappearance … if that is what it was.

Ditto Celine, come to think of it. Yesterday Celine had locked hands with Juno, had fussed over her, tried to get her to eat … had suggested Juno go home with her to be looked after. Today, she'd exhibited no surprise at all when Ray said Juno had disappeared.

The kettle boiled, and Clemmie's flying fingers made coffee and tea. She found a tin half full of biscuits and handed that to Ellie with a brief, ‘Follow me, will you?'

Back they processed through the changing room, in which Susan was now almost fully dressed in her usual clothes and the teenage girl was wriggling out of a glittering tunic. The businesswoman was also there now, frowning at her image in the mirror as she tugged at the lapels of the red suit.

Clemmie and Ellie went through the curtain into the shop, into which two more customers arrived. The ‘old' customers were now sitting or standing around, on their phones or talking to Ray and Gordon.

Someone's phone rang. All the customers dived into bags, and one of them – the moustached matron – answered hers with a sharp, ‘What now!'

Susan came out from the back, wearing her usual outsize T-shirt and wrinkled jeans, with the peach dress over her arm. ‘I'll go straight to Marks and get myself a new bra. Here's a twenty. Put that towards it, and I'll get the rest to you in the week.'

Celine said, ‘I'm not taking your money. I'm giving you a discount, and my lovely customers have paid the rest.'

‘Don't give it another thought, Susan,' said Ellie, watching Clemmie dispense her mugs of coffee and tea and take orders from the newcomers. ‘If there's anything left to pay, I'll stump up for it. Worth it. Every penny.'

‘Well, thanks, Mrs Quicke.' Grudgingly. Susan didn't like being beholden to anyone, did she? ‘I'll get some money out of the nearest cash machine and go straight on to Marks's now. That is, if you don't need me for anything else?'

‘You've done enough. Have fun.'

Ray was trying to explain his problem to the moustached matron, while avoiding the words ‘debt' and ‘gambling'. ‘What I want to know is, how long do I wait before ringing the police? Juno wouldn't abandon her family. She knows how much we all rely on her.'

Gordon said, ‘She'll be back tonight, see if she isn't!' He banged on the arm of his wheelchair. ‘Talk about inconsiderate! If she has to go away on business for a weekend, she knows very well that she has to fix up with somebody to come in and take care of me. She wouldn't dare to abandon me. Something must have happened to her.'

Clemmie retreated into the back, presumably to fetch more refreshments.

‘No. Wait!' Celine called out, ‘Clemmie!'

Clemmie put her head back through the curtain.

‘Clemmie,' said Celine, ‘you must tell them. I know you promised your mother not to say anything, but we can't keep the secret any longer.' Facing the shop, she said, ‘Clemmie was rung by her mother last night to say that she was taking some time out, and wouldn't be in for a few days. She said not to worry about her as she was going to be well looked after. She wouldn't tell Clemmie where she was going, but we think she's booked herself into a spa hotel for some peace and quiet.'

Ah-ha! thought Ellie. Now that makes sense.

Clemmie ducked her head. ‘Two more coffees coming up.'

Ray swung round on her. ‘What time did she ring? Why didn't you tell us? Where's this place she's gone to? What's the phone number?'

Clemmie stonewalled that. ‘She didn't want to say. She said not to worry, and that she'd ring me again soon.'

‘Well, ring her back, now! I've got to speak to her!'

Gordon was angry. ‘She had no right to ring you instead of me!'

Eyelids lowered, Clemmie said in a soft voice, ‘But you always take a sleeping pill at night.'

‘Well, ring her back, now!'

‘She said she was turning her phone off. No business, no worries. She said not to contact her. Actually, I did try this morning because I wanted to ask her about a stock delivery, but her phone was off. Coffee coming up.'

Gordon appealed to the room, ‘How dare she not ring me! She's no right to behave like this. When she gets back …' He choked on his next words, caught himself up, and turned down the volume. ‘She must have realized I would need to speak to her.'

No one answered that. There was, perhaps, a feeling that if they'd been Juno, they might have wanted to avoid speaking to him, too.

‘I'll get her, now!' Ray got out his own phone, and pressed buttons. Trying to raise Juno? They could all hear that the phone at the other end was not taking calls. He chewed his lip.

Clemmie moved smoothly round the room, offering more coffee. She didn't raise her eyes from her tray until she got to Ellie, when she lifted them in one long, searching glance.

Clemmie was trying to tell Ellie something?

Ellie nodded. Perhaps they'd talk later?

The matron with the moustache said, comfortable in the knowledge that her own world was still intact, ‘Well, there it is. Your wife will come home when she's had a little time to herself. When my husband was alive, I wouldn't have minded being pampered in a spa hotel every now and then.'

The businesswoman came in from the back with the red suit. ‘I'll take this, thanks. And I'd like to look at that red handbag up there, as well.'

Mother and teenage girl also emerged from the back. The mother said, ‘That outfit you've found for her is just right. Here's my card.' And, to her daughter, ‘You'll be quite the belle of the ball, won't you? Though I still say that dress is on the short side.'

Predictably, the girl blushed and said, ‘Oh, Mum!'

Once one of the customers had stirred themselves to depart, others either got down to business, or left. The businesswoman frowned over the handbag she'd thought might go with the suit she was buying. The woman with the moustache took another phone call, and left without making a purchase. Clemmie removed coffee and tea things, and then began to replace discarded items on the rails. Ellie took a seat in a corner, and watched Ray and Gordon trying to decide what to do next.

Brothers-in-law. Without anything much in common.

Ray got on the phone again. This time to his father-in-law. ‘Look, Gerald; I've got to see you. I'll be round in, what, half an hour? … Trixie? I've no idea where she … She's been with you? Only just left? Why …? Well, that's one of the stupidest …! No, of course I don't think it's a good idea. I'll be round in … No, I know you said Juno wasn't with you, but she phoned Clemmie and I don't understand why she didn't phone you as well … She did! Well, of all the … I can understand why she wouldn't want to go home … yes, Gordon's here … Where are we? At the shop, of course. Where else would we …?'

His eyes switched to and fro. He listened, frowning. Pacing up and down.

Gordon grabbed his elbow. ‘She must have given them her phone number. Tell them she's to ring me, straight away.'

Ray shook his hand off, continuing to listen. ‘Yes, but … You don't understand. Unless I come up with some sort of plan …' He drew the back of his hand across his forehead. ‘I'll come clean. I need to … Look, I'll be with you in half an hour, because the sooner …'

Still talking, he left the shop. Ellie could see him getting into a badly parked car outside, just as a traffic warden was about to tape a parking fine notice on the windshield.

‘That'll cost him,' said the businesswoman, with a cat-like smile. ‘I'm not sure about the handbag. I need to think about that. But I'll definitely take the suit.' She went out to her own car, which was properly parked on the other side of the road, and drove off.

Ellie felt someone at her elbow. Clemmie, watching Ray's humiliation as he tried to tear the notice off his car, even as the parking attendant took photographs recording the event.

‘I wonder if Ray will try to hit him,' said Celine, also watching and also amused.

Two more customers came in, talking on their phones. One was pushing a baby buggy.

Celine said, ‘A busy day,' and went to attend to them.

Gordon caught Clemmie's arm. ‘Well, there's nothing for it. You'll have to step in to look after me till she gets back.'

‘No,' said Clemmie, in her usual quiet way. ‘I'm working, remember? Ring the local cab firm. They'll get you home.'

‘You forget yourself, girl!'

‘I don't think so.' Clemmie moved away, looking wooden, and disappeared into the back room.

Ellie saw Celine glance at Gordon, and glance away. Celine didn't call Clemmie back.

What on earth was going on there?

T
he door opened and in stalked Trixie in a low-cut blue-and-red sundress with a red bandana round her hair. She looked stunning … a fact of which she was perfectly aware.

Naturally Trixie would come, thought Ellie. She was the missing member of the family. She needed money for her film career and would want to track her aunt down. She would have tried her grandparents first, and then come on to the shop.

Oops! Gordon wasn't pleased to see her. ‘Trixie, what are you doing here? Though I suppose I can guess.'

‘I might say the same for you. Only thinking of yourself, as usual. If you ask me, it's more than time my aunt had a rest from your moaning.'

Lips whitening, Gordon struck back. ‘I haven't noticed your paying any attention to her in the past, but now you want something—'

Trixie brushed him aside to concentrate on Celine, who was trying to avoid her eye while serving a customer. ‘Well, where is she? You of all people must know where she's hiding.'

Celine said, ‘Please, Trixie; we're very busy this morning. And no, I don't know where she is. She doesn't want us to know, apparently. She'll be back when she's had a rest.'

Gordon pulled Trixie's arm. ‘Have you tried the office upstairs? I can't get up there, but Ray said he went up and the Monkey wouldn't give him the time of day.'

‘Her office? I tried that first. She's not there. Where's Clemmie?'

Gordon gestured. ‘Out back. But you won't get anything out of her.'

‘Watch me!' Trixie swung through the shop, full skirts rustling.

Ellie stepped back into the shadows, thinking that there was a lot to be said for small waists and full skirts if you had the basic equipment to carry them off. Which Trixie did.

Clemmie appeared from the back room, her arms full of discarded clothing, which she started to hang on a rail. Had she heard Trixie's voice and come out to confront her? Yes.

Trixie put her hands on her hips. ‘There you are! Where is she?'

Clemmie said, ‘She's not here, Trixie.' She then ignored her cousin to speak directly to Celine. ‘It's nearly twelve, Celine, and I'm due upstairs. Is the new girl coming to help you this afternoon?'