Murder in Time (19 page)

Simon half-closed his eyes and turned his head away.

Ellie sighed. ‘No, you were first. Then Abdi. Raff was next, and Simon was last. I suspect he was careful not to leave his seed in her.'

Simon puffed out a soundless laugh.

Someone pounded along the line of desks to interrupt them. A middle-aged woman with skinny legs and unconvincingly blonded hair. She was wearing a crimplene suit and an air of doggy-eyed devotion. ‘Mr Prentice, the phone …'

Ellie clicked her fingers. ‘Ah-ha. Is this the woman you sent to the police station to smear my husband's name?'

Dick put his head in his hands. Simon's mouth stretched into an almost smile.

The woman bristled. ‘And who are you, may I ask? If you are the wife of that dreadful man Thomas, then all I can say is that you ought to be ashamed of yourself—'

Ellie was outraged. ‘I hope you know that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones?'

‘What?' The woman gaped. And then, as the meaning of what Ellie had said, she turned to Dick. ‘She can't mean …?'

‘Enough,' said Simon. ‘It seems the rumour was false.'

The woman stared at him, and then, recovering herself, said, ‘Mr Prentice, do you want me to get security to remove this woman?'

‘No, that won't be necessary, Maureen,' said Dick, flushing. ‘In fact, Mrs Quicke here has been giving us proof that we were misinformed about the Reverend Thomas, that he has never, ever … In fact, it may be necessary for you to say as much to the police.'

A whine entered Maureen's voice. ‘But you told me that—'

‘I was misinformed.'

Her lower lip quivered. ‘“There's no smoke without fire,” that's what you said.' She looked upset. Ellie's words had definitely struck home. ‘Mr Prentice …?'

‘That's all for the moment.' Dick aimed for an authoritative tone, and missed.

Maureen hesitated but departed, leaving an uttered threat behind her that there would be tears, and possibly ‘words' said, later. This was not the woman who could be fobbed off easily. Possibly, she was in love with Dick? Or had had hopes in that direction? And now he'd gone and dumped her in it.

Splendid! thought Ellie. He was not going to be able to talk himself out of this easily. She allowed herself to breathe out, slowly.

Simon said, ‘You see, Mrs Quicke, there's no need for you to get into such a state. Maureen will tell the police that it was a simple case of mistaken identity. No harm done.'

Ellie gathered herself together and stood up. ‘I'm not so sure about no harm being done. The police don't like being “misled” and may wish to investigate further. Perhaps you should have a word with a policeman higher up the line than the inspector? Perhaps Dick should tell them that his assistant has been suffering from delusions, but that he is making sure she receives appropriate treatment.'

Dick winced. ‘You can't ask me to do that.'

‘Why not? That's better than being accused of wasting police time and of making false statements, isn't it? Or Maureen making an official complaint against you? Because, if I read her aright, she's not going to like it that you asked her to commit a criminal act.'

‘This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't—'

‘No,' said Ellie. ‘Give credit where credit is due.
This
wouldn't have happened if
you
hadn't.'

Dick's phone rang again. He stared at it as if he'd never seen it before. He'd run out of arguments, hadn't he?

Simon said, ‘Shall I see you out, Mrs Quicke?'

She felt herself beginning to wilt as he ushered her across the floor and over to the lift. No one else got in with them. He waited till the doors had closed to say, ‘Were you recording that interview, Mrs Quicke?'

‘I tried,' said Ellie, digging her phone out of her bag, ‘but I'm not too clever with all this technology, and I can't be sure that I got it.'

He took the phone off her and checked. Handed it back. ‘No, you didn't.'

She was too mortified to object to his high handedness, but she had one last try at working out what had happened. ‘I know you think it's best to say nothing, but if I hazard a guess as to what has just occurred, you could nod or shake your head?'

He turned his eyes on her, thoughtful, considering. Then nodded.

‘I suggest that Gail got on the phone to you last night and brought you up to date. And this afternoon she rang again to warn you that I was about to explode because of the slur on Thomas. You knew that
you
hadn't set Maureen off on a false trail, so you made it your business to visit Dick, probably to tell him not to be such a fool. Dick admitted to you that he'd organized her to spread the rumour. You probably wanted to kill him at that point …?'

He gave her a real, wide, enjoyment-filled smile. And nodded.

She said, ‘Well, that's a relief. When I thought I was up against you, I got quite worried.'

He actually laughed as he ushered her out of the building. Once in the open air, he said, ‘How far have you got in finding the doctor's killer?'

‘Not far enough. The police still think it was someone from the drugs' world. Will you try to neutralize Abdi?'

‘I'm sure you're perfectly capable of doing that. As you say, your best bet is to find the real killer. My car's nearby. May I give you a lift somewhere?'

She shook her head. That interview had taken it out of her. Her legs were going to start wobbling any moment now.

He said, ‘You remind me of my mother, a formidable woman. You're going to go on searching for the killer, aren't you?'

She stiffened her knees. ‘I hope so.'

‘It won't do you any good. You should let sleeping dogs die.'

He ducked his head, turned and left her.

Ellie staggered along towards the nearest coffee shop. She wanted to find a dark corner and cry her eyes out. She was so ashamed of herself. Fancy gatecrashing someone's office like that! And tearing them off a strip! All right, they'd deserved it, but she could have been more tactful. More diplomatic.

She needed the loo. She needed someone to pick her up and give her a cuddle, and tell her, ‘There, there! It's all right!'

It definitely was not all right.

The coffee shop was soulless, one of a chain. The loos would be clean, but the coffee would be mediocre. It was too bright for her, and the seating looked uncomfortable. She walked on.

She told herself she hadn't done any good at all by confronting Dick's accomplice. She ought to have left well alone.

Those two men had had to live with what they'd done for all these years … and that must be their punishment. Leave well alone, Ellie. You've only made things worse with your interference.

The second coffee shop she came to was dark and welcoming. And had a loo at the back. Hooray.

She was shaking.

She'd learned something, of course. Simon was someone to be reckoned with. He might even make a half decent Member of Parliament, from what she'd seen of him. He knew how to hold his tongue. Oh dear! She ought never to have gone to see them. Simon had said she ought to let sleeping dogs lie, and he was probably right.

She ordered a cappuccino and a large iced bun. She needed carbohydrates.

Let sleeping dogs lie.

Well, she would have done just that, if Abdi hadn't thrown a spanner in the works!

All these platitudes …

Hold on a minute. Simon hadn't said, ‘Let sleeping dogs lie.' He'd said, ‘Let sleeping dogs
die
.'

A slip of the tongue, of course. Except that men like Simon didn't make casual slips of the tongue. He'd
meant
to say ‘die' and not ‘lie'.

Which didn't make any sense at all.

She finished off the bun. She decided that even though it would spoil her supper, she needed chocolate. But if she bought one of those delicious-looking chocolate twists, she'd probably be unable to finish it.

E
llie couldn't remember what they'd planned for supper, so bought some ready-prepared meals on the way home, thinking that she was falling down on her job at home, as well as being a conspicuous failure as a detective.

It was just as well she'd thought to bring some food in, as she found Rose drifting around the kitchen with a tea towel in her hand, looking vague, and there was nothing prepared to go on or in the oven.

Rose said, ‘Something's up with Vera. She came in with a big envelope stuffed with papers and told Mikey they were eating upstairs. Looked official, that envelope. Solicitors and stuff. You think Abdi's on the warpath again?'

‘Hope not. Is Thomas home?'

‘I think so. He asked where you were a moment ago, and I said I didn't know.'

Ellie went to find him. He was in the library, working, but turned off his computer when he saw her.

‘Ah,' he said, noting her worried air, ‘so what have you been up to?'

‘What have
you
?'

‘Praying. Sorted it out. I've handed the whole mess over to Him to deal with. No need for any further action.'

‘Sometimes it's necessary to do more than just pray.'

His eyes narrowed. ‘You've been up to something? I said, it's not necessary—'

‘Sometimes it is.'

He exhaled. He was not pleased with her. ‘What have you done?'

She wanted to cry. He had never, ever, before criticized her for trying to help someone in distress. Granted, she didn't think she'd done much good by her interference that day, but her intentions had been of the best. ‘I went to see Dick Prentice, the man who spread that rumour about you. I think I scotched it. At least, it's difficult to stop a rumour like that once it's been started, but I think, I hope … He used a woman he knows to … And now she knows he used her, and I don't think that's going to go down well.'

He was still frowning. She half put out her hand to touch him. She wanted him to hug her and assure her that he loved her and approved of everything she'd done. And he wasn't going to do it.

She looked down at her fingers, lacing them together. ‘Simon Trubody was visiting him. He's formidable. You won't find
him
doing something as silly as slandering you. He thinks we can deal with Abdi without any trouble, although I don't see how we can. He also said, “Let sleeping dogs die.”'

‘The quote is: “Let sleeping dogs
lie
.”' Correcting her.

‘I know that, and so does he. He said
die.
He was trying to tell me something.'

Thomas wasn't wearing that. ‘I expect you misheard.'

Ellie twisted her fingers together. Thomas was angry with her. It was horrid. She sniffed, hard, for she didn't have a hanky. ‘Supper in ten minutes.'

He nodded. He wouldn't be very pleased with a bought-in meal, either. Oh dear.

He got up and put his arm around her. ‘My dear, I'm sorry. I wasn't being very understanding, was I? You were worried and wanted to help, as you always do when you see someone in trouble. Possibly, it wasn't the wisest thing to do, but I'm touched that you made the effort.'

He was being condescending, and that hurt almost as much as his sharper tone, earlier.

She said, ‘I thought that if I confronted them with what I knew, they'd understand how stupid it was to try to get at you that way.'

‘Yes, yes. I suppose it gave you a clearer picture of what I'm up against.'

‘What
we're
up against.'

He huffed out a laugh. ‘Yes, you're right, Ellie. What affects you, affects me. And vice versa. Supper, you said?' He really didn't think she'd done the right thing, did he?

Oh well. She'd tried.

Supper was OK-ish. Thomas ate what he was given and refrained from criticism. He made some coffee afterwards and carried it through to the sitting room, just as Vera appeared with Mikey in tow.

Vera looked wild of eye, but was dressed as neatly as ever and seemed to be in command of herself. Mikey looked bored. He seemed more interested in stroking Midge, who was strung over his shoulders, than in attending to business.

Vera said, ‘Have you a minute?' She spread some papers out on a coffee table. ‘This stuff came through today from Abdi's solicitor. He's giving me a deadline. Either I hand Mikey over tomorrow, or he tells the police I killed Dr McKenzie. I've talked this over with Mikey, but I don't want him to make up his mind about anything till we've consulted you, too.'

Thomas said, with caution, ‘Isn't Dan coming round tonight?'

‘I told him not to. This is family business.' Then she blushed and said, awkwardly, ‘I promised to ring him later.' She picked up a sheet of headed paper with a cheque attached. ‘From Abdi. A cheque for twenty-four thousand pounds. In consideration of the money I've spent on Mikey to date. He suggests I use it to give me “a fresh start” somewhere outside London, where house prices are lower.'

She picked up a different wodge of paper. ‘A receipt for the cheque. A form which releases me from making any claims upon Mikey, or even approaching him, in future. He's given Mikey a different name, too, but we'll disregard that for the moment. In consideration of accepting the above, I am supposed to deliver Mikey to an address in Bayswater tomorrow, after which he'll be flown off to meet his grandparents and the rest of his family. Abdi writes that there is no need for Mikey to take anything with him, except the clothes he stands up in. A suite of rooms has been prepared for him, and he has been registered for a new school. A boarding school.'

She took a deep breath, dropped those forms, and picked up another. ‘This is a report from Abdi's private detective, to say that he has a witness to my killing Dr McKenzie. The alleged witness statement is not included. The solicitor says that Abdi will bury the report and the witness statement provided I accept his terms. He suggests that I get the Reverend Thomas and Mrs Quicke to sign as witnesses to my signatures.' She sat back. ‘I think that's it.'