Murder in Time (24 page)

Mikey beckoned. He'd found a door leading to some back stairs. A time switch was on the wall. Would it still work? Mikey punched it and, hooray, they had light. Which meant Abdi hadn't yet found the master switch for the house.

They made their way down and down … how many steps down? Surely they were on the ground floor now?

Ah. A door, opening out … into the garage space in the basement. Good.

No one there. Even better. They were probably all faffing around upstairs.

The heavy door closed behind them. Relief! Down here you couldn't hear the alarm bells. How wonderful silence could be!

Four cars. Well, they couldn't drive out in any of them. No keys. Anyway, Ellie had never learned how to drive. Mikey went to the garage doors and tried them. ‘I can't shift them. They're electrically operated.' He thumped one in frustration.

How were they to leave the house through those substantial, electronically operated doors?

Ellie was tired of holding Evan, who was grizzling but not in full voice at the moment. Ah, there was his buggy. Thank goodness! She strapped him in, and jiggled. She'd give anything to sit down and rest herself, but there wasn't a chair or a bench in sight. She tried the door of the Mercedes to see if she could rest there a while, but it was locked.

Bother. Even if she listened hard, she couldn't hear the alarms from where they were. Well, that was good. She wondered what would happen if Abdi failed to halt the spread of the flames. Would the fire spread to another room? How long could the sprinklers keep going? Were they linked to the mains? She envisaged a blackened, sodden room. And smiled.

Evan calmed down. His eyes switched right and left, up and down. He liked the shine on the door of the car, and he tried to grasp it with one podgy little hand. Evan liked cars.

Ellie wondered how to disable a car. They were always disabling cars in books. Removing some tender part of them. But which part, and what would it look like? There was also something, if she remembered rightly, about pouring sugar into the petrol tank. Only, she hadn't any sugar on her. Pity. And no keys to get into them, anyway.

Ellie looked around. Would a house like this have CCTV? Probably. Where would the cameras be? Probably covering the front door … and the garage doors, too. How on earth were they to get out of here? Even if they could open the garage doors, they'd be visible the moment they left the house.
If
they could find a way of getting out.

Mikey made a helpless gesture. ‘Got any ideas?'

Ellie gestured to a tool rack at the back. And there – eureka! – was a tyre iron. ‘Fancy a jemmy?'

Mikey grinned. ‘Wow, yes! But first, let's set off some more alarms!' He took the jemmy and smashed it against the side of the Mercedes, which reacted like an offended dowager. Whoopee! Another alarm. Evan screamed. The sports car next. Nice big dents in the side panels, which would need the attentions of a body specialist and then a repaint job. Then the people carrier. It was quite possible that the people in the house wouldn't hear the noise. Or would they?

Finally, Mikey turned his attention to the garage doors.

He put the tyre iron under the bottom of one door and tried to lift it. It wouldn't budge. But yet another alarm went off. Now that one would sound up above, wouldn't it?

Mikey sank to the floor. He hadn't the strength to lever the door up. He let the tyre iron drop from his hand.

Defeated.

Mm. Ellie really couldn't stand the noise any longer. She wondered if the lift were still working. She didn't fancy manoeuvring the buggy up those nasty back stairs. She pressed the button to summon the lift, and – hurray – it arrived.

Perhaps it was on a different electrical circuit from the one governing the alarm system? Perhaps they'd got the electrics sorted out above? Well, it was better to risk it than stay there to be discovered. ‘Come along,' she said. ‘Don't forget your school bag. You'll need it on Monday.'

He picked it up, moving slowly, dragging his feet. She got the buggy into the lift and pulled Mikey in after her. He didn't want to go. He'd overtaxed his strength and was as limp as could be.

Up they went to the ground floor. And the doors opened just as they should. Bravo.

Ellie's limited knowledge of burglar alarms informed her that some, especially those attached to expensive properties, had a direct line to the local police station. She hoped that Abdi's house had just such a line. On being alerted to a problem, the police might first ring the house to see what had set the alarms off, but hopefully in this case they would have assumed the worst and sent someone across in double quick time to enquire who was breaking into one of their most prestigious establishments.

So, let's hope.

Ah, as she had anticipated, there was a knot of policemen, as well as Abdi and several of the servants, in the entrance hall. All explaining, shouting, expostulating. The front door was open. The alarm upstairs was off, but for the garage door it was still all systems go.

Everyone fell silent as Ellie and Mikey appeared and walked straight past them to the front door.

‘Hey!' said one of the policemen.

Think fast, Ellie. You can't yell ‘kidnap' or you'd have to explain about Vera, and that's the last thing we want to do. Can you spare a moment, Lord …?

‘You are needed downstairs,' said Ellie. ‘Some poor man, perhaps a druggy looking for somewhere to kip down, seems to have got in and has been creating mayhem. You might still catch him if you're quick.'

‘But who are—?'

‘A neighbour,' said Ellie. ‘A visitor, now going home. Isn't that right, Abdi?'

Abdi gaped. And recognized defeat. He held up his hands. ‘That's right. A neighbour, now going home.'

‘And one of your people took our mobile phones to top them up for us. Perhaps you'd let us have them back now?'

‘Of course.' Abdi shot a look at one of his men, who handed them over as if they'd stung him.

Ellie said, ‘Thank you so much. So thoughtful of you. I won't trouble you for a lift home. Is there a taxi rank on the corner?'

‘Yes, yes.' In a hurry to oblige. ‘Would you like someone to go with you, see you safely home?'

‘No, thank you,' said Ellie. ‘We're fine on our own. Come on, Mikey. Time for tea. Your mother will be worried if she gets home before we do.'

‘W
ell, I never!' said Rose, when she heard what had been happening. ‘Why didn't Mikey call the police on his mobile?'

‘They took our mobiles off us in the garage,' said Ellie. ‘And there was no phone in the room where we were held.'

‘Couldn't he have emailed us on his little thingamajig?'

Mikey grinned. ‘It's called a netbook, Rose. No, I couldn't unless I knew how to get into their Wi-Fi. I did think about emailing someone on the laptop we found in one of the rooms, but we'd already set the alarms off, and I didn't have time. Besides, I would have had to explain the threat that Abdi was holding over us, and Mum doesn't want that. When I saw the police had arrived downstairs, I nearly died, but Mrs Quicke talked us out of the house without giving anything away
and
got us our mobiles back.'

It was supper time. Diana had left a message for Ellie to say she wouldn't be able to collect Evan till late, and would she see that he wasn't offered anything green to eat, as he didn't like it. So he was still with them.

Thomas often cooked on a Friday evening, and this time he'd produced a huge pie containing several different varieties of fish, including prawns. Plus greens. Thomas liked cooking and usually served up more than could be eaten at any one meal. But that was all right, because Dan had appeared at the table, having collected Vera from college. Nobody said anything about Dan being there. His presence had become both natural and inevitable.

Vera had alternatively hugged and scolded Mikey when he arrived back with Ellie and the baby. Now she sat as close to him as possible, ladling food on to his plate as fast as he cleared it. Mikey was wide-eyed with fatigue and didn't object to his mother fussing over him. Suddenly, he drooped, leaning against her. And yawned.

Vera supported him with her arm around his shoulders. ‘Well, that's done it. I'm going to the police tomorrow to charge Abdi with everything under the sun, no matter what it costs me.'

‘Don't be so hasty,' said Ellie. ‘I think we can get through this business without you having to do that. First, I want a look at this statement he says he's got, of someone seeing you argue with the doctor. It wasn't in that bundle of papers he sent you, and we need a sight of it.'

‘We all know he's got someone to make it up. And now I can charge him with kidnapping Mikey. How dare he! Mikey's only twelve, when all's said and done.'

‘Some twelve year old!' said Ellie. ‘You should have seen him at work. Abdi's going to rue the day.'

Mikey grinned, shook himself awake and looked to see what else there was on offer to eat. The cat Midge sat next to him, as usual.

Ellie noticed that Rose was spooning puréed spinach into Evan. Ellie opened her mouth to say that he wasn't supposed to like spinach, and closed it again. Rose had no opinion of Diana's ability as a mother and had ignored the instruction. Evan smacked his lips in appreciation and then, worn out with all the alarms and excursions of the day, fell asleep in his high chair. Good.

Ellie reminded herself to change Evan before Diana spotted that he'd been wrapped in Abdi's towels.

Ellie said, ‘Gunnar did warn me that Abdi might try to snatch Mikey and take him out of the country, but it never occurred to me that he would act so quickly. Gunnar even advised getting him a pepper spray. Where does one get a pepper spray, if they're illegal?'

Dan grinned. ‘All sorts of things get confiscated at school. I have something in my desk which Mikey might like to try out some time. It will only be a toy, of course.'

Mikey took the offer into consideration and accepted it with a nod.

Ellie said, ‘What is the world coming to? If Mikey hadn't been so clever, he'd have been on his way out of the country at this very minute.'

Vera shuddered.

Ellie counted his deeds off on her fingers. ‘He started a fire by the net curtains, which set off the sprinkler system. He did something in the bathroom, though I'm not sure what. He broke windows, which set off the burglar alarms. He destroyed Abdi's laptop and put some superglue into the power point and on the remote for the television. That'll do it a lot of no good. As for the cars in the garage, they'll all have to go to the body repair shop. The damage he did was considerable.'

Mikey said, ‘What's for afters?'

Thomas stirred some goo in a saucepan. ‘Ice cream with my special sauce; Mars bars melted with condensed milk. Heart attack city. But for a celebration …'

Mikey said, ‘Yummy.'

Ellie dished out ice cream, and Thomas poured the syrupy mixture over it.

Vera was struggling between horror at the destructions and delight in her offspring's cleverness. ‘What Mikey did … Abdi will be so angry!'

‘Probably,' said Thomas. ‘But he'll think twice before tackling Mikey again.'

Mikey yawned. His eyes closed, and he slid sideways. This time he came to rest against Dan.

Vera rose from her seat. ‘Oh, poor lamb. He's worn out. I'd better get him up to bed.'

Dan shook Mikey, gently. ‘Would you allow me to carry you up to bed, Mikey?'

Everyone froze. Ah, that was a question indeed. Would Mikey accept Dan's help?

Mikey half opened his eyes. Nodded, pushed the cat away from him. Closed his eyes and relaxed.

Everyone started breathing again. Dan smiled across to Vera who, with some reluctance, perhaps, smiled back.

‘Show me where.' Dan lifted Mikey, who settled into his arms with a yawn that cracked his face in half.

‘Back in a minute,' said Vera, leading the way out of the kitchen.

Ellie scraped her bowl clean. ‘To echo Mikey … Yum.'

Rose stirred in her doze and dropped the spoon she'd been feeding Evan with on to the floor. Evan started, then collapsed back into sleep.

Ellie cleared a space on the table so that she could change Evan. His improvised nappy was clean and dry. Hurray. She put him into his buggy. Still he didn't wake. He lay there with his arms above his head. Both Rose and Evan snored, lightly.

Thomas put his arms around Ellie from behind. ‘You went off without saying where you were going. Rose didn't know. You didn't leave a message. I was worried.'

‘I remembered when I was halfway down the road. It was stupid of me.'

He kissed her neck. ‘It might have led to a tragedy.'

‘Oh, yes. I suppose. I had confidence that Mikey would get us out of it. And it gave me an opportunity to talk to Sam … Dan's cousin, you know? The one who was supposed to control everything at the party? Only, I upset him by suggesting that his aunt might have had something to do with the doctor's murder. He was not amused.'

Thomas was not amused, either. Perhaps he hadn't forgiven Ellie for her ‘interference' earlier that day? He was certainly not trusting her judgement as he usually did.

‘It's this “
cherchez la femme
” business that's got into you, isn't it? Have you thought that it might have been the good doctor who was playing away?'

‘It is a definite line of enquiry.'

‘After what Mikey's done – and I'm not saying that I don't understand his desire for revenge – I think the best thing we can do is to keep quiet. Let sleeping dogs die. No, it's
lie,
not
die.
' He released her to throw up his hands. ‘Now you've got me at it.'

Ellie nodded. She started to clear the table. She wondered if Vera would be returning to the kitchen after Dan had put Mikey to bed, or whether she and Dan might take the opportunity to have an hour or two to themselves. One thing might lead to another and … No, here they came, treading softly, looking grim.