Murder With Mercy (24 page)

Ellie lay awake for a long time after that, worrying away … How could she look after everyone … keep Mikey safe … discover who was helping people to commit suicide … encourage Evan to get out of his wheelchair … be with Diana when she gave birth …?

She must have dozed off because when she woke an hour later, Mikey had gone. So she had to go looking for him again. Upstairs? Had she really left the landing lights on all this time? He wasn't there. She found him in bed with Vera in the room at the end of the corridor. Oh well.

Back to bed.

She was exhausted when the alarm went off at seven, but made herself climb into some clothes and go to check on her patients, who were both sound asleep. Thomas sounded like a train, snoring gently. Vera, with her mouth slightly open, was also snoring.

Mikey nowhere to be seen.

Rose wasn't up, either.

Ellie found Mikey, still in his pyjamas, curled up in Thomas's big chair in the quiet room on the ground floor. ‘Budge up,' she said.

He budged. She put her arms around him, and he managed to get on to her lap. He'd been crying, but she wasn't going to notice that, was she?

She thought, Here's a state of things …

She'd always relied on Thomas to back her up and give her good advice and on Vera to keep the house running. Now they were out of it. All she had was elderly, frail Rose and a frightened boy who couldn't speak.

The odds weren't good.

Mikey shifted his position, favouring his right side.

A cold anger began to form inside her. How dare they assault this boy? She didn't know who ‘they' might happen to be, but
how dare they
!

A nasty thought wormed its way into her head.

You know very well who's behind the sabotage.

No, I don't! How could I?

You've known all along, but you don't want to acknowledge who it is, because you don't know how to deal with it. With her.

Her?

Yes, her. Consult within. What does your gut reaction tell you?

All right, I agree. But—

So. Go get her.

How?

No answer.

There was no connection that she could see between the woman she didn't even want to name inside her head and the workmen on site. Could Mistress No Name possibly be bribing workmen to delay the opening of the hotel? But, why? And what good would that do her?

Well, as Ellie had said at their business meeting, Edwina Pryce knew she couldn't upset the will, but she could stir up so much trouble that they'd be happy to pay her off.

In her dreams!

Yes, but Edwina only ever thought of things from her own point of view. She had a warped mentality, thinking the world owed her a luxurious lifestyle just because she'd been born into the Pryce family.

Ellie had been left the Pryce mansion to do as she wished with it. She could have blown it up, or transported it to Mumbai if she had so wished, only providing that she kept the remaining members of the Pryce family out of debt. And there was the rub. Edwina Pryce could run up what bills she liked and they'd always be paid, in order to keep her out of the debtors' courts. She could engage solicitors and, because she had no money to pay them, the bills would come to Ellie. Edwina shopped at Harrods, she took taxis whenever she wished because she couldn't drive …

Which meant that the vague suspicion Ellie had been harbouring about the car which had nearly run Mikey over didn't work. Edwina Pryce had not been responsible for trying to kill Mikey. Even if she'd been behind the sabotage and knew that Mikey had caught Preston and Dave red-handed; even if she'd realized he could bear witness against them; even if she had seen him in the street and decided that here was an opportunity to silence him for good, she couldn't have driven that car at him.

Which meant … which meant … Ellie didn't know what it meant.

But there was one thing that she was very sure about. Mikey was not a helpless child but had a highly intelligent, computer-literate brain.

‘Mikey, before we have breakfast we'll get you washed and dressed and do the hospital rounds. After that, you and I are going to put our heads together to confound the wicked. Right?'

The boy did indeed prove helpful, fetching clean nightwear and toiletries down for Vera from the top floor, bringing up more drinks from the kitchen, and helping Ellie to remake beds which had been ruckled up overnight. Both patients seemed a little better, and Ellie was thankful that Thomas hadn't developed that awful, grinding chest cough which in the past had meant he was going to be seriously unwell.

Only, they found Rose in the kitchen, not attending to breakfast, but sitting in her chair, weeping gently.

Ellie hurried to Rose's side. ‘My dear, whatever's the matter?'

‘I feel so useless. You've got everything to see to, and Mikey's in trouble, and I'm just a silly old woman who can't climb the stairs any more. I just tried and I couldn't and I can't do anything to help and I'm just in the way …'

Ellie gave Rose a hug. ‘Listen to me, Rose. Even if you never got another meal ready in your life, even if you never washed a dish, or dusted a room or watered the flowers, you are at the heart of this house. We depend on you to be here for us, to worry about us, to care what happens to us. Please God you don't get the flu because I don't know how we'd cope if you did!'

Ellie tried to make a joke of it, but Rose was beyond joking. ‘Yes, but—'

Then Mikey proved his heart was in the right place. Because Midge the cat was his constant companion and best friend, he thought the cat would offer the same love and consolation to Rose. So he picked Midge up and put him in Rose's lap.

Unfortunately, neither Midge nor Rose had expected this, and both overreacted. Rose screamed and flailed her arms around in an effort to fight off her uninvited guest while Midge distended to twice his normal size, leaped off Rose on to the table and overturned a pint of milk.

Mikey looked stricken.

Ellie began to laugh.

The cat fled, and Rose, reluctantly, smiled. ‘I'm a silly old billy. Look what that darned animal's done now!'

‘Will there be enough milk for breakfast without it?' asked Ellie, seizing some paper towels to mop up the spilt liquid. ‘Don't be upset, Mikey. It was a lovely idea of yours to comfort Rose by putting the cat on her lap, even if it did take them both by surprise.'

‘There's plenty of milk in the freezer, and look what I found in the washing, when I took it out of the drier.' Rose held up Ellie's watch, which had been missing for days. ‘It must have got mixed up with the sheets when you changed the bed, and it's still going.'

‘Wonders will never cease. That's a good omen for the day, isn't it? Now, Mikey. What shall we have for breakfast?'

E
llie led the way to her study, followed by Mikey and the cat. ‘It may be the weekend and most people won't be working but, even though I may not be the brainiest person in Britain – don't laugh, Mikey – I have advantages which a lot of people lack. I have clever friends, and I have money. And, just occasionally, I know how to make people jump.'

She settled him down with her computer. ‘Now, I want you to write down everything you remember about the problems at the site.'

She turned to the phone. First, she must consult her solicitor. He might be playing golf or have gone away or, well, anything. But she had his mobile number and no compunction whatever about interrupting his Saturday.

‘Gunnar, it's me, and I'm in trouble again. Yes, I know it's Saturday, but it's urgent. Two things. I may need some backing to fend off Social Services who think they can make out a case to put Mikey into care. Nothing will happen at the weekend but perhaps I can make an appointment to see you about it early next week?'

‘I'm in court on Monday. Tuesday afternoon for a short half hour, perhaps?'

‘I'll jot that down. Teatime, I assume? If they take action before that, I'll send you an SOS. Even more important than that, could you look out Mrs Pryce's will and let me know how far I need to observe the clause about providing for Edwina Pryce? She's on the warpath again and I've run out of ammunition to use against her. It sounds silly, but she's managed to get the ear of someone high up on the board of directors at the hotel chain, and I'm very much afraid that she's got them thinking her way. I'm going to fax her latest blackmailing letter through to you in a minute, and you'll see what I mean.'

‘How long has this been going on?'

‘Only this last week. I know I should have contacted you straight away, but there's been complications. Flu. Yes, both Thomas and Vera. Thanks, they're both on the mend now, but it's been an anxious time.'

‘What does the pesky woman want?'

Ellie subdued hysteria, because really Edwina's threats were hollow, weren't they? Only, if the director had been persuaded that Ellie was behind the sabotage at the site, then perhaps Edwina might be able to swing things her way. ‘She wants me to hand over my shares in the hotel, or alternatively to pay her “compensation”. She's been living like a millionaire at our expense, and I'm sure that's not what Mrs Pryce intended. Can you find a hole in the wording of the will to let me off the hook?'

‘My dear lady. A pleasure. I'll ring you back.'

She faxed Gunnar a copy of Edwina's letter only to find Mikey was staring at his computer screen, without making any effort to work on it. ‘Full statements, Mikey. Times and dates, if you can remember them.'

He shrugged. Perhaps he didn't know where to start?

She said, ‘Let me put a question on the computer, and you try to answer it.' She typed in, ‘
Why have you been missing school?
'

He gave her a look of scorn.

She sighed. ‘All right. I know why. Let's try another question.' She typed, ‘
Do you visit the hotel site often?
' She left a space for him to reply, then tried another question, ‘
When did you suspect that some of the workmen were not doing their job properly?
'

She turned the screen back to Mikey, who read the questions and nodded. He thought for a bit and then started to type with two fingers, making them dance across the keys.

Ellie pressed more buttons on her telephone. ‘Kate? Ellie here. Yes, I know it's a Saturday morning and you're busy but I need financial advice and I need it
now
. Yes, do ring me back. I wouldn't want to interfere with potty training.'

She put the phone down, smiling. Kate was not only an ex-neighbour of hers, but a good friend and also the financial director for the trust. Kate could make figures turn somersaults and jump through hoops. She was also a devoted wife and mother of three children under the age of six, and somehow managed to keep all of them content with their lot.

Ellie tried another number. ‘Hugh? Ellie here. Yes, Mikey's all right. Bruised and shaken, but all right. He's at my side at this very moment, preparing his statement for the police.'

A small explosion at the other end of the phone. ‘What!'

Ellie said, ‘Yes, I thought you might not want him to do it, but look at it from his point of view. He's got to clear his name.'

‘How is he giving you his side of the story?'

‘He's not talking yet, if that's what you mean, but he can operate a word processor like nobody's business. You didn't know that? Ah, he's quite something on a computer. A useful skill. He's got sharp eyes, too. And ears.'

‘I'd rather—'

‘I sympathize, Hugh. I do realize that you are in a difficult position, but this has got to stop. For one thing, your man Preston has put Mikey in the clutches of the Social Services, who'd very much like to write the boy off as a proto-delinquent who needs to be taken into care. Yes. I can see it would be convenient for you in some ways if—'

‘No, no. You're twisting my—' With some heat.

Ellie raised her eyebrows. ‘I'm sorry if I misunderstood you, Hugh. I know you're fond of the boy. Let me finish. I think both of us know who's been at the sharp end of the sabotage at the site and that it's Preston and Dave. I do believe you'd like to shift both of them out of your sight, preferably to the North Pole, but there's someone pulling the strings behind them, isn't there?'

A dull sound to his voice this time. ‘No, no.'

‘It's hard to discover that you've been betrayed by people you've trusted. You've known all along that they were the saboteurs, haven't you?'

Silence.

Ellie ratcheted up the pressure. ‘I'm sure you know, Hugh. You know all your men, through and through. You know who's at the end of their working life and who's having difficulty paying their bills. You know who might accept a couple of hundred here or there to help pay for Christmas. You know the family relationships that bind their loyalties to one another, rather than to the man who pays their wages. And you recognized the car that tried to kill Mikey. Oh, you gave me a taradiddle about it being this or that make, but I think perhaps the police would get a different answer if they questioned the electrician who watched the incident with you.'

A tired objection. ‘You can't—'

‘Yes, it's distressing,' said Ellie. ‘But it was devastating for Vera and Mikey. Do they deserve what's happened to them? Also, I'm more than slightly concerned that the conspirators see Mikey's existence as a threat. You've been thinking along those lines too, haven't you, because you tried to warn me? Twice he's been attacked. Will he be lucky enough to get away with his life, third time round?'

Silence.

‘I understand that you would like to protect your men at all costs, not least so that they don't lose their bonuses for the job. But your loyalty must primarily be to the people who employ you. It is, isn't it?'