The Twisted Way (33 page)

‘This should fit neatly round your neck. Remember the time when you put a dog collar on mine and dragged me round on a lead? I couldn’t have been more than four years old and the deep wheals on my neck took weeks to heal. Mum had not long died and nobody was interested in my troubles. Dad left us to fend for ourselves. Unfeeling bitch! What a rotten sister to have. I have never forgiven you.’

Felicity tried to back away but he held her in a vice-like grip. Panic and pain threatened to overcome her. Clutching her with strong determined fingers he looped the cord with a surprising swiftness around her wrinkled neck and pulled.

‘Come on, doggy, doggy,’ he drawled, ‘see how you like it. You didn’t mind doing that to me.’

Felicity started to choke and struck out violently with her arms but with little effect. Ronald laughed with glee. The cord round her neck was tightening and she knew she would not remain conscious for very long. What on earth had got into him!

Ronald dragged her to the back door which he opened, for a brief moment removing one wiry hand from her shoulders in order to push her towards it.

‘Down the steps with you! Nice tumble should complete the job. Vile bitch!’

Ronald was enjoying himself. A rush of adrenalin urged him on and his hysterical laugh echoed round the room, loud and high-pitched, but only Felicity could hear it. He had waited a long time for this treat and had not realized how much the need for retribution and revenge had grown and festered within him over the years they had been apart. He relaxed for a moment and took a brief look at the steep slippery metal steps. He wanted to make sure her decent was swift, direct and effective.

‘You are soon going to meet your maker!’ he shrieked, a mad demonic note surfacing in his voice, then he emitted an eerie blood-curdling sound, shaking his head in a weird way from side to side, saliva frothing from his mouth like a rabid dog.

Felicity rallied and seized her chance. She struck out with a foot and as it met his shins Ronald lost his balance. He plunged down the steps dragging the unfortunate Felicity, reeling and spinning, with him. The pain from the bumps inflicted on him by the metal as he descended was excruciating. The last thing he saw was Felicity’s shocked face just above his before his neck snapped and merciful oblivion overtook him. Fortunately for Felicity he loosened his grip on the cord just before he reached the ground and her fall was broken by his soft rotund body. She struggled for a moment or two in an attempt to loosen the rope that still threatened to choke her, almost succeeded, then fainted.

The sound of loud voices penetrated her consciousness. First a woman’s voice, light and high, shrill with emotion.

‘The ambulance is on the way, she is breathing. It would be better not move her, she might have injured her back.’

A man’s voice, deep and calm, responded. ‘I think the man is dead – there’s not much we can do for him. He was probably an intruder.’

Some intruder, Felicity thought. A once dear brother she had not seen for so long. Her brother ... perhaps he had a good reason for wanting her to die but, oh ... her own brother, that quiet little boy she remembered so well. He was such a timid child, no spunk, and a gawky quiet teenager later, but in her way she had retained some affection for him, even if it was disturbed and bent. Communication had been sparse over the years but she could not have murdered him. No, never! Did she really hurt him as a child? She supposed she must have but could not remember the details with any degree of clarity. She did recall that they had been unhappy children.

She did not open her eyes and pain in her right leg threatened to traumatize her. She didn’t want to discuss with anyone why her brother might have wanted to kill her. That could wait. She would say she had lost her memory until she had time to plan her answers and come to terms with the horror that had been inflicted upon her.

‘The police are here,’ the woman’s voice continued, her more normal local tone becoming evident. ‘It was lucky we came today, my day off too. I remembered that the milkman had not called as usual, I can’t think why but thought I had better leave Mrs Lacey some fresh milk for her tea. There was not much left in the fridge yesterday and I didn’t think that Felicity would notice until she prepared the tea. It was a good job I had my mobile with me.’

Joyce turned to her husband. ‘There is not much hope of getting into Everton now for that meal, the police will want statements and goodness knows what!’

Felicity, who continued to keep her eyes closed, was moved gently on to a stretcher and taken to Everton General Hospital. After the police had examined Ronald’s body, and DI Holmes had arrived, it was moved to a local mortuary pending further enquiries, and DI Holmes thought that there would be many, especially as Felicity had a deep rope mark on her neck, a severe burn on her arm and was lucky to be alive.

Joyce and her husband stayed to reassure Janet and keep her company.

‘Felicity will soon be home,’ she told her with a confidence she did not feel. ‘My daughter has gone to the hospital with her and will let us know.’

Joyce thought it would not be wise to mention the police to Janet but she knew they would want to question her to discover if she had heard anything unusual that afternoon. She was concerned that her elderly employer would be confused. With luck, she may be able to provide some clues to the afternoon’s tragic events but Joyce doubted whether the poor soul would remember anything useful.

DI Peter Holmes and DS John Cross considered their options and discussed the situation and the facts as far as 
they knew them. DI Holmes decided that he would go to 
Everton Hospital after checking the scene of the ‘accident’ or ‘attempted murder’ for clues, and if Felicity had recovered consciousness he could perhaps question her. Joyce Skillet was warned not to move anything in the kitchen and the room was checked for fingerprints and DNA. Burnt skin clung to one of the Aga plates and the odious smell lingered. DS Cross, a gentle but intuitive young detective, questioned Janet.

‘Did you hear anything, Mrs Lacey?’ he asked after he had explained, with the support of a concerned Joyce Skillet, that Felicity had surprised an intruder and had gone to the hospital to be ‘checked out’.

‘No’, Janet said, ‘at least I can’t remember anything. Jack barked for a while but he is old now and imagines things, it was probably only Felicity rattling the tea cups. I patted him and told him to be quiet. I must have dozed off after that. I did wake up once, I thought I heard a scream but it is so difficult for me to distinguish between my dreams and reality now, you know ... I am getting deaf, too.’

‘That is all right Mrs Lacey,’ he replied kindly. He was not going to get anywhere with this line of enquiry and he decided to let the old lady rest. Joyce hovered anxiously at the door.

‘I’ll get someone to stay with her,’ she said. ‘There is a reliable woman in the village who helps out occasionally. I’ll telephone her.’

‘That’s a good idea,’ he said. ‘Someone should stay with her. She shouldn’t be left on her own today, although the intruder is dead and won’t be worrying her again in a hurry. However, that back door must be kept locked in future. Of course, this is a crime scene, and you must warn the woman if she comes not to move anything.’

‘I will stay then,’ Joyce said. ‘I can ensure everything is left untouched.’

DI Holmes approached Felicity’s hospital bed quietly. He had been warned that she was still very confused. Her right leg had twisted under her but was not broken. She was fortunate that her injuries had not been worse. There was, however, the possibility of some concussion.

‘Mrs Brown,’ Peter said, ‘I would like to ask you a few questions about the intruder. It would help us if you could tell us anything you remember about the incident.’

Felicity hesitated. Her head ached despite the tablets she had swallowed to ease the throbbing. Her leg felt uncomfortable from the twisting inflicted upon it as she tumbled but understood that it was only badly bruised and her arm was still very painful as she had sustained a third degree burn.

She turned her head to look at the detective. Nice enough man, she thought, pretty astute, it’s no good trying to fool him. He will find out about my brother soon enough. She decided to be honest with him and try to face the horror inflicted upon her.

‘The intruder was my brother Ronald Brown,’ she said in, what was for her, a soft quavering voice.

‘I haven’t seen him for many years, I thought he was in Australia, it was a complete surprise. I had no idea he felt so antagonistic towards me.’

What on earth did I do to deserve his hate, she thought, and really had no idea. Her face was pale and drawn. The young nurse who hovered at the door of Felicity’s single room looked at her with concern.

‘We have found his passport and other papers which were in his coat so have established his identity,’ DI Holmes said. If you can think of anything that can help us further please tell me. We have yet to find out where he was staying and how long he has been in this country. There were no flight tickets in his wallet which is rather odd. We imagine he had booked a return flight.’

‘Is he ...? Felicity found it hard to say ‘dead’. ‘Yes,’ Di Holmes said. ‘I am sorry.’ Felicity did not look too sorry, just relieved. She is a hard nut, the detective told himself but who could blame her under the circumstances with a brother intent on murder!

A doctor appeared at the door. ‘Ms Brown needs to rest. Can you come back tomorrow? She has suffered a severe blow to the head and we need to obtain some X-rays now.’

The detective had no option but there was a lot he needed to ask this woman. He still did not trust her but in this instance she appeared to be innocent. She had fallen down the same steps as Peter Mace. Perhaps she was not the one who had pushed the solicitor after all, but he would keep an open mind about that.

DI Holmes made some enquiries in the Green Man but the landlord had no recollection of anyone who answered Ronald’s description staying there. He did think the man may have had a meal in the pub the day before, but was not sure.

DS Cross was given the job of checking the local area to try and discover if a Ronald Brown had booked into a hotel or pub. He was fortunate to receive a call from the landlord of the Red Rooster in Little Brinton. He had heard something about the attempted murder on the local news and realised that Ronald Brown fitted the description of a man who had booked into his pub for two nights bed and breakfast. He had not returned that evening and his baggage was still in his room, but his hired car was not in the car park.

DS Cross visited the Red Rooster and checked out Ronald’s room and luggage. His flight tickets were in his case. He had been in England since September. There were some details of a hotel in Northumberland where he had stayed over Christmas, and a leaflet about the Green Man in Enderly and a note in his diary concerning a booking the day Peter Mace died. There was a copy of a deed for a grave for Anne Brown who had been buried in Roehampton Cemetery just after the Second World War together with a used District Line ticket from Earls Court to Wimbledon. His hire car was found in Enderly the next day.

In the light of the latest evidence it seemed likely that Felicity Brown was not after all responsible for the death of Peter Mace. Unbeknown to her, her brother had been in Enderly the day he died and knew how to get into Janet Lacey’s house where he had stayed as a child. If he had been in the kitchen and was surprised by Felicity’s approaching footsteps he could have rushed out of the back door and bumped into Peter Mace. It could have been an accident but the blow on the side of the man’s head was ominous and pointed to murder. Forensics could now check the fingerprint found on the stone with Ronald Brown’s.

The medical staff at the hospital decided to keep Felicity under observation for a few days. She continued to display symptoms of shock and was very quiet. She told DI Holmes once again that she had no idea that her brother Ronald was in the country and would have been pleased to see him if she had known. For once he believed her. She was fond of him she stressed, he was her little brother. Why he had attempted to kill her she had no idea, and she really believed that. She had not seen him for many years, or his family in Australia, though she believed his wife was now dead and his daughter had recently got married. She had never met her niece and they exchanged very few letters, probably only once a year at Christmas.

Why would Ronald want to injure or kill me? Felicity continued to ask herself. It did not make sense, she was family after all. She wondered again about Ronald’s accusations and found it difficult to believe that she had been such an unkind sister. Although she had forgotten so many things about their childhood she accepted that she had a tempestuous nature when young. She had a lot of time to think whilst lying in the hospital bed. What a monster she must have been to provoke her own brother to inflict such revenge upon her. Was she any better now? She had been driven by lust for money since she had been living with her aunt. The attempt on her life was a wake-up call and although to change her nature would not be easy, perhaps even impossible, she knew she must try.

She thought back to the last time she had seen Ronald a few months before she left for Canada and her visit to Aunt Janet. She had travelled to Northumberland to say goodbye to him. He was eighteen years old, a spotty-faced youth dressed in an old green woollen sweater and drainpipe trousers that were frayed at the hems and markedly short on his straggly and fast growing limbs. They did not have much money, or really much else of value in life. He had looked at her through brown flecked thick-framed glasses that covered eyes so similar to her own. His fine fair hair had stood up in tufts on his head and had reminded her of an odd yellow mop. They had hugged briefly and she had actually felt a tugging at the heartstrings when she left him. They were the same flesh and blood she remembered and were parting for what would probably be a long time, even for good. If she had been unkind to him when they were young she expected that he would forgive her and, with her innate lack of conscience, had not realised until now how deeply her actions had affected him.