A Cotswold Ordeal (12 page)

Thea listened to him with delight. His voice had a mellow bass range, the intonation confident and reassuring. He was well practised in dealing with argumentative females, she supposed, finding the perfect balance between patronising and bullying them. He seemed to detect her enjoyment, and turned to her with his face all open and honest-seeming.

‘Well?’ he demanded.

‘We’d really like to stay here until morning,’ she said in a small voice. ‘It would be a dreadful
nuisance to leave now – for you as well as us.’ She glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece. ‘And look at the time! It’ll be light in about five hours.’

He capitulated, as she’d known he would. ‘Just be sure you call me if there’s the slightest cause for concern,’ he ordered, as he prepared to leave. ‘Put something across this door when I’ve gone, since it looks as if somebody out there’s got a key that fits it.’

‘We’ll be fine,’ Thea laughed. ‘Honestly, you’ll have scared them off long since – if they were still hanging around, which I bet they weren’t.’

‘I’ll be back at ten tomorrow morning,’ he said. ‘Go and get some sleep, for God’s sake.’

They slept fitfully, having debated sharing a room, only to decide it would be too much trouble to organise. Thea’s head whirled with half-waking dreams, where Pallo fell down a deep crevice in the field behind the house, and the entire Phillips family came tiptoeing up the stairs, standing silently in the doorway, watching her while she slept. When she finally noticed them, Julia rushed forward and started pulling her hair and shouting that she ought to be ashamed of the mess she’d let the house get into.

But when she awoke, finally, at ten past eight, her first thoughts were all on Jocelyn, who had decided to return to her violent husband, the entirely
familiar and trustworthy Alex who had somehow turned into an unknowable monster. She hadn’t told Superintendent Hollis that item of news, knowing he would be implacably insistent that she leave Juniper Court, rather than stay there alone.

‘Are you awake?’ she called, quietly enough not to disturb a sleeper. The lack of response implied a negative answer to the question.

Hepzibah was at the foot of the bed, head raised, expression questioning. Poor little dog, Thea thought fondly. From this point on, she promised herself, she wouldn’t let her out of her sight.

In bare feet, she crossed the landing, and looked through Jocelyn’s open door. The bed was a jumble of duvet and clothes, with no sign of an occupant.

‘Must be making breakfast,’ Thea concluded, trying to identify the chink of a teaspoon or whiff of toast from downstairs. Nothing struck ear or nose, and the first flicker of anxiety occurred.

‘Hepzie!’ she ordered, quietly. ‘Stay.’ She grabbed the spaniel, in a rush of paranoia. Never mind what had happened to her sister – the dog was her first love these days, and she picked up the awkward creature before going carefully down the stairs.

The front door stood open, and sunshine was streaming into the hall. The sky outside was a tropical blue and nothing stirred. ‘Joss?’ she called into the yard. ‘Where are you?’

‘Here,’ came a singing voice, full of good cheer and summer relaxation, from the lane outside the gate. ‘What do you want?’

Thea put the dog down and strode towards the voice. ‘What the hell are you doing?’

‘Admiring wild flowers,’ came the infuriating reply. ‘There’s an
orchid
here. Can you believe it? Right here, beside the road.’

‘I was worried about you.’

‘Were you? Why?’

Thea inhaled in an effort to calm herself. Had she dreamed the whole of the previous evening? Had she woken into a parallel universe? Had Jocelyn received a phonecall to say the police had arrested the intruder, who also confessed to the killing of the hanged boy?

‘Why do you think?’ she managed tightly.

‘Oh, pooh. Nothing’s going to happen to us in the broad light of day. Look at that sky! Isn’t it amazing!’

‘Jocelyn – are you drunk? Or have the fairies stolen my real sister and left this weird person in her place?’

Jocelyn giggled. Thea was now standing facing her in the small road, watching as she crouched over the putative orchid. ‘Of course I’m not. No – it’s just that I’ve been up since six, wandering around savouring the atmosphere and having a proper think. If I am drunk, it’s on this incredible
place. You were right – it’s glorious. I just had to find it out for myself.’

‘Did I say it was glorious?’ Thea looked around herself. ‘I thought I’d just wittered on about the history of canals.’

‘Never mind. Now I’ve got to go and phone Alex. I was waiting until you were up, so I wouldn’t wake you if I started shouting at him.’

‘Are you likely to?’

‘Quite, yes. I’m going to tell him I’m staying here after all. For at least a week.’

Thea’s eyebrows lifted. ‘Is this in response to a small voice emanating from the orchid? Or a bolt from the clear blue sky?’

‘In a way, yes. Both of the above – and several other things. I’m due a holiday, if nothing else. Alex goes off for his reunions and camera club jaunts – why shouldn’t I have a turn? Besides, somebody has to look after you, if you’re intent on staying here.’

‘I hate to utter the word, but what about the kids?’

‘They’ve got two parents, damn it. They’re not babies. It won’t kill them. Life can be too damned comfortable sometimes. It’ll be something for them to tell their shrinks when they have their breakdowns later on.’

‘Right.’ Thea recognised that Jocelyn was now in much the same mood she’d been in when she’d arrived. Any deviation in the meantime had
probably arisen from Thea’s big-sisterly adjurations. The wise course would be to accept and be glad. Wise, and also self-interested. It suited her very well to have her sister in residence for a few more days. ‘Hollis’ll be pleased,’ she added.

‘Well, you’ll soon be able to tell him. Less than an hour before he shows up again. That gives me time to phone home, and you can go and wash your hair.’

But before Thea could follow this suggestion, the phone rang and a rather overdue conversation with Julia Phillips took place.

‘My God, it sounds as if World War Three’s broken out as soon as we turned our backs,’ the householder began, with scarcely any preamble. ‘It looks as if we’ll have to come home,’ she said. ‘We can’t just carry on here as if nothing has happened, whatever Desmond says.’

‘What does Desmond say?’

‘He’s absolutely set on carrying on with his fishing. He’s in some sort of competition, up in the Mountains of Morne, would you believe? Actually, it’s all fallen apart a bit, with him going off like this. He only stayed with us for about ten minutes and then got talked into joining some group that were going up to the mountains. Then Flora insisted she wanted to go as well, and hopped on a bus to catch up with him. So I’m here with the others, trying to keep them occupied. At least the weather’s nice.
And then all this business with some dropout getting himself hanged. Quite honestly, it’s turning into a bit of a nightmare.’

Thea came close to apologising for all these disappointments. ‘Did you know the dead man?’ she asked instead.

‘What? No, I don’t suppose so. Hey, Harry, quit that, will you! Listen, it’s chaos here. Harry Two is in a foul mood. Poor Naomi’s driving us all mad worrying about Pallo. She says somebody might murder him next.’

Thea felt cold. This was her cue to break the news about the cat. But something before that nagged at her. ‘Haven’t they told you his name?’ she asked.

‘Whose name?’

‘The dead man.’

‘’Not yet, no. Oh, heavens – speak of the devil. It looks as if this is him now.’

Thea swallowed. ‘Pardon?’

‘The policeman who came to see us on Monday. He’s back again. I’ll have to go. Listen, I’m really sorry about all this. You must think you’ve walked into a madhouse. This is typical of us. Nothing ever goes to plan. But Pallo – I mean, I know it’s unreasonable, but you
will
stay, won’t you? I’ll never be able to face Naomi again if he’s not alive and well when we get home.’

Thea felt her temper fraying. ‘Considering what
happened in his stable, he’s surviving very nicely. I fixed up a stall for him in the barn, and he seems quite happy. I think he can go back home tomorrow.’

Julia was clearly anxious to curtail the conversation. ‘Well, I’m
terribly
grateful to you. I’ll call again when we’ve got things a bit more sorted here. Yes, yes, officer, I’m
coming
. He’s looking daggers at me, I’ll have to go.’

‘Well, I’m happy to carry on here,’ Thea said loudly, before the connection was broken.

‘That’s very sweet of you. Bye now.’

The conversation ended with a number of frustrations for Thea. She had found no opening into which she might insert the bad news about the break-in or the slaughtered cat. Guiltily, she realised that she had not relished being blamed for these mishaps. Neither had she referred to any of the neighbours. As for the man in the sporty car who lurked in the back of her mind as a threatening shadow, Thea was making so much effort to banish him entirely, that there was no way she was going to talk about him. Her feelings towards him were irrational, and she knew it.

And perhaps worst of all, she had neglected to inform Julia that her, Thea’s, sister was currently colonising her, Julia’s, daughter Naomi’s bedroom, without invitation.

Then came a second phonecall three minutes later. It was Cecilia Clifton. ‘How are you?’ she
began. ‘I gather there’s been some kind of incident.’

‘You could say that. But I’m fine. I’ve got my sister here, and the police are keeping an eye on us. It’s all rather exciting in a way.’

‘So you’re still not ready for that pub outing we’re meant to be having?’ There was a hint of accusation in the tone that made Thea uncomfortable. She nibbled her lip, wondering what she ought to say. Jocelyn’s presence not only removed any need for socialising, it actually created a reluctance to go off and leave her sister behind. ‘Well…’ she began. ‘I suppose…’

‘Bring your sister, obviously,’ Cecilia added.

But this was even more peculiar. It now felt as if Cecilia was the needy one, the one with time to kill and spaces to fill. Was she so lonely she had to batten onto visiting house-sitters for her human contact? What had Frannie Craven said?
Cecilia is
a law unto herself
. Which perhaps implied a solitary habit, rather than membership of the odd-sounding ‘club’.

‘Okay,’ she said, trying to sound enthusiastic. ‘But I’m not sure what we’re going to be doing.’ Nothing would persuade her to make an appointment for lunchtime today, when there was a prospect of still being in DS Hollis’s company by the middle of the day. ‘I don’t think we can manage today, anyway.’

‘Goodness, I didn’t mean
today
,’ came the
slightly unconvincing reply. ‘I’m busy myself until late this afternoon.’

‘And I had planned to do a bit of exploring with my sister. Thanks to your inspiration. I might take her to Daneway House.’

‘It’s not open to the public, you know. But you can go halfway up the drive, which gives quite a good view.’ There was an impatience in the voice, a barely-concealed irritation. Thea wondered what she’d said to offend.

‘Thanks. And we could explore the canal path to the tunnel, as well. I haven’t seen it from this end yet.’

‘Nothing much to see. The Coates entrance is infinitely more ornate.’ Again the voice was scratchy with impatience.

If she didn’t terminate the call instantly, there would be no time for the hair wash. ‘Well, I’ll see if we can manage lunch tomorrow, if that suits you,’ she offered. ‘Shall I phone you back this evening?’

‘No, no. I’ll call you. Enjoy yourselves.’ And Cecilia Clifton put down the phone.

‘Phone’s busy,’ remarked Jocelyn, coming into the kitchen.

Before Thea could agree, it rang again, raising a wry laugh between them. This time it was the Cirencester police.

‘Just a courtesy call, madam, to let you know
that Detective Superintendent Hollis will be paying you a visit shortly. Would you please arrange to be available, in about twenty minutes’ time?’ The voice held an undertone of barely-suppressed amusement, reminiscent of playground teasing where everybody knows you’ve got a notice attached to your back, except you.

‘That’s fine,’ Thea breezed, hiding the irritation. ‘Thanks for calling.’

‘The policeman’s coming,’ she told Jocelyn.

‘You mean
the
policeman? Didn’t we already know that? Was that him on the phone?’

‘Nope. Some menial busybody.’

‘They’ll be enjoying this,’ said Jocelyn. ‘Watching their boss man falling for one of the witnesses in a murder case. It’s probably totally against the rules. What if you pervert the course of justice?’

‘I’ll just have to promise not to, won’t I? He doesn’t seem worried.’

‘Shall I go out for a walk, then?’

‘Don’t be daft. Though you can go and feed the guinea pigs if you like. I can hear them squeaking.’

‘And the rabbits?’

‘Of course.’

Hollis’s blue Mondeo arrived four minutes late. Thea was shamelessly waiting for him in the yard, hair still unwashed. ‘Hello,’ she said, through the open driver’s window, before he could get out.
‘How’s your investigating going?’

He sat unmoving for a full minute, leaning back in the seat, head turned towards her, but only flickeringly meeting her eye. His gaze took in the duck pond on one side and the stone barn on the other, with everything in between. ‘Peaceful,’ he murmured.

Then he got out of the car and flexed the leg that had been in plaster three months earlier. ‘I thought you said it was as good as new,’ said Thea.

He blinked. ‘What?’

‘Your leg. The one that was broken. It looks stiff.’

He looked down at himself. ‘Maybe it is a bit. I hadn’t noticed.’

She waited for what might come next. ‘We’ve got a name for the victim,’ he said, without preamble. ‘I thought you’d like to know.’

‘Yes, I know,’ she said. ‘I thought you were never going to tell me.’

He gave her a look of wary reproach. ‘Oh?’