Murder in Style (33 page)

He led the way through a tiled-floor hall to a sunny sitting room with French windows open on to a riotously colourful, south-facing garden. Major (retired) Hugh might impose order on the house, but in the garden he'd allowed his love of beauty to run rampant, with a close-cut lawn overhung with climbing roses, mounds of lavender and box, and beds full of herbaceous plants. There was even a fishpond. What, no gazebo? Yes, there was, at the back.

Coming from the shadowy hall into the light, Ellie blinked. The sitting room was furnished in quiet good taste, with a mixture of antiques and modern pieces. There were flowers everywhere, but the most beautiful thing in it was the woman lying on a chaise longue with a light rug over her knees. Her fair hair was loose around her shoulders, and she was wearing something light and lacy in blue.

She held out her hand to Ellie, saying, ‘Thank you. Thank you a thousand times.' A sapphire and diamond ring glinted on her left hand. An engagement ring?

Hugh moved behind the chaise longue to put his hand on her shoulder. Juno gave him such a fond, tender look in return that tears came to Ellie's eyes.

‘Do take a seat. You'll have some tea?' Juno swung her legs round.

Hugh said, ‘You stop there. You promised you'd rest.'

‘I will, I will.' Juno was laughing, almost mischievous. And to Ellie, ‘He's a dreadful bully. Won't let me do anything.'

Hugh's face relaxed into a smile. ‘As if anyone could make you do something you didn't want to do!'

Juno grimaced. ‘There's lots I've done that I didn't want to do.'

Ellie said, ‘Duty is a hard taskmaster, isn't it?'

‘Oh, you understand, too!' Eagerly. Juno looked back up at Hugh. ‘Hugh understood, even when it almost tore him apart. I know most people would say I was stupid to stay with Gordon, but I'm glad I did, in a way. I couldn't have broken my marriage vows easily, but I'm sad, too, because Hugh and I have missed so much.'

A stir in the doorway and there was Marika with the tea tray. Of course, she would be there, and Gerald would drop in on his way home from work that evening. ‘We owe you a debt of gratitude, Mrs Quicke. You'll take some tea with us?'

‘I will. But only on condition that you tell me the whole story from the very beginning. I've got most of it, I think, but there's still bits missing.'

‘The very beginning? I suppose you mean the night of our eighteenth birthday …'

J
uno said, ‘Poppy was the party girl; me not so much. Poppy had been sleeping with Ray for some months. I'd paired off with Gordon by default, really. Why did I let him make love to me? I really don't know. Because everyone else was doing it? He told me I was frigid because I didn't enjoy it, and I accepted his judgement because I knew no better.

‘Then came the party. We lived in a big house with a garden which stretched down to a coppice at the end. It was wonderful for parties, with fairy lights in the trees. Poppy and I invited all our friends and of course there were one or two gatecrashers.'

Hugh said, ‘I was one of the gatecrashers. I'd come down from the Midlands to stay with a friend before going overseas the next day. We'd heard that a girl called Poppy was having a birthday bash in a posh place, so we bought some beer and turned up. We introduced ourselves to Poppy and she said “the more, the merrier”!'

‘Poppy loved parties,' said Juno, ‘but I'm a fish out of water on such occasions, partly because I don't drink. Someone spiked the fruit punch which my mother had prepared. Gordon said I was being a party-pooper, that I ought to loosen up, so I had a glass. Before I knew what was happening, Gordon was leading me up – or rather down – the garden path. No, no excuses. Poppy had been down there that evening with Ray. Marge with Charles. I should have said “no”, but I didn't.

‘Gordon was quick and brutal as always. He was always so pleased with himself afterwards, while I felt violated. He said he didn't understand why I always made such a fuss about it because we were going to be married, weren't we? He told me to pull myself together and went straight back to the party. I wept, and I don't often cry.

‘Which is where I came in,' said Hugh. ‘My mate was dancing on the patio with a girl so I took a stroll down into the wood, and found this beautiful creature curled up under a tree, weeping her heart out. I knew she was one of the birthday girls, and I'd noticed she hadn't been throwing herself into the spotlight like her sister. I asked her if I could fetch someone for her—'

‘And I said – stupid me – was it always so quick, and what was wrong with me that I never enjoyed it? I was such an innocent. I looked up at Hugh and saw kindness and compassion and strength. If Hugh had asked me then and there to leave the party and fly round the world with him, I'd have gone. He held me, so gently … and he kissed me and it was oh, so sweet.'

Juno smiled up at Hugh. ‘He showed me what real loving could be. I had never known anything like it. He took such care of me, such tenderness.' She held his hand against her cheek, saying to Ellie, ‘Eventually we went back up to the party. Hugh made me eat something and have a soft drink. We danced on the patio and I didn't want the evening ever to end.'

Hugh said, ‘Then people started to leave. Suddenly Juno was surrounded by her guests, saying goodbye. One of them had lost a shoe and needed a taxi to get back home. Juno had to see to them. I watched from a distance as she spoke to each one, being kind and loving to them all. I was in a haze of love.

‘Then my friend caught me by the arm and said we had to go. I suddenly remembered that I was due to go off to Germany the next day. We'd come on my friend's motorbike and, if I didn't leave with him then and there, I'd be stranded with my kit miles away and wouldn't be able to report for duty in time. So I asked one of the other guests for Juno's surname. He told me it was Smithson. I wrote down my own home address and gave it to him and made him promise he'd give it to Juno. He said he would …'

Juno said, ‘By ill fortune Hugh had given his address to Ray, who passed it on to Gordon, because everyone knew that Gordon was my boyfriend and what did a gatecrasher want with Gordon's girlfriend? Can you believe our bad luck? Gordon put Hugh's address in his pocket and never told me. I didn't find it for over a year, when I was turning out Gordon's pockets to take his jacket to the cleaners.'

Hugh said, ‘The following day I sent some poor householder crazy, ringing up asking for a girl he'd never heard of. I was distraught. But then I had to put her out of my mind – or try to – because I was off on my next posting.'

Juno said, ‘I waited and waited for him to ring. And he didn't. I was terribly hurt because I'd fallen for him, big time. Life looked grey. I was being sick all the time. I thought I'd picked up a bug. Then Marika took me down to the doctor's, and I discovered I was pregnant.

‘I told Gordon, thinking he'd turn tail and run, but he didn't. He assured me he was happy that I was pregnant and said that we must marry straight away. I told him I'd had an interlude with Hugh, and Gordon said I'd been conned as Hugh had left the party with his arms round another girl. I was devastated. I felt so ashamed that I'd taken Hugh seriously when he hadn't been serious about me. All the time Gordon knew that Hugh had tried to contact me after the party, and that he had Hugh's address in his pocket! Oh, when I discovered it …!

‘But at the time, I couldn't think straight. Gordon said everything would be all right when we married, that he'd forgiven me my “little lapse” with Hugh and that we wouldn't talk about it any longer. Poppy turned up with a ring, too; only she was happy about it. So I let Gordon sweep me along into marriage. I ought to have gone on saying “no”, but I didn't. Everything that happened after that was really my fault.'

Ellie said, ‘Did Gordon ever really love you, or was he in love with what you represented: your money, your wealthy background?'

‘I've asked myself that many a time. I think in the beginning he did love me, as much as he could love anyone but himself.'

‘Was he a good husband?'

‘Was he kind? No. It isn't in his nature. He was careful of my feelings at first, because my father had bought us a house each and set us up in the shop. Gordon liked it that I was bringing money to the marriage. He was training to be a solicitor, but that didn't go as well as he'd expected. He started to belittle me, I think because I was making a success of work and he wasn't. He made fun of me before our friends. But when my baby was born … oh boy! One look at Clemmie and I knew she was Hugh's child. She was mouth-wateringly gorgeous. I loved her to distraction.

‘Gordon was shattered. Understandably. There were terrible scenes. He wanted me to give Clemmie up for adoption. I refused, and my parents backed me up. I offered to let Gordon divorce me, but Gordon didn't want that. In the end he said he'd accept the child as his own, if we could have another of our own straight away. Which we did try to do. And kept failing. Each month his temper got worse. I learned to keep Clemmie away from him. One day I turned out the pockets of Gordon's jacket before taking it to be dry-cleaned, and I found Hugh's home address in the Midlands. I thought he ought to know about the child, so I wrote to him, telling him about Clemmie and saying that all was well and I didn't want anything from him.

Hugh took up the tale. ‘The letter wandered around the earth until it found me eventually, and on my next leave I arranged to see Juno and meet my daughter. Juno insisted it be in secret because Gordon was so touchy. So we met in the flat above The Magpie, and I fell in love all over again, this time with both mother and daughter. I begged Juno to leave Gordon. I'd never stopped thinking of her, fantasizing what it might be like to see her again. She refused to leave him. She said that rightly or wrongly she had married Gordon before God, and that she'd done him a great wrong by doing so. She did agree that I could be an unofficial godfather to Clemmie and, though I was not allowed to see her, I could send her gifts at birthdays and at Christmas and Juno would send me photos of her every now and again. I promised that if ever Clemmie was in need, I would be there for her. I put money on one side for her every month and have continued to do so to this day.'

Juno said, ‘Gordon did try to be kind to Clemmie until he found he couldn't sire a child, and then there was the accident, which didn't improve his temper. I think he began to hate her then. The best times were when he ignored her. He refused to pay her nursery fees, or for her private school.'

‘I paid them,' said Hugh, ‘for about four and half years, until The Magpie was doing so well that Juno said she could afford them from that time on, and that I should save for my future instead. Which I did.'

Marika was at her knitting again. ‘You've missed a bit, Juno.'

‘We … ll,' said Juno, blushing slightly, ‘Gordon was never very easy to live with, and after the accident he couldn't perform his usual duties, so I started to go away for the odd weekend—'

Hugh grinned. ‘What she means is that we met at intervals whenever I was stationed in this country. We didn't think anyone would find out.'

‘I guessed,' said Marika, pulling wool out of the ball. ‘And so did your father, of course. Also I think Clemmie suspected there was something going on between her mother and her godfather.'

‘But she didn't
know
,' said Juno, ‘and neither did Gordon, though he did suspect. He accused me of breaking my marriage vows, asked if I didn't feel guilty. And of course I did. I knew it was wrong but I couldn't seem to help myself. I told Gordon I'd never walk out on him and I meant it, but he couldn't leave it alone. He has a bitter tongue. Every now and then he'd bring it up and go on and on about it till he'd reduced me to tears and, as I said, I don't cry easily.

‘When Clemmie got into that spot of trouble abroad, Gordon threw her out. Hugh was with me when Clemmie eventually reached me on the phone and told me what had happened. Hugh immediately said that he'd pay off her loan, but by that time Clemmie had been to see my parents and got refinanced. We were so proud of her!'

Hugh said, ‘I sent her a couple of hundred pounds, which was as much as Juno thought Clemmie would accept from her unofficial “godfather”. I wanted to pay the rent of the house she moved into, but Juno wouldn't let me do that. She said it was good for Clemmie to stand on her own two feet.'

Juno said, ‘Strangely, things were a little easier after Clemmie left home because Gordon didn't see her every day. I honestly thought we might jog along for the rest of our lives … until Ray found out how many buy-to-let houses there are now and told Gordon, who was livid. He couldn't bear to think that I, the whore, was doing so well in business, while he, the injured party, was living on the allowance I made him. He demanded that I sell my share of the business and devote my life to him … and there I struck. I couldn't bear the thought of becoming a full-time carer. I like getting the right clothes on people so that they feel good. I love taking run-down houses and doing them up and letting them out to people who appreciate them.'

Hugh said, ‘Again, I begged her to leave him. By this time I'd been retired from the army for nigh on three years, and I've built up a nice little business for myself in security. Not guard dogs and bouncers, but in the IT world. My offices are upstairs here and, unless interrupted by beautiful women in distress, I work twenty-four/seven.'

Ellie said, ‘I think I know what happened on the night of Poppy's death, but can you confirm it?'

‘Gordon called a meeting at our parents' house and threatened to put Clemmie in jail for fraud. Charles backed him up. Poppy was distraught, what with one thing and another, so she and I decided to go over to The Magpie office to get away from the men, using the excuse that we wanted to look at the evidence against Clemmie. Frankly, neither of us was thinking straight that night. I wasn't feeling too good, either, so after we'd talked things over for a while without coming to any definite conclusions, I called a cab and went home. Poppy stayed on to check her bank balance, worrying about how to pay Ray off. And that was the last I saw of her.' Tears stood out in her eyes, but she refused to cry.