Murder My Neighbour (3 page)

It transpired that nothing had been broken, thank God, but Rose had to have some stitches in the cut on her leg. Then they had to wait for a tetanus injection and painkillers from the pharmacy. Also for a sling. Rose was instructed to keep her wrist up for some days.

It was teatime before they got Rose back home, cleaned up and dosed with painkillers. Ellie helped her battered housekeeper to change her clothes and slip into bed for a rest with the television on and the sound turned down low. Rose had been dozing off every few minutes since leaving the hospital, and Ellie thought she'd probably fall asleep any minute. With any luck, there'd be no lasting ill effects from her tumble.

Frank put away four shortbread biscuits, a banana, two pieces of toast and butter, a chocolate bar and half a pint of milk, before declaring that he wanted to watch the telly with Rose. Curled up in an armchair beside her bed he, too, was fast asleep within minutes.

Ellie took stock of herself. There were smears of Rose's blood on her skirt, and she felt sticky and uncomfortable. She knew Stewart wanted to talk about Diana, but Ellie didn't feel up to it. ‘Give me five minutes, Stewart. I need to wash and change. Then I'll make us some sandwiches and a cup of tea. All right?'

He nodded, big shoulders relaxing. ‘Would you mind if I had a cup of coffee instead? I'll make it.'

‘Make some for me while you're at it.'

Ellie hauled herself up the stairs to her bedroom and stepped out of the light summer dress she'd put on when she got up that morning before . . . before everything happened. She threw it into the laundry basket. The bloodstains might come out with a good soak, or she might have to have it cleaned, but for the moment she had more important things to think about.

She pulled on a pretty pink dress with a scalloped neckline and checked that it hung straight at the back. Nothing destroyed your poise quicker than finding the back of your skirt tucked up into your pants.

As she sought in vain for a lipstick – she did have one somewhere and it might give her morale a boost – she allowed herself to think about the forthcoming interview and what Stewart might have to say about Diana.

Ellie's daughter was not ageing well. Not as well as Ellie, who carried just a smidgeon too much weight to look fashionable, and who never bothered with make-up if she could help it, but whose prematurely silver hair curled prettily around her head, whose skin was still good, and who always looked as if she were on the point of smiling.

Diana, on the other hand, had lines of discontent and ambition etched into her skin, she wore her almost-black hair in a severe helmet and was so string bean thin that she could wear the most outrageous of today's fashions; provided they were in black, of course.

Diana had arrived early that morning, before Rose had fallen off the ladder and Ellie's life had become even more complicated than usual.

‘Mother, I need you to help me out or I'll lose the agency and end up in the county court.'

‘What?' Ellie had been on her way to the sitting room to tidy up, but this brought her up short. ‘I can't believe . . . ! No, Diana. You're making it up.'

‘I wish I were.'

‘But . . . how?'

‘The recession. Denis. Debts.'

Some time ago Diana had started an estate agency in partnership with a smarmy, steely-eyed estate agent called Denis. He had enthralled Diana, though Ellie had never liked him. He was now in prison awaiting trial for murdering a woman whose bank account he'd plundered.

Diana said, ‘Since Denis left the agency –' and that was a neat way of putting it, wasn't it? – ‘I've been struggling along on my own, trying to do the work of two. When we started, we signed an agreement saying that if one of us wants to leave the agency, the other has to buy them out. Denis needs the money to pay for his defence at the trial so he wants his pound of flesh.'

‘You've got your own flat, and the house I made over to you. Take out a mortgage on them.'

A twitch of a black-clad shoulder. ‘Been there, done that months ago. How else do you suppose I've been able to carry on for so long? I tell you, I'm going to lose the agency unless you can come up with the money to buy Denis out. And before you ask, all my credit cards are maxed out, and I haven't the wherewithal to pay them off.'

‘Diana, you can't seriously think . . . ! How much?'

Diana told her, and Ellie sat down on the nearest chair with a bump. ‘No way can I find you that sort of money.'

‘But you will, mother dear; you will. Now, looking on the bright side, I've a new man in my life. He's prepared to absorb my little agency into his, provided I can pay Denis off. I suppose, if you're that grasping, you could make me a loan to be repaid some time in the future. I'll leave you to think over how you're going to find the money, and get back to you shortly.'

Diana left, slamming the front door behind her.

Troubles never came singly.

Rose screamed and fell off the ladder in the garden. The doorbell rang.

Ellie thought she might well be developing a headache. How on earth was she going to deal with Diana? And how much did Stewart know?

She brushed out her hair, abandoned the unsuccessful search for her lipstick and went downstairs to talk to Stewart. He had indeed made some excellent strong coffee, but seemed as little inclined to start talking about Diana as Ellie. While she busied herself making some sandwiches, he stirred the sugar round and round in its bowl.

He said, ‘Rose said something about a ghost?'

Ellie handed him a bumper ham and tomato sandwich. ‘She thought she saw a face at a window of an empty house. Some trick of the light, I suppose.'

Except that the Pryce boy had insisted something was wrong with his great-aunt, who had lived there.

Midge the cat appeared from nowhere and rubbed himself round her legs till she fed him. Midge believed in being fed on demand and usually got his own way. Like Diana. Ouch.

Stewart finished off the last bite of sandwich, replaced his empty mug on the table and took a deep, sighing breath. ‘Diana.'

‘Yes. She came round early this morning. What exactly did she tell you?'

He flexed his shoulders. ‘She said I'd be glad to hear she had a new man in her life. Which I am. Especially after Denis dropped out, so to speak.' Stewart's lips twitched into a smile, and he felt the knuckles of one hand. He'd landed one heck of a wallop on Denis's jaw when he'd found out what that double-crossing slimeball had been up to. Good for Stewart.

His smile disappeared. ‘She says her latest conquest will be a new “Daddy” for Frank. She's given notice to her tenants at the house you made over to her and says she plans to set up home there with him and Frank. The last time she threatened Frank with a new “Daddy” it upset him terribly. He's been getting on so well lately: gaining in confidence, school work up to scratch, even trying out for the football team. Now he's back to wetting the bed and having nightmares.'

Ellie was soothing. ‘He's growing up. He can speak for himself. The courts would never give him back to Diana against his wishes.'

‘Depends who the new man is. If he has money and can offer Frank a private education, that might swing it.'

Well, it might at that. But Diana's record as a caring mother was not impeccable. ‘Did Diana say who her new man was?'

‘She wouldn't give me a name. Did she tell you?'

Ellie shook her head. ‘A man in the same line of business, perhaps? But wouldn't he know her reputation? What would he see in her?'

He'd see sex, of course. And if that's what he wanted from Diana, then he wouldn't be the best possible stepfather for Frank. He might even be younger than her. Oh dear. On the other hand, an older man would surely have more sense than to think he'd get companionship and loving care from Diana?

Ellie remembered something else Diana had said. ‘She spoke of a takeover by another, bigger estate agency. I wonder if the new man is involved with that? Could you ask around?'

‘There is a big estate agency in the Broadway which might be interested in mopping up a small organization. I'll see what I can discover.' He took their plates and mugs to the sink and left them there while he looked out of the window. ‘When she brought Frank back last night, she asked me for a loan. A lot of money. I was so surprised that I laughed, which made her furious. She says she's in trouble at the agency, which I found surprising. Despite the downturn in the economy the market in London is buoyant, as there's never enough housing stock to meet demand.'

He shook his head. ‘She must be desperate to ask me for money. Granted, I've never paid her alimony because she wanted a clean break. She took half the proceeds from the house we lived in when we divorced, while I had Frank. She says I should take out a mortgage on my house now and give her the money. I said, did she imagine we could have afforded to buy a three bedroom house in Ealing without taking out a mortgage in the first place? She says I should take out a second mortgage. I told her to get real. The thing is, having failed with me, Diana may try to hit on you instead.'

As indeed she had, and Ellie had absolutely no idea how she was going to deal with it. She rubbed her forehead. She was definitely getting a headache. ‘Have you warned your dear wife about Diana's demand?'

‘I tried, but one of the littlies had a tummy upset and that's partly why I brought Frank round. Do you think you could keep him here tonight? I'll have to tell her, of course, and I will as soon as I get back. We're – er – we're expecting another little one next spring. I expect you knew that?'

Ellie had guessed already, of course. ‘I'm delighted, naturally. But how your dear wife can continue to work with two little ones round her knees, plus Frank and now another one to look after, I do not know.'

He laughed and sobered. ‘She's a miracle, isn't she? She has some good staff now, thank goodness, and doesn't have to go in all day and every day. As for Diana, it's a constant surprise to me that one person can create so much havoc.' He looked at his watch. ‘Where does the time go? I suppose that tomorrow it's back to the solicitor's and more interviews with Social Services, trying to persuade them it would be a disaster for Diana to have Frank to live with her again. You don't think she can get him, do you? I told him not, but she's so strong-willed that occasionally I . . . But talking to you makes it all so much clearer. Of course I'll fight to keep him. Thanks, Ellie.'

‘I don't know what I've done to help, but I'm glad to hear you're not giving in. Of course Frank can stay tonight. His room's always ready for him here. Give your dear wife my love, and tell her I'll be over to see her and the babes again soon.'

She walked him to the front door. ‘You don't know which estate agent is dealing with the Pryce house in the next road, do you? The big house, all turrets and gables?'

‘Disneyland gone mad? I suspect some developer will demolish it and put up a block of flats instead. You wouldn't be interested in buying it, would you? It's not at all our kind of thing.'

She shook her head. ‘No, no. Forget I asked. I'll be in touch, let you know how Frank is tomorrow morning.'

‘And Rose. And is Thomas well? And the young girl you've been looking after? Is she feeling better now?'

‘They're both fine. Mia is meeting an old school friend up in town today. They're planning a house share together.'

‘That's good,' he said, looking at his watch, his mind moving ahead to what he had to do next. ‘You've done wonders with her, but I expect it's time she moved away and got on with her life.'

Ellie shut the front door behind him and set her back to it.

Ellie went back into the sitting room to finish the tidying-up she'd started early that morning. She picked up the newspapers which Thomas invariably spread around him on the floor and on any other surface to hand. She took an empty beer mug and a coffee cup out to the kitchen and put them in the dishwasher, together with the bits and pieces from the recent snacks. She filled the small watering can and took it back into the sitting room to fill up the vase in which the peonies stood and then . . .

And then she noticed that the pretty porcelain snuff box, which sat on the same table as the peonies, was no longer there.

Her ring! Her engagement ring, which was a trifle tight for her since she'd put on weight recently . . . She'd left it on the piecrust occasional table at the side of her chair by the fireplace. It wasn't there.

Thomas's much prized Kindle, which she'd bought him for his birthday, and which he played with for hours. That wasn't where he'd left it, either.

In her mind's eye, she replayed the Pryce boy's visit. He'd held back to let her pass through the French windows into the house before him. She'd gone ahead of him into the hall because the phone had been ringing. She'd picked up the phone with her back to the boy. It had been Stewart, asking if he might come over.