The House of Women (16 page)

‘
That’s very enterprising,’ McKenna commented acidly.

Janet watched him, the smoke from her cigarette drifting upwards and sideways, entwined with that
rising from his. ‘I know you’re always telling us not to gossip, sir, but people talk, and when something unexpected happens, people talk even more.’ She paused, waiting for a response, then went on: ‘For instance, there’s going to be an awful lot of talk about me, sooner or later.’

‘
It won’t amount to more than a nine days’ wonder.’

‘
I know. Women fall pregnant all the time, married or not.’

‘
So?’

She moved uneasily in the chair.
‘Everyone expected you to be promoted.’

‘
And?’

‘
Inspector Rowlands said his wife heard some talk. Apparently, it’s nothing to do with you. Your promotion was held back because Superintendent Bradshaw had to be moved, and this was the only station with a vacancy.’

*

Annie telephoned as McKenna was about to lock his office.

‘
How’s your mother?’ he asked.

‘
Like a cat on hot bricks,’ she said, ‘but less upset than I expected. Iolo’s here again, so I imagine he’s keeping her mind off things. I can’t think why she doesn’t charge him rent.’

‘
Don’t you like him, either?’

‘
I’ll take the Fifth Amendment,’ she said, a smile in her voice. ‘Actually, I wanted to know if you’re coming to the house again tomorrow. During the holidays, I usually go to the farm on Thursdays, but I can put it off if necessary. Gladys will understand.’

‘
There’s still a great deal of work for us to do on Ned’s papers.’

‘
That’s not the problem. Are you planning more interrogations?’

‘
I can’t say what we’re planning.’

‘
Silly question, wasn’t it?’ Annie said.

‘
I meant that I don’t know. It depends on what information arises, among other things. Dewi might come up with something.’

‘
He didn’t look very fulfilled,’ she commented. ‘You work them hard, don’t you? He didn’t leave until well after seven, then he and George swanned off together in that flash car.’

‘
Is your sister in?’

‘
Which one?’

‘
Mina.’

‘
For once, I thought she was resisting the siren call of the local night-life, but she disappeared with Jason a while ago, both of them giggling like idiots, which isn’t surprising, as there probably isn’t a complete brain between them.’

McKenna smiled to himself.
‘And where’s Phoebe?’

‘
Last seen in the dining room, writing in one of her many notebooks, with that blasted animal moulting all over the table. I told her to take herself and the cat into the study, but she wouldn’t.’ She paused, then added: ‘She’s been quite morose this afternoon. I think you upset her.’

‘
I owe her an apology,’ McKenna said. ‘Would you ask her to come to the phone?’

‘
I’ll ask, but I can’t guarantee she will.’

Sounds of footsteps and distant voices came down the line, the noise of door hinges, then he heard a little clatter as the telephone was retrieved.

‘Yes?’ Phoebe’s voice was dull.

‘
I upset you today, Phoebe. I’m sorry.’

‘
I wasn’t being cheeky.’

‘
I should be used to your questions by now, shouldn’t I?’

‘
Are you going to arrest Mama?’

‘
I can’t answer that. Not “won’t”, but “can’t”, as in “don’t know”.’

‘
I wish you’d arrest the professor! Can’t you lock him up for harassing us? And her, too. I’m sick of seeing them. They had dinner here, and now they’ve got Mama hostage in the sitting room, wanting to know what you said to her.’

‘
It’s only natural they should be curious.’ Before she could intervene, he went on: ‘I asked your mother if she’d bought any extra milk last week, but she couldn’t remember.’

‘
D’you think Uncle Ned was poisoned with the milk? Which day?’

‘
Any day after Monday or Tuesday, I suppose.’

‘
I’m thinking.’ The silence lengthened, disturbed again by noises from within the house, and the girl’s faint breaths. ‘I had to go to the shop on Monday, because we ran out of polish, and the cleaner gets uppity if everything isn’t right for her.’

‘
Are you sure it wasn’t Tuesday? She wouldn’t need the polish before Wednesday.’

‘
Mama realized on Monday. She had to wash the dining table because Tom was lying on it where the sun shines very early in the morning. She polished it afterwards, and asked me to go before we forgot.’ Phoebe fell silent again, then said: ‘I know I didn’t buy anything on Tuesday, because I spent the whole day with Uncle Ned.’ Her voice tailed away, and he heard a deep sigh. ‘I bought some milk from Safeway on Wednesday afternoon.’

‘
Are you sure?’

‘
I had to, ’cos Mama said Solange and the professor were coming round later, and she likes lots of cold milk in her coffee. Quite sick-making, in my opinion.’

‘
How much did you buy?’

‘
One of those big plastic bottles with a handle. Four pints, or whatever it is in litres. Mama was a bit annoyed, because she said we didn’t need so much.’

‘
Did Ned drink milk? Did he have cereal?’

‘
He didn’t drink it neat. I don’t, either, because it’s a bit sickly. He had cereal sometimes, but not very often. He liked toast and scrambled egg for breakfast.’

‘
And can you remember when the Safeway’s milk was opened?’

‘
I don’t know. I don’t do the food. Minnie was using bottled milk for breakfast on Thursday, but the milkman’d been by then, and she prefers skimmed anyway.’

‘
And Friday?’

‘
I can’t remember. I’m awfully sorry.’

‘
Ask your mother to come to the phone, please, Phoebe. Tell her it’s important.’

The receiver clattered again, then he heard Iolo Williams
’s voice, raised in angry protest, before Edith whispered down the line.

‘
Yes? What d’you want?’

‘
I’m sorry to bother you again, Mrs Harris. Phoebe bought a carton of milk on Wednesday. Can you recall when you opened it?’

‘
Oh!’ She gasped. ‘I threw it away!’

‘
Why? When?’

‘
It didn’t taste right. Oh, my God!’

‘
Please, Mrs Harris. When did you open it?’

Her breath came to him like the breath of a frightened animal.
‘It needed using up, so I put some in the jug on Friday morning, and we had it for lunch, and Ned had two mugs of tea, and I used it for the coffee I told you about, and that’s why I threw it away, even though it was nowhere near the sell-by date, because it tasted so sour.’

‘
Why didn’t you remember when we talked earlier?’

‘
I don’t know.’ She sighed deeply, then said: ‘I can see it now, that’s how I can remember. I can see the big carton in the fridge, and I remember being annoyed with Phoebe for buying so much, and I can see my hands pouring the milk into the jug, and thinking it would take for ever to use up.’

‘
Was the cap seal broken?’

‘
Mina used it. She had some for her breakfast, but she said it didn’t taste very nice, so she opened a bottle.’

*

As he walked down the stairs from his office, McKenna met Diana Bradshaw on the way up, dragging herself along the banister rail, her face waxen, clothes and hair in disarray. When she saw him, she stopped, breathing heavily.

‘
What’s happened?’

‘
I’ve been shot at.’ Hauling her body to the top stair, she leaned against the wall. ‘I was driving home along the expressway, and this car pulled out to overtake, and when it drew level, a girl leaned out of the passenger window and shot at me.’

‘
You’re joking!’

‘
If only!’ Diana said, a tremble in her voice. ‘I was absolutely terrified, and God alone knows how I managed to stop without crashing.’ She made for her office, creeping along the wall, McKenna beside her. ‘Traffic rescued me.’

‘
Where’s your car?’

‘
In the yard.’ Slumped in the chair, she folded her arms. ‘It must have been a water pistol, because there’s just a smear of something on the driver’s door, but my God, I was frightened!’ Recovering a little equilibrium, her voice sharpened. ‘Of all the stupid, dangerous tricks! She could have caused a dreadful accident.’

‘
I suppose you didn’t get the make, or registration number?’

‘
No, but I’d recognize the girl if I saw her. She was tossing her hair, and she had this crazy expression, on her face, like it was the funniest thing in the world.’ She paused, her breathing still tense. ‘I can’t be sure, but I think they followed me from here, as if they’d been waiting outside the yard. I kept seeing the car in the mirror, slowing down when I did, accelerating after me, but never overtaking, and when they finally pulled out, it was a relief, because they were beginning to get on my nerves.’ The telephone rang, and she jumped, then picked up the receiver. As she listened, her face reddened with anger.

‘
Bloody bitch!’

‘
I beg your pardon?’

‘
They’ve just hosed down the car, and the paint’s come peeling off the door. She must have had brake fluid in the water pistol. Bloody bitch!’

9

As a pale moon drifted in the sky, casting eerie tree shadows down the flanks of Bangor Mountain, McKenna sat in his small parlour, his cats perched on the back doorstep like relics from a pharaoh’s tomb. From a neighbouring backyard, he heard the opening bars of another nocturnal concert, and saw their ears twitch in unison. Dreading a further recital of atonal modernism, he rose wearily to shoo them into the little garden, praying the animals could discover instead a minimalist work composed of prolonged intervals and non-existent notes.

The letter from Denise
’s solicitor lay on the table, half folded, unanswered. On his way back to his seat, he read again the curt words, and felt again the same chill, undiminished by the passage of time.

THURSDAY, 23 AUGUST

1

MCKENNA WOKE AS the cathedral clock chimed twice, into that dead time when yesterday had gone while tomorrow still gathered strength to begin. Sticky, overheated, he pushed the thin quilt to the bottom of the bed, and lay on his back, staring through the uncurtained window at a clear night sky and millions of stars, trying to recall the noise which disturbed him.

Voices drifted in from the street in front of the
house, breaking up the night silence like static on a radio, and, rolling from the bed, he padded barefoot across the small landing into the room opposite, looking down on an overhead view of a large, dark car and two dark heads, and hearing a cadence of voices.

‘
He’d want to know,’ Dewi was saying.

‘
You can’t wake people at this time of the morning,’ George Polgreen replied. ‘We’ve done all we can for now.’

Hauling up the bottom sash window, McKenna leaned out.
‘What the hell are you two doing?’

Two startled faces turned upwards, one pale as the moon, the other dark as the night, white teeth flashing. Dewi vaulted over the car door, while George opened the passenger door, and stood in the road like a long shadow.
‘Somebody’s done over George’s flat, sir. The bastards kicked the door in.’

McKenna closed the window, retrieved his dressing
gown from behind the bedroom door, and staggered downstairs, almost sleep-intoxicated. ‘You’d better come in.’

Dewi fussed over his car, setting the immobilizer switch and checking the alarm, before following George and McKenna to the kitchen, where he began, uninvited, to brew tea, while McKenna slumped at the table and George sat quietly in the other chair.

‘Why are you both out so late?’ McKenna demanded.

‘
We went for a drive,’ Dewi said, ‘after we’d finished at the house, then stopped off for a meal at a place George knows in Dolgellau. When we got back, he asked me up for coffee, and we found his flat’d been burgled, so we called the station. Uniform and forensics are there now.’

‘
When were you last in the flat?’ McKenna asked George.

‘
Before I went to Edith’s. Dewi and I went straight out from there.’

‘
What’s missing?’

‘
I’ve no idea. We didn’t touch anything.’

‘
Any damage?’

George shrugged, rather helplessly.
‘I don’t know. I hope no-one’s touched the computer. All my thesis work is in there.’ Taking the mug of tea Dewi offered, he added: ‘I’ve got back up copies on disk, but someone could’ve put in a virus. It’ll have to be checked and reconfigured.’

‘
George said he thought someone was in the flat while he was away,’ Dewi said, leaning against the counter, ‘and he also said we should’ve found a lot of photos with Ned’s things.’

*

McKenna gave up trying to sleep as the cathedral clock struck seven, and staggered down to the kitchen once again. Dewi and George had returned three hours earlier to George’s invaded territory, to find stern-faced police officers in possession of a chromium chain-link bracelet attached to a water-resistant screw top capsule, found with George’s small collection of cuff-links and tiepins in a carved wooden box. The letters ‘SOS’ were inscribed on one side of the capsule, a St Christopher medallion on the other, and in concertina folds inside, a long thin strip of paper bore the name and address of Edward Jones, and the list of substances likely to prove fatal to him.

Arrested and processed, George was now confined in the bridewell, waiting to explain what Dewi at least considered inexplicable.
‘I can’t believe it, sir,’ he had said, back in McKenna’s kitchen as a summer dawn cast new shadows over Bangor Mountain. Their wings tipped gold, gulls wheeled in the sky, mewling and chattering, irritating the cats in slumber by the back door.

‘
You’re too quick to judge a book by its cover.’

‘
He was devoted to Ned. Why should he kill him?’

‘
Only yesterday, you yourself came up with a good motive.’

‘
That was a joke.’

‘
And, as the saying goes, many a true word is spoken in jest.’