Murder in House Read online

  ‘How kind of Diana,’ said Ellie, surprised but pleased. ‘She gave it me for Christmas, and must have known I’d need—’

  ‘Hang about. Let me just . . .’ He touched this and that. Sighed. Handed it back to her without comment.

  ‘Spit it out.’

  ‘Diana set it up for herself. All those phone numbers are connected with the 2Ds Agency.’

  A second-hand gift. Right. What else had she expected? An expensive gift, though. She handed it back to Stewart. ‘I’m thinking of getting myself one of the old-fashioned ordinary kind of mobile and junking this one. Can you get it to ring through to home for me?’

  He did so and handed it back to Ellie, who heard the phone ring and ring, unanswered. She left a message that she’d be back soon, and put the phone away. Stewart still hadn’t started the car, but he had set the windscreen wipers working on the sleet which was now battering the world outside.

  ‘Out with it,’ said Ellie. ‘There’s something you think I ought to know? Let me guess. In a housing recession, estate agents often go to the wall. The 2Ds Agency is in trouble?’

  ‘I wasn’t going to say anything, but . . .’ He threw up his hands. ‘I’ve always admired Diana: her drive, her ambition. I was amazed when she decided to marry me, and shattered, though perhaps not particularly surprised, when she moved on. I thought it was my fault for not being man enough for her. Maria says it isn’t.’ He wiped a grin off his face. ‘Maria is something else.’

  Ellie tried to decipher the code. ‘This is not about money but about sex? I know Diana’s highly sexed.’

  He nodded, fiddled with the ignition key. ‘Being in the same line of business, you hear things. The 2Ds overvalue properties, their fees are slightly more than they should be, and they drive customers away with a hard sell. So yes, of course they’re in trouble and may go to the wall. It’s not that. A couple of days ago I had a visit from a woman wanting a job in my office. She’d just been sacked by Diana. Her tale was so lurid that I didn’t believe her, but if half of what she said was true . . . I think you need to talk to Diana as soon as possible.’

  Having said as much as he thought was needed, he put the car in gear and drove smoothly off.

  Well, if he wouldn’t talk, he wouldn’t. She tried something else. ‘Your father-in-law knows everything that goes on at the Town Hall, doesn’t he? What committee does he head up? Planning? Has he said anything about a Mr Prior?’

  The car jerked as Stewart momentarily lost concentration. ‘What do you want to know about the Priors? They’re not good people to tangle with. Mr Prior has a finger in every pie going and there’s talk of corruption. It’s true that some rather surprising planning permissions have got through the council lately. Father-in-law is very concerned about it.’

  He signalled and turned into the driveway of the big house. ‘I used to be naive about politics, thinking it was all about people trying to do their best for others, but I’ve learned a lot since I’vebeen working for Miss Quicke, and for you. Father-in-law wants me to consider standing for the council myself. He’s been getting me to help him out with this and that. I’m beginning to see that it’s all about finance and the art of the possible . . .’ His voice trailed away. His eyes were fixed on a well-known car parked by Ellie’s front door.

  Ellie cleared her throat. ‘Now, who’s come calling?’ Though they both knew, didn’t they?

  There was no sign of the locksmith who had been supposed to arrive early that morning, and the front door was ajar. Ellie pushed it open, hoping, dreading what she might see.

  The reality was worse even than she’d feared.

  The large entrance hall was crowded with people and everyone in it seemed to be shouting or crying or doing both. Her architect cousin Roy was there, red in the face, and yelling at Diana . . . who had glued herself to Thomas, and was sobbing into his shoulder. Thomas was showing signs of fright. The whites of his eyes were visible and he was ineffectually trying to pull Diana’s arms away from round his neck. There was a pile of Diana’s belongings at the foot of the staircase.

  Roy’s wife Felicity was there, hanging on to Roy’s arm. She was crying, too, and at the same time trundling the baby buggy to and fro to satisfy her toddler, who, of course, was yelling.

  Ellie’s two cleaners were halfway up the stairs, mouths and eyes wide open. Of course. What a tale they’d have to tell!

  Perhaps most distressing of all was Rose, holding a tea towel in one hand and a mug in the other, also weeping.

  To add to the confusion, a burly man pushed into the hall past Ellie and Stewart. ‘This the right house, missus? Sorry I’m late. Got held up.’

  Everyone in the hall automatically turned to see who had come in. On seeing Ellie, there was a general surge towards her. Ellie took half a step back, coming up against Stewart’s stalwart form.

  Ellie saw that Diana was trying to wind her legs around Thomas and in that instant she shed all her inhibitions, and gave way to the age-old instinct to fight for her mate. If Diana thought she could make a fool of Thomas, she had another think coming! Everyone else could wait.

  Ellie thrust past Roy and Felicity to grab Diana by one wrist and haul her off Thomas. ‘How dare you!’ With a strength she hadn’t known she possessed, Ellie whirled her much taller daughter across the hall till Diana’s head snapped and she cried out.

  Ellie flung the sitting room door wide and pushed Diana inside. ‘Wait there! I’ll deal with you in a minute.’

  Ellie slammed the door on her daughter’s indignation and turned to face the others. Who was next?

  The locksmith. She pointed her finger at him. ‘You should have been here hours ago. You can fit a spyglass in the door so I can see who’s trying to get in, and then make yourself scarce. Thomas – attend to him, will you?’

  Thomas was pulling his sweater straight. ‘So sorry, Ellie. I was on the phone, didn’t hear her.’

  ‘Never mind that now.’ Ellie prodded Stewart in the region of his heart. ‘Tell me now, this minute, what you heard about Diana!’

  Stewart looked dazed, not having been exposed to Ellie in this mood before. ‘I’m told Denis gets his leg over anything that moves.’

  Ellie’s eyes went to the sitting room door. ‘I know that he once . . .’

  ‘Of course. And recently too. Also the girls in the office. And clients. I hear his wife’s thrown him out.’

  Cousin Roy thrust his face at her. ‘Ellie, this is urgent—’

  Felicity wailed, picking up baby Mel, who was also red in the face. ‘Ellie, I didn’t want to—’

  Thomas had taken the locksmith aside and was telling him what to do, accompanied by forceful gestures. The locksmith was protesting that it wasn’t his fault that he was late, and that he couldn’t stop now, not on any account. The volume of noise failed to decrease.

  Except for Rose, who’d been reduced to whimpering. Ellie put her arm around Rose and held her tightly, while facing up to the rest of them.

  ‘Roy, you are a good architect but an idiot with money. Take your wife and child home and calm them down. Do nothing, do you hear? Neither buy nor sell nor mortgage till you hear from me again. I’ll phone you tomorrow, right? Not another word! Go!’

  Rose was quivering within Ellie’s arm, mopping up the tears running down her face with her tea towel, which had got itself wrapped around the mug she’d been drying. ‘Sorry, so sorry, Ellie. She got in somehow, I don’t know how, and I know you didn’t want her to—’

  Ellie said, ‘Shush, dear. Hush a bye. I’m angry because she’s upset you, that’s all. Diana is my problem, and I’ll deal with her. Now, darling Rose, can you do something for me? I’m desperately hungry, have missed lunch and really could do with some soup or, well, anything. Can you find something for me to eat, now? And have you had something yourself? And Thomas?’

  The one thing guaranteed to drag Rose out of her tears was an appeal for her to cater for hungry people, and it worked. ‘Oh, what must you think of me,
hanging around here when you’re hungry. And yes, we had a lovely fry-up, a full English breakfast for our lunch. Thomas is such a good cook, isn’t he?’

  Ellie made a mental note to talk to her husband about going on a diet; but not at that moment. She urged Rose towards the kitchen. ‘I’m dying of hunger, dear. And a nice cup of tea, as well?’

  Once the kitchen door closed behind Rose, Ellie turned on the two cleaners, who would have a good tale to carry back to Maria at the end of the day, wouldn’t they? She only had to raise her eyebrows for them to discover they were halfway through tasks upstairs, and vanish.

  Stewart next? But Stewart didn’t need hinting away. He winked at her as he helped Felicity to settle Mel in her buggy, and followed her out of the house. Ellie saw Roy open his mouth to start arguing, but she held up her hand, giving him such a strong signal to desist that he actually did so. And took his family off without further demur. The locksmith had already departed.

  And then there were two.

  Thomas wiped his hand across his forehead. ‘Apologies. Diana let herself in while I was on the phone, Roy came in through the kitchen and upset Rose, and then Felicity arrived with the baby. Diana says she’s homeless, wanted me to promise to help her. She was trying to . . .’ He rolled his shoulders. ‘Sorry, Ellie. I should have been more careful. No one would let anyone else speak. I’ve never been more thankful in my life than when you come through that door.’

  Ellie nodded. He made as if to put his arm around her, but she fended him off. She couldn’t afford to be tender and loving at the moment. She was on a high, and needed to stay that way, in order to cope with Diana. ‘It’s all right, Thomas, I understand. Now let me deal with my daughter.’

  She marched into the sitting room and closed the door behind her. Diana was sitting on the big settee, handkerchief to mouth. Waiting for Ellie.

  Ellie knew that this interview could go one of two ways: she could try to be patient and understanding, as always, or she could precipitate a rip-roaring row. She supposed Thomas would be all for the quieter procedure, being a forgiving sort of person. Ellie wasn’t sure she could be that self-controlled.

  The room was darkening at the corners; dusk was descending early. Ellie ignored Diana to switch on a couple of sidelights. The room was not quite warm enough with background central heating, so it would be pleasant to have the fire lit as well. Ellie bent to put it on.

  Diana watched, over her hankie. ‘You know something? You’re beginning to turn into Great Aunt.’

  ‘Well,’ said Ellie, sinking into Miss Quicke’s high-backed chair by the fire, ‘we both know what she thought of your carryings-on, don’t we?’

  Diana started to laugh and sob at the same time. ‘Who else can I turn to? Denis and I . . . well, you know! His wife’s thrown him out, so . . .’ She flapped her hankie. She really was crying, but also trying to smile. ‘Naturally, he came to me for help.’

  ‘And moved into your flat? Why aren’t you cosying up to him in your own bed, then?’

  ‘You don’t understand. He needs his own space and somewhere to see the boys after school and at weekends. I’ll visit him in the evenings, when they’re not there.’

  ‘A businesslike arrangement. I don’t see what you get out of it, though.’

  ‘Well, you’ve never had a strong sexual urge in your whole life, have you?’

  Ellie set her teeth. Perhaps with her first husband sex might have been routine rather than deeply pleasurable, but with Thomas . . .

  No, she was not going to go into detail about her sex life with Diana. On the other hand, the recent scene in the hall was engraved on her mind’s eye. ‘I understand very well what you were trying to do to Thomas just now.’

  Diana half smiled. ‘Well, what of it? He’s a man, isn’t he?’

  ‘Just this. If I ever find you trying that on again I shall put you over my knee, and don’t think I couldn’t, because the way I feel at the moment I could happily slap you into the middle of next week.’

  Diana jolted upright. ‘You? Don’t be stupid! You’ve never laid a finger on me.’

  ‘A mistake. Your father and I believed sweet reason would prevail, but—’

  ‘I could always wind him round my little finger.’ Diana shrugged. ‘Oh well, if I promise to leave poor ickle Thomas alone in future, you’ll help me out, right?’

  ‘You’re going too fast. Suppose you fill me in on what’s been happening.’

  ‘Well,’ Diana leaned forward, tears forgotten, ‘Denis and I have been an item off and on ever since we started the agency, which is not to say that we didn’t both of us look elsewhere from time to time. Oh, don’t look so shocked, his wife hasn’t been interested in him forever.’

  ‘Remind me how many children they have? Three or four?’

  Diana frowned. ‘They’re part of the problem. Their school fees are horrendous. Denis raised a mortgage on their house to start the agency, but what with everything falling apart in the housing market, and his wife throwing him out, we’re in real trouble financially. The agency is all we’ve got left. Somehow or other we’ve got to keep it going until things improve.’

  ‘Do you suppose Denis will ever marry you?’

  Diana shrugged again. ‘I don’t care about marriage. I’m not defined by a wedding ring.’ Did she mean that Ellie was? ‘Anyway, Denis said that if we keep our heads and maximize our assets, we’ll be all right.’

  ‘By which he meant moving into your flat instead of buying one for himself when his wife threw him out? By which he meant taking over and letting out the house that I was giving you to live in?’

  ‘Well, you don’t need the income from your old house, and we do. I know that I can always rely on you to keep me off the streets, even if you don’t always like the way I behave.’

  ‘No, I don’t like the way you behave, and no, I’m not giving you an easy way out. You’ve intentionally made yourself homeless, and I’ve changed my mind about handing over my old house to you. As you say, the housing market has taken a dive, and my income has been reduced. So if you’re not going to live in it, I must maximize my assets and let it out myself.’

  ‘What!’ For the first time a shade of uneasiness crossed Diana’s face. ‘You don’t mean it. You’re just trying to frighten me. All right. I’m sorry if I took you for granted, but I’m desperate for somewhere else to live, and you are my only hope . . . as if you didn’t know it. You really shouldn’t try to play hard to get. People will think you’re more interested in money than in your own family.’

  Family? Thomas was more her family than Diana had ever been. Ellie remembered how Diana had rubbed herself up against Thomas and the thought drove her to her feet, itching to send Diana flying into orbit around the world. ‘You can’t expect me to let you stay after what you tried to do to Thomas. I don’t know where you’re going to sleep tonight, and I don’t care. So long as it’s not here.’

  ‘What?’ Diana couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘Mother, you can’t be serious. I’m relying on you.’

  ‘Just go, will you?’

  Diana looked undecided. She jiggled her lips, frowned, unable to comprehend her mother’s unexpected defiance. ‘You can’t turn me out. Where would I go?’

  ‘Go back to your flat. Tell Denis to make it up with his wife. If he takes his boys out of private school, he could save himself a fortune.’

  ‘He thought of that, but he had to sign up for a year and . . . no, I’m not going back to the flat. It’s too small, too cramped. I outgrew it ages ago. I need—’

  ‘You need a dose of reality, my girl, and that’s what you’re about to get. Sleep in your car, if you wish, but not on my doorstep.’ Ellie marched out to the hall where she seemed to remember Diana had left her coat, briefcase and handbag in a pile. Yes, there they all were. Ellie opened Diana’s handbag, sought for, found and removed Rose’s keys.

  Diana hovered in the doorway, frowning and then smiling. ‘Mother, you can’t do this. I’m not goi
ng to let you—’

  Ellie drew back the bolts on the front door, used Rose’s keys to open it, and flung it wide. The chilliest of winds rushed into the hall, and someone exclaimed something about the draught. Thomas, coming out of the kitchen with a tray in his hands? Ellie, still on a high, picked up Diana’s belongings and threw them out into the drive.

  Diana screamed, high and thin, and went after them. ‘What on earth do you think you’re doing?’

  Ellie slammed the door behind Diana, and drove the bolts home. She dusted her hands off, one against the other, and said, ‘Ha!’

  Thomas laughed. ‘Would madam have time for some food now?’

  Ellie was too angry, too tired, to be reasonable. The fact that he was offering her some food on a tray was, in some way she couldn’t explain, an insult. Food? In this crisis? No way.

  She snatched the tray from him and threw it with all her strength across the hall. Soup splashed richly across the panelling. Sandwiches flew across the floor. Plates broke. Cutlery scattered.

  She screamed, as loudly as she could. ‘Aargh!’

  ‘Ursula here. Tim, is that you? I got a message to ring you, urgently. Is something wrong? My mother? Dan?’

  ‘No, no. They’re both all right. It’s just that—’

  ‘I’ve been imagining all sorts; accidents, fires, mother in hospital.’

  ‘No, it’s nothing like that. It’s—’

  ‘It’s Dan then, isn’t it? I’m desperately fond of him still but—’

  ‘It’s not Dan. He’s perfectly all right. Having all sorts of fun now you’ve let him off the leash.’

  Silence. ‘So, what’s the rush?’

  ‘We don’t want you drifting away from us. Of course you were upset about Lloyd and Mia. We all were. But losing two of our members makes it even more important for the rest of us to stick together, and I always thought you could have done a lot better than Dan. Now there’s a special someone who’s been hanging around, waiting for you to get over Dan . . . are you still there, Ursula?’