Murder by Suggestion Read online

  ‘I’ve been thinking. If the women were all together when Walt died and his death was murder, then whodunit?’

  ‘Monique thinks it must be Kat’s skinflint husband, Rupert, because his eyes are set too close together. No, I’m joking. She thinks that it’s Rupert because Evan’s too old and Terry too volatile.’

  Rafael took a couple of packages out of the box on the back of his motorcycle. ‘I noticed you have a fire alarm but the batteries seemed to be getting towards the end of their lives. I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of buying some more for you. As insurance, you might say.’

  She gave him an old-fashioned look. ‘Don’t flannel me, young man. Why have you decided to do that today of all days?’

  ‘This is a big house, and Susan is on the top floor with no fire escape. I’ll replace the batteries now, if you agree. And see if anything else occurs to me. Poison isn’t likely since you get your food from the supermarket. Drowning is out because you haven’t a pond or a swimming pool. So fire is a possibility.’

  Ellie took a deep breath. ‘You think that whoever killed those two men will turn his attention to me because I took the women in?’

  ‘It’s a thought.’

  ‘Two of the women have gone already.’

  ‘Does the murderer know that?’

  ‘I could get Kat to tell him.’

  ‘You think it’s Rupert, then? Have you met him? No?’ He rubbed his chin, which sported the usual designer stubble. ‘Suppose it’s not him?’

  Did Rafael think it was Evan or Terry? Ellie thought about that. ‘You think it’s Terry, because he threatened to kill his dogs?’

  ‘I think he can’t control his temper. If you agree, I propose to go round the house now checking that all the windows and doors lock as they should. All precautions should be taken, right? I wouldn’t mind a sandwich for lunch, if you think you can manage it. Oh, and if you can’t pay the bills for the little extras that I’ve bought, I’ll be only too happy to lend you some money.’

  That was provocative, wasn’t it? He knew very well that Ellie had a comfortable rainy-day reserve, but he had made her laugh, which surely had been his intention. ‘Thank you, Rafael. Have you any other crumbs of comfort to offer?’

  He ushered her inside and shut the front door behind them. Eyeing the odd piles of luggage which still littered the hall, he said, ‘Have you checked who’s still got keys to this house?’

  ‘Diana took my spare keys. The others didn’t have any.’

  ‘Are you sure about that?’

  Now, there’s a nasty thought!

  THIRTEEN

  Tuesday noon.

  Ellie tried to think. ‘Thomas has a key, Diana took my spare and I have a key in my handbag.’

  ‘Mrs Quicke, where did you leave your handbag? Would you like to make sure you still have your key?’

  ‘You mean, someone might have lifted it?’ She cast a distracted look around. ‘I left my bag here in the hall, didn’t I? Or perhaps … You’re right, I might have left it anywhere.’ She tapped on the door to the sitting room before entering. Little Evan might still be asleep on Diana’s lap. But no, he was awake, sort of. Diana was holding him upright, but he was rubbing his eyes and going limp. He wanted to go back to sleep, didn’t he?

  Diana said, ‘I can’t let him sleep any longer, or he won’t last the night through tonight. I’d better take him for a walk.’

  Ellie looked around for her bag, which was nowhere to be seen. ‘Monique left you your car, so you could take him to the park for a while. Russet has gone back home, and Kat is cleaning the room she used, so you might be able to put little Evan down to sleep in his own bed in a while. Have you seen my handbag?’

  Diana got to her feet with an effort. Little Evan was grizzling. Last night’s lack of sleep was definitely catching up with him. ‘I haven’t seen it. Can your Susan person find Evan something to eat?’

  Ellie set her teeth. Diana knew very well that Susan had gone off to uni. She started to say, ‘No, and …’ But Diana was already on her way out to the kitchen with her son and wasn’t listening. Ah, her handbag! Ellie pounced. It had ended up under the high-backed chair in which she usually sat. The bag was open. Her keys? Yes, they were there. Thank goodness for that.

  She found Rafael in the hall on a stepladder, replacing the battery in her smoke alarm.

  She said, ‘My keys are still here, but I’ve just remembered I’m out of cash.’

  ‘Not to worry. How much do you want? Fifty? A hundred? I’ll ask Susan to bring some in for you and you can repay her tomorrow. I’m planning to stop over again tonight and bolt the door for you when everyone’s going to bed. All right?’

  ‘You’re quite mad. I’m sure it’s not necessary. But, I love you, Rafael.’

  ‘So you should, Mrs Quicke. I am a very lovable person, as Susan constantly assures me. Now, is there going to be a sandwich for me at any time? I’m famished.’

  Lunch was a subdued affair.

  Kat managed to produce a cottage pie by taking some frozen mince from the freezer, cooking it with onions and herbs and topping it off with the last of the potatoes. There was ice cream for afters. Little Evan grizzled but managed to eat his portion without spreading too much of it around and on himself. Trish was on the phone most of the time, first arranging her return to her parents’ home on the morrow, and then updating her sister on what was happening.

  Rafael bolted down a large portion and disappeared on his motorbike, saying he’d be back in a jiffy.

  Kat was puffy-eyed but said she was fine. She’d turned out the room Russet had slept in so that Diana could have it for her little boy that night. Kat said she’d tackle the end room – Barbie’s – that afternoon.

  Diana devoted herself to little Evan, taking little part in the arrangements which Trish and Kat were making. After lunch, Diana took her son off to the park. The house seemed blessedly quiet in his absence, although there were still a lot of adults around.

  Released from hostess duties, Ellie went upstairs and let herself sink down on to her bed. She would allow herself half an hour’s relaxation and try to ignore the problems that kept edging into her mind. Diana and Evan. Trish and Kat. The husbands throwing their wives out and now, perhaps, regretting it. In spite of all her anxieties, she fell asleep.

  She woke with a start when someone rang the front doorbell. Surely someone else would answer it? But no one did. It rang again. And again.

  Feeling grumpy and bleary-eyed, she stumbled down the stairs and opened the front door to find a complete stranger standing in the porch.

  Pointed nose, double chin and eyes set too close together. This must be Rupert, the skinflint who had married Kat to save himself her wages. He was wearing expensive casual clothes, so he didn’t stint when it came to buying things for himself, did he?

  ‘I suppose you’re Mrs Quicke.’ He pushed her back into the hall and stepped in himself. ‘Where are you hiding her?’

  ‘Your wife?’

  ‘That thief. She’s gone off with my grandfather’s gold watch. I suppose she thought she’d pawn it and that I wouldn’t miss it for some time. Well, she’s wrong about that. It was the first thing I thought of this morning. I’ve let her live a life of luxury, far beyond anything she could ever have hoped for, and look what’s happened! I’m having the law on her!’

  Ellie tried to shake herself awake. ‘What on earth are you talking about?’

  ‘You’re harbouring a thief, that’s what! It’s no good pretending innocence. It doesn’t wash with me!’

  ‘You’re missing some item of value and you think Kat might have it with her? I’ll ask her, shall I?’

  ‘Not so fast! I don’t want you warning her that I’m here, giving her time to hide it someplace. I need to search her luggage, and I need you as a witness so that when we find it, she won’t be able to deny she had it. Where is she?’

  He started towards the stairs. Ellie caught him back. ‘What are you doing? Yo
u can’t barge into someone else’s house and demand to search it unless you are a police officer and have a warrant. You don’t, do you?’

  ‘I can get one if I need to.’ He was huffing and puffing. A classic case of high blood pressure. ‘Stand aside, woman, and let me search for my property!’

  There was a disturbance on the landing. Trish and Kat came from down the corridor to the bedrooms, carrying the bed linen Barbie had slept in and a box of cleaning materials.

  ‘What’s up?’ said Trish. ‘Oh, it’s Rupert. Have you come to see Kat?’

  Kat stripped off her rubber gloves. ‘I am here, Rupert.’

  Rupert pushed past Ellie to climb the stairs, holding on to the banister. ‘You crazy cow! I might have known you’d repay my kindness by stealing from me. Where are your cases, eh?’

  ‘Upstairs, on the top floor,’ said Kat, bewildered but not afraid. ‘You think I have taken something from your house? I tell you, no. I would not. If something is missing then it is not with me. Why you not look to the cleaners you paid yesterday, the ones who packed up my things?’

  He took no notice of that, but said, ‘Bluster all you like. When I’ve found what you have taken, I am informing the police. They will arrest you and send you to prison. And, when you have served your sentence, they will deport you back to the farm.’

  Trish said, ‘Kat wouldn’t steal, Rupert. You must be mistaken.’

  ‘Which room are you in? Where have you hidden your cases?’

  Kat put her cleaning things down. ‘I have taken nothing. I have hidden nothing.’ She looked worried. She twisted her hands one within another. ‘I tell the truth.’

  ‘Ha!’ said Rupert. ‘Show me!’

  Ellie thought she could see where this was going, and she didn’t like it one bit. The man was very sure of himself, which meant that he really thought Kat had something of his, while on the other hand, Ellie was equally sure that Kat wouldn’t have stolen anything.

  Rupert pulled open the master bedroom door. ‘In here?’

  ‘No, no.’ Kat was also thinking ahead and not liking her thoughts. ‘I am upstairs again. This way.’

  ‘Don’t show him!’ said Trish.

  Too late. Kat threw open the door to the small staircase which went to the top floor and led the way up. The others followed her. Ellie wondered where she’d left her mobile phone. Thomas would have known how to deal with this, but she didn’t.

  ‘This is the room,’ said Kat, opening the door to Susan’s spare room.

  ‘At last!’ Rupert pushed past her. It was not a large room but they all managed to pile in.

  Kat had arrived with two suitcases, neither of them new. The black one she had placed on a chair by the bed, and the blue one was on the floor. The black one was open, revealing a small pile of underwear and ditto of cheap dresses. Rupert ignored the black one to heave the blue case on to the neatly made bed and throw it open, revealing a couple of winter jackets and some warm tops.

  Rupert upended the contents of the blue suitcase on to the bed and felt around the suitcase lining till he found a hidden pocket at one side. ‘There it is!’ He held up an antique gold case watch for them all to see. ‘I told you so!’

  Kat gasped. ‘I never see that before! That is not my case. That is your case that you lend me to take away my things. I not know there is hiding place there.’

  ‘Of course you did!’ said Rupert, grinning. ‘Your friends are witnesses that I found my missing watch in your suitcase.’

  Trish said, ‘Hang about. That’s not—’

  Ellie intervened. ‘Rupert, we are witnesses to the fact that you knew exactly where your property was to be found, that you knew in which of two suitcases it had been hidden, and that you went straight to it. If you try to make out that Kat stole your watch then you must be prepared for us to say that, on the contrary, it looked as if you planted the watch there yourself.’

  His voice squeaked, ‘Ridiculous!’ He dabbed at perspiration with his handkerchief.

  Kat had sunk on to a chair. She began to rock. ‘I would not … Not ever … No, no!’

  Trish put her arm around Kat. ‘Of course you didn’t. You didn’t pack for yourself, did you? No, he got someone else to do that for you. He put that watch in there himself.’

  ‘Why would I do that?’ He dabbed at his forehead again.

  Ellie said, ‘It’s all about money, isn’t it, Rupert? You’ve kept it a secret that you and your friends formed a company to develop part of the town centre, and now that scheme is coming to fruition you are getting rid of your wives so that you don’t have to share any of the profits with them.’

  Rupert gasped, ‘You know nothing about it!’ His chest swelled and he had gone red in the face. A bantam pretending to be a cockerel. ‘You know nothing! None of you know anything. Women cannot be expected to understand high finance. All women do is look out for a man to keep them. They say they want to care for a man but what they mean is that they want him to smother them with furs and jewellery and expensive cars and holidays abroad. A man has to be aware that women are only out for what they can get and act accordingly.’

  Kat wrung her hands. ‘But Rupert, I have never asked for such things.’

  ‘I know your sort. You were biding your time, trying to fool me into thinking you had my best interests at heart while you were cooking the books and stealing money from the housekeeping. You thought I would overlook your thefts but that’s where you are wrong. I have consulted the police …’

  Poor Kat looked as if she were going to faint.

  ‘And they told me it would not be easy to prosecute for a few pounds, but now I have proof that you stole my grandfather’s watch they will take action, just you wait and see!’

  Kat began to sob. ‘Oh, oh! I am going to prison!’

  Trish said, ‘Nonsense, Kat. Rupert, what a nasty little man you are. You make use of Kat to bring down your household bills and throw her out when you think you can make a better match financially. You were worried that she might demand alimony, so you rigged this stunt to ensure she wouldn’t ask for what is hers by right. You make me sick!’

  ‘Is she right, Rupert?’ Kat could hardly believe it. ‘You would do that to me?’

  Rupert made a gobbling sound, his eyes bulging.

  Kat took a deep breath. Her bosom swelled. From being a poor downtrodden slave, she turned into a war-like Valkyrie. She began to make a low, moaning noise, which grew and climbed the scale to end in a shriek.

  Ellie put her hands over her ears.

  Kat grasped Rupert by his upper arms and shook him. ‘You … rat’s bottom! You …’ Here she slipped into her native language.

  Ellie did not know the words, but she knew very well what they meant.

  Kat let go of Rupert all of a sudden. He stumbled and fell awkwardly, knocking the bedside lamp over.

  ‘Ha!’ Kat brushed her hands one against the other. She spoke some more words in her own language, ending up with, ‘You watch! I take you to the cleaners!’

  ‘By dose!’ Rupert struggled to his feet, trying to get away from Kat, holding on to his face. Blood spurted through his fingers.

  Kat said, ‘Hah!’ again. ‘He has nosebleed? Always he has the nosebleed. But now I do not wash and clean his clothes for him. He must do it himself! So!’

  Rupert deflated.

  Kat waved her arm. ‘Take him away! I do not wish him in my room.’

  Trish giggled, hanging on to the end of the bed.

  Ellie was torn between wanting to kick Rupert down the stairs – that is, if she could have managed it in her tight skirt – and thinking it was more than time this disgraceful scene was brought to a satisfactory conclusion. She helped Rupert out of the room by the simple process of hauling on his jacket. ‘Come on downstairs and let me wash your face.’

  ‘She hit be!’

  ‘No, she didn’t. Don’t you try that on with me. We all saw you fall. Come on, another set of stairs. Try not to bleed all over the place. That
’s it, now. Across the hall and into the kitchen and sit down. Now, tip your head back.’

  She ran a clean tea towel under the tap, wrung it out and handed it to Rupert to put over his nose. She tore off some kitchen towel and cleaned up his hands and face. There was nothing she could do about the blood on his shirt. He’d dripped all the way down his jacket. Oh, well. He’d have to take it to the dry-cleaners himself. Kat wasn’t going to do it for him.

  Ellie put the kettle on and made herself a cup of tea while Rupert snuffled away, keening to himself. She looked at the clock. It was getting on for teatime. Well, she wasn’t going to feed or water Rupert. She drank her tea, watching him as he cautiously removed the towel from his face and checked that the bleeding had stopped. He was reviving, slowly. Watching her, wondering how he could take advantage of her having been kind to him.

  Not a nice man. But was he a murderer? He didn’t look like one, but what does a murderer look like?

  Kat stormed into the room, the top buttons of her blouse undone and her shoulder-length hair, freed from its band, streaming behind her. She dumped a folded pair of socks on Rupert’s lap. ‘I go through my luggage and I find these, which are yours! I want nothing of yours! I spit on you!’ She reared her head back to do so.

  Ellie intervened. ‘No, Kat. Don’t give him the chance to say you attacked him.’

  ‘He do worse to me!’

  Ellie edged Kat towards the door. ‘Yes, but that’s not the way to get back at him. Leave it to me, will you?’

  Kat hesitated, looking over Ellie’s shoulder at Rupert. He cringed in his chair. Kat tossed her head and marched out.

  Rupert gasped, ‘I could do with a drink.’

  ‘Tea, coffee or water?’