Murder for Nothing Read online

  ‘Betty took money out for a reward? Oh, dear. I don’t know what to say. I suppose, under the circumstances … but you do understand, Annie, it’s not my money so I can’t really give a reward. Do you want one, too?’

  Annie said, ‘I asked Bob and he said not to ask for it. I did think you might offer but he said not even to think about it, and it’s not your money anyhow, so I’m not asking, so there.’

  Annie gave her husband a decided nod, at which he cast his eyes upwards, lifted his capable hands from his knees and replaced them there. He was out of it.

  Annie handed Ellie a wodge of notes from her plastic bag. ‘Here’s what she found, less her twenty and what she paid for lunch. She said as you owed it to us. Which wasn’t really true, but I wasn’t thinking straight, like, till I’d talked it over with Bob.’

  Ellie tried to think straight, too, but the rights and wrongs of this situation escaped her. It was right to restore stolen money to its owner, but if the owner had acquired it by illegal methods, then ought he to get it back?

  It was all too much. The only thing she knew was that somehow she must protect those two valiant baristas, Jess and Gina, who’d come to her for help in dealing with Milos.

  She said, ‘I’ll see the drugs and the money get back to the right person.’

  Bob shifted. ‘We-ell, you see. I’m agin drugs. I said, didn’t I? So when Annie here told me what had happened, I said I didn’t know how you had got involved, pillar of the community and all that, but that it had to stop there or the drugs would get back into circulation and do a lot more damage. So I flushed them down the loo.’

  ‘What!’ Ellie gaped.

  ‘Yes,’ Bob repeated, with a mixture of defiance and unease. ‘I flushed the dratted things down the loo. And good riddance.’

  So now Ellie couldn’t give the drugs back to Milos.

  Rafael groaned and put his head in his hands.

  Ellie’s heart thumped with fear. However was she to explain the loss to Milos? Would he descend on Bob and Annie to exact retribution? No, no! Surely not. But he might well do so, if he knew. Better not to say anything about them. She must pretend she’d found them in the house somewhere and … what then? If she told him what had happened, would he believe her? If she said that it was she who had flushed them down the loo, would he believe that? No, because she’d fed him another story earlier. Oh dear, oh dear. What a tangle!

  On the other hand, her braver self insisted that Bob had done the right thing. He’d been more courageous than Ellie, who had learned of what Milos might do to anyone who crossed him. Bob knew what people like Milos might do, all right. He wasn’t underestimating the probable consequences of his action but he’d done it all the same.

  Annie’s voice quavered, though she tried to control it. ‘I told Bob what might happen because we all know what drug dealers can do to people who cross them, but he still did it. And I’m glad he did.’ Though she wasn’t, not really. Or anyway, only half glad.

  Bob flexed his hands on beefy thighs and leaned forward. ‘My father said that if you don’t stand up to bullies, they’ll walk all over you. He used to say to me, “What would our world be like now if we’d given in to Hitler? We’d be goose-stepping and not able to speak out when we saw something wrong, that’s what!” My father fought in the Second World War and his father fought in the First, and I’ve got nearly all their medals except the one that got run over by the ice-cream van by mistake. Right?’

  ‘Right!’ said Ellie, wanting to clap and to scream. Both at once.

  Bob leaned back and folded his arms. And nodded. ‘I ain’t got a lotta time for the police, mind. They’re not like they used to be. But, to be fair, things ain’t what they used to be, either. Drugs and that. Gangs with knives. That’s new since I was a boy. We used’ta have gangs. The Kray brothers and their like, and yes, they was nasty. Yers. I stood at the side of the street to see the hearse with its black horses and the man in the silk hat walking in front of it when the first one of them died. But it was easy to decide then, right from wrong. You knew where you were. You had bobbies on the street, and we knew them, and they knew us, and we was taught right from wrong, and told what would happen to us if we did it again. Which some of us did, no messing, and then it was straight down the nick. Now it’s all social workers and letting the lads off with a caution when they oughta have the fear of God put into them to teach them not to do it again. But knives! And drugs!’ He shook his head. ‘I don’t hold with them.’

  Rafael opened his mouth to speak, shook his head and closed his mouth again. Rafael had been brought up in the modern world which made excuses for anyone who committed a crime. Rafael was a child of today, who sought for compromise rather than challenged vice.

  Ellie looked at the meagre bundle of notes in her hand. ‘Is this all there was? I thought there’d be more.’ She handed the money over to Rafael. ‘What do you think?’

  Rafael riffled through the wad. ‘How would I know? I’ve never sold drugs or bought any. But I would say, at a guess, it’s about half what I’d expect Clay to have taken at the party.’

  Ellie felt very tired all of a sudden. ‘You think that Angelica took a lot of it with her when she went on her shopping spree this morning?’

  Rafael shrugged. ‘You say she bought clothes. Her cards were maxed out, so maybe that’s how she paid for them … But if so, why didn’t she take the lot?’

  Ellie remembered something Angelica had said. ‘She told us that she was planning to pay you off with the money she got from letting drugs be sold at her party. She said that before witnesses. If that is so, this money is really meant for you, isn’t it?’

  Rafael shook his head. ‘You’ll think I’m being stupid but I don’t want it. It’s not mine. It belongs to Milos, not me.’ And he held the wad out to Ellie.

  Ellie stared at the money and didn’t take it. ‘It’s beyond me, this whole thing. I can’t think what happens next. I do not fancy ringing Milos up and telling him that his drugs have gone down the plughole, and let’s just imagine me saying that yes, here’s the money that your man took, but no, I have no idea how much it should be, but that’s all we found, and we have no idea where the rest of it went.’

  Bob was clear about what he thought. ‘If it’s money from drugs then it shouldn’t be handed back to this man, no matter what. It’s illegal.’

  Ellie agreed. ‘It’s a grey area. If it weren’t for dropping Angelica into the muck – and yes, she deserves it but I can’t quite bring myself to do it – then it would probably be best to hand it over to the police. Only, if we tell them where we found it they’ll think that we’ve been harbouring a drug addict or something.’

  Rafael said, ‘No police, or you’d have Milos invading your house as soon as the coast was clear. Look, I can see where you’re coming from, but—’

  ‘What I say is, you don’t give in to bullies.’ Bob heaved himself to his feet. ‘You take it to the police, right? If you give this Milos the money, he’ll buy more drugs and there’ll be more kids lying in the gutter and taking overdoses, and you’ll be responsible.’ He lifted his wife to her feet. ‘Come on, Annie. We’ve done what we set out to do; now we can go home with a clear conscience. Goodnight, Mrs Quicke. Good to have met you. Don’t bother to come to the door. We’ll see ourselves out.’

  Bob ploughed on out to the hall but Annie hung back.

  ‘Mrs Quicke, I understand where you’re at, but you won’t tell that man that Bob got rid of the drugs, will you? I mean, we haven’t got much, but what we have got—’

  ‘You don’t want him busting up your house.’

  ‘Nor my daughter, nor the grandkids.’

  Bob bellowed from the hall. ‘Annie! You coming?’

  Annie sent a distracted look in Ellie’s direction, said, ‘I’m coming!’ and obeyed the summons.

  Ellie sat on her chair, trying to think. She looked at the thin bundle of notes which Rafael placed on the table at her side. She didn’t want anythin
g to do with it.

  Her brain was in confusion. She thought of Lesley, lying in a hospital bed, and tried to pray for her. Only, her brain skittered off the idea of Lesley, and insisted on presenting other matters to her attention. Lesley’s handbag: where was it? And there was something Lesley had said that she wanted Andy to know about, but what was it? Lesley had thought it was important, but …

  Well, Lesley could have told Andy herself, couldn’t she, when he was at the …

  Jess. In trouble. Sharing a flat with others, who would by now have returned home and found the television broken. Who pays for …

  Milos, the baddie. How to stop him from …

  What time is it? Was it too late to ring Thomas, who might be able to calm her down and think of something sensible to …

  A kaleidoscope of half-finished thoughts.

  The clock in the hall struck the hour.

  What hour? She looked at her watch … No, no. Why not take it off? It hadn’t given her the right time for days.

  Rafael stood up. ‘It’s getting late, Mrs Quicke. Any ideas about what we do next?’

  She sighed. ‘I’m right out of ideas. Lots of questions, no answers.’

  ‘Do you want me to try to explain what’s happened to Milos?’

  She said, ‘You’re a brave lad. He might well turn on you.’

  ‘I don’t hold his money.’ Rafael held her gaze. He knew very well that drawing Milos’s attention to him might result in a visit from men who enjoyed stamping on people. He knew it and was still prepared to help.

  She said, ‘Give me ten minutes, all right?’ She got to her feet with an effort – it had been a tiring day, hadn’t it – and went down the corridor and into the Quiet Room.

  FOURTEEN

  Monday evening

  The overhead light was too strong in the Quiet Room. She turned on a small side lamp which Thomas had imported to keep him company early and late on winter days, and switched the main light off.

  She sat in Thomas’s chair, which faced the picture worked in wools on the opposite wall. This showed Our Lord as a shepherd, who had left his flock to search for one lost lamb. When he had found it, he’d put it over his shoulders and taken it back to the fold.

  Ellie had sometimes wondered what the woman was like who had worked that picture long ago. What sort of life had she led? Had she been an unmarried daughter who had stayed at home to look after her parents and who had had nothing much to do with her time except to embroider this picture and, perhaps, to read to her father and mother when their eyesight failed? She must have had decent eyesight herself, that long-ago woman. Had she also had faith in God? Surely she must have done so, or she wouldn’t have spent so many hours on this picture of him.

  I told Rafael I needed ten minutes. So, what should I pray for?

  I suppose it doesn’t really matter. God knows what I need.

  I’m in such a muddle.

  I’m not the lost sheep here. Am I? I’m not sure who is …

  Rafael. Yes, I think I see that.

  I can’t pray. I don’t know what words to use. I may be thinking with my heart instead of with my head. I probably am. If so, will you please straighten me out?

  There was a knock on the door. The ten minutes were up, and she didn’t think anything had been solved by her asking for ten minutes’ grace.

  Something was boring into her side. She fished out another of her grandson’s toys; this time a piece of Lego which he’d left there. She tried to keep his box of Lego bits all together in the sitting room behind the settee. This piece must have strayed.

  Rafael opened the door. ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘Sure. My grandson could do with a personal minder. He must have left it here when I was on the phone earlier today, after the cleaners had left.’ She held the piece up. Bright yellow. A window, complete with plastic glass panes.

  Rafael twitched a contraction of his lips, which was meant to be a smile. ‘Kids!’ He was being polite. He wasn’t interested.

  Ellie glimmered a proper smile back at him. ‘“Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings.” I prayed and thought my prayers were not being answered till, “Lo and behold!” I was told where to look for answers. Think about it, Rafael. We’ve all been waltzing round the problem and refusing to see what was under our noses. A window of opportunity. Right?’

  No, he didn’t get it. ‘For whom?’

  ‘How pleasant it is to hear someone say “for whom?” instead of “what?” Let’s go and see what the others are doing.’ She got up and led the way back to the kitchen, where Jess and Gina were sitting in a huddle, looking sorry for themselves. Susan was busying herself cooking, something which involved kneading dough.

  Ellie smiled to herself. Was Susan fulfilling Rafael’s wish to see her knead dough, because it caused her bosom to rise and fall in a delectable fashion, or was she teasing him?

  Rafael’s eyes were out like organ stops. Uh-oh, thought Ellie. Susan is teasing him. She could have used the food processor instead of kneading by hand. Good for Susan.

  Now for the other girls.

  Ellie said, in a brisk tone, ‘Let’s get one or two things sorted, shall we? Jess, have you been in touch with your flatmates to tell them what’s happened?’

  Jess looked hunted. ‘I didn’t dare. If I told them where I was, they might tell Milos. I know I ought to have warned them but I was frightened out of my life!’

  ‘No, you weren’t,’ said Ellie. ‘You’re still alive. Yes, you’ve had a nasty experience, but sitting in a corner saying “poor little me” isn’t going to get you anywhere. If you need our support, you have it, but now you must phone your flatmates and tell them what’s happened. One or other of them might want to go with you to the police to report the incident.’

  ‘I can’t!’ shrieked Jess. ‘Milos will kill me.’

  ‘Don’t exaggerate,’ said Ellie. ‘He won’t kill you. He relies on your having the backbone of a jellyfish not to report him, so you have to prove that you are a fine, upstanding, down-sitting young woman whom he can’t mess about. Right?’

  ‘Er …’ Jess was visibly trembling.

  ‘No, no!’ said Gina. ‘It’s too much to ask.’

  Ellie wasn’t going to soften. Not now. There was too much at stake. ‘If you don’t report the damage to your television set, who do you think is going to pay for another one?’

  Jess started to sob. ‘I thought … I didn’t think you’d …’

  ‘You thought I would pay for it? Or Rafael? No. Why should we?’

  ‘But I thought you’d let us stay here till the danger was over.’

  ‘And how did you think that was going to happen? Was I to wave a magic wand and Milos would miraculously disappear? It’s no good us sitting on our butts and hoping that someone else is going to straighten this mess out, because they’re not going to do so. We have to take action ourselves. Some people might think that a houseful of women can be intimated without there being any consequences, that Milos can terrify us into behaving as if we were frightened little children. But we are not just a bunch of women. We are grown adults who have looked at the dangers of doing nothing and decided to do something about it. We are not going to be pummelled into submission and say nothing. We are not doormats. Repeat after me: We Are Not Doormats!’

  Jess and Gina looked at one another with fear in their eyes.

  Susan and Rafael said, ‘WE ARE NOT DOORMATS!’

  Ellie said, ‘Repeat after me, ‘“We are not prepared to lie down and let a man walk all over us!’”

  Susan thumped the dough on to the board with a flourish. ‘No, no! We are not going to do that!’

  Rafael clapped his hands. ‘All together now! We are not victims!’

  Ellie said, ‘We are strong, independent women who can stand up for our rights!’

  Susan said, ‘Ditto, ditto!’

  Gina and Jess looked only half convinced.

  Ellie said, ‘What you have to do, Jess, is to go down
to the police station straight away to report Milos’s assault on you. And, even more important, to report that Clay is missing.’

  Dropped jaws all round. Except that Susan went on kneading dough and smiling to herself. Even Rafael’s jaw had dropped.

  ‘But—’ said Gina.

  ‘Well,’ said Ellie, ‘Clay has disappeared, hasn’t he? No one’s seen anything of him since Saturday night or early Sunday morning. You, Jess, you tried to contact him without success. Right?’

  Jess nodded. ‘Well, yes. But—’

  ‘And,’ said Ellie, ‘Milos is also rampaging around, trying to find him. Also without success. Right?’

  ‘Right,’ said Gina, faint but persevering.

  ‘So, what’s happened to him?’ Ellie asked. No one seemed to know. Susan paused in her task. A strand of hair had fallen over her eyes. She pushed it up with the back of her hand. Rafael’s eyes followed her every movement.

  Ellie nudged Rafael. ‘I said what do you think has happened to Clay?’

  Rafael started. ‘He scarpered when …’ A change of tone. ‘Yes, why did he scarper?’

  Susan threw her lump of dough into a basin and set it aside to prove. ‘Well, I suppose he scarpered because Kate died.’ She washed her hands, dived into the freezer and came up with a tub of something which she proceeded to empty into a saucepan and heat up.

  Ellie said, ‘But we don’t know how Kate came to die, do we? I mean, the police must have held an autopsy to find out but they may not have the result themselves yet. Ideas, anyone?’

  Susan tried to work it out. ‘Jess left Clay in the garden with Kate. By that time everyone else had departed. I suppose she might have fallen and cracked her head open on the edge of the pond. That is … Jess, did the pond have stone slabs around it or was it a plastic affair?’