Murder in the Garden Read online

  Armand was interested. ‘Is Diana still with Derek Jolley? What on earth does she see in him? He must be twenty years older and not exactly the Body Beautiful.’

  DS Willis called him to order. ‘If you don't mind, I'm trying to conduct a murder investigation here. Shall we move indoors? No, not into your house, sir, but into Mrs Quicke's.’

  Ellie led the way into her big sitting room, but didn't offer tea or coffee, as perhaps she ought to have done. Well, she would have done, if she'd liked the policewoman better.

  ‘Now, Mrs Quicke, can you tell me the name of the woman who last lived next door, and her husband, and where they went when they left here?’

  Ellie suppressed a grimace. She hadn't liked the woman, or her children. In fact, it was hard to think of anything positive to say about them. The whole neighbourhood had sighed with relief when the family had at last moved out. But there was no need to go into detail now.

  ‘I hardly knew them. My husband didn't want me to get involved. The man and the woman weren't married, and I don't think one of the children was his, either. His name was … no, it's gone. I'm not sure I ever knew it. I think he came from Nigeria and went back when he got fed up with her.’

  Armand was beginning to enter into the spirit of things. ‘Or disappeared when she got fed up with him? Can they tell if the skull is European or not?’

  ‘Once the pathologists have done their job …’

  ‘When will we know?’

  There was a screech of brakes and a cry of alarm as Kate drew up in her car outside. Seeing a policeman standing beside her front door, she jumped to the wrong conclusion.

  ‘What's wrong? My husband! Something's happened to him!’

  Armand ran outside to clasp his wife in his arms - which took some doing as she was a trifle taller and heavier than him.

  ‘I'm perfectly all right. It's just that they've found a body in the garden. Come into Ellie's. The police won't let us into our own house at the moment, and I've got a ton of marking to do.’

  ‘What?’ Kate went pale. ‘You mean … in our garden? No! I can't believe it! Who? How long?’

  Ellie was aware of yet more neighbours gathering on the opposite side of the road. She said, ‘Come on in, and we'll tell you all about it.’ Between them Armand and Ellie got Kate seated on the big settee.

  ‘Calm down,’ said Ms Willis, flashing her badge at Kate. ‘Detective Inspector Willis.’

  ‘Really?’ Ellie was interested. ‘You got promotion? Congratulations.’

  ‘Thank you,’ said DI Willis, looking anything but pleased at being interrupted. ‘Now … Kate's your name, isn't it? It's probably nothing for you to worry about, but we need some details of the people who had the house before you.’

  Kate was frowning. She had heavy eyebrows which made strangers think she had a sullen disposition, which she hadn't. ‘Never saw them. They lived abroad, I think. Ask the estate agents. All I can say is, their tenants left the place in a right old mess. We had to have all the wallpaper stripped, the woodwork, everything. And a completely new bathroom and kitchen. You wouldn't believe that two small kids could do that much damage. Now, wait a minute. I must have seen the owner's name somewhere.’ She concentrated. ‘Chater. That's it. Chater. But what do you mean, a body in our garden?’

  Ellie nodded. ‘I was trying to think what it was. Chater, that's right.’

  ‘And their tenants' name?’ asked DI Willis.

  Kate shrugged. ‘Never heard it. There wasn't even any mail coming for them when we bought the house. There was stuff for the Chaters, bills mostly. I dumped them at the estate agents. When can we get back into our house?’

  ‘I'm afraid,’ said DI Willis, ‘that we won't be able to let you back into your house tonight. We have to regard it as a crime scene, you see. Have you any friends who could put you up?’

  * * *

  ‘Where have you been? Your mobile's been switched off and your wife said she expected you back hours ago.’ An educated voice. Another educated voice.

  ‘An emergency meeting. You know how it is, I have to keep my eye on so many business affairs. What's so important that-?’

  ‘They found the body!’

  A pause. ‘What? What are you talking about?’ Cautiously.

  ‘They were excavating for a water feature or something. I only heard by chance. One of our old neighbours thought my wife might be interested.’

  ‘She knew about it? How could anyone know about it? You've been talking …?’

  ‘Of course not. No, it was just gossip. Her husband and I were at the same hospital, before I moved up here. Our wives were friends and kept in touch. She heard about it when her son brought the news home from school. It seems that a couple of students came in late. They'd had a study morning off… you remember how it was in the last year at school? They took the alleyway that runs along the bottom of the garden to get to the bus stop and saw the police there. Naturally the news was all round the school by lunch time. So, this evening my friend's wife rang to tell my wife the news, thinking she'd be interested.’

  A long pause.

  The businessman said, ‘I don't see any need to panic. They can't trace anything back to us.’

  ‘Will you warn father?’

  Another long silence. ‘What good would it do? He's not well, hooked up to oxygen most of the time, especially at night. Surely he doesn't need to know?’

  ‘Let's hope not. Will you find out what you can?’

  ‘Yes, yes. I can go round that way, see if there's police still there, ask at the shops, perhaps. The local paper doesn't come out till Friday but perhaps there may be something on local radio. I will go out to my car and listen. It would be remarked upon as strange if I listened at home, because I never do.’

  ‘It would be best if the women did not hear about it.’

  ‘Agreed.’

  ‘I'll ring again tomorrow evening.’

  Two

  Kate stared at the policewoman in horror and disbelief. ‘You want us to move out of our house?’ said Kate. ‘But … I need … can you do that? A warrant. Don't you need a warrant?’

  ‘Move in here,’ said Ellie. ‘Of course.’

  Kate glared at her. Kate was, like Diana, tall, dark and goodlooking rather than handsome, but she had a capacity for warmth and friendship which Diana would never have. Kate could be sharp, but she would never be unreasonable. However, she'd never been thrown out of her own home before.

  ‘Ellie, that's my home. Our home. I can't just … then there's clothes and things. I've got this meeting in Birmingham tomorrow. How could I have forgotten about that! I'll need some papers and my new suit, undies, and … I can't think straight!’

  Ellie patted her shoulder while Armand patted her arm. Ellie said, ‘Kate, dear. We'll manage, somehow. You can see that the police have to investigate. I'm sure they'll be as quick as they can.’

  DI Willis got to her feet. ‘We'll make as little mess as we can. Considering. But I must ask you to stay in London, cancel your meeting.’

  ‘What? No, I can't do that. You don't understand …’

  DI Willis raised her voice. ‘Under the circumstances …’

  Kate got to her feet. She was vibrating with rage and bewilderment. An explosive mixture.

  Ellie got between the two women. ‘Inspector Willis, you have to agree that whatever happened to that poor man out there, it has nothing to do with Kate and Armand, because they've only been here just over a year. Of course you have to look at their house as if it were a crime scene, but that's no reason to inconvenience my friends more than is necessary, is it? No belongings of theirs can have any bearing on the tragedy.’

  ‘That may be true, but-’

  ‘So let them go into their own house. They can go one at a time and accompanied by a police officer if you wish, so that they can pack some things for an overnight stay here. Right?’

  ‘I'll have to think about …’ DI Willis hated to back-pedal, but even she realized that E
llie had offered a reasonable solution. ‘Oh, very well. Stay here while I arrange it.’

  She left. Kate subsided on to the settee again.

  ‘Tea, anyone? Sherry?’ asked Ellie.

  ‘Coffee,’ said Kate, and then, ‘No, nothing. Armand, did you see the body? Is it very much decomposed? I can't believe it. This cannot be happening!’

  Ellie was soothing. ‘Here's a pen and some paper. Why don't you both start making lists of what you need out of the house tonight, while I go and make up the bed in the spare room. Do you have to do your marking tonight, Armand?’

  ‘What? I don't know. Yes, of course I do. But … well, I suppose not.’

  ‘Then we can all go out to supper somewhere, have an early night.’

  Kate took the pad and pen. ‘What do I need? I left my briefcase in the car and that's got nearly all the papers I need in it, but …’

  ‘Overnight things,’ said Ellie, trying to be practical. ‘Anything special you want for breakfast, anything special you'd planned for supper?’

  ‘We were going to phone for a pizza and watch a video,’ said Armand. ‘I picked the video up on the way home. I suppose that's still in my car, too.’

  Kate began to laugh. ‘Do you think they'll want to take our cars away to be examined? They wouldn't do that, would they? I mean, mine's new since we moved in.’

  Ellie pressed Kate's shoulder. It was unlike Kate to give way to hysteria.

  Kate coughed, blew her nose, and began to make her list.

  DI Willis rang the doorbell as Ellie finished making up the bed and seeing to clean towels. Ellie let her in and stood aside as the policewoman pushed past her to confront Armand and Kate.

  ‘If you've told us the truth you're in the clear, because it seems the body has been in the ground for some time. However, it doesn't appear that death was accidental, so you must understand that we now have to regard your house and garden as a crime scene. You will be allowed to take away such items as you need for tonight - under supervision.’

  ‘And tomorrow we can get back in?’ said Armand.

  To give her her due, DI Willis looked uncomfortable at this. ‘It might be as well for you to consider moving out for the time being. We'll be as quick as we can, but we have to be thorough.’

  Kate stared at her. ‘You mean, a murder was committed in our house? That we'll have to find somewhere else to live?’ She shuddered. ‘But we've only just got it as we like it, and built the extension and … I can't bear it!’

  Armand was looking hollow-eyed. ‘I couldn't live in a house where there's been a murder. Who'll want to buy a place where there's been a murder? We'll practically have to give the house away, which means we won't have enough to buy another!’

  Kate began to recover over supper at the Carvery. Ellie recognized the signs. Kate wasn't used to being ordered about; she was the one who usually did the ordering. Kate was beginning to get angry.

  Armand was a Celt and subject to mood swings. He was depressed and unable to lift himself out of it.

  Ellie appreciated their problem, and hadn't a clue how to help. A quick prayer to God didn't seem to come up with any helpful hints as to how to deal with the situation. Practical help she could give: a bed for the night, a little bit of cossetting, finding an extra table lamp so that Armand could start on his mountain of marking, polishing Kate's shoes for the presentation she would have to make on the following morning. But more than that, what could she do? She felt so helpless.

  It occurred to her for the first time to speculate about the poor man who'd gone missing. Had he been a ‘gentleman of the road'? Someone who'd long since dropped out of society? A pitiful end. She wondered if he'd once had family and friends, perhaps held down a good job and lived in a house like hers. Whoever he'd been, he hadn't deserved to die alone and lie unburied in the undergrowth. Presumably the rains had gradually washed soil down the slope to cover him. Perhaps he could get a proper burial now.

  Ellie grieved for the young couple who'd sunk so much of themselves into what they'd thought would be their long-term home.

  The Carvery had been a bad choice, for they were almost certain to run into people they knew. Roy Bartrick - who was her Aunt Drusilla's son and therefore Ellie's cousin by marriage - was wining and dining across the room with a man wearing a good suit and an air of disdain. Who was Roy's guest? Normally Ellie's curiosity would have led her to wave to Roy and give him an opening to tell her what he was doing. But not tonight. Roy saw her and waved cheerfully. It seemed likely that his business meeting - for surely that was what it must be - was going well.

  Kate allowed herself just one glass of red wine, while Armand sank the rest of the bottle. Kate was going to explode with fury if she weren't diverted in some way.

  DI Willis hadn't supplied any comfort for Armand and Kate, and before she left, had added to Ellie's worries. ‘Mrs Quicke, I believe you've lived in this house for some years. What year did you move in? You must have known everyone who lived next door. I'd like you to make a list of them, please. And is there anyone else in the road who's lived here longer than you?’

  Ellie thought about it. ‘The woman in the end house on the other side of the road was here when we came. She's confined to the house now with arthritis.’

  ‘What year did you arrive?’

  Ellie shrugged. ‘Oh dear, I'm hopeless at dates, I'm afraid. Frank always said … well, as you know, he's dead. I could look up my old diaries, but …’

  ‘Perhaps it won't come to that. Now I believe the people in the house on the other side of the murder scene have only been here a short while …’

  ‘They moved in that very hot summer we had, the year our daughter was married. Her little boy is two years old now. Does that help?’

  Ms Willis sighed. ‘Would you please make a list of all the people you know who've lived next door, and I'll pick it up tomorrow morning, right?’

  Over coffee at the Carvery, Ellie said, ‘I wish I had the sort of mind which remembered dates. I can remember faces, but not all the names. Or dates.’

  Kate allowed herself to be diverted. ‘What, no scandals?’

  Ellie could see that Kate needed to think about something different, so tried to oblige, racking her memory for details. ‘You want a scandal? Oh, well … perhaps. There was this nice man who lived there some years ago, died of cancer, poor dear, had to wear the most awful wig, which he hated, and I don't blame him for that. His wife was distraught when he died. She even stopped Frank on his way back from work, asking for advice about something … I don't know what. Frank was livid because, as he said, it was none of his business and she oughtn't to accost people like that in the street …’

  Kate produced a smile. She was trying to smile, anyway. ‘Your husband was a very private person, wasn't he? I remember …’ Her voice died. ‘Oh, well, it doesn't matter.’

  Ellie reddened. Frank hadn't had any sympathy for people who broke down and cried in public. He'd been a great admirer of the stiff-upper-lip type. He'd been that way himself, never giving in to his ailments, carrying on long after he should have gone to the doctor, by which time it was too late. Ah well. Water under the bridge.

  Armand pointed his finger at her. ‘What was the scandal, then?’ ‘Oh, not really a scandal, I suppose,’ said Ellie, remembering. ‘The widow was rather quickly consoled by someone who said he'd been a close friend of her dear dead husband's, though she'd never heard of him while her husband had been alive.’

  ‘So Victorian,’ said Kate, with an acid laugh. ‘Clinging widow finds someone else to cling to and marries him within … what? Three months?’

  ‘Four, I think,’ said Ellie. ‘He got her to sell the house and they emigrated to Australia on the proceeds. There was some talk at the time, but …’ She shrugged. ‘Frank said the new man would probably ditch her and go off with the money as soon as the sale of the house went through. Maybe he did. I wish I could remember their name.’

  ‘In our house?’ said Kate. ‘Fan
cy that. You don't think of who's lived there before you. You just think of your future there. Did her husband die in our bedroom, do you know?’

  ‘Oh no, dear. In hospital, just as he should.’ Ellie could so clearly see Frank coming home, angry that the little widow next door had waylaid him, wanting to pour out all her troubles to him. Suppose Frank had listened, had perhaps even brought her into the house and sat her down, asked Ellie to make them a cup of tea and let the poor creature talk herself out … would she then have fallen into another man's arms so quickly? And been persuaded to sell up and move away from everything she'd known, to go to Australia?

  ‘I wonder if it was Australia. It might have been New Zealand,’ said Ellie. ‘I'm afraid the detective inspector is going to find me a poor sort of witness. All I can remember now is how odd the poor husband's wig looked, rather like a ginger tomcat perched on his head. No wonder he hated it so, poor thing. I remember he grew tomatoes in Gro-bags on that patio of yours, but the rest of the garden was rather neglected even then.’

  Armand drained the last of the wine in his glass. ‘When was the garden last a proper garden?’

  ‘I don't think there's ever been anyone there who really looked after it, which was why I was so pleased when you two decided to do something about it.’

  ‘And now we wish we hadn't,’ said Kate.

  Ellie nodded. ‘I don't blame you.’

  Kate shot up out of her seat. ‘I left my laptop and briefcase on the front seat of the car, in full view! I never gave it a thought when … Suppose someone's pinched it! The meeting tomorrow!’

  They'd come in Armand's car, of course.

  Ellie was soothing. ‘No one would pinch something from a car with a policeman standing outside your front door.’

  Kate was fumbling into her coat. ‘You don't understand. It's brand new, and all the data for the meeting … we must go back at once!’

  ‘Hi, Ellie!’ Roy Bartrick had got rid of the man he'd been dining with, and now walked up to them, all smiles, six foot of charm, with black brows under silver hair and startlingly blue eyes. He knew Kate and Armand, of course. But on seeing Kate's face, he said, ‘What's up?’