Murder in Time Page 5

  Four of them! How dreadful! ‘So you joined the queue?’

  ‘Why ever not? We were all of an age. Drink flowed. The gatecrashers had thrown us out of the house, so we took our pleasure where we could. It was exciting. She was lying there in the open, waiting for us.’

  ‘She was unconscious.’

  ‘If you believe that …’ He laughed.

  ‘Did she open her eyes and scream to you all to get on with it? Or did she lie there like a rag doll, unresisting? Comatose?’

  His eyes narrowed. ‘It wasn’t rape. She was a whore, a slut.’

  ‘She didn’t have that reputation before that evening, did she? If anything, I believe she was regarded as a prude. Her father was careful of her, wasn’t he?’

  ‘How should I know?’

  ‘Did you recognize her?’

  ‘Of course. Danny’s little bit on the side.’

  ‘You knew her, but not well.’

  ‘I’d seen her at parties but she was not the sort of girl I would ever have taken seriously. Naturally, I would have preferred the mother of my son to have a better character. But it is not to be, and I’m stuck with who she is.’

  Ellie heard Thomas grind his teeth. ‘I’m surprised you want the boy, if you have so little respect for his mother.’

  A grimace. Momentary discomfort. ‘Ah, well. You must understand that in our culture a man without offspring is, well, at a certain disadvantage in family affairs. True, I am currently living in Britain, but in due course I will return home to Somalia to take up my position as my father’s eldest child. Without a son I would be at a certain disadvantage vis-à-vis my brothers, who already have several sons each. I married, of course, within a year of leaving school. An arranged match. A delightful girl from a good family. Unfortunately, she failed to conceive, and eventually tests proved that it was I who had overindulged in the delights of the flesh and not her.’

  Thomas was appalled. ‘Are we to understand that you contracted a sexual disease at some point in the year after you left school and before you got married? You mean you are now infertile?’

  Abdi swept his hands outwards. ‘So it seems. And what a shock that was! After some thought, it occurred to me that I might possibly have been fortunate in one of my early … er … adventures. There were several possibilities.’ He smiled to himself. ‘I engaged a detective to discover if by any chance one of my early couplings might have led to a happy conclusion. One had had an abortion. Two were married with young children. Only one of my partners from those days had had a child within the possible time constraints, and that was Vera, who had produced the boy you call Mikey. The detective obtained DNA samples from both Vera and her son without their knowledge. They had carelessly left their ice cream cups on the table when they’d indulged in a little treat at McDonalds, and he managed to remove them for testing. Unfortunately or otherwise, there can be no possible doubt about it. Mikey is my son.’

  Thomas said, ‘And you assumed you could just walk in and buy the child?’

  Abdi smoothed out a smile. ‘Of course not. That would be crude. No, there will be a certain adjustment of finances. Some compensation to Vera for bringing up the boy so far. I will formally adopt him and provide him with a standard of living which she cannot possibly give.’

  ‘He’s doing pretty well on his own merits,’ said Ellie. ‘He got a bursary to one of the top schools in London.’

  ‘Living in rented accommodation …? No doubt you’ve been kind to him, but it’s not the same, and you can’t pretend that it is. His mother will never be anything but a domestic servant, even if she does now call herself a housekeeper.’

  Ellie realized she was spitting into the wind, but persisted. ‘She’s going to college, doing a business course.’

  Thomas said, ‘Let’s get this clear. Does your wife agree to your adopting Mikey?’

  An airy gesture. ‘She understands the situation. Either she accepts the boy into our household with good grace, or there will be an amicable divorce. Even if she does accept him, there will be very little contact, as I will be sending him to one of the best boarding schools in the country. In the holidays he will return home to my grandfather’s place and become accustomed to his new position in life. It will be as if he were the offspring of a previous wife, now deceased.’

  Ellie was getting angry. ‘Mikey is not a toy to be picked up and laid aside at will.’

  A soft laugh. ‘I hear he’s been in one or two scrapes before now. All the better. I like his independence of character. But he will soon learn what is expected of my son. He will adjust.’

  Thomas took a turn around the room. ‘You are assuming too much. I suppose it is true that you can offer Mikey a more affluent lifestyle than the one he has at present, but I do not think you will be able to separate him from his mother as easily as you think.’

  ‘If I cannot convince you all that what I suggest is for the best, then we will have to let the courts decide.’

  Ellie shook her head. ‘You think the courts would give you Mikey? I don’t think so. The truth is that before the party Vera was a virgin with a steady boyfriend …’ She held up her hand, seeing that he was about to intervene. ‘I understand what you would say. Possibly, it was an unequal match, the doctor’s son and the girl from the chippy, but they were both going on to university and their relationship might well have developed into marriage. Only, at the party she was given a date rape drug and was out for the count. She was raped. You, among others, raped her.’

  ‘Ridiculous! What a story! Is that what she told you? Every whore cries, “Rape!” when they’ve had too much to drink and want to justify what they’ve done. She’s a cunning little liar, I’ll give her that. Pulled the wool over your eyes, Mrs Quicke. Sweet as pie, and twice as treacherous! And, you’ve conveniently forgotten her involvement with murder.’

  Ellie was getting angry. ‘What involvement?’

  ‘Why, the death of the good doctor. Didn’t you know? Ah, I can see she hasn’t told you about that, has she? There was a confrontation between them later that evening, after the police had been and gone, long after the other partygoers had left. She was seen arguing with Danny’s father … no doubt over her conduct that evening. They were seen, I tell you. Struggling. Shouting. In the garage. She hit him with a tyre lever, or some such, and killed him.’

  ‘What!’ said Thomas.

  ‘No, I don’t believe it.’ Ellie was horrified, and yet … what was it Geraldine had said? No, no. That was something to do with a neighbour.

  Abdi shrugged. ‘There was a witness.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Someone my detective found.’

  ‘Why didn’t he or she come forward at the time?’

  Abdi shrugged again. ‘I believe it was someone who didn’t want to bother with going to the police. On night duty or some such. Or just come off it. Something like that.’

  Thomas was incredulous. ‘Your man found someone who wouldn’t go to the police about it before, but who has been persuaded to speak about it now?’

  Ellie’s eyes narrowed. ‘Someone you’ve bought off. That’s it, isn’t it? You paid this private detective of yours to find someone, anyone, who can dig up some dirt on Vera. Which makes me ask: why is this witness now prepared to go to court when he wouldn’t do so before? How much did you have to pay him to testify against Vera?’

  ‘I doubt if there will be any need to go as far as that.’

  ‘In other words, he is so unreliable that you daren’t produce him?’

  ‘I mean that Vera won’t want to risk her past being brought up against her. I only have to lay information to the police about her involvement with the doctor’s murder, and they’ll have her in for questioning.’

  ‘On such flimsy evidence?’

  ‘I suppose it may well be in the papers the following day that she is being questioned for murder.’

  ‘You mean that you would leak it to the papers, in order to turn public opinion against her?’ />
  A bland smile. ‘How dreadful for Vera, to be pilloried in the press, to have everyone know what sort of good-time girl she was, and to hear that she is now under suspicion of murder. What will that do to her course at college? She will be forced into hiding. The university will not want her on their premises if she’s being followed around by the press, will they? Only think what this would do to Mikey.’

  ‘You …!’ Hot words sprang to Ellie’s tongue. She refused them voice with an effort.

  Thomas said, ‘You mean that you are going to hold an unreliable but potentially incriminating witness over Vera? Either she gives up the boy, or she risks being accused of murder in the press?’

  A wide smile. Abdi spread his hands. ‘I think that between us we can persuade Vera to see reason, don’t you?’

  Ellie could see exactly what he meant. Vera probably thought that the very worst had happened to her that night so long ago. Never mind that the events of the party had changed her life and she’d been unable to take up the place she’d earned at university. Never mind that her father had disowned her and made her homeless when he discovered that she was pregnant. Never mind that the father of the child had then refused to help her, had accused her of trying to trick him into marriage …

  Worse, she was going to be accused of murder unless she gave up her only child.

  ‘You didn’t mention anything about murder when Vera applied to you for help when Mikey was born.’

  ‘I was about to be married myself, to a suitable girl.’

  ‘So she was left to support herself and the child. She might have had him adopted, but she didn’t. She found work, mostly cleaning jobs. She brought Mikey up as best she could. She married, eventually—’

  ‘I heard she took advantage of a dying man—’

  ‘Your private detective, if that’s who has been feeding you incorrect information, needs his ears syringing. Yes, he was dying and knew it. She loved him, cared for him, nursed him to the end. He didn’t leave her much, but he asked me to keep an eye on her and to help her get the education she deserved, and that’s what I’m doing. She is no slut. No whore. She is a good woman who’s been dealt some terrible blows by fate but has made the best of what she’s got.’

  ‘That’s her story, is it? Well, we’ll see what happens when we go to court. I hear the boy’s been in trouble with the law already. That shows precisely how good she’s been as a mother.’

  Thomas said, ‘You don’t like hearing the truth, do you? He was exonerated of all charges and helped to bring a couple of villains to justice. As for you, you rape an innocent young girl, refuse to help her when she discovers she’s had your child, ignore her and your son for twelve years, and expect the courts to be sympathetic towards you? The boy is at a good school now and doing well.’

  ‘Go back to your private detective,’ said Ellie, ‘and ask the right questions this time. Tell him to look elsewhere for a boy to adopt.’

  His lips drew back over his teeth. ‘There is no one else of my blood.’

  Ellie said, ‘You should have thought of that before you scattered your seed in so many different directions.’

  ‘That was then, and this is now. The boy will be fine, once he realizes what he is going to inherit. I must admit that at first I did wonder how costly it was going to be to pay off his mother, even if she did have a distinctly unsavoury past, but the evidence my man has turned up is more than just useful. Potentially, it’s a knock out, don’t you think?’ He stood up, stretching, very much at his ease. ‘Do tell the girl that I’m willing to be generous, won’t you? My solicitor says Vera hasn’t a leg to stand on. Not that you’d wish this matter to go to court, any more than I would. I am sure that between us we’ll be able to make Vera see reason. I’ll be back tomorrow to make some preliminary arrangements.’

  He got out a mobile phone, and said, ‘I need the car now.’ Phoning his chauffeur?

  Ellie didn’t offer to let him wait for his car indoors, but opened the front door for him. It was beginning to rain. Good. Let him wait outside.

  The clock in the hall chimed the hour. Was it only one o’clock? It felt like bedtime.

  Rose hovered in the doorway to the kitchen quarters. A little brown wren, inquisitive but anxious. ‘What’s that man doing here again? I said to him that you were out but he pushed in past me while the Tesco man was delivering, and then I went and fetched Thomas because I didn’t want to leave him alone, and I thought about ringing Vera to say he was here, but then I thought I shouldn’t spoil her day unless I had to.’

  ‘You did right, Rose.’

  ‘There’s some soup for lunch and some of that quiche left over, if you fancy.’

  ‘Yes, in a minute.’ Ellie returned to the sitting room, where Thomas was standing at the window, looking out.

  He said, ‘We have to fight him, don’t we?’

  ‘Do you doubt it?’

  ‘No.’ He didn’t sound sure of it, though.

  ‘I’ve heard three different versions of what happened that night … No, four if you count Mrs Dawes’ comment. And none of them make any sense, including Abdi’s.’

  ‘Would your policewoman friend help?’ He answered his own question. ‘No, you can’t ask her or she’d want to have Vera in for questioning about the murder.’

  ‘The murder must have happened before Lesley joined the force. She’s a good friend, but I don’t want to involve her unless I can think of a way of keeping Vera out of it. I’d like to ask her to look up the police records, but I’d have to be careful because her boss – who is as awkward as they come – would like nothing better than to annoy me by tossing a murder charge in our direction.’ She tried to lighten the atmosphere. ‘You usually tell me not to when I want to look into a problem in the community, yet here you are, cheering me on.’

  He pulled a face. ‘My first reaction was to say I was at your disposal, and then—’

  ‘You realized the magazine has to be put to bed next week, and you’ve hardly time to eat or drink before that. Which reminds me; Rose has rustled up some lunch for us.’

  He followed her out to the kitchen. ‘Where will you start?’ And to their housekeeper, ‘Prayers needed, Rose.’

  Rose wrung her hands. ‘That’s exactly what Miss Quicke has been saying to me, ever since yesterday when that man arrived on the doorstep without so much as a by your leave. She’s been popping up all over the place, in the conservatory which is usual with her, and then in the back garden when I was out hanging up the dishcloths, and here in the kitchen with me last night. Gave me a bit of a fright, then. I thought it was the wireless, but it was her, saying that we’ve got to look after those that have taken refuge with us, here in this house. Which is a bit odd as I never thought she’d really taken to young Mikey, him being a bit of a loose cannon, as you might say, but she’s adamant that he’s in danger and we’re to watch out for him specially, and there’s a dish of beetroot salad instead of the quiche if you’d prefer it.’

  ‘Thank you, Rose,’ said Ellie, giving the older lady a hug. ‘Trust me, I’m going to see what I can do to protect both Vera and Mikey.’

  Thomas slurped soup.

  Ellie collected the memo pad they used for shopping lists and started to make notes, speaking her thoughts aloud as she did so. ‘Questions to ask: what time did the party start, and who was invited? How did the gatecrashers know about the party? How many of them were there? Did they bring drugs with them, or did they come looking for them?’

  Rose put some soup at her elbow. Ellie had a couple of mouthfuls, then said, ‘The police must have asked these questions, before. After twelve years, the partygoers may have scattered to the four winds. How on earth can we get answers to them now?’

  Thomas looked at his watch. ‘I mustn’t be long. So much to do.’

  Ellie wondered, ‘At what point in time did everyone arrive? Vera would have been there early, I suppose, as Dan’s girlfriend. Who was it who helped her home? Who gave her the drugged drink, an
d who raped her? Apart from Abdi. I don’t think she knows.’

  Another glance at his watch. ‘Some of the other guests may be able to enlighten you.’

  ‘Abdi’s not going to tell us anything which might cast doubt on his carefully edited version of events.’ She attacked her soup, thinking. ‘I wonder, at what point did the police arrive? Who called them, and what did they do when they did attend the scene? Was anyone arrested? Taken away for questioning? Was it drug dealing that triggered a call to the police?’

  Rose cleared their soup plates away. ‘You can find out, Ellie, if anyone can.’

  Ellie served up pieces of quiche. ‘Vera says she woke up when the police arrived and that the guests had nearly all disappeared by that time. Vera must know who it was who helped her. Probably a pillar of the community by now. It’s just occurred to me to wonder what Dan was doing all that while. Was it he who called the police? We’ve been told the parents were away for the evening. Why? And for how long?’

  Thomas joined in for once. ‘What time did they get back, and what happened then?’

  ‘A neighbour was supposed to be at loggerheads with the doctor about a hedge which got torn down or planted in the wrong place. They were angry enough to go to law about it. I wonder what they were doing that night? And then, if anything that Abdi’s man has dug up is correct, there was some sort of fight when the doctor returned home. This must have been after the police investigating the gatecrashers had gone. Long after the guests had disappeared … or was it? It would have been useful to talk to the good doctor. So inconvenient that he died.’

  ‘As did Vera’s father and mother.’ Thomas attacked his plateful. ‘Mm. Good quiche. What’s in it?’

  ‘Asparagus. Twelve years on … Memories play us false. Especially inconvenient ones. Dan might have been a right raver at eighteen, up till all hours, just passed his driving test, hormones rampaging, a nuisance to all and sundry … He might well be an assistant bank manager by now, with a wife, a mortgage and two point four children. The girls who were at the party, ditto.’