Death in Leamington (15 page)

‘I’m worried Khand, that damned inspector has started asking questions about my business arrangements.’

‘Don’t worry, Sir William, everything is under control, it’s all going to plan. It’s natural the police will ask questions about your relationship with Nariman – you’re clean on that right? You sorted everything out in advance?’

‘Yes of course, but under control you say? You could have fooled me. You said you were only going to scare him. Well, what on earth was that about this morning if everything is under control? You never said you’d kill him or that you’d do it on my doorstep for God’s sake. My wife’s close to a nervous breakdown and I’ve had all sorts of bother today from the party about this. If you intended to kill him, why on earth did you use those bunglers and not do it properly the first time? What’s more, Julia told Nadia that someone at the care home over the road apparently saw the whole thing and so did my friend Baxter in the corner house. And the police were asking me about that nuisance Rohit Dhawan just now. I don’t like it. The whole thing’s a dog’s breakfast.’

The voice on the other end of the phone turned cool and menacing.

‘Please calm down, Sir William. It’s no surprise that there would be witnesses in a residential area. I have that situation completely under control. I need you to keep your cool. Remember you’ve done very well out of these business arrangements. You owe everything to us. We set you up, your house, your business, your knighthood, everything, including the peerage that’s in the works if you keep your nose clean. If Nariman’s dirty little boyfriend hadn’t got nosy, everything would be fine, but he did and Nariman started asking too many questions and now’s he paid for it. So I suggest you just pull yourself together and do exactly what I tell you to do. I’ll take care of Rohit.’

‘You can’t talk to me like that!’ Sir William spluttered. ‘I’m not one of your lackeys.’

‘I think I can. You know perfectly well who you’re dealing with here and
he
won’t be crossed. So for your own sake, just calm down and follow the plan otherwise you might get some of Nariman’s medicine coming your way as well.’

‘Are you threatening
me
now?’

‘Look, calm down, I say, we’ve covered all our tracks so far, there’s nothing to link you to the murder and we don’t need you going wobbly. The Tamils have got credible motive and they’re not going to be talking, are they?’

‘OK, but what about that woman in the care home and Baxter, if you say you have everything under control?’

‘I repeat, I know what I’m doing. We’ve got all the murder weapons and as for the woman at the care home, unfortunately it appears she got her dosage mixed up, took too many pills and then took a bath alone which you should never do with those drugs. They found her a few hours ago with goose skin and a bar of soap in her hand. A sad death, in fact all these things are very sad but accidents will happen. So you see it’s all under control and all in the plan. I think you can look after Mr Baxter for me, can’t you, or do I need to find a little accident for him as well?’

‘What? There’s another body? Christ, how many more will there be? I just don’t like it, this inspector and his clever clogs assistant, who by the way is related to my ex-wife, they look like they’re going to be trouble to me.’

‘Don’t worry; I will take care of Hunter and his pretty little assistant as well if needs be.’

*

The next call Sir William made was to one of his pet press poodles – Robin Duffie, a sleazy freelance journalist who had been trawling the West Midlands for wrecking stories. He was generally avoided by everyone with any sense, but Sir William had courted him, finding he had his uses, feeding him gossip from his sources in Whitehall about the local business community.

‘I’ve spoken to Dom Laurence at
The
Standard
and they will run a comment piece on Nariman’s murder, but I need you to write something a bit sharper, a bit critical, that also distances him from me.

‘OK, I think I know what sort of thing you mean. When do you need it to appear?’

‘Is there time to get it into the Sunday editions?’

‘It’s tight but I’m sure I can swing the late edition for you.’

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor,
Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast

Eddie was completely fascinated by the way that the pianist in the bar next door was improvising a playful, syncopated narrative around a selection of show-tunes from the 1930s. He sipped his scotch and tapped his fingers, looking on increasingly amused at Bas’s persistence in attempting to chat up the beautiful black woman at the bar. He could hear Bas boasting to her about some skiing escapade or other in the Swiss Alps. He was hoping that some of their other guests would arrive soon, otherwise he would have to interrupt his friend’s little tête-à-tête.

Both Eddie and Bas had dressed up uncharacteristically smartly for the occasion – Eddie was wearing the second-hand Paul Smith jacket and open-necked shirt that Alice had selected for him before she collapsed exhausted into bed. The restaurant had an open-mic policy in the piano bar and there had already been a few takers. Even the devilishly good-looking waiter interrupted his table service to croon a moody number to get things started. The bar was rapidly filling up with locals who were enjoying the relaxed atmosphere and Eddie was beginning to worry that he would have to give up their table if his guests didn’t arrive soon.

Someone touched his arm and kissed his cheek in greeting, breaking his concentration on the music.

‘Hi gorgeous, I really wasn’t sure if you’d still turn up here tonight,’ the girl said with an affected Bugsy-style voice, which contained a little too much of a hint of American musical theatre for his liking.

‘But of course, it had to be you that walked into my gin joint!’ he replied.

It was Delia, the younger and flirtier of the Flyte sisters. She was just eighteen and wearing a red satin cocktail dress that was cut to reveal as much flesh as she could decently get away with. Eddie could smell the spiced scent wafting around her body and noticed the new piercings in her nose. Her raven black hair had been styled into a razored bob. Gone were the curls and the appealing sweetness of her early teenage years, she was clearly trying hard now to be an adult. Eddie was unsure whether to be impressed or not. Despite the sophisticated makeover, she still managed to give the somewhat awkward impression of a young Lolita destined to break a thousand hearts but not quite ready to be a player. Devout innocence mixed with a still slightly off-track teenage mind palace. He noticed the red rose tattoo on her shoulder and wondered what else she had done to her body.

‘Well Delia, it’s been just another amazing day in Babylon today. In fact after the really weird day we’ve all had, I suspect eating out with loopy-you and your sister is just what I need to take my mind off things.’

‘You’re such a tart, Eddie. I’ve told you before I’m your one and only, we just need to get darling Julia to fulfil her destiny and run away with Alice, then we can disappear together into the sunset.’

‘I thought you were supposed to be a good little convent girl?’

‘Of course I am, all the time,’ she said, touching his arm. He got another strong whiff of her scent.
She must have poured it on
, he thought.

‘Well I can’t say I’ve noticed that recently.’

‘Would it make any difference to you if I was?’

‘Maybe not, but aren’t you supposed to be saving yourself for a nice young Catholic boy?’

‘Oh God, Eddie, it’s so difficult being a Catholic,’ she laughed; now running her finger along his thigh.
She has certainly learnt a trick or two
he thought. He laughed in turn, somewhat embarrassedly, and removed her hand. She feigned disappointment.

‘
OK I’ll admit defeat for now,’ she said. ‘Seriously though, isn’t it such a terrible business with that man next door? We’ve only been away a couple of days and the world turns upside down. It must have been so exciting. Tell me everything, all the gory details.’

‘Sshh, have you quite finished? A man died for heaven’s sake,’ he said somewhat annoyed but also somewhat flattered to be the focus of her adulation.

‘Come on,’ she wheedled. ‘Don’t be boring, I hear the guy was killed and died in your arms. That’s so cool. Did you hear the bullet whizz past your ear?’

She was firing off questions with the velocity of a machine gun, without a pause for breath or the remotest pretence at hesitation. She sounded more than slightly disappointed that she had not witnessed all this herself.

‘No I didn’t, and yes it took me ages to get the various bits of him out of my hair, thank you,’ he said, brushing his hair slightly dramatically to emphasise the point.

‘OK, no need to be disgusting,’ she frowned. ‘Where’s Alice tonight then, I thought she was coming too?’

‘She’s just too exhausted – I told her to stay at home and get some rest. She’s had a right old day of it.’

‘Ah, so now I know your agenda, any excuse to get me on my own.’

‘I think we’ve been down that road already once this evening, haven’t we?’

‘True. Anyway, just as well that she’s getting some rest. She’s been a bit of a hero today, and we love heroes don’t we? Don’t worry, I’ll keep you company, oh gorgeous one,’ she said, winking at him in a way that only Delia could and continuing. ‘Just like in Paris.’ She was referring to a holiday that they had all spent together, where her precocious fantasy pursuit of him had first started. Eddie shook his head in mock despair.

‘She’s been more than a hero, she was a real superhero this morning, and then she had to work all day on the autopsies. She’s only just got back home.’

‘Poor love,’ she said, stroking the stubble on his cheek with the back of her hand.

‘So, OK, Matahari, where have you been all dolled up like that?’ he said, changing the subject and removing her hand again.

‘We were at a hen night last night and then a friend’s wedding this morning and then sneaked back in time for the afternoon concert in the parish church.’

‘All dressed like that?’

‘No silly, this is all for you.’ She said running her hand down her fishnet stockings. She opened her bag and showed him the programme – Elgar, Delius and Mendelssohn. ‘I’d rather have been here though, whilst all this murder most horrid stuff was going on.’

‘Delius? I thought you liked edgier stuff, Chali from Jurassic, Slightly Stoopid etc.?’ he teased.

‘Now, don’t be petulant, it doesn’t suit you.’

‘A calm sea and a prosperous voyage,’ he read. ‘That’s certainly a nice contrast from today. I suppose you know the Elgar connection, being a clarinettist yourself?’ he asked.

He was now somewhat pleased with himself. Following the hint from Hunter that morning, Eddie had been reading up all day about the Enigma Variations to try and put the other events out of his mind. It was amazing what he had found out.

‘What on earth are you babbling on about?’ she answered, bemused.

‘Variation 13, ‘Romanza’,’ he replied. ‘He quotes the Mendelssohn piece musically – it’s a reference to the initials of an unnamed lady denoted by three asterisks in the score – some commentators have speculated that it was a Lady Mary Lygon who was undertaking a long sea voyage at the time, some love interest that he had an attachment to. Very appropriate, maybe one of your mother’s ancestors?’ he teased.

‘Now, that’s getting more interesting. Eddie, you’re always such a dime piece,’ she said, smiling adoringly at him.

‘Anyway where’s the lovely Julia, and just as importantly how’s young Betjeman?’

This was his standard tease at her expense, referring to the teddy bear that she had kept since she was a young child. Eddie knew the bear in question well, having frequently baby-sat for her when she was younger.

‘Betjeman is absolutely fine, thank you and boring old Julia will be joining us soon; she said she had something else to do first. I suspect she was going next door to see if they needed any help. Waste of time if you ask me, that silly horrible man will never ask for our help.’

‘Would you be talking about your father by any chance?’

‘Whatever,’ she said, changing the subject herself this time. ‘I see your sleazy friend Basil has been busy already; he seems to have made a new acquaintance.’ She pointed over to the bar at Bas and the amazing woman he was chatting with.

‘It’s certainly a vast improvement over the girl he ended up with in Spice last night,’ he said.

‘You went to Spice without me? I do think you might have taken me with you.’

‘I thought you were at a hen night? Anyway I don’t think you’re old enough, the bouncers wouldn’t let jailbait like you in,’ he joked. ‘Anyway, as for Bas, this one looks a bit out of his league, I think I may need to help him out,’ remarked Eddie, somewhat conceitedly.

They continue chatting. Delia told Eddie that she had been successful in getting a place to study modern dance with the Birmingham ballet.

‘I played the veiled hidden theme in my audition just to confuse them,’ she joked. He doubted there was anything veiled or hidden about Delia’s performance.

Virginia Woolf
, The Voyage Out

A few minutes later Julia joined them. She was also dressed to melt, but much more elegantly than her sister with considerably less flesh on show. She was clad like a bohemian waif in a flame and gold sequined top, taffeta skirt and ankle-strap heels. Unlike Delia, she was wearing very little make-up, her blonde tresses floating loose and free around her shoulders. To Eddie’s eyes she looked radiant; any imperfections she had only serving to increase her allure, half-way between 1930s screen goddess and doe-eyed innocence.

‘Sorry I’m late, Eddie, but with Mother away I had to go and see William and Nadia,’ she said in her delicate and serene voice. ‘Nadia is really cut up, devastated in fact, but Father obviously didn’t want me to stay, so I gave my condolences and then made my excuses. But what about you? I can’t believe her grandfather died in your arms.’

‘Yes. It’s been a pretty strange day all round. By the way, Alice decided she was just too tired to come out though, I hope you don’t mind putting up with me for company?’

‘Of course not, I understand completely, but are you sure you shouldn’t be back with your family? We won’t mind, really.’

‘No, Alice was insistent I still come and I could do with something to take my mind off things, tonight. Anyway, thank
you
for coming out. You look beautiful this evening, as always. Now there are truly two and a half divine creatures in the house,’ he swooned, nodding at Pearl standing at the bar to Delia’s clear annoyance at her ‘half’ valuation in his appraisal. ‘Did your father happen to say whether the police are making any progress on the investigation? I saw Hunter earlier today but haven’t heard anything since.’

‘They arrived just after I left; I saw Hunter’s car pull up from my bedroom window as I was getting dressed, it’s a very nasty business. I hadn’t even realised that Nadia’s grandfather was staying there or I would have paid them a visit earlier. I’ll see if I can go round tomorrow when things have calmed down a bit, she must be feeling completely lost without any family members around her.’

At this moment, they were interrupted by Bas and his new friend walking over to their table. Both girls looked at this beautiful woman in admiration, dressed as if she had just stepped off a Paris catwalk. Despite being many years older, she could only be described as dazzling: flawless skin, impeccably dressed and with a gorgeous, winning smile.

‘This is Pearl Taylor; she’s over from the States,’ said Bas. The others nodded at her curiously.

‘Pearl’s a singer. Pearl, this is Eddie, my rather charming companion and the delightful Flyte sisters – Julia and Cordelia, aka Delia,’ he continued.

‘Nice to meet you all,’ Pearl said in a deeply sexy American drawl.

‘Ladies, if you don’t mind, I’ve asked Pearl if she’d join us for dinner, she’s alone in town and it’d be a shame for her to eat by herself.’

‘Of course, that would be lovely,’ they both said almost in unison, giving each other knowing looks.

‘And Pearl, this is Basil, a fine bassist, a serious and devoted friend and an utter sleaze-bag. But as he often tells us, probably the most eligible bachelor in this part of Leamington. So with that consider yourself warned, Miss Taylor,’ Eddie chipped in.

‘Oh, I think I can look after myself but he’s certainly a charmer,’ she chuckled, deepening her honeyed transatlantic voice further.

*

Delia wasted no time in asking her how much she knew about the day’s events. When Pearl expressed ignorance of them, she set about a little précis, asking Eddie to fill in the details at appropriate points. Pearl was wide-eyed and expressed genuine shock that such a thing could have happened in ‘this quiet, peaceful town’. She explained to them who she was and of course they immediately forgot about the murder and fell under her spell, urging her to take to the microphone herself.

‘Later maybe,’ she said. ‘I think I’d better let the local talent have a go first. I liked the waiter earlier, a real opera voice. Anyway I need to get into the mood and I’m starving after walking all over your pretty little town today, notwithstanding the worry of your rapidly increasing crime rate! Really, I thought I’d left New York behind me.’

Bas ordered champagne and they tucked in to their seafood starters. During the meal, the girls noticed that Pearl had an incredible appetite, demolishing the biggest steak on the menu as if it were a burger.

‘Where I come from, you eat before it disappears from the table or you starve,’ she said in a surprisingly matter-of-fact way for an international superstar.